cruisinqt

Carnival’s website was down over the weekend while they upgraded it. Normally it works really well and is much more user friendly than other cruise lines websites. I think they’re still working out the glitches though. Hang in there it should be resolved pretty quickly.

We just got back from a 16 day London trip and I never thought to look and see if we were charged in euros or dollars. I bet we got charged in dollars but never knew it. I also got a Travelon bag with locking zippers and slash proof fabric. I saw a lot of them in Europe. I think it’s a good idea if you plan on traveling abroad a lot which is what we’re doing now that we’re retired.

We will be heading to Barcelona in a few weeks. I’d heard about the pickpockets and all of the games they try to get you into. I knew to avoid those things but I hadn’t heard about the flowers or the stain. We will definitely be wary of people standing too close to us. And we planned on using taxis or Uber a lot so the tip on being sure they charge you in euros is something I’d never thought about. Thanks for the heads up.

The cruise was absolutely amazing! As far as debarkation goes, this is the earliest and quickest I’ve ever seen (and I’ve been cruising over 20 years). But I’d heard from cruisers on the previous trip that embarkation and debarkation is very quick and smooth and to expect to be off very early on debarkation day so I was prepared. We docked at 5:00 am, self assist started at 5:30, and by 6:30 the many of the regular non self assist cruisers had already gotten off of the ship. We left our cabin at 6:30 and by 6:45 we were off of the ship. We literally just walked right off, there were almost no crowds inside the ship (they were all outside waiting for their rides.) I heard the ship was cleared by 8:00 am. We had blackberry car service booked for 7:00 am and we were on the road at 7:05 am. The drive time from the port to Heathrow is 1 hour 45 minutes but traffic can have a big effect on that time. We arrived at Heathrow at 9:15 and this was with extremely heavy traffic due to a train strike. Everyone that had booked the train was scrambling to get a ride and the traffic was crazy bad. Our flight was at 2:05 so even though there was tons of traffic we still had tons of time to chill in the airport. A 12:50 flight is very doable. Of course there’s always the possibility of bad weather or some other problems delaying the ship’s arrival but that’s a rare occurrence so I wouldn’t worry about it. If you have any other questions just ask away.

Those are great suggestions thanks.

We are very interested in the forts so combining a fort along with the beach and a nice meal is a great idea, thanks.

Sorry about the lack of info. We will be arriving on the Carnival Freedom on a 14 day transatlantic journey from Barcelona to Orlando. We are from Texas so while the 70-80’s daily temperatures will be welcomed, any water temps below 80 degrees is intolerable for us. But exploring the town sounds fun so we are fine with that. Our ship is 110,000 gross tons so I’m assuming we will be docking at the Royal Naval Dockyard. So we will either go to Hamilton or St George’s via ferry then. Thanks for the info I appreciate it. And I’ll definitely be keeping that list of restaurants with me.

This is our first visit to Bermuda. Since we are visiting in October the water will be too cold so beaches are out. I’ve had total knee replacement surgery so hiking or strenuous activities isn’t a good idea either. So we were thinking of walking around the downtown area to shop and sightsee a bit. Then we wanted to try a local restaurant with some authentic food, we are foodies. Is the walk into town from the cruise ship a short distance? Or do we need to get a taxi? Any recommendations on things to do while in town or for good restaurants would be appreciated.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. We are back home after 16 days in Europe and the jet lag hit us hard. Here’s his info: Email: bigjohn@silverservice.ie Phone: +353 87 221 6900

I just wanted to share what a great time we had in Dublin and what our experience was like for all of you first timers out there. This was our first time to Dublin and we didn’t know what to expect. There are taxis lined up in port but you can easily walk into town. The city has lots to do and see. We walked to a nice little cafe called Insomnia that had great coffee and scones. That’s where our driver Big John met us. He was 6’8” and the funniest most down to earth person I’ve ever met. With his big hearty laughs and corny Irish jokes we had a blast. He drove us all over in his large van and stopped whenever and wherever we wanted to. For $550 for 4 adults that was a bargain compared to the cruise lines tour prices that started at a minimum of $200 pp. He took us to Powerscourt Gardens, the mountains in Wicklow, Martello Tower, Lough Tay, Millionaire's View, we saw Enya’s home, Glendalough Tower with the monastery, and Enniskerry. We had great fish and chips at a nice Irish pub along with some amazing local beer. We saw all of the sights and it was so nice to have the entire van to ourselves to do whatever we wanted to. Big John has lived there all of his life and he has so much knowledge of the area which made the trip so much more interesting. Big John mainly arranges multiple day trips for people where he arranges their hotel stays at different cities and meets them at the airport then takes them all over Ireland. He had a 5 day trip for a large family he had just finished and after us he had an 11 day trip planned with another family. But in between when he has days open he takes cruisers out sightseeing for the day in Dublin. I’m so grateful he was able to fit us into his schedule because with over 20 years of cruising I can honestly say he’s the best guide we’ve ever had. If you have any other questions about Dublin feel free to ask.

Did it? I don’t remember doing it pre covid. But we cruise all of the time and to be honest it’s hard to remember details like that.

You arrive at your prearranged check in time which you choose online at Carnival.com 2 weeks prior to the cruise. It’s a new rule Carnival instituted after the pandemic. It helps a lot with the congestion and crowds at the cruise terminal.

I agree. All cruise lines prices have skyrocketed. That’s what happens when your business is shut down for a couple years. I’ve really enjoyed some of the improvements like adding Rudi’s Sea Grill, Shaq’s Chicken, Chibang, and Emeril’s. I’m eating jambalaya at Emeril’s as I write this. Which reminds me of another much needed improvement, WiFi. The Starlink wifi is so much better.

Normally check in for cruises is 14 days prior to the cruise. Platinum & Diamond guests can check in 2 days earlier (16 days prior to the cruise.)

Carnival doesn’t offer it as a paid for excursion. They only offer it as a perk for the casino guests. I emailed the hotel and they told me to just show up and ask for a day pass and that it was $68 pp. It was well worth that price.

We got there fairly early and stayed till 2 or 2:30 which left us an hour to shop back in port. Yes all beverages including alcoholic ones was included. Just be sure to eat something before you start drinking. They make those drinks very strong. There’s a sports bar and a big poolside bar to get drinks at.

I went there for the Elite excursion a couple months ago on an elite cruise and loved it so much that I went back on my own today (this cruise wasn’t elite). It has a massive pool, two large hot tubs, a snack bar, a huge indoor buffet with live cooking stations, nice bathrooms, showers, and a beautiful beach. I did several tiktoks about it but I don’t know how to link it here, or if I’m allowed to. But my tiktok name is Thetraveler. I would highly recommend Senator Resort though. And it’s right next door to Amber Cove so it’s not a long drive there either.

I’m so afraid of losing an expensive piece of jewelry or even being robbed in port that I now wear fake stuff. The shops on board have some pretty realistic looking fake wedding rings and other jewelry. So now my souvenir while on board is finding cute faux diamond rings and jewelry.

I forgot to mention that I’ve been cruising for well over 20 years and this happened a good while back. I talked to her this morning as I was booking the Jubilee and was pleasantly surprised to find out how much easier the process has been made. She’s a supervisor to the pvp’s in her region and it’s something she’s been pushing for a long time but I wasn’t aware because we haven’t talked about it. She’s not scamming me I’m just out of touch with how much things have changed over the years. But I would honestly recommend her to anyone because she’s saved me some serious bucks on deals I was unaware of and got me into cabins that weren’t showing up online.

I was talking to my pvp this morning about it as I was booking the Jubilee. Evidently things have changed over the years and it’s much easier now than it was then. I forgot to mention that I’ve been cruising for well over 20 years and this was a good while back. I know she’s not scamming me or trying to make me feel good, she’s honestly amazing. She even notifies me when I get a good casino offer on a cruise I’ve already booked and switches me over to the cheaper price. My London cruise in August was originally $3500 but I got a casino offer that brought it down under $1000 with free drinks. I’m eternally grateful for her catching that.

I never said you couldn’t change pvp’s via email. I’m aware of that. But it’s a complicated process for the pvp which slows down the whole booking process and you could lose the cabin you wanted during that time. It’s just easier to call from a different phone and make the booking immediately. I know those rules are there to protect the pvp’s from poaching clients off of one another so I try to be understanding. But to save my pvp from going through all of that red tape and to keep me from having to mess with emailing back and forth, (I hate emails and prefer to make a quick phone call) we switched to booking under my husbands name and phone number and I made our booking immediately. After a short waiting period we switched to my name and phone number since I’m the one that does all of the vacation planning. She was happy to not have to mess with the paperwork involved and I was happy to find a way to book immediately whenever I wanted to which was all that mattered to me. It was just quicker and easier to call her on my husbands phone where I could immediately book our cruise before the cabin we wanted was gone (we are very picky about our cabins). But either way, whether you switch phones or send an email, we’ve given the OP a couple of different options on how to switch pvp’s which was the goal here so mission accomplished.

If you have an assigned pvp no other pvp’s can poach you. So when your phone number or name pops up on the screen they send you to your original pvp. I had a bad one too but moved to an amazing pvp recommended to me by a fellow cruiser. I called her from a different phone so they wouldn’t recognize me by my phone number on the screen and she helped to move me over to her being my new pvp. It’s a complicated process and they usually make you wait 6 months before moving to a new pvp but this new pvp has been with carnival for over 20 years and is in management so she knew a lot of loopholes. Just to be clear, she didn’t poach me or steal me from someone else, I sought her out because of bad service from the other one. My recommendation would be to get a really good highly recommended pvp and call from a different phone and hopefully they can help you.

The Magic is an older ship with less bells and whistles so it would be my last choice. The Horizon would be my second choice. My first choice would be a tie between the Mardi Gras and the Celebration, they are the biggest newest ships in the carnival fleet and are sister ships. They both have lots of extra restaurants to choose from, a roller coaster, and the design is a very new innovative concept for Carnival and my favorite so far.

We went in December of last year and the weather was perfect. It was in the mid 70’s to 80’s the entire time we were in Mexico. I just wore my long pants and jacket on embarkation and debarkation day. But the rest of the time we wore shorts, T-shirts and capris.

Oh it happens a lot, all he would need to do is Google it. There’s tons of threads here on CC about people bashing other cruise lines, especially Carnival. Even if he looked up “Walmart of the seas” online there would be tons of “bashing” to be found. I agree with you that just because you personally don’t experience it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.