cruisinqt

16 hours ago, xxHadleyxx said:

Definitely go to the hotel to drop your bags.  In our experience there's a decent chance they'll be able to let you in your room anyway.

 

If the flight is very early shopping won't be open yet (we landed so early we were through immigration, baggage claim, etc and in our hotel room before 7).  I recommend, if you can't get into your room, head to the Gardens by the Bay.  Much of it is accessible at all hours, for free, and it's so nice and peaceful (and not as hot) in the early morning 

I emailed the hotel and they will hold our luggage for free until our room is ready so I feel much better. And we found a local tour guide that came highly recommended and he will take us around in his air conditioned car to see the sights. The price was quite reasonable for a private tour too. We will definitely be checking Gardens by the Bay, it sounds wonderful. 

13 hours ago, dbrucern said:

I open my account to the ship I booked and type in Water and Soda in the search engine right beside Categories and it comes right up

That’s a good idea. I’ll try that next time. 

2 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

I will infer it was a glitch using whatever browser that was on your phone as opposed to a glitch in Carnivals system.

As soon as you attempted via your PC, everything was fine and your order got entered without difficulty.

Yeah I’ve had troubles on carnivals website when using my phone. I think I’ll check via computer before I post next time. I just panicked because I love to order a few drinks and waters for our room. 

I went back in and it still didn’t show up. So I switched from my phone to my computer and it was all there. I don’t know if it was because of my phone or if it was a glitch in the system, but I got my order in. Thanks for your help guys. 

22 minutes ago, Cruising_Addict said:

You can purchase this online.  From within your Cruise Manager, click on Categories and then In Room Food & Beverages.

In room food and beverage disappeared on my bookings. I think it’s another one of those glitches in the system. I’m going to go try again. I hate Carnivals website it’s so glitchy. 

7 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

Sounds like user error.

 

I’ve been cruising over 20 years and I’m Diamond, I promise you it’s not user error. In room food and beverage isn’t showing up at all for me. I thought they’d discontinued that category or something. Must be a glitch in the system. 

12 hours ago, Linsuesue said:

Soda and water is available on my cruise in July-go to manage your account, categories, In-room food and beverages, In-room beverages- water. I also found 6 packs of soda. I don’t recall there ever being a 12 pack of soda available, but there are 6 packs. 

In room food and beverage isn’t showing on mine. Weird. 

12 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Available on my next two cruises. Both water and what passes for soda, Pepsi.

lol that’s hilarious! I’m not a fan of Pepsi either. 

Okay this is weird because “in room food and beverages” doesn’t show up on any of my bookings. I’m going to go back in and try again. 

I went into my account to purchase some sodas and 12 packs of water to be delivered to my cabin for my upcoming cruise but it’s not available. I checked all of my future cruises and it’s not available on any of them. There are six packs of sodas or waters with cooler bags for purchase but that’s not what I want. I don’t want an expensive cooler bag, I just want the sodas and the waters. And alcohol isn’t available for pre purchase either. Did this get taken away? Is it not available anymore?

I’ve done a long transatlantic cruise right after dry dock with Carnival twice and both times there were no delays or cancellations. It’s extremely rare to delay or cancel a cruise, it costs cruise lines too much money. Delays or cancellations usually occur due to unforeseen circumstances like weather or mechanical issues with the ship. But it’s very rare to occur after dry dock. On our first transatlantic cruise on the Freedom some cruisers complained that they were still putting finishing touches on the ship and they didn’t like it. And the launderettes hadn’t been repaired or upgraded so there were complaints about that too. Evidently a lot of people flew in a week early and did some sightseeing and had tons of dirty laundry to wash so there was a lot of arguing over the launderettes. But we loved it so much that we booked an identical cruise for the following year while we were still on our transatlantic sailing. We have a third transatlantic cruise booked as well as a first ever transpacific cruise booked which we would never do if we thought they’d delay or cancel the cruise. That would just ruin it for me. I wouldn’t worry too much about delays or cancellations. The most you’ll have to worry about is them doing touch ups around the ship finishing the dry dock work that may have not gotten completed. It never bothered us. The food was tasty and the entertainment was great so we were just fine. 

On 3/18/2024 at 7:08 AM, Heartfelttraveler said:

A day or two before you arrive check the hotel website to see availability of your chosen room for the night before you arrive.  If there is availability the night before you arrive it means they have rooms that don’t need to be cleaned and may let you check in early.

Great idea, thanks 

15 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Sounds so awesome!! Please keep us posted on how it goes😁

We are very excited about the new ports we will be visiting. My husband is most excited about Guam and Vietnam. I’m most excited about Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Either way it’s going to be a lot of fun visiting new places and seeing other cultures. I’ll definitely do a follow up and let everyone know how it went. 

4 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

I guess worse case scenario is try to bring on a bottle from a port and if they take it away then you know your parameters. I know I wouldn't want to buy CHEERS for that long of a cruise and if it's port-intensive then you're buying drinks off ship.  I hope OP gets the info they need👍 

The Panorama is doing dry dock nearby then repositioning back to the USA so it’s not port intensive either unfortunately.  Thanks for the well wishes 

6 hours ago, ilovesalchows said:

Not sure if you are flying with it, but alcohol is very expensive in Singapore.  

I had no idea, thanks for the info. I guess I’ll have to compare the price of the drink package for 25 days to the cost of Singapore alcohol or just bring some along with me. 

4 hours ago, crzndeb said:

I’m trying to remember if a Carnival ship has ever departed from Singapore. If it has, then it’s rare, so not sure you would get accurate info. I sailed the Splendor over there in 2019, so you would have to find someone that then sailed it to Sydney.

Carnival is having the Panorama go through dry dock near Singapore so that’s why they’re having this cruise. It’s a repositioning cruise from Singapore to LA. They do it pretty often when ships are dry docked. I did one a few months ago on the Freedom from Barcelona to USA and loved it. 

9 hours ago, kwokpot said:

As of last October in JAPAN, we WERE NOT allowed to keep alcohol with us. On the Luminosa during our Port stop in Hakodate, Japan we visited a wonderful Sake Factory and bought two bottles of Sake, which were all wrapped up in beautiful Japanese gift wrap, back on board. We didn't say anything when we put our packages on the scanner belt but they were identified and confiscated until the last day of the cruise.  I cannot comment about any other Asian country. 

I was afraid that was going to be the answer. This is a 25 day cruise starting in Singapore going to Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Guam along with some stops in Hawaii. The drink package will be incredibly expensive so I was hoping we could bring some alcohol on board in Singapore. I guess not. Thanks for the info. 

I know you can bring liquor on board for immediate consumption in Europe, but what about Asia? We’ve brought both wine and spirits on board without issues all over Europe like, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, England, Spain etc. But we are doing a cruise out of Singapore and I’m wondering if it’s the same in Singapore. Has anyone done this?

On 2/21/2024 at 4:03 PM, csm5986142 said:

 

Thanks to OP for posting about this cruise!  After reading about it here we (actually several family members) booked it, and are really looking forward it.  We have been on all the Excel class ships and just love them.  In our experience 7 days is not enough time to do everything we want onboard, so this is going to be great.

We have that one booked as well. The Mardi Gras is one of my favorite ships. I love the beignets at Emeril’s Bistro. And the red snapper at Rudi Sodamin's seafood restaurant. Maybe this time I’ll have time to tryout the roller coaster. 

12 hours ago, agape01 said:

You could drop your bags off at your hotel until your room is ready. Most hotels in Singapore don't charge you for holding your bags as you have a confirmed reservation.

That’s a great idea. I completely forgot that most hotels do that, I even did it in Barcelona last year. Thanks. I’m thinking about dropping off the bags then taking a taxi to a shopping area with some nice restaurants and just hanging out there for a few hours until our room is ready. 

2 hours ago, Dobby36 said:

We did something similar.  Got off the ship and dropped off bags at Ritz Carlton. Still expensive. But cheaper than Bay Sands, and only a short walk over the bridge from all the excitement of their casino and the Gardens by The Bay. They held our luggage for us and the bellhop helped arrange a car to take us to a hawker market and shopping area in Chinatown (we asked for that in general, but he chose the location and conveyed to driver) very easy and when we returned in a few hours with a full tummy and some shopping done, our room was ready and we napped.  
 

The Ritz is priced competitively for the luxury hotels in the area and we had the most incredible breakfast buffet there in the AM. Very memorable end to a great cruise. 

We were thinking about using our points at one of the Hilton properties. There’s the Conrad Singapore Orchard, the Hilton Singapore Orchard, the Conrad Centennial Singapore, and the Hilton Garden Inn Singapore Serangoon. We were leaning towards the Hilton Singapore Orchard based on price and location. The Conrad’s are nice but pricey. I’ll look into the Ritz Carlton maybe it won’t be too expensive. We are only staying a couple nights pre cruise before a 25 day transatlantic sailing. The Hawker market and shopping sounds nice. We are foodies so the variety is exactly what we are looking for. Maybe we could do that instead of a tour. Thanks. 

4 hours ago, MVPinBoynton said:

We just did that last month.  The hotel kept our luggage until our room was ready. They texted us while we were exploring and put it in our room, so it was there when we got back to the hotel. Very easy, no hassle. 

Oh that’s a great idea. What hotel did you use? We are in the process of booking one right now and trying to decide where to stay. 

We are visiting Singapore for the first time and have a dilemma. Our flight arrives early in the morning but our hotel check in is late in the afternoon. Are there any tour operators that would pick us up at our hotel or the airport (along with our luggage) to go on a tour for a few hours until our hotel room is ready? We thought about storing our luggage at the airport but we don’t want to have to make a trip back there unless we have to. I also thought about using stasher or something similar and walking around and doing our own sightseeing. But will be coming off of a direct flight from Los Angeles so we will be too tired to do much walking. Any experiences or suggestions?

Our flight arrives early in the morning in Singapore but our hotel check in is in the late afternoon. We would like to do a tour for a few hours until we can check in at the hotel but we will have all of our luggage with us. Are there any tour operators that will pick us up at the airport (luggage and all) and take us to some of the sights? Or would it be better to go straight to the hotel and get picked up there? Any experiences or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is our first time in Singapore so we have no idea where to start. 

I was on that same cruise on the Freedom from Barcelona to Port Canaveral and had a completely different experience. Yes the ship was old with tacky decor, (it’s one of Carnivals oldest ships & is 15 years old) but the crew kept it exceptionally clean. 
 

The food was very good in the MDR and there was a bbq place up the stairs above the lido not many people knew about that had pretty good food. And that’s saying a lot because I’m from Texas and we take our bbq seriously. And if you didn’t mind paying a little extra for your food the Seafood Shack had excellent fish and chips for $8. But if a person were just to eat at the lido buffet or the sandwich or pizza place they would probably have a very poor opinion of the food like this cruiser did.  
 

We never heard hammering and drilling at night. Maybe it was because of our cabin location but I was told by staff that they only do it in the daylight hours when guests are awake so as not to disturb them. But yes a post refurbishment cruise will have work going on but it wasn’t that big of a deal to us. There was a smell in some hallways from the glue used on the new carpeting but it definitely wasn’t a urine smell and it was only a slight odor that disappeared once you were out of the hallway. When they were shampooing carpets or repairing something we just stepped around them and went on our way. Someone flooded their bathroom on deck 8 and it made a mess all over that deck so a lot of cruisers staying in that area were understandably unhappy. I think that added to the overall frustration some were experiencing.
 

All I know is the Facebook group for that cruise got pretty heated. There were a handful of complainers that belly ached about every little thing and exaggerated some situations. It seemed like they were just looking for things to fuss about. It got so bad that a number of people left the group because of the bellyaching.
 

I would say 90% of us had a wonderful cruise and would do it again. On several occasions I got my laundry back the same day I turned it in. Most of the staff remembered me and greeted me by name. And the cruise director was super entertaining. I enjoyed the cruise so much that we booked the exact same cruise for 2025 (a repositioning transatlantic sailing from Barcelona to Port Canaveral) but it’s on a newer ship, Mardi Gras.