Gojirart

I, too, am contemplating booking the thermal suite for our December cruise aboard the Eurodam. Do most of you book it for the week, or just for sea days?

 

Also, do the Lido Cabanas have windows that can be opened, or curtains that can be shut to offer more privacy from the pool?

I like to book for the whole cruise. Sometimes it's nice to pop in for a short time like after supper and shows or after an excursion but before dinner when you probably want to shower and get wet anyway. I'm not a morning person, but you could also go before breakfast.

It is also really nice to take your time and do the thalassotherapy pool, then the thermal loungers, then the steam room and maybe even repeat the whole process while sipping your tea or infused water! It's hard to go on a port day and really enjoy yourself then realize you could have done this everyday even if for a short time. You can also check with the spa staff to see if there will be any deals. For example, on an Oosterdam cruise, there was a ladie's night special with a facial, hair mask and thermal suite pass (with champagne!) on the second night of a 10 day cruise. If we wanted to, we could book the thermal suite pass that night for half of the cost. The ladie's night package and the thermal suite pass together were less than just the thermal suite pass. It doesn't hurt to ask.

However, they only sell a certain number of passes you you might want to book them on line before you go.

Thank you for your kind responses.

The sweet 16 we originally planned on with Celebrity was no longer available. We went with the NCL cruise because of the aft balcony view. We're open to new experiences, so look forward to trying a new brand. If we aren't interested in what is happening onboard, we'll just retire to the balcony and enjoy the view!

I have to decide between a Celebrity Summit Sweet 16 cabin 6023 or a Norwegian Pearl Aft Balcony 10668. Itineraries and length of cruises are comparable. The Summit is a couple of hundred dollars more, but has good OBC. The Pearl has free stateroom gratuities and specialty dining.

We have never cruised on either of these lines. I know that NCL tends to be more casual and "busy?" and that Celebrity tend to be a bit more relaxed atmosphere and upscale.

We have enjoyed Princess, Royal Caribbean and Holland America in the past. Our Carnival cruise was only so-so.

I have both cabins on hold and need to decide SOON!:eek:

I would really appreciate any advice.:D

Sonja,

I would contact HAL right away and let them know that you need a cabin that is designated as handicapped accessible. Most of them have slightly larger configurations than normal cabins to allow for space for walkers and/or wheelchairs. Most of them also have a slightly larger shower that would be more comfortable for you to use. (And, many of them have larger verandas too!)

If you keep your regular balcony room, you may be able to store the walker folded up in front of or next to the desk and it would be mostly out of the way. You could even probably slide it under your bed if you have an ambitious traveling partner!

Not sure where the outlets are in the room or whether you can bring your own extension cord. Sometimes there is an extra outlet underneath the bed. I would also ask HAL about the cord if you call them about the possibility of changing to a handicap accessible room. You might also consider an old fashioned hot water bottle.

Enjoy your trip!

When you leave the ship, staff will be near the exit with large towels you can take ashore. (They aren't quite as nice as those on board and are usually a different color.) You need to sign for them with your cabin number. When you come back on board, they will have a big bin to collect them in. Just give them your cabin number again and put the used towels in the bin!

Cruising on the Oosterdam april18 after dry dock. I assume ours will be ready immediately

When is the Oosterdam going into dry dock? What is being done?

I'm 60, and after using creams in my younger years, now find that using a powder is a lot easier to control the amount of color and blending. I use a foundation that is pretty "dewey", so creams just kind of slide off, especially in that wonderful Caribbean heat!

In addition to a small tip at the end of the cruise, i leave a small "goodie" bag daily for the steward. I'm retired and have more time than extra cash, so I pack new reusable small containers (like plastic pencil boxes and zipper pouches) with individually wrapped candy, drink mixes, etc. and usually include a dollar bill (sometimes origami folded if I have time). I let them know on the first day to expect it and leave a thank you note to remind them to take them. The stewards have always been very appreciative and tell us they look forward to their treats.

It has been a while since we did a longer cruise on HA. On other cruise lines, we didn't see a second helper. Now I'm thinking that if there are actually two people helping with our room that I should leave one for each steward? We don't always see them every day - depending on what our schedule is like for the day - and I just like to let them know that we appreciate what they do for us.

Yes, I know that people feel the same way about these "gifts" that they do about tipping. I just like to put a little time and effort into it besides just handing out a dollar bill. Yeah, maybe they need the money more but we're not talking about expensive goodie bags, just a little something to let them know they are appreciated. I also pack a couple of extra for staff who have been helpful during the cruise who are usually not recognized at all. (Like Lido waitstaff and servers, musicians, even other stewards who smile at us and say hello every time we walk past!)

So, should I leave two each day or just assume they will share them?

I always bring the over the door shoe bag. The first cruise we used this, I was horrified to find it left marks in the paint at the top of the door frame! :eek:

Now, I have replaced the cheap metal hanging clips with "wreath hanger" magnets. (You can get them year round at places like Home Depot.) They are extra strong and I use three of them, so they support the weight of all of the "stuff" in the hanger. Because the walls and doors all hold magnets, I find an out of the way place to hang the bag. No more guilt!

Also, at the end of the cruise, I "inventory" the items in the hanger and restock anything necessary. I fold up the bag with all of the goodies (bandaids, duct tape, super glue, rain ponchos, mini umbrella, stain remover, etc.) and stick it into a plastic garbage bag so it is all ready to pack for the next cruise!

I buy a package of those cheap cardboard car air fresheners to stick in the bathroom.

I like to save my cruise schedules, so I bring a cheap wipe off marker board (also magnetic) to list what we want to do that day.

Take photos of the front of the schedule first thing in the morning and it is easy to sort out your photos when you get home.

I've been to the cave twice. First time, my DH was quarantined to his cabin and couldn't join me. The second time, we specifically booked another tour to the cave so he could join me. Just an FYI, there are many uneven, steep steps to climb to reach the caves, but on both excursions, guides were willing to wait for stragglers to catch up. A large portion of the cave is no longer accessible to tourists to protect the resident bats from contagion.

Photos can only be taken in parts of the cave with natural light, but definitely still worth visiting in my opinion. I'd go again!

On our fall Statendam repositioning cruise, pins were the prizes for everything. Unfortunately, they were Alaska pins, from the previous voyage, which most of us did not visit on this cruise. After some complaining (not by us) they brought out the South Pacific pins that were for the next leg of the cruise after many of us would leave the ship! So, we went home with several pins that were not memories of anything related to the actual cruise we were on. :confused:

I actually mentioned this in my follow up review and got back a polite "We're sorry that this happened" and "we'll evaluate the prizes", but it sounds as though nothing has changed.

I also pointed out that the cheap chotzkes we got on earlier HAL cruises were actually things we used, and because the HAL logo was printed on them, people asked about our cruise experience when they saw them and it was like free advertising for HAL.

Oh well, as you say, we don't really play for the prizes anyway, but more to see if our brains are still cooperative at our age! :p

Also got the Radisson Ambassador on Priceline for $95.00 (w/taxes and fees $115.00) for one night Jan. 17. All of the OSJ hotels have been pretty much sold out for the San Sebastian festival that weekend. Cheapest I saw online for anything 2 ½ stars in Condado area was about $140.00, so I can live with this for one night pre-cruise!

I think I read that the "resort fee" was an additional $10.00 or so? Anyone stayed there recently?

Heidi,

We're right with you with the cold and snow. It was so depressing listening to the snow plows out on the roads last night. We got about an inch. Luckily, our wonderful neighbors had it shoveled away by the time we got up this morning. The only positive is that it is covering up the ugly dirty remaining melted heaps of snow. We're at 18° and only supposed to get up to 23° with blustery winds and tomorrow is supposed to be the same. :(

So glad your niece is recovering. It is sometimes amazing at how quickly young children spring back.

I hope your shoulder is doing better. Have you started PT yet?

We are spending almost every weekend driving three hours one way to clean out my BIL's house. Not only was he a hoarder, but the whole house is mouse infested. We've gone through many rubber gloves and face masks and have started to use disposable coveralls so we don't bring any of the nasty stuff home with us. We're still looking for some important documents like the title to his car. My eye surgery has been moved to April 15, and I can't work there to prevent possible infection for a couple of weeks after that, so I feel driven to get as much done as I can before then.

I hope the rest of you are staying warm and healthy. At least we aren't waiting on a cruise ship in Texas to be able to leave on a cruise. Even if they get some reimbursement and a future credit, it must be really frustrating to be sitting there without knowing if you'll be able to leave and having your expected itinerary changed!

Hang in there!

Gwenda

Happy Anniversary Heidi!

We're supposed to hit fifty today, but back to the low twenties again this weekend :mad:

I was in Rockford last weekend for a convention and people from out of state were standing in front of the piles of snow in the parking lot and taking pictures because they had never seen piles so high before :p

Hope everyone is well.

Gwenda

We were also on the cruise and were worried about what happened. We are so glad to hear that yor dad made it safely to the hospital in time for treatment. How lucky that they were traveling with others who could take care of their packing and luggage.

For those who wonder about the Carnival emergency contact phone number, it DOES work. The last full day of the cruise, we got a call on our cabin phone from my husband's oldest brother to let us know that their middle brother had passed away sometime during the night. The Carnival Breeze customer service reps were extremely helpful and compassionate (especially Jonathan) and Googled some phone numbers for us as well as letting us use their phones to make some necessary calls at no charge to us.

Additionally, for those of you asking, you can use your cabin phone to make direct phone calls to just about anywhere, but I think the charge is $1.99 per minute.

Soozles, let your folks know that we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.

It was great getting to meet everyone on the cruise. Thanks so much Heidi and Cruisin Dave for all of the work you did to make things happen. Our trip home was pretty uneventful. We've been spending most of the week coordinating funeral arrangements for DH Mark's brother. For those of you who hadn't heard, Mark was notified of his brother's death on the last full day of the cruise. At least we now all know that the emergency contact phone numbers that the cruise lines give out really do work.

We filled out our cruise survey yesterday and let Carnival know how we felt about the large groups of feral children who were running all over the ship at all hours of the night and playing slip and slide on the lido buffet tile floors! We DID have more positive comments than negative ones, though. The staff were extremely helpful and compassionate in dealing with our emergency communications home. I hope someone form the Cupids/Newpids group wins the free cruise drawing that you are entered into for filling out the survey. ;)

As Heidi mentioned, we in the Midwest are smack dab in the middle of another cold front with Wind Chill advisories for the next couple of days. Will it EVER end? :eek: At least we got away from the frigid temps for 8 days!

Again, thanks to everyone for helping to make the cruise more fun. BTW, in case you haven't checked it out, do a Google search for "Attica Hero Dog" to find some great stories about the yellow lab guide dog, and his owner Jim Hogan, who graced us with his presence at our cabin crawl (and special thanks to all of you who opened up your cruise ship "homes" for us to visit!)

I hope our paths may cross again, either way - I wish all of you many more happy cruises! :D

I've been having trouble getting access to the Cruise Critic boards the last couple of days. Luckily, everything seems to be working now.

Mani-pedi done, mail held, papers cancelled, credit cards notified, pet sitter confirmed, packing about halfway done. Full panic mode activated!

For the first time in many years, we decided to fly out the day of the cruise. The last couple of Februarys weren't bad and our schedule worked out better that way. We leave Milwaukee at 5:45 am to Charlotte, supposed to leave Charlotte at 9:55, arriving in Miami about noon. Well, who knew that Charlotte would be having a once in 20 year storm:eek:!!!!!

I checked the airline's web site - first segment, on schedule, second segment - cancelled, rescheduled to arrive in Miami at 3:09 p.m.:mad:

Called the airline - after about a dozen tries got through to an automated system - they say flight is as originally scheduled. Tried about twenty more times to talk to a real person to find out which version is true, no luck.

Called Carnival - very sympathetic, but unless a whole boatload (pun intended) of others were also delayed, not much chance of making the sailing if flight was really changed to arrive after 3:00. Called the travel insurance people who assured me we would be covered and spelled out what to do if necessary.:( YIKES!!!!!

To add insult to injury, it is currently snowing like crazy! Heidi, we aren't supposed to get much accumulation in the Milwaukee area and so far, nothing for tomorrow, so hope you have no weather problems.

I hope that all of you have uneventful travels and that everyone's flights are on time. For those of you driving, or whatever other modes of transportation you are all using, I wish you safe travels.

Anyway, I hope that the flight will be okay by Saturday and that we will get to meet all of you. I'll keep trying to contact the airlines. At least we have a couple of days to work things out.

Boy, do I need a cruise right now!

BTW: The lady I spoke to at Carnival said that our ship is her favorite, our itinerary is the one she most wants to do and that she is really jealous that she can't join us:cool:

We're brand new to Carnival. (We leave on the Breeze on the 15th :D)

We've played a fair amount of trivia on Princess, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. It is such a great way to meet new people! We've kept in touch with several people over the years.

Other lines usually have a large binder of questions they can choose from. Some of the Trivia leaders researched their own questions and others used what was given to them. We even suggested a couple of questions for them to use in future contests and were really tickled when we got those (pretty obscure) questions in two future contests on two totally different ships over the years!

Most lines have a limit of 6 people per team. Is it the same on Carnival? The other cruise lines give away assorted "doo-dads" like flashlights, key chains, magnets, hats, champagne, etc. and each team member gets the same prize. We have also given away our prizes if we have already won several times. It sounds like Carnival gives out medals, or ships on a stick?

We're looking forward to trying Trivia on a whole new cruise line!

Heidi,

I'm sure you're going to love your new Mac. My husband is a musician/composer and I'm an artist. When we bought our first Mac (a II CX - I won't tell you how many years ago :eek:) PCs just didn't have the software we needed. (Actually, we first used my DMIL's TRS-80 and then bought Our FIRST computer, a Commodore 64!) Yeah, we're really dinosaurs!

I also had to use PCs at work. The only time I couldn't use the Mac for work was if they had proprietary software programs (hospital and school). Most of the time, everything worked very well together. I do use Microsoft Office for the Mac. That solves 90% of compatibility issues.

I also found the Mac to be more reliable and more intuitive to use, although PCs have improved a lot over the years. Actually, aside from graphic design! photo management and word processing, I use my iPad for most day to day stuff now.

We're supposed to get between 4 and 5 inches of snow tonight and into tomorrow. Nothing so far yet.

Stay warm!

Gwenda

Chris,

I'll try not to get too wonky in my reply.

If you aren't using something like Photoshop where you can "tweak" the resolution of your files, probably the best choice is to use vector clipart. It usually has a higher resolution and scales up much better to a larger size without the fuzziness or blockiness. Avoid the .bmp format and look for a .tif or .eps file

.ai (Adobe Illustrator)or .psd (Adobe Photoshop) work well, but you probably need those programs to use them.

.jpg or png files also work if they had been saved as high resolution files.

Don't try to use anything less than 300 dpi for most file formats.

Just do a search for free vector valentine clipart and you should get quite a few to pick from. I don't know what program you are using for your design, but most will work with all but the .ai and .psd formats.

I found a decent porthole and put one of the Raphael angels in it to make the magnets. It took me a couple of tries to get the resolution and clarity I wanted, too. Don't try to just "right click" to copy a picture, you probably won't get anything with decent resolution. For best results, find a file that you can really download.

Sorry if this is technical :confused:

Let me know if you have any questions.

Wow! Two weeks from tomorrow we'll be on our way!

I'm bringing 36 magnets, I hope that will be enough. I'll start putting them together today. For those who have asked, I'm not charging anything, it just seemed like a fun thing to do for what seems to be a great group of people. It isn't that much more work to make multiples than to make the first one. I'll bring them to the first meet and greet, and maybe to the meeting place the first day of the cruise.

Heidi, could you post a summary list of the meet and greet times and locations for all of us? I'm still looking for those Mardi Gras beads. I'm a retired elementary school teacher, so I must have some around here somewhere:D If I can't find them, I'll be wearing my flashing led cruise ship pin.

Temps were actually in the twenties yesterday and teens today. It's sad when those temperatures start to feel balmy! Another cold advisory starts at 6:00 tonight, so here we go again! Boy, do I need this cruise!

I'm off to start figuring out what to pack. I think I read somewhere that the machines in the self-serve laundry use the Sign and Sail cards? Does anyone know for sure? It would be nice not to have to pack the usual roll of quarters ;)

See you all soon!

Gwenda

We can only dream of temperatures in the 70's! Our HIGH temperatures on Monday AND Tuesday are supposed to be -4°! (That's during the day, of course it gets much colder at night - brrrrrr!)

We are SO glad we booked a cruise to somewhere warm! Less than three weeks!

I've designed a Cupid/Newpids magnet that I'll bring along to the first meet and greet. They are about 4” x 6" and include our dates, itinerary and, of course, a Cupid in a porthole. Let me know if you want one, so I have an idea of about how many to bring along. Even if the cabin doors won't hold a magnet, we can put them on the walls. With an inside cabin, it will be the only "window" we'll have ;-)

Are there any other Trivia players out there? Looking at the sample programs I've seen on line, it looks like there will be a lot of opportunities to play.

Count me in for the white elephant exchange. I'd love to participate in the cabin crawl too, but I don't know if I can convince DH to open up our cabin.

Looking forward to putting faces on all of you. We'll see you soon!

We are in 7289. It looks like we are on the other side of the ship (starboard), but well within hailing distance!

We booked all of our excursions through Carnival today. One less thing to have to think about before the cruise. We'll do the "Reef and Rays" excursion in Grand Turk. Maybe we'll get lucky and see some whales while we're out in the boat. We also saw a few on a cruise in Alaska a couple of years ago, but the best experience was on a whale watching tour in Dominica (another Easter cruise). We saw sperm whales, dolphins and a couple of late staying humpbacks that hung around and played next to the catamaran for a couple of hours! The guys working on the boat were even taking pictures because the whales were so close to the boat. Best. Excursion. Ever! When we had to leave to get back to the ship, one of the whales just floated with her head out of the water, staring at us as if to say "Hey, where are you guys going! We want to show off some more!"

Maybe someone can give me an estimated number of magnets to print out?

Any confirmation of doing a white elephant or small gift exchange?

We are also headed into the deep freeze! :eek: Low tonight of -18 (-47 wind chill), high tomorrow of -12 (-38 wind chill) with an overnight low of -19 (-44 wind chill). But a real heat wave for Tuesday! high of only -1 (-14 wind chill and overnight low of only -7 (-17 wind chill). And, about that theory of it not snowing when it gets too cold outside? Thank goodness we contract out to have pour hilly driveway plowed! We also have wonderful neighbors who sneak over and shovel the smaller amounts in-between. Sorry for the extended weather report. On the bright side, we're REALLY looking forward to spending some time in the warm Southern Caribbean! Less than 6 weeks - Woo-Hoo!!!!

We haven't done any confirmed shore excursions yet. I was really hoping to do some whale watching in Grand Turk. We visited there on an Easter cruise a couple of years ago (retired teachers, we could only cruise on school holidays) and the locals told us that February is supposed to be the best month to see the humpbacks passing through. Alas, Carnival doesn't offer anything and the local excursions are upwards of $150 per person. I have looked at a couple of Carnival excursion possibilities at the other ports, but haven't bought anything yet.

Our cabin is also an interior on Deck 7 midship. Does anyone know if the exterior of the cabin doors will hold magnets? The photos appear to have some kind of horizontal slats across them. I was thinking of making some "Cupid" (even though we are technically "newpids") group magnets we could put on our outside doors - if anyone thinks that might be a good idea. It would also be a nice memento of the cruise. Let me know what you think and about how many you think I'd need to make.

I hope that all of you stay safe, warm and comfortable and I look forward to meeting everyone soon!

Gwenda

Thank so much for you wonderful review! We are going on our very first Carnival cruise on the Breeze with the same itinerary that you sailed, leaving on Feb. 15. Your review has made us much more at ease about sailing on Carnival and has given us all kinds of things to look forward to! We are in Wisconsin with a major cold front settling in for the week, so we're thinking warm caribbean thoughts right now.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful New Year and happy sailing!