garyh9900

On 2/25/2024 at 10:13 PM, DallasGuy75219 said:

No exceptions* whatsoever, no matter what documentation you have and even if someone is pregnant, in recovery, or allergic to alcohol.  (Just about every situation has been asked about on here over time.)

 

* The only exception is that when one person has Drinks on Us Everywhere from the casino, the other person can buy Cheers because DOU Everywhere is essentially the same as Cheers.

Your mileage may vary on that. My fiancé and I cruised on the Celebration in December. She was about 10 weeks pregnant at the time. We had already purchased the cheers package a few months prior. The evening of the 1st day of cruising she went to guest services and produced her proof of pregnancy from the OB, and asked if she could be refunded for her cheers package. The representative said she would send the request to customer service in Miami. She ordered a Starry the next day, and was charged for it. About 2 weeks later we received the refund for her cheers package.

I sincerely doubt that Carnival would go through the expense and trouble of contracting with Stockperks to handle something that they've always done internally if they planned on getting rid of it in the next year or so. Additionally, I don't think they are really losing much money on the program. Giving you $50 or $100 on board credit isn't really going to cost them that $50 or $100, you are going to use it for something that costs them a quarter of what the face value of whatever it is you are using the OBC for.

On 10/24/2023 at 12:59 PM, chengkp75 said:

 

Let's look at this.  The UN, has set the right to sanitation to be a universal human right.  While both Panama and Bahamas are signatory to the convention, the US has not formally ratified the convention, with the thinking that sanitation is not a basic human right, but a socio-economic one.  So, the major flag states for cruise ships are more forward thinking than the US, with regards to access to sanitation.

Yeah, you may want to do some reading on sanitation in the Bahamian correctional system.  Many prisoners get a bucket for a toilet. 

13 hours ago, Nachosdelux said:

I don't agree that it is an overreaction - the OP states the balcony was unusable.

 

I think Carnival has just given up on enforcement.  They would have to kick off/ban too many people.  Every interaction (security) would be videotaped, posted on social media, and end up being bad press for the company.

 

Your best option is to find a different cruise line, frankly.

Setting an example of a small amount of people by leaving them at the next port may make the masses rethink their propensity for disobeying the rules.

Mojito!!!

Does the bottle count against your 15 overall drinks allowed on the cheers package?

The alcohol on a 3 and 4 day cruise is cheaper than the alcohol served on a 5+ cruise.

We did this itinerary a month ago, we absolutely loved it.  My designated spot is somewhere near the red frog rum bar.  My favorite bartender was a lady from Jamaica, she made some of the best mojitos I've ever had.  It was my 2nd voyage on the elation, but the first one from PC.  When you make Grand Turk go check out Jack's Shack.  The jerk chicken and turks head beer was absolutely great.  The crowds were far less than the beach at the cruise terminal. 

Make your own payment plan.  The cheers package for my wife and I on our last 5 day cruise was around $600.  If I wanted to make a payment plan, I could just buy carnival gift cards whenever I would want to make a payment on the cheers plan, and set it aside until you have enough to pay for cheers.  If you do a little work and research, you'll save 10% as well.

Terminal 5 when we sailed on her 3 weeks ago.

I can confirm my CCDW worked for boarding with my birth certificate.

So I called customer service, and they just state a government issue photo ID, but wouldn’t say that any of my ID’s would or would not work.  So we went to the cruise terminal where they were checking in people for Liberty, after a few radio calls a guest services supervisor comes and looks at my ID’s and says “it shouldn’t be a problem”.  So she didn’t say it won’t be a problem, just that it shouldn’t be.  But she is working the check in for the elation tomorrow, and I told her if I have any problems I am going to have whomever call her.  

So we have made it to Port Canaveral to board the Elation for our cruise tomorrow.  This morning we discovered that I have lost my drivers license.  I have my birth certificate still.  I called carnival and they said I need a government issued photo ID. So my question is what do they consider to be a government issued photo ID? I have my concealed carry license issued by the state of Kentucky with my picture on it. I also have my ID card for my firefighter/paramedic certification license issued by the state with my picture on it as well.  Does anyone have any experience with not having a drivers license?

13 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

And don't forget the quarterly dividend. What is it now? $0.35/per share? I'm trying to talk my wife into getting 100 shares. But for us, we'd only get $100 OBC. But that's better than nothing, to be sure!

Its $0.50(for now anyway), I don't know why I said annual, it is quarterly, it just comes out to $2/year per share.  I rarely invest in individual stocks, I prefer mutual funds, but I do a couple of stocks for companies with shareholder benefits that I otherwise patron such as carnival. 

Now is not a bad time to buy Carnival stock if you have some money just sitting around.  Its been near a 5-year low in the last couple of weeks.  If you are a frequent Carnival cruiser the OBC and annual dividend can end up making it a free investment eventually. 

It appears the Elation is still having problems. They cancelled the port day at Amber Cove and will instead port at Nassau on the current cruise. 

Hopefully the issue is fixed.  From the letter it appears they first though it was an issue they could fix overnight without having to disturb the intended itinerary, but came up short in the repair.  They are currently sailing toward Port Canaveral at a slow 9ish knots per hour.  I'm not sure if they are sailing slow because they want to port on time tomorrow morning and are much closer than they intended to be, or if they are slow because they don't have full power.  I board on 10/19 and expect that any issue will be long resolved by then.

I am on the Elation in a little over 3 weeks, I expect the issue to be more than resolved by that point.  But I really have no idea, just that ships have minor issues all the time, and that the fixes are usually pretty quick.

September 22, 2019

Dear Carnival Elation Guest,

We are experiencing an issue that is affecting our maximum cruising speed. Our team has been working through the night to complete the necessary work. It is now apparent that we will not be able to visit Amber Cove and Grand Turk, as planned. We have been able to secure an overnight stay in Nassau. We will arrive on Monday at 8:00 AM and depart on Tuesday at 8:00 AM.

We know you were looking forward to your time in Amber Cove and Grand Turk and sincerely apologize for this disappointment. We will be posting an onboard credit of US$100.00, per person, to your Sail & Sign® account and extending a 50% future cruise credit so you can come back and enjoy the itinerary you had planned.* Additionally, pre-purchased Carnival excursions along with any difference in taxes, fees, and port expenses will be automatically posted to your Sail & Sign® account.

We’re sure you’ll enjoy the white-sand beaches and balmy breezes Nassau has to offer. Whether you’re shopping in the wide array of stores, sightseeing, or swimming, you’ll be sure to leave with lots of beautiful memories. For fun tours in Nassau, please visit the Shore Excursions desk or the Carnival HUB app.

Once again, we apologize for this unexpected change and thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Captain Gianluca Longhin

We sailed on the Elation September of last year.  We loved it so much we booked another cruise on her for next month.

I can buy the Hero7 Black for $247.49 at the moment.  Anyone know what the onboard price is lately?

I seem to recall Guy's and Blue Iguana are open at their regular hours, but I can't be sure.  I last sailed on Elation 1 year ago, and will sell on her again next month. 

I will be cruising onboard the Elation in October.  I noticed on the funtimes from the same cruise this past June they had a GoPro sales event advertising the ability to purchase the Hero 7 at tax and duty free pricing.  I currently use a GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition as my adventure/diving camera, but have been looking to upgrade.  MSRP on the H7 Black is $399.99 + tax but is currently on sale for $329.99+tax.  Does anyone know the shipboard pricing on the cameras?  I decided to upgrade a week or two ago, but hadn't had the time yet to do it, and I just saw that on the funtimes yesterday and wondered if it would be worth the wait to buy it on the ship. 

Only for exceptional service. Other than that the standard gratuities is what I do.

We drop the bags in the room, then head up for some drinks. I drink fun ships until the mint is distributed, then its mojitos.  So either are a good choice.