srjones1

Sunshine 7/26, Balcony deck 8 midship, $240pp with taxes and $100 OBC, net $380 for me and the wife

In the not so distant past I would have only been in bed about an hour or so at 0530. These days its definitely coffee and quiet time.

Sail & Sign card in a slot machine, add whatever $, make a spin or two, put balance back on card, see cashier. Easy as can be

A friend of mine is sailing in a few weeks. He booked one balcony cabin for 2 adults and 2 kids about 4 months ago. He currently has about $1900 OBC due to price drops. Either he severely overpaid originally or something changed a lot.

Has anyone been successful at purchasing this without having to purchase it for another adult over 21 in the same cabin? Do they check to see who is booked with you when you purchase it?

I'm voting Long Island Iced Tea as well. Don't need a lot to get you going and keep you going. Plus the match play thing gives you a chance to win the money back. (or spend more if you lose :()

I always have one extra pair in the toiletries bag and have never needed to use them. Swim, snorkel, etc.

I hope people are not really thinking that a note written by the absent parent is going to stop any kidnappings. A note is just a note--can be written by anyone and signed by anyone.

 

The only way I could see this as any time of deterrent is if both parents have to go at the same time to a notary public--show their ids and a certifiied copy of the birth certificate that lists each of them as the parent and both sign the form right there.

 

And I dont think I have heard of any parental kidnappings by taking them on a cruise ship. This idea of having a "note" is not going to do anything--btw, my dad used to send us to the store with a "note" to buy him cigarettes when we were 8--"I, xxxx, allow my daughter to buy cigarettes that will be for me, her father"--those were some crazy days :):)

 

Every system has a work around. Anything can be done with enough persistence. We just have always went by the "recommendations" so as to avoid any hang ups or delays. Better to have and not need...

I wouldn't be able to sleep worrying about what might happen

In regards to the "other parent" note... My wife and I have taken my son and her daughter on two cruises. Me, the wife, and my son have the same last name but my stepdaughter doesn't. My son would easily pass as my wife's child so I didn't bother with a letter from his mom but we had one for my stepdaughter due to the obvious name difference and they didn't bat an eye at either of them. Just a welcome, a glance at birth certificates, a thanks, and a wave on down the line. She and I discussed how disturbing that was considering the things that happen these days.

 

My stepdaughters dad takes her on cruises as well with just him and he says the same thing happens to him.

Boy, I can just hear the rumors running rampant LOL.

 

Lol. Almost everyone knew about it before we left but I still hear about about years later. We were almost on a cruise together again this year but it didn't quite work out.

April 2013 on the Fascination. Booked a cruise with my family, my boss and his family, and my wife's coworker and family for Spring Break. Day two of the cruise my boss and I were walking around and ran into 2 other people from our job. We spoke and went about our way and only saw them again once.

 

Our Spring Break coincides with a very well known golf tournament and many of us leave town that week so it didn't seem that unusual at the time.

My wife is so "last minute" we have to pay in full when she books! 35 days left for us. She knows not how to plan too far ahead...:rolleyes:

I'll throw in my situation from some time back... I work 12 hour rotating shifts. My schedule works out to 182 12 hour days/nights per year and with vacation factored in I work 160 days, 1920 hours, per year. I was once offered a Mon-Fri job with a decent pay increase that would be 226 8 hour days, 1808 hours, per year with vacation and holidays factored in. Thats 66 days different. Now, to make it an even longer story my round trip gas costs around $10 to get to work and home so that day job would cost me an extra $660 per year just to get there. With all factors considered I cherished my off time way more than a pay increase. I average 12 work days over a 4 week period. I feel like I'm semi-retired at 42 years old. And to top it all off 7 of my off days are in a row so that's like a weeks vacation without using vacation time.

So, none of that may help you decide but that's my story from a similar situation. I chose to stay with the position that afforded me the opportunity to have more leisure time.

At the risk of being drawn and quartered I have a comment...

 

I received the offer for a nearly free cruise that was good for two cruises. Unfortunatly I was only able to utilize one of them. My wife, on the other hand, is Platinum and I've checked her account everyday to see if the same offer pops up and it doesn't. I cannot seem to put 2 and 2 together to see how these offers are doled out. Random luck? I don't know. The good part is that she is able to take advantage of it anyway because I got it but she is still a bit miffed about it. 10 past cruises and a big gambler got her the same old thing that's not really a special.

On Carnival Sunshine, I'm torn between a balcony cabin on deck 6 or deck 8. Both are mid ship but the deck 8 cabin is "more" mid ship however, food areas are above it. The deck 6 cabin is one cabin from aft designation and right by the elevators and I'm concerned about the potential noise from all the people that have to pass by there.

 

Anyone's opinion is appreciated. Thanks

I saw an opportunity to upgrade on the Carnival website and called my regular PVP but she was off for the day so I called back and took who ever would answer the phone and was told I couldn't do what I wanted to do and she even put me on hold to ask a supervisor. Called my regular PVP the next morning and it was done in under 2 minutes. I'm guessing their training program isn't all that great.

I've seen some where the people wanted other passengers to sign their decoration. I thought that was sort of neat. We've never decorated our door though.

It does seem those that have cruised less and spent less money get the offers. I say that because I have been on 4 cruises in 4 years and spent maybe $500 in the casino each time. My wife has been on 10 cruises in 11 years and spends no less than $1000 in the casino each time. When our PVP called and when I looked online the offer was for me and not her. She looked at me like I had something growing out of my forehead when I told her that. She's still happy because obviously we're going together but she can't figure out why she didn't have the offer as well.

We use a PVP. I have been on four cruises, wife has 10. She is the bigger gambler in the family but our free cruise offer was offered to me and not her. This is our first time getting one. It makes no sense to me how these offers are made either. I'm just happy to get one.

Mine did not say that, and I have no idea how they would enforce it--I booked mine yesterday over the phone, I signed nothing. I checked my cruise contract in my profile and dont see anything like that---they try to sell you their insurance all the time--but carnivals insurance is very pricey and doesnt cover near what other private ones do.

 

I booked through insure my trip last night for $40.00 total for my daughter and I for comprehensive coverage.

 

Either way, I am psyched to be going on the Breeze for the 3rd time in 2 years--this time almost free!!! (I did an 8 day free cruise on the Splendor last summer out of New York and there were 3 medical evacuations on my cruise, so I do take the insurance--you never know)

 

I admit I haven't had time to dig into the fine print but I will this morning and drop their insurance if I can. But what we were told that if we were unable to make the cruise we would be responsible for the full fare amount on the day we bought at the lower price because it was casino related. So, if we can't go for whatever reason it becomes about $1400 meaning they would charge our card another $900 to make the difference.

Also, my PVP said if you don't buy the insurance and you have to cancel for any reason you don't just lose what you paid but will also be obligated to pay the full fare with no discounts. We went ahead and got it...

It's for real. I actually started another thread about the same thing. We were already planning for the week offered so it worked out in our favor. We took the OV for $85pp so with OBC it was $15pp plus tax. They might be getting desperate but we enjoy cruising so we jumped all over it.

Insides were $50pp. Of course certain limits applied such as date, ship, deck, etc but I'm no dummy. I'll take whatever at that price. I'm really glad our PVP keeps us in mind when these things come up. It also included $100 OBC so it was dang near free.

In the interest of sharing information with the CC family...

 

My wife and I had been considering a 7 day cruise in July and contacted our PVP to check for specials. The best they had was an inside at about $1400 for the two of us. We chose to wait. Well today she called us and said we could get an OV on the exact cruise for $85pp plus tax! I will say it is tied in with the casino but if anyone is thinking of booking today might be a good time to call and ask if you qualify for anything. Costs nothing to ask.