Lonely At The Top

So....

theres no way in heck im paying $79.00 for FTTF. And i bought it every cruise i have gone on since its been a thing.

My question is this:

Since they are doing the check in times at the port is it even really worth it anymore?

Is it worth it? Only you can answer that. What if you have a 1:30 - 2:00 checkin time, but you are one of those people thats gotta be first. Is that worth $79 to you? :confused:

Thank you for your reply. So you CAN tip additional in cash.

But if you don't, it is automatically added at end of the cruise, correct?

Yes....For a 7 day cruise, Grats come to about $90 per person (I think its $12.95 per person per day)....You want to tip more, go for it

Its just a great ship. Now, with the 2.0 upgrades, it’s even better. Fantasy class ships are the best kept secrets. No lines for ANYTHING. The cruise snobs on here will discard it because they only sail the “newer and bigger” ships (they typically look down their noses when they declare this [emoji16]). Book it and go, you will be glad you did

Trin -

Thank you for sharing, great job and very objective. I too have found the lines on the bigger ships are a real turnoff. The best kept secret in the Carnival Fleet is the Fantasy/Spirit class ships....Multiple cruises on multiple ships and NEVER a line for anything. My reasoning for that is even tho the ships get bigger, Carnival is not increasing the size of say the comedy venues. Dream class and Vista class hold 3500 - 4000 passengers whereas the Fantasy/Spirit only carry 2000 passengers. So essentially you have twice as many people for the same comedy show or buffet. Go to the Lido deck on a Dream class ship. Bars are 3 deep and not a lounger to be found. Fantasy class, u walk up to any bar at any time of day, never a line. The experience on the smaller/older ships is so much better IMO. As far as MDR dining times, you seem to be a perfect candidate for early seating. Skip the YTD and just go with early and you shouldnt have an issue

Check the big stuff and in your carryon, along with your valuables/meds, keep a pair of pants and collared shirt for dinner. Alot of people on here seem fixated with their luggage. They will be up on the Lido deck, right after embarking and every 10 mins they are running back to the room to check for their luggage....Relax, you are on vacation. Unpacking takes about 37 seconds. Its not a big deal.

I do not mean walking in barefoot with a bathing suit, I meant casual cargo shorts and a nice tee shirt?

 

Or do you need slacks and a collared shirt?

 

Need some help

From the Carnival website:

Main Dining Room(s)

Following is the dress code in the Main Dining Room(s) for both men and women and pertains to children as well:

Cruise Casual Dress Code

• Men: sport slacks, khakis, Jeans (no cut-offs), dress shorts (long) and collared polo shirts
  
• Women: summer dresses, casual skirts, pants, capris, dress shorts, Jeans (no cut-offs) blouses and tops
  
• Not permitted: Cut-off Jeans, men’s sleeveless shirts, tee-shirts, gym or basketball shorts, baseball hats, flip-flops and bathing suit attire
  

Cruise Elegant Dress Code

• Men: dress slacks, dress shirts, and we also suggest a sport coat; men may also wish to wear a suit and tie or tuxedo
  
• Women: Cocktail dresses, pantsuits, elegant skirts and blouses; ladies may also wish to wear an evening gown
  
• Not permitted: Jeans, men’s sleeveless shirts, shorts, tee-shirts, sportswear, gym or basketball shorts, baseball hats, flip-flops and bathing suit attire
  

How strict are they on the cruises these days concerning sharing drinks with spouse and kids(18+)? Went on cruise 3 years ago on Dream and the waiters and servers did not care that my 18 yr old was drinking if they ever noticed in first place with all the kids and crowds on ship. He could not get drinks himself but no one came up to him to ask for his ID or anything. If they did see or catch you handing a drink to wife or kid, would anyone really stop you and cancel your cheers package? I know maybe they can but have you seen it or experienced it personally?

i seriously doubt it would land you in the brig or get you kicked off the ship. I have seen it one time where the guy standing next to me ordered a drink, turned and handed it to a young female (i can only assume it was his daughter, because if it was his wife, they would both need the Cheers program). The guy did it blatantly in front of the bartender. The bartender said to him "Sir, you cannot share your drinks under the Cheers program, please do not do that again". The bartender was actually pretty stern in his tone, which you dont normally see from the crew talking to passengers....As far as feeding your underage kid alcohol is a whole other discussion, as well as trying to get around the rules. To your point, i dont think its that hard to share your drinks with others if a tad bit of discretion is used. Hows that?

i dont know about that particular room. I will say i have had rooms below the bars, galley, dining rooms, lido deck, etc and never heard anything loud enough to wake me up. Every once in awhile you get the little snowflake running thru the halls screaming, but that isnt a room location issue, that is a lack of parental issue

I was wondering, the Cheers program when departing from New York Ports, doesn't go in effect until 6am the next morning. You aren't charged for the first night. But are you charged for the last day when you arrive in Port?

 

Thanks,

No....For example, if you are taking a Sat-Sat cruise out of NY....Cheers doesnt kick in until Sunday at 6 am. You are only charged for 6 days. So in theory your Cheers package ends at 6 am on the Sat of your debarkation

Can I use those AARP gift cards online to book it, or do I can we only use those gift cards once on the ship

I dont typically use GC's, but i am sure someone will weigh in with that answer shortly

i have never seen a discount for Cheers. As you mentioned, if you book it prior to sailing its $51.95 pppd. On board its $56.95 pppd

We are not big drinkers per say and if needed, together thewife and I could finish off 14 or so drinks from the afternoon through thenight combined, at the most. So if theyallowed us to buy one Cheers package it would be worth it, two and it starts toget more complicated.

 

We leave at 5:00 PM, so we may have a few drinks that nightfor sure. The next two days are at sea,that’s where we may do our most drinking. Turks until 3:00, 8 hours at Half Moon Cay and Freeport till 2:00, thena sea day and then off the boat on day 7 at 10:00. It seems most of our drinking would be on thethree days we are at sea.

 

However, my wife thinks maybe it is worth it because it alsoincludes soda, other coffees and drinks along with bottled water and soon. Still, $830.00 for the two of us issteep.

 

Recommendations if we should go for it or not?

 

We did discuss getting two Cheers cards and splitting itwith another couple coming with us, so my wife would give her the card. Thoughts on this?

Cheers can not be shared (not lecturing you, didnt know if you were aware of that). So essentially you would be giving your traveling buddies your S&S card. You probably dont want to do that. The limit is 15 alcoholic drinks from starting at 6 am. You each dont have to drink 15 drinks to break even....it works out to 6-7 umbrella drinks or 7-8 beers. So even on port days you are having 1-2 umbrella drinks, maybe 2-3 glasses of wine at dinner....2 bottles of water, 2 sodas, maybe a powerade and a specialty coffee or 2, you will most likely break even....Now for the people that only have maybe 2 or 3 cocktails per day, then Cheers probably isnt worth it. Its ok to use the "pay as you go" plan of attack. I have had Cheers on cruises and I have paid as I go and to be honest for me, I am usually relatively close to paying the same amount

i would recommend as soon as you board, go to Guest Services and see if there have been any cancellations

No, I don't. It's good business for them. I get it. I am simply saying that if they would have a smoke-free cruise that would NOT mean they wouldn't make money in the casino.

 

At this point I would settle for 1) smokers to only do so in designated areas and 2) Carnival to get better filtration systems for the casino (having a "smoke free" area in there is a joke.)

I would disagree. If they would make a profit, then there would be more “No Smoking” cruises. I agree that the cruise lines are all about making money, so it should tell you something why they are not accommodating the 85-90% of the population who don’t smoke.

Along with smoking restrictions, I wish something could be done by the clueless people who bathe themselves in perfume/cologne. That annoys my sense of smell much worse than cigarette/cigar/pipe smoke

I would gamble if it weren't so smoky. If they had a better ventilation system I might spend more time there. I do drink plenty on the ship without smoking. And nobody has suggested to ban smoking on all cruises.

Let me ask this, on the vast majority of ships, maybe even all of them, where is the only indoor area that you can smoke? The casino. Why do you think that is? Coincidence? [emoji848]

??? I have yet to read anywhere on CC where someone suggested doing away with it completely. All I’ve seen are those who want the small percentage who break the rules and smoke on their balconies to smoke in designated areas.

Post #29

And just to expound upon that point, Carnival also states that they changed their policy because only 10% of their cruisers smoke. That was back in 2014.

 

 

 

“Why did Carnival change its smoking policy?

 

Given that nearly 90 percent of our guests are non-smokers, we wanted to have our shipboard experience align with today’s guest preferences. We constantly monitor all of our shipboard policies and solicit guest feedback to make sure we stay up to date with consumers’ vacation wants and needs.

Wouldn’t you say 90% of the area on a ship is smoke free? Some people seem very selfish and want to do away with it totally.

According the CDC only 15.5% of the USA smokes now. Maybe they should try it again.

Studies show that smokers tend to drink and gamble more than non smokers....why would a cruise line essentially cut out 16% of the population when they don’t have to?

going from an inside to OV for $100....thats a home run

It depends on what you enjoy....I have had both and can say for me personally, the balcony experience wears off about about 10 mins. I go with the OV as i do not like interiors. Some people really feel like the balcony is an integral part of their cruise vacation. If you never had a balcony, i would recommend trying it at least once so you know if its something you really enjoy or if its something you really dont care about

I think the typical email naming convention that Carnival uses is firstinitialLastname@carnival.com. Is anyone elses PVP different than that?

 

I do think it's weird that you're getting calls from 2 different people. Once you get a PVP only that PVP should be calling you.

i concur that it is the first initial, last name at carnival dot com....Obviously will have a Carnival signature and logo (i get that is easy enough for the unscrupulous to copy)....best bet is to call the toll free number and request a PVP

Looking at two possible cruises for Thanksgiving- the Breeze out or Orlando for 7 days or the Miracle out of Tampa for 8 days.

 

The miracle is about $350 dollars less and gets 1 more day and 1 more port. The Breeze has all of the latest bells and whistles. We have 2 younger children (8 and 5) and they like the waterpark, slides, guys burgers, blue iguana, etc- some of the things that the Miracle seems to like. We have been on the Magic and loved it. We have never been on the Miracle or her sister ships.

 

The value seems much better on the Miracle but I am concerned about the age of the ship, condition and lack of upgrades.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both ports are about the same distance for us and we have been to almost all of the ports on both itineraries.

 

I would like to hear everyone's thoughts as to what they would recommend and what people's experiences have been on the Miracle.

I dont know if you are aware, but on the Carnival website, you can actually do a side by side comparison of the ships....to your point, the Breeze has much more as far as food options and the Waterworks Park for the kids. Breeze also has the Dive in Movies and Thrill Theatre where the Miracle doesnt....So you basically have on one hand "all the bells and whistles" and on the other hand you have "$350 cheaper and an additional day"....So, just my opinion, if it was just me and the wife, i would take the Miracle....if I had little ones, i would go for the bells and whistles so they would be entertained....just my 2 cents

If i could afford it i would. How awesome would that be to have that suite

It was not my intent to imply you couldnt afford it, my apologies if you took it that way. I would think that for 2 people, why would you want to book a suite for 5. That was just my train of thought

For 2 guests, why would you book the Captains Suite? overkill? The Junior Suite is designed for 2 guests, wouldnt that be best suited for a couple that wanted a suite?