zelldriver

First time on HAL & Port Everglades.  How strict are they on arrival times?

We were assigned a late arrival time. I prefer to be on the ship earlier if I can

so I don't have to waste time hanging out someplace waiting.

If I arrive early will they still let me in?

Sailing from terminal 5 or 6 (Carnival). If you park at the port do you pay when entering or exiting? If you pay on exit, is there a ticket to pay from or do they charge based on the number of days for the cruise you are leaving?

We are doing this cruise on Magic in Feb. Looking to see what the

ports are like concerning any covid changes.

Just went to AARP to check on cards. They have both $100 & $500 gift cards available --- but they are e-gift cards not plastic. This eliminates the shipping fee and has immediate delivery.

Has anyone ever had a problem with not receiving the cards in the mail? I placed three different orders and have received two of them but not the third one. I bought $400 one day, the next day I bought $200 more, then the next day a $500 one. I've received the $400 ones and the $500 one ( which actually arrived in two days via UPS, signature required), but haven't received the $200 order yet. My account says they were shipped on 06/02. I'm somewhat concerned why I haven't received them yet.

If you ordered from AARP there should be a UPS tracking # in the shipping confirmation email. That will tell you when it is scheduled to be delivered.

Is it possible to change your check in time to accurately reflect your arrival at the port? Is the 12:30 - 1:00 slot open? That could free up the earlier time for someone who may actually show up then.

 

Just a thought......

As a platinum, I always pick the latest time slot available. That hopefully frees up an earlier slot for someone else.

Just returned from Bermuda. Four of us did a tour with

David Fox. He did an excellent job in covering all the

highlights. His email is thefox@logic.bm.

We were told by JH on the Vista that Splendor is going to

China in 2019.

Makes me wonder what if any upgrades they will add to her.

He also said the cruises will be only for the Chinese since everything

on board will be in Chinese. Will probably mean changing out a lot

of the crew.

How strict is Sagrada Familia with the entrance time for pre-purchased

tickets? Do they give much leeway either side of the printed time?

I'm not sure how long it will take us to get off the ship and get a cab there.

Don't want to have to wait outside very long to get in and don't want to be late and have ticket invalid.

Carnival $100 & $500 gift cards on AARP now.

I read somewhere that Steve Cassel also left Carnival. I can't find any info on where he went as well. He too, was one of my favorites, and a long time C.D. aboard "Paradise". ;)

 

"SKY"

I believe I read that Steve retired. He played a mean fiddle.

Someone asked JH this morning about new Carnival builds other than Vista 2 and he responded that there will be news on that soon.

The $500 cards do not seem to be available.

From John this morning when asked about the next dancing announcement:

" its frustrating because I know whats happening next and I know many will be pleased. But there are some ports of call to be finalised for the ships involved so please bare with me and I will let you know the moment I can. cheers "

yep, doesn't seem like we'll hear anything this week. And he keeps us from waiting.

John posted today that there "should" (emphasis mine) be more news

next week.

Someone asked John on Facebook about when it will be, and John replied that next week. I'm so tired of waiting alreadyyy

He also said it would probably be Thursday.

On the Pride repo Q&A it was confirmed that Tampa will get a second ship. he did not say which one or which class.

It was also confirmed privately that the Magic is coming to PC. There have been strong hints for a while that this will happen.

I see Dubrovnik shows a capacity of 4242, not the 4800+ that Gibraltar showed.

Earlier this year, we stayed in M2 on the Paradise & liked it. Not sure if the other decks are like this but since this cabin was the last one forward, there was a door where the cabin stewards would go in & out of for the supplies they needed. Often heard noise coming from that area from inside our cabin. Not a deal breaker but thought we would mention it since the other porthole cabins we have cruised in before did not have that noise.

We had R4 on the Paradise. The crew stairway mentioned above is the only "problem" - but not that bad. We like the portholes - they have more room than a regular inside.

Had room 7301 and it was nice.

 

Nice to hear - we have this room booked for a Sunshine cruise next year.

I didn't care for YTD myself. I felt like the waitstaff was just doing there job and they could care less if i was taking care of or not...they had my pre paid tips and that was it. i felt service was below what i'm use to.

 

We have used YTD several times and have found the waitstaff treated us no different than if we had been at set dining.

 

Never again will I do YTD. We ended up seated at a 2 top, next to rows of other 2 tops, and still had to wait for others around just like we were at a 6 top. what's the point of having a table for 2 when you still have to wait and can hear the people next to you breathe.

 

We encountered this on the Breeze. There was a 4 top, 2 top and 2 top in a row. They were treated as if they were one table. On a couple of nights we could have been done 10-15 minutes sooner if we did not have to wait for one of the other tables to finish. I did tell Carnival about this when I filled out a survey after the cruise. It appears nothing has changed.

We were recently on the Legend. The YTD there is set up so each table gets serviced individually. We didn't have to wait for another table to finish to get served the next course.

 

No thanks, I'll go back to assigned dining times, get seated immediately and have a staff that at least pretends to act like they care about serving me and seeing me nightly. I know honestly they don't care, but at least I feel better about forking over $40 a night to them for pretending. :D

When we find waitstaff we like in YTD, we request them when we go to the dining room. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 nights to find them.

Outside decks one side of the ship is smoking, I think it's starboard.

I think it may be port - at least on the ships I have been on. I believe

it would be consistent among all the ships.

...also... What websites are good to find excursions through?

Look at CC's Ports of Call boards

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

If you browse thru the threads for the port your are interested in,

you will find many suggestions and websites.

If you don't find what you are looking for - post a question. Most

likely someone will have the answer for you.

We are getting ready to book the Splendor for the first time.

In looking at the layout, there is a rotisserie. From doing searches,

I have found that it serves chicken, but I can't find a menu specific to it.

Does it serve anything besides chicken?

Looks like one of those out of the way places, like fish & chips

or pasta, that is easily overlooked early in a cruise.

thanks

Do they still have the Grand midnight Buffet? Sailing on the Dream in July.

Midnight buffet is a thing of the past. Carnival stopped them a few years back.