CityGirlLost

Wow. I really wish I had seen this sooner. We leave on Saturday- barring any hurricane related issues- and we're on Deck 8.

We sail on Sunshine to Canada on October 8. I know it's all about the safety but we have been looking forward to this for so long. I hope we still get to go!

Thanks for the awesome review. We head out to Canada on the Sunshine o n Saturday and I hadn't really done my homework for this cruise. I feel a little better now knowing what to expect.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience but I will continue to tell everyone about the wonderful time we had there and how incredible the staff was. Nachi Cocom was amazing and I can't wait to go back.

Great idea if you are 6. but for adults?......pleeeese. Hey Carnival quit wasting money on stupid stuff and bring back the steel drum bands for caribbean cruises. NOT cartoon characters.

I don't know if you knew but there are kids and families on these cruises who enjoy this sort of thing. This thread alone shows that to be the case. While I'd like steel drum bands on the Lido, I'd love something else for my kids to enjoy.

And I'd like to dress up and have a pirate party too. And I'm 38.

It's March 31st. Any possibility this is an early April Fools Day prank?

My family sails on the Pride on Sunday. This review has got me so psyched. Going to have to look up your other reviews!

Anyone? Anyone?

Considering doing Paradise Cove in Freeport but was looking for CCer's reviews.

Remind me which port Grand Lucayan is closest to? Is it Freeport or Nassau?

Sailing on the Pride with kids at the end of March and wanted to know-- do the washers and dryers run on quarters or do you swipe your sign and sail card?

I didn't realize Pride doesn't have the water park or Guy's on it yet. Still psyched to leave in 48 days!

Thanks for the info! I do hope there is a ship coming to Baltimore. I love being able to drive to the port. Now I'm scared our cruise will be cancelled. :confused:

 

On another note, where do you live in PA? I'm in the Lancaster area.

I work in Lancaster in the Greenfield Office Park-- sitting here at my desk, planning our March cruise on Pride. :)

Excited to read this. We just booked on the Pride at the end of March.

We just got back from seven nights on the Carnival Liberty. I made a list of all the tips in this thread and dragged a bunch of stuff onboard that we didn't use.

The highlighters weren't really necessary because the Fun Times had a tear off schedule with all of the activities listed by time. It was really easy to use.

The amount of light that came through the closed curtain over our balcony wasn't enough to wake us up. So the clothespins were unecessary.

We didn't use the over-the-door accessories holder because there was enough space on the bathroom shelves and desk area for all the things we brought with us.

The things I was happy to have with us:

Water bottle for filling with beverages at the Lido

power strip

travel clock for room and watches to wear

medications (we went through a whole bottle of ibuprofin!)

SODA!

Water shoes (the Lido deck gets HOT!)

Our own snorkel stuff

Command Adhesive hooks

Things I wish I'd brought:

Air fresheners for the bathroom

Conditioner for my hair (what was I thinking?!?!?!?)

After reading this thread, the first thing I'm going to do when we get to our balcony is see if I can peep. ;)

We applied for our passports on May 1 and received them on May 10th without paying for expedited service. Mine was a renewal and The Hubbs' was his first application.

The only glitch was that his original birht certificate wasn't good enough because it did not have his parents' names on it. He was able to get a new BC same day at a different government office.

All you can drink and eat:

 

 

What are the longish brown things at 11 o'clock?

We booked Altun Ha based on that incredible assessment of the different sites. Thank you so much!

Can't wait for you to come back with more pictures. We're doing a honeymoon cruise on the Liberty in June.

Our immune system grows stronger in reaction to encounters with germs. Whatever.

Our upcoming cruise is our honeymoon. I sure hope there are some worthwhile memories focused on our balcony room!

:D:D:D

The best book I've read recently is The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern.

I'd also like to recommend Illuminate by Aimee Agresti because I'm friends with the author. It's a great new YA series.

We are looking forward to our 2nd cruise in March 2012. Our first was with DCL in 2005 when our kids were aged 10 and 8. During that cruise, we really treated ourselves...

 

For our day in Cozumel, we splurged and booked a private charter to Chichen Itza to see the ruins. A taxi met us at the port, drove us to the airport where we boarded a Cessna, flew alone with the pilot to the ruins, met with a guide for a private 2-hour tour followed by an unguided walkabout and then flew back. It did not come cheap ($1200+ if memory serves me well for the four of us), but it is one of our fondest memories. I heard a while back that visitors are no longer permitted to climb the pyramid...well, we did get that chance and I have never regretted spending that chunk of change. The year prior, we took a private charter over the active volcano on Hawaii's Big Island while vacationing in Maui and that too is a great memory...the picture of my then 7-year-old sitting in the co-pilot seat is priceless! Obviously, we make sacrifices to do these occasional splurges...but if bringing my lunch to work instead of eating out allows me to walk where Mayans once did...well, bring on the tuna sandwiches.

 

I came to this realization after a missed opportunity... I went to China once for business but because it was likely I would go back a second time, I never bothered to pay out of pocket to stay an extra night and visit the Great Wall. I left the company shortly thereafter...that was 11 years ago...I will probably never get another chance to go to China.

 

My mother died in December from cancer at the age of 64 (very young). During her three months of unsuccessful chemo treatments, I never heard her once say "I wish I didn't do such and such" but I often heard her say "I'm so glad I did such and such."

 

We don't splurge on our cabin (one inside for all four of us), soda cards, shopping or specialty restaurants...the cabin stays behind, the soda is bad for us anyway, you can only have so much stuff and good food can be had in the MDR at no extra cost...but the memories of the things we do, well they're the only things we ever get to take home with us.

This is brilliant and really inspiring. Thanks!

It's taken me three days to get through this thread in anticiaption of our first cruise in June but holy cow, I've compiled a 4 page list of tips!