Need-a-vacation

57 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

I'd estimate $40-50.

Thank you. Very reasonable. I just wanted to be sure I could actually get an Uber from the airport to the cruise terminal.  

I was trying to get an estimate for Uber from LAX to San Pedro and it won't return any estimates except for the hourly service.  Is there a trick to get an estimate?  Do we need to figure out a different plan?

We are arriving on Southwest, so that looks like Terminal 1.  Our flight arrives around 9:30am on Monday, May 1.

34 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

How did you arrive at the $99.99 figure? Does it include the credit for your unused FAS minutes? If you have used any of those minutes, I don't think you will get any credit unless the  Internet Cafe Manager over-ride the system.

$99.99 is the price listed on my booking if I want to upgrade to the premium service before the cruise. It doesn't mention a credit, but it seems like it should assume I won't use the FAS minutes.  Should I expect a different price onboard?

Thanks for all the information.  We are on a 4 -night with a 75 minute package. To upgrade to the premium right now would be $99.99 each.  I *may* need to be able to do a little bit of work on day 3 or 4.  If I understand correctly, if I use any of my FAS minutes and then want to upgrade, I will have to pay the full 99.99 even if it's the last day?

I just booked for the Encore and have the free-at-sea WiFi included.  I see the ability to add an upgrade for the entire cruise.

1. How do they count a minute?

2. Once I'm onboard, is there any option to upgrade for a single day, or a pro-rated package if you upgrade later in the cruise?  For example, if there's a work emergency and I need a premium connection for just one day, do I have to purchase the whole cruise package?

3. Can you use a single connection to provide a hotspot for multiple devices?

Thank you!

I would seriously look at a car service option of you are going straight between airport and Galveston . The round trip between the port and Texas city is easily 45 minutes with no traffic problems. Plus you will spend time screwing with the rental car both at iah and Texas city. It was probably a fluke, but last year I waited nearly 30 minutes to return my car at Texas city. There was one person working the counter and the customer ahead of me had something weird going on with her rental contact and they spent forever trying to contact the office where she had rented the car, etc.

Also be aware the Texas city location may not always be open the same days as airport locations. It is closed for our departure on July 3rd.

Definitely run the numbers and figure out if the extra hassle is worth the savings . With drop fees, rental cost for a van, gas, and cab fare, you may not save much compared to curb-to-curb service. And make sure you do a reality check on getting that many people and their luggage in a mini-van. For one trip, we had a mini van and a Dodge Dakota pickup for 8 adults and both were crammed to the rafters.

Good luck!

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Hobby is definitely closer. But getting to the port in Galveston is definitely it's biggest disadvantage.

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There is also a lot of options for travel insurance from private companies.

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Check in starts late morning. You will need to choose a time window for check in when you do online forms and online check in. You should be able to drop your bags off by 9:30 or so.

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We used them last summer to go from the port to iah and it was basically fine. Most likely, the RC transfer is on a tour bus and you have to wait for the bus to fill before they go. Galveston express was a van and there was one other couple on the van to with us and they were dropped at hobby on the way to iah. It is a reserved service, so they aren't picking up random people or waiting to fill up before they go. Fwiw, I'm likely to use them again this summer instead of the carnival transfer.

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So I'm on the Freedom and have been in Red Frog several times. What are these frog balls? All I've been offered is dehydrated plantains

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What state does you GD live in? She can get a State ID, usually from the DMV. Some states will issue them then and there, other states need to be mailed.

I'd go with this option if possible. It's usually not very expensive. I brought my son's passport, drivers permit, and school id. Only the passport had been requested. I also made sure I had a signed, notarized letter from my husband with permission top take or son out of the country. Nobody ever wanted it, but easier to have it and not need it than the other way around.

If the child is 16, they are eligible for an adult passport that is good for 10 years. If you think you may travel with them in the future, may be worth helping the parents with the passport cost to keep things simple and avoid issues in the future.

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That is so shameful.

 

Life is full of unexpected twists and turns and things not always going as planned. I am thankful I don't have to share my life with people that can't adapt.

 

I would consider 2 extra cruise days as things going MY way!

 

I'm assuming all of the nasty complaints didn't include NOT having to pay for the extra 2 days of fun, food, lodging and entertainment?

If they don't want to pay the extra tips, then get on the bus! I can understand people being extremely stressed and frustrated by a change that actually affected their return day or location, but nobody on that ship can do a stinking thing about it so blasting them does no good.

If the extra days were the fault of carnival, then I could see expecting the company to eat the cost and cover the tips. But weather happens and they did have an option that would get them home sooner without the added costs.

Today, they did leave the dining room open later than usual for breakfast and put together some activities. Perfectly reasonable adjustments for them to make. The way I see it is that Carnival had nothing to gain trying to force the issue if there was no expectation that the weather would improve dramatically within a couple hours. People were already canceling their shore excursions before the announcement to cancel the stop. It's better have a sea day than a lousy port day trying to force things to continue. As a bonus, we get a couple more hours in cozumel tomorrow since we can get there earlier.

There was a RCCL ship in port as well. I don't know, but I assume they had to cut out too.

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Mother nature had a tantrum and it went from okay at 7:30am to pretty nasty by 8 or so. After everyone being corralled for 45 mins or so waiting to leave, they announced it was not safe for tender operations and cancelled the port stop. I guess several tenders had already left before the weather got bad. I went out on deck the and watched one of the tenders being bounced around trying to get back to ship.

It sucks, but that's the way it goes and at least we have the option of getting out of the yucky weather. I couldn't believe how rude and stupid people could be about it. People were at guest services gripping about getting their refunds for sore excursions before the announcement was even done. Are people truly worried they won't get their money back? Does it really matter if it's 9am today or 9pm tonight when the credit goes on the account? ?

I understand people being disappointed, but I really feel more sorry for all the crew who had their day totally wiped out and have to spend the day working instead of going ashore for a day off. plus all the shore operators who depend on the ship days have it worse than we do!

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This was the original post...it was all about creating a "club" for 18 to 20 year olds. Nothing about a meet and greet, etc.

 

Besides...at what point does Carnival draw the line for meet and greets. If they sponsor one for this age group what about single twenty somethings...or 30 somethings that are wanting to hook up, or seniors who want someone to keep them company.

Carnival (and many cruise lines) host gatherings for all sorts of groups. I am on the Freedom and the schedule from Monday is right here. It includes at least 3 "Your Time" events - friends of Bill w. And Jimmy K, LGBT, and 18+ singles mingle. I know I have also seen something for 40+ singles. So they already offer events for specific demographics. Wouldn't be a big stretch to do something similar for this young adult group and maybe designated one of the little used lounges as a hangout spot for that age. On Freedom, both the Habana Bar and the piano bar are almost always empty.

Not all lines offer something like Club O2, but having a son that age, it is a point of differentiation that makes carnival a desirable choice. Many kids over 18 are still in school, live at home, and travel on family vacations like they always did. I'd guess 90% of the people in that age group on cruises are traveling with their families. There is a potential market there to keep young adults in the cruising population instead of them feeling out of place and looking for other vacation choices (or their entire family may even start looking outside of cruising for vacations).

I think there is nothing wrong with carnival or any line looking at what is valuable to their target market and testing out ways to enhance the experience for those customers. If a young adult club has traction supported by market research, little to lose testing out some ideas.

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So I'm lounging in my cabin on the Freedom around 11pm when the loudspeaker blasts with a "Alpha team" announcement for deck 3. And the evac lights are on in the hallway. I'm on deck 7 and my son is in club O2 on deck 4. I so wanted to go get him. Fortunately, they came back on quickly and told us it was nothing, just steam from the galley set off the smoke detector.

The whole deal makes me want to slap the stupid kids wandering the halls vaping. I have to think the vapors could cause a similar alarm.

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Let's put it this way. I had a rent car that I dropped at Texas city and paid for their shuttle to the terminal. There was another woman in Texas city that they took before me and I waited about 45 minutes for the driver to take their group and return for us. She and I got in line for boarding pictures at the same time.

For me, that 45 minutes of standing in line is worth FTTF.

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We arrived at port in Galveston around 11:30 this morning. The terminal was very full already. But we hit the FTTF line for check in and waited about 5 mins for an available agent and there was basically no other waiting. We were in our cabin by 12:30 and that included stopping at guest services to add my gift cards to my account (also no waiting thanks to FTTF) and stopping to get bottomless bubbles for my son. I think it easily saved us an hour today. I am so glad we were able to snag one!

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You may want to do some looking around on your transport options, because that may affect your choice for where to stay. How are you planning to get around? I found that most shuttles to Galveston are pretty expensive, especially if you only have a couple people.

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We flew into Houston yesterday and we would have likely missed the shop if it was cruise day. It was the first flight of the day for that plane and I could tell from United's info that the plane spent the night in Phoenix. Seems like pretty low risk. However, the flight the night before was several hours later because of Houston weather. Our flight in the morning had to be delayed 1.5 hours so the crew could meet the rest period requirements.

There are very few circumstances where I would consider same day flight for cruise. Mainly that it's a really short haul flight and there are multiple flights that would get there. It's just not worth the stress.

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Thanks for all the input folks. My flight is supposed to arrive around 1pm, so it will probably be about 2 by the time I collect baggage and get a rental car.

I'm inclined to avoid the toll road because of the way Budget charges for toll usage -- $3.95/day for the entire rental plus tolls, even if you only use the toll road for a mile during the entire time you have the car.

Sounds like 610 will probably be the better option by the time I hit the road.

Thanks!!

When I use google maps to get directions, it gives me 2 routes. One goes straight through downtown on 59/69 to I-45 and the other hops off at 610 and goes around the east side to catch I-45 on the south end of Houston. Google claims both are roughly the same distance and travel time

Anybody have experience with these routes that would prefer one over the other? My gut reaction is that the downtown route has to be messier and busier, but I've never been there.

When i asked about gifts on email, he suggested notebooks. In not really sure if that means tablets, spiral notebooks, composition books, or??? I'm also not sure how many to bring. Or add pencils or stickers?

Which itinerary were you on? We leave on Saturday for Roatan, Belize City, and Cozumel. :D

I think I would also prefer it by time. I've always taken the tear-off and marked the things I wanted to do then fill in the gaps as needed. Perhaps they could use different color text to categorize activities, but leave them in time order? I'm not really sure what the categories would be though?