Rowan555

When did the price of Cheers on a 7 day cruise drop? We paid $55 per day on the Sunshine in January.

Sounds like you mean the interactive boards like on Royal Caribbean; basically large screen TV's with touch screens that you can pull up a map, directions, the list of that days events, menus for that day, etc. These are located in the elevator lobbys. Still not a replacement for the paper, IMO, but very useful.

I saw some photos from the NCL Jewel which had large touchscreens all around the ship for viewing the schedule, dining options, etc - I would love Carnival to implement this as well. I do find the tear-out section of the Fun Times helpful, but I often forget to bring it with me - the screens would be so convenient.

We haven't been to PB in years - if you purchase the wristbands for the water toys, are lounge chairs included in that price?

Carnival is the only company that puts a limit (15). Why? I did Celebrity and Norwegian and no limit was imposed. Celebrity has the best Package, all liquids are included. Carnival should change its programme.

When it premiered, there was no limit. Shortly thereafter, the 15 drink limit appeared. I have a feeling it will remain in place.

We had a porthole cabin all the way fwd on Elation in September, and we enjoyed it - the anchor dropping was a bit noisy, but we were awake most mornings before it happened anyway since it was a port day.

We'll be on the Sunshine this Sunday - cannot wait. Will post my thoughts when we return.

Good to know. It was a few months after Cheers began, so yes, I hadn't thought about the fact that the kinks were still being ironed out at that point.

If your really worried about then you should print a copy of the cheers policy. Then just hope you don't need it, but I'd rather have it and not need it than not have it and need it.

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

I brought it last time anyway because I'd heard about problems, AND happened to have a friend on the ship John Heald was on, and he talked to John and his people called the ship. They were originally saying soda counted towards the 15 drinks, then after his office called, they changed the story and said that sodas would be rung up, and that if you got to 15, a manager would have to look through your purchase history and then make an exception if some of them were sodas. I spoke to the bar manager, and he said that was the way it had to be. It made no sense to me, particularly because if you're ordering drinks at, say 1 AM, you're likely in the nightclub, where it's noisy, ordering from a cocktail server, and trying to explain to them to ask a manager to look up the history is just ridiculous. I had 4 sodas or so a day, so that meant I was tapped out at 11. This was on the Conquest a year ago. I'm hoping it's different on the Sunshine.

I've never been told that sodas count towards your 15, if they told you that they were wrong. It clearly states sodas are unlimited.

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

Well, obviously it's happening on more than one ship, and that's a shame. It makes me stressed out about getting Cheers on our cruise next week, because I don't want to go through that again.

When we did Cheers on our Conquest cruise last year, they rang up sodas as a drink, and then if you hit 15 drinks you had to have a manager go back, check to see if any of the 15 were sodas, and then override it and let you have a cocktail. I found this very frustrating. Are they no longer doing this? I'm hoping they just don't ring the sodas up at all, I don't like the hoops we had to jump through last time.

What time did they let you get to the port to start going through security? Carnival said after 1:00 but I thought we could head down there around 11. When can we get started going thru the process so we can board?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5.

We arrived at 10:30 and there were lots of people already there. We boarded at 11.

How was it Rowan555?? Were there any less crowded places like upstairs on other ships?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5.

Nope - it's all one level, and it does get packed at lunchtime. If you want a slightly less crowded spot, SOMETIMES you can find tables outside, just aft of the pizza place. Your best bet is to go early or late (or both, haha) - don't go at one pm and expect it to be dead.

When are you on the Elation in Sept?

We got back from our Elation cruise yesterday.

We miss that upper level on the Lido - it's one of our favorite spots on the Conquest! The Elation won't be too crowded at embarkation lunch if you arrive fairly early - but it WILL be crowded the rest of the cruise. On embarkation day, not too many people know about the Mongolian Stir Fry or the deli, so those are good spots to check out the first day when it's not crowded at either location.

Why do so many non drinkers jump on a thread about the cheers program?

I know...I guess I should go on the casino threads and tell everyone how I simply can't imagine wasting so much time and money gambling. Or perhaps I'll just SKIP the gambling threads since I don't gamble and have nothing useful to add!!!

I feel the same. But I'm not a drinker either. I wonder what the statistics are on liver damage if you drink 15 drinks a day? I don't drink 15 Diet Pepsi's in a day, not even on a cruise.

The liver has remarkable healing ability. As long as you don't drink like that nonstop, a week or so of "heavy drinking" isn't going to hurt an otherwise healthy person.

Are they still including sodas in the 15 count? On our Conquest cruise, all drinks including sodas counted in the total, but then if you hit 15 you could ask the manager to review your 15 drinks and then get another drink if s/he saw that some of your earlier purchases were non-alcoholic. I hated this policy and never wanted to ask the cocktail server or bartender to go through all that, so if I had more than a few sodas throughout the day I hit my 15 early on and simply didn't have any more to drink, even if I wanted something. I'm hoping they've figured a way to do it better by now...

We just cruised on the Elation, and embarkation began around 11 AM - we arrived at 10:30 AM and were among the first on the ship, but the terminal wasn't packed yet, and I'm sure the folks that arrived around 10:30-10:45 were all on board by 11:30. Embarkation was particularly smooth and orderly this time around, the NOLA terminal has improved a great deal, and we appreciated how great check-in and embarkation were.

sodas are absolutely included...i can't comment on the kayaks because we didn't use them. i read the review on Tripadvisor and i believe its one that you have to "take with a grain of salt" the person had 3 reviews posted and 2 were bad. for $35 i thought it was a steal....granted the beach isn't like St Thomas but for Progreso its pretty darn good. i'm a pool person myself and the pool is wonderful

 

hope that helps you decide

Thanks! We've been to Progresso 8 or 9 times, and we normally just walk the public beach and grab a bite to eat at Buddy's. I've heard Buddy's has declined in quality lately, and we figured it was time to try something new. We're really looking forward to it, kayaks or no kayaks ;-)

A report on Tripadvisor complained that sodas were not included, and that there was an extra charge to use the kayaks - any truth to this?

A lot of people here really have no idea how the entertainment business (on ships or land) really works.... Go see any "name" comedian in the US at a major city... Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jeff Dunham... Go see them a week later in a different city. 95% of the content will be the same show. Having 45 minutes of stand up material is a major amount of work. It can take a comedian months to come up with a solid 10 minutes of original stuff. Now, the big names can take time off, work out new bits (10 minutes at a time at local clubs), and have a new show every couple of years.

 

I just don't think a lot of people understand what goes into producing up to an hour of stand up comedy.

Yep - and if you look at television comedians, even the most talented ones have TEAMS of writers coming up with material for them. I seriously doubt the ship comedians have assistants writing jokes for them while they work...

Yes, if he spent a full hour drinking, I'm sure he was not at the "top of his game!":rolleyes:

He worked the second to last night, and was off duty that last night. :-)

the comedian that came on board in grand caymon. at the family show all he talked about was how tired he was. then, we were lucky enough to have him for brunch. his 5 minute skit was about how tired he was!!:eek:

 

he just wasn't funny. i have seen some funny comedians on some of our other cruises.

 

the cruise was great!!!:)

I actually spent an hour drinking with him the last night of the cruise, and he was a great guy - I think he was just sick, and not at the top of his game.

i think they hire the worst comedians there is!! on the conquest last week the comedian was the worst i ever seen.:eek:

i think they hire the wash outs!!

I was on Conquest last week, and we saw 4 comedians - which one did you hate? I walked out on Scotty K's adult show the last night b/c he was making homophobic jokes. Matt Holt was funny, although he was not on his game b/c he was ill. The first two comedians were pretty lackluster.

Who was the bartender at the Alchemy bar by chance, great review by the way, I will be sailing soon and can't wait to experience the 2.0 upgrades again. Sailed on the Liberty with 2.0 and it was awesome.

Just off the Conquest - Adri, Tetyana, and Izabela were the bartenders - all were phenomenal. Adri runs a Mixology class you do NOT want to miss - it was the highlight of the cruise for my husband.

Somehow the wake just looks so much prettier when the ship is going AWAY from New Orleans... :-)