ryanedoyle

We leave for Galveston tomorrow. Our cruise leaves Saturday! 7 days of no work!!!! Yeah baby!!!

I second the library. There is also a small family game room across from the library that is very quiet as well. We found it a great place to relax while we were on the Breeze.

No drinks cost that much. Its just a nice round number that has some advertising value.

I cruised Royal Caribbean one time and I much prefer Carnival. I didn't feel that the amenities were any better on Royal Caribbean than Carnival. I love the up beat atmosphere that Carnival offers. That being said I would like to learn more about which perks that you felt may be missing from Carnival.

You have to carry it aboard with you. They now screen the beverages brought on board. I have had them cut open my 12 pack of soda to check to contraband.

You are not allowed to check it with the porters.

11 days!

We were on the Breeze out of Galveston in May 2016 and I purchased some booze from the fun shops on board. I had to wait over an hour in an absurd line to collect them before getting off the ship. You also have to pay tax when going through customs. Not worth the hassle at all.

What nights were Elegant nights?

Did you use any kids club events? Circle C?

 

Do you have any fun times to share?

 

Thank you in advance. We leave June 5.

Elegant nights were on Monday and Thursday. Our son is young so he only enjoyed camp ocean but I did see a lot of kids in Circle C and Club O2 through the cruise. She is a beautiful ship and offered a ton of exciting things to do. We enjoyed the MDR every night and got our moneys worth from the Cheers program! I will be around so let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them.

I am considering buying the cheers package on my upcoming Carnival cruise. When I visited the website for pricing info it says that if pre-purchased online prior to sail date, the charge is 49.95/per stateroom guest per day plus daily gratuities.

 

what I'm confused about is that, gratuities are calculated as $132/per day (11 day cruise) and 15%/per drink. But no idea for a drink package, just says 49.95 per day plus gratuities. Do they add 15% to the price of the package? Are the drinks free but then you get charged for the gratuities of each individual drink you order?

The gratuities are added to the daily price of the cheers package. ie $49.95 * 15% = $57.44 per person/per day total.

I was a smoker and a smokeless tobacco user for many years. After constant reminders from my family and Dr. I decided it was not the best thing for me and I quit cold turkey. I don't have any issue with people who smoke because it's their own personal choice. I however have the right to not want to be around it anymore.

My wife and I used to love going to the casino on our cruises. We would spend several hours a day seeing what lady luck had in mind for us that day. Since the crackdown on smoking around the ship has gone into place, the smoke in the casino is so thick we cannot handle it anymore. For our last few cruises we have not spent any time (or money) in the casino because of that. Now I don't know if the answer is banning smoking but perhaps putting in some much better air cleaning machines would help. All I know is that we will not be spending any time in the casino until the air conditions get better.

I would rather BY FAR just spend the extra $15 and enjoy a nice $35 steakhouse meal. The atmosphere, food and service is well worth the cost.

Crazy thought but how about take the cruise and just stay on the ship while in port and enjoy the indoor activities. I don't believe you would have any issues with mosquitos while the ship is at sea. My wife and we rarely get off the ship anymore and enjoy the nice empty ship when in port and its amazing I would rather see you get to enjoy a cruise and not lose the voucher.

My wife and I use to really enjoy spending time in the casino. We love the table games and would spend hours a day playing. On our last cruise the smoke was so bad that after we played for 1 hour we left and never came back. I agree that the smoke in the casino seems to be FAR worse than it was before they tightened up on smoking.

As with anything else it all depends on the toddler.

Since you have a toddler you know that there wont be much relaxing when you are keeping up. They have a tendency to run and explore and get there hands on everything they can touch. Just imagine their behavior at home and see how it would fit on a boat.

The good thing is that there is a lot of time for you to spend quality time with your toddler. If they are potty trained you can take them swimming. There is Seuss at sea on many Carnival ships. You can find some quiet open areas and let them run and explore.

When my wife and I sail with our son we enjoy hanging out with him during the sea days and dropping him off at camp ocean in the evenings to have some adult time.

We also enjoy staying on the ship during port days and having him in camp ocean. The ship is so empty and you can enjoy many amenities that are normally very cramped.

In the end its going to come down to how you like to have fun and relax. Just remember its a great time to spend time with your family and we truly enjoy it!

Believe me Carnival does not want to miss port either. It the LAST thing they want to do. It means refunding tons of shore excursions, entertaining guests that had planned to be in the port, employees have to cancel there personal time and go back to work etc... I believe when they cancel ports they have the absolute best interest and safety of there passengers in mind.

I would rather be safe a million times over then to chance 9 hours in a port.

What a great attitude! My wife and I always say just roll with the punches and have a good time! WE LOVE the Magic and I hope the rest of your cruise goes very well!

We just got back from a cruise last week and purchased FTTF. We will buy it EVERY SINGLE TIME we cruise until we are platinum. It was worth every single penny and then some. The fast debarkation was worth the $50 alone. From the time they let the first guest off it took us 15 minutes to get to our car!

Yes sit will be possible you will just need to request it when you get your buzzer. It may take a bit longer then normal but you should be fine.

We were on the March 22, 2015 cruise with you and your family. I am very sorry to hear that you did not enjoy your vacation and the time on the ship. I am also very sad that they were not able to fix your dining situation like they should have.

We were in a group of 8 including our 10 month old son in four cabins and did your time dining (what ever its called) and found it to be wonderful. We very much enjoyed and flexibility. We were able to get same same severs (Felix and his staff) who were beyond top notch. The food every night was outstanding as well. We also enjoyed the steak house and the Italian up sell restaurant which we found to be amazing.

Where we differ is this was the best vacation, on the best ship with the best staff we have ever been on. This is our fifth cruise and we found this one the best hands down. We felt the cruise director and staff were awesome. The bartenders were our favorites and always remembered our name and the drinks we wanted. Several of them even stopped to say hi to me as I was taking the Behind the Fun Tour on the last sea day.

Our son was under two so we were only able to put him in camp ocean during night owls and for a few hours during port days. We only took advantage of it a few time so we could have some adult time.

I must disagree with you on the piano bar. I found both performers I watched to be very good and got a lost of interaction from the guests. I enjoyed singing along to the music! I agree that the shows were about the same as they always were (nothing to write home about). After watching a few we would rather spend our time playing shuffleboard or just relaxing somewhere.

Just thought I would share my much shorter side of the story and hope that the OP has a MUCH better time in the future. :)

We had a party of 8 in 4 different rooms last week on the Magic. We had any time dining and were always able to sit together no problem. The longest we ever had to wait was about 15 minutes.

For all of you who have purchased before I have a question. If you reach your alcohol limit are the come products still unlimited or are they included in the 15 drink max?

Yes you can have unlimited cokes. I hit 15 alcoholic drinks several days and was given cokes afterwards.

I agree with others here. I have stayed in an inside room and a balcony room on the same deck. The balcony rooms are with our a doubt larger because of the room for the couch.

A constant complaint we'd get is faded swimwear from the chlorine levels, and even rotting out the stitching on some of it (usually after an entire day spent in a hot tub). People would say, "our pool has nowhere near this much chlorine", and I would answer "yes, but you don't invite 2000 people into your pool."

 

The problem with the air jets was that the temperature the hot tubs were kept at was the prime incubation temperature for legionella (legionnaire's disease), and then the air jets would aerosolize the water and you would breathe in the water vapor (legionella is a respiratory disease). So the hot tubs were creating a "happy hunting ground" for human hosts. Out go the air jets.

 

On the subject of legionella, another major source is shower heads, where water can sit in the head and mix with air, and breed the little fellers. Ships are required to remove all shower heads monthly and sanitize them in a 100ppm bleach solution.

I am thinking you need to write some articles. Super informative thank you!

It is still available and to add to the other post it is $250 a couple on a 7 days cruise. Sorry I don't know all of the prices. Remember they run out of space fast so book it when you board.

This is our one absolute must to on our cruise coming up. Those dang heated tile loungers are the most relaxing thing in the world.

Fish and Chips was SO awesome! I absolutely loved the fried oysters.

Our favorite thing (not sure if they still have it) was the bean bag toss competition they had on sea days. It was so much fun to have a few drinks and compete with fellow passengers.