jwalk03

I collect shot glasses. Not just from cruises, but from anywhere that I visit. I particularly like to pick up Hard Rock Cafe Shot glasses from anyplace I visit that has a Hard Rock location.

I do also hang on to my S&S cards as well.

We are sailing April 4 on a non 2.0 ship (so no EA sports bar). Anyone know if they'll play the final four and championship games on deck? I know the do football.

 

Thanks

I know they have in the past when the Final Four was on CBS. this year the Final Four is on TBS instead as part of that new tv contract between CBS and Turner, so I cant say for sure if the ship has TBS or not. But if I had to guess the answer would be yes, they typically find a way to play major sporting events like this.

Thanks for the heads up. Really hoping for something new and different, but any announcement is good.

I really wanted to like Villains, but it just wasn't my favorite. I really enjoyed the Golden Mickey's.

We went to Nassau and Castaway Cay last Feb. It was plenty warm both places to be in the water, even with our 2 year old.

I have only been on 3 Carnival Ships, Imagination, Freedom, and Valor. From just a ship perspective Freedom would win. (I was on it pre-2.0, so I can't even comment on what its like now.)

Though my favorite cruise of 3 was on the Valor. The Southern route from San Juan cannot be beat. So many wonderful ports!

I've never packed a raincoat or ponchos. On most port days we go to the beach anyhow, so if we get wet from rain than so be it. I will say we have had our share of rainy days, the worst of which was St. Lucia, it rained almost the whole day we were there, with only some breif sunshine for a couple hours in the afternoon. The Pitons were still amazing, but nicer weather would have been great. We also got rained on in Barbados & Grand Cayman but we were just at the beach both of those days, and the showers only lasted for a couple of hours.

Don't waste the money on a ship excusrion. As moki mentioned Grand Cayman is a very safe island, there is no reason to overpay for a ship excursion to the beach here. You can enjoy the freedom of doing it on your own for much less money.

We went to 7 mile beach (Tiki & Pebbles specifically, as 7-mile beach has lots of different areas.) and it was a wonderful day!! Grand Cayman has some of the best beaches of anywhere I have been in the Carribbean.

I agree on NOT doing a 3-day cruise. We did the 3-day Dream cruise last year, and while it was awesome it just wasn't enough time to really enjoy the ship. The extra sea day would have been very very nice to have. In only 3 days we never had time to watch a movie, never made it to Enchanted Garden for a meal, were only able to visit like 2 of the bars/lounges on board, never played putt putt, etc. there is just so much to experience on the Dream, that 3 days barely scratches the surface, and left us yearning for more!

I've taken 5 cruises in the last 5 years and have taken exactly 2 ship excursions out of 15 different port stops. 1 in Cozumel because the twister boat excursion was only available through the ship because they had an exclusive contract, and one in Ocho Rios. Both were excellent excursions but pricey. In every other port I have visited I have either planned a beach day on my own or booked. Private excursion for far less than the ship was offering. Never once came close to missing the ship, or felt unsafe. Just be aware what time it is and what time you have to be back on board and you will be fine.

Parents to toddlers equals saying see you later to balconies for awhile says the Mom of a soon-to-be 4 yr old and soon-to-be 1 yr old.

We had a balcony on our last Disney Cruise with our 2 year old daughter. The balcony doors have a safety latch at the top far out of reach for a child. I have never had a balcony on a Carnival ship, do that not have any similar saftey latch or lock on them?

I've been trying to get this answer to this very question for many months.

 

I've emailed multiple times and called multiple times and get told, "We have no way of knowing when dates will be posted for 2016 Alaskan cruises, so you'll just have to keep looking." It makes not sense to me that they can't even give me some idea of when (if?) the dates will be posted.

 

The last time I called, about two weeks ago, I pointed out that there were Carnival itineraries out there to other locations going all the way to 2017, but nothing for Alaska past 2015. I asked if they'd dropped Alaska as a destination, and the reply this time was a little different. The agent said, "Well, where they go each year changes. I don't know if they're going to Alaska in 2016." I then asked when we could at least find out one way or the other. Told her it makes no sense for me to just keep check "forever." (I mean, at what point do you simply conclude it's not happening.... a week before you would have gone?) She said that was my only option.

 

Frankly, I'm getting close to taking another option... booking with another cruise line.

You wait until all of the ships schedules have been released for 2016, which has not happened yet. Carnival releases schedules ship by ship as they finalize them (or in groups of certain ships) Sunshine was announced today sailing from New York, and also a few sailings from Charleston & Norfolk.

I would venture a guess that Carnival WILL be in Alaska in 2016 with either the Miracle or Legend, but you will have to wait a little while longer for all the details.

My last cruise the Blackjack was all $6 minimum bet and was 6:5 instead of 3:2. I played for like 20 minutes because it was raining and a sea day, made a few dollars and never played again. 6:5 BJ is such a terrible dis-service to the player!

I rarely visit the casino on board because they have no competition and very little gaming regulation, so everything is stacked even more in the casinos favor than it normally is. Just not a good way to spend my vacation time to me.

I will say no.... you need to finish eating for the diners coming in for the second dining.

OP was asking about Palo, which is not a MDR, so there is no first & second seating.

Yeah any ride you take on pretty much any island is going to be without a car seat. The ship excursions will not have car seats either. While I agree with the others that car seats are important and save lives, it just wont be an option unless you arange for your own rental car and request it in advance from the rental company and drive yourself.

We had a taxi van on the way to MB, but one of the open air taxis like someone else posted a picture of for the ride back to the ship. So you may end up with either variety. There are no highways, just windy roads, and you are unlikely to go any faster than about 35 mph, so I really would not worry about the car seat issue. Just ride with your child on your lap, or in a seatbelt if you have a van and they are old enough to sit on their own.

I would definitely change to a later flight.

You can make an 1100am flight if you do self assist. We had a 1245pm flight after our Valor cruise, and based on what I had read on here (SJU being a madhouse on cruise days, and a congested mess, and take forever, etc.) we were nervous. So we did self assist, got off the ship as quick as we could and grabbed a cab to the airport. We were there at 830am and had FOUR HOURS to kill at the airport. There is no free wifi, we didnt have cell service (other than international roaming of course), and most of the stuff in the airport was not even open yet. It was a VERY LONG 4 hours.

I don't think I would do anything earlier than 1100est, simply because if something went wrong you would have no wiggle room, but 1100 is totally make able. I would def do self assist though to ensure you can et off quick and not wait for a high boarding zone.

Also on FTTF, DONT waste your money on this trip. There are ZERO tender ports on this ship, and since the ship does not depart till 1000pm there is no reason to want to rush and be one of the first ones on the ship since you can come and go as you please. We boarded around 230PM andd there was no line at all.

I'm not sure why'd you'd want to spend the extra money, when you have a room (and all your stuff) waiting....

My guess would be to partake in the Cabo nightlife. This is the biggest downside to cruising in my opinion. Not enough part stops involve overnights or even late night departures to allow you to enjoy nightlife in certain ports.

I wish

You have to back onboard each night since it is a tender port

In case there is a bad storm and they have to leave

You don't HAVE to be back on board the first night. Its just a risk. If for some reason the ship cannot runder the tenders on day 2 you would be stuck in Cabo, but as long as there is nothing preventing the ship from tendering the 2nd day you would be in the clear and could re-board on day 2 even though you stayed on land on day 1. its just a matter of being willing to take that risk.

Personally I think it would be worth the risk. There is such a low risk of the ship not tendering the 2nd day. Be warned though it will NOT be easy or cheap to catch up to the ship in PV if you get left in Cabo. I am honeymooning in Cabo next month and tried to find a way to extend our trip with a few days in PV. There were no direct flights, no type of ferry service between the 2, and really not good options to be honest.

Yeah, I don't quite understand that objection either. When I saw someone from Toronto say that this morning about San Juan I did a Kayak search for Toronto-Miami round trip and Toronto-Miami, San Juan-Toronto multi-city. The multi-city itinerary was $50 cheaper. I'd have to think other city pairs would be similar.

I think the complaints about one way airfare being so expensive are people that are just too set in there ways to research it. I agree that you can often find better pricing booking one way fares with different airlines.

I am going to Cabo next month. Flying Southwest on the way there and United on the way home becuase it was the cheapest way to do it.

People that complain about high cost one way fares are the same ones that still book flights through AAA! lol

I agree with moki. There is No reason to book a ship beach day excursion. You can almost always get a better experience with more time and more freedom cheaper by doing it yourself. This is especially easy in a port like St. Thomas, which is of course a US Territory.

We went to St. Thomas on a Carnival cruise last year and went to Meaghan's Bay on our own. There are a multitude of taxi vans just outside the port area. Just tell them where you need to go and they will direct you to a van that is going there. Do be mindful that if you are the first ones in the van there will be a little bit of a wait while they try to fill up the van before leaving. They will try to get you to sit in there and close the doors with the windows up and no A/C, if its hot, I would just wait beside the van while they wait to fill up.

MB does have an admission charge, something like $4 per person you will need to pay in cash when you get there.

To rent chairs, umbrellas, etc you just go into the shop and pay. They will give you a slip that you take to the guy outside and he will get whatever you paid for. He will not drag the chair to a spot on the beach for you, you have to do this yourself, and you also have to return the rental items back to him to get your deposit back.

There are bathrooms with changing areas and showers available, and also a bar with food and drinks. We brought some of our own liquor as well so we ordered a drink and then made our selfs a drink using the same cup and ice and continued alternating that way since the drinks are a little costly, but that way we had ice for each drink.

the beach is very nice, and since its a bay not open to the water there are no waves or current, almost as calm as sitting in a pool. We really enjoyed our day at MB. Getting a taxi back was just as easy as getting one there, so nothing to worry about with doing it all on your own. Dont spend the money for a ship excursion.

Yes, these sailings sound wonderful and the prices are pretty good. Just don't like that none of them are roundtrip sailings from a mainland port. One way tickets are so expensive.

Look for tickets with a discount carrier like Southwest. One Way fares do not HAVE to be expensive.

What about connecting via internet?

You can connect via the internet and stream the available XM stations, however this would quickly get very expensive onboard (unless you have an unlimited internet package, which is also pricey)

Also depending on the speed of internet onboard the streaming may be slow and choppy. I don't really know as I never purchase onboard internet service, I enjoy being cutoff from real life for a few days on board.

Last year when we went we noticed really unkept furniture, broken furniture, bad service, just not the normal HR experience, called the corporate office to hear it was an unauthorized location not belonging to the real HC chain...too bad..

I hear a new official Hard Rock is in the works for Cabo. They have already opened a new official location in Cozumel to replace the old one, and Cabo & Cancun should not be far behind.

There is also an all inclusive Hard Rock Resort planned for Cabo, but it won't open until 2016 or 17.

While I can't really talk, I'm going to speak from experience. Just because it's convenient for you, doesn't give Carnival any more money, which is all they're after. For example, many want the Miracle in Tampa, and to be honest, I do too. But you have to remember that if Carnival was going to pick up a bigger demographic and sail a 3000 pax ship weekly year-round, you better bet your bottom dollar that it would already be over there. Carnival can't (or thinks they can't) fill the ship in the a Conquest Class. So while Tampa may be nice for you, you have to remember that Carnival is a corporation, and will do whatever they can to make more money. Hence the Liberty replacing Triumph and Triumph taking over Elation.

Tampa probably could fill the ships, but it's an issue of the price with which it's able to do. And the average onboard spend, which is where Carnival really makes it's money.

Having a passport is a good idea for any traveling. I take,one anytime I fly, even domestically. But you are not required to have it for any closed loop cruise from a US Port. San Juan is a US port. (Assuming you are a US citizen of course.)