ProgRockCruiser

I hate to break it to you but USB power is still electrical power, associated with a battery for storage at an unknown internal voltage and current discharge capability. Is it "high voltage" / "mains voltage" level, i.e. 120VAC or higher? No. But things can still go wrong. But: since we can all bring on Bluetooth speakers (as long as we're not obnoxious in their usage) that use similar USB-LiIon battery tech, then the hand warmer is probably still in that classification of low power LiIon device. I guess you could bring it and if it gets confiscated you'll just get it back at the end of the cruise.

I checked us in for our upcoming cruise right at midnight and got an 11:30am to noon slot, group C06. Last year's cruise, similar itinerary, similar timeframe, I snagged 10:30-11am, B05. How many people in a letter-number group, and how many numbers per letter? I seem to recall (back when they had you sit in actual designated rows) that "A1" would seat about 20 people, then "A2" another 20. Does it always go up to A09, then B01? I think that's what it did last year, when we were in B05. So that's 180-200 pax per Letter. So maybe 500 ahead of us in the Zones? I'm thinking there are a lot of D&Ps on this cruise, and now that they have to get a check-in time and Boarding Zone assignment (new this year, right?) it means they are occupying essentially all of the A & B series? It is a slightly bigger ship (Vista vs Magic, but not hugely bigger) on an itinerary that is unusual (S Carib), and the ship is newly re-positioned (Port Canaveral). So that might be like D&P moths to the flame, as it were. Actually, only 500 D&Ps (and FTTFs?) seems low, since Vista holds 4000 pax at double occupancy. I'm not too concerned - last year when we boarded A01 was called at 10:57am, and we were called at 11:00am for our B05 zone. Those three minutes almost killed us! Suites were called at about 10:40am - a whole 20 min earlier. If we waltz in at 11:30am and have to wait 10 min, I think I'll survive.

And she's now docked at Victoria. (10pm ET, 7pm PT). Not sure when she got there.

OK, to me that sounds like a "domestic violence issue" that happens to coincide with pot use, i.e. correlation, not causation. If owning bowling shoes was illegal, and your partner hit you a lot but you both had closets full of bowling shoes, then the shoes aren't causing the violence, they're causing you to not report it.

That's not the impression I have. I thought it was the case that Carnival decided taking off the whale tail (at Astoria) was going to take too long, so they shifted the dry dock to Victoria (possibly at a higher cost) where the whale tail can remain fitted, in order to cancel as few sailings as possible. She's passing the point (Neah Bay) entering the Strait and will be approaching Victoria soon enough - looks like she'll be there by 6PM Pacific Time today.

For anyone who is cruising this week on Vista for the 8-day, or cruised last week on the 5-day, when you return please let us know how the MDR food is. The new menu has rolled out to her (from what I've seen), and we're curious whether the new menu and the new departure port (Canaveral vs Galveston) are firing on all cylinders. Someone posted last month about their cruise on Vista (out of Galveston) and they seemed underwhelmed by the new MDR menu.

I would phrase that as "The HUB App provides minimal capability prior to being on the ship: just a countdown, and the ability to click links that take you out of the app and into your browser. The useful HUB App functionality is once on board, where you can browse activities, menus, and everything else, for the entire cruise duration, right away."

You could ask the same of folks who post about sneaking on CBD gummies, rum runners, or pot, and all kinds of other scofflaws flouting the rules. There seem to be plenty here on CC.

Ah, cool! I guess I am remembering the days when you could not log out from the app. You had to uninstall it.

So again, to clarify: CBP doesn't seem to be the ones doing the searches for pax embarking. CBP doesn't care how/why you leave the country, or with what. Carnival cares, because they are taking you to foreign ports who might not appreciate the ready availability of certain products, which if they get lax about might cause them to have to drop those ports. CBP cares about with you are bringing into the US - which is not the typical "contraband" that everyone gets so paranoid about, since so much of it is legal state-side (even if just at the State level). As long as you are a US citizen, re-entering the country is supposed to be low key and drama free. They don't really care about the extra bottle of liquor that they in theory could ask you to pay $5 import tax on.

I suspect that you aren't finding any results because that specific combination has never existed, or at least not recently. Vista just repositioned to Canaveral - so it's not like there are a couple of years of similar cruises to browse/compare. The Southern Carib itinerary from Canaveral is not a common one - maybe 6 sailing a year? That specific combo (A & C, plus GT) is even more limited, because Aruba + Bonaire is the other A/B/C pick two combo with fries (that's GT) available from PC. Why do know this so well? I might be on your cruise, or a similar one, and have done my own research. However, I was on a similar cruise last year, to A&B on Magic, and I am assuming (dangerous) that the Vista cruise will be essentially the same, day for day, except stop at C instead of B. The Formal nights will be Sun (sea day) & Thurs (GT), for example. What specifically are you looking for? I don't have the mostly complete copies of the Fun Times from Magic digitized, but I can look up a thing or two, possibly.

You don't know how they handled it. All anybody has are the second- and third-hand retellings of what was printed in the on-line stories and nothing but supposition beyond that.

Except they often mount the TV such that you cannot easily access those ports, and even if you do, how do you change the input source? You'd need to bring your own universal remote (because the TV remote in the cabin usually isn't the normal one) and hope that the ship's IT dept hasn't locked out the other ports.

I have no input regarding Miracle, other than I am sure she's as a fine ship as any other Carnival ship in her class / age. I think I saw your post expressing some trepidation in the "Drug Sniffing Dogs" thread. I wouldn't worry about that - it is no different than many airport checks. I'm sure you'll have fun on he Carnival cruise, and at least you can say you've tasted the other brand of Kool-Aid. If you decide to go back to the RCCL family, that's cool. We're Carnival regulars simply because our first cruise was Carnival, we had a blast, and we've been having fun ever since. Why mess with success? If we had started with RCCL I'm sure we could have easily found that to be similarly enjoyable and might not have bothered to try Carnival.

Some nice (if somewhat gloomy, weather-wise) shots of you departing Amber Cove there, Jimbo!

Hey @jimbo5544, great review of the cruise so far! We did Aruba and Bonaire last year out of Canaveral on Magic, so many of your pictures look very familiar! Out of curiosity, do you know whether the "secret aft" stairs from the Havana bar area go up to deck 9 or even somehow spill out onto deck 10 (Lido)? We're on Vista soon, not in a Havana cabin (none available at a reasonable price when we booked) but in a balcony just forward of the Havana cabins on Deck 6. So that's the staircase we'll use to get to/from the inside Havana bar (even if we're the non-Havana hoi polloi that cannot access the outside Havana area, lol). Curious how far up it goes - from online videos it seems to go to at least deck 8. And hope you got/get ahead of the storm enough to ride the swell home back to Miami!

But the value in the Carnival HUBApp is what it does for you once on board, IMHO. The countdown is nice, but believe me, I know when my next cruise is coming up, I don't need an app to remind me...

This is true. Well, hopefully - I don't totally trust a "clear cache" function, but usually they work.

It has to do with the Passenger Vessel Services Act, which generally requires any ship that transports pax from one port to another (i.e. not a closed loop cruise) to be US registered and staffed by US crew ("Coastwise Qualified"). If the ship is repositioning from one port to another, it may or may not choose to carry pax, and may or may not get a waiver as a result depending on what port(s) it stops at along the way, so there may or may not be fines/penalties imposed. There are three common transportation violations, set forth below, that can occur when a non-coastwise-qualified vessel transports passengers between U.S. coastwise ports. First, a non-coastwise-qualified vessel transports a passenger directly between U.S. coastwise ports. (19 CFR § 4.80a(b)(1)). For example, a violative coastwise transportation occurs when a passenger embarks in San Francisco and is carried to Seattle, where he/she disembarks. Second, a non-coastwise-qualified vessel transports a passenger on a voyage solely to one or more coastwise ports and the passenger disembarks or goes ashore temporarily at a coastwise port. (19 CFR § 4.80a(b)(1)). For example, a non-coastwise-qualified vessel that embarks a passenger in Los Angeles and transports him/her to one or more of the Hawaiian Islands where he/she goes ashore temporarily and returns to Los Angeles where he/she disembarks, violates the PVSA. Third, a non-coastwise-qualified vessel transports a passenger between U.S. coastwise ports by way of a “nearby foreign port.” (19 CFR § 4.80a(b)(2)). For example, a violative transportation occurs when a non-coastwise-qualified vessel that embarks a passenger in Los Angeles, transports him/her to the Hawaiian Islands and Ensenada, Mexico then proceeds to San Diego where the passenger disembarks. Ensenada, Mexico is a “nearby foreign port” pursuant to the CBP regulations. A “nearby foreign port” is defined as "any port in North America, Central America, the Bermuda Islands, or the West Indies (including the Bahama Islands, but not including the Leeward Islands of the Netherlands Antilles, i.e., Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao)." 19 CFR § 4.80a(a)(2). There are exceptions, which require a stop in a "distant foreign port": However, there is no violation of the PVSA when a passenger is on a voyage to one or more coastwise ports and a “distant foreign port” or ports (whether or not the voyage includes a nearby foreign port or ports) and the passenger disembarks at a coastwise port other than the port of embarkation, provided the passenger has proceeded with the vessel to a “distant foreign port.” See 19 CFR § 4.80a(b)(3). For example, a noncoastwise-qualified vessel that embarks a passenger in Miami, transports him/her to Aruba, then proceeds to Key West where the passenger disembarks does not violate the PVSA. A port in Aruba is a “distant foreign port” pursuant to the CBP regulations. 19 CFR § 4.80a(a)(3). https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ICP Pax Vessel Services Act Apr 2010.pdf

I don't think it is wattage that directly concerns them, it is the opportunity to start a fire if left unattended. Hair dryers are obvious things that make noise when powered so usually don't have a cutoff timer, but I'm hoping (!) most curling irons and hair straighteners have a cutoff timer. Coffee pots are all over the place on this. It could also be the propensity to make a mess increases with coffee pots, so Carnival bans them for that reason too.

If you de-install the app and then reinstall, you can then log into your app again with the closer booking. Which you will want once on board.

You may get them via email, you may get a phone call, but you should always be able to see them, if offered, in your Cruise Manager on the Carnival website - it will be listed in the "My To-Do List" area at the left (that's where it is on my screen). There may even be an alert at/near the top of the screen after you log in.

Well, you can get most of the restaurants, or variations of the theme, on (all?) Dream and Vista class ships - Rudi's is the one you won't find. (I think the Dream class ships don't always have a consistent Bonsai Sushi/Teppan place, IIRC, but you can get sushi at times.) You won't find Bolt on any other ships, but there is the SkyRide on the Vista class.

Scissors are banned because they are (in theory) a weapon, not because they are illegal in a potential port of call. I can buy scissors in the ports, I can buy scissors in Florida, and DC, and Seattle. I just can't/shouldn't bring them aboard. They'll confiscate them, not toss you from the ship for possessing them because they aren't illegal. CBD is not allowed because (Carnival says) it is banned in one or more potential ports of call, and/or the International Maritime Law topic that @chengkp75 says would apply even if legal everywhere else (unless/until the IMO moved to align, if a valid reason to do so). And I bet the response from the woman involved wasn't just a polite "oh, I'm sorry, I got them at the drug store/grocery" (which might have gotten her a similarly polite "ok, don't bring them again, go on your way and board" response), instead she was probably ornery, claimed her special privileges, and Got What She Deserved. xref dorks in FL who recently got arrested while claiming Sovereign Citizen status. Being middle-aged does not bring wisdom to all.

You can still reserve the room space and call it a "reading room" that happens to come pre-populated with a variety of books for those that don't have an e-reading device. The intent is met for those that bring their own device, and for those that don't there may be something to browse through. I don't like reading on tablets, etc - I will read on my desktop, but mostly information-gathering-wise, like here in forums or Wikis etc. So I still buy physical books, preferably hardcovers that will last (vs mass market pulp paperback that may not last decades) - call me a relic, call me what you will, say I'm old fashioned say I'm over the hill... Friends of ours were on a cruise to Alaska recently (Viking - yes, $$$$$). In that ship's library were a bunch of cool books, and either they could buy some of them on board or they ordered after returning (not sure), but either way they grabbed me a cool book that I got for my birthday. Random inspiration is cool. Another anecdote, this time land-based: while on a trip in New Zealand a bunch of years ago, my wife and I stayed at a hotel (County Hotel, Napier, North Island) where the center section of a floor of the building (not huge, mind you, maybe four rooms equivalent?) was converted into a library with complimentary port to imbibe. Now that's my kind of library. One day we'll return, hopefully...