cruzinlisa

If I could only pick one, I would have to go with the L.I Ice Tea....but it has to be made correctly or it can taste brutal!!!!

In Re: Long Island Ice Tea- Only the first one needs to be made correctly. Thereafter, they all taste the same. ;p

OP- I really like the Kiss on the Lips for a frozen drink. I also like a basic strawberry dacquiri, pina colada or Miami vice. For no frozen, I like the one that they have the first day- maybe Fun ship Special?

I also had some blue drink in the comedy club that I really liked. I can't remember if it was frozen or not? I think it had sweet and sour and blue curacao in it. I don't think you could get it on deck. Maybe in another bar- not sure.

I get it that all of you are tired of reading about this subject but there are those of us that do truely have medical issues. I don’t eat all day like “my fuzzy”mentioned. In fact I am cautious about how much I eat since I am maintaining a 150 pound weight loss. My issue is that I live without a colon due to Crohn’s disease. And as a result am at great risk for unclean food and water. I could stay on the ship for the entire cruise as one poster suggested but feel I have a right to see all the places we stop at. Every time I eat off the ship I take a chance of getting contaminated food or water which would be life threatening to me. So sometimes I choose to bring some food off the ship especially if my excursion is 10-12 hours long. Please be careful when you make a generalization about why someone might need to take cruise ship food with them. It’s not always what you think!

 

 

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There should be some pre-packaged food that would work for you with almost any kind of dietary issue, with a little planning. I myself could eat a big breakfast and then wait until we come back to the ship. We are not always in port the entire day anyway, so sometimes we get a late lunch in. But my daughter is just now 7 and traveling since she was 15 months and her little tummy needs food. So I get that and there is no judgment (from me) about needing to have a snack. Its just a matter of planning.

Cereal, crackers, or granola bars are an option. If you are carb watching, you might bring a premade protein shake, protein bar, or nuts. We always bring a few things from home for snacks on the beach or in port. Or sometimes even in the room because my little one is a snacker (and rail thin of course).

There are some private insurance policies that cover cancel for work reasons (travel guard comes to mind). Not sure about school reasons. And some that offer cancel for any reason, but its not 100% of your costs. You might want to look into those. By private I mean not Carnival insurance. You can compare them online. there is a good site for that.

Where would they put it?

The roll away we had was pretty small. The big bed was facing the door on the wall where the fake window is and then the trundle in the corner just before you get to the bath/closet area. It was very tight quarters and maybe would have been less so with separate beds or maybe not, but we made it work. Ours was 3 1/2 and the bed was about the same size as her toddler bed.

On Elation, there were some triple rooms with a roll away bed as the third bed instead of the upper beds. I am not sure if triumph has any of those types of rooms- it might just be fantasy class. We have also had her in our bed with us or made a pallet on the floor for her. We used blankets and a sheet for the floor pallet but you are super worried about it you could also pack a yoga or nap mat. On Royal, the room steward told us that kids have to be at least 6 for the upper bunk. Between about 3-6 is hard, because they are too big for the crib and too small for the bunk. I prefer the higher floors myself and would probably pick and inside over ocean view if it meant a better floor, but if the ocean views on that class have a sofa, it might be worth it to slum it on the lower floors. Luckily my daughter is almost 7 (tomorrow actually- where does the time go) so we no longer have to worry about it, but I have dealt with it on a few past cruises.

Missouri is on the list of states not to travel to. I live here so I don't think of it as a vacation destination (although some seem to like Branson), I wouldn't advise anyone to stay away- even from St. Louis that likes to flirt with being the murder capital of the U.S. some years. There are some places I would not recommend going to alone at night, but there are places like that in every state in the U.S. and country in the world. Same with Mexico (or Jamaica or Bahamas). Stick to the resort areas, don't go off with shady people and if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I can understand why this is happening. In the past I’ve ordered room service at night and it takes so long to get delivered that I’m ready to go to bed and not in the mood to eat anymore.

 

 

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I get that. Once we stayed at an AI and ordered room service kind of late (maybe 10:30 or so). DH had been drinking and I was very newly pregnant (when you are tired all the time) so we both fell asleep waiting for it. They had those little sliding tray door things (dumbwaiter maybe) so it was there, waiting for us in the cabinet. Opps. Other than that, we always make it a point to stay awake.

Maybe have more late night options available besides room service or pizza. I am not sure exactly what they have because we usually are not hungry before we are sleepy due to a substantial dinner and drinks after, but sometimes I would not mind a little snack- like tacos, sliders, chicken strips etc. You know- bar or after bar type food. Does Carnival have any of that? If not, then maybe they should.

Great, this may mean I will never get to take a cruise between September and February again. We cruised once during October- a couple of years ago. Most of the games you had to go to one of the bars to watch. It was during the baseball playoffs/world series and football time, so there were a lot of games for DH to watch. I could miss them, even the (football)playoffs) if I could catch the score later. And my team is almost always in it. DH's team is not as good as mine so they don't always make the playoffs :evilsmile:. But like this year, he is still planning on watching every single playoff game. Because that is what he does. And my team will be playing again this weekend, while hubby team is trying to figure out how their quarterback will be. :D

DH has gotten the "white glove" treatment the last 2 times we have flown out of Kansas City. Body scanner, then wand, then physical pat down with gloves and "residue check" on fingers. I have no idea why because if it has been random selection, then its not that random. He claims it has been the same guy both times (how he knows since they were 11 months apart) and it was because he was wearing Broncos clothing if Chiefs country. Somehow I doubt that is the issue, but it happens. Definitely could be worse.

I do so wish they had some different itinerary options available from NOLA. They probably think that a 10+ day cruise is not going to be popular enough. I know I probably would not be able to swing a 10 day cruise, given that I would have to travel to/from port and that would use up too much of my vacation time. I prefer to travel from NOLA, because we can drive there and its an easier drive that anywhere else (except possible Mobile but options there are too limited). I am getting sick of the only options being Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Belize and Roatan (with a rare Progresso or Costa Maya option). I LOVE Cozumel, but I have been there a million times. The rest are alright, not really that special.

Favorite was on a Disney cruise, we did an ATV excursion through the rainforest in San Juan. I am not an "adventure person" because I am easily scared and worried about falling and getting hurt/killed and all that kind of stuff. I don't even sit at tall tables (bar tables) because I like my feet to touch the ground (legit). It was a bit out of my comfort zone- never been on an ATV. So I rode with DH driving. It was so freeing, but not scary enough that I couldn't do it. No one got hurt, fell off, run over, bit by a snake or any of those things I thought about. In addition to being fun, the scenery was awesome.

Second best was taking a tour with Bernards tours in St. Martaan. We got to tour the Island, go to Orient Beach, go to this really high point and take a picture, hold these spiny looking things, see the French side, go to the beach where the planes come in and had a guy with a cooler full of beer, soda and run punch taking us around. He also took us to this store where they sell in bulk all the "hand made" stuff you find. We got magnets and banana leaf books for of our ports at the one store. Even though I don't really care for that port, I liked this tour.

you don't have to - but I always put identifying tags on our carry ons just in case someone picks them up by mistake. I also include contact info INSIDE our bags.

This- exactly. I put them on carry on bags as well, in case our bag somehow gets left behind or mistakenly picked up, it can find its way to its cabin.

Yes, I know someone will come along and say- I never leave my bag unattended. Me either. But it is not out of the realm of possibility (however small), that I might forget to pick it up after sitting down, especially if distracted or thinking that DH grabbed it, when he did not. Not likely, but could happen.

Yeah it almost seem like the beef had been boiled it was dense and waterlogged and flavorless. Yes beef brisket is uniquely Texas style but pulled pork is Carolina all the way until a few years ago you never heard of pulled pork outside of the Carolinas or Virginia now I’ve seen at Subway in California. He has his own brand of signature sauces in one of them is specifically labeled Carolina which one would assume is to be put on the Carolina style pulled pork. Best I can tell there was zero vinegar in it. vinegar is the main ingredient in any Carolina style barbecue sauce as it helps to cut the fat like a solvent and keeps you from getting upset stomach from eating too much pork. The way the meat was prepared poorly I blame on the chefs on the cruise ship however the signature sauces are Guys recipes alone and I unfortunately have to lay the blame at his feet

 

 

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Umm- I am not a southerner really (more like a Midwest/southernish) but we know our BBQ here in Missouri. And although we prefer to grill our pork in slabs called "pork steak" here I have had pulled pork and it definitely was more than "a few years ago." So that's definitely not the case.

I don't know about the sauce, never had Carolina sauce. I am more of a fan of Maulls, which is a tomato based- kind of like a spicy version of ketchup. I grew up on it and always loved it. I don't care for Kansas City style sauce (might as well just put sugar on it) or mustard based, so I might like Carolina style. I will have to try it, if I can find it.

Greens- Never. Ever. Ever. (See I told you I was not really a southerner).

However, my point is that people have different tastes when it comes to BBQ. My number one choice would be a pork steak on a charcoal grill slathered in Maulls, but you might see it as a slab of meat that had not finished smoking with ketchup on it.

That said, its hard to mass produce good barbeque. Especially on a ship that has to worry about fire, flames and ventilation. Its just not going to come out as good.

I have not been on Paradise, but I have been on Elation. Elation was an older ship, not fancy. But I believe they did some updates the last dry dock and did some of the 2.0 upgrades, which are really convenience upgrades (like dining/bar venues mostly). If I were choosing, I would choose Elation for that reason.

Rooms- oh they are small, but since you have cruise before you know that. I don't think the rooms on Elation were any smaller than Liberty of the Seas were. We had an inside both times. Ocean views are a bit bigger. Balconies are nice, but I am not sure if this ship has a lot of them- unless they added during dry dock. I personally don't care that much about the room.

Kids Club- pretty good, but can be hit or miss, like any other ship. My DD loved the kids club on Liberty, but she was 6 then. We have not cruised Carnival since she was 3 1/2 and she was not as big into kids club at that age. Her issue was more wanting mom and dad, not disliking the activities. They will give you a schedule and you can pick and choose the times they go based upon activities- kind of like Royal.

Muster drill- varies by ship. Lifeboats are of course in the same place, but they can't always squeeze everyone there for the muster drill. A couple of ships we have been in the dining room or lounge. Other times on deck by the life boat. I think on Carnival it was usually by the life boats. They will sound a chime, give announcements and the room steward will knock on the door. We have taken to waiting until the announcement, unless we are out and about, because you just end up waiting. Its not a fun process, but its got to be done.

Pricing- it can vary, but cheapest times seem to be September-early November (before Thanksgiving), early to mid December before Christmas, January and February. Expensive times are holiday weeks, March (like spring break time), Easter week and the summer.

Formal night- nicer clothes will do. Church type clothes or office type clothes (at least my office). I have seen anywhere from people in suit and tie to jeans and a polo for mean and anywhere from cocktail dresses to sundresses or slacks and blouse for ladies. My experience is that more people are in dress pants/shirt or dresses but you will see people more or less dressed up. Typically long pants, not shorts though. Pretty much the same as Royal was.

Have fun.

I don't know this for a fact, but I would imagine that the amount of gratuities that get paid on the packages are pooled and split. Whether that means that everyone gets a share or they some how allocate by amount of drinks served is a different story. It could mean that the servers get less money than they would if the grat was per drink, but that depends on usage. Plus, its more steady tip income than the per drink, which has some benefit. Like I said, I don't know this for a fact, so I could be wrong, but this is the most logical way of doing it.

Drink prices are WAY over our local bar prices! They are more along the lines of drinks at sporting venues, rather than bars or most restaurants. Outrageous pricing. It's one thing when you're at a football game for 3 hours but an entirely different thing when you're a "captive audience" on a ship for a week!

 

Most of our prices run in the $3-4 for beer, and about $4-7 for mixed drinks.

Agreed. Our prices around here are similar to what you stated, unless you are at a restaurant and order a really special specialty cocktail. In some of the larger metro areas, you may see drink prices more in line with Royals prices (or more), but everything in those places is more expensive (and pay is usually higher too).

For what it is worth OP, my opinion is that they keep the prices of drinks high to make the drink packages seem more appealing. If your mixed drinks are $10 each, the $50 pp/day drink package sounds more reasonable- even for people that don't drink much.

I think that as long as they make the full amount with taxes and fees available at the time of booking- before you hit the submit button, they are doing what they have to do. If I buy something online and the price is $100.00, I am usually not going to pay that, because of taxes and shipping. Only when its in my cart and I go to check out do I see the all in price.

Now if they said it was $199.00 and I go to check out and that is the price, but it also says taxes and fees TBD and they then figure them up after I have already paid and its too late to back out, that is a different story.

You are nice. Being proposed to on a cruise would be awesome. There are plenty of things you can do. You can do it in public and flashy- like at Embarkation when they go to take your photo, drop to one knee and ask. Or you can go to a beach or secluded area of the ship. Or go to the steakhouse for a romantic dinner. So many options. You know you and your GF. But above all, remember it does not have to be a perfect proposal. If you try for that, there is a good chance of something going not according to plan and messing it up- or tipping her off.

I have heard in some places (like Europe) they may require them. I also heard sometimes if you are on a tour the tour leader might collect them. I would not take them unless I had to. Most of the Caribbean ports required us to room card only. A few of them asked us to show photo id for the adults. They pretty much always told us to bring one, but most of the time I was not asked for one. Last cruise I think we had to show drivers license at one of the ports to get back in to the port area. We went to Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel. I don't remember which one it was. Probably not Cozumel because we never left the main port area. Key West I think required a photo id. But never have I been asked for the passport. We keep it in the safe.

Seconding the recommendation of using ginger! I've taken to bringing candied/crystalized ginger on all my trips. It's delicious in my favorite drinks and makes me incredibly popular with folks who are seasick or hungover. If you don't like the taste, or don't want the sugar, I'm certain pills would be just as effective =)

I may have to try this. I have started to become found of the taste of ginger, in small amounts, but it took me a while to get there. Bonnine and Dramamine make me so drowsy- even the non-drowsy kind taken at bedtime. I just feel exhausted all the time. Last cruise I went without any meds and I did okay. I am not sure if I have gotten used to it, or if it was all in my head to begin with. Or maybe the seas were just calmer (it was May and a big ship). We were aft that time.

I really did not notice that much difference in movement between aft and mid ship. When we were on lower decks I have noticed some vibration, usually when going into/out of port.

We once had one of those cabins in the front of the ship- the inside with a window. I am not sure if it was the location, time of year (February) or both, but I was miserable. If I was in my room, I had to be laying down. Sitting, standing and walking made me dizzy. I was okay in public areas, but my room not so much. Very bumpy. Felt like being in the bed of a pick up truck on a gravel road- going fast.

Aft is my preferred location now. Its more convenient to things IMO and a bit cheaper than mid ship.

The elevator shoehorns who decide they can fit onto an already full elevator are the people I feel are rude. When there is no place to move back except too close to someone else and they step onto the three inch space available, I wish an alarm would go off so they would back off and wait for an elevator with space for them.

 

When an elevator is full, it is full, and additional people should not try to compress everyone else just to avoid waiting for another elevator. It is especially rude if there are two, three or four people who want to squeeze on. It is such a relief if someone gets off on the next floor. I actually should get off.

 

I hate being trapped on an overly full elevators, but I never say anything to the shoehorn who happily squeezes on. :rolleyes:

If its a situation that can be avoided by waiting for the next elevator or taking the stairs, then I agree. But I have also been in the situation where its get on now or never. Not an elevator but here is an example- A couple of weeks ago we were in the airport in Denver. You had to take a train from the terminal to the baggage claim area. We are 2 stops before baggage claim so you can imagine how full it is. Every single train is packed to the gills with people and no one is getting off. Next train, same story. And trains are 5 minutes apart, so they every train there is a huge number of people piling on. Maybe we could have waited around for it not to be crowded when no flights were arriving (pretty sure that does not happen often). I am sure the droves of people behind us would have loved it. Or we could squeeze on the train with 100 other people. After 4 trains passing through, guess which one we choose (hint, I am not still at Denver airport). :)

I'm sure, all who cruise have encountered inconsiderate and just plain rude cruisers. So what does one do about it--ignore then, stand your ground etc.

My example on our last cruise. We were on the Jewel of the Sea Trans Atlantic. We went to the Quest show and were seated on the back side of the aisle in the chairs along the rail in the Safari Lounge. As people kept coming in, they stopped right in front of us but when we asked them to move, they did. EXCEPT for the 'rude couple' They just stopped right in front of us. I asked them to move, they did at first and then just stopped and planted themselves right in front of us. I went over, politely asked them to move as they were blocking our view and we had been here for a while. The lady told me to "Piss off' they paid for this cruise also. I told them they were blocking our view and it was rude. She told me to stand if I couldn't see.

So what do you do?

I went back to our seat and gathered our stuff and left. (The Quest, while great for some, really wasn't to our liking anyway) but I was mad. Should I have made a scene? When I mentioned this to some one else later, they said I should have 'accidently' spilled a drink on them when leaving. Sorry, just not my style, but it did bother me for a couple of days.

So what would you have done, or what have you encountered with rude cruisers?

Cheers

Len

You did the right thing. In the fantasy world of my brain, I would have knocked them out cold for disrespecting me but the reality is, I would have walked away too. Not worth it to start stuff. I am generally non-confrontational. I feel like Karma is a powerful thing and some day, they will get it back, hopefully worse. That is enough for me.

Now if they did something serious like hit someone or hurt my kid, take my stuff, I would unleash the dogs (okay, I would report them. I like to sound like a bad A, but really I am not)

Its a question that only you can really answer. Drink prices are high if you pay out of pocket, so its not as hard to get to the max as you would think. It does include bottled water, coffee and soda if you are into that. I am not a big drinker. Some days I more than broke even, so days I struggled to get my money's worth (and likely did not). It is nice knowing that you can get whatever you want. I don't want to drink 7 drinks a day every day, but if I were paying out of pocket, I might limit myself to 1 per day. This gave me the freedom to have a mimosa with breakfast, have some drinks by the pool, a soda at lunch, have some hot chocolate or a chai in the afternoon, have a drink or two with dinner, a drink at the show, a night cap, a few bottles of water in the room. Not all of those every day for me (DH is a different story), but the point is, I could if I want to. I am one of those people that feels guilty spending cash, but could swipe my debit card for 2x the amount and not give it another thought (yes I know I am crazy).

If you are going to drink it, then you are best to carry on. I will note, we never drink as much as we think we will. I like soda (a lot). In the evenings and weekends, I usually drink it, although I am trying to cut back. But when we have brought it, we usually end up with some left. I am not necessarily a fan of their lemonade or tea either. I usually end up drinking more water. I have been trying to take some of the water flavorings (the packets or the drops) because they take up less room. Anymore, I am not sure if I would end up drinking a 6 pack on a 7 day cruise. I will probably just pass on bringing them next time, especially since you can't bring bottles anymore (I like bottles because I can reseal and drink more later as opposed to committing to an entire soda). If you know that you are going to drink several, you are best to bring it on with you. We put them in a rolling carry on bag, when we did bring them.

Hmm, I am not sure how I feel about it. I have not cruised Dream yet, I was kind of holding out because Dream did not have a lot of the upgraded venues from the 2.0, but I think they took care of that on a recent drydock. I was hoping to try the Guy's BBQ place (Pig and anchor or something) that they just added to Dream, but I guess I will miss that.

Have not been on Glory. It looks like it does have 2.0 stuff, which is a plus. I really like the Conquest class, which is my fav to date but I was hoping to try a Dream class ship. It looks like my time is running out if I want to go from NOLA.

I am not sure why Carnival is taking Dream from NOLA. Maybe they feel that the shorter cruises are filling up more (needing a bigger ship) and the longer cruises not filling.

I typically like to do 7 day cruises myself. I may do a 5 day cruise if its a Monday through Friday cruise, because that leaves me some travel days while still taking only 1 week vacation. I cant see myself driving the 11-12ish hours to NOLA for anything less than 5 days, unless it was free.

Now that Royal is talking about putting a ship in NOLA and NCL reportedly moving one of the newer ones there, I may just try new lines.

NOLA is a nice port to drive to, especially if you live in the middle of the country, like I do. Its an easy, straight drive. Galveston is a little further, but a pain, because I have to go through Dallas and Houston both, which slows things down.