11 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Stratosphere in Vegas?

Space Needle in Seattle. You're planning to go there, right?

The lobster is always on the first Elegant night (usually the 2nd night) and the last one listed (with the Baked Alaska desert) is always the last night of the cruise. So, from the ones posted here for our upcoming 3-night cruise on Radiance, we will have night 1 menu, night 2 menu and night 8 menu. Not sure how it will go for the 6 night. I believe she indicated the extra night that was added in the middle for the 8 day being the only difference with the 7 day. One more of the middle ones will NOT be offered, but I'm not sure which 

Now this prep for HMC assumes you aren't all maxing your Cheers program out every night. just stop by a bar on your way back to the cabin for some bottled water and a night-cap (or two)

Yes, the only way to actually make reservations are to link them to your online account via the booking numbers and last names. Also it has to be paid for all at once, so you would have to settle up later. Linking them in the online account is different than linking them via Carnival. FYI, you can also purchase Shore Excursions for all or some of the group when they are connected in your online account.

1 minute ago, BearJim said:

I thought they open it when they give it to you. Plus we were thinking rum!

 

LOL

They don't always open the beer, especially if you order them 5 min apart Works to ask for an ice bucket and start stacking them in there. As far as rum drinks go, thats what empty water bottles are for. 

Use the couple of days before your HMC stop and stockpile some unopened beer, Truly, etc. and bring it with you to HMC

Yes, you can

On 5/2/2022 at 3:31 PM, cruisemom2 said:

I would book it in advance just to be on the safe side, but you should be able to use your OBC when you book the reservation.  When we were onboard in December, I looked at the Hub app to see if we could get into the steakhouse.  There were 4 of us and 1 goes to bed early almost every night.  The only time I could find any availability was 9:00 pm. so we skipped it.  When we went on MG in March, I booked our specialty dining about 3 months in advance.  Emeril's doesn't require a reservation, you just walk up.

One thing to note. This happened to us, not on MG with the Steakhouse but with Cucina del Capitano on Radiance. I had looked beforehand and there was lots of openings, so I didn't worry about booking it beforehand. I looked again onboard for the first night and it said it was sold out! I decided to go there when they opened for the evening and see if they had any cancellations so we could get in, and they were wide open! Something in the app went wonky. I showed them what it said in the app, and they took a photo to show the IT dept. We had a very nice supper, but I felt bad that were were only a few tables occupied.

Never hurts to go and ask on the day to see if something came open.

You can load it all to your casino bank at the beginning of the cruise, but will need to have a credit card for any charges to go to in the meantime (in case you end up losing it all in the casino) - they consider that 'spent'. However, you can withdrawal any amount at any time (just don't try it right after you load your player's bank - that's what tips them off. Don't wait until the end of the cruise and try this method because you just figured out you aren't going to spend it all - that triggers more scrutiny.  You're better off trying to purchase Gift Cards at The Sweet Spot in that case.

Yea, our last one on Radiance was at 10:30 am in the Piano bar. I heard there were 8 diamond passengers onboard, but only 3 showed up (DH had to miss because he scheduled a massage at that time). I drank enough Birthday Bellinis for 2-3 people (just doing my part), and I was tipping so they kept bringing them. Also had some nice passed appetizers. 

One thing I've noticed, in addition to the website deals they occasionally offer (X% off bundled services) is that you can pre-book your appointments and see the different prices the same service is on different days of your cruise. Obviously the first day of a cruise is the cheapest to book.

NO, it will be 10.50 for the souvenir glass with the drink inside. Refills will be 9.50 if you bring your glass back.

Auto-gratuities added to the bill are 18% with a line if you want to tip more than that. 

You could ask about it in Pixels when you board, and find out if they are planning to do it. If not, your request might prompt them to do so, but if not, then you will know to do it yourself. 

22 hours ago, AQW said:

I'm sure I'm not alone in historically mixing up Inspiration/Imagination, both of which were sailing the same 3- and 4-night Baja itineraries from Long Beach (pre-pandemic). 

Yep, as you can tell by my signature, it was always a little confusing between Imagination & Inspiration, and we very often sailed both. However, IIRC, Inspiration's schedule was 4-night (M-F) and 4-night (F-M), and Imagination was Sun-Thu & Thu-Sun, so we most often went on Inspiration because that fit our work schedule best.

2 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

I learned my lesson way back when a Hurricane struck the Florida coast, with no gas to be found anywhere within three states. Fill the Tank before you park the car.

And when parking in a garage, maybe avoid parking on the first floor, and avoid the outer rows with exterior openings.

Pig & Anchor was nice the last time we tried it at embarkation. Pretty quiet. It's just the outdoor BBQ for lunch, not the restaurant menu.

I cruised with a large family group, and we spent some time on the Lido the first afternoon getting everyone logged in and connected. Here are my hints to make this process go smoother:

1. Make sure everyone downloads the Hub app BEFORE the trip.

2. After it is downloaded, they can go in and enter their booking number and last name to activate it. If you do this step beforehand, it functions as a countdown, lets you check-in from the app, and also just have to click that you're onboard as soon as you connect to Carnival WiFi. You don't need to know your folio number if you do it this way.

3. Once onboard you have to connect with each family member individually. That's to ensure privacy, that you don't connect to strangers. Each person has to accept the invitation from each member. That's why it's easier to do as you're sitting somewhere, in the lido, having a Fun Ship, while you're waiting for the cabins to be ready. 

4. If you're already connected your reservations in Carnival's system, the above step is a little easier, as they are already listed, and you don't have to search for them. 

5. Every once in a while, it doesn't hurt to exit the Hub app completely and restart it. You'll get a message that you wont' get messages while you're logged out. That is true. But once you log back in, any messages that hadn't been delivered will come right away. If the app seems to be wonky, reset it.

6. One great thing about the app when you're connected, you can go through the activities planned for each day, and mark the ones you are interested in as favorites. You can see who else is interested in the activity. So, if you are looking for where someone might be, that can help. 

7. One flaw in the app is that you can't put in your own activities (spa appts, shore excursions, etc.) 

These notes are completely from my recollection, and may be slightly off. I'm going onboard again in 27 days, 2 hours and 10 minutes (just glanced at my Hub app) so I'll try and verify these instructions and add any more that might be helpful. 

On 5/9/2022 at 3:35 AM, jolyroger said:

Even though we're sharing cabins?

If even one platinum person is in a cabin, all passengers can join them in the Platinum check-in line. We've done this multiple times, booked DH and myself in separate cabins so the other couple can board at the same time as us, since we are driving up together. Then we just get extra keys to our cabins, and sleep where we want. 

Go into the app and log out of it. That will stop any alerts and reset it so you can put in your next cruise 

2 hours ago, CarolSW said:

Seems to be a TA site only that I can’t enter.

Appreciate the effort to share, but it does not seem to work for most of us.

Thanks anyway!

I'm not a travel agent either, and I tried the link in incognito mode, so anyone should be able to click on the links on that page. It is a bit clunky to get around, but I've managed to fumble around it and find what I need. From that link I gave you, I clicked on Deck 10 (just to see) and it opens in a new window with this info - I just copied a bit of it.

7 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

The code is MSPA22

That is actually the code I tried, i mistyped it my message. I just tried again using it, in all the 3 screens that have the "Promo Code" box, and each time I applied it I got the message 

14 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

 

Honestly I have no idea if we will benefit in any way from these rooms being Cloud 9, other than a different, upgraded design look than we usually get.  It says we get unlimited thermal suites. Is that just a sauna and a steam room? 

You will get access to the Thermal Suite. While it doesn't have a Thalassotherapy pool, it does have a room with a wall of windows that holds about 10 heated tile loungers, which are very nice to relax in. There's also a aromatherapy steam room, a typical hot sauna, and another sauna, not quite as hot that has a wall of Himalayan salt blocks. Very nice.

If you go here, you can access detailed explanations of every cabin on every deck for Mardi Gras. 

https://help.goccl.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5687

Well, finally got home to try this, and I think Carnival must have fixed it. Every purchase I tried, even a pedicure, using the promo code MSPA said it's an invalid code. 

It was a blast and very very yummy. They cook what you make for you to enjoy afterwards, so DON’T eat a lot beforehand. You make the dough, and the sauce, and nave several pizzas.