CH5220

3 hours ago, pdobrynski said:

The first night our group (5) ate at Solarium Bistro

Did you need to go to Solarium Bistro earlier that day and make a reservation, or did your group just show up and got seated?

We've taken cruises in March for 3 of the last 4 years during our kids Spring Breaks. We did 1 on Royal, 1 on NCL, and 1 on Carnival. We're doing another one this March and decided to do Royal again mostly for all of the things for kids to do.

But among the three, the most fun we had on all three was on NCL Escape, mostly just because my wife and I loved the open air nightclub on the back of the boat each night and the parties they had there. It was much better than anything else to do at night on Carnival or Royal. The lines at the bars on NCL were frustrating though, since everyone has free alcohol package the bars are always crowded. 

Besides the nightlife, the free lunches (bbq, guys burgers, mexican) were the best thing about Carnival, and Royal had the most activities for kids.

We ran into the same problem for our Oasis cruise in March. Most of the MTD reservations we got were for around 7pm, which was fine for the nights we booked shows at 9:45 or 10. But a couple of the nights the show reservations we got were for 8:15 and 8:30. I just figured on those two nights we'd either just get a bunch of apps at dinner then rush over to the show, or try to get an earlier reservation at Solarium Bistro or a specialty restaurant those nights.

On 11/7/2019 at 6:15 PM, soremekun said:

They are testing ordering food from your phone and having it delivered to many areas around the ship.

We had this on the Carnival Horizon and it was great. You could get a pizza delivered to you anywhere on the ship for $5, which was very convenient sitting by the pool when my kids were hungry and the pizza lines were very long, which was pretty much all the time since they basically cooked each individual pizza to order. 

On the app you would select the area of the ship you were sitting, and just describe yourself someway, like the hat you were wearing.

I wonder if this will help watching the NCAA Tournament. We're always on cruises every year during the tournament since it is during our kids spring break each year, and outside the US the tournament is on ESPN instead of the CBS channels like in the US. But we've only had the main ESPN channel on cruise ships before so they'd constantly change from one tournament game to another on that one channel. Hopefully getting some of the other ESPN channels will mean we can see more tournament games.

5 minutes ago, MrsKC08 said:

We just booked the 3 night dining for our November Harmony cruise. We were debating on the unlimited dining package at the price it is currently listed at, but since we are traveling with my dad and didn't want to leave him without dinner companions most of the cruise, we opted for the 3 night which is perfect for us and a great compromise. Personally, we feel the $99/pp fee a deal, especially since there is no 18% grats included. We've wanted to try Izumi for a while and Chops is always a favorite of ours (those scallops are to die for).

Not sure if you mean Izumi hibachi or the Izumi sushi, but I know the 3 night package does not include hibachi, at least it didn't when I checked a few months ago. Not sure if it includes Izumi sushi though.

Does anyone know if these three-night packages include hibachi? Or is it like the unlimited dining package and include pretty much everything except hibachi?

41 minutes ago, gonole1972 said:

The difference:  People get on Carnival to get as drunk as they can as fast as the can - RCCL cruisers get on to have a cocktail, relax, and unwind.

I used to think this was the case, but for us that was not our experience during spring break weeks. The last three years during our kids' spring break weeks in March each year, we did Norwegian Escape, then a smaller RC ship I can't remember the name, then just did Carnival Horizon a few weeks ago. Our experience was that the NCL and RC had many more college kids, and the Carnival had many more families.

My theory is that the college kids don't do Carnival for spring break since the drink package has 15 drink limit vs unlimited on NCL and RC, but not sure if that is really why. My wife and I are 40 and still like to party a bit at night so we actually enjoyed the cruises with more college kids, and found the pools during the day to be a little boring on Carnival with nothing but families just sitting around. We're booked for Symphony next March so we're hoping it will be a little more lively than the Carnival Horizon.

Are the blackout dates typically the same for the different sales? The KSF is blacked out during our planned Symphony cruise for spring break in March 2020, hopefully a 25% off everyone sale won't be since it is not a sale geared towards kids.

5 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

Finding the perfect TA is the key point.  I have yet to find this person. I have booked with my warehouse club for the first time. They were offering  $250 dollars which is usually given in the form of gift card to the store. This time it was for OBC so I figured it was worth a try. I tried calling my booking agent several times and have not spoken to her since I booked over a year ago. I got a voice mail message every time no matter what day or time I called. I wound up just waiting on hold for the next available person to make payments or to ask a question. It was no different than speaking to several different cruise line representatives. The price was the same as Royal Caribbean. It was fine for me because I am experienced but I wouldn't recommend using them for any type of service. They are not going to be the ones that go to bat for you If the cruise line screws up. The last time that I had a real travel agent that gave service was before the internet.   Now anyone can be a travel agent and work out of their garage  or basement doing most bookings for relatives and friends. Those are the agents who have time to call to let you know that the price of your cruise has dropped. I have found that all of the big on line agencies  operate the same. My son and I used two different online agencies. However we discovered that the call back numbers were the same which brought me to the conclusion that it's just one big call center.

I just booked for a 3/21/20 cruise on Symphony with a warehouse club. For the specific rooms we wanted, 2 interior adjoining rooms for 4 people, it actually saved us about $700 from the RC website price. They said they had a small block of rooms with 6 rooms left that fit what we wanted. You don't have to be a club member either to book with them.

Our friends that wanted adjoining balcony rooms on the same cruise called the same travel agent for the warehouse club, but for them it was the same price as the RC website since they didn't have any balcony rooms in their block. So sometimes the warehouse clubs are cheaper if they have rooms in a block, otherwise the prices are about the same as the RC website. 

Our booking shows up when I login to my RC account now, so it seems at least at this point to be the same as far as managing the booking from this point forward.

I know the specialty dining restaurants have free smaller meals for lunches, but I wasn't sure if that was the case on the first day when you board the ship?

I thought this was strange too when we booked Horizon for our spring break cruise next week. We booked last summer so there were plenty or rooms on every deck, so it had nothing to do with demand for rooms with 3/4 beds. We are two adults and two kids, and it was basically the same price to get two adjoining rooms with 2 of us in each room, as it was to pack all four of us in one room. I think it was like $100 more. If they had any decent discount for our kids, we would have put all four of us in one room, and they could have made a few grand selling the second room. Very strange pricing model, but we're happy to be getting the extra space and privacy of a second room for only about $100.

1 hour ago, coevan said:

 

 

If you don't show up there is no charge. The Steakhouse is billed like a land restaurant. You don't get a bill until your done. 

This is correct, but just FYI in case they're thinking about doing that for other reservations, I do believe that the hibachi place does charge $25 if you cancel within 24 hours. But I'm pretty sure that is the only one.

We just booked the Horizon for March, and we were struggling making the same decision. We are going with our two kids though, and for the 4 of us it ended up being slightly cheaper to get two interior adjoining rooms than one balcony room, so having double the space and an extra bathroom made up for not having a balcony.

It is so funny how different people on the exact same cruise could have such different opinions. In the review section of this website someone that was on the same cruise as you just posted a horrible review of the exact same sailing. Some people have a good time regardless of any small issues, and some people let a handful of small issues ruin their good time.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=622875

We just reserved Carnival Horizon for 3/17/19, which is the first week of the NCAA basketball tournament. We went on a NCL cruise this same week a few years ago and it was difficult to watch the games on the ship. When the cruise started out of Miami we couldn't watch any of the games since they were on CBS/TBS/TNT which weren't available on the ship, but after a couple of days into the cruise when we were closer to the Caribbean they started showing the games on the ESPN channels, which I'm guessing had the international rights to show the tournament.

Anyone been on a Carnival cruise lately during the NCAA tournament remember how easy it was to catch the games?

Thanks