Quilcruisers

I once waited in line for 45 mins for a bowl. In December, we went to Jiji’s and my husband went along with me.  We waited probably 30 mins for a bowl. Many people sat around at the tables, some where eating in but some were picking up and everyone waited an eternity. The food is mostly cooked already but I understand it takes a long time with just two cooks.  It’s worth the wait for me but I wish the old one would come back. 

On 5/30/2022 at 2:59 PM, willdra said:

The shuttle pulled in to the Terminal right at 11. We unloaded and identified our luggage for the porter. Next we went thru the first checkpoint, to make sure it was time for us to enter. After that we went up the long winding upward ramp. This is what I like to call "heart attack hill". Maybe do a few squats and lunges before you go, if you tire easily. It's a dream crusher, if you can't make it up!  We survived the Mt. Everest-ish climb (this time), so we went through another quick checkpoint and into the terminal. Yes, there are several checkpoints along the way. This is why it's good to have your docs in your hand, sorted, and ready. It keeps the lines moving.  

 

 

Inside the terminal we waited maybe 2 minutes to be called over to check our passports and VeriFLY. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use VeriFLY when we first heard about it. The reviews on it in the App Store are atrocious, and I didn’t need an atrocious app on my phone. No room. However I’m all for technology that will make cruise check in easier. So when W asked me about it, I decided we should try it. We could always delete it if it didn’t work. I downloaded the app and had everything ready to go in about 10 minutes. The first step after setup is to scan in your vaccination cards for review. I already had pictures of them on my phone so that took about a minute. I got the green check for those after they were reviewed maybe an hour later. After that we just waited to download our negative test results. As soon as I got mine back from CVS, I downloaded the PDF, screenshot it, and then added it to VeriFLY for review. I also downloaded W’s as well and sent him the photo so he didn’t have to worry about getting his on his phone. VeriFLY sent me the green light for my test about an hour after I submitted it. Next I got a notification that my pass was created and I was good to cruise. My picture then had a green border around it. That’s it. Wow that was too easy! I asked W if he did all of his stuff. To which he replied "Uh yeah, but I put the wrong type of test in, so it got rejected at first." Huh? How did he mess this up? A garden gnome could do it!  After he saw my blank stare, he said "I redid it, and it gave me all green check marks, but my pass says Action Required." What?!? I looked at it, and sure enough everything was done, but there was a big red border around his pass, his picture was blurred out, and the words “Action Required” were dominating the scene. Not a good look. I do some quick searching on the innanets, and found NOTHING to fix this. Nobody else has had this problem???? I guess not. Leave it to W. Well that was only Wednesday, so I prayed for W's sake, that it was sorted out by Saturday. Plus, new rule. From now on, W won’t be allowed to do any of his pre cruise tasks alone anymore. Hmmm. Maybe that was his plan all along. Let me find out.    

 

This is what my VeriFLY pass looked like: 

 

As we were boarding the ship, I asked W if he got it resolved. I’d forgotten about it, as a form of self-preservation. I'd also brought paper copies as backup, cuz errybody knows, you must always have a backup.  He said he was good to cruise, and his pass was green. Ok goody!  I reminded him to pull up his pass on his phone to have it ready for check in. I don’t know about y’all, but I ain’t got time to be standing there waiting for him to be stabbing his phone trying to find the app, then stabbing it again trying to pull up the pass, then showing me the phone, saying "it’s loading or the signal is bad", etc. Get it ready now please Sir. So he did. Stay one step ahead of foolishness my people. At that checkpoint, both of our passes were ready to go, so we handed over our passports, and showed our VeriFLY passes to the attendants. They barely even glanced at them! I mean it took 2 seconds!

 

We passed thru security next. Then we took pictures. Our zone had been called so we went directly to the Smile and Go scanners, then onto the ship. We entered the ship at 11:18. Everything was speedy! I actually think using VeriFLY was the best part. After the W debacle, of course. 

lol at “stabbing the phone “ 

On 5/23/2022 at 9:45 PM, cruisefanatic2713 said:

Is this better??? 

 

 

Hey all!

 

I'm about a week late but considering the amount of research and forum reading I did before our cruise, I find it only fitting to give my two cents on how our sailing went for you all to dissect how you will!

 

For a little background, I am a 26 year old nurse and my travel buddy is my mom, a recently retired teacher. This was a last minute cruise that I convinced her to go on with me for Mother's Day. We booked in late March for a ridiculously good deal if I do say so myself. 😉  We've both been on four other cruises. This will be the second time on Carnival for the pair of us.

 

We would be driving (what is normally a 4 1/2 hr drive from south Louisiana). We received word from Carnival the night before that the ship would be delayed arriving and all embarkation would be held off two hours. Plus, they mentioned "heavy traffic delays" between Houston and Galveston on I-95 so we decided to take an alternate route via the ferry. All in all, we left at the same time we initially planned and our trip ended up being 5 1/2 hours. Not too bad. We arrived at 11:30 to the EZ cruise parking and made our way to the terminal. It was noon by now and from what we saw, there were more people debarking than waiting to embark. We got in line and were inside getting our Verifly checked 20 minutes after. No issues with that and we headed up the escalators to the main check in desk.

 

This is where we had issues. As our passports were expired and had to be sent in two weeks prior, we were without passports. We had to rely on our ENHANCED driver's licenses. I had done all the research I needed to be sure that we did not need birth certificates. The check in people disagreed and said everyone is required to have a birth certificate to board and that we would be denied boarding until we got pictures of our birth certificates. I showed them proof on multiple different sites including carnival.com and the Galveston cruise port website that one needs EITHER a birth certificate, military ID or enhanced driver's license to board the ship if you do not have a passport. They repeatedly ignored the obvious proof in front of them and required up to go off to the side in a waiting area to get pictures of our birth certificates. Soooo we reluctantly called my dad who was across town from our house where the birth certificate were. He went back to the house and snapped pictures for us. We owe him a big one! After the desk lady received the picture we waited another hour for our room to be" unlocked" and allowed us to board.

 

It was 2pm when we stepped onto the ship and we were determined to put all that behind us and get on vacation mode! Luckily for us, that was the only issue we had the entire cruise. We went directly to the lido marketplace for lunch, YUM, then headed down to our cabin. Even though they didn't start boarding anyone til 1pm, all rooms were ready at 1:30 and when we got down to our room around 2:30, our luggage was already waiting for us! We unpacked, got settled, went to muster and went out to explore the ship! Of an on throughout the afternoon we got updates from our AHHHHMAZING CD KYNDALL FIRE (more on her later) that due to the traffic, we wouldn't set sail til 7:30. She assured everyone that it would not affect our first port as we had two sea days ahead of us to make up time!

 

We enjoyed watching the Kentucky Derby before our first dinner (earlier in the day we were able to switch from late time dining to any time dining) in the Horizons Dining Room (3 and 4 aft). Most all the food we ate in the MDR was very good. We found service to be slower when we went to eat after 6:45ish and the quality of food seemed better when eating earlier. Nonetheless, using the Carnival HUB app to check in was not a problem at all and the longest we waiting for a table was the first formal night. Even that wait was only 10 minutes! The first night was the only night we were seated in a different spot than the other 5 days we ate in the MDR. We really liked this aspect as this was one concern we had of trying Anytime Dining for the first time. We always enjoy having the same wait staff that gets to know us and vice versa during the cruise. In fact, we didn't even have to ask to be seated in the same spot. It must be an automatic thing in the system. Anytime Dining worked very well for us and we have no complaints!

 

We headed out to the Liquid Lounge (4 and 5 forward) for the first big Welcome Show. It's here that we were introduced to Kyndall FIIIIRREEE, BOM BOM BOM! There's only so many words I can say about someone before it gets redundant but suffice to say, Kyndall is the most outgoing, bubbly, joyous, charismatic, HILARIOUS person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Yes, I said person, not cruise director! Maybe it's because we are very close in age and I am envious of someone who clearly loves her job so much, or the fact that she lets her huge personality light up any room when she walks in, but really truly, she made every aspect of our cruise better! On previous cruises, I never remember CD's, their faces, names, nothing; but I assuredly will never forget Kyndall! My mom and I both agree we will try our hardest to get on at least another of her ships in the future. 

 

Okie dokie. I think that's all for now. My goal is the post one cruise day review each day and hopefully life won't get in the way of that. I'm looking forward to any comments y'all may have!

 

okay bye

Thank you for your review. We are sailing on vista next Saturday and really enjoyed Kendall last December. She unfortunately was MIA midway through the cruise because of COVID or precautions, which we understand.  Things were getting back to semi-normal after the pandemic. I love her too. 

We cruised in December on the same floor as the imax. No issues at all.  It was very convenient to get to the movies that sold out. We rushed to get in because it was crowded. Still good seats though. 

Can’t wait to read.  We are booked on the vista in about 12 days. Last cruise was, “gasp” November 2019.  So much has happened and this is long overdue. 

Hello. I am excited to read your review. It’s been wayyyyy too long. ❤️❤️❤️

4 hours ago, handbellplayer said:

Thanks for the responses, everyone!  She WILL NOT be drinking on the ship. And she will probably be with family most of the time.  I just wanted to make sure she could go in the bars with us. But her Poppy has promised her a Pina Colada in Nassau!

Oh yeah, definitely no alcoholic drinks on the cruise ship but we very carefully introduced her to fruity adult beverages on the island. It was fun, they are good kids and although the adults males raised a few eyebrows, it was all in fun. It was really cool that she could go dance in the nightclub with us and my mom -grandma helped her play the slots. She still can’t do that at home either. She will be 21 next year. 

My niece turned 18 right before our cruise and we took her to the casino.  She also went with us to the nightclub. It was fun for her.

She definitely knows the difference between the cruise and home, none of those things can happen at home.  She was also quite pleased to get her first fruity adult beverage in Mexico.  

Sorry, I meant the door hanger is what we used for breakfast items and that was free.

Now, we did get free cake and cookies when we ordered room service, in addition to the shrimp and chicken that we paid for. And juice, like apple juice, was free too. 

Awesome and well worth the 38.00.  We are always stuffed beyond belief and really enjoy the atmosphere and food at the steakhouse.  And I used to wonder why people went to the restaurants outside of the MdR. I am now a believer. 

Looking forward to reading the rest.  Your son is adorable.  We took my son on his first cruise at 3 years old and he is now platinum, which speaks to how much he enjoys it and how great of a value it is compared to other vacations. 

I would get carnival gift cards and have them loaded to your sign and sail Account. That way, if you buy too much, you do not lose it.  Cruise cash, IMO, is for someone to gift you with, and is useful for amounts that you are guaranteed to spend.  Example, you know your tips will be 100, unless you prepay them.  So a 100 cruise cash would not go unused.  Anything over what you know for sure you would spend, would be tricky.  

I love the thought of either gift cards or cruise cash, so the expenses can be taken care or beforehand, and eliminate any surprise balances at the end.  There is nothing like coming home with a small balance, which I have never personally experienced,  well maybe once or twice.  

Room service has a charge at certain times, and is free other times.  We got free bagels, cereal, yogurt, before porting a couple of times last cruise.  We also ordered chicken tenders, sweet potato fries, shrimp basket, etc for about 13.00 total.  The items that are not free are really reasonable but I like the fact that if you don’t want to pay, you could just walk up to the deli or get pizza. We planned our eating around the closing times of the eating venues so we knew when we wanted to pay extra for food. We have a couple of lazy days where we just order from room service, to avoid walking to the food.  Super lazy sometimes on our part, but it’s vacay, so it’s what we do.  

This process and the quick pass through of having your passport picture show up on the iPad are ingenious and have made check in a total breeze. We have literally gone from the car to the cabin in 45 minutes thanks to these changes. Once, we went from the terminal to our cabin in about 20 mins.  This has been in Galveston and during busy peak times and other times that were off peak. Most recently, spring break, my son and I spent about 30 minutes after being dropped off and we were in our cabin.  

On 6/13/2019 at 6:49 PM, willdra said:

We ate breakfast then stopped by 2373 to collect our stuff. While I was there, I wanted to use the facilities one last time before we got off the ship. It's so much easier (and nicer) to "go" in the privacy of your cabin, than it is out in port. Our cabin stewards came to clean the room 10 seconds after I got in there. Yep, seems about right.

 

Debarkation in Cozumel was super speedy. It was warm and beautiful already too. There were quite a few people at the Excursion queuing area. That’s where we did the most maneuvering. Once we got past that collection of chaos, we only had a short walk to the taxi stand out front. It was still early, and we would be at that port until 5:30 pm, so the taxi stand line moved fast.

 

When we made it to the front of the line, we jumped in a taxi for 2, and went straight to Paradise Beach. Upon arrival, we were greeted at the front by Domingo. He told us about the 3 package options. As he was explaining them, I was a little confused. We’ve never had to do a package in the past. We’d just had breakfast, and if anything, we would only have drinks and get in the pool. That was not package worthy. I stared at him for a minute (in Bran Stark), and I asked about getting the wristband for $3, to which Domingo actually said “oh yeah, you can do that too. Just buy at least $10 of food and drink while you are here”. Now I’m not the sharpest pencil in the drawer, and W and I prolly looked like helpless no accounts, and the Beverly Hillbillies, but I felt like they were trying to hide the cheaper option.  Why wouldn’t you give us all of the options up front? Hmmmmm. You can never trust a big butt and a smile. Questionable.

 

If Paradise Beach is on some shadiness, that doesn’t involve their trees, I will be careful about recommending it to people in the future. I will also check the website before we go back to make sure the policy hasn’t changed. Again, vacay time is too precious to be dealing with unasked for, unwarranted, and unsolicited drama. As well as unnecessary expenditures. Ain't nobody got time for that. Nope.

 

Once we settled that potential price problem, we were escorted to lounge chairs where we chose a couple in the shade. This is the only type of shade that I want in my life. W got directly in the pool, and I went to the gift shop to buy a wrap and a hat. See what had happened was…I used my cruise bag as my pool bag last summer, and I must’ve left my cruise stuff in it. In the closet. In. Georgia. Thank God these were things that were easily replaced (He’s still taking care of this fool and baby). If you’re keeping tabs, so far I left my camera battery, the battery charger, my hat, and my hair wrap. I’m turning 50 in Oct. and I hope this isn’t a sign of my life to come. If so, I may show up on my next cruise with no suitcase. Pray for me fam!

So happy to see another review from you! I swear I am laughing so hard and I think I snorted a couple of times too. Omg, you are an October baby, so this oct I will be 49.95.  In 2020 I will be 50 so I think I must plan a cruise (I have already been invited and booked on 2 in 2020) . I am in the planning phase of my 50th raunch-o-Rama .  Can’t wait to finish your review, but don’t want to finish it but i do.....ok carry on 🤪🤪🤪

Yes, birth certificate is all he needs.  We sailed that cruise years ago, from San Juan on the Victory.  We took my son, he was a little younger, but it was very nice.  Have an awesome time. 

On 4/26/2019 at 8:00 PM, MsMistiS said:

We are trying to choose our Jan. 2020 cruise.  We are trying to choose between 6 Days on Magic or Horizon.  Would love some feed back from those who have been on either or both. Here are the details. 

 

Horizon Spa Interior 6 day out of Miami

stops in Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. 

 

Magic Spa Interior 6 day out of Fort Lauderdale. 

Stops in Nassau, Amber Cove & Grand Turks

 

We have never been on a Vista class ship but have been to Cozumel & Grand Cayman several times. In contrast we have been on the Dream but have never been to Nassau or Amber Cove. What would your preference be and why? Also how are the spa amenities on each of the ships?  Is the Horizon much better?

 

 

I would choose horizon because it’s newer. I have not sailed on that class of ship before. I also like the ports that the horizon is going to, specifically Grand Cayman and never been to Ocho Rios, I would probably make grand Cayman or Cozumel a day to enjoy the ship. 

This is a great idea.  Maybe if the date night fell on a non-elegant night, port day, it would be more likely to have extra tables.  My sister and I did this one of our cruises but we went to the steakhouse.  We also had YTD and were forced to eat together because our teens did other things on some nights.   

‘I think they will easily be able to accommodate this. Let us know how it goes.  

On 4/26/2019 at 6:19 PM, jimbo5544 said:

LOL, do you really think they are trying to hide it from the cruisers?

No, I think it’s a trap to separate us from our skinny jeans. Lol. I get so Upset when I “forget” about a certain food item or place on the cruise.  My last cruise, I decided to get Mongolian wok,  and I kicked myself for not going earlier in the cruise. It’s a hard life I tell ya.  

3 hours ago, JerseyGirlJen said:

I wouldn't chance it.  As other have mentioned, you just never know what can happen.  Even if you plan to leave super early in the morning what if there's a bad accident that shuts down roads, unexpected weather, or last minute car issues?  I live about 30 minutes from Cape Liberty, that I would do the day of the cruise, or even NYC, but I wouldn't do anything more than 2 hours away.

Agree, living in houston all my life, the last few years have been horrible traffic with construction on every major highway.  Even when we sail from Galveston, we build in a huge buffer.  We have stayed the night a time or two and have had to take alternates but again, we are very familiar with houston/Galveston area.  Still debating on our November cruise, will prob just go up the day before.  Driving through Louisiana has become like driving in houston, especially I-10. 

On 4/26/2019 at 4:56 PM, NauticalNeophyte said:

I don’t know when you were last in Baton Rouge, or when your trip is, but traffic has been an even bigger nightmare lately.  There’s construction on I-10 at Washington St. near LSU, a complete cluster you know what at I-10 and Hwy. 1 as you cross the new bridge from Port Allen, the usual work traffic during the week, school traffic until the end of the month, and more construction on 10 East going into Ascension Parish from past Highland Road.  And next month you’ll have the college graduations too. And we’ve had severe weather with flash floods, high winds and tornado watches/warnings two Thursdays in a row.  

All that is to say you may want to give yourself a little extra buffer just in case.  Leaving at 5 you’ll miss the morning rush, but there’s been some bad accidents that have caused serious back ups lately.  Should you get stuck in some nonsense, hopefully you know how to navigate River Road or Livingston parish to get around it.  

My daughter lives in Baton Rouge and we drove to Florida twice from houston last year.  Last time we were that way was in July for her wedding. We are traveling in November, but will possibly stay in Baton Rouge instead of driving up from houston.  

Yes, we plan to do so, from houston to NOLA.  We plan to leave around 5am, with plans to be there before noon, so yes we add a buffer.  Not my preference. We usually cruise out of Galveston, considerably closer.  We have even stayed the night before in Galveston to avoid any delays . 

All of the eating venues are open the first day, they really lure you in with all these options.  The Mongolian wok, blue iguana tacos, and pizza all open, along with full buffet.  If there is a bbq place onboard, it is open too, just hidden from most.  

3 hours ago, SausageKingOfChicago said:

I am four nights away from being Platinum and have an upcoming seven night cruise.  Carnival said that I would be Platinum for this cruise (since I'll achieve it halfway through the sailing).  I know I'll get priority boarding, but will my luggage be delivered to the room early like Faster To The Fun?  The last time I had FTTF, my luggage tags had the logo on it, but since I won't start with Platinum, my luggage tags won't be marked with any indication.  I asked the Carnival rep, but she did not know.  Does anybody know how this works?

Well, the good news is that if you get priority on this cruise, instead of checking your bags, you could carry one on and take it right to your cabin.  If you pack light enough, you might be able to get away with checking no bags. 

We try to pack with one bag each and a backpack , and a rolling cooler.  This way, it’s easy for everyone to carry their own bag on without assistance and drop it off right in the room.  I am usually done unpacking before muster. Btw, I am not a light packer, but I make it work between my bag and my husband/ son bag, so I cross-pack a lot.  Technically, I usually have 2 suitcases, and one of them has the luxury of rolling my 2nd bag while I roll the cooler with the drinks inside. 

50 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

You need to cruise with Mikey Gibson and Steven Schwartz. Matt is good, but not in the same league as Mikey and Schwartz. 

Another vote for Schwartz. I like Malcom and we also enjoyed Emma.  Actually, I haven’t had a bad cruise director since I started paying attention to which one was on that sailing.  All of these that I listed are out and about quite a bit.