Anyone been on Carnival Elite Cruise? First timer here needing advice please

[Kimdwells1]

Elite cruise- anyone been on a carnival elite cruise? First timer here and I need help! 

(1) When do they contact you about preferences and free shore excursions? The one I want is sold out already and I want to book something for each port but I don’t know what day to leave open. 

(2) how do they contact you? Phone, email, snail

 

(3) airport transportation- we have to fly the night before ( it’s hawaii ) so will they pick up at hotel instead? Or do I have to take a cab back to airport to take advantage of the free ride. And is it a limousine? The pics showed it but I wondered if that was true. 

 

(4) what choice of liquor do they offer? 

Grey goose or just beer/wine?

 

I tried asking these questions to the CPC person. She was nice but had no idea. THANKS SO MUCH FOR ANY AND ALL INFO ON THE ELITE CRUISE 🚢 

Hope to see you on Legend April 2019 Hawaii

[sandyzag]

39 minutes ago, Kimdwells1 said:

Elite cruise- anyone been on a carnival elite cruise? First timer here and I need help! 

(1) When do they contact you about preferences and free shore excursions? The one I want is sold out already and I want to book something for each port but I don’t know what day to leave open.   Roughly 30 days prior to your cruise your casino host will reach out via email.  The best rule to follow is to book all of your excursions and then cancel the one in the port that you choose to go on for free.

(2) how do they contact you? Phone, email, snail - Email

 

(3) airport transportation- we have to fly the night before ( it’s hawaii ) so will they pick up at hotel instead? Or do I have to take a cab back to airport to take advantage of the free ride. And is it a limousine? The pics showed it but I wondered if that was true.   Dont know for sure, but I believe you can be picked up at a hotel on the day of the cruise.  Don't know if its a limo or a nicer private vehicle.

 

(4) what choice of liquor do they offer? 

Grey goose or just beer/wine?  It was a very nice selection of hard liquor and beer/wine and soda/mixers.

 

I tried asking these questions to the CPC person. She was nice but had no idea. THANKS SO MUCH FOR ANY AND ALL INFO ON THE ELITE CRUISE 🚢 

Hope to see you on Legend April 2019 Hawaii

 

[Kimdwells1]

Thank you SO MUCH @sandyzag for answering all of my questions. I didn’t know that I could cancel so I was stressing about that, haha. 

Did you enjoy yours? I’ve been fortunate enough to go on an Ultra and I thought it was amazing so I really can’t wait for this. Plus I’ve never been to Hawaii so.... Yay!!

[sandyzag]

It was an unbelievable time!  The casino hosts were awesome and everything was top notch for us.

I'm very jelly of you going to Hawaii!  I just couldn't fit it in.

 

Regarding cancellations, just know that it will be refunded to however you paid for it and I believe it can take up to 7-10 days for that refund.  But I felt I'd rather get what I wanted, instead of running into your situation of it being sold out.

[Kimdwells1]

Thanks for the excellent advice! I really appreciate it! 

[LPut714]

6 hours ago, Kimdwells1 said:

Elite cruise- anyone been on a carnival elite cruise? First timer here and I need help! 

(1) When do they contact you about preferences and free shore excursions? The one I want is sold out already and I want to book something for each port but I don’t know what day to leave open. 

(2) how do they contact you? Phone, email, snail

 

(3) airport transportation- we have to fly the night before ( it’s hawaii ) so will they pick up at hotel instead? Or do I have to take a cab back to airport to take advantage of the free ride. And is it a limousine? The pics showed it but I wondered if that was true. 

 

(4) what choice of liquor do they offer? 

Grey goose or just beer/wine?

 

I tried asking these questions to the CPC person. She was nice but had no idea. THANKS SO MUCH FOR ANY AND ALL INFO ON THE ELITE CRUISE 🚢 

Hope to see you on Legend April 2019 Hawaii

We have done two Elite and doing a 2 week one in Oct thru the Panama canal. They book an excursion for the entire Elite group-in the past two Elites it was an all inclusive-we didn't get to pick an excursion. 

Like Sandyzag said you will complete a form from the casino dept about 30 days prior-including flight info, if flying in day before (they did pick us up at our hotel-car service called when on their way), flight home info, liquor preferences for you and your guest (chose from a list spirits/wine), lots of casino drawings (more money spent on prizes on Ultra cruises), will have drinks all over the ship, be able to use Social Media ie Facetime, usually steakhouse dinner, gifts in room every day ie food, champagne, cookies, etc. Love Elites and Ultras

[Kimdwells1]

Wow!! That sounds fantastic! So lucky for you to have been on two already! I’m so excited! Thank you so much for answering my questions. We were booking our hotel and was trying to find one either near airport or near cruise port with free shuttle service but wasn’t able to find anything. 

[rascaldog]

I have been on two Elite Cruises, enjoyed both very much.  For me the CPC Elite hosts e-mailed me closer to two weeks out asking about drinks and excursions.  You get to pick from a list of booze, wine, beer, and what not, mixers as well.I have been told by others that if you want something not on the list to ask and they will try an accommodate you.  They now give you an option of 3 or 4 excursions to choose from.  The private car service will pick you up at the hotel, my last 2 it wasn't a limo but was a premium black car one time and a black SUV the other. Enjoy your elite cruise, treats and gifts sent to room daily.  Not to crowded in casino, usually around 50 invited with their guest.  I have met some really great elite guests whom I now stay in contact with. Any other questions ask and I will try and answer.

[gopackgo21]

If you don't mind me asking, do you play slots or tables, and how many points did you get on your Ultra cruise to receive the offer for the Elite? My husband is a big gambler and we just got off our first premier cruise. The casino host told him to expect an Ultra offer which we are waiting on. We enjoyed the Premier, but there were over 400 names in the drums for drawings.

[Kimdwells1]

I spent quite a bit at the casino, I believe I had about 20,000 points. However that was a year ago and the numerous free cruises I’ve received since more than made up for $3500 I lost that trip. 

Good luck and have fun!

[Kimdwells1]

1 hour ago, rascaldog said:

I have been on two Elite Cruises, enjoyed both very much.  For me the CPC Elite hosts e-mailed me closer to two weeks out asking about drinks and excursions.  You get to pick from a list of booze, wine, beer, and what not, mixers as well.I have been told by others that if you want something not on the list to ask and they will try an accommodate you.  They now give you an option of 3 or 4 excursions to choose from.  The private car service will pick you up at the hotel, my last 2 it wasn't a limo but was a premium black car one time and a black SUV the other. Enjoy your elite cruise, treats and gifts sent to room daily.  Not to crowded in casino, usually around 50 invited with their guest.  I have met some really great elite guests whom I now stay in contact with. Any other questions ask and I will try and answer.

Thank you so much for your info/advice. I was stressing about booking our excursions since I wanted to take advantage of the free one. I didn’t know that I can cancel so I feel better about booking what we want without worry. 

 

 

[rascaldog]

1 hour ago, Kimdwells1 said:

Thank you so much for your info/advice. I was stressing about booking our excursions since I wanted to take advantage of the free one. I didn’t know that I can cancel so I feel better about booking what we want without worry. 

 

 

One of the choices was to get a spa credit in lieu of the shore excursion.

1 hour ago, gopackgo21 said:

If you don't mind me asking, do you play slots or tables, and how many points did you get on your Ultra cruise to receive the offer for the Elite? My husband is a big gambler and we just got off our first premier cruise. The casino host told him to expect an Ultra offer which we are waiting on. We enjoyed the Premier, but there were over 400 names in the drums for drawings.

I have never been on a premier or ultra and got an elite invite,  I play slots and I end up with roughly 25,000 points in a week cruise.

 

[FLCruise7]

When we did our Elite in December, we opted out of the shore excursion (it was an all-inclusive beach trip and we're not beach people).  They gave us a dinner in the Italian restaurant instead.  The steakhouse dinner was done as a group & was very good.  Daily treats, gifts, etc.  The best part was that the casino was not packed like it was when we did an Ultra - we had about 90 total (invited guests & companions).  Lots less names in that barrel!!  We were each selected a couple of times.  No "big" prize like the IPad mini I got on the Ultra, but preferred the less crowded conditions to getting a gift.

 

We did not have to wait to do our Ultra before getting the Elite invitation - we were booked for the Ultra, but hadn't taken it.

[reallyme]

Has anyone gone on an elite cruise involving Southampton?  Do they offer free private car service from Southampton to Heathrow? The one that I have just got offered has the first scheduled cruise for Mardi Gras from Copenhagen to Southampton 

from Aug 31- Sept 9, 2020. We are already booked on the Sept 9-23 Transatlantic, but will probably cancel that for this.  For the cruise from Copenhagen, I got a balcony and $1000 in free play.   We did our first Elite trip in January on Vista from Galveston, so free parking.  We had a choice of 2 shore excursion or a spa credit ($150 each, I think). 

 By the way, you can use your Carnival and other casino offers to get free shore casino comps or comped on other cruises.  A couple of weeks ago we finished an MSC cruise from Genoa.  MSC matched my NCL status and gave me black status (Not great, but you do get a chocolate ship and a free meal).  urcomped.com is the site where I got this cruise, and an Royal Caribbean Cruise in Nov from San Juan.  On the MSC cruise, we needed a $400 deposit, but got it back in cabin credit.  We did not have to pay any port fees/taxes for that.  For the RC cruise, we had to pay the tax/port fees, but no other deposit.  Both of these were comped balcony. I played enough on MSC Bellisima to get a cruise of up to 10 days in a suite with the "Aurea" experience.  MSC has 3 different experience levels, Aurea includes the most.

Edited July 10, 2019 by reallyme

[rascaldog]

I have been on 2 Elite cruises and yes they had car service for both.  I actually live in Houston and did an Elite out of Galveston and instead of the free parking they provided car service from my house and back, all I did was ask and they did it.  My other Elite I flew into Orlando and they provided the car service both ways to and from Port Canaveral,  45 minutes each way. I really enjoy the Elite Cruises.

[reallyme]

 It looks likes LHR is 67 miles and LGW is 90 to Southampton

It is over 300 miles from my house to the cruise port in Galveston, so I think that might be a bit too far for the private car service.  :)

[rascaldog]

I understand that Arlington is too far for car service,  I was just saying what my experiences were with the car service.

[nycny]

We were on an Elite cruise and it was wonderful.  Agree with other posters about car service, meals, liquor etc.  With respect to the excursion, we were given an option of a spa gift certificate for $150 in lieu of an excursion.  I had a wonderful massage!

[LPut714]

On 2/27/2019 at 8:16 PM, LPut714 said:

We have done two Elite and doing a 2 week one in Oct thru the Panama canal. They book an excursion for the entire Elite group-in the past two Elites it was an all inclusive-we didn't get to pick an excursion. 

Like Sandyzag said you will complete a form from the casino dept about 30 days prior-including flight info, if flying in day before (they did pick us up at our hotel-car service called when on their way), flight home info, liquor preferences for you and your guest (chose from a list spirits/wine), lots of casino drawings (more money spent on prizes on Ultra cruises), will have drinks all over the ship, be able to use Social Media ie Facetime, usually steakhouse dinner, gifts in room every day ie food, champagne, cookies, etc. Love Elites and Ultras

Found out from Carlos one of the elite hosts they now give people options to going on excursion ie spa instead

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 2/27/2019 at 8:16 PM, LPut714 said:

...will have drinks all over the ship...

 

We booked an Elite sailing for next February.

 

How does that work? Are you basically given the Cheer's package? Otherwise, are bartenders elsewhere on the ship "up to speed" with things ?

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

[rascaldog]

You get drinks anywhere on ship,  it will show on your card when you give it to the bartender.  You also will get a choice of two bottles of liquor and mixers delivered to your cabin.  Car service from hotel or airport both sides of  the cruise, or parking.  Goodies delivered to cabin daily. Many Elite only drawings in the casino for both.  It is a great time make sure you get to know the Elite host on board and you will probably get some specialty dinners with wine comped. as well.  Enjoy it,  which Elite cruise are you on?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

5 minutes ago, rascaldog said:

You get drinks anywhere on ship,  it will show on your card when you give it to the bartender.  You also will get a choice of two bottles of liquor and mixers delivered to your cabin.  Car service from hotel or airport both sides of  the cruise, or parking.  Goodies delivered to cabin daily. Many Elite only drawings in the casino for both.  It is a great time make sure you get to know the Elite host on board and you will probably get some specialty dinners with wine comped. as well.  Enjoy it,  which Elite cruise are you on?

 

Horizon 8-nt (2/8/20). It was one of the few sailings which worked schedule wise, and where I could get a suite for a reduced rate... about $1,600 for the two of us in an OS.

 

Never been on this class of ship - looking forward to it!

 

Mardi Gras booked for 2021 -- trying to get to 75 Carnival sailings before that, to take advantage of the Milestone OBC 🙂

 

Tom

[reallyme]

We are booked on an Elite Cruise on Mardi Gras for the first scheduled public cruise, Aug 31-Sept 9 from Copenhagen to Southampton with stops in Norway, Sweden, Belgium, France, and Germany.  So, a quick 7 countries, counting the endpoints.
We were already booked on a casino offer on the Sept 9 - 23 Transatlantic from Southampton to New York, with stops in a few Spanish and Portuguese islands before heading across the Atlantic. Before then we are on RCCL Freedom of the Seas from San Juan in November, and in February, MSC Musica for a 9 day cruise from Buenos Aires with stops in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil..........Overnight stop in Rio for Carnival (Feb 24-25).  The RCCL was via URCOMPED.com, which gets you trips based on your offers from other Casinos.  You upload copies of your offers and they get you cruises or land base trips.  The MSC trip is in a suite with Aurea experience, due to a the first cruise URCOMPED got us, in June of this year for trip from Genoa, Italy on the new MSC Bellisima

Edited August 2, 2019 by reallyme