meester_jamie

I hear the "helicopter" blades spinning. It would be utterly tragic to have to tell your kid "No Hunni, you can't go in that pool". You are one of those who probably don't think it's right to use the word NO to you little bundle of sunshine. [emoji849]

DW and I are sushi lovers.. we would enjoy this! Too bad they dont have it avail on all ships. those that dont like veggies rolled in rice,, or are worried about the extra fee can line up at the burger grill... while I relax waiting for them to trigger the pager..

Sushi isn't all raw fish.. try it.. you might like it ! ;p

My sister and I are just back from our Western Caribbean on the Magic. We booked cave tubing with Vitalino Reyes on cavetubing.biz. I was not happy. We were supposed to meet at a certain spot outside terminal 1, which we did. There were two men there with the yellow shirts and cavetubing.biz logo, holding cavetubing.biz signs. We showed our confirmation and were directed to wait. When six other people joined us, we were introduced to our "guides", Leonardo Diaz and Dennis (the menace). We had to sneak out the back side of the terminal to get into an unmarked van, once underway, we were told that we were cave tubing with "King Adventure Tours" . This was happening while guide Leonardo was pulling on a long sleeved shirt over the yellow cavetubing.bz shirt.....people were asking him if he were cold. On the ride, Leonardo stated that we would do the zip lining first. Four in our group said they did not sign up for zip lining, but we were told that was ok.

 

Once we arrived at the site for cave tubing....the zip line people were carried away and Leonardo went with them. Then Dennis went to the rental booths and got the tubes and lights and life preservers for the four of us that were cave tubing. I saw buses and vans there with "Cavetubing.bz" all over them, and people carrying tubes with the same. DEnnis led us on a LONG hike, stopping every two feet or so for some information on native plants and animals. At first it was very interesting but then it began to dawn on me that he was deliberately wasting time, while hundreds of people passed us on the trail with their tubes. One. We got to the river, we stood there for almost and hour waiting for Leonardo and the other group to catch up to us. My sister was tired, and I was angry, as I had booked this excursion after emailing Mr. Reyes, and discussing our situation. He told me we would only do the one thing and be back at the pier with plenty of time, since we would only do the one activity. FINally Leonardo showed up, after Dennis left the entire group standing on the riverbank for the hour, and went looking for him. We proceeded down the river on a 20 minute trip, got out of the water, and were sent to the "lunch" at shortly after 2 PM. I was so pissed I said I would wait in the van. The guides "seemed" concerned and sent me out a bottle of water from the lunch area. After lunch everyone boarded the van and we set off for the pier shortly after 3, with a last tender time of 4:15. There was one more stop at a plywood and cardboard "store" where Dennis went in and brought out plastic cups and a gallon of "rum punch" mixed up in a cranberry juice container. I did not partake so can't say how it was.

 

The trip back was at exceedingly high speeds with lots of thrilling (not) passing. We made it back to the pier in time to RUN through security and make the last tender back (barely).

 

The next morning I had an email from Mr. REyes asking if we were all right , since his Guides waited for us and we did not show up. I told him that we had shown up and had not had a great experience. He claims someone stole his business. My sister did take a picture of the Guides and signs we approached at the terminal, so I sent that to him. At this point I am not sure what the truth is, but I would not book with this company again.

WOW,, I would not have been Happy either!

sorry to hear you weren't happy...

we were on Magic , last week of feb 25? I think ...2017, cave tubing in Belize with dot BZ .. group of 8 ... and we experienced a bit of difference than before...

they added a couple who were on another excursion like zip or repelling to our tubing bus,, ... this wasn't the best way to have 2 groups make use of the same bus.... but WE got to the river in short order... no noticeable delay....

at the river..

from what I over heard of their explanation,, I think the other couple got a poor ride,/ day/ trip... sigh.. I don't know tho..

my friend was told he would have a way to get to the "dock" without walking as he has a disability.. that was denied while we were standing at the tube shack...ready to go!

then we had to complain,, and refuse to continue.. ask for a refund,, then they came up with an alternate ..

out trip up river was different than the path as we took short cuts across the river ... which was ok..

but we stopped and got ready to get in at the rapids ... and in the past,, we have gone to the "dock"

so our river travel was shortened to 1 or 2 caves..

this was probably done as they were bringing our non walker up by TUBE ,, lol ,,, a guide actually swam up river towing him in his tube!!!

so we would have had to wait a longer time at the top.. or start at the middle,, sigh........

what ever,, it was best they could do at the time,, but they messed up by indicating they had alt transportation for invalids when we booked

then Vitalino met us at the Lunch stop to make sure we had way toooo much Rum so we would feel great ! lol ... good PR ,, but still awkward situation ... lots of kissing up..

things don't always go perfect ,, weather, low numbers on tour,, what ever.. so I have had to insist on what I wanted before..

it just makes it a sort of stained experience ...

we had fun! ... I'd do it again...

From your review... I would have to ask a lot more questions before I booked.......

sorry to hear you weren't happy...

We had early assigned seating for dinner in the Main Dining room. I had emailed the Maitre'd and requested a round table for 8 so I was hoping that he had worked that out for us.

 

This was our first cruise with the American Table menu and I'll just tell you now that I'm not a real fan.. I wasn't the only one - pretty much all of us and several other people we talked to felt the same way.

 

Service was slow that night which might be expected since everyone is getting into the groove - but unfortunately it remained that way for the remainder of the cruise. I'm not throwing off on our servers, I just feel that they have been given too many tables to try and serve and they are overwhelmed.

 

I truly miss the days when your servers had the time to chat with you - it was nice hearing about their families and where they lived.

Wife and I traveled with 6 others Jan 21- feb 4 ... first week was early dining,, and it was as you described.. to the point a LOT of people had their tips refunded... servers has no time to talk.. or get to know you.. beef would be placed.. but no au jus, or horse radish.. food went cold waiting for sour cream for the baked potato... sigh,, I don't even like the american menu food.. but I love the main MDR experience.

second week was fantastic.. we moved to late seating,, and got a 12 top at the center aft windows!! what a view .. great service! waiters knew the second night who had Tea,, who had coffee..

Now.. a lot of folks in the table area were from New Zealand.. so there was a lot of chatter with wait staff wrt family, home, what ships they worked on,, and were heading too!

Sunset Bar at Maho Beach, topless women drink free.

I did NOT know THAT!!

(Another annoying racket - passengers getting free gate check for their over-size carry on, after we had to pay for regular checked bags)

 

So the answer will depend on how full the flight is, how strictly the airline wants to enforce their regulations that particular day and what the exact details are found in that airline's policy - wheels count in luggage dimensions and opened expansion zippers could be fatal. Flying a low-cost airlines may not be so low-cost after all, but it certainly is no frills.

My peeve tooo! I saw a guy try to "carry on" a big duffle bag.... which he was suprized it didn't fit in the dimension rack... lol.. so they checked it free at the gate......... I asked the attendant to get one of my checked bags refunded.. so I could check it at the gate..... all I got was a very evil stare!! ... hmmph!

Or.... how wet is reasonable on a tender!

Or,, how I felt I had a scuba excursion while still on the tender!

on a recent tender into Belize, on a large cat,, DW and I chose to sit in the front, between the 2 hulls. Beautiful view, awsome weather, wind in our hair.. Tender speed causes a little wind and some wave splash but part of the adventure. We loved the trip in.

this trip turned very W E T !

as we were entering the no wake area of the dock, another tender was pulling out at increased throttle, enough for that tender to create QUITE a large wake wave,, altho that tender wasn't up to any speed as such. Just the stern hadn't plane out and was drawing a lot of water.

We both saw the wave we were about to hit,, and looked around for shelter,, but being a full tender, there was no where to move ... we could feel our tender slow... and sort of felt that we would just have a whoop whoop ride... but...

Both bow hulls scooped that wave right into our laps!! You couldn't have dump a 45gal drum of water on us, each, as elegantly!!

It was not only wet,, but the force of the water caused my watch to be slammed against the seating bench, breaking the glass crystal.. the back pack we had took on a lot of water as well. Like it had been submerged!

We expected to get a little weather ,, the back pack has seals, zipper covers, and pockets that have held out pouring rain in the past... but our extra "dry" clothing,, towels, travel docs etc as well as every inch of our bodies were completely soaked! Too much SALT! :eek:

I talked (complained) to the captain of the tender we were on,, he was very concerned and that was evident with his throttle control at the time of the incident too... he mentioned he had already made plans to "talk" to the other tender captain! He wasn't happy with the actions of the other tender. He mention that other tender should not have moved away from the dock until were were past.. sigh....

While leaving our tender,, the photo crew pointed me to mgr of excursions from Carnival Magic... so I talked (complained) to him on the dock.. that kinda "added insult to injury"..

that conversation sort of irked me,,as he was smirking,, and shrugging his shoulders as to our delima, too bad attitude,, actually he thought it was funny.. "i guess I was barking up the wrong tree" ,, it was sort of funny awkward relationship for the next week and a half as he was on the excursion desk everytime we booked more.. B2B week

Made me feel like i didn't want to book with him,,, but I felt it wasn't worth loosing out on other exciting excursions,, just cause that mgr didn't take care of me before,

It is (was) uncomfortable to take an hr long excursion in a bus while in clothing soaked in SALT water... kinda chaffed me,, and our dry clothes were soaked as well..

We made the best of it.. and seeing as we were cavetubing ,, we had the opportunity to have a "bath" in fresh river water... and shower after that... but we had to ride back to the ship in wet gear.. at least not salty!

It became somewhat funny for the rest of the cruise... from what I heard, only one or 2 others sitting near us got splashed,, and only a little wet in comparison.. we had picked the best place for a "water ride" better than Disney! lol The more I tell the story, the taller the wave got... lol... honestly about 5ft!

I dunno... lol, we have tendered in worse situation where the sea was very ruff from the weather,, and never got anything much more than a spash in the face!

There must be some foreign idiom to cover this...sigh

C'est La vie

¡Ay, caramba!

Mea culpa

Anyway,, if you are still reading,, we had a great time Cave Tubing,, good lunch and rum punch ! from cave tubing dot BZ

Takes 2 - 3 weeks for her to get it fixed to her current legal name. Faster than all the advise you will get on this post.

re:

Originally posted by beachsands

We are taking our first cruise on the Carnival Magic in April. One of the ladies that is coming with us got married since she had gotten her passport. So the name on it differs from the one on her drivers license and cruise documents. Is this going to cause any problems getting on the ship and/or going through customs?

So,, Havingfun2010 , are you saying to get the docs corrected before she hits the port ? given that they are not sailing til april ,, sounds like a good idea

It was a typo. She meant brother and sister in hate.

Easy to see typo,, sister in law :)

You should see some of the artwork we've seen on our past cruises. It was like Hobby Lobby threw up on the door. :)

Ha! that is funny! LOL

Just back from Magic.. and there were lots of doors decorated.. we had a simple 8.5 x 11 bristol board picture on the door.. with "stik tac putty" holding it on.. which is easily removed without residue that tape might leave

also.. there was a hanger on the mail box beside the door.. a thread holding a music note, then a carnival funnel , and a picture of us...

some folks down the corridor had the entire door covered in characters ... I would think the "ninjas" who sneak in and make the beds might find that a bit awkward... as most people slide their body / bum / shoulder along the door to hold it open while getting in the cabin... I would suggest it is above shoulder height which worked great for us! :)

Have Fun with your door! :D

Just back from Magic.. Sail and Sign cards given out in terminal before boarding,,, first bar, cheers sticker was put on.. and Vacation Started!

:) we were on board by 11am

To clarify, we do assigned dining and always link our reservations ( usually 4 families) and have never emailed anyone for requests. We have always had one table.

Yup,, same, we have had "large" groups,, and we LINK groups of 20 ... at one table .. sometimes a big round one

In fact,, we have decided to SUPRIZE friends,,, we hear they are cruising, and secretly book on the same itinery!! ,, and LINK our info with theirs!!... lol... we go a little late for the first dinner... let them sit and wonder who is going to sit with them........... and when they escort US to their table,, it is a hoot!!

soo,,traditional assigned dining --- 6pm so we can hit the entertainment asap..

all rooms / pax/ LINKED on the reservations ..

and AbraCadabra ,, MAGIC! you will all sit together! << see what I did there.. lol

We are on Magic Jan 21 till Feb 4th

I did the casino thing...loaded the card,, and then was told they were only doing cash-out on the last night... so I played a little more..... and won a fair bit! Happy with that.. I waited till the last night to cash out................... and didn't realize I'd have to present my P I N NUMBER when I asked to cash out at the cage..... lol.. doh... good gawd..... the cashier was nice enough to coax me... and allow me to try any pin I might have used..... and then another... and then another... until i couldn't even guess another..jayZus no LUCK!

LOL ... I started to get very worried ... because .. as well as not remembering the pin, I had trouble loading my card, which I thought was the magnetic strip...

A supervisor was called.... and we tried to open the card with their procedure,, but it just wouldn't read... kept saying card error.. OMG..

She said,, she would have to give me a new card... but unfortunately the data on the card would be lost

WHAT !! :eek: lol so I sat there for about the longest 3 minutes in my life... and tried it over and over.. and BOOM!!! it read it. phew.

They allowed me to reset the pin, and paid me out right there! <big sigh of relief>

ok,,, long winded story to remind you to REMEMBER YOUR PIN !! lol

I am not an avid pin or password user... so with very little experience , I still make mistakes. :D:o

Skip Costa Maya. Hands down easy one for me. Roatan is one of the favs!

Yup... snorkel is spectacular at west end beach,, zip line, etc..

I have yet to find something at Costa Maya.

I highly recommend the guava juice in the mornings. But the juices served in the dining room taste better.

so guava juice is avail at the MDR breakfast? hmmm,, how does that work again... I can't recall why we only go to the MDR on the last morning....

12 posts, why does everyone have to repeat the same thing over and over. OP did you get it"? "put your phone in airplane mode"

lol ,, wenocancer2 asked about camera, hub , and keeping in touch on the ship ..... without incurring charges... and your post really didn't add any value...

BUT.... originalgeek added A LOT OF GOOD VALUE to their explanation... I appreciate posts that are this thorough !

<applause>

Just to make sure you know, you do not have to purchase the HUB app to use most of it.

 

Like everyone said, turn airplane mode on then go back in and turn wifi back on. That lets you access the ship wifi and you can use the HUB app for free UNLESS you also want to chat with other people on the ship. That cost is 5 dollars per person per trip - not per day.

 

Be sure to download and install the HUB app prior to your trip. You can enter in your sail date and see a nice little countdown timer to your sailing. You can add a picture of yourself too.

 

Once on-board you can login to the app and see electronic Fun Times, set reminders for events you want to go to, check your Sign and Sail account balance, see maps of the ship for every deck and a few other things. You can do all that for free. Chatting with other HUB app users is the only thing you'll need to buy.

wife and I were one of the LAST to make it to muster... we were treated with a round of sarcastic applause, and a few jeers from people within jabbing distance.. but you know... I promised the ones who were very vocal , I'd by them a drink at the Bar right after muster... this was before cheers... anyway, I included they must hear why we were late...

sure enough.. a few met us at the bar.. so I told them about our first flight that caught fire.. declared an emergency over the hudson... and landed hard .. but situation was over and under control... led to a wait for a new crew... then trying to find another plane... second flight had the back door knocked off the plane... which they finally got re installed,, and duct taped in place for good measure......... then we got lucky... cause we landed at ship departure time.. [yah yah,, fly in a day before,, I know.. ] but the shuttle driver made contact with someone.. told them we were enroute to the ship. we got to the ship.. no one in the terminal no one but the xray guy, and a passport inspection stn... no boading pictures,, our door keys ready for us... then 2 ladies in the gangway coaxing us to ,,, run run run... ding , ding,, both aboard!!!! then they closed the door to the atrium,, and made sure we knew muster was on... NOW ! we were almost an hour late boarding.. they held the ship.

we wanted to go straight to muster, but we were made to drop carry-on in cabin, so they could evacuate us.. then make way to deck muster stn......

phew... we did pass a couple elderly folks taking their sweet time in the hall .. but with the commotion of us arriving,, the old folks weren't even noticed when they arrived... lol that miami humidity was terrible..!!

twice , we have been last ones aboard... the last time we left a day early, ,but the blizzard kept us on planes for 24hrs.. so we just made muster again!! doh... next cruise, we are booked to leave home 2 days early!

btw, the folks at the bar bought our drinks!! lol and promised to never travel with us!!

Hey there! I wrote an article on the pros and cons of Carnival's drink package for Cruise Radio. To save myself time from re-typing everything out, I'm gonna copy the link here.

http://cruiseradio.net/pros-cons-carnivals-cheers-beverage-program/

this , from link above ..

Carnival recently increased the value (not the price) of its Cheers! beverage package for adults, which has in turn increased the number of cruisers interested in purchasing the program. But is the Cheers! package right for you?

Here are some pros and cons to help you make your decision.

Pros:

1. Worry-free

Since you prepay for your drink package (including 15% gratuities), drinking on your cruise becomes worry-free. You no longer have to worry about an alcohol budget and trying to ration how many drinks you have per day to stay within it. The Cheers! program gets you 15 drinks per day, each valued up to $50. So kick your feet up and keep the drinks pourin’.

2. Top shelf liquor

Thanks to that rule that each drink can be valued up to $50, you can now order top shelf liquors in your cocktails and frozen drinks. Mix your martini with Grey Goose VX, which is normally $15 per shot, or have a neat glass of Hennessy XO – also a $15 shot, also included in the program.

3. Wine

With Carnival’s newest changes to the program, you can now order any glass of wine valued under $50, which is the majority of wines. If you want to order the bottle, your Cheers! package will get you 25% off. How’s that for a sweet deal?

4. Basically all-inclusive

In addition to alcohol, now included in Carnival’s Cheers! program are sodas, zero-proof frozen cocktails, energy drinks, specialty coffees, hot tea, 500 mL bottled water and other non-alcoholic bottled beverages, so there’s almost not a drink on the ship that’s not included in your program. Not to mention, you also get 25% off the menu price for any spirit or glass of wine above $50, off wine and champagne by the bottle, and off beverage seminars and classes.

5. Controlled budget

By prepaying your drink package, you know exactly how much you’re spending on alcohol, which makes it a lot easier to budget for other things like excursions, pictures, or souvenirs once you’re on the ship. You won’t have to check your expense account to budget enough for alcohol or cut out other expenses to make room if you want to drink more because you’ve already paid for it!

Cons:

1. Everyone in the cabin has to purchase it

Before you get too excited about the Cheers! program, you better check with your cabin mate first, because if one person wants the Cheers! program, everyone in that cabin over 21 has to purchase the program as well. So if another adult cruiser in the same cabin is refusing to buy the package, you might have to opt out and miss out on the perks.

SET CRUISE PRICE DROPS HERE!

2. Port-intensive cruises

Does your cruise itinerary spend more days in port than at sea? You may want to consider how much time you’ll be spending in port versus how much time you will be on the ship taking advantage of the program. If you’re going on a 3-day sailing that spends two of those days in ports, would the program still be worth it?

3. Doesn’t start until 2nd day for cruises out of Texas, Alabama, and New York

This one is important: If you’re sailing on a cruise out of Texas, Alabama, or New York, your Cheers! program will not go into effect until the second day of your cruise due to state laws beyond Carnival’s control. That means all drinks you buy on that first day go on your Sign & Sail account, which takes away slightly from that worry-free feeling of knowing everything is pre-paid.

4. Some drinks not included

Okay, so one of the pros is that the program is “all-inclusive,” but that is admittedly a bit of a misnomer, as there are a few things that aren’t included. Drinks served in the souvenir glasses or served through room service are not included, nor are bottles of liquor. And those buckets of beers you see groups ordering on the lido deck? Those are out, too.

5. You can’t buy a round

If you’re traveling with a bunch of friends and family and plan to “buy them a round,” keep in mind that the Cheers! program won’t cover this. Actually, it will only cover your drink, and then you will be charged separately to your Sign & Sail account for all the other drinks. And if your friends or family all have the program as well, then it just doesn’t make sense for you to pay extra when they’ve already paid for their drinks to be included. Not to mention it can be a pain when you’re all sitting together at the Comedy Club and the bartender comes around and you have to each get out your Sign & Sail card for separate bills instead of one generous friend offering to pay for that round.

Spoke to my Pv preorder and it was a glitch on their part. She extended our final payment date until the 14th but I just went on and tried it and it went through.

Good info , thanks for the feedback! I hope everyone else gets good results!

I have found another interesting C/C problem,, when travelling, where a car rental agency precharges your card for thousands of dollars... then you promptly get in the rental car, drive to the beach, and try to get snorkel equipment,, and they decline a $20 purchase,, like the very first minutes of your vacation!!!

When merchant contacts C/C you get informed your over your credit limit.. sorry... W?H?A?T? !!

AND it is from some place in Portland Oregon ,, while you are in Hawaii,, and are from Ontario Ca. ...

turns out , head office of the car rental place is in Portland..

you need to have them remove the precharge ,, or prepayment overcharge

so it is a good idea to have a second card

One time I came down with a horrible cold during my cruise and didn't want to infect the rest of the guests so I stayed in my cabin and hubby brought food back to me from lido.

.

as you are expected to... passengers must quarantine themselves if they are sick..

People get a tad ridiculous about trays in the hallway. How is it affecting the carpet? Are people dumping their food directly on the floor? No. Putting a tray on the floor doesn't dirty the carpet.

.

well,, the drunks can stagger.. and step on trays and spill the contents.. I have seen entire portions left out.... and been spilled... or stepped on.. and the carpet stays stinky for the rest of the week.

and.. there are a couple ships I have been on, where the hall ceiling decorations are sort of like a shelf ... and you can toss food up there... the tiles are sort of mirrored... so if you look in the ceiling reflection you can see moldy junk up there... yeck!

I would prefer the dishes had a better return method than the hall floor.. but ... I don't let it ruin my vacation..

this might be old info.. but carnival may have the same programmer ..

If prompted for your ZIP code, just enter the three digits of your postal code plus two zeros. So for example, if your postal code is A2B 3C4, the 5 digit number you should enter is 23400

or .. try 00000 another thing... if they are asked for an auth number.. you can enter any 5 digits and it will complete the sale.. well.. it has worked for me about 6 times..

. We pre paid our service charges and bought a few hundred $ for the Feb cruise. $500.00 cost us $595.24 about 19%.

:eek: what did you pay with? if we pay with Visa.,, won't the credit card co, charge the going rate? :confused:

It was a video! He should be off at the next port and banned for life.

you can't always believe video ,,, watch the Action Movie Kid on you tube

The sad part is that the intention of a M&M is to get to know your fellow cruisers at the start of the cruise. Seems like Carnival has been scheduling some of them on the last day of the cruise. It's a little late then.

I think this is true! we have had a few M&M that were great... I have met folks we cruise again with and have become good friends!! .. Their M&M was organized themselves on CC.. we joined in.. first day.. an hour of drinks.. mingle.. and Carnival ship Brass to talk to .. I liked it !

a few yrs ago.. dec 2010.. Celebrity X Millenium... second night... CC had Celebrity hand delivered an envelope to our MDR table just before desert.. plain envelope,.,, marked confidential. ,, inside it said.. DO NOT tell any of your fellow passengers.. You are to meet at Deck x .. fwd .. at the elevators. 7.00pm sharp

When we got there.. there was another couple milling around,, we couldn't tell if they got an invitation as well.. or just happened to be there........ then others started to arrive.. via the halls,, we started to get the idea,,, and then the elevators.. at one point a group arrived in the elevator and were expecting to be the only ones too.. so I pretended to be wanting to get on the elevator.. but they would need to exit thru the secret door.. so knock twice on the back wall.. then hold all the buttons down at once.... LOL .... then the secret door will open. The one mentioned in the envelope they got.. you know.. lol

the group laffed at me before I pulled the wool over their eyes .. so the joke didn't work too well.. darn

any way... we got a tour of the bridge.. DW got to wear Captains hat.. and "drive" the ship using the wheel

it was a really cool experience... while on the tour.. they paused enough where we could just look and ask questions,,, and meet other passengers... and chat... so it was a meet and mingle.. I liked it!

as we bumped into those folks for the rest of the week.. it gave us something to chat about,, and more. I enjoy meeting fun people this way!