evandbob

Notary Publics in the US only charge a small fee - a few dollars at most - for their services.  Are the costs different in Canada?

If the g-kids live far from you, I'm thinking you can have the forms signed by their parents where ever they live. The notarization will indeed make it easier to pass through international borders.

Most of the Diamond luncheons I've been to have their own menu, usually 2 entrees (steak and fish).

I would imagine you could ask you wait staff for both, or multiple appetizers or desserts. 

Once the OP experiences a new cruise line that has some things better than his accustomed line, that feeling of being a traitor will disappear.

Carnival is not the be all and end all of sailing.  After 40+ Carnival cruises, we started moving around, and now find we enjoy Celebrity the best.

It would take a very special offer (free balcony + casino comps) to make us book Carnival again.

Bring muscle ointment, maybe Ace bandages.  Some people overplay their ability in a new setting, easy to get caught up in the competition.  Especially after a few drinks.

Know where sick bay is and how to call for medical help for sprains, bruises (some caused by partner's racket), pulled muscles, etc.

Sounds like fun, until it isn't.  I've witnessed several players getting hurt on a ship's court, so be aware and play just for fun.

We've had 10 to 12  seven day mid ship mid deck balconies fully comped during COVID thru Blue Chip on Equinox, Reflection, Silhouette Edge and Apex.

Now our offers are for less than a week inside or ocean view cabins - it was a nice run while it lasted!

9 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Tis a slippery slope to be satisfied as services are cut, food quantity/quality decline, and prices increase. 

 

Hank

The OP was concerned just with service cutbacks and said nothing about fare increases.  As a seasoned cruiser (65+ sailings), I can tolerate some cutbacks while fares remain steady.  My previous reply was to the OP's concerns, and price increases were not listed amongst them.

After 65 cruises, we are mainly interested in sailing just for being on the ship.  We only do local cruises as we dont fly anymore.  So as long as the cabin and balcony are cleaned once daily, and food & service in MDR & specialty restaurants remain reasonable, we are fine.

We also dont get perturbed if the ships start charging for items that used to be free.  While I enjoyed just grabbing a choc chip cookie at no charge, I can easily walk right by if a sign says $2 each.

For us, the larger ships provide a smoother more stable ride.  They seem to bounce way less than the smaller ships.

She is prone to sea sickness, and has had  vertigo on smaller ships - almost never on the larger ones.

On 10/25/2018 at 6:40 PM, Denny01 said:

Neamonxer - I was wrong! There is an LNG-fueled cruise ship. the Aida Nova. If sounds as if the ship will have LNG tanks that can support the ship for a 2-week cruise, so I assume it also has standard fuels also. Read this:

 

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/first-cruise-ship-lng-bunkering-goes-without-a-hitch-aidanova-readies-for-sea-trials.html 

 

Den

Carnival Mardi Gras & its sister ships are LNG powered. 

Google says there are a total of 7 large cruise ships that are LNG fuled.

While I've posted already that we prefer a port lunch, we don't go along with cruisers looking for an American chain fast food restaurant on land

A spot a few blocks off the main drag, with more locals than tourists, is what we look for.

We had several sailings on both the Apex and Edge recently.  Our wait staff informed us that there was no need to change restaurants (MDR) if we wanted to order something from a different menu......it might take a little longer to get, but all menu options were available in whatever MDR was chosen.

Some nights we stuck to the menu in our preferred MDR, other nights we mixed it up from both, yet kept the same table and wait staff.

With the cramped bathroom area, it's also possible to just put shower necessities on the sink countertop, and reach for them when needed.  With the plastic shower curtain, the countertop is just a short arm length away.

We were on the Equinox the 1st week of this month, and the slots had "no smoking, vaping permitted" readouts on their displays.  However, I can't recall seeing anyone vaping at any of the machines, and we spent several hours a day sitting at the slots.

We've had 4 or 5 casino comped cruises where we've purchased a specialty meal package and thoroughly enjoyed the better quality of food and service across Edge and Equinox type ships.  The additional cost was offset by the comped fares.

Now that we have exhausted our "Freebie casino fares", we don't see the need for the expensive addons - been there, done that and enjoyed it, so we just move on.

I'm thinking most parents of teens ( or younger kids) won't want to pose their pictures on a public web site.

On 8/19/2023 at 11:00 AM, ldubs said:

Put them on balconies!  

Balconies can get wet and I wouldn't use an electric foot massager that's been installed on one - possibility of too much moisture that would shock my feet (or worse)

We play slots on whatever ship we sail,usually to the tune of 2,000 - 2,500 points each per 7 day sailing.

During the pandemic, we received and accepted offers for free balcony rooms on 12 different Celebrity week long sailings, including 5 on their newest ships.

Our offers on Carnival, which we declined, were for ocean view or inside cabins for 4 or 5 day sailings.

15 hours ago, FastShip24 said:

How does holding up a cell phone hamper a helicopter 

In the same way that phone pics with flash are irritating in a theater to the audience and can be disruptive to those on stage, the flash can cause vision blindness to a pilot, esp. if several are going off at a time.

And yes, I've seen many viewers use their phone camera without disabling the flash.

The warnings about video concern hampering the vision of the rescue parties, including the helicopter pilot. Any flash or bright lights, even in daytime, can disrupt "normal" vision and possibly cause an accident.

Can you imagine the carnage if a hovering copter blades hit a part of the ship?

We've always looked in port for restaurants filled with locals and eaten lunch there.  We enjoy different foods and avoid chain restaurants and think it would be a bother to go back to the ship for a mid day meal.

I've done a few dozen solo specialty dinners, mostly in the Steakhouse, and always at a table.  Never had a bad meal or service.  I usually book a meal for 8PM.

I wouldn't consider eating at the bar as I would sense that would lower my experience. Since I'm paying extra, why compromise?            

Funny, I've seen this question posed often on these boards, but only from women. 

No guy has ever asked about ironing clothes, whether his or his travel partner.

Because we figured our Alaska cruise was a one time only deal, we elected to spend the extra time and money doing a land sea adventure.  We started by flying into Fairbanks and spent 5 days exploring the land before embarking on a 7 night southern sailing to Vancouver.

Was it necessary?  No.  Was it worth it for us?  Our answer is definitely.  We would have hated to go that far and have only seen Alaska from the ship's ports.

On 7/18/2023 at 9:12 PM, ceeceeDee said:

Know what you mean about sour pusses.😆 On our recent cruise there was a very outgoing middle aged lady who would talk the leg off a dead donkey (donkey probably expired simply to get away from her. Nah, she was nice). Her husband on the other hand had an expression like 5 miles of bad road, responded in grunts, if at all, and just was a complete downer (talk about opposites attract!). Sad to say, we tended to avoid them simply because we couldn't handle husband's negativity.

Was the husband's "grumpiness" a reaction to his wife's constant shilling?

Is this Carnival technology or US Customs?  I seem to remember a similar process on other cruise lines.