mike4goa

4 hours ago, lazydayz said:

Don’t miss the sail under the Skyway bridge.  Very cool.

 

if you like comedy or production shows, go early to get seats.

 

if you need a hotel room before or after the cruise, book it now. With so much flooding after the hurricane, occupancy and room rates are very high.  

Thanks!  We do have a room reserved at the Hampton Inn.  We are looking forward to the family friendly comedy shows.  

15 hours ago, Crew News said:

As a many-time Alaska cruiser in May, my outside outerwear clothing & accessories list includes:

• MERRELL Goretex Moab 3 low-cut hiking shoes
• Under Armour 1.0 lightweight long underwear
• Columbia mid-thigh water repellent jacket w/removable hood, deep pockets, and fleece liner removed
• Cardigan sweater to replace jacket liner (easier to remove or unbutton)
• Poncho to keep your camera dry during heavy rain if the camera is too big to fit in your jacket pocket
• Backpack to keep your poncho, extra socks, and removed clothing layers as temps rise
• Rechargeable hand warmers for cold hands and to keep spare camera batteries warm
• Photographer gloves (index and thumb ends can be folded back to make camera adjustments)
• Muffler
• Stocking cap
• Long-sleeve polo shirts
• Portable camera and phone charger w/cables
• Compact binoculars (8X32)
• Snacks and filled water bottle
• Ship washcloth to dry your camera/glasses
• Camera with spare batteries and memory cards

 

Make all of the above clothing purchases in late February-March when the winter sales begin for big savings..

Thanks for your reply!!  Binoculars are one thing we wish we would have had on our trip out west to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park this past June and we just recently were discussing the fact that we need to purchase some before the Alaskan cruise. 

3 minutes ago, TPG40 said:

Use the VIP parking option at the port in Tampa if you’re driving in. I think it’s an extra $20, but very much worth the money.

Thanks but we are flying from Indianapolis. 

11 hours ago, Dancing Shoes said:

We like North Face jackets that are waterproof.  They are thin and pack well.  For keeping feet dry Merrell makes a nice Gortex hiker shoe for men and women.  We take stocking hats, sunglasses, gloves and long underwear that can double as a shirt.  I also have this backpack I found that is waterproof that I got in Yellowstone when I forgot my usual one.  Oh, and we have these pants that are waterproof shells that I use for skiing.  Brand is Marmot.

Thanks!! We don't have a place near us to shop for a nice jacket like you mention so will have to order one online.  Some suggestions will make our search a bit easier.  

59 minutes ago, mz-s said:

The Paradise is one of the oldest/smallest cruise ships afloat right now. So you're starting off with basically how cruising used to be 30 years ago. If you have a good time on her, it's all upside from there. 

Hopefully we enjoy cruising as we have already booked a seven day Alaskan cruise next June.  It is on the NCL Bliss which I believe will hold around twice as many passengers as the Paradise.  

M wife and I will be embarking on our first ever cruise the second week of November on the Paradise (with balcony room)  and wonder if anyone who has been on the ship has any ship specific advice for us. Best time/place to eat?  Any favorite menu items?  Is there a nice view from the gym?  Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 

My wife and I have a seven day Alaskan cruise booked through NCL next May 31st-June 7th.  This will be our first cruise to Alaska and have some clothing questions. Our main question is concerning jackets as we have been doing some research on the cruise and have seen multiple recommendations for wearing a jacket that is water/rainproof, hooded, and has layers that can be removed depending on temperature.  We were hoping maybe some of you who have been there could recommend a brand or style of jacket that would be convenient.  Sounds like the weather and temps can change quite a bit from day to day or even during a day so any clothing suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 

I have yet another question for you cruise veterans.  As I have been researching our upcoming cruise I have read some articles and posts that mention a certain dress code for the main dining room but I can't seem to find anything concerning that topic on the Carnival website. We were planning to follow the advice and tips so many seem to suggest and "pack light" but if we need to dress nicer to eat dinner in the dining room in the evening we would need to pack quite a bit more as far as dressier clothes and nicer shoes.  We were hoping to pack light with just one large suitcase, a smaller carry on suitcase and a backpack but would probably need more luggage if we have to take a couple nicer outfits and shoes.  Any thoughts on this would be appreciated!

7 minutes ago, BBGrace273 said:

I would still look into having a supplemental medical policy. Since you won your trip, you don't need to worry about the "trip reimbursement" portion of a travel insurance policy. That means you could find a relatively inexpensive one that just covers major medical. Being a scuba diver, I can attest to the thousands of dollars people have had to pay for an air lift off a ship in an emergency. The chance of something terrible happening is miniscule, but the cost if it does can be astronomical.

I think we will, I see Carnival offers it but is there another company you would recommend?  We put a deposit on an Alaskan cruise for next summer and did purchase the travel insurance through NCL.

12 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Wow!  Congrats!  

Tampa is an easy-to-navigate port.  One of the cool things about it is that you'll sail under a bridge going out to sea -- you'll hit it about two hours after sail-away.  

I've never been to Bimini, but Nassau is a difficult port -- an awful lot of cruisers would describe it as the bottom of the barrel because of the crowds, the pushiness, and the general sketchiness.  It doesn't seem to be the best place for interesting food.  You can walk to the pirate museum -- maybe that's the kind of historical tour that interests you.  

As for chairs /umbrellas, be aware that they usually cost money -- you'll probably either need to pay for resort access or rent chairs /umbrella on a public beach.  

I don't doubt what you learned through your call was true -- but, for a cruise, it was incomplete: Cruise insurance also includes lost luggage and evacuation insurance.  Thoughts on this topic: 

- Personally, we don't care about lost luggage because we drive to the port and manage our own bags; since you're flying, your level of concern might vary depending upon whether you're checking luggage or flying with carry-ons only. 

- On the other hand, we care a great deal about evacuation insurance.  The chances of becoming sick /injured are quite small, but -- if it were to happen -- being evacuated back to the US could be expensive enough to be life-altering.  

- If you buy cruise insurance through the cruise line you're covered for EVERYTHING -- health, luggage, evacuation, and it's fairly expensive.  If you buy through a third party company, you can pick-and-choose the coverage you want.  We just paid about $40 for my husband and I for health + evacuation insurance.  Our adult daughter had to have her own policy, and because she's in her 20s, her policy was something like $7. 

 

That brings to mind another topic:  You absolutely need to arrive a day ahead of time.  This board is united on few things, but this is one of them.  By arriving a day ahead (even if you don't land until 9:00 at night) and staying in a hotel near the port, you'll assure yourself that you won't fall victim to a travel delay.  It also means you can wake up refreshed with only a short trip to the port -- instead of being tired from your flight.  

Nassau is the poster child for sketchy.  We personally like to spend cash OR Visa gift cards only.  If your credit card were to be stolen, it'd be a pain to work it out; whereas, if you buy yourself a $50-100 Visa gift card, what you could potentially lose is limited.  

We have a misunderstanding here: 

- Juice is available in all breakfast venues at no cost.  

- Fresh squeezed juice (who needs a juice upgrade?) does cost about $5.  

- Juice is not necessarily available later in the day, but you can pick up an extra glass at breakfast and store it in your stateroom's refrigerator.  

Booking your own excursions is not only cheaper, you'll be in a smaller group and will almost certainly have a superior experience.  

We've never been on Carnival, but I don't think they have self-serve machines.  You can send laundry out, but I personally think it's too expensive.  As you say, on a five-day cruise, you probably don't need to do laundry.  Thoughts:   

- Pack 2-3 shirts for every pair of shorts, and wear only "on their last wear" shorts to island stops, where you're going to get sweaty. 

- For a five night cruise, my husband'd pack one pair of nice pants + 3 dress shirts for dinner.  

Again, I've never sailed Carnival, but on other lines it's easy to pick up a glass of ice water in the buffet or other small food venues -- yes, people carry them around the ship.  

If you want to bring a (wide mouthed) bottle, you can pour glasses into the plastic bottles.  

 

 

Thanks so much for all of your thoughts and suggestions!!  We purchased a walking tour package through Carnival for Nassau.  It is 1 1/2 hours and has great reviews.  Our thought was this would be a good way to see some of the highlights and at least somewhat learn our way around.  After the tour we can decide if we want to stay in Nassau or head back to the boat and enjoy it while there are far less people on board.  

As far as arriving early, we are flying into Tampa from Indy early on Sunday morning while the cruise leaves Monday afternoon so we should have plenty of time to allow for any delays.  And, after hearing from so many of you veterans I do think we will get travel insurance.  (Just last week we booked a seven day Alaskan cruise through NCL and purchased it for both of us.) 

I also just went in to our Carnival account and cancelled my bottomless bubbles package as I didn't understand that juice is available for free for breakfast and that is all I was concerned about.  Again, thanks so much, you folks on here have been super helpful and patient with us first timers. 

Thanks for all of the replies to my original post.  I have a couple more questions I hope some of you could help with.  First, what about laundry on the cruise?  It is only a five day cruise so I don't necessarily think we would need to do laundry but what are the options if we do?  Do the ships have a laundromat for guests?  The other question concerns water, I realize water will be free and available at restaurants and bars etc but I'm assuming you don't get plastic bottles so what do you do for water at the pool or gym or while you are hanging out on the deck?  I don't imagine they want you taking glasses of water all around the ship and those would be difficult to not spill as well.  I'm sure these are probably silly questions for you who have been on a cruise or two but we just don't know what to expect.  Thanks again!

I started this thread off by mentioning the fact that this Bahama cruise will be our first, well, last night we booked a seven day Alaskan cruise next June!  It has been something my wife and I have talked about doing for the 15 years we have been married.  I recently had an uncle and aunt who went and went on and on about how beautiful it was and how affordable it is so we did it.  Going through Norwegian Cruise Lines.   $3800 for the two of us which includes round trip airfare from Indy to Seattle plus two "free" meals at one of the specialty restaurants, $50 off every excursion for one of us and some free internet.

1 hour ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

You CAN book your own excursions, as they're usually somewhat cheaper than going through the cruise line, but you run the risk of missing the "All Aboard" time. If you miss that, the ship may leave without you.

 

If you book an excursion through the cruise line and the excursion is running late, they'll hold the ship for you if you miss the "All Aboard" time. Plus, if there's any issues with the excursion, you can address it directly with the Shore Excursions desk onboard. We had issues on my cruise last week with a shore excursion booked through the cruise line and were able to address the issue directly with them, along with about 15-20 other impacted passengers.

We did go through Carnival to purchase passes to Resort World on Bimini so we could have access to their private beaches and restaurants but have not decided what to do about Nassau yet.  I do thank all of you "veterans" for your thoughts and advice. Greatly appreciated!!

6 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

What cruise line doesn’t provide OJ for breakfast? I’ve only seen fees fir fresh squeezed.

The way we read the details on Carnival's website it looked like juice was in the same category as soda so you had to pay extra if you wanted it.  We could have misunderstood though.

4 hours ago, 9tee2Sea said:

If you are alcohol drinkers, you might want t purchase a drink package before you sail away. You mentioned your company pre-paid gratuities, look into if port taxes were paid as well ( I assume they were), your company sounds like they wanted to give a FREE cruise, no extra costs. If you have any food allergies, or require a special diet, contact the cruise line before sail away, and mention again to your server in the dining rooms.

Thanks for the ideas!  We rarely drink alcohol so we don't need to worry about the drink package as far as that is concerned.  However, I absolutely do like a big glass of OJ with my breakfast so I did pay for the soda/juice package.  Not going to lie, seems silly to me to have to pay extra for juice but whatever.  I don't think we should have to pay any more fees as far as the cruise itself is concerned as the owner took care of everything, at least I believe he did.  It is a smaller company, we employ less than 100 employees and the owner and his wife believe in taking care of their employees.  He has quite a Christmas party each year with lots of great prizes and dinner.  The grand prize is a five day Bahama cruise which I did win this past winter.  Nice to work somewhere like that. 

On 6/24/2024 at 10:18 AM, mjkacmom said:

We’ve been to Nassau several times, my favorite was a day pass to RIU, 15 minute cab ride, nice buffet and drinks are included as well. Definitely get travel insurance.

Thanks for the tip as what are looking at is enjoying a beach day at Bimini then exploring Nassau on our own.  We will look into the forum for ports of call and check it out.  Would I be correct in assuming it would be a good idea to take cash for our time there?  Guessing you wouldn't be able to use a credit card for shopping and taxi etc.  

On 6/23/2024 at 11:08 PM, klfrodo said:

You're correct Hank that they may have coverage.

I think the problem arises when someone (especially newbie international travelers) are surprised when they give the hospital or clinic, or even the cruise line medical center their insurance card expecting direct payment and it is denied.

I called Blue Cross Blue Shield and explained the situation to them.  They said if there was an issue that arose while on the boat or one of the islands we would be covered at in-network rates so we do not need to purchase any travel insurance for our trip.  I do thank you folks for bringing this up as I had not thought about it.  

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

Just don’t forget to buy travel insurance. Travel insurance also includes medical coverage should you get ill or injured on your trip. Your US based insurance won’t be accepted outside of the US. Also know that you will probably be required to pay out of pocket up front for medical service but then can file for reimbursement when you return.

consider checking out www.TripInsuranceStore.com for a policy that meets your needs.

Thanks for mentioning this, I had no idea our insurance wouldn't be accepted in the Bahamas.  Would never have even thought of that.

This past winter I won a five day Bahama cruise at our company Christmas party.  My wife and I are going in early November through Carnival Cruise Lines.  The owner has been very generous and has paid for a balcony room and pre-paid the gratuities and has paid for our round trip flights from Indianapolis to Tampa and back.  As first time cruisers we admittedly don't know the ins and outs of cruising.  We have lots of questions that we have been researching but I'll try to limit most of this question to excursions or what to do on our stops.  We have one stop at Bimini and one at Nassau.  So many of the excursions have very mixed reviews we have been hesitant to book anything.  We are in our 40s and are not into the party/drinking scene at all.  What we are looking for is for at least one relaxing day at a beach, preferably one where we can be guaranteed a couple chairs and umbrella.  Maybe some sort of interesting food or historical tour at Nassau.  We just don't know what to look for or where to look as we have never done this.  Do we need to limit ourselves to the Carnival sponsored excursions or should we explore other options at these two stops and just rent a taxi or Uber (if they even have Uber) to get to other non-Carnival destinations?  We sure do appreciate your help and any and all advice!!!  (Other non-excursion advice/tips for first timers would be greatly appreciated as well.)  THANKS!!