Eli_6

I already spoke to my travel agent and was told she had nothing to do with the carnival shore excursions.

Thankfully it is only $150 and not more. My time is valuable enough that I am not spending any more time on this issue, but I won't be booking excursions on a "maybe" anymore and just having the attitude of "Oh, well, I can cancel and get my money back."

Or, if you do, don't do it with a gift card! Before all of the "options" came out for my May 28th Pride sailing for excursions, I had booked my husband and I on the Rioja Alvesa excursion in Bilbao, Spain. We booked it some time ago and when more excursions became available, I decided to cancel it and book another excursion. The charge for that excursion was $149.99 per ticket. I received a refund for my ticket ($149.99) but never received a refund for my husband's ticket ($149.99) even though I paid for them at the same time and canceled at the same time. I did, however, get an email notifying me of the cancellation and saying a refund would be forthcoming. It has been about 6 weeks now and we have neither gotten the OBC or a gift card in the mail for my husband's excursion. That $149.99 seems to just be gone. (We are on different rooms and I suspect that I paid for mine with OBC and his with a gift card.) I tried to call Carnival about it. I just sat on hold for about 20 minutes. Then, finally someone answered...after I had given them all the needed information, there was suddenly no one on the line. I waited a bit and then the "hold music" came on. After some time, someone new picked up and asked for all of the information again. By that time I had close out my window on my computer with the booking information as I had already given to someone and told the woman I would have to bring it up again so it would take a moment. She then hung up on me...for no reason. So, the first 25 minutes on the phone were wasted. Getting very annoyed at the hassle of trying to get this $150 back and suspecting it is just gone.

This is corrent. There was originally going to be a charge for Chibang and Cucina. Then it was just for the the first season. Then it changed again...

No, I absolutely think that is the case. I have noticed it, too. Seems to have gotten so much worse after Covid.

Funnily enough, the two incidents of really bad behavior I experienced with other guests were both with older men. Once, a seemingly able bodied man cut in front of a paraplegic (like literally controlling his wheelchair with his mouth) and my elderly Mom with a walker who had been waiting for some time for an elevator. Like just walked up when they had been waiting 10+ minutes and walked on because he could walk briskly and they couldn't get quickly to the elevator. I said something to him about not cutting in line in front of the disabled and he then went OFF on me. Called me a "fat ass," started screaming, etc. Another time, I asked if people milling about in front of the dining room at brunch were waiting for a table (because I couldn't tell if they were in line or what) and this old man says, "What do you think we are doing genius?" I responded something to the effect, "Well, I can't tell. That's why I am asking." He then made some general insults to my intelligence. My husband said to him, "Please don't speak to my wife that way." The old man then stands up, starts bowing up at my husband (who is literally 20+ years younger than him and several inches taller) and gets in his face and says, "I will knock your teeth out!" At that point, we all just turned and walked away. My son says after we were out of earshot from the man, "I don't think that old man needs to be trying to fight people. He might break a hip." The man was probably 75 or older. After these two incidents, I no longer correct anyone and if someone says something nasty to me, I act like I don't hear it. People are so on edge lately and it isn't always the people you would think who seem to be on the very of losing it.

I have more often than not just encountered inconsiderate, rude and entitled people rather than actual "unruly" people. And, fwiw, it isn't specific to Carnival as I have encountered it in many places. I feel like a lot of people forgot how to behave in public during the Covid shut down.

Ugh. That sucks. I would email guest services and hopefully they will pay to have it shipped to you. This is another reason I am committed to doing carry on only. After the debacle that was lost luggage in Europe last year, I am doing carry on online even when I have a generous baggage allowance simply because I no longer trust luggage to be out of my sight. I have found that when you only take what you truly need, there is no need to check luggage. Albeit, I realize this isn't possible for people with restricted mobility.

Can you upgrade to a better room or a suite for the "new" price and basically only pay a minimal difference since the price has changed?

The one thing I will say about the motion sickness meds, is that if you use the scopolamine patch for more than a few days you can actually have pretty severe withdrawals from it...I found out the hard way.

I was on the Pride last summer and there were people his age, but not a lot. Specifically, we went on a lot of Sandra's tours and there was a family traveling with their college aged/grad school aged kids and their kids' friends who we frequently sat with because we also had our kids. I suspect that being in the fall and not the summer (when many college kids are off) there will be even fewer. However, it will still be an amazing experience and there will not be much time for socializing anyway with all of the site seeing.

Spirit class secrets? Like what's under David's leaf in the Steakhouse on the Pride?

But I have to fly into Europe to get there or to Israel and that is the point. I was specifically saying that I won't have enough Avios to fly 4 people back to Europe from Houston so that is why I mentioned Europe. Not because either Israel or or Egypt is in Europe. The flights from Barcelona to Egypt are cheap. The issue is the long haul transatlantic flight. Currently to fly 4 people business class from Houston to Egypt would cost me about $25,000 during the summer. Yes, I could pay that if I wanted to...but why would I when I can instead pay 180k avios and $900?

Both last year and in this upcoming year, we are taking cruises on Carnival in Europe. Both times, we have spent time in Europe before and after the cruise since we fly business (for our family of four) and the flights are lengthy and expensive. Both in 2022 and this upcoming year, we will be there for just under 3 weeks. I am currently planning our 2024 vacation. We have a 5k FCC on Carnival that has to be used (or I will lose it) so I booked a Barcelona-Barcelona cruise that goes to Pisa, Rome, Sicily, Malta, and several other places. I have really been wanting to go to Egypt to see the pyramids. I was supposed to go in 2020, but it was canceled due to Covid. I found where Royal (on the Voyager of the Seas) has a cruise going out of Athens ten days after we disembark from our first cruise. The only negative is that this would put us in Europe for pretty much 4 full weeks which is longer than we have ever been away from home. Has anyone taken this cruise to Egypt and Israel? Do you recommend it? Are the excursions substantive enough to feel like you actually got a taste of the country? I am a little nervous about just flying there and trying to do something on our own with kids in tow. My kids are currently 8 and 10. They would be 10 and 11 at the time of the vacation in 2024. I would prefer to take a major cruise line (like Carnival, Disney, or Royal) because my kids enjoy the slides, kid's club, etc.

Caesar salad. Anything that has something that could go bad (like Mayo) and has been sitting out too long on a buffet.

My Mom is 76 and my Dad is 82. I would take them to Alaska rather than Norway. Similar experiences and not as much travel. My uncle (who was in excellent health) dropped dead after a European cruise and international flight at age 70. Having done Europe cruises, I wouldn't bring either of my parents on them.

You are probably fine unless it is a controlled substance. It doesn't sound like any of yours are.

Oh, it didn't bother me. We have dogs so I am used to having my crotch sniffed.

As an aside, please cut this crap with the snark. I am an attorney and my husband is a physician. We aren't broke. My kids go to private school and we own two homes and an office building. And own the homes outright without a mortgage. No, I don't want to spend $7k EACH on business class international tickets when I can plunk down 150k avios and $900. That doesn't make us poor or broke or poor planners. So just cut that ISH out. If you don't have something helpful to say, keep scrolling. I didn't ask for your opinion on my financial decisions. I asked for whether it would be too much for young kids or too long on a boat. If you can help with that, please comment. If you want to rake me over the coals for my financial decisions then keep scrolling and don't comment. I don't need financial advice. I am fine in that department. I am asking for cruising advice, not your opinion on whether I should be extending a vacation or not based on my finances.

We went to Europe (with the kids) last summer. We went to The Open (hubs thing) and did a UK cruise. We are going to Europe again this summer. Everything planned. No Egypt. We are going to Europe in 2024. Not planned other than the 8 day cruise. We are NOT going in 2025. In none of these trips has MOM (me) gotten to do the ONE THINGS she REALLY wants to do and was supposed to do in 2020, but wasn't able to because of Covid. We are fine with the heat. We live closer to the equator than the pyramids.

As an aside, we went on an Alaskan cruise last summer through a Carnival casino deal. Had a suite and an inside room for not a lot. (Albeit, this was purchased during the shut down so probably more now.) In Icy Strait Point, we just road the gondola and it was fun. It was an experience in and of itself. We also did the excursion off the boat where you went up the fjord and that was definitely worth it!!! We did a helicopter tour to the glacier in Juneau and a privately chartered fishing trip in one of the other place. Both of those were $$$ and IMO could be skipped.

There is an Alaskan Airlines card. I don't have one so don't know much about it, but it might help you to get that credit card and save miles. We run all of our business expenses through our BA card. So far, we have paid for 8 transatlantic business flights (about 5k to 7k each) to Europe with it and I am currently saving my Avios to pay for 4 more for 2024.

That's actually a good idea re the children and I flying premium economy and let him fly business.

Drama? The pain of the situation? I am not sure what you mean.

Speaking of the drug dogs, when we boarded last week, the dog came up and stuck his nose right in my crotch and kept sniffing it repeatedly. I swear, I had NO DRUGS in my crotch. The police officer told me "Just keep moving" and the dog continued to follow me and stick his nose in my butt. Eventually the dog moved on, but I was a little concerned there for a minute....