mysandyfeet

3 hours ago, rtkenmore said:

 

No need to buy two...  The old way required everyone in a cabin to buy so you couldn't "cheat" and share...  Now only one person has to buy so everyone can share the same swipes..  The limit is three swipes every three minutes.

yep, just confirmed. The charge up was a bit much though for an arcade..you'd have to be together to "cheat", it only goes on one room card.

15 hours ago, NurseJEB said:

Truthfully there is not much at all in the arcade to draw any amount of long term use.  Most would get bored and over it in about 15 minutes of play tops.

I think you're right. My eldest is not really an arcade junkie, I think it was a perk to have but $161 is steep for an arcade for a week.

16 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

Some have reported being able to add it themselves for just the guest intended at the $8 day/$56 week cost.  Some report the system will only allow them to add the cost for all guests in the cabin.  Others have had to go through their PCC to override the all guests per cabin feature (this was my experience in September) and still others have had it added at embarkation.  Success varies.   

Not anymore, I just confirmed..price has increased. It's $161 per person, you can choose how many people and it will go right on the person's room key so sharing is difficult unless you are together. 

54 minutes ago, zqvol said:

 

I suggest making a call to NCL and verifying that the price you are seeing is actually per person, and not per cabin.

 I called and the rep told me that's what it said on their screen to wait till I board..she wasn't much help so I'll call again and ask another one. But it clearly gives the option to select who will be using the arcade card and says it's $161 each so if you buy two it's over $300?!

I'm set to travel on the 18th and I'm online looking at prepays...I just went to check the Ultimate Arcade Package everyone is talking about for my son and daughter and I see they will allow me to pay for just my kids, BUT they are charging $161 dollars for the week each?! What happened to the $8 per day pre boarding cost ($56)? This is $23 dollars a day. Does anyone know what happened? This wasn't the cost a week ago...

Went on her the first year she came out..your review is refreshing my memory! Taking her for Thanksgiving and I had a question..Are they offering a discount for the Dinner Show if you do it the first night? They were doing it years ago.

The kids said they never heard anything in their room. It wasn't until they were in our room one day and heard the noises and realized that's what we were talking about. The lack of them hearing anything in their room and the fact that the moving/scraping noises were both during the day and in the middle of the night - is what lead me to guess that it is more than just generic noise from the Garden Cafe. I'm guessing there was some sort of service/prep area above our room. I could be wrong... but that is just my guess. It wasn't all the time either - just every once in a while. There are so many advantages to those rooms like the location and the angled balcony, that I would book them again - even with the noises. Hope that helps!

Yes! I was worried the noise would be constant. It happened to us on another voyage we were directly under the live music and it was every night till 1 am. Although we like to have a good time...it became exhausting by the 3rd night so we told guest services and the moved us to another cabin. It does look like a great spot especially with the elevators being right there and food a few floors away :D

Our rooms were ready! We had balcony rooms right off of the aft elevators on the starboard side - rooms 14840 (kid’s room) and 14842 (our room with an angled balcony).

 

Miami from our balcony.

 

Pros:

-great location - one floor up to the Garden Cafe and two floors up to Spice H20 and Entourage (the teen lounge) - a quick elevator ride down to Cagney’s, Moderno, Taste, Savor, and the Tropicana Room

-nicely decorated with plenty of storage

-the drop-down bunk bed in the kid’s room was really sturdy and we were able to have it left down so that our 15yo could always have a place to crash when needed.

-we loved our angled balcony!

 

Cons:

-our room (14842) must have been under a service area of the Garden Cafe or something - the scraping/moving noises we heard at all times of the day and night were more than a few chairs being moved. It wasn’t horrible by any means, but noticeable. If you are a light sleeper, it might be an issue in this room.

-Though overall the ship and room are in really great condition... small things are showing wear - such as the veneer on the closet handle had come off, and sheets, bath towels, and beach towels occasionally had noticeable stains on them. This was not the case on the Escape - though the Escape is a little bit newer.

 

 

 

 

The bathroom amenities. The shower had a shampoo/conditioner combo (I highly recommend bringing your own conditioner - so glad I did!) and body wash. At the sink there was a hand soap dispenser which was great. And these were on the shelf - a bar soap (didn't use), and lotion (used a little - was nice to have).

We will have the same exact 2 cabins for Thanksgiving week..Question: you mentioned noise, how badly was it in the kid's room and at what times? We will have that room my parents will have yours.

Thanks for the review and information. We decided to book a kind of last minute Vista cruise this spring as a recovery cruise from our Family and Friends Cruise on the Magic next week. There was limited options for balconies, so we decided to go with an inside room in a perfect location. This will be our Platinum cruise, and we're looking forward to revisiting the ports that we haven't been to since our first cruise ten years ago. Thanks again!!!

You'll enjoy it! I think I need a recovery cruise too now that you mentioned it :confused:!

This ship itself is very nice. She's big but didn't feel that way. What is great are the amount of elevators in the fwd, mid and aft! I've been on large Ships where you had to walk to the far front or far back to grab an elevator and then come back to the center to the place you wanted to be. I would spend the whole time walking. Not a bad thing but this worked nicely. Never crowded to get one nor a long wait. Lots of mobility scooters and they did fine in the elevators as well. Pools are good enough too, i thought. The main pool was mainly used by the kids as well as the waterworks area not too far away. The slides were fun and best on Port days, no lines. Tides pool in the Lido Aft was where we spent time. It has 2 jacuzzi's and great pool bar, the Seafood Shack is there and the Pizza place. The seating area is nice on 2 levels and the view is beautiful!

There is the Serenity (Adult only) area on the 15th floor fwd that has two large jacuzzi's. Very nice area with a Bar and Salad Bar on Port days. Seating is nice and loungy type. One night they had an Adult Dance Party there with DJ and Dancing. We left late and it was still ongoing.

The Sports area on the 11th &12th floors is a good size. It has a walking track, outdoor fitness machines, full-size basketball court, mini golf, pool tables, foosball, and they have a small bowling alley for a $3 per game fee. The SkyRide and Ropes course is fun! Closed sneakers required and kids must be 52"for SkyRide.

My 9 year old spend 2 days at Camp Ocean. She liked it but didn't love it. Lots of kids and teens walking around behaving nicely and making friends.

I did not use the Spa but they had plenty of daily specials. Gym wasn't very big and was usually crowded. The IMAX was a very nice touch and The Thriller was too. The nighttime poolside movies were great! Some of the latest big screen movies and it would get full on all three levels if the movie was good. We saw Sing!, Fate of the Furious, Beauty and the Beast..there were many others.

Debarkation: If you need or want to leave early..walk your bags off. I saw people as early as 7am leaving from my balcony. They will call you from either sections (if you left bags outside) or floors (if you're walking off) and you need to wait around the ship anywhere really. You have to leave the room at 8-8:30am.

We left the ship at 10am and outside passengers were lining up to come in!

Do you think you would liked the outside with 2 bathrooms instead? I am torn between the two thanks

 

 

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They are both good..but the bathroom wasn't a big deal for us. If you are basing it on the bathroom only, think about the time you are spending in the room. It's a nice feature but not a deal maker for me. That room is bigger than the Cove, has a nice sitting area. The main benefit with those rooms is the Harbour Family Lounge amenities. Food, drinks, video games etc.. if you have children then go that route. I personally loved the ocean breeze and view from my balcony :hearteyes: in the Cove.

We bought Premium for business on the Vista and it was a mission to get connected and kept getting dropped. For us it was a disappointment. But maybe just to use around ship to land it will be fine.

Why haven't I bought this before!!

 

 

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Just got off the Vista and it was totally worth the Cheers package! Yes 15 any alcoholic beverage up to $50 not the bottles. Every beverage at the coffee bar and all types of waters to take with you off board on your tours!

We just got off the Vista and my mom was able to get an ADA room for her and her scooter but I will say that on the same floor there were two other standard rooms who had rented their scooters from the ship provided company i think it's called Scoot Around not sure. But they parked theirs right outside the cabin. I know it's not allowed but they didn't have a problem and there was plenty of room to walk around them in the hallway.

As far as the Entertainment I can tell you the musical part of it had a great variety. You had an awesome Latin Band playing music each night at the Havana Club which got everyone dancing to their own Cha Cha Cha, you had beautiful Violinists playing in the atrium/lobby area before and after dinner. You had Steel Drums and Jimmy Buffet vibe in the Red Frog Pub. This was a nice hangout. Had the best Conch Fritters! The Ocean Plaza had nightly decades music and dancing. And you also had a late night Piano Bar where a fellow passenger took the piano and played his own song for us!

Plenty of sitting areas for chatting, gathering, playing dominos, throughout. Inside and on deck. Chairs were not an issue. Now I read the complaint about the Liquid Lounge's sight lines or lack there of...absolutely true! Terrible. Unless you get there early and select your seats you will be standing and moving around to get a view. I think if you get 2nd level (5th floor) front row, you'll be good. I saw 2 of the 3 shows, they were okay.

I was only able to see 1 of the comedy shows because they were sooo early. I've been on other ships where the 18+ was at 10 or 11pm. Here is was at 8:30 :rolleyes: between dinner and getting the kids settled at camp or somewhere there is no way you can catch it unless you coordinate. It was also located in an area less traveled so not many people bothered. They probably could have packed the place later at night..the one guy we saw was quite funny.

Port Days/ Tours etc:

Carnival has a ton of tours, but some/maybe most can be done directly with locals on the islands and cheaper. You may even have it tailored to your liking. We've been to Ocho Rios ton of times but the kids had not. So we wanted to do something fun and have enough time to enjoy the ship which is usually fairly empty port days. I checked around online and narrowed it down to Marvyn Paradise Tours. We went White River tubing and had a very fun time. You can add Dunn's River Falls, Beach, Shopping Etc. There is nothing to do off the port unless you go on a tour. You just have a market with locals fighting for your attention. I noticed from the boat there is a beach on the right hand side of the market you can access through there.

In the Cayman Islands we were going to do the Stingray City/snorkel with a private 2 1/2 tour, but there was a tropical storm lingering and we didn't want to take a chance of cancellation. So we hailed a taxi and went to the gorgeous beach there..and I mean GORGEOUS! :cool:you can even take a dip right near the pier a brief walk to the left. Not a lot of shopping out of the port, so buy what you need right there..it's the same prices, trust me, I checked.

Cozumel was Mr. Sanchos. You can take numerous tours/taxis right out of the market area and have them tailor it to your liking. My husband went Scuba Diving with the ship. It was the same cost and I felt happier knowing he would come back in time.

Got back each time way early and the kids enjoyed the pool, slides, Skyride (way cool) and I could lay out on the 11th floor lounge chair deck with my Bahama Mama (with extra mama);p

That was a nice upgrade!

Were you able to upgrade to a Cove Balcony on the 2nd floor Fwd near the elevator for no additional cost when the price dropped while monitoring it?

I watched the prices and when they ran a deal, I had a feeling they had dropped and since I was paid in full, I requested the upgrade. I also got a $140 obc!:D;p

Thanks for your review ! Just wondering how quick you were able to catch the tender while at Grand Cayman? Was there a massive line?

Nope, it was very quick! We had 3 tenders going at the same time. Just don't gather in the gangway until they tell you, there's no need. That's my opinion

We are just off the Glory and dining room was very slow!! Looking at the same every thing with you!! Yours had one bathroom right? Thinking about the ocean view with two bathrooms do you have any pictures? Thanks

 

 

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I think you're speaking of the Family Harbour rooms that have 2 bathrooms? I peeked in one of them and they are huge! The snack/lounge is very convenient too.These were on the 2nd floor just down from us. I just had 1 bath with the Cove

Hi. We are considering this ship and itinerary. I'm scouring reviews to try and see what kind of atmosphere it is. I haven't sailed with Carnival and do not want a rowdy drunk crowd. I hear that's more prevalent on the shorter cruises. We're looking for more of a family atmosphere. I don't care about people having fun and such, I just don't want to be around a drunk college frat party on deck. Thanks!

Carnival is known for the "fun" so you will have all kinds of activities catering to that. I did not encounter a drunk crowd at all nor frat type crazies. For us, things were fun to watch from the upper pool deck and those activities were only on Sea Days (2 days of trip). There was the Quest game on the last night in the Liquid Lounge that was a bit much, but honestly there were so many things going on at the same time that you have other choices.

Carnival Hub: Yes download it, it is really great for the things happening onboard and you can also mark them as favorites and it will alert you 15 minutes prior to the activity! Pretty cool. Now the chat was a hit or miss for us. Kinda frustrating, especially when you have kids and need them to meet you somewhere and the connection fails :rolleyes: The premium internet was a nightmare for my husband who had to keep in touch with work matters. It took 3 days and a call to land technical assistance to get it working. So just a heads up. May have been our case.

Food/Service:

I personally found our experience at the MDR rather quick. We had our time dining and went EARLY like 7pm. After that it was a lot busier and took longer. We only ate there for dinner and 3 nights. We did Lido for breakfast, it was good, had all the basics. Didn't want to waste to much time at sit downs. Lots of seating areas. Clean up was timely so others could sit. Lunch has plenty of options..Guy's Burgers (delish), Cucina Capitano, JiJi Asian, Deli sandwiches, Iguana's..what I liked is that they were all in the same vicinity so it makes it easy. All are complimentary for lunch. Pig and Anchor was only open on the 2 sea days for 2 hours; that was a shame!

After online booking we decided to purchase the internet package before boarding -15% cheaper. As well as the Cheers package (about $10+cheaper pp). Call in any dietary needs, family celebrations, wheelchair accommodations for embarkation/ Muster Drill etc.. ahead of time! As far as the tours..for Ocho Rios, I contacted Marvyn at Paradise Tours and they tailored my tour and budget before boarding.

Embarkation:

Arrived at the designated time slot and headed right in, otherwise you are sent to another line. Loads of people at that time (11:30-12:00) But let's say it's "organized chaos". Have everything in your hand..passports, boarding papers and any prior reserved papers.

There were workers guiding you by elevators but you were blocked from going to the rooms unless you're platinum or above. So you will be dragging whatever you bring aboard around with you for at least till 1pm :o. Check it all in at the port if possible.

To be honest I didn't have a chance to enjoy the grand entrance but maybe it was because that wow factor wasn't there to distract me :(. It wasn't that bad though, just different.

I always like to get my information before I board a cruise. Some people like to be surprised, I like to be prepared ;) So I will give you how I did it and my opinions and choices of the 6 day Western Caribbean - Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel.

Cabin Selection:

We reserved and paid for a a 1st floor window cabin back in May. I watched the prices drop and was able to upgrade to a Cove Balcony on the 2nd floor Fwd near the elevator for no additional cost! Excellent choice.The balcony feels wider than a standard and very private. The sound of the waves and view at that level is amazing!! We were very centrally located, one floor above the lobby and never heard a sound. Some salt spray but nothing major.

Packing:

I've been on numerous cruises; Gold Member on the Carnival, so this is easy for me. My suggestion is to consider your daily activity and if it is a dress up night or not. Mix and match pants, shorts for men and summer dresses for ladies are soo easy and light to pack. So many pairs of shoes are not necessary; although I still take ;p. Something about a lady and her shoes! There is a hair dryer in the drawer. Shampoo and body wash, no conditioner. Bring an extension cord. They do have a USB outlet. Plenty of space on bathroom shelves, drawers/shelves in closet. Backpack is always handy, lanyards, waterproof boxes you can hang around your neck. These are great to store your cash, boarding cards and ID when you go on water excursions and don't want to leave valuables behind. Foldable laundry basket and if you don't have time to wash clothes before you leave..a duffle bag you can put dirty clothes in.

Good Review, we just got off the Vista ourselves and agree with most of your review. We found the boat to be a bit crowded, but maybe it's because we were where most of the action was. Matt the cruise director was the best and I recommend if you have any issues, he is the go to guy; for sure. There were many positives about the cruise, but it seems that the cons definitely outweighed the good at times.

Lido buffet was hit or miss with the quality of food or sections were closed that you had to search for an open section. Seemed like a cafeteria rather than that open air feeling of a quality buffet. And, as you mentioned, walkways were tight even when no people were present was a good evaluation. I constantly felt cramped in the Lido.

We also went to go see Dunkirk and got the file corrupted story, but the crew was really sincere and apologetic so, we went to go see the Scary Thriller and that was a good trade-off.

Dining Room was formal but not too formal where you forgot that you were on a cruise. Food was really good and service was impeccable. As far as service, most of the crew was from Thailand and that is a big plus considering some of the other cruises we have been on in the past.

For the most part, the Red Frog, Alchemy Bar, 80's music, Comedy Club, Piano Bar and the activities with Matt were exceptional, but there are some compromises compared to other ships for late nighters like us.

All in all, a good cruise experience.

Thanks for the report! What options are there for coffee in the mornings besides MDR/ Buffet? Saw you mentioned a Starbucks. Is that full-sized or limited?

Had all of the coffees but was a limited size