Haveuseen1

Details:

5 Day Cruise on the Carnival Elation from Port Canaveral

Visiting Amber Cove & Grand Turk.  Departing Saturday 9/21/19.

Faster to the Fun 

No Cheers Package

Flew to Orlando from Nashville on Friday 9/20 on Delta.  (187.00 Round trip.)

Rented car from National for one way rental, dropping off at the location right at the port. ( Free Rental due to the loyalty program )

Stayed the Night at Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach.  ( 240.00 )

Here we go:

We checked 2 bags in Nashville, and the flights were short and uneventful.  Got caught up on Season 6 of Blacklist on the flights.  

Landed at MCO around 330pm, picked up rental ( 2019 Malibu with 286 miles ).

Met up with another couple and headed to the Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach.

Smooth ride with two toll booths.  I think the tolls combined were under 3.00.

Checked in and met up with the 3rd couple.  Hotel was nice and clean, and has exterior doors for those of you who care about that sort of thing.  I thought the price was a little high, but it is, what it is, and it worked out just fine.  They do offer a park and cruise package, which we did not participate in.  There was quite the crowd in the lobby on Saturday morning and Cocoa Beach Express is who they use for the shuttle.

It was time to eat dinner so we headed to 4th Street Filling Station ( which is a neat place ) for cold beers and good food.  They have an awesome charcuterie board (24.00 ) which is enough for 6 adults.  Food is good, service is good, and beer is cold. I found a wallet from a previous customer on the ground, and turned it in to the hostess.  I sure hope they got it back to them.

The rest of the evening was a trip to the liquor store and Publix for some forgotten items, and then a good nights sleep.

Excellent.  I am on the Elation and got a letter although my letter does not mention anything about an issue with maximum speed.  I asked a few crew members and they said for our safety.

either way little disappointed in not going to AC and GT, but having a wonderful time and Nassau will be great.

thanks 

Anyone know why?

Going to do an overnight in Nassau. 

As of yesterday Cocoa Beach Shuttle was 29.00 from MCO to Cocoa Beach Hotel ( as a One Way trip ).  No idea if there is a "group" rate.

I make these types of decisions every day and it is much easier than you might expect.  The answer to the question is simple. Cut absolutely anything that you can to increase your profits, while maintaining and improving the quality of the experience for the majority.  People complain most about the "exceptions to the rule" .  If the issue is not an issue that most people have a problem with, then guess what.  It is not an issue.  You have 2500 people on a ship.  If 50 complain about the butter who cares.  If 1251 complain about the butter, then there is a problem.  If 200 people complain because they dont like the new menu, but 2300 people dont complain there is not a problem.  The truth is you cant make some people happy any of the time.  I always like to ask how much of a pay cut are you willing to take at your job so that the product that your company produces can provide a better experience for the end user?

Seems like Guys Burgers should be open.

Wondering if you can buy a bottle at the duty free in Amber Cove and take it to your Cabana?  

Buy a rod tube.  Best way to go and not expensive. Pack the reel or reels in your luggage.

I have not seen anything about this.  Thank you.

Excellent and thank you.

I am sure I am overthinking this.

Arriving Grand Turk @ 8am

Departing Grand Turk @ 4pm

Does that mean the ship pulls away from the dock @ 4pm, and that I will need to be back on the ship at 3pm?

I dont see the option for an "Ultimate Snorkel through Carnival.  

Amazing ATV & Snorkel

Catamaran & Snorkel

Rays, Conch, & Reef Snorkel

Reef, Rays, & Beach Snorkel

Power Snorkel, Rays, & Rum

Two Reef Snorkel and Beach

Snuba

And thanks everyone for the feedback.

I would buy some "Fishbites" to use for bait. Simple, very portable, and easy to pack.  Plus they work quite well.  There are a lot of restaurants that are on the water that you can bring your catch and they will cook it for you. This is quite common anywhere around the Gulf Of Mexico, and the Eastern shore.  The first tuna I caught we took it back to a restaurant and they prepared it a variety of ways.  It was amazing.

So if I was going to bring fishing gear, I would bring a spinning rod/reel, a few pompano rigs, a few weights, fishbites, and some pliers. I would do Catch & Release because of the ease.  But if you wanted to get it cooked, I would reach out to some of the beach side restaurants before you leave on your trip to see if they would accomodate, and I bet they would.  If you get to port early enough you could catch some fish, and have them for lunch before returning to the ship.  That could make for a really memorable day.

Dont forget you may need a license, and good luck!

The details:

Carnival Elation

Grand Turk - Only ship in Port that day-8am arrival 4pm departure

Snorkel Excursion

Trying to decide between the Carnival Excursion, the Papa J Tour excursion, or Exclusive Escape excursion.

The Papa J ( Triple Play 95.00 ) 

Departs @ 10am  lasts 4hrs.

Exclusive Escape (  Supreme Snorkel 115.00 ) 

Departs @ 9am lasts 3.5-4hrs

Carnival excursion ( Ray, Conch & Reef  80.00 ) 

Departs @ 9am lasts for 2.5hrs

My thoughts are that the Carnival excursion would be more crowded due to the price difference, and the concern about being left behind.  Having never done a snorkel excursion with Carnival, does anyone have any feedback on the crowd?  Anyone ever use Papa J or Exclusive Escape?  Seems that the two Non-Carnival excursions just leave from the beach to the left of the pier. I dont mind paying more for the excursion, but would like it to be a better experience.  

I have been watching the port page and there just is not a lot of posting going on.

Any help would be great and thank you.

I thought we might want to compliment how well Carnival handled the relocation of Tropical Storm Barry and the Valor.  I am sure the passengers were all frustrated from the butter tubs, the lack of straws, not being able to share their Cheers drinks, the long lines at the buffet, the chair savers around the pool, the lack of pencils in the rooms, the the charging for certain room service items, the delivery fee, and I am sure I missed a dozen other things.

The good news is, it seems that they did a great job of moving passengers to/from Mobile & New Orleans over a weather issue that they had absolutely no control of. From what I saw on the news it all went as well as it could.

Way to go Carnival.

Looks like we will be at GT in September on the Elation, and the only boat in port.  That being said we are looking to do a snorkeling excursion and are having difficulty deciding on which one.

Hoping you can share some of your experiences.

If we book through Carnival our options are:

Ray, Conch, and Reef

Reef, Rays, and Beach

Power Snorkel, Rays, Lunch, Rum, and Beach

Snuba

Two Reef Snorkel and Beach

Our initial thought was to snorkel in the morning and then head to Jacks Shack for lunch, and then back to the boat.  But we are open to suggestions that you can share from your experiences.

Thanks

What are we going to do about the bed sheets and pillows. Who knows what has been going on with those things.  I guess we could all just bring our own.  Not sure if I can fit a toilet seat in my carryon, but it might be worth looking into as well.

Lets talk about the food in "fine dining restaurants" or any restaurant.  Honestly, what you believe to happen in the kitchen and the reality of what actually happens in the kitchen are far apart.  Just because you believe a fine restaurant wouldnt do something, doesnt make it real. They still have the same cost saving measures in place, and if you dont think they cut corners here and there, you are fooling yourself.

Just read your local Health Department ratings, or watch some of the TV shows where they rehab a restaurant.

The whole straw thing is a feel good measure.  People still eat sea turtles in a number of locations around the world.  Maybe the real idea behind the straws is to make food more readily available for these places?  Creating a food source for people who may otherwise have issues getting food on a regular basis is a noble cause.  That I can support.

We ( qty of 2 ) will fly into MCO  ( September ) on Friday around 4pm.  Booking a hotel in the Cape Canaveral / Cocoa Beach area.  Trying to figure out a good way to get to the hotel.  Looked at a one way rental and that looks to be around 100.00 +/- a little ( Gas, taxes, one way fee ).  Checked Uber and the estimate says 60.00 but I have found that Uber estimates can be way off.  Anyone had any experience doing this ? If so can you share what you did? How it went? Suggestions?

One thing that Americans have a hard thing understanding is that Tipping is predominately an American thing.  I go to Italy a number of times a year and several other  European countries ( for work ) .  Tipping is NOT the custom there.  It is funny because I have seen it done several times where a waiter/waitress will prey on an American tourist for a tip because they know the American culture supports it.  All of that to say, I am guessing Carnival is a US owned company and therefore promotes tipping the workers.  I wonder if European Owned Cruise ship companies ( if there are any ? ) promote tipping?  I dont mind tipping, and I do the prepaid tip thing and just consider it as part of the overall cost.

You will see that moving from a disposable society to a "reuse/recycle" society is going to raise prices. It cost more to recycle an aluminum can than it does to make a new one.  Glass recycling is the most expensive and why many cities just dont do it.

 Straws are you kidding me???  I was just in South Carolina and was at the Isle of Palms beach. Did not see a single straw washed up on the beach and went for really long beach walks. I was also at Folly beach, not a single straw.  I did see the Carnival Sunshine docked at port.  I spend a higher than average number of days on Gulf beaches, and honestly dont remember ever seeing straws washed up on the beaches.  I do find a number of metal tent spikes from the pop up tents, a large number of bottle caps, a good number of caprisun type drink pouches, a good number of matchbox cars, quite a few corkscrews and crushed aluminum cans.

These are all just feelgood things. You can say, well we have to start somewhere.  I agree, but lets look at starting somewhere that will make a difference.

I would just be pleased that they gave a heads up and provided the opportunity to adjust your plans accordingly.  That sounds like a win to me.

After using the drink calculator, we have decided to do the following. We are going to purchase 400.00 in Carnival Gift Cards using the AARP discount so our cost will be 360.00. We are then going to add the 400.00 to our S&S card, with our credit card as a backer.  Seems like about the best we can buy Cheers for would be roughly 548 using AARP gift cards.  If we end up going over the 548 then we know to buy Cheers next time.  If we go under the 548 then we made the right decision.  At the end, if we have money left from the gift cards on the S&S then we can use the Casino to cash them out.

I will say that if I were to use the AARP 10% discount gift cards towards the early purchase of Cheers, knocking another 10% off the 613.00 ( 61.30 ) bringing the price down to 551.70 that does sound much better. That is what keeps me waivering back and forth.  I figure I will be awake on the ship roughly 61 hours.  Which means we need to drink $9.04/hr of assorted beverages to break even at 551.70.  Can I buy cheers with gift cards???

We have a 5 day cruise in September coming up and went back and forth on if we should purchase Cheers.  We have 2 port days that are pretty much full days.  Day one depart @ 3pm, Day 2 is a sea day and would be a good day to drink, Day 3 full port day ( 8 hours ), Day 4 full port day ( 8 hours ), Day 5 sea day, good day to drink, and head home @ 830am the next morning.  We just didnt think we would drink 613.00 worth of any combination on the boat in that time.  I think i would look at every cruise and cruiser as a unique situation to make the best decision.

Thank you for all the help.  Looks like she will be just fine.