idlenote

If you're in the least succeptible to motion discomfort then a 4j is really not for you. Leave them to us crusty salt's who enjoy the feel of a moving deck beneath our feet.

All I see is the 2 night cruises out of LA and they are a month apart. Ran the air fares, $700, and 2 nights in a hotel would be $200 (at least). This offer was not planned for anyone who does not live in LA. Like normal just another waste of time.

Mahogany Bay, Roatan there is a desk where they stamp the passports, go through the terminal shopping area and go uphill, it's on the right where the exit is.

Last cruise was 23 days to Australia, we never tipped less that $1.00 per drink and never had a problem, the service was always exceptional. Normally had between 7 - 9 drinks a day and that was plenty.

Cheapest one I know of, since we've done it before, is when you come out of the terminal turn to the left and take about a five minute walk to, IIRC, Burger King. There is a cove there with a sandy beach, you can swim or snorkel and it doesn't cost anything. There are a few trees up by the road that provide shade. Maybe after do a little window shopping through town.

Otherwise, ask your cabin steward. They know where all the cheap places are.

The machines will only go down to $5 bills. The casino does get snippy and sometimes will only give you 10 x $1's. Tell guest services that it's tips for the crew and there's never a problem although we've never asked to break anything bigger than a $20.

Yes, it can be awful. We were on the Imagination at the beginning of the year and the noise would start very early in the morning and would go on for hours. We complained repeatedly, they never did stop it, we were given a discount coupon for a future cruise but we would have been more satisfied with a quiet cabin.

Sorry,but I don't know what ship you're sailing on. Our problem is always that the cabin is too cold and no matter how much we complain we can't get it straightened out.

They were still doing it in January, cost was about $19 payable with your sail and sign card, you buy it in the terminal, turn right when you go in the terminal and go to the far end.

We're on the Legend and purchased the cheers programme for $37.50 but the paperwork said there were no gratuities included. We're adding the $1.00 per drink and it seems to be very appreciated, but it seems a lot of people are not. If Carnival have taken the tips off they are really screwing their crew.

I followed the pages and found the offers but it wasn't what it could have been. We will be gone when the Ecstasy is available, for the Splendor the airfare would be $1500 and for the Victory it would be $650.

Of course our problem is our home port is Galveston so we would have a lot of flying, hotels and transfers to take advantage of the offers, still way cheaper to go out of Galveston. Oh well, guess it's the thought that counts.

Sailing next week with shareholder credit and also my last future cruise credit. No problem getting both although I had to get the PVP to help out with the FCC.

We've stayed in the 4J's on deck 7 a few times. They do not come with a sofa, just a couple of chairs. The cabins on the outside adjacent to the doorway to the deck are the handicapped cabins, if they are needed by someone who needs the facilities they will take you out of them so book the cabins closer the the middle. (you also don't want these cabins unless necessary because of the door bangers you sometimes come across).

They have two curtains across the window, one net and one heavy drape. Normally during the daytime the net is enough to keep people from looking in but not enough at night when you will need the heavy drapes otherwise folks can look straight in. They do ask you to keep the heavy drapes closed at night, the cabin light will reflect right up on the bridge windows and this really messes with their night vision.

Still a great value, we booked one for the Galveston B2B via Puerto Rico next year, that's 21 days as well although I am beginning to wonder if I got too cheap, 5 days is a walk in the park but 21 days, I may need to rethink this.

I don't know about others ports, but out of Galveston buckets of beer are cheaper if you buy them before muster. We bought 3-4 and stored them in the room and told the steward to keep the ice coming!

Before sailing you're getting 12 oz cans and paying state tax on them, after sailing you're getting 16 oz aluminum bottles with no tax. State of Texas liquor laws.

I went across the border into Matamoros to see my dentist this morning. Coming back it took 20 minutes to get back across the bridge and clear Customs and Immigration. Normally it takes at least an hour. Now if we aren't having the problems down here on the Rio Grande where all the nonsense is going on I think it's hardly likely that it's going to take 4 hours to get from Houston to Galveston.

The main road from the airport is down I-45 direct into Galveston, if all else fails go east on one of the main roads from the freeway to Hwy 146 and then go south but it really will not be necessary.

The question about getting from the airport comes up all the time, if it is only a couple then the shuttle is the cheapest option, for a family a rental car can be cheaper but most of the rental places close early on Saturday and are closed on Sunday so you need to plan ahead.

(posted in response to a post that said it would take four hours to go from the airport to Galveston)

BTW, if you have an excellent PVP like I do you give them the information when you get back and they still get the credit for the cruise even though it's booked on board.

Last cruise they had just announced the Triumph Galveston to Galveston via Puerto Rico and by booking on board we were able to get great cabins for both legs. Well worth it.

The outer reefs from Cay Caulker in Belize. Finest snorkeling I have ever done.

Recently I played where is the butter. Left my plate and drink on the table, went back to get the butter, the line was solid so I got in it and waited until I found the butter. Got back just in time to find a crew member clearing everything from the table. Back to the line again. Next time I will ask politely if I can just reach in to get the one piece of butter.

I love my PVP. While it is true that they can't give you any special perks, they can be very helpful with answering questions. I usually go through my booking online and decide the what, where, and when, then I call her to book it and answer any outstanding questions. FWIW, I am very tech savvy, but sometimes I like a more personal approach.

 

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I have to echo this post. I have booked 24 cruises with our present PVP and she is at her best when we are looking for one of the out of the ordinary cruises where nothing shows or is just beginning to show on the Carnival web site because the cruise is in the planning stages, she can get me the details early. I will mention the Pride repositioning from Florida to Baltimore, that cruise has gone up over $2,000 since we booked. For the ordinary cruises I already have the cabin and fare picked out but it doesn't cost any extra, and it's always fun to compare notes and get her recommendations for that particular ship.

We were there in April, we rented a car from Avis, picked it up at the airport in Orlando and dropped it off in Port Canaveral. No additional charge for the drop off and a free shuttle from the Avis office to the terminal. Excellent deal.

You most definitely can see in the cabin, both day and night if your curtains are not closed. You have two sets, one that are nets and the other are the heavy drapes for night. If you are dressing after a shower in the daytime close both sets and at night always keep both sets closed. During the daytime if you're just vegging keep the nets closed.

Depending on the time of year and which way you're going the movement and pounding can vary. Going south into the normal winds you will get banging and noise, going north things are a lot smoother.

I just wish more people would not book these cabins, I'm tired of not ever getting a price drop.

March 15th - 29th 2015

Carnival Pride

Tampa - Grand Cayman - Limon (Costa Rica) - Colon (Panama) - Aruba - Curacao - St. Maarten - Baltimore

The stop at Colon is not a transit, just a day at the port at the eastern end of the canal. However, this is not a cheap cruise, we booked as soon as the itinerary came out and the price has done nothing but go up since then.

We did the transit in January on the Imagination and it was great. Definitely one not to miss if you have the time to do it. Be prepared for a long day if you want to get good pictures from the front of the ship, I was up there at 5:30 in the morning and finally went down about 11 for breakfast. You kind of had to lock down to hold your place when the laggards started to show up about 8 and tried to push you out of the way.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=254002

Not a particularly bad review, I've seen far worse. I have to say I've had incidents that tick me off but at the end of the day I have the choice of sailing a couple of times a year with someone else or sailing four or five times a year with Carnival. So far I haven't been upset enough to change.

For - Carnival Legend, has the best laid out lido deck of any we've sailed on.

Against - Carnival Elation, the lifejacket storage at the end of the bed means you have to crawl over the bed to get to the side next to the ships side.

We have been in 4J's on the Dream, Magic and Triumph. On the Dream earlier in the month we were on Deck 6, I went back to the cabin one evening while the show was going on. From the 4J cabins fwd back to the cross hallway located 6 cabins back either side of the ship all was quiet. For the next fifteen cabins back to the forward stairway you could clearly hear the music clearly, the volume level was like a radio being turned up loud. Enough to keep you awake if you are a light sleeper. Deck 7 does not have this problem.

When going into the waves and wind there can be a lot of banging noise from the ships bow hitting the waves, although it has to be very rough for the noise to get really aggravating. When going with the wind and waves behind the ship there is no noise. Typically, going south from the Gulf coast there is usually some noise, coming back is quieter.

Yes, you can see into the cabins, both during the day and at night. However they do have two curtains, one is heavy and lightproof, the other is a net curtain that obscures the view while letting daylight in. If dancing around after a shower use both curtains, if sitting down having a glass of wine and feeling smug about having such a great cabin at such a low price use the net curtain.

If possible try not to get the cabins immediately adjacent to the exterior doors, there always seems to be some people who don't realize that if you just let go of the door it's going to make a loud banging noise, and no, it's not always the kids, some grown ups don't seem to have a clue.

The only complaint I've heard was when I put the camp followers in one of these cabins on deck 7, they said it was to far to walk to the buffet. I told them they should be thanking me for all the weight they lost going back and forward but they didn't see any humor in that.