Optifire

My husband and I are Diamond on RCL and MSC matched us to Gold.  This will be our first time on MSC.  

We just booked a cruise for MSC Meraviglia for Sept 29th and our booking confirmation shows the departure time out of Brooklyn is 6pm.  Where does it show that they are leaving for 8 pm?

It really does not matter what time they leave for us, just as long as we are on it.  😄

We were on the Venezia last month when the playoffs were aired.  We watched it on the Lido Deck.  You can also watch it more comfortably on the deck above the lido, they have chairs and couches, but you will have to get there early to secure those.  The best advice I can give you regarding the lido deck, if you are not a drinker or into the bars, is to bring your own large beverage tumblers, as in the evening if you are watching a movie, all drink stations on the lido are closed.  You must walk all the way to the back of the ship to get water or juice, that was such a terrible inconvenience, especially for the older cruisers with difficulty walking.   Also, the lido deck was cold last month, even with the roof cover closed, so bring something warm to wear.  They do provide you with blankets, but warm clothes are the way to go.

We were cruising on the Carnival Venezia Jan 14 to the 23rd and we left our home at 8 am to drive to East Brunswick from Galloway NJ.  We arrived in EB at 9:30 am.  We had two cars going with 6 passengers in all and we decided it would be a better idea for us to drive to East Brunswick and leave the cars at no cost with our friends and have NJride pick us up there.   The price worked out better that way than NJride coming all the way down to South Jersey to pick us up.  Our NJride.com driver met us exactly at the time he scheduled us for at our friend's location.   The driver loaded all our suitcases in the van.  We had 6 passengers, so he came with a 14-passenger sprinter van, which was perfect for us and the entire luggage.  We all had 1 suitcase and 1 carry on each.  There was plenty of room for everyone.  The van was very comfortable, clean and easy to get in and out of.  The cost was $140.00 round trip pp (only $70.00 each way pp) and that included the tolls, gas, driver and tip.  They did not take any money until the trip was completely over and we returned home by our credit card.  Our driver dropped us off directly in front of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, pier #88.  He unloaded the van and gave our entire luggage to the porters.  We went right in the terminal elevator and up to registration.   Upon our return, we got a porter and collected our luggage and followed him to the terminal exit.  The NJride  driver was waiting a few parking stalls down from the exit of the terminal.  The driver loaded our entire luggage from the porter into the van and we entered the vehicle and in a matter of minutes, we were on our way back home.  We arrived at our cars; the driver loaded our luggage into the cars.  We were extremely happy with the flawless service that NJride provided us with.  They were perfect from the moment we made the reservation with Matt, until the moment the driver left us at the completion of our trip.  We felt the price was very reasonable.   We had the pleasure of a relaxing, stress-free drive to and from NY.  We will not hesitate to use them for our future adventures and look forward to experiencing their excellent services again.  Their website is NJride.com

This will be our first time on the Venezia as well.  Time is flying by so quickly.  It usually drags when we have a cruise booked so far out.  But soon, before we know it, final payment time will be here. 

Hi Christa:

Not to worry, you will not be solo, you will be with so many other people having a great time, you make friends in no time at all, friendships that will last a lifetime.  Even though we are not solo cruisers, We have met so many solo travelers over our past cruises.  We would run into them a few times a day and we would hang out and even agree to meet up at different events going on.  When they left the cruise, they said they never felt like a solo cruiser.  They loved it.   You will have a GREAT time.   They even have so many "solo cruiser functions" that go on throughout the cruise so that makes it even easier to break the ice to meet and make friends.  Pack the excitement and leave the nerves behind.  I know, easier said, then done.  😎

We finally have confirmed transportation to and from the port at our home in Southern NJ.  There are 6 of us going.  We are going to drive two cars to central NJ, about an hour and half, and leave them at a parking lot with friends at no cost.  Then a car service will pick   the 6 of us up at that parking lot and take us to the pier in a Mercedes Sprinter and drop us right at the door of the cruise terminal.  The price was so reasonable working out to $140.00 pp for roundtrip.  I am so glad that part of the planning is over.  We were toying with driving in ourselves, but then after watching some videos of parking on the roof top and then walking over to the ship, it was just too much for us.  Best part of going on a vacation, is making it is as easy as possible.  

Thanks, Pami, for that information.  We are hoping to meet up with some friends that live near Miami and have lunch and catch up.  I am not sure, but I think we have cruised before together.  You will have to check out my signature with my crusies to see if our paths have crossed.  Thanks again.

I was on my Carnival Account and was amazed to see that I could print out our luggage tags already.  Usually on the other cruise lines we have been on, the luggage tags are the last things that we can print up.  We changed our cabin about a week ago, and we were shocked that the luggage tags reflected the new cabin number as well.  I was using the computer instead of the app, and it said that we could not sign in our information until Dec 13th.  I thought that was kind of late to be putting in our information, such as the passport and photo info and such.  I will have to check out the app, perhaps they have you signing in on there instead with that information.  

We are still contemplating on how we are going into the Cruise Terminal.  Driving ourselves and parking or getting dropped off.  On driving in ourselves, I contacted Jason Rubino with the NYC Manhattan Cruise Terminal contact info.  I had asked him as to when the parking reservations would be opening for the January cruises as you can make the reservations on line to secure you have a spot when you get there.  He replied back and said we should start looking for the reservations to be up and ready to book in October.  Right now it only goes to December of this year.  They do have handicap parking, however, you cannot reserve handicap parking online.  To reserve on line is also a $9.95 service fee.  But worth it to have peace of mind that you have a reserved spot waiting for you.

Here is the link to the page for the parking information:

Parking | NYCruise

We also have a price of someone retired that lives near us that drives people with dropping us off and picking us up for $500.00 round trip.  We are leaning that way more and more.   

We absolutely LOVE John Heald.  He was our cruise director many years ago on a carnival ship.  He has us laughing till the tears came down.  So much fun.  '

I check our cruise prices regularly and saw that there was a price reduction on our Balcony 8C cabin.  So I called our booking agent and sure enough, we were able to save $300.00 plus got $250.00 OBC.  She said it was under a Casino Rate.  I told her we don't really gamble that much, but she said it does not matter as all the time that we gambled, and we use the card, it all adds up, not for a free cruise but  enough to get us a discount when one is being offered through the casino rate.  If you check this out, hope it helps you get a better price and some OBC for the ship.  

Hello!  We booked today.  .  My husband, Steven and I (Sally) will be joining you as well as our dear friends, Pam, Marshall and Maria.  We were last on Carnival a few years ago with the Sunshine to Canada and we had a great time.  We have been watching videos on You Tube on the Venezia and it looks so beautiful with the Italian designs.  We are looking forward to going to a warmer climate in January.  Looking forward to meeting everyone and sharing information until then.  We live in South Jersey and trying to figure out our transportation in to NY.  We are thinking of renting a vehicle for all of us and sharing the cost, or going in and staying overnight the day before to NY at a hotel that will allow us to let the car there and shuttle us over.  Let the homework begin.  

There are 7 machines overall on the Oasis

There are 4 in the Windjammer,  then 2 on the promenade near  Sorrento’s, and  then  one in the arcade.

Hi Joan:

You can use your rewards up to 7 days prior to sailing for OBC, but I find that it is best to do it a little further in advance then that. You do not want to do it too far in advance as the reward points, once applied to a booking are non refundable or transferable, if you should have to cancel the cruise, you will loose the reward points.

Yes, you can use the reward points for gifting to another reservation. I find it is better to call in, rather than doing it on line. The phone number that I use when redeeming is 1-888-305-4626. You will need their reservation number, Ship Name, Sail Date and the persons name as it appears on the reservation when you call.

Reward points are good for 60 months (5 years), after that they expire. If you have points that you suspect will be expiring, you need to call Bank of America, not the redemption center and they will be able to tell you how long you have on the points validity. If your points are going to expire soon, and you do not have a booked reservation, you can call the redemption center and redeem them for OBC or a Cruise Credit and you will then have 180 days from that redemption date to find a booking. If you do not find a booking within that 180 days then you will loose the reward points.

I always book directly with RCCL. Years ago I used a TA and when I had seen that the price of the cruise had come down drastically (savings of $500.00 for my husband and I) I called the TA and told them. They checked on it and said that RCCL would not allow me to have it. I called RCCL directly and asked them why and they said I could have the discount, but it is up to the decision of the TA to give it to me. When I called the TA back, they still maintained that it was RCCL that was blocking it. I never received the discount and it was too close to the sailing to cancel. I would loose more money then the discount was worth so I was stuck. So for that reason, I have booked my own reservations directly with the cruise line ever since. I have control of the reservation. If I am up at 1AM and see a price drop, I call RCCL and they are happy to give it to me. After I book the cruise with RCCL I watch the cruise price everyday on the internet and as soon as I see a lower price or an added On Board Credit appear, I call to have it added to my account. It is fun to watch it and makes the time pass quickly. I have found that booking a cruise like a year or so ahead will give you some good price drops and added on board credits as the cruise gets closer.

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We have taken many cruises and one of the most interesting things that we enjoy is really getting to know our cabin stewards and their assistants as well as the waiters and the assistant waiters. When speaking to them you will learn so much about their lives and the dreams they hold as well as the struggles they face. We have learned from them that they do not care how much extra that you give them, because the amount does not matter to them as much as by giving, they realize that you know how hard they do work and you appreciated it by giving them a little something extra. They do work so hard. Everyone of them that we talked to could not emphasize enough to us, if we were happy with their work, to please fill out a form at Guest Relations for them for a job well done. At the end of the day, they do the extra work indeed for "Gold Stars" as by getting enough of them, that is what gets them promoted to a higher ranking position which in turn means higher wages on an everyday basis. That is what they strive for. So many times, people go out of their way to tell GS when something does not meet their expectations but they never seem to find the time to tell GS when someone really was great. When we find that our wait staff was great, we usually give them all $20.00 each extra, but we make sure we go to the GS Manager, tell him their names and what a great job they did and ask to fill out a form for them. Then we go back to the Stewards and Waiters and tell them what we did so they know how truly appreciative we were and how their extra hard work made our cruise so special.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply with your information. I truly appreciate it. Her and I usually travel together, but I am not able to go a this time, so I am like a nervous mother sending her off by herself and just trying to get as much info as possible so she has a smooth sail. I have made notes of all your tips and info and will pass it on to her. Thank you again.

Hello Everyone! Happy and Healthy New Year to all. My friend is booked on the Anthem of the Seas next month and I was helping her with her On Line Check in Process. There are some new procedures in place since I last cruised. RCCL is now giving you the option to upload a photo of yourself, therefore eliminating the need to go to the check in counter. If you fill out your credit card information and the photo and you have your set sail pass printed out, they said that a mobile agent will be walking around and will scan your set sail pass and you can go directly to your cabin as your Sea Pass Card will be waiting for you in a sealed envelope in front of your cabin door.

My questions is, has anyone been on the Anthem or other RCCL ships where this is in place and used it and if so, how did it work out for you. Our concerns are that anyone can walk down the hallway and take the envelope with your Sea Pass Card in it and use it since the credit card info was uploaded already when she did her set sail pass at home.

A Fan of Royal Caribbean But Not A Fan Of This New Booking Implement

I have a cruise booked for 2018 and check it every day for price drops. I was thrilled when I saw it had come down. I went onto RC's website and pushed it through as a mock booking to see that my savings would be ($100.00) and chose to stay with what I have. When I further read the fine print under the NRD booking, it listed the following:

"Non-refundable deposit booking (“NRDB”) cancelled prior to final payment due date will receive a future cruise credit in the amount of the deposit minus a $100 per person service fee (the “FCC”). FCC is non-transferable and expires after 12-months from issue date. $100 per person service fee applies to changes to NRDB ship or sail date."

After reading that, I thought, well that is not too bad, you still get a future cruise credit, it's not as if you are loosing the deposit after all. But reading further, my deposit is $500.00, so right off the top, according to what is listed above, I loose $200.00 for the FCC fee (Future Cruise Credit).. THEN they are going to charge me another $100.00 per person service fee for changing the sail date, which is a no-brainer if I had to cancel the cruise. So in summary, if cancelling, Yes I will have a future cruise credit of $100.00, but it cost me $400.00 to get it.

Lastly, Is RC going to adjust the pricing on their travel insurance now? It seems only fair that they do, if you book under the NRD and you took out the insurance, you are not going to be able to use the cancellation protection so there should be an adjustment made to the price to reflect this since you are loosing some benefits of the insurance plan that was originally priced with the cancellation protection implemented. If prices remain unchanged, more money for RC's pockets. I look for this new NRD program to net them more profit from cancellations, then by actual sailings.

TeddyBear231: You had mentioned in your post that you left a room key in the slot so your A/C was always on. Can you explain that a little more? Does the air go off automatically when you leave the room?

Hi Yahoogirl. I understand your frustration as I am always on the hunt for a good price. Since this happened rather recently, my suggestion would be to try other cruise selling sites. Royal Caribbean may not have any of those cabins available at that price, however, another cruise selling site may have the cabins with the price that you were looking for and since it is rather recent that you did this, they may still be on sale. You may do even better with them, as they usually also give you incentives such as OBC to secure your booking. Good Luck.

I know this is an old post, but I want to put this up to warn others. If your cabin mate cancels out and you find someone to replace him/her, make sure when you call Carnival to add them in, that they pay in full for everything.

We just had this happen, our friend broke her foot, she cancelled out and there was another lady take her place in the cabin. Carnival told that woman she only had to pay for the port fees and tips as the money from the lady cancelled had to stay on the account and she had the insurance and would get paid everything back except the $49.00 she paid for the insurance from Aon Affinity, Carnivals Insurance carrier. When she turned in her claim, Aon said she had a valid claim and could pay her, however, they can only pay what Carnival tells them to pay. Carnival said she only gets back $150.00 as the woman who took her spot in the cabin went on her fare and it was up to the lady to get the cabin fare back from the woman. We called many numbers of customer service with Carnival and even corporate Miami customer service, but to no avail. Even though it was Carnival's rep's mistake not collecting the money from the woman for the full cabin fare instead of just the tips and port charges, they would not budge. The ship has sailed and they will do nothing to rectify this mistake, it is up to the passenger to collect from the lady. She does not even know the lady and has no means of getting in touch with her. So she paid for someone else to go on her cruise, bottom line. So please be careful with trusting the Carnival Reps, just because they tell you it is so, does not mean it is. Get it in writing.

We recently returned from a Carnival Sunshine cruise and we were in Saint John on Oct 19 2016. We also were trying to decide on which way to see the sites. We were with a group of 20 so our decision was to go with a group guided tour. The link below will show you the details of who we used and what we saw.

Our tour guide was very informative, patient and funny and never minded when we would ask him to stop for a photo opportunity. We saw so much in the 6 hour tour that I know we would have never seen on our own.

We ate at The Cave's restaurant in St. Martin and it was busy, but moved fast and it was so worth the stop as it was delicious. I had the Lobster roll and the fish chowder which were both excellent. My husband had the fish and chips and loved it.

https://carnivalsunshinecanadacruise.shutterfly.com/saintjohntour

I agree with Beacha, Carnival should pay you for these photos. The clarity is fantastic, the angel that you caught the ship in the photo was great. Even the beautiful sky cooperated to make such a post card like photo. Thank you for taking the time to post the photos for us.

We were in Le Havre and took the Celebrity cruise ship bus excursion to Paris. We left the port at 9am and the ride took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Paris. We were taken to all the major sights of Paris, but viewed them only from the window. We did get out for a photo shot of the Eiffel Tower. We were then taken to the most popular square in Paris, Place de la Concorde, and we were dropped off for time on our own to do as we wished for three hours. The bus driver walked us to the taxi stand and pointed us in the direction of what we were interested in seeing. if we preferred to walk it. We met the bus back at the square and returned to the ship.

We made a few mistakes on this tour. Mistake #1, our group of 4 chose to walk it. Our time was limited to three hours, so we should have hopped a cab so we could get more in. Mistake #2, some of our group needed an ATM machine and we spent a good half hour walking the blocks of Paris looking for an ATM. So get your money before you go as they are hard to find there. Mistake #3, we found many quaint cafe's with out side eating (small) for lunch, but we choose to go to the Louvre and eat in the lower section. It was nothing more then a food court you would find in the States.

We are returning to Le Havre in April and we have decided to take the ship bus once again, however this tour we will take the 5 hour private time that just drives you in, drops you off and takes you back. I am hoping to find a private tour company in Paris that will pick us up where the bus drops us off and takes us around for the 5 hours and then brings us back to the bus stop.