cruiser1961

Lovey, we're so delighted that you and Thurston can join us.  

2 hours ago, laudergayle said:

I typically do a quick pre-service. Towels all together on the floor, bed partway made, bar glasses and cups emptied and grouped together.  

We're totally with you on this. Really, how difficult is it to do a "pre-service check" on a 270 sqft space? 

That's good to know.  Thank you for the update.  (We last sailed in May/22.) 

Lita

Getting close now!

High on our packing list?  Plastic or reusable straws!  On our last cruise all of the straws were paper, which doesn’t work too well in a Pina Colada.  Our suggestion is to bring along some plastic straws or a reusable straw to avoid the soggy paper straw.  (One gal bought a box of plastic straws in port and made a lot of new friends later that day during Happy Hour!)

Also, Ziploc bags in various sizes, which can be used for:

-          transporting damp bathing suits from the hotel or on the way home

-          snacks (that ½ a muffin or cookies or ?) so they stay fresh for later

-          keeping similar/small things together (i.e., various chargers, writing utensils)

-          placing ID in the safe so things are not accidentally left behind

A couple of variations on your list:

At night, we use battery-operated tea lights in the bathroom and on the bathroom sill (takes a while to get used to that step!). 

In addition to magnetic hooks (which I read on another post are also great for stringing a long extension cord along the ceiling if you have a c-pap), we also bring magnetic bulldog clips for excursion tickets, itineraries, notes, and, yes, that highlighted FreeStyle Daily! 

Safe travels!

Lita

On 11/17/2023 at 7:02 AM, EganFire said:

First, and most important, I look forward to seeing you on the ship. I am sure Les and I can swap a story or two if you look at my avatar. I am sure we will find each other in the Vibe. 🙂

Yes, I noticed your avatar and thought that you and Les might have a story or two to share!   We look forward to seeing you on board 😊 

OMG! Yes, I remember Julie and the gang!  

(Aging myself here yet my handle does say 1961…) 

Agree the show hasn’t aged well, but it’s still fun.  Any chance you remember the one where Robert Reed and Florence Henderson (AKA as Mr. and Mrs. Brady) are in separate vignettes yet cross paths on the ship and sense something familiar?  Classic!

Les and I will be travelling with you and JamesIowa on the 12/4/23 Panama Canal Cruise.  We’ll be in the Vibe.  Like you, I’m a planner and have everything mapped out.  Les – retired FF – flies by the seat of his pants yet humours me 😊.  It somehow balances out.

We look forward to joining you on this journey IRL.  We have the same excursion planned for Acapulco and will see how that plays out. 

Lita

You know it’s almost time for your cruise, when……

The dancing numbers counting down to your cruise become single digits! 🤪

9 hours ago, cabogal said:

I think that people are more apt to write about their bad experience than their good experience.

I agree.  Showing my age, but many years ago (before internet took hold) I was guest relations manager for a restaurant chain with over 40 locations.  The negative reviewers, on average, told ~ 20 people about their bad experience, while the positive reviewers told ~ 5 people.  Extrapolate that to the internet.

I never knew that they could live that long either, but I read that it isn't that unusual if they're well taken care of. My daughter got 3 fish when she was a young teen. The other 2 died about 2 yrs. ago. She never named them. Sadly, our daughter died about 5 yrs. ago at the age of 34. I inherited the fish, even though I was the one that took care of it!

I am very sorry to hear that you lost your daughter at such a young age :(

Finally was able to call Carnival today and spoke with someone in the IT dept.

It took me being on the phone with them well over 30 minutes but they did locate all his past sailings and have everything listed and showing up on his VIFP statues now. Crazy thing is, they did say it was because some of the sailings we did he was listed as Steve and the others he was listed as Steven and that's why they were not connecting. Thank you all for your help...this is one more reason why I just love Cruise Critic!!:)

Glad everything worked out for you and Steve(n) :D

My hubby and I have cruised the exact same cruises over the years, I have never gone with out him... but for some reason all the cruises we have taken are not showing up under him at Carnival.

Same thing happened to us. Before our last cruise hubby (Les) was listed as a first-timer (blue) and I was listed with 10 points (red). But I’ve never sailed without him. All our cruises have been post 9/11, he’s always been listed as the “first guest” and our S&S charges go to his credit card. And yet my info was correct but not his. :confused:

By any chance, does your hubby have a name like Robert but he goes by Bob? Is it possible that he was signed up as Robert on some cruises and Bob on others? (I could be wrong, but it would appear that Carnival's VIFP program takes the guest's name from the booking info and NOT from the official name we provide pre-cruise for TSA.) It seems so simple – I mean, he’s called Bob every day and everyone kinda forgets about Robert :o - yet that’s the mistake we made.

We did contact Carnival and, IIRC, we were transferred to the IT department (sorry, I looked but can’t find the direct phone number or the exact name of the department that sorted this out). Anyway, we were able to link up the accounts of “Les” and “Leslie” and fix his VIFP status. The cruise consultants do not have the ability to fix this.

This might not apply to your situation but perhaps this info may be helpful to others.

Cheers,

Leets

Lots of cool stuff to be seen on the canals. In addition to the "floating dustcarts" there are construction boats and barges, police boats, fire boats, etc.

We actually saw a "car show" on the Grand Canal!! There were about 8-10 sports cars on a barge floating down the Grand Canal, and they were definitely on display - not sure where they were coming from or where they were headed. I'm not really into cars but I must admit that was pretty darn cool :D

I just reserved my table, Freedom Aug 24. But the free wine, was that a promotion to get people in there on the first night? Hope they won't stop it because it seems like it worked. Lots of posts about it. Was it 1 bottle per table, per reservation, or per cabin, esp if two cabins of adults share a table there?

We sailed on the Freedom (8-day cruise) on April 4. The first day on the ship our Cruise Director announced that the free wine promotion was available on the first night AND on the second night (which was our first Formal Night).

Begin rant/

We made arrangements on our roll call for 9 people, with 6 separate reservations, to dine together on the first night. Prior to our cruise, the Steakhouse Manager e-mailed me to say it was ONE bottle of free wine per table "if the promotion was available during our cruise" :rolleyes: The official Carnival Corp. statement at that time was something like "the wine promotion is at the discretion of the individual ship's Steakhouse Manager". Long story short, one member of our group managed to "convince" the Steakhouse Manager to provide our table of 9 guests with 4 free bottles of wine that first night.

This free wine promotion is very confusing!! Why doesn't Carnival Corp. just commit to making the promotion "one free bottle of wine per two people dining in the Steakhouse on the first night" ... period... regardless of the number of people at the table or the number of "linked" reservations and make it applicable to ALL of the fleet's Steakhouses?? :confused:

End rant/

The first night, our group was there from 6:30 to 10:00 (great time, wonderful memories!! :D). The Steakhouse was nowhere near full capacity at any time, even with the free wine.

That said, the Steakhouse was fabulous!! And was well worth the $$ for us. The food was amazing! The service was impeccable! A truly exceptional dining experience!! :)

Enjoy!!

Can someone tell me if they have hair dryers in the room and does the safe use cards or codes.

We sailed on the Freedom on April 5th. They had a hairdryer in one of the vanity drawers just outside the bathroom. We used an old Sail & Sign card for the safe.

Thanks so much for coming back and letting us know how the BOSS was. Ok so the Helmet walk it is!:D.

 

I am more than saddened as I am quite certain that this "Little Buck" island is where we snorkeled and saw the sea turtles. They hung out there. The crew of the dancing dolphin were very strict about no one touching the turtles. They said if the turtles go then we are out of a job. I hope that others will confirm that they have seen turtles there recently. Was this island still off limits to people? Did anyone refer to this as Turtle Cove?

To clarify, WE did not see any turtles and no one on our excursion mentioned seeing them either, but perhaps we anchored in a different area of "Little Buck" so as not to disturb the turtles with the scooters?? The Captain did say the island was off limits to people as it was some kind of wildlife sanctuary.

Les just mentioned that someone from our ship went on a different snorkelling excursion that day and did see turtles - So they're still there!! :)

Best of luck with the Helmet Trek!! I think that you will quickly get used to the idea that you're breathing comfortably under water, albeit with a big helmet on your head :o, and then you will really enjoy it :D

Leets

You actually got me thinking that the excursion that you are going to from St. Thomas to the Buck island near St Thomas would be the perfect time to try either the sea trek or BOSS. You mentioned that you will be doing both snorkeling and BOSS so if I absolutely couldn't put the helmet on at least I would have the chance to snorkel with the turtles. I really am glad that you posted about this because I never would have considered something along this line because I figured that I couldn't do it then the whole excursion would be wasted. Now I know that this is not the case. Thanks so much!:)

Hi Karysa,

Just finished our BOSS excursion in St. Thomas and wanted to touch base with you to clarify a few things.

The BOSS excursion was fun but, honestly, if I hadn't done the Sea Trek Helmet Dive first the BOSS excursion would have been very uncomfortable for me. You have to dive under the water and come up inside the helmet (as opposed to the Sea Trek where you put the helmet on and slowly go underwater). With the BOSS, once underwater and inside the helmet you are "one" with the scooter - I found it much more confining than walking freely on the ocean bottom with a big helmet on my head (a la Sea Trek).

The Buck Island referred to in the St. Thomas excursion is locally called "Little Buck". Unfortunately, there are no turtles there. I didn't do the snorkel bit but I heard that, while there were some fish, there wasn't anything spectacular to see.

IMHO, I think that the Sea Trek may be easier for you, as it was for me. I'm sure that you can overcome your fears and marvel at the undersea world that you encounter there.

Hope this helps you with your decision. Best wishes...

Leets

One of my DD's would love that! Was antone on your excursion claustraphobic? I am ok with snorkeling and power snorkeling but I don't think that I could put on an enclosed helmet, even though it IS see-through?

Hi Karysa,

We do the BOSS next week, so I’ll just comment on my Sea Trek experience for now.

I, myself, am claustrophobic and I loved this adventure! And, yes, beforehand, I was very nervous and very scared!

The tour guides understand apprehension so if you let them know they’ll gently ease you into this. When I first went underwater with the helmet, I found that I could breathe easily – a huge relief :p I started thinking that this was actually kinda cool! I so enjoyed the experience that I practically forgot about the helmet and did not feel the least bit claustrophobic. In fact, I grinned from ear-to-ear the entire time :D. It was absolutely amazing! Bonus: I wore my glasses and my hair didn’t even get wet!

The one thing I did find weird about the enclosed helmet, though, was the line of vision. The peripheral vision is non-existent so I had to frequently turn my head to see certain things. Minor adjustment - easy to get used to.

From one claustrophobic to another, I would highly recommend the Sea Trek. I do hope you get the opportunity to try it. At the start, I really had to dig deep and find my courage to put on that helmet and go underwater… it was absolutely worth it. And now, I can’t wait for the BOSS next week!! :D Yes, I'm still nervous but the excitement is greater!

Leets

This time next week, we'll be recapping our day in Grand Turk and looking forward to sailing into San Juan the next morning! :D

:D 5 days to sail away! :D

What is BOSS if I may ask? I have never heard of that before.:)

"Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter"

Basically, you're in a bubble helmut similar to the Sea Trek helmut dive (see our photo below) but the whole breathing apparatus is attached to an underwater scooter! No mask or mouthpiece. It looks totally cool :D and has received rave reviews.

We absolutely loved the Sea Trek and just knew we could not pass on this adventure!! While we're both confident swimmers, apparently you don't even have to be able to swim to do this excursion (or Sea Trek), although that may affect one's comfort level under water :p And if you need glasses or even contacts, you can wear them (on either excursion)! How great is that?!? BOSS costs about $125pp for the 3 1/2 hour tour, which includes the intro/safety instructions, boat ride, about 30 minutes on the scooter, and some snorkelling time.

We're going next Thursday and can't wait!! It's a whole 'nuther world to explore!!

Leets

FWIW, we've booked a 3 1/2 hour excursion on Carnival from St. Thomas to do BOSS and snorkelling at Buck Island. Has to be the Buck Island noted in post #27. The trip to Buck Island must be less than one hour each way if we have time for BOSS (30 minutes) then switch over to snorkelling while the other group does snorkelling first then switches over to BOSS.

Leets

I saw one poster say she got Canadian pricing promo I do not see it anywhere. Does anyone have info on this? Is it Canadian $$?

We booked our cruise during the Canadian pricing promo in February. The promotion was for Canadian residents and the pricing was in US$.

An unsolicited word of advice: If you find the Canadian pricing promo on-line for the cruise you want but choose to contact a Carnival rep to book your cruise, go on-line to figure out your total cost in US$$ and add 10% before you call. Our rep was giving me a higher total price (by about $125) than what I had calculated. (With the exchange rate, slight upgrade to a different deck, taxes, pre-paid gratuities, and the excitement of booking a cruise :D the total cost can be confusing.) We finally figured out together that she could not "see" the Canadian promotional pricing at her end. Her base rates were $50 more per person than what I was seeing on-line. She told us to book on-line to get the better rate. So we did :D

Dancing! 9 days til Freedom!

WhooHoo! We're dancing, too!! :D:D

So... did Ben ever find "Abby"? Or were you able to find a replacement? How did this story turn out?

Leets

dsc00148 by graphicguy1, on flickr

Best towel animal ever -- rotflmao :D:D:D