Unexpected travel adjustments needed. Finding a path. What would you do?

[ManyMore]

I would get rid of...

Faster to the Fun (really not worth it)

The spa treatment as you can usually get longer on land for less money. (plus on Carnival they try to sell you all kinds of stuff)

Chef's table ( do two steak house nights instead and drink wine from your package)

 

[bbtbear]

Thanks for your feedback. I ended up doing away with the Chef's Table and wine, a facial, and the cooking lesson in New Orleans. And a close friend volunteered to take my sister's place in NOLA with me so I'll still have a buddy and feel safer and have more fun. Everything worked out great. 🙂

[bury me at sea]

Wonderful to hear.  I would have a hard time not enjoying a cruise.

Not doing absolutely everything this time accomplishes two things.  You might have a little more time simply to relax and enjoy each other, and you will have new experiences on your next cruise.

Happy sailing.

[LuckyStar]

On 10/8/2018 at 9:00 PM, bbtbear said:

A couple years ago my stepdad and mom had finally retired and he started having some pain in his neck when he was on vacation fly fishing. It turns out he had a broken neck. Lung cancer had spread to his bones and was a gravely sick man. About a year later, my real dad started having trouble breathing. Gall bladder cancer (very rare and asymptomatic almost until it killed him) had spread to his lungs. He, too, was a very sick man.

 

As our dads both went through cancer treatment and passed away within 2 weeks of each other in late February, early March, my sister and I started planning a vacation together. For us it was something to look forward to in a time of deep darkness in our lives when our hearts were too heavy to lift off the ground. A Carnival cruise out of New Orleans to Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel, arriving back in New Orleans just in time to stick around for a week and experience Mardi Gras. The vacation of a lifetime.

 

As we went along, I planned everything, soup to nuts. I wanted us to have the most decadent, joyful adventure together. We've never had the opportunity to travel together as adults, and we both just went through a deeply sad couple of years. We started planning when our dads were still alive, but it turns out that the anniversaries of their deaths will fall while my sister and I are together on our vacation.

 

I definitely went overboard when planning, as you'll see if you keep reading. I signed us up for, and paid for, every single thing the Carnival Dream (and New Orleans at Mardi Gras!) had to offer that looked amazing to me. I paid for much more of the vacation than my sister did because I just wanted everything and I wanted her to have everything, too. For the record, until this weekend, everything was paid for. I was just saving up spending money for a vacation in late February. I was in great shape.

 

And then my sister called me.

 

They got hit with a huge personal tax bill this year and she wants to cancel the New Orleans/Mardi Gras part of our vacation so she doesn't have to put any of this vacation on a credit card when they're trying to pay off a big tax debt. Totally understandable, but put me in a bit of a tailspin trying to figure out what to do.

 

I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to stay on in New Orleans whether my sister could or not. I am greatly looking forward to that part of our plans and don't want to give any of it up. I am going to start looking to see if a friend or my mom can come down and spend Mardi Gras in NOLA with me because I'd feel more safe with someone with me than alone. But I was going to spend 2 days alone there anyway, so if that turns into 5 days, I'm sure it will still be all kinds of amazing.

 

But in terms of finances, my sister was going to owe about $675 for the hotel in New Orleans. With her not coming, I need to make up at least part of that money by making some changes to the rest of our trip. There's plenty that can be shaved off and still have a wonderful vacation. But the question is... what? What stays in the plan and what goes?

 

So, sorry it took a long time to get to this question. I wanted to make sure you had the context about what this vacation is and why. But I'm curious. If you were me, what changes might you make to the plans I laid out below to make up some of that money? I don't need to make up for all $675. But I am going to carve some activities away to bring the expense down. I think I know what I'm going to do, but I'd like to know if any of you have good advice based on the following list of add on expenses that I could possibly do away with:

 

·Spa $758 total. massage and facial. Mani/pedis for both, Thelassotherapy/spa passes fpr both.

·Faster to the Fun $89.95

·Steakhouse $70 +tip

·Chef’s Table $218.50 +$75 for 2 bottles of good wine

·Cheers! Drink package $418.20

·Excursions

$239.98 Belize Lamanai Ruins excursion

$209.98 Roatan Jungle ATV excursion

$200 Cozumel snorkeling

·Grandstand Tickets Bacchus Parade in NOLA $150.00

·Swampboat tour/lunch/plantations tour $175

·Cajun cooking lesson $150

·Steamboat Dixieland Jazz dinner cruise $75

 

What do you think? What would you do?

Personally, if it were me, I'd cancel everything except the port excursions.  I don't drink, so Cheers is wasted on me.  When I do drink, I bring along small bottles of rum or other to mix as needed.  I might drink once or twice in 7 days, if that much.  

I love the T-pool but I won' t pay for massages or nail treatments on a cruise.  I like my nail tech and find the spa personnel are just trying to sell expensive product.  If you can, you might consider moving to a spa room.  Sometimes the higher price is not as much as paying for the spa passes.  We did this on the Splendor and thoroughly enjoyed our "spa perks".  

Food is food to me.  I'm always very happy in the MDR.  It feels fancy enough and I have always found the food very tasty. 

Big but:  this is YOUR cruise and you should do everything you want to do.  Have fun!

[mdsgu]

On 10/8/2018 at 10:00 PM, bbtbear said:

I think I know what I'm going to do, but I'd like to know if any of you have good advice based on the following list of add on expenses that I could possibly do away with:

 

·Spa $758 total. massage and facial. Mani/pedis for both, Thelassotherapy/spa passes fpr both.

·Faster to the Fun $89.95

·Steakhouse $70 +tip

·Chef’s Table $218.50 +$75 for 2 bottles of good wine

·Cheers! Drink package $418.20

·Excursions

$239.98 Belize Lamanai Ruins excursion

$209.98 Roatan Jungle ATV excursion

$200 Cozumel snorkeling

·Grandstand Tickets Bacchus Parade in NOLA $150.00

·Swampboat tour/lunch/plantations tour $175

·Cajun cooking lesson $150

·Steamboat Dixieland Jazz dinner cruise $75

 

What do you think? What would you do?

 

Cut the spa -- there is entirely too much to do on the Dream; you won't be bored.  Would also cut the bottles of wine, because the wine at Chef's Table is usually pretty good.  If you can get an early check-in time, cut the FTTF.  While it is faster, it's not $90 faster.  Cut the jazz dinner cruise -- the food isn't good and you can sail up and down a little stretch of the river on the Steamboat Natchez for less.  Or you can cruise from the Crescent City Connection to the mouth of the river and back again as part of your Dream cruise!  From Lido deck, the views are actually better aboard the cruise ship.  Doing all that would save you $997.95.

 

BTW, I've sailed on the Dream several times -- fantastic ship.  The steakhouse is very very good, and the Cheers package (provided you like to imbibe) is a great value.

[cruisequeen4ever]

On 10/17/2018 at 4:31 PM, bbtbear said:

Thanks for your feedback. I ended up doing away with the Chef's Table and wine, a facial, and the cooking lesson in New Orleans. And a close friend volunteered to take my sister's place in NOLA with me so I'll still have a buddy and feel safer and have more fun. Everything worked out great. 🙂

Yay; it all worked out, and you still saved some money! It will be a treasured cruise for you and your sister; you had a great idea to do this.

Edited October 20, 2018 by cruisequeen4ever

[The7Harrisons]

SPA & Chefs table....GONE!!!!!!