bjkTX

Last fall I paid for a cruise using the AARP gift Cards and had checked them all the morning before I gave the info to my TA to submit. I got a notice saying one of them showed no balance. It took several days between my TA, AARP and Princess to get it resolved - but it was. I think it was the Princess folks that finally got it resolved.

All things being equal - the gift cards you can save 8%.

That's the situation I am in - glad to know it works 🙂

Thanks! This will be our 4th Carnival cruise (26th in all) and as I recall we could never go direct to our cabin like we do on Princess - so I figured they would probably get me onto the ship and that would be it - which is fine.

Thank you!

A follow up question. How far does the attendant take you?

Thank you! Very much appreciated.

For the first time I decided I am going to need to use a wheelchair going through the boarding process for our cruise next Feb. I have never done that and my TA has indicated it has been added to my booking - although I can't see anything about it online. I would like advice from those who are experienced with wheelchair assistance - is there a certain place to go when you get to the port (Galveston) to get started - or how do you contact them if not? And of course - do you tip the attendant. Thanks for any advice.

We also just booked a mini (thanks Dan and Evelyn). I couldn't see any Deluxe or Premium Deluxe or Minis until I changed it to say I was booking for 3 people - then they all showed up. I picked one I wanted and had my TA book it. If I tried to book it online it wanted to add the $210 port fees for the third person!

Than you - I appreciate the information!

I realize I am jumping in here - but since the folks that responded obviously wanted the FTF and I am interested in the reasons you like/want it. I purchased it years ago for some friends on their first cruise - back when it was like $25 - because I wanted them to be able to board quicker and enjoy the other perks. But in every discussion I have read recently the folks say the price now just isn't worth it for what you get. We will be taking our 4th Carnival cruise next Spring (26 total cruises) so we have little to no status while the couple we are going with are Platinum (and said we could board with them...but I realize that won't happen). So I'd be interested in hearing what value caused you to pay for FTF! I'm 50/50 right now - assuming it will even be available. Thanks!

We mailed our passport renewals in 3 weeks ago - the check has been cashed and the web site says they are processing.

Sorry - I didn't realize that!

I don't know about Newegg but AARP has the $500 and $100 cards available all the time for 10% off.

We were on the same cruise - our third on the Emerald in the past year. I think the engine shutting down (and the lights going off for a short time) was the top of the list for us - and we thought the engine shut down a few other times briefly. But it was a great cruise regardless.

We play the penny slots to kill time - and DW enjoys it after dinner. On our cruise that ended this Weds she won a "mystery jackpot" for $900 playing 34 cents a pull. So I enjoyed it as well 🙂

We were just on the Emerald out of FLL. We received excursion tickets in an envelope as usual but we did not receive anything about our transfers. I asked the customer service folks and they said the luggage tag was the ticket....certain colors indicate transfers - and we didn't have an issue.

We also used Blackberry on our trip last year and agree it was easy and the service was great. It was getting pricey just after we booked them - I haven't checked since.

Getting on the Emerald in FLL a couple of weeks ago we started to get in line outside the terminal and just as we did one of the employees motioned for us to come over to where he was and sent us down a much shorter line - he had noticed our elite medallions - there were no signs that I could see. Once inside we went through security and they just kept leading us to the ship - I didn't see any "Green" or "Blue" signs or lines - we just walked right on the ship and to our cabin. Getting off the ship was almost as easy - much better than what we've experienced in the past.

We just got off the Emerald on Wednesday and we noticed two bags on the closet floor that morning. We have several so we didn't take them.

We were just on the Emerald Princess and they had a group from our Roll Call that did the duck thing. I did happen to find one - and set it free the next day. I did see one other that someone had found and it had a card on it that listed where and when the duck had been located - for the last 9 years!

You should get all the goodies. We just got off the Emerald Princess that we booked a year and a half ago. We had the Plus package but it was the old one and we didn't get the extra goodies. Back in Nov we were also on the Emerald on a cruise we booked about a year ago after the new packages were put in place and we were elig to get the extras on that cruise - although we never did take advantage of the 2 desserts everyday :-)

We have 19 Princess cruises and three on the Emerald NOT counting the one we leave for in 2 weeks - in fact our last three cruises will have been on the Emerald - in the same cabin. The last one was 4 months ago and we thought the Emerald was in good shape - but we aren't very critical. I like the Grand class ships, and want smaller not larger so the new 5000 person ships don't interest me. We are also not picky if we see a little rust on the balcony. I guess it just depends on you - what are you cruising for, what are your expectations. One of the great things about cruising is all the choices we have and whatever it is we are looking for - they pretty much offer it. We cruise to be together in a more relaxed setting (hard to do when you've been retired a long time :-), see some sights we haven't seen before or wanted to see again, have a good service experience and hope we hate to leave the ship! We accomplish that pretty much every cruise 🙂 Hope you have a great cruise whatever you choose!

Looks familiar 🙂 But our last day in Wales was sunny and spectacular. On a private car tour in Scotland I had been discussing local favorite beverages with our driver and he admitted enjoying a "wee dram" of his favorite now and then - and we kept bringing it up until we got to our last tour area. He called me back to the car and opened his trunk. He pulled out a box and opened it and inside was a bottle of his favorite plus two small what looked like pewter glasses with "A wee dram" engraved in them and poured one for each of us. When I admired his choice he decided we should have another wee dram. At least I didn't have to drive :-)

We did the British Isles cruise in the fall of 2022. You have received a lot of great info already. All I can add was that it rained almost every day we were there - and it was still one of the best cruises we've been on. Do it!!!