crazy4themouse

I like my rooms for sleeping like your 4 year old does! Lol. And your idea of bringing magnets is a good one. I usually bring the velcro picture-hanging Command strips to accomplish the same thing, and those work well also. Either method, bring at least two or three sets -- That dang sun sure likes to laser in around the edges wherever it can! 🌞

Don't forget that you're not limited to just the coffee bar -- You can also order specialty coffees such as espresso and cappuccino after dinner in the MDR, or grab one of those tiny nitro-fuel shots of Cuban coffee in the Havana Bar. Love those!

We usually have a Havana cabana on Vista, so I'll try and answer some of your questions. There are gates that you have to badge through on either side of the cabana area on deck 5, so no through-traffic. We only ever see a couple outside our cabana patio on any given cruise, and we're out there a lot. The pool area is so wonderfully peaceful, I doubt seriously you'll ever hear anything unless you're unlucky enough to be on a cruise with some rowdy group having booked a bunch of the Havana staterooms. (I've read about that happening on rare occasions -- luckily have never experienced it!) As far as the bar goes, even being right there on 5 we've never heard the band in our stateroom so I doubt you'd hear them one deck up. Can't help you with the swallow and the coconut thing. 🙂

You're kidding, right? I guess you would be pretty shocked to see how many honeymooners there are on any given DCL sailing, much less all the other adults w/o kids onboard. Disney does everything better when it comes to adults-only. The pool area, the restaurants, the nightlife districts, the private adults-only beach at Castaway Cay, the list goes on. There's a reason they remain popular with so many adults.

And the thing is, even with all the kids onboard Disney has the sense to have actual, really nice adult-only areas onboard -- And they do a way better job of keeping those areas adult-only. Novel idea. Plus the adult-only restaurants, because kids don't need to be EVERYWHERE. Seriously, Carnival, it's not mutually exclusive to be a "family-oriented" cruise line but still allow grownups some places to be with just grownups for a little while.

We have done a Havana cabana on Vista several times, and it's absolutely wonderful!! And I think we've seen maybe half a dozen people total walk past our patio. Most Havana guests head to the pool area via the inside hallways, from our observations. It has always been very rare for us to see anyone when we're sitting outside, and we do love to sit out there and read on the patio. And I can't speak for how it is on Panorama, and maybe we've just been lucky, but we've never seen any rowdy people in the pool area. Quite the opposite -- the peace and quiet are what we *love* about Havana!! We've never seen anyone try and crash the area who didn't belong there, day or night.

Just to clarify, you'll be driving from Houston to Galveston that morning, you have a late check-in for the cruise, and you're wanting someplace to walk to by the terminal for lunch? Or a late breakfast? Or are you using some transport service to go directly to the terminal? If so, you could just go ahead and check your luggage and then walk the one block to the Strand or sideways to one of the Pier 21 restaurants as previously suggested. I can think of lots of places specifically, but my recs would depend on what time you're getting there and what time your check-in is.

I think she has been pretty on-time lately, from what I have read.. Haven't heard anything about delays in quite a while. Barring any sort of problem (like when the gangway was broken for our most recent Vista cruise in late February) boarding normally starts right around 11 with the suites being first as you already know. One other note: Take Lyft, not Uber, as Uber isn't allowed into the port and you'll have to cross very busy Harborside on your own.

The coffee bar is usually where you find them, and they're amazing! SO good. They even have spiked ones that are delish. 🥰

I reached out to one of the owners to find out -- She said to just email Bwarren814@att.net with "Reservation" in the header and they'll be happy to get back to you. And here is their pricing info currently, but it is changing 7/1 due to the ridiculous fuel prices now. They're hoping to just add in a temporary surcharge instead of raising the prices across the board, but haven't said anything final yet.

The trolley is so fun to me -- I was so happy to see it finally back again on the island!! For airport transportation, look up Galveston Saltwater Moms on that popular social media site.. Everyone I've talked to who has used them has been so happy with the service, and they're probably cheaper than Uber/Lyft for a long haul like that.

My sleep doc told me years and many cruises ago to just not worry about hassling with distilled water.. He said the reason we use that is because the minerals can build up and cause problems with the machine, but that's over a long period of time. He said a week is nothing, and to just rinse the tank out well when I get home.

I don't think anyone would have to choose only one way to carry their shipboard ID... Whether it be a chip-embedded physical card, NFC-capable phone, wristband, QR code tattooed on your forehead, whatever, it's all still basically the same technology. I usually have my card on a lanyard, but I am a huge fan of Disney's MagicBands. And really, if nothing else I think Carnival is missing out on a huge money-making opportunity... MagicBands are addictive -- Different colors to match your outfits, ones for different holidays and special events, limited-release bands, etc. etc. I have a wardrobe of MagicBands, lol. Carnival could offer bands with the iconic funnel all over them, beach-themed, Funship Freddy, glow in the dark, you name it. Ship-specific bands! I know I'm not the only one who would be collecting them. 🙂

Definitely agree! But too many times, we have seen "parents" who must have thought they could drop their kids off at the kids' club at embarkation and just pick them up a week later. Unsupervised pretty young kids at the buffet, the ice cream machines, just roaming around like an orphanage took a field trip to a cruise ship or something. Even sailing "off-season" there's always at least a handful of them. OP, it sounds like you had the right mindset -- Some time to yourselves, some time with the kids. A happy medium. And Carnival absolutely should have provided the correct info. Some things can absolutely change at the last minute, but it sounds like this has been this way for a while and it wouldn't take someone but a couple of minutes to update the info given on the website.

There is no way Hobby is 30 minutes from the cruise terminal -- More like an hour on a good day. I live South of Houston, a whole lot closer to the terminal than Hobby, and it takes me an hour to get to work on the island -- over that to get back home. And again, that's on a good day, which are few and far between on the Gulf Fwy these days. =/ The construction is *so* bad, and there are so many accidents... There are no shoulders for most of the freeway due to the construction, so even a flat tire causes a ridiculous backup. A couple of weeks ago there was some accident that closed two lanes down, and it took me an hour and 45 minutes to get home from work, and I only live 30 miles away. Add in fog and any other possibility, and it's just a big risk. There have been times when we hadn't even docked by 11am, but we usually sail during fog-prone times of the year. It's up to you -- How hard/expensive would it be to switch to the 2pm flight if you couldn't make the early one?

There are plenty of excursions listed, just none for the Carnival beach area. I'm sure you're right, and those just get posted closer to sailing. We usually do our own thing in Roatan so I've never looked for them, but I'll have to remember to go and check this time closer to the cruise. I'm just curious now about the cabanas that y'all keep talking about. 🙂

I hope this isn't a super dumb question, but where do you go to book those? I don't even see the MB beach excursions for any of my cruises... I know I've booked the basic beach one before that includes the flying chairs, but that was several years ago and I just realized I don't see any of that under Roatan excursions.

That is the exact same experience my husband had on Vista a few years ago, and it took several cruises before I could get him to even give Alchemy another chance. I told him that experience had to be an anomaly and once he finally went back, he saw that it was and he was happy with what the alchemist was able to make for him. My favorite drink onboard is a Twilight Zone but made with Malibu instead of regular rum, from the Tides bar. Oh man, I can taste it just thinking about it. 🥰

Wow, I guess it's 21 years for me as well... Had no idea! I joined the year before the very first cruise for my son and I, on the Disney Magic in 2002. Many cruises and a million memories later, my son is grown and now I have my (newish) husband addicted as well. 😁 And I still learn new stuff from other cruisers here all the time! Thanks for being here, CC!

When my son was little on our cruises, I always brought a whole bag of glow bracelets from the dollar store. Put one on his nightstand before bed, one outside the bathroom door, and one on the bathroom counter. They glowed so softly, the light didn't wake me up but was still bright enough for him to see, and they usually kept glowing for a couple of nights each. And he liked wearing one around the ship at night as well, just because. 🙂

You can click here for nearly all of the bar menus to see which wines are offered at various locations. https://profcruise.com/carnival-bar-menus-and-drink-prices-2022/

I've never had a balcony on Carnival big enough for a hammock. When we used to sail on Royal, we would get one of the standard aft staterooms that has the huuuuuuge balconies (Voyager class) and easily put our camping hammock out there. (It was the kind with its own frame.) You can't put up one that have to tie to something.

Just had my October one denied for the second time.. Oh well. It wasn't really that much of a discounted rate but was, I believe, a casino rate with a big chunk of OBC so I think I'll live without the additional $50. It's just the "spirit" of it that rubs me the wrong way as a longtime stockholder, you know?

Same here. I resubmitted mine on 4/29, so we'll see what happens.

Agree 100%! I also love their interactive deck plans, where you can drag one deck op top of another and see exactly what is going to be above/below your stateroom so you can make an educated booking. We are doing our first inside in October on Breeze, after we got a great deal we couldn't pass up. We have no problem with the no-window part as we love the idea of a cool, dark room for mid-day recharging siestas, but we're kinda worried about not having anywhere to sit and put stuff. But our stateroom, 7428, is a sideways one whose layout seems to offer at least a bit more floor space so there's that. It's just my husband and I, so I'm sure we'll be fine. Maybe we'll actually get off our butts in the morning and get going since we have no where to sit and lallygag. 🙂