bowen9475

We have a stop in Half Moon Cay in July. Planning on a beach day. Are there chairs available in the shade? Can we wait until we are on the island to rent a floating mat or tube? What is included with the BBQ? Anything else we should know?

My daughter and I are cruising out of Charleston. We are flying into Charleston airport the day before the cruise. We have a hotel booked in Patriot's Point. Looking for transportation suggestions from the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to downtown Charleston and from the hotel to the cruise port. Should we just plan to use Uber or are there other options? Thanks!

My daughter and I are cruising in July. What is the best/most economical way to stay in touch through text with my husband who will be at home?

OP again. As it has been 3 full days since I submitted the ES form, I did resubmit it. The lower fare is still available. Hoping this works out. Thanks for all the input!

4 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

 

It has to be a rate available to the general public.  So since your new offer was associated with your VIFP number, it was not available to the general public.  Highlighted the requirement for you below.  However, if you booked ES, you should be able to get the price drop. 

 

LOWEST PRICE GUARANTEE

The Lowest Price Guarantee applies to the cruise fare only. The Lowest Price Guarantee protection will not apply to prevailing Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses. Lower rates must be publicly advertised fares available to the general public and exclude group rates, membership programs, charters or other Travel Agent promotions not offered by Carnival to the general public, including but not limited to travel agent rebates. 

So, I admit, I did not see that part. But, that is not at all the reason they gave me for the denial. The original denial email said it was because the booking needed to be after final payment date and then, that I booked ES. I just wish that if this is the reason, I had been told that. Also, I don’t believe I qualify for ES since I booked only 71 days out. Also, never got a response to the ES form I did submit. Not at all impressed with Carnival’s customer service.  

OP here. There may very well be reasons it was denied that I don’t understand. Just wish those specific reasons were explained to me. 

17 minutes ago, vwrestler171 said:

There is a difference between the lowest price guarantee form and the ES form. Sounds like you submitted the wrong one.

I actually filled out both. I did the lowest price one first, when I saw the lower price. In the email where that was denied, they told me I had booked under ES and gave me the link to that firm which I also filled out. Haven’t gotten a response from that one. 

22 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

Call and speak to a representative.  Either they will do it for you or give you the reason why they can't.

Would you just call the regular 800 number and talk to whomever answers?

I booked and paid for the entire thing on May 7.I saw the new fare, which was a VIFP fare listed under My Offers, on May 8 and immediately filled out the form. The cabin that showed as available at that time (and is still available at that rate) was the one next door to mine, same category etc. Maybe I don't understand what final payment date is.

ETA: I just looked up Carnival's Final Payment date and a chart shows that for 4-5 day cruises, which mine is 5 days, the final payment date is 75 days prior. If i booked 71 days out, shouldn't I be eligible?

I booked a cruise on the Carnival website this past Sunday, May 7 for July 17, 2023. Monday morning the Carnival website had the same booking for $30 less pp. (same date, ship, category, cabin type) I filled out the Lowest Price form and very quickly got an email that it was denied. The denial explained that I had booked under Early Saver and could apply for a guarantee under that, but I booked only 71 days out from cruising so I did not think I would be eligible for Early Saver. I did fill out the ES form any way but have not gotten a response. I also replied to the original email and asked for clarification and basically they told me I wasn't eligible because "the 110% Lowest Price Guarantee is only eligible for individual reservations that are booked after final payment date". I don't understand this. How can you book a cabin after final payment date? Doesn't that become a different reservation? Also, the Carnival website doesn't say anything about booking after final payment date. It states: (copy and pasted)

YOU’RE GETTING THE LOWEST PRICE POSSIBLE… 110% GUARANTEED!

Planning to book a cabin for myself and my daughter. On the VERY off chance that my husband or son can come, and a larger cabin is still available, would I be able to add them and switch to a larger cabin, paying the difference in fare? Would I need to cancel and rebook? How is the money side handled? Thanks for any help!

23 minutes ago, CTCruisers said:

We were just on the Sunshine and had a great time.

 

I posted the following review:

 

I hope this helps.

Thank you so much for sharing!

20 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

She is now the oldest ship in the fleet but went through a huge renovation about 10 years ago. Most public areas have been updated and maintained since and look fairly nice, but the staterooms were only lightly renovated back then and are rusty and old looking.

 

By and large the food on the buffet was absolutely disgusting on my last cruise on her.

 

That concerns me about the buffet. When was your last cruise? Definitely hope it has improved!

 

 

 

8 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

I will be on Sunshine in 6 days.  I'm thinking I'll do a non live review.  If I do, I'll post a link here.😎

That would be great!

10 hours ago, mz-s said:

What do you want to know? I sailed on Sunshine 3x last year, but haven't been on her in about 7 months.

Anything you want to share. Good or bad. 

We don’t need frills. Basic hotel is fine. Would like to stay on the lower end price wise but want to be somewhere safe and clean.

Looking for suggestions of a hotel in Charleston for one night before a cruise. We will not have a car. Airport or cruise port transportation would be a plus. It will be my daughter and I. Thank you!

Considering a 5 day this summer with my daughter on the Sunshine. We've been on several Carnival cruises, but not since Covid. Any recent Sunshine cruisers want to share anything about your trip?  Thank you!

We thought the water was fine. We didn't have a problem with seaweed at Paradise Beach. There is a large rocky area but they have a flag at waters edge and a staff member was at the edge telling us to stay on the non-rocky side of the flag. It was a great place to spend several hours.

We were just at Paradise Beach last Thursday, the 15th. We were able to just pay the $3 entrance fee and the $10 pp for food and drinks.

We visited Roatan on the Carnival Freedom. We had booked a ziplining excursion through Shore Excursioneer for our family of 5 - me, husband, 22 yo son, 20 yo daughter and 16 yo son. The company we went with was South Shore Zip Line Adventures. The instructions and directions we were sent beforehand were very clear. We were met outside the port by a driver from South Shore. There ended up being 17 in our group. Our driver gave us a bit of a tour on the ride in. Once we got there, we were able to use the bathroom and put our belonings in a locker. The guides then went through the instructions and demonstrated the ziplining for us before we were off. It was awesome! Felt very safe the entire time. The guides were all great. There was a young girl in our group who ended up being scared so the guides rode with her on every line. My husband was nervous beforehand but ended up loving it. We had only booked the ziplining while everone else in our group also had booked the Eco Walk. The staff offered to let us do the walk also so they could bring us back to the port in one trip. Thought that was a great compromise. The only thing I wished that was different was to have had access to water along the route. It was very warm and we all got pretty thirsty. Otherwise, a great time was had by our family.

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We had visited Paradise Beach last year while on a cruise that stopped in Cozumel. When we booked another cruise, that was again going to Cozumel, everyone wanted to return to Paradise Beach. My oldest son wasn't with us last year so his brother and sister wanted him to experience Paradise. We took a taxi from the port - $15 for 5 of us. We don't drink so we chose the PAYG instead of AI. We paid the $3pp entrance fee and were shown around before being brought to the beach to choose our loungers. Everything was clean and well kept. We bought the $18 fun pass for all 3 kids - 22 yo son, 20 yo daughter and 16 yo son. All 3 had a blast on the inflatables. We easily hit the $10 pp for food and drink. Everything was very good. The staff was attentive but not overly so. We used the pool last year but didn't get over there this year. The kids also had hoped to use the paddleboards or kayaks but they were having so much fun on the inflatables, they just ran out of time. We had another good day and would definitely come back.
Bonus - There was parasailing available right next to Paradise Beach. The kids and I have been trying to parasail for years and it just has never worked out. It was $65 pp. It was only the four of us in the boat and it was awesome!

We were on the Carnival Freedom and in Costa Maya from 1-8. We had emailed ahead to reserve loungers for our family of 5. We took a taxi from outside the port. (One thing we didn't like about this was that they squeezed our family of 5 into a regular taxi which was very tight. Luckily it wasn't too far of a ride. No fault of the Tropicante though) When we got to Tropicante there was a staff member outside holding a sign with our name on it. We were met at the taxi and walked right over to their location. We got to pick where the loungers we wanted were located. We were taken very good care of all afternoon by Ivan, Charlie and Mikey. Ivan seems to take great pride in his job and was very helpful and attentive to us. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. We ordered nachos, chicken quesadilla, a beef burrito and tacos as well as a few drinks. They even changed out a drink for my daughter that she had ordered but just didn't like. I had read about the seaweed problem ahead of time but the Tropicante staff had done a great job keeping their section of beach clear. The water was so warm. The only other thing we didn't like was the amount of times vendors approached us while we were on the beach. We were able to just say "no, thank you" and they would move along but just couldn't believe the sheer number of them. Would definitely recommend visiting here when in Costa Maya.

Just wanted to give a shout out to Emanuele and the company he works for, VIP Express. We used this company for transport from our hotel near Hobby airport to the cruise port, from the cruise port back to a Galveston airport and from the hotel back to the airport. Thought the price was very reasonable. Right from when I contacted them to book, communication was great. Emanuele answered many questions, got back to me quickly and provided a lot of area information and suggestions of where to go and what to see. He offered cold waters to us on each ride. Even though a stop isn't a regular part of their service, he stopped at Buc-ee's, a very neat store we had never heard of, so we could get some last minute things on the way to the cruise and stopped again on the way back to the airport so we could get some breakfast before an early flight home. He called about an hour before each pick up and again when he was a few minutes away. He carried our luggage into the hotel for us and even called us while we were visiting Galveston to see how things were going. No idea if or when we will get back to Galveston, but would not hesitate to use VIP again.

Any recent cruisers on the Freedom - how hard is it to find open deck chairs?