SurfCat

• They give me free drinks while in the casino on most cruises and I still get the drink package. First, its only in the casino so I still end up ordering the majority of my drinks elsewhere.  Also, cocktail service in the casino has been awful for several years.  Generally, I'll walk to another bar to get drinks even when gambling.

I messed up. Forgot to check in early and got a 12:30 arrival time for our cruise out of Jacksonville.  I understand that things are done differently from port to port and was wondering if anyone had any personal experience with showing up prior to their scheduled arrival at Jacksonville with FTTF.

Thanks in advance and happy cruising!

Thanks for the great review.  We are booked for the Elation for the December 30 five day cruise.

I have a weird and lengthy question.  I book a cruise annually as a Christmas present for the kids.  The two factors that determine which cruise that I book are proximity to the Lowcountry of South Carolina and price.  Don't care too much about which ship or the ports of call.

I was on a cruise years ago that on our first port I had to get off of the ship because I couldn't eat another bite of the food.  I don't remember which ship it was.  Nevertheless, I just noticed the limited dining options on Elation and the lack of a steakhouse, cucina del capitana, ji jis or even a deli.

My question is were you able to find suitable dining options, and did you get really tired of the MDR? I do plan to bring ALOT of snacks to keep in the room

Thanks in advance.

What is the earliest anyone has been able to get on the ship with FTTF in Charleston?

Thanks in advance.

My wife and I are traveling with five other family members.  They booked well before us and have early dining. By the time we booked, early dining was full.  We would like to dine with them but they are early eaters and wouldn't ask them to change for us.  Would it be worth it to go see the maitre d when we first get on board to see if they could have us seated together or would that be a waste of time?

Thanks in advance.

Has anyone had any luck changing PVP's?  I had one that I dealt with for about 10 years, but he left Carnival.  Don't like the new one.  Is there any way to change?

On 1/9/2023 at 8:17 PM, Jamericannn said:

Why not just ask the RS to open it up. I ask my travel agent to put in the request for me and when I reach my room they are already opened. 

In my experience, the RS can't open them.  You have to get in touch with guest services who may or may not get someone to take care of it during your cruise.

While I have not been in those specific rooms, I've sailed the Magic several times.  Every room that we have stayed had dividers that you could open.  I always pack a multi tool which will open the divider.  

On 12/24/2022 at 8:50 AM, CaptG said:

We're you able to get an early arrival time?

Sorry, took me a few days to get back into the swing of things.  We got an 11:00 arrival time.  My understanding is that the earliest was 9:30.

We planned to get to the terminal early to test the FTTF, but didn't get there until about 10:45.  There was really no line at that time, so I'm not sure if they would have turned us away anyway.

We cruise on the 30th, and purchased FTTF.  We were not allowed to check in until 14 days prior to the cruise.  I'll report back on the rest when we return.

Thanks to the OP.  Just purchased for our 12/30 cruise out of Charleston.

As MZ-S said, I believe that they do the best they can to avoid any bad weather.  That being said, I was on the Ecstasy and went through a tropical storm that apparently couldn't be avoided.  This was prior to the availability of internet onboard so noone really knew what was going on.

The staff closed off all of the doors leading outside by barricading them with furniture.  It became so rough that when we were trying to sleep that night, I was literally coming coming off of the bed a few inches during the down phase.  

Can you add people to your party once onboard, or does that need to be done prior to departure?

I can't remember which rate code I used when I booked my October cruise.  Is there a way to find that out through your booking information on the website?

Thanks in advance.

Turns out I'm going to cancel it now.  We have a party of 12 so I kept checking to see if the Private Oasis opened up, and it did.  I scooped it up as soon as I saw it since I had seen such great reviews.

My concern now is that the Oasis being open was the result of some computer glitch since it had been sold out for so long, and final payment for the cruise is not yet due.  I'm going to keep both for a little while just to make sure.  I wish there was some way to confirm that they haven't sold the Oasis twice.

Success!!  After checking every day for a month, one finally opened up.  This is the only port stop during our short cruise, so it was important to snag one.

Booked a cruise and wanted to book a Beach Villa, but they were already sold out.  I check in daily in the event that one is cancelled.  

Has anyone ever had luck with that?

On 3/2/2022 at 12:58 PM, bguppies said:

Does anyone know how to drop off passengers in Charleston?

Figure I can drive downtown and just drop the ladies off for their weekenmd cruise in 3 weeks.

Did you ever figure this out?  We are having someone drop us off in a couple of months and are curious where to enter.  Last time we got forced to enter with the cars that were parking and wasted about 45 minutes looping through the parking lot.

Are there complimentary sauna and steam rooms on the Magic or do you have to get the spa package?

Aside from being guaranteed that the ship won't leave you if you're late, are there any benefits to taking a Carnival sponsored excursion rather than a less expensive private one?  Do they pick you up closer to the ship, or anything like that?

Thank you.  Was coincidently trying to figure out the best night for Steak house.  I'm thinking night 3.

Not sure if this is the standard, but our last cruise was open until two nights before departure.  We left on a Thursday (10/21) and I did a mock booking on Tuesday night.  Checked on Wednesday morning and it was not available.  Even called my PVP and she said it was closed.

I bet fairly heavily and will live in the smoke free casino if it is available.  

We've always purchased the Cheers program early to get the 10% discount.  This time however we have plenty of OBC and will be buying it once onboard.  

Is there a station set up to buy the program or can you pay for it at a bar?

Thanks in advance.

The only issue that I see is that the room steward is entitled to a per person tip.  Obviously this is easily taken care of.