Drose716

Do you need to be paid in full to hear from the upgrade fairy, for those that have gotten them before the final due date?

In my experience, no. I was offered a balcony 1 deck up from what I had before final payment via email. We did not accept.

Earliest was about 3 months via an email. Upgrade from balcony on 7 to balcony on 8. I can't remember the price but it certainly wasn't worth it.

Latest was Monday by phone for a Sunday sailing. About $500 to upgrade from an inside for 3 to a balcony. I passed. I couldn't afford $500 & didn't want my kids in a balcony room.

I've never fully gone off the grid. In the years before the social media package I would be 90% off. I always chose 1-2 ports to check in via short call on my mom & then later mom and the kids.

Then the social media plan came to existence. My mother was in rehab recovering a broken knee cap. I didnt want to leave her. But it being the first cruise for my kids gifted by Santa she wouldnt hear of it. So we compromised. I could stay in touch with her via WhatsApp. Made for a much more pleasant cruise for me knowing she was okay. And she thoroughly enjoyed the live updates & photos of the grandkids.

I got the social media the following 3 cruises & already have it booked for the upcoming. Mom loves staying in touch & getting pics & videos of the grandkids living it up. Staying in touch with her is worth every penny.

I disconnect from work & bill paying & the news. The social media package allows me a balance. Block out the adulting but stay in touch with the loved ones who couldn't travel with us.

I've done the pre-selected check in 3x now & my answer is "it depends". I've never sailed from Baltimore. My first experience was Miami. Our passes were checked before we were allowed in line. We were within our timeframe (11-11:30) so good to go. 10 months later it was the exact same story in NOLA (again, 11-11:30). We saw people turned away both times.

In March I sailed Vista from Miami. We arrived in our timeframe. There was a loooooong line. We got on the end without ever being checked for our time. We waited, reached a counter outside the terminal & were handed a zone number again without ever having our selected time checked. Didnt see anyone turned away. Our time was 11:30-12. So the reason wasnt a late time selection. Someone in our party had an 11 & also wasnt checked.

Same port twice with 2 different experiences. My advice? Assume it will be enforced. Don't show up too far in advance. Sitting on concrete in the hot sun for hours isn't a fun start to vacation.

You DON'T select BOARDING time

You select CHECK-IN time

 

Boarding time and Check-in time is not the same thing.

 

Yes, it's relatively new.

About 6 mos out

Now its changed to 90 days out. You select your check in time as part of the online registration which very recently changed to opening only 90 days out.

Only 1. What night depends on your itinerary. It would be your first sea day unless that sea day happens to be the last night of the cruise. If you share the itinerary I can hazzard a guess.

Thanks for sharing. This was interesting to read. Its unlikely I'll ever be in a position to board in Barbados, but this piqued my interest to look at the scheduling. If I understand correctly, there are some days that you sail with only the Barbados passengers on board. Is that accurate or am I misunderstanding how this works? If I'm correct, are those days quiet or are there a lot of other passengers boarding in Barbados?

I was on the Vista in March. They walked the line up on deck 5 repeatedly asking that only 1 person stand in line to represent the whole party. I stood in line & the rest of our (7 in total) party found seats on 5 & waited for me to get the all clear. I never got a pager. I waited in line, got to the counter & was told to gather my party & go right down to the dining room.

So it's actually preferred by Carnival (from my experience) that you send your companion & wait anyplace comfortable to you & have your companion gather you when your table is ready. Win win!

If you want to charge your electronics.

This. I realized it controlled the lights on Vista but I'm a dummy & didnt realize it controlled the outlets. It was daytime in a balcony so I didnt need lights. I couldn't get my phone to charge. I tested other electronics to ensure it wasnt my plug. I was just about to call engineering to report our broken outlets when my boyfriend came back & fixed it by sticking the card back in :o. Oops.

To answer the original question, we worked it using a S&S from a previous cruise & later 1 of my boyfriend's business cards.

I've cruised the last week of August three times & have the 4th coming up this year. My first I was a teen myself & didnt pay attention. The 2nd I was without my kids & dosnt pay attention again, but their presence didnt stand out. Last year I sailed with my kids & there was no shortage of friends to be made at camp (a big plus for us). Based on the group on another site for our upcoming cruise I can tell there will be no shortage this year either. Us northerners dont go back to school until after Labor Day so that last week is still family vacay time. But I know other states are back in session by then so it's maybe less kids than July.

Still, none of my late August cruises compare to my spring break cruise this past March. I'm convinced the adults were outnumbered by the kids. I don't mind kids as a mother myself, but oh my there were A TON! Like the ship actually ran out of ice cream cones by the end. I was sans kids that cruise & was grateful that I didnt have to worry about my 2 being involved in the nonsense behavior I saw. Only cruise in 9 that I ever noticed the presence or behavior of kids.

It's doable, but a bit risky & I wouldn't recommend it for worriers like me. I've had too many experiences with delays or long lines.

That said, we were on Vista in March. We did not rush off the ship or have any priority debark status. It was still the easiest debark I've ever had & we were in out Lyft at 9:19am per my app. We arrived at FLL a little after 10am. Plenty of waiting around for my 1pm flight. If all goes smoothly, you'll be okay.

I made it 18 days which is all I needed to. I booked a cruise on 12/7/15 planning to reveal to my kids Christmas morning that Santa was sending us on a cruise late January. Their first.

It was all I could do to make it those 18 days! The reaction & the video I got from them Christmas morning was beyond worth any wait! Stick it out however long- trust me!

What will happen on board is that you will get an extra key card to each room. So yourself or hubby & 1 DD will have the regular S&S for charges & getting on/off the ship & a second card for the room only. The actual arrangement for who booked where will not change, so no, he will not have to purchase too.

I got a deluxe ocean view for 3 people for quite a few $$ less than an inside for our upcoming cruise. Now weeks later the insides are cheaper again.

I believe it's a demand thing. Balconies are probably selling better so the price is lower on suites at the moment to try to fill them.

If you go into the special interest forums, there is one for weddings. There is a thread right on top from a Sensation wedding. Its a few years old, but it may give you an idea.

Congratulations!

I've been on 9 Carnival cruises. Only a couple of examples of poor behaviors have stood out to me. I tend to forget small behaviors like line cutting or "me first" attitudes quickly. I'm a born & raised downstate NYer. That stuff is business as usual to us;););).

On our last cruise we were walking down the hall to our room. I fell behind my boyfriend & he looked over his shoulder to check for me while walking & accidentally elbowed a lady in the hall. He immediately stopped & apologized stating it was his fault. Her response was to curse at him & purposely elbow him back hard. She then yelled at me to "keep him in check". Uncalled for behavior. She was not at all hurt & it was an accident.

One cruise there was a very large travel group with us. While several members were perfectly pleasant, some were not. I was catcalled repeatedly in front of my children & not with the use of any language that was appropriate in the presence of children. They pushed people out of the way. Climbed on tables. They were excessively loud. There were violent fights resulting in damage to the ship. I spoke to another mom who said a woman took her top of on a tender boat & started dancing. I've never seen so much security presence on a cruise. The brig was basically full when we got back to Miami from what we heard from the staff. It's the passengers not the cruiseline.

We stayed at the Hilton Doubletree Miami airport a month ago. Would stay again & recommend. We flew into & out of FLL & used Uber for transportation. The ride to the hotel was slow & $$$. It was also unfortunate timing. My flight landed at 3:45. I had to get luggage & meet up with my boyfriend & his mom. That landed us squarely into Friday rush hour... during the Miami music festival. Hence the slow & expensive.

The ride to FLL from port was about $34 for all 3 of us in a Lyft & took exactly 40 mins. Easy peasy.

They printed with our boarding docs for the 3/24 sailing of Vista. We went to port with them filled out & ready to go. The check-in agent handed them both back to me & said "I don't need these". I never touched a tablet either during check in.

We were excited for this as well since we like the game Clue. However after going to the first event and found out you have to keep going back to all of their other events, it killed it for us so we didn't play. We have other things we can be doing on the ship rather than sitting around for each of their events for a 'clue'.

Same. I thought it was really cool in 2016 the first time I saw it on Funtimes. We went to the initial event but after sitting thru a show we didn't want to see to get the next clue, we gave up. That was only a 4 day cruise. I can imagine it was more annoying on the longer sailings we've done since so we never tried again.

I thought it was self guided too. That would be more fun!

I noticed it changed every time we made a payment. Once the cruise was paid in full it never changed again. Seems to just be a glitch. Our bed was correct when we boarded.

To all - mostly I'm looking for info on whether I'm okay with an 11:56 am flight when Carnival tells me not to book a flight before noon. It's only a 4 minute difference, so logically it wouldn't matter. Right?

I just did the run from POM to FLL on 4/1. We didn't rush off the ship & hung out at the port a few minutes as our group said our goodbyes. We got into our Lyft at 9:20 & arrived just after 10am at the airport. My flight was at 1:15. I had time to hang around & say more goodbyes before going through security. I would've made an 11:56 easily & that was without any rushing. So if all goes smoothly with arrival & debark you'll be fine!

You are offered a salad, appetizer, & a main meal with 2 sides & then dessert. We were also given a small pre-appetizer chosen by the chef. It was more than enough food. We didn't even order dessert. You likely will not need to order more than is included for your $35. I ate the pre-appetizer, most of the salad, a few bites of the app, and a portion of my meal & sides & had zero space left for dessert.

Forgot to add we were given 3 different breads each. I finished one & took bites of the others. So. Much. Food.

On Magic you will have the buffet, Guys Burgers, Blue Iguana for tacos/burritos, pizza & the deli in Lido. On 11 you'll have Cucina for pasta. On 5 you'll have Guy's BBQ. Lots of options!

Going to use my past Walt Disney World experience to answer this, as it probably is still helpful.

 

The previous poster was correct about Labor Day. That week and the few weeks following will have the least amount of kids compared to the entire rest of the year. Good for WDW, not so good for cruising as it's prime Hurricane season.

 

Going forward on the calendar from there, you will want to avoid the week leading into and out of Columbus Day, as many schools have a new balanced school year with a week off for a "Fall Break", and it's also Canadian Thanksgiving and many will take their kids out of school for the remainder of that week.

 

There are a lot of factors (like homeschooling) that have made figuring out that sweet spot more difficult. Good luck and remember, no matter how many kids are on the ship....so are you! Have fun!

Also in Sept/Oct you may want to keep an eye on the Jewish holidays. We are not Jewish but my kids often have 2-3 days off in either September or October in observance. Since we don't celebrate, we did a mid October 6 day one year since it meant them only missing 2 days of school. There was a decent amount of kids on the cruise with parents that had the same idea as me. Less than spring break, but more than typical school months.

I'm personally too nervous to do it, but I definitely think you easily can as long as there are no issues. I'm a what-if worrier & ive experienced delays before. That said...

I got off Vista on 4/1. My lyft app says we were picked up at 9:19am. We did not race off the ship & the family chilled at the port saying our goodbyes for a a few minutes before calling our cars. We were at FLL just after 10 & I still had well over an hour to spend with family again before going through security for my 1:15pm flight. After security, I had time to grab a drink & a pretzel before boarding time.

So I'd say going to Miami you save that 45 minute ride, and even without racing off the ship, you should be fine & can very easily be at the airport by 10 or earlier.