Jgilbert813

On 5/23/2021 at 9:26 AM, 1025cruise said:

There is no public email address for this. If you wish to make a reservation, you do so under your Cruise Planner.

how do you make reservations in the cruise planner without paying yet?  I want to make a reservation for 6 people (3 cabins) and it wants me to pay for all of it now.

23 hours ago, TomCruise48 said:

A few years ago, Carnival offered multiple excursions for B2B guests when we were in Barcelona on switchover day.  They certainly wouldn't want to pass up an opportunity for additional revenue.

That makes sense.  

We also booked the Sept 2, 2022 London to Rome and then the Sept 11 Rome round trip.  It will be our 1st B2B and we are both super excited.  So many amazing ports to research and details to work out.  But my main question is, on the switch over day in Rome, will Carnival have any excursions available for those of us doing the second leg?  

Thank you all for the advice. Sounds like doing it on my own will be the way to go.

Email the maitre'd about a week prior and ask for a table for 2 in the MDR. It makes for a much more romantic and private setting to enjoy - and doesn't cost a thing.

Maybe go through the fun shops and order a bottle of champagne and some chocolate covered strawberries to be waiting in the room when you board (starting about $50). It will make a very nice first impression.

https://www.carnival.com/FunShops/item/LA7/berry-bubbly-package

If you haven't already (and you can find and afford it) - get Faster To The Fun. The priority boarding, and early access to the room will also help.

Otherwise - sounds like you're doing great. Congratulations - hope you have an amazing life together.

I'm wondering if anyone ever jumped off the boat early and grabbed a cab to head over to Pearl Harbor instead of going with a tour. I really want to visit and pay my respects, but my wife doesn't want to spend 5 or 6 hours on a Pearl Harbor tour.

We dock at 9, but I'm not sure if that is early enough to beat the crowds.

Any help would be appreciated.

We've only flown in one time for a cruise and it was the Southern Caribbean route out of Puerto Rico. Our plan was to fly in the day before and spend the day exploring Old San Juan. When we got to the airport, my wallet was missing! It had fallen out of my pocket when I was getting the bags out of the car. By the time I went back and got it they wouldn't let us check in because it was too close to the departure time. We ended up flying in the next morning. We barely made it to the ship in time! Had we been planning on flying the morning of originally, we would have missed the boat - lesson learned, always fly in at least one day in advance.

The Breeze is my favorite - DW and I both really liked the décor (easy beach feel) and I loved the Ocean Plaza area.

So...I may be in the minority but I would say Galveston. I have cruised twice out of NOLA, and 6 times out of Galveston. Both of our cruises out of NOLA were rowdy. More drunks, more squabbles, and at least one fight. Not saying that it never happens out of Galveston, but less I feel.

Now, having said that - I do enjoy going down the Mississippi river. I have even seen posted somewhere a timeline of sites you pass going down the river. Also, the pre stay is really fun in NOLA.

Good luck - and either way I'm sure you'll have a great cruise.

I was on the same cruise with you - Also having a great time. Glad to hear your big group had so much fun.

Fun though!

I know I have nothing at all to complain about. Really, if my lack of an aft wrap is the worst problem with these trips I'm going great.

It was when the movie Jumanji 2 was playing, we were on the Lido looking for chairs when it hit and everybody scattered. It didn't last long then everybody came running back trying to get their seats back! :')

Wow, my son and I walked through and were laughing about the movie but never got back to watch it. Guess it worked out for us that we never made it back, even though we really like that movie.

HAHA - thanks for the head's up about the aft wraps, but our 2019 is looking a bit full. We have a 14 day Journey's to Hawaii in April and I just surprised my wife with a 5 day to Cuba and a weekend at Disney World for her birthday in November...neither of which will I see an aft wrap :rolleyes:

I'm not gonna lie.....a little jealous, I've always wanted one of those ;). Hope you have as good a time as we did.

Wow - somehow I must have missed that rainshower :D

Glad to hear you had a great time too.

You can't book it ahead of time and they only offer it one time a cruise, the morning of the last sea day. As soon as we got onboard I went over to the shore excursion desk and booked it. They included a couple of group photos (one at the bow by the ship's bell, and one on the bridge with the Captain), a yummy sample in the galley, champagne in the steakhouse at the end and when we got back to the room there was a plate of chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us. It was fun, and informative - well worth our time and money.

Just a quick note, and a few observations from a great father/son trip on the Carnival Valor to Cozumel (June 7-11)

Overall, I couldn't have asked for anything more for a trip to celebrate my son turning 18 this year. I initially booked an interior cabin late last year for this sailing. I received an email about an upgrade offer to a balcony on the lido for $200 and took it. My son has only been on one cruise before and not in a balcony so it was a nice little bonus for our trip. I didn't tell him before about the cabin change but let him find out when we checked in. He want surprised to say the least.

Weather - PERFECT - mostly clear skies, great temps, and smooth waters. We had a few dark clouds late in the afternoon in Cozumel, but not bad. As we left we hit some very mild waves and really it was the first time my son and I noticed the ship really moving.

Food - as usual, very good. He had Guy's Burgers for the first time - loved 'em. Pizza was good, and all the dining room food was very good.

Service - great. I can't tell you how many time my son noticed and commented about how hard the crew works. As a father, it really made me proud that my son noticed. Our dining room team really took good care of us, room steward offered me twice a day service, instead of pushing for either or, bartenders were overworked but tried to get to everyone as quickly as possible.

Excursions - mixed bag. I booked the Terra-cross 4x4 and speedboat excursion for Cozumel. Our guides were amazing (shout out to Marco!) and the beach / speedboat portion was really fun, but the 4x4 was just ok. We drove through the city which was nice to see some new areas. The description said we would stop and switch drivers to make sure everyone had a chance, but we only switched once and there were four of us in each one. That was really the only negative.

I also booked the "Behind the Fun Tour" as soon as we got on board. For those of you who have never done it - I highly recommend it. A neat 4 hour walking tour covering a lot of the back stage and crew areas with a meet and greet with the Captain on the bridge. Everyone we met was very nice and answered all of our questions. My son was very impressed with the tour and liked learning about life with Carnival and talking with the Captain.

Entertainment - very good. We enjoyed the playlist productions in the lounge, laughed so hard with the comedy shows, and loved all the live music on board.

Overall - Carnival did not fail to impress us once again.

Some general observations -

-Lifeguards were stationed at all the pools and hot tubs - this was the first time I've seen that onboard

-The A/C in our room was the coldest I've ever had onboard a Carnival Ship, it was great

-Last time I was in a balcony cabin, the slamming of the balcony doors bothered us during the night, but now the door would actually stay open and slowly close never slamming.

-There was a distinct lack of Trivia for me (I'm a trivia nerd and really enjoy when they have 3 and 4 booked back to back which was missing this time)

-Saw a lot of security on board talking with/to guests - more so than usual.

If anyone has any specific questions, I'll do my best to try and answer.

I have been told, it may be a bigger benefit to use your Carnival Rewards Card to pay your onboard account and then use the points (including the 2x points you just earned) to pay towards the bill. Hope that made sense

We did the 14 day partial panama canal Journey's cruise out of Galveston last fall. It was the most wonderful vacation I've ever had. Such a nice mix of sea days for relaxation, with ports for adventure and exploration.

A couple of interesting tid-bits though....

We (wife and I are both early 40's) were pretty much the youngest ones on the ship. This didn't bother us, because it made for a more relaxing cruise.

Cartagena was the biggest surprise - a really beautiful city with nice people.

14 days went by really, really quick.

All in all, it was amazing and has led us to book another Journey's - this time to Hawaii

Wow....that's really a tough question. Ultimately it boils down to a couple of personal decisions.

1 - how will a balcony vs an inside impact the trip for you or your wife. For us, the cost savings of the inside make that the choice, but for an anniversary it might be worth the splurge.

2 - We didn't enjoy Nassau, but at the same time we have been to Cozumel soooo many times that is a toss.

3 - the ship...personally, we have been trying to always sail on a different ship (as a challenge) so we would have to choose the Vista.

Once you answer these questions for yourself, I think the decision is made.

For me, I'd do the Vista, inside cabin.

My wife and I had a balcony on the Triumph (9254) and we heard no noise from the Lido deck. When the ship is underway, the wind carries most of the noise to the rear. It should not be a problem. Great location, in my opinion.

I actually had just called Carnival to purchase the Cheers! package last week and when I asked to pay with gift cards was originally told I couldn't use them. I finally got to a manager who said I could use them, but only if I purchased online. I went onto the website, popped in my gift card numbers and now I have it - ready to try some new cocktails, and getting some old favorites :D

Thanks for the help. I probably will just wait till we get onboard, just to be safe.

We are sailing in about 3 weeks on a 14 day Panama Canal Journey Cruise, and while I have read that there will be 3 formal nights, I was wondering if they are always the same nights during a 2 week Journey Cruise? I am asking to see when I should reserve the Steakhouse (DW wants that to be on one of the formal nights).

1 - Congratulations, and I'm so happy it all worked out for you and that Carnival stepped up big time to make your wedding amazing

2 - this is something you usually hear about Disney, going above and beyond for their guests. It is so nice to hear about Carnival since usually we only hear about cutbacks and what they did wrong. Great Job Carnival!