Honeymoon Bound - 1st Time Carnival Sailor Question

[PhillyPhanatics]

Hey Everyone!! We have sailed RC twice, but this is our first time on Carnival! After 9 and a half years together, we are tying the knot in just under 2 weeks and then sailing on Carnival Legend for our honeymoon on 4/17!! After reading these blogs for the past two months and getting excited for our trip, we have a few questions we are hoping you all can help us out with:

1. Does anyone know if Carnival chooses the same formal nights on each cruise or do they differ?
   
2. If they are the same, does anyone know what the formal nights are for the Legend, 7 day cruise? (We don't want to book the steakhouse the same night as a formal night!)
   
3. We have been working with a travel agent, who is trying to get us an upgrade through her company, but hasn't had any luck. Does anyone know if we mention we are honeymooners if we have any chance of getting any upgrades on the day of sailing?
   
4. We've been debating back and forth on the Belize Cave Tubing/Zip lining excursion...we are nervous about getting back to the boat in time if we do not go through Carnival...should we only do the tubing or the zip lining so we don't worry about getting back in time? All the reviews we've read on island operators seem to have both good and bad reviews and we just can't get a good feel for it.
   

Thanks so much for your help!! We hope to become a part of the cruise critic family in no time!! :)

[Irishlinny]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! And welcome to CC! You've picked a wonderful ship for a honeymoon...she is our favorite:)

If they don't do anything odd to the itinerary, your cruise elegant nites will be on Monday & Friday.

I can't help you with the cave-tubing or ziplining, though. In Belize we usually do some kind of snorkeling trip. I have read many good reviews about Major Tom for the cave tubing. If you have any other questions about anything, I'm sure some of us can help you out!

Best wishes for your wedding!:)

[Why-wait-to-retire]

Hey Everyone!! We have sailed RC twice, but this is our first time on Carnival! After 9 and a half years together, we are tying the knot in just under 2 weeks and then sailing on Carnival Legend for our honeymoon on 4/17!! After reading these blogs for the past two months and getting excited for our trip, we have a few questions we are hoping you all can help us out with:

1. Does anyone know if Carnival chooses the same formal nights on each cruise or do they differ?
   
2. If they are the same, does anyone know what the formal nights are for the Legend, 7 day cruise? (We don't want to book the steakhouse the same night as a formal night!)
   
3. We have been working with a travel agent, who is trying to get us an upgrade through her company, but hasn't had any luck. Does anyone know if we mention we are honeymooners if we have any chance of getting any upgrades on the day of sailing?
   
4. We've been debating back and forth on the Belize Cave Tubing/Zip lining excursion...we are nervous about getting back to the boat in time if we do not go through Carnival...should we only do the tubing or the zip lining so we don't worry about getting back in time? All the reviews we've read on island operators seem to have both good and bad reviews and we just can't get a good feel for it.
   

Thanks so much for your help!! We hope to become a part of the cruise critic family in no time!! :)

 

We did the cave tubing booked through Carnival in 2005.

Absolutely loved it!

I did the same thing....reading the reviews and threads, but in the end we opted not to book out side the cruise line for this. The extra we spent was worth the peace of mind. We don't always book our excursions through the cruise line. We did a helicopter tour in Hawaii and booked it ourselves (when I could be a little more sure of the timing).

Enjoy your honeymoon! And the cave tubing. It was really cool!!!

K&C

[Kel040]

Hi - I haven't been on the Legend, so I can't answer any of your questions, but I just wanted to say Welcome to Cruise Critic & Congratulations on you upcoming wedding, hope you have a Great Honeymoon !! :D:D

[arkerlin]

I would definitely recommend doing only one of the two, especially since you do not want to book through Carnival.

 

Keep in mind, when you book through Carnival you are promised that no matter what happens throughout the day, the ship will wait for you. If you are late and not on an excursions with Carnival, the ship will sail!

[PhillyPhanatics]

Thank you so much for all of the replies!!

 

We have booked a zip lining/private tour of Roatan with Victor Bodden after reading many awesome reviews!! We are very excited!!

 

We are looking to do an all-inclusive beach day in Cozumel or Grand Caymen...any suggestions?! :)

[hankandteri]

The two elegant nights wll be the first night at sea (Monday night) and the night of your last port stop (Friday night).

 

Happy honeymoon!

[Disconnections]

The two elegant nights wll be the first night at sea (Monday night) and the night of your last port stop (Friday night).

 

Happy honeymoon!

 

I was on the Legend 3/27.

 

Formal Nights were the first day at sea and on Belize day. It was not on Friday or on the day of the last port.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

We are looking to do an all-inclusive beach day in Cozumel or Grand Caymen...any suggestions?! :)

 

Nachi Cocom in Coz

[daniellenerik]

Awesome boat! Loved our cruise on the Legend last October, and looking forward to going again in November...

 

Cozumel - Nachi Cocum was the all inclusive that we did and it was amazing!!!

[PhillyPhanatics]

Thanks for all the great information!! We are looking into the Coz. all-inclusive right now!!

So excited that a week from right now we will be sailing!! :)

[hfweather]

Looks like you got a lot of your questions answered, I just wanted to say Congratulations and have a wonderful honeymoon!!!

[Tbay-eh]

Looks like most of your questions answered except the upgrade because you are honeymooners - not likely as almost half of the people sailing are celebrating something special - weddings, honeymoons, 25th, 30th, 50th birthdays/anniversaries, graduations, divorces, retirements, etc. We sailed b2b on the Freedom celebrating 60th birthday/retirement/30th anniversary and got squat but we didn't expect anything because of the above explanation.

[BeccaBecca1713]

As for being honeymooners, if you mention it to the Maitre'd in the MDR they might sing a song to you and anyone else that is honeymooning. If you book the steakhouse for the first night (as in the day you board the boat) you will get a free bottle of wine.

 

Happy Honeymoon!!

[floodcasso2]

Congrats on your wedding! My wife and I did our honeymoon on the Splendor!

 

Carnival tends to keep it's elegant nights pretty uniformly spaced depending on the itinerary. I'm not sure when they are scheduled for your sailing, but you can always ask the maitre'd when you board the ship.

 

As for upgrades, it certainly worked for my wife and I. We got a call for a nice cheap upgrade to one of the Splendor's spa cabins. It may have been luck of the draw, but it was certainly a nice surprise. We also got some very nice decorations in the room and a nice bottle of champagne courtesy of John Heald (carnival's senior cruise director.)

 

As for the cave tubing excursion. Considering it's Belize we're talking about, I would most certainly ONLY book through carnival for the excursion. I feel the same way about Jamaica. There are a lot of very pushy merchants on both islands, and a lot of opportunity to be scammed if you don't do your homework. Since it's your honeymoon, book through carnival and you'll have a lot less to worry about.

[FIVEONTHEAVENUE]

Hey Everyone!! We have sailed RC twice, but this is our first time on Carnival! After 9 and a half years together, we are tying the knot in just under 2 weeks and then sailing on Carnival Legend for our honeymoon on 4/17!! After reading these blogs for the past two months and getting excited for our trip, we have a few questions we are hoping you all can help us out with:

1. Does anyone know if Carnival chooses the same formal nights on each cruise or do they differ?
   
2. If they are the same, does anyone know what the formal nights are for the Legend, 7 day cruise? (We don't want to book the steakhouse the same night as a formal night!)
   
3. We have been working with a travel agent, who is trying to get us an upgrade through her company, but hasn't had any luck. Does anyone know if we mention we are honeymooners if we have any chance of getting any upgrades on the day of sailing?
   
4. We've been debating back and forth on the Belize Cave Tubing/Zip lining excursion...we are nervous about getting back to the boat in time if we do not go through Carnival...should we only do the tubing or the zip lining so we don't worry about getting back in time? All the reviews we've read on island operators seem to have both good and bad reviews and we just can't get a good feel for it.
   

Thanks so much for your help!! We hope to become a part of the cruise critic family in no time!! :)

 

I think elegant nights are Monday and Friday. BTW -Love your screen name. I too am a Philly Phanatic. Go Phils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Don24348]

Me and my wife got married on a carnival cruise ship and sailed with them too and we didnt get any upgrades at all. Let them know it's your honeymoon and you will get a special treat from the wait staff.

[chersolo]

Congrats to you!

We got married 4 years ago at 10am at our church. After the reception, we headed over to the port for our honeymoon cruise. My husband had to take off his tux because the best man needed to return it, but I was keeping my dress on! As soon as we walked into the port one of the carnival employees noticed my dress and moved us in front of everyone to VIP. It was after 2pm so it was crowded. They lady at the desk congratulated us and upgraded us to a suite immediately! I actually started to argue (politely) with her because I noticed it wasn't the right room number. She kept saying "trust me, this is your room". I finally got it after about the fourth time. My husband and the lady were laughing at me. Sometimes I wish I didn't pay attention to every little detail!

I'm not saying it will definitely work, but it's worth a try! My husband tells me to put my dress on everytime we go on a cruise now... if only it still fit! LOL

[okwriter]

Congratulations on getting married!

 

DH and cruised the Legend in December. Even though we were at sea with thousands of other people, it was such an intimate ship. We loved it! :)

[serene56]

1. We have been working with a travel agent, who is trying to get us an upgrade through her company, but hasn't had any luck. Does anyone know if we mention we are honeymooners if we have any chance of getting any upgrades on the day of sailing?
   

! :)

 

there will be many honeymooners. On our Pride cruise there were 82 honeymooning couples

[crusinpsychRN]

Congratulations!

 

I did cave tubing and zip lining and almost missed the ship. Don't do both!

 

If you go to the steakhouse on first night you get a bottle of wine.

 

Did you join your roll call?

 

BTW, pink is hard to read for some of us.