my kids mama

Thanks for these postings.  I don't often reply, but I do read them.  I did put on some holiday weight.  I have been working hard, and it's mostly gone.

 Leaving in a few days for Auckland, NZ.  Four nights there before boarding a 7 night out of Brisbane, AU. 

I didn't quite make my goal yet, but I did lose close to 10 pounds. That will help. My clothes are fitting better.  

I will not have a problem skipping dessert on the ship.  I know what they taste like already.  It's things like pasta, and breads (and booze on a cruise) that I struggle with.  I hear that New Zealand, and Australia have very good fish and chips, yikes! 

It really is true, what they say; Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.  I just need to remind myself of this before ordering that pasta carbonara.  

4 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

I forgot to say that one needn't get drunk in order to enjoy the drink package. On a sea day I usually start drinking around noon and will typically have one drink an hour throughout the day, turning in around 11pm. That's 11 drinks right there and unless I group them closer together I don't even get a buzz from it. For most port days we are back onboard at least 2 hours before sail away, so if we get back at 3 that's still 8 hours or so. 

I sort of feel the same way.  Only one time did I hit my 15.  It was a sea day and I was in the casino most of the day.  I was drinking vodka/diet.  They were in such tiny glasses.  When we were at the comedy club after dinner, the bar tender told me that I was at 14.  I was shocked I didn't feel it.  

If I am drinking wine or if I am at the Alchemy bar, well that is a different story.  LOL

The pin should be your date of birth, MM/DD.  If you wanted to cash out, you can go to the cashier in the casino and they will cash you out. Have a great cruise, I hope you win big!

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

I guess it depends on the server. On one of our recent sailings I tried to get two specialty coffees at once, both without alcohol, and the server said that I had to wait 5 minutes to get the second one. Probably only a matter of training, I don't know. If I had had DW's sail and sign with me she might have given me both at once, who knows. 

I have also had the experience that they could find my husbands folio number in the computer and charge his card, even if he wasn't with me.  We are listed as traveling companions in the computer, I guess. I haven't tried this with alcoholic drinks though.  That was just specialty coffee and water. 

Once, my husbands picture was in place of mine when we got back on the ship from being in port. They stopped us for a minute, but realized what happened and let us on with no problem. 

16 hours ago, pjhootch said:

 You can do this at guest services.  I have done it right after boarding.  It was quick and easy.  The CS person made a call (I presume to casino host) and typed in something and it was activated within 5 minutes of our request.

When we tried to do this, guest services didn't know what we were talking about.  We had to go to a bar and ask them to call a bar manager.  Maybe they are getting more used to "cheers for one" .  In the beginning, they weren't even going to let us buy it for my husband. They said we still had to buy it for both of us even though I already had it comped.  They quickly changed their minds on that when they figured out that two people would just share the one comped package instead. 

3 hours ago, May1cruiser said:

our offer is the 16th also. I think others might get earlier dates. We are not big "fish" or spenders. 

 

The last offer had openings over a large period of time and they really never completely filled. It appears the more favorable ports fill faster. 

 

My offer doesn't start until; the 18th, so you must be a bigger fish than I am.  

1. When are YOUR deals live?  I hear everyone gets different dates. 

2. Can you book if you stay up late the night before if it's after midnight in Florida?

I have had an elite offer once before, but none of the dates worked for me. I am hoping to have better luck this time. 

I don't think they can help you at guest services.  I think you need to go to a bar and ask for a manager to approve Cheers for just one person. That is what we had to do. Things may have changed though. You will not get the discount. 

Warning, once you go balcony, it's hard to back.  

Also...how many of us just went to carnival.com and looked under manage my booking to see if there was an upgrade offer there?  I know I sure did. 

Same ship, same itinerary. I would do the one that is cheaper to book and to travel to. Use the money saved for an excursion or making other memories with your family. 

15 hours ago, 1stresponder2086 said:

Shouldn’t this be on a ports page

I considered that.  Sort of running out of time to read so much on 3 different ports pages.  That's why I was asking for help here. If admin wants to move it, I understand. 

Booked sort of last minute on the Dream out of Galveston.  It's my busy season at work and I have very little time to do any research on excursions. I am asking for you to help me choose.  We have been to all of these ports before.  In Costa Maya, we went to Maya Chan and loved it!  In Belize we did a Carnival Excursion and swam with nurse sharks and sting rays and snorkeling near a sand bar.  We loved that too.  We have been to Cozumel a few times and we have done Paradise Beach, and just walked looking for a pharmacy  from the port.  The ones close to the port are very expensive.  If you want to get your steps in, keep walking.  You will get a much better price. By the way, there are also some really good tacos right across the street from the port. We have done that twice. I would be happy repeating what we have done.  My husband likes to do something different. I would love to have some beach time in Coz if there is a place that isn't smothered in sea weed. 

What is your favorite thing to do in these ports.  I will attach my itinerary here.  Thanks in advance!

On 9/14/2023 at 11:26 AM, Izena said:

My kids. Thanks fo the info.  My ex husbands aunt was an astrologer and very accurate.  Never had her do our charts. But his sibling used her and in  May 1978 she had predicted a tragedy in the family and it would be a female.   That fall my SIL collapsed and died from a brain aneurysm she was 38. — my son and DIL arrive tomorrow and leave on Monday.  Are not staying in my house.  (I don’t respond to my DIL rude remarks she’s just a bully)

 

glad you visited this site . Join us in attempts to keep a healthy weight

Wow! That is amazing. I look at these posts from time to time.  I lost 40 pounds in 2017 and have kept off 35 of them.  I don't ever want to go back.  I even became a health coach to help others.  That really helped me stay on track.   I always feel hesitant to mention my health coaching here because I don't want anyone to think I am trying to sell them something. 

14 minutes ago, Izena said:

Already the middle of the month how time flys.  I haven’t weighed . I’ve been stressed.   Sugar bingeing .   Got a call my son is visiting this weekend bringing his wife who openly dislikes me.  I asked for flight info etc.  I got they arrive in the afternoon. They are renting a car (I have an extra car they could use and are staying in a hotel - no flight info, airport etc only detail she wants to visit my Houston sons ex. —- 

 

Then Tuesday had stress test which was a cluster F.  The cardiologist changed the order to a nuclear treadmill last minute so I had to wait an hour for isotope to arrive.  Lots of time delays what was to be a 2 hour visit  turned into a 5 hour. I did have a melt down when the tech couldn’t answer my questions.    I had a friend drop me off and then pick me up.  

Sounds like you are having a rough week.  Not sure if you are in to this kind of thing but Mercury is in retrograde. Mercury is the planet of communication.  During this time, it's more common to have miscommunications and for things not to go as planned. Travel delays, arguments, things breaking.  It will start to go direct again tomorrow.  It takes a couple days for things to get back to normal though.  Not sure how long your son is in town but I would keep my distance for a couple of days if I were you. Good luck to you.  I have a daughter that I have a rough relationship with, I get it.  

13 minutes ago, SDPadreFan said:

I'm OK with it. But generally on a 7 day, I will typically only get it once, or max twice. I find that just getting a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream (not soft serve) is a nice way to finish dinner. Nothing fancy. Just a simple scoop or two.

That is what I do too.  I actually really like vanilla ice cream. 

46 minutes ago, tytanbri said:

I will be going on the Jubilee so I am curious- is the non-smoking section really non-smoking? Do they actually enforce it? Also, is the smoke truly less noticeable? We tolerate the smoke but I would really appreciate not having clothes that stunk so bad from being in the casino. Especially with no self service laundry available. 

I believe it was separate.  I don't think my clothes were stinky at all. 

7 hours ago, Coral said:

I guess mine have been awful because we couldn't even get close to the glacier to see it. And I know this is extremely common with Tracy Arm/Dawes glacier. And this has been multiple times. There are several years where ships couldn't get far enough to see the glacier until mid to end of July.

 

Glad you were able to get close - definitely not the norm.

Even with the excursion of getting off of your ship and getting on a smaller boat?

I am struggling with this same thing.  I am also the person that is cold indoors on a cruise ship (and everywhere else I go) in the summer because everyone blasts the air conditioning. I plan on dressing a little warmer than normal for while I am inside for our upcoming May Alaska Cruise.  I did recently buy some warmer PJ's. I can kick the covers off if I don't need them.  I also bought a fleece lined windbreaker and a new warm pullover. I will be bringing swim suits in case we want to go in the hot tub and at least one pair of shorts in case we have a heat wave.  From what I understand, Alaska Cruises are more casual for dinner than Caribbean cruises.  I probably won't be bringing these cute little dresses that I normally bring with me on a cruise to wear for dinner.  Well...maybe I will bring one, just in case. 

The Celebration has two separate areas.  One is smoking and one is not. 

22 hours ago, Cruising_Addict said:

Sincerely, but how does one pack for what has to be at least a 13 day vacation if it’s a 12 day cruise into just a carryon? I’m not an overpacker and I’m pretty low maintenance in that I can get away with packing only one extra pair of shoes (formal, for elegant night), but there’s no way I could do it. I wouldn’t be able to do more than a few days worth of clothes, my extra shoes and my personal items. 

That's because she is turning platinum and gets her laundry done, right?  Yay for you, Eli!

Congrats on the offer, whether or not you choose to accept it.  I am curious how they decide who to offer upgrades too.  Why would they offer an upgrade to a family harbor area to 2 adults traveling together instead of people with kids.  That tells me it's either random, or there aren't very many kids on this cruise. What are your thoughts? 

14 minutes ago, abby1257 said:

I know I saw a list of the restaurants on the Celebration which included times open, location and if they were free or not, I can't remember where I saw this list.  Would anyone have such a thing....thanks so much

if you go to carnival.com you can explore the ships and see what restaurants are on a perticular ship and if they are included or not.  Not sure about hours. When you are on board, your hub app will tell you what is open now.  There is also a display of restaurants open right now near the stairways and elevators. Hope that helps. 

11 minutes ago, GranysT said:

Thanks so much for your words of comfort.

Of course. 

I agree with Theo.  By the way, Theo was the name of one of my dogs that I had for many years.  Loved him enough to help him rest.  Right before my last cruise in March, I made the decision to put down my almost 15 year old cat.  It was only two days before we left. It was hard but I didn't want his last days to be waiting for us to come home.  Honestly, the cruise was a great distraction because I wasn't at home. When I returned home, it was time to face it.  I still look for him in his usual spots.  Still...as grateful as I am for the 15 years he was my fur baby, I am also so glad I could help him be out of pain.  Candy will be free and she would want you to be free as well.  I believe she will come back and visit.  Don't let this stop you from enjoying life.  Take it as a message of the opposite.  None of us know how much time we have left in this life.  Go...Travel...Enjoy the ride.  That is what Candy would want. 

I think I have sailed every class carnival offers.  I absolutely loved our recent Celebration cruise!  The ship was beautiful and I really enjoyed the added restaurant choices that were included. My next 2 cruises that I currently have booked are on the Luminosa.  First Alaska, then Australia.  Both cruises are bucket list trips and I am sure I will love them both. I might miss some of the options on the Celebration though.