gordonzoo2

Agreed, pool could have been warmer but once in it was fine. What you don't want to do is go into the hot tub first. If your basking in the sun and need to be refreshed 78° feels fine. In Mass the warmest the oceans ever get around Cape Cod is 78° during July. We keep our solar heated pool averaging 88° and we close it down once we cannot maintain 80°.

Right now just thinking about that fresh brewed IPA, I would walk 5 miles for a taste. That was really good beer. Fresh and unpasteurized is the way as the flavors are more pronounced. We're in the same room next Feb but for a 6 day this time. I couldn't take advantage of drink package for a 8 day but will do it for the first time for a 6. Especially with Coffee as part of it.

Two dress up elegant evenings, Yes in the main dinning areas. I'm not sure if it is also done in the specialty restaurants. On the 8 day it was the first sea days, heading out and coming back.

I was also on the ship for those same dates. I don't want to hijack the OP as I feel the assessment was spot on. It was one of the much better cruises we've done of the 8 with Carnival. I'm going to jump around a bit. Matt was Great. Gi'sGi's was fantastic. The first Rock and second Havana show (forgot the names) were spectacular. I love the live bands. Flick had nice visuals but I didn't care for the singing. The fresh IPA beer at the red frog is nectar of the gods. The food all around was good but dinner meats are lacking quality as my fillet was super tough. I thought the BBQ meats outside lacked smoke flavoring. It tasted like it was in a smoker for 30 seconds, if that. Their sauces also lacked flavor. Guys burgers is again great. I love the addition of the sweet spot where they churn fresh ice cream at lunch on the Lido. It was sooooo creamy (No charge). My previous posts complained about the creamers for the coffee. Since my last cruise they must be using real Half/Half as it did taste like a dairy product now. Our Havana room was incredible with my only complaint being the hardness of the couch as a 3rd person bed. The Rockwell hardness test fell between our blacktop drive and hardwood flooring. We're again doing Feb 2018 on the Vista but a 6 day this time AND WE CANT WAIT!!!

We'll we tried a cold brew maker this weekend and found that is tasted just fine with a overnight soak. It will be our cold ice coffee remedy for the afternoon. It tasted really good. I'm also reading that the suites now have hot coffee makers. Does anyone know what format they are... K-Cup, filter type, or something else?

Speaking of buffet lines, Is it OK to jump/cut in the line if there is a long break in that line (i.e. 5 person gap) to quickly scoop and move? There are so many unspoken rules and I don't want to break any :p

Yes mainly coffee with a tea in the evenings. Coffee is our main issue. I'm guessing if I have room service deliver hot water it will be the same. I wonder if the bar area in the Havana has a Microwave for specialty drinks.

The hot water spigots at the coffee stations have always served the purpose for making tea for us (tea drinkers) - it's not boiling, however, you don't really steep tea in boiling water either (boiled, yes, but no longer boiling). And yes, we travel with our favorite tea.

That is what we used last time and I even preheated our mugs with that water poured it out and refilled. It still wasn't hot. Maybe the temperatures vary form one ship to the next.

The buffet coffee is not what we prefer and the coffee bar is a bit much to pay for as it would lead to a $300+ bill for the three of us on a 8 day cruise. On our last cruise we brought our own tea bagged coffee and the water was a bit too cool to brew the grind. Instant may be our next choice as it's a little better than the stuff they serve. We will be on the Vista soon and was wondering if there is somewhere we could find hotter water than the water on the buffet. Maybe a hidden microwave somewhere. Thanks

I'm also interested. So for this 8 day schedule would it be...

Miami, FL

Fun Day At Sea (elegant night)

Grand Turk

La Romana, Dominican Republic

Bonaire

Aruba

Fun Day At Sea (elegant night)

Fun Day At Sea

Miami, FL

Regarding direction to the live and let live statement. it's only a general statement to all who feel they need to judge others. To previous poster, Thank you for your son's service. As far as liability, I agree that it could come back to haunt Carnival if an accident were to happen. So I amend my statement to include... Hang all lawyers which is a little contrary to the live and let live :rolleyes:

I personally know of someone who had no problem at 19 being served on board on a southern Caribbean route. Not my kin so not my beef. I think it's how adult you act that is more important. But for those of you that are holier than thou and are you should do this and do as I... Get a life and stay out of others :p

I just looked it up below.

Looks like I should be able to get early dinning priorities which is what we prefer and maybe some privileges to your time dining. It states no benefit to specific time reservations which I don't know what that is.

Dining Reservations

Priority Dinner Time Assignment: FTTF guests will be cleared after VIFP Platinum guests. This benefit does not include specific time reservations for 'Your Time Dining'.

Note: VIFP Diamond guests and guests traveling in deluxe suite accommodations are guaranteed their dining in the Main Dining Room.

We booked 11 months in advance and were waitlisted for an early dinning seat for a Vista Feb cruise. I'm hoping We may still get the early as we were lucky enough to get faster to the fun as it sold out in a few hrs. I bought it just to have a better chance at an early dinning. I'm wondering if having FTTF would get us in the same line as Diamond and Platinum for anytime seating if we don't make the early seating?

I can think of one reason not to book the steakhouse on the first night. On the Magic We ate a marvelous steak on the first night only to find when we showed up the second night in the main dining, the waiter told us our normal table was given to someone else since we were a no show the first night. He said he would find us a new place. We were placed in a high traffic area with terrible service. We were always waiting on dessert while the majority of the population had left. This is about the only complaint we had for any cruise we've taken so we consider ourselves very happy carnival cruisers.

We like to bring a dairy creamer but the smallest they come in is a 16oz. I wonder if a couple of 16oz cartons is something they will look the other way?

I've been waitlisted 3 times and each time when I boarded the ship, I always had my desired dining time. I always get FTTF and I assume that's why I was able to get the dining time that I wanted, but there's no real way to know for sure. Maybe I would have got it anyway.

Thank You MZlinda :) So it will probably continue to show up as waitlisted until the day we board. I will also show up a little earlier to get a better chance. We've done ATD once before and were seated within 10 minuets each time but we would always show up at the 6:00 time so I imagine we got a table before they were all taken. I would much rather just walk over to our known seats and pick up a menu. The service is so much more personable and expedient. I remember on one cruise we did the steakhouse the first night and because we weren't there the first night the waiter told us they had given our seats to someone else. They did find us a place elsewhere by ourselves but service was slow. We would be getting our main course when everyone else would be finishing their desserts.

We booked the Vista 1 year out and we were waitlisted for early time dining. That never happened before. I checked daily for FTTF and got lucky to get one as it sold out in a matter of hours. I specifically bought FTTF so we may have a better chance to get a early dinning seat I'm kind of set in my ways for dinner time and would be upset if I had to wait over 30 minuets for anytime. Is there anyone else that got this perk with FTTF?

Thx...

As another perk we may or may not get. We booked a year early on the Vista for a Feb cruise and were waitlisted for early dining. Talk about planning ahead and still not getting what you want :rolleyes: I was able to get FTTF as it sold out in just a few hrs. It states in carnivals FTTF description, we are to get priority dining behind platinum and diamond. My cruise documents say were are still waitlisted. Does anyone know when it would be confirmed. I suppose it may likely be at check in.

Thx...

I just want to put this out there first. I am particular about my coffee. It's my only vise in life. I seldom drink booze and do not smoke but I do enjoy a dark roast coffee with a splash of cream. There is nothing like waking up to my perfect cup of coffee and enjoying the sunrise on a cruise. We went so far as to pack individual tea bags with our brand. Aboard many cruises my wife and I went without as the cream onboard has a sweetness to it which we do not like. I know it says Half/Half and it's in a carafe but it tastes funny. Anyway, our last cruise on the Magic we brought three 16oz containers from the Walgreens in Miami. You are correct to say the refrigerators are not that cold but they kept for the 8 days then. I'm hoping the new rules will still allow for this.

I had planed to bring a few small cartons of Half/Half in 16oz containers. Its been a couple of years ago that we did this before but the rules may not apply now. Any feedback would be appreciated. And please no arguing that they have Half and Half on board. We prefer the Dairy type.

Thanks

How long can I sit on a price drop? Ours dropped today but I also got in with a $49 deposit. Can I wait it out till November when I pay in full and then submit the price drop I'm seeing today. It's just $40 so I don't want to pay a full deposit unless I don't have to.

We just got back a week ago on the Conquest. We rented a cabana and my daughter did the banana boat. The Cabana was nice but I'm not sure we will do it again as the $$$ will buy a lot of margaritas. We were quoted $25 for the banana boat and it lasted 15min. Another two people got them down to $20 from the $25per person but it may have been that there were two of them to help negotiate the price. The banana boat was right next to where the ship docked.

I've read this before and do not hold the same outlook. If everyone held to not wanting to book a handicapped room then Carnival would have a lot of empty rooms at sailing. I'm sure that's not how Carnival intended it to work. What's wrong with allowing carnival to fill their rooms and bumping non-handicapped as needed? I would have no problem getting moved to another room knowing that was the risk up front. With the current carnival system, disabled are allowed to choose from any sailing they desire with minimal planning as rooms will always be available and that is awesome. Just my perspective on the matter and I do have a handicappable daughter.

We have this room booked in Feb-2015 for the three of us. I booked it the day the dates were listed and was the first to purchase. If need be I'm hopping they will bump us last. When booking, it only shows up when putting three persons in the room. It's not available for double occupancy.