isadelia

We sailed out of Galveston a few years ago. We used Carnival's shuttle. We flew in the night before, took free shuttle to hotel near the airport, then took the free shuttle back to the airport in the morning to meet Carnival.

We were on the Magic several years ago, it was great. One our our favorite daily activities was getting a bite from the Sushi Bar (now the Taste Bar), taking it to the Ocean Plaza bar and getting a pre-dinner drink. There was usually music being played in the Ocean Plaza and the promenade was right there to get a great view of outside.

I love the "put your phones away" comments. Since when did you get to tell other people how they should spend their vacation that THEY paid for?? The OP posted their experience with a service that Carnival offers, not solicit opinions on how they should spend their money and their time aboard. If someone whats to sit in the same lounger for 12 hours updating their social media, that's their business. It affects you in absolutely no way what-so-ever. Mind your own dang vacation!!! :mad:

Great comment! I've never had a reason for an internet package in the past, but next time we cruise we will be leaving 2 children under the age of 3 home with my mom so I know I'll want to check in with them and this package seems like a great way to do that. Plus, posting vacation envy pics will be fun. To each their own!

My advice if you do book an "early" flight would be to do self assist debarkation. This will allow you to control the time frame better than if you are in a group to debark.

I remember you! Man, the Breeze....that cruise seems like soooo long ago! I told Chris we need to go back on that ship as I remember LOVING that cruise, but I feel like I didn't have time to do everything in just 6 short days!

The Breeze in November 2017 is on our short list...Trying to coordinate with 2 other couples on dates before finalizing.

sorry I am a bit little house on prairie : ) I will be traveling with a party of 20..so would the carnival app work to keep in touch or do I need to WIFI packages.

Haven't used it myself yet, but from what I've read, each person would need to have the app and pay $5 to have messaging abilities on board. You wouldn't need the wifi package.

Hey!! Great to "see" you again! :) You really should try Pride out, she's a great ship with some incredible staff and crew on her. Hope y'all are doing well!

Yep, doing great! Had a baby last year, having another one this year, and currently researching a cruise for Fall 2017. It's been far too long since we cruised. We're going to Vegas with friends in a few weeks but I'm really wishing we were going on a cruise instead. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

Hello Stephanie! It's Stephanie from "Chris and Stephanie #2" from the Liberty in 2014! Great review so far, you're making me want to try the Pride. The Steakhouse under the funnel looks amazing!

Great review! Makes me want to take a Hawaiian cruise. We got married in Maui in 2013, spent 4 days there, 3 days on Oahu. Completely agree about Oahu. It was overly crowded, dirty, and just not a very enjoyable time for us. We would go back to Maui in a heartbeat. We went to the same Luau as you guys, so much fun!

Either way you pay for 6 days. When I went to purchase Cheers on line for our upcoming cruise (Breeze from Galveston May 29th) it automatically defaulted to 6 days. The 15% gratuity is automatically added as well.

 

$344.66 per person purchased pre-cruise

$379.16 per person purchased on-board

Perfect! Thanks so much for your help. We're looking at the Breeze out of Galveston too, just haven't bit the bullet yet.

Yes, from experience, you only pay for 6 days, not seven. You can purchase Cheers after 6am on day 2, and will be charged for that day and the remaining 5 days of the cruise.

 

All drinks you purchase before 6am on day 2 are charged at the menu price.

Thank you! Follow up question. With the new changes being $49.95/day if you purchase pre-cruise and $54.95/day if you purchase on board, what would you be charged if you purchase pre-cruise for Galveston? 6 or 7 days?

People can debate but this is what Carnival says in the description of Cheers:

 

 

• Due to Texas State laws, CHEERS! will not be offered until the second day of the cruise for voyages departing from our Texas home ports. In this case, please know the daily rate will be based on the full cruise duration price but only charged from day 2 forward. Guests may purchase drinks in the usual manner.•

 

Now their claims that it is due to Texas state law is debatable as RCCL sells their beverage packages as soon as you board in Galveston. :rolleyes:

Can you clarify this, or anyone with experience? Will the cost for a 7 day cruise be 7 days (even though you don't use it on day 1) or will it only be for 6 days?

A variety of factors comes into play for us. We don't have many cruises under our belts but we've been sticking to Carnival and will probably do so for quite some time.

Timing - currently pregnant with our second, so we've already decided that we can't cruise until new baby is over a year old. Also have to take into account time of month, which needs to avoid beginning of the month for my job.

Ship - we love seeing all the new things on ships. My husband has already said he won't sail on a ship without Guy's Burgers.

Itinerary - nothing less than 7 days since we have to fly to port, anything less just doesn't seem worth it. We're also trying to hit new ports each time, or mostly new ports. So far on 3 cruises I haven't been to the same place twice. The cruise we're looking at next year will only duplicate one port.

To help coordinate, I've created a spreadsheet breaking down the home ports/amenities on each ship. Once we decide the month we want to cruise I start filling in the itineraries/prices of the cruises available and go from there.

I've done all three and I think we'll stick to early from here on out. I never felt rushed to get to dinner like some have said for early. With late we were always too tired to do much afterwards and usually ended up in bed earlier than with early seating or YTD.

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They all seem back this morning.

Someone from Carnival replied to my question about this on the other site and said there were still tons of rooms showing for the one I was looking at. He agreed that it is probably a glitch and sent it in to technical support.

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I'm having the same issue, except I'm not booked yet. I was looking at the Nov 12, 2017 cruise on the Breeze last week and now it's gone. Be sure to update if you talk to your PVP.

Typically this may happen if it is a charter, a casino tournament cruise or if the ship is going into dry dock.

Anyway to find out for sure? Will it open back up? I find dry dock to be unlikely because it's scheduled for 2 weeks in April 2017.

I was looking at this itinerary last week and now I can't find it again on Carnival's site. I'm not seeing any sailing for the Breeze on the 12th. Why would it not show up anymore?

Thanks Stephanie that would be very very much appreciated! My email is savysavannah at ymail dot com

Will do!

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Enjoy your cruise! Can you get a photo of the atrium? That was my favorite part of the ship, with all the wrought iron and the chandeliers. I loved it when the big chandelier was one color and all the little ones were a different color. Thanks!!

I'm going to work on getting my pics loaded today. I can send you some if you want!

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Great review, #1! What's amazing is we were on the same cruise but I wouldn't know it based on your review. We were also busy the whole time but with different things, making it so evident that Carnival has something for everyone. I do echo your opinions on the entertainment staff. Seems like half the stuff we showed up to didn't even have an activity person there to run it. Missed out on many a ship on a stick because of their poor planning!

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The last night of our Magic cruise my husband wasn't feeling well (like half of the ship - rough waters). He didn't go to dinner but wanted some if what they were serving. So I asked our servers for an appetizer and main course to go and they hooked me up. However, two plates with two covers on them sure got heavy! Dining room was at the aft of the duo and our room was fwd and spa level. Yikes, I'd try to combine plates if I were to do that again.

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Nice review!

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Does anyone have any experience with their booking information not matching their identification? My husband's name is Christopher and the booking info says Christophe because his entire name was too long. And my daughter's name is Libby-Jane and they only put Libby on her booking information. Is this something we're going to have difficulties with?

No problems with Christopher. Everyone just called him "Christoph" the whole time. It was pretty funny.

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