KansasBeachLover

We had 7 cabins on March 14th Valor.  Grandparents of the group canceled 2 of the cabins on the night of the 12th (never received confirmation email of cancellation) after receiving the no one over 70 email.  No refunds on those yet.  I canceled 3 excursions the evening of the 12th and got an email telling me I'd receive credit in 5-7 days.  No refunds on those yet.  The other 5 cabins were canceled for 100% refund when we all got our emails the night before we were supposed to cruise.  No one got confirmation emails and no one was received any credit for those rooms or any FTTF or any Fun Shop purchases.  Thousands of dollars tied up in a huge family vacation that we talked our entire family into and no one knows when/if they will see any of the money back.

I canceled an excursion for myself and 3 family members on March 11th for our March 14th cruise.  I got the email saying I'd be refunded in 5-7 days.  They canceled our cruise on the 13th.  I have not been refunded for anything regarding that cruise.  Not excursions I canceled before hand or FTTF or items from Fun Shops or anything.

I know they said 90 days.  But 2 days before my cruise that never happened, I cancelled shore excursions.  We had decided that we would not split up as a family in Progreso and would do something together for a short time and get back on the ship.  I cancelled an excursion for 3 of us.  Any other time I've cancelled something with Carnival that I booked online, it was refunded the following day.  I still don't have the refund for those excursions and that was done 2 days before they cancelled our cruise on us.  I don't have a refund for any of the stuff I bought to have in our room.  Nothing for FTTF.  Nothing.  We had 7 rooms booked and we have a lot of money tied up in this whole thing.  The virus is not their fault.  I do not blame them for that.  But I do blame them for not issuing refunds in a timely manner.

22 minutes ago, sunprairie1979 said:

This article has some details of the proposal. In it, it says the cruise industry is recommending not letting anyone on board who is 70 or older without a Doctor's note signifying their fitness to sail. If that is the case, especially since it is coming from the cruise industry itself, they better update cancelation protocols now so that travelers who are 70 can cancel outright with a cash refund vs. going through the FCC nonsense. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/ 

Our cruise leaves Saturday.  We have 14 people going and we drive down on Friday.  If they do this, then 4-5 people in our party would be barred from the ship.  How on earth do we handle that when it hasn't been put out there yet but could affect us?

Same thing has happened to us...over and over again the last few months.

Cruising with RCL when I took my 17 year old son and his 17 year old friend, I had to have statement signed by both of his friend's parents and notarized and I was asked for it at the port.  But that was RCL.  I never traveled with a minor on Carnival.

I have been on Liberty and didn't care for it.  I much more enjoyed the Serenade, which is like the Jewel.  But that's a personal opinion from someone traveling as a couple with no kids.  Serenade was much more suited to us because we don't care about the kid's venues and all the bells and whistles.  We like the relaxation and the sea views, which are everywhere on the Serenade.  It's why we chose Jewel for a New Years cruise 2021-22.  We've just never found anything else we enjoyed as much as that class of ships and how they give you the views and truly make you feel like you are on the ocean.

Thank you for the map!  We will be in San Juan in less than 2 weeks and have no excursion booked so I'm excited to have this.  

The process is slow and frustrating for sure.  I'm taking my free bingo cruise this month, won it last year on the Vision.  I would say spell out clearly from the beginning what you want.  Going back and forth and trying to make changes can be very time consuming and frustrating because it's all by email and takes days to a week between responses.  Just my experience.  

I'm gong to be there in January as well, could I get a share please?  morningstarcattle at gmail dot com.  Thanks so much in advance!

It gets credited back to your card as credit, not back as points.

No, we are on January 18th.  I WISH I had caught some of that stuff on the Royal mistake!  I got my dining package last year the Tuesday after Cyber Monday for the BOGO 50% off for my January Vision cruise and I was happy I had it.  I'd do that any day.  But it's not important enough to me to pay $400 for us to have it.  At that price I would feel like I have to eat the specialty dining every single night to make the cost worth it....and some nights I just don't feel like doing a big dinner.  

Last year the dining package went down on Cyber Monday.  If they do that again I'll buy it for my January cruise on Adventure.  If not I probably won't spend the money.  Right now for my sailing it's $176, which is what it was 2 weeks ago.  It fluctuates between $192 and $176.  Unless they do the BOGO 50% off sale like last Cyber Monday, I'll probably skip it.

We are cruising Adventure in January so your review was great to see.  I've never sailed Adventure and am looking forward to it.

My best friend had this problem.  All other restaurants we go to allow her to order from the kids menu or order a la carte just the few small things she can eat.  Royal Caribbean and Carnival allowed her to dine with us and we gave her small portions of our entree and she was able to eat sides and they did not charge her.  But I'm sure that is dependent on the specific ship and what they will be willing to do.

We sailed Vision in January.  The staff was first class, amazing, best we've ever had on RCL including our room staff, specialty restaurant staff and Windjammer staff.  Excellent.  Specialty restaurant food was amazing, but I'd give all other food just an "ok".  It did not have all the bells and whistles of newer ships, but we don't need those so we accepted her wonderful staff with a family atmosphere over bells and whistles.  My only issue was with the movement I felt because of rough seas and her size.  I am prone to motion sickness and had more trouble (even with Dramamine) than on any other cruise.

That's what we took advantage of, the dining package.  We sailed in January.  We bought the dining package at $126 on Cyber Monday.  It was a great price.

15 hours ago, Major_Holmes said:

Australian Wagyu (like Carnival reps) is scored on a MBS scale of 1-10.  My flat iron Wagyu on Magic MIGHT have been a MBS 4. FAR from Japans famous A-5. Please take heed and order something else! Just my 2 cents.

My guess is that they are doing like a lot of producers here in the US and are selling Angus/Wagyu or insert any American cattle/Wagyu as Wagyu.  Which I don't believe should be allowed.  It's what they are calling "American Kobe" or "American Wagyu".  I don't agree with that concept.

16 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

That's not how it works. American Wagyu is raised in America. Japanese Wagyu, including DNA are banned from leaving Japan

Yes, that is true, but lots of DNA left Japan when it was allowing it.  That's how we got Wagyu here.  We raise Wagyu and our genetics from the first Wagyu cattle allowed to come to the US from Japan between 1976 and 1997.  Most of your legitimate Wagyu producers in the United States based their programs on those genetics and still use them in their programs today.  There is most definitely good Wagyu beef in the US.

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

No hot rock, no hibachi. Not sure about ramen.

Well, that's disappointing!  My husband loves sushi, but I don't.  I do love the hot rock and the ramen so usually Izumi works out for us.  Thanks for the reply!  🙂

Does anyone know if the Izumi on Adventure serves the Ramen or hot rock?  Or is it pretty much just sushi?

On 7/21/2019 at 6:32 AM, Vacationdreamer<>< said:

Thank you for starting this thread.  I, as yet, have no plan for Progresso.  We are traveling with our six kids (6-19) and really are looking for a nice beach.

 

We are doing a Carnival excursion to Paridise Island on our Valor cruise next month.  It's pricey, but I wanted to make sure we got back to the ship in time as it is a decent distance away.

 

I have been to Playa Mia and Nachi Cocum on the west side and did not care for them.  The sand is so course!  It's like sharp little sesame seeds.  

 

I'm going to keep searching for something solid for Progreso and will be keeping up with this thread!

Oh come back and let me know what you thought of Paradise Island.  i'm curious about that.

Thanks so much for your advice!  I think we'll plan on something like Paradise Beach in Cozumel and maybe a Merida or cenote tour in Progreso.  I appreciate the information very much.

I took another look at a map and we were actually on the east side when we found that beautiful beach with a restaurant/bar.  It was absolutely gorgeous, but I don't think it's the right type of beach for what we're doing this time.  Maybe we'll just do Paradise Beach like everyone else.  I was just curious if there was anything else to offer in Progreso.

Sorry, I was trying to keep my post from being too long and wordy.  We've been to some of the beach clubs on the west side of the island.  And we also drove around the island and stopped at a beautiful beach on the north side with a small restaurant and bar there, but nothing else around.  It was great for a stop and a drink but not an all day situation.  We will range in age from 10 to 70 actually.  We will have between 13 and 20 people.  Some are still deciding.  We have not been to Paradise beach and I've read that one is most popular with having kids because of all the floating things they have.  But how is that one for adults who might want to put on a snorkel mask and go look around?  Looking for kind of a balance.