Knights on the Beach

In Florida (at least in Central and East Florida) we were able to book 7 days out for the last two or three months. Prior to that it was only 3 days.

I looked again and appointments are now available through 5/23 - so it looks like all they've done is change the window for booking back to 3 days. That makes me feel much better. The 5/23 morning appointments are gone but plenty of afternoon times for the Walgreens we use. That makes me think it's because people had already booked the morning appointments prior to them cutting the booking window from 7 days to 3. So hopefully all who already have appointments booked are safe. 😊

This definitely just changed today. I booked yesterday for 5/25 but now appointments are only showing up as available to book through 5/22. This morning I could still see available appointments for a week out. It appears to be the case everywhere so it looks like Walgreens has gone back to the three day window for booking.

That's what I'm hoping as well. A few months back they were only scheduling three days in advance so that might be what's happening again. Same here. Hopefully they will honor the tests already booked.

In December we loved the bartenders (Melissa and Patcha) at the Center Stage Bar so we watched a lot of the shows while sitting at the bar.

I think the bowl is in case the scoop of ice cream falls out of his cone? 🤣

Oh I agree! However, they paid less for their deck 17 spa balcony than we did for our deck 16 Lido balcony AND they got $500 OBC. We got high prices and no OBC. 🤦‍♀️ Our son is almost Platinum so I'm curious to see if his great prices disappear when his VIFP level changes.

Same, we never get offers that good. We tried to book a large family cruise for this summer but it fell apart when two of our nieces found out they were expecting. EVERYONE but us had fantastic offers.

I'm finally caught up! Thanks for bringing back all these great memories of Mardi Gras - we can't get enough of that ship. We've already been on MG twice and are booked again for December. Our son and DIL actually had a spa balcony room on deck 17 in March and loved it. We were on deck 16, our favorite.

Though there have been times I might wish I could eat my words ...... 🤣🤣🤣

This is pretty much what happened in our case even though she didn't specifically have it in her will. My MIL loved cruising and she told us that's what she wanted. We also had a private party in a lounge in her honor, arranged by Carnival. This was in 2010 and I just looked up the info - it was unbelievably reasonable. We had an open bar with "dry snacks" and our own bar waiter for two hours for just the 16 of us. The cost was $17 per person and required a minimum of 20 people, so we paid for 20 people - it was so worth it and she would have loved it. (Remember, this is way before Cheers. lol) We had a memorial service for my MIL on land right after she passed. But honestly? She would have hated it. But the cruise we took in her honor (Thanksgiving week) a few months later? She couldn't have planned it better herself, she would have loved it. And it was very much for us as well.

We keep in touch with a crew member we met in August on the Magic. He had been on vacation since the beginning of March and he just texted me this morning to let me know he's back on Magic. Now I know why he had time to text me - no one was on the ship yet!

We spread my MIL's ashes in 2010 from Carnival Valor. I contacted Carnival in advance and they said once we were onboard they'd reach out to let us know the date and time to meet at Guest Services. There were 16 of us and the officer took us (and one other passenger who also had her relative's ashes) down to a lower deck at the back of the ship. She stood back and gave us space and all the time we needed and it was very quiet and respectful. We were somewhere between Cuba and Key West and as soon as her ashes hit the water, dolphins jumped out of the water nearby. It was an amazing experience and we know she would have loved it. We didn't receive a certificate or any info from the ship but we have memories to last a lifetime.

Soooo we had the art at the table with our "kids" (son and DIL) on Mardi Gras in March. I love candy but just don't eat it much any more so I was all about this - I loved the jelly gummies (and the ice cream and basically everything). That being said I agree with the others that it was likely a one and done. Next time I'd get the cheesecake. However, I think kids would like it more than most adults would?

I booked the reservations in December for our March cruise.

Yes. In our case, I linked our son & DIL's booking to ours so I could book all four of us for the steak house and Teppanyaki. I was able to make the reservation but had to pay for all of us (which was our plan anyway).

What do you mean by "non-permanent" ports?

That doesn't make any sense because Harmony goes out of Port Canaveral on Sundays and Indy is there on Friday/Monday. Oh wait, you're talking about CocoCay - no wonder it didn't make any sense to me. 😂

Our son & DIL had a 9:30 check in for Liberty last weekend - I'd never seen it that early before either. We dropped them off at the port and they breezed through the check in process then sat and waited an hour and a half before boarding started. But then walked right on after suites and were soon eating Funfetti cheesecake. 🙂

And several smaller TVs by the bar and tables in P&A. We watched football there a couple times in December.

Thanks! I was using Discover but if I can't get it to work, I'll try another card. So frustrating - I can see the pending charges on my Discover account but the AARP site says I can still order 5 cards this month so I know it didn't go through. 😞

So all this talk about gift cards has made me see the light. I logged into AARP and tried to order a $500 gift card to use for our deposit on a cruise I just put on hold but can't it to go through - it keeps saying something went wrong with the payment, try again. This is the same thing that was happening a few weeks ago when many were trying to buy Cheers, etc on the Carnival site before the prices went up. For that, I just waited a few hours and tried it again and it went through. Has anyone ever had this issue on the AARP site? There is nothing wrong with my CC, in fact I got a text from them asking if the charge was legit and when I confirmed, got another text saying it was approved.

And I think the chicken tenders are the best thing they have there for breakfast. 😍

You do need your boarding passes printed out or they'll have to print one for you and that just holds up your boarding process. I'm with Tom - do your muster station check in (super quick) first then head to Shaq's Big Chicken. BEFORE your cruise - select Your Time Dining for the best flexibility so you may have dinner at Chibang and Cucina. With a set dining time, you wouldn't be able to check in for those two until 7:30 or later.

We've been on 3 Carnival cruises in the past 9 months and have 2 more booked. Cheers has never been on the invoice, only in the booking & order details and we always have Cheers. I didn't pay for it with OBC either so that shouldn't make any difference. Our OBC does appear on the invoice, not on the booking & order page.