Carnival Secrets they usually don't tell you about

[travel girl23]

Here's a tip I discovered on our first cruise. The library has a supply of crossword puzzles (a different one each day) and a sheet of trivia questions (one for each day). On some ships, they set these out each day, but on others, you have to ask for them. I had to ask for them on the Elation, but he dug around in the cabinet and found them.

[cjalphonso]

Tip for dessert lovers:In the dining room when they bring the dessert menus out, ask the waiter for the childrens dessert menu. Here you will find a plethera of desserts you've come to love...banana splits, hot fudge sundays and all sorts of other things. I like there normal desserts but give me a banana split anyday:)

You can always get ice cream added to any dessert:)

 

If you want to be really tricky, Carnival has a policy about saving deck chairs, if people leave their towels on the chairs to save them you can pick them up as a souvinier and a $22 lesson to the person saving the chair. he he he.

 

don't go to dinner early, you will be waiting outside of the dining room. wait just a few minutes and then walk down and you will walk right in.

 

If you want good bananas at the end of the cruise you better pick some up at the beginning of the cruise and put them in your fridge, they cannot pick up fresh fruit so by the end of the week they start looking a little bad.

 

cookies and ice cream, if not 24hrs, is usually at 3-4pm

[richfret]

I don't know if this is much of a tip but after several cruises, I have come to the conclusion that when booking a cruise, book the "Newest and the Biggest Ships". Old ships are just that - they are old. When you go new, you get the latest and the greatest. The showers will be especially clean. There will be few smells. The toilets will work ..... all the time. There seems to be more amenities with each new class. The atrium will be more spectacular. The ship stores will be bigger and better. There will be more windows and balconies. There will be more choices for places to eat. I will admit, however, that as a ship gets old, the fares drop and you may get better ports to help make up for the ship's problems.

 

I have enjoyed every cruise I have been on (which is several) except for one of the last cruises of the Tropicale. She was old and should have been retired earlier. Don't be fooled by refurbishment, either! The Tropicale had been refurbished a year prior to our cruise but you can refurbish a ship for a $100,000 or you can do a better job with a $1,000,000. I think the Tropicale was $50.

 

I am now booked on the Valor for May 8th so I am following what I preach. It goes about a hundred or two more but it should be worth it. Small is more intimate but new is still better.

[nicolio]

I usually don't reply to messages-more of just a reader-but I absolutely loved your idea of the over the door shoe organizer. Being a girl I have all kinds of things that clutter up the counters (Hair products, make-up, lotions, body sprays..etc.) When I go on vacation I always bring all of that clutter along for those "just incase" situations. I just love that idea - in a way it'll make me feel clutter free!! Thanks!

[dubmeister]

Get over yourself and try not to hit anybody on your way down falling from your ivory tower. Geez. Gimme a break! Just like the old proverb says: "Pride goeth before the fall":mad:

[lalapet]

:cool: I don't think that finding ways to save some money is being cheap. NOr is it a matter of not having the money to afford a cruise. It's a matter of being savy. We are a family of 5 and I can honestly say if there is a way we can save money, oh yea, we will do it. As far as bringing a sandwich off the boat, hey you never know in some of these places if it's safe to eat the food or not. Better to be safe than sick the rest of the trip. It's all a matter of how you look at it. A cruise is a big expense and I say get what you can but be realistic. Don't be greedy, well maybe a little....lol:p

[welovetocruise1234]

After being on more than 20 cruises, here are a few ideas:

 

As soon as you get on board make all your appointments for any spa treatments as the best times (formal nights, sea days) fill quickly.

Also make any reservations for alternative dining, as they have limited space and reservations go fast.

Go check your table location, number at table. Sometimes my DH wants to be alone with just me for a cruise and not dine with others. Slip the Maitre D $20 and you can pretty much guaranatee a two top, even if they have to create it, whic they will.

We also bring our own wine on board. Carnival does not have a problem with that as they will charge an uncorking fee, I think it's $10. I prefer wines that are not generally on a ships list and sometimes we have brought as many as 7 bottles for 7 nights. I would rather be happy knowing I have great bottles of wine than taking a chance on the ships selection.

THis trip, I will be taking my own pillow. I hate the small, squishy pillows they give you. I highly recomend this!!! I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. Of course, if you fly it may be a tad inconvient, but we drive soit will be know problem. Last cruise I slept with 6 pillows and still couldn't get comfortable. I think my steward thought I was insane.

Also, for those with balconies and who smoke, hello, there ARE cabins below you and it's so nasty to wake up in the morning to cigarette butts and trash littering your balcony. You may think it's going in the ocean but its probably going down and over a few cabins. So be nice and use an ashtray and trash can.

Those are my tips, hope they help!

[arcone]

Hi I want to print all the reponse to this posting. There are several [ages of response/ Will I have to fo to each page and print each page or press the print icon then will all pages print ?

[cusyl]

Without killing a tree, why not copy and paste the suggestions you want to keep into your word processing program or into an email sent to yourself...

[arcone]

Thank you for your enviromental concerns. My question still stands.

[kajsb]

Go to thread tools and click on printable version. This should solve your dilemna.:)

[Kelly43]

OK, kinda confused.....take towels or not? We are a family of 4 and if we pack towel(S) that can take up alot of space....I am a overpacker anyway and want to cut down....Can you take them to port with you??

 

Also, has anybody been on the Elation and found the "secret door"? Would love to take my dh there!

 

Thanks everyone for all the tips, keep them comming!:cool:

[Kelly43]

Testing, crossing my fingers!

[julpet01]

These tips are just the kind of info I needed for our first cruise. thanks to all!!

[IKE]

Sorry no free cakes on the Legend. Just returned from Sept.28th Cruise and Cakes come in 2 sizes $7.95 and 9.95. Maybe it depends on the Ship. Good Luck!

[SUGARSHACKER]

Hey Arkansas:: What part of Arkanasa are you from? I am from Nashville, don"t see many Arkansas post. Sharon

[SandyW]

:confused: I'm really surprised by the news that you can't get free cakes for anniversary and birthday. Could it possibly be that you can't ask for them once your cruise begins? We always let whoever is making our cruise reservation know if we are celebrating anything and have never been charged for a cake. Granted we haven't been on a cruise since April of this year so I suppose it could have changed. I am aware that there are "specialty" cakes that you can purchase...fancier than the plain white cake with frosting....and somewhat better, too.

 

I like having pictures of the decor of the ship without a lot of people in them

so the first thing we do once we board is tour the ship and take pictures.

 

The towels can be taken off the ship when in port. You just have to make sure you get them all back to your room. I believe they started charging for towels because so many people were taking them home.

 

It was always suggested to us to bring duct tape....only once have we had to use it. The airline put a three inch rip in the side of our luggage and I was grateful I had the tape along (in black) to patch it up. :)

[brcris75]

Hi Sharon

 

You're right, don't see too many from Arkansas on here. Where is Nashville? I live in Pocahontas. We'd planned a cruise in Dec., but MIL is very ill so don't want to book yet. Maybe in the spring. We've been on the Holiday and Conquest and are thinking about the Sensation next. Maybe you can let me know how it is?

 

Back to the topic at hand... TIPS... There are so many good ones on here. Using a highlighter on the Capers is a great one. Especially when trying to keep up with seperate activities for adults and kids (Camp Carnival).

[kroozman]

Okay, I have a tip, but don't flame me for this. I admit it's a little sneaky. And you can blame my husband, it was his idea. He goes to the galley of pictures and finds ours. Then he gets up real close to our picture and takes his own picture of it. That way he doesn't have to pay for our picture. I know. We're bad. Real bad.

 

Damn! I just walked into the photo gallery carrying my camera on a Zuiderdam cruise. No intention of taking pictures of pictures, just walking through and I almost got keel hauled. A snooty little employee saw my camera around my neck and came running. He said: "Sir, no cameras are allowed in the photo gallery!" Now that in itself is a stupid statement because you could buy a camera there, put film in it and probably test it out then walk out. I think I would have arrested if I took a picture in there. I haven't yet mentioned the photographers holding up the lines of people getting off. That's really annoying!

[GoinCruisin]

No more free cakes... I think the main problem (we saw this at our table and many others) is that after SOOOO many courses and then dessert, by the time the cake came out, there may be 2 bites taken out of it and that was it... if you are paying for it, you are more likely to eat it. On a 4 day cruise, we had 5 cakes brought to our table... a country could have been fed with as little of it as we ate! LOL!!!! They just changed this during this year, they were still free last year...

 

Yes, they do charge (I believe $25) for the towels if you lose one, so hold on to them or bring your own!!!!

[MizzouMary]

I am now booked on the Valor for May 8th so I am following what I preach. It goes about a hundred or two more but it should be worth it. Small is more intimate but new is still better.

richfret, we are on the Valor on 5/22. Would you mind to give a trip report upon your return? We are anxiously awaiting her arrival.

 

Thanks!:)

[chilldowns]

I have been on 3 Carnival cruises in the past 3 years and here are some additional tips

1- In San Juan take a taxi to port and not carnival transportation -it cost only $24 total people and 8 bags. Check other ports as well.

2- When standing in a long line to embark, pay the porter to take your bags and that will allow you to "cut" in line- don't forget to tip

3- Don’t sit in the balcony when attending shore/shopping talks, they give stuff away and it rarely makes it past first 15 rows of main area.

4- My daughter is a vegetarian and they brought stuff for her not on the menu (cheese pizza, grilled cheese, and pasta) and alter some things on the menu to make it vegetarian.

5- Kids can order Shirley Temples, Roy Rogers, cherry coke & cherry sprite with their drink Cards.

6- If booking more than 8 cabins call the Carnival Group department- worth it

7- If the port is not a tender port and you are there for most of the day you can come back on board, freshen up, drop off packages, grab a bite to eat (it's already paid for) and go back out.

8- Book Shore excursion on your own in MOST cases- we saved over $500 by doing this last year and got to see & do more. Check these boards for suggestions- they were all pretty accurate. Ask lots of questions.

9- We do room service in morning for our teenage kids so they can sleep in a little later

10- If it is not on the menu ask. My wife & I were not feeling good on Key lime pie night and asked the next night for it and they delivered.

11- Like the chocolates on your people? The room steward will give you more for free if you ask. One time they gave my kids a large bag of them.

 

 

Victory 3/05

Destiny 6/04

Pride 3/03

Inspiration 3/02

[caroliemarie]

If you study the deck plans of your ship you will find the secret areas. For example, on the Victory there are doors to the front of the ship on deck 6,7,9 located on both sides of the ship. It was the most awesome way to leave St. Thomas, from the front of the ship with the blue/purple lights on, and no one else around. Since it is very windy up front, we found that you can sit on the steps in between decks 6 and 7, still see, and be sheltered from the wind.

 

Lots of great tips on here - thanks!

 

About the cakes: if you add it on before the cruise, will they add the charge ahead of time or will it appear on the S&S card?

[imdreaming]

[2- When standing in a long line to embark, pay the porter to take your bags and that will allow you to "cut" in line- don't forget to tip

 

When you say "cut"in line- what does that mean?

[cali-croozer]

OK, kinda confused.....take towels or not? We are a family of 4 and if we pack towel(S) that can take up alot of space....I am a overpacker anyway and want to cut down....Can you take them to port with you??

 

Also, has anybody been on the Elation and found the "secret door"? Would love to take my dh there!

 

Thanks everyone for all the tips, keep them comming!:cool:

 

You can take your Carnival towel on shore, just keep an eye on it. I packed 4 towels in spacesaver bags to bring along so I didn't have to babysit the Carnival towels on shore. The only thing is then you have wet/sandy towels to deal with when you get back to your room. At the pool, I told my kids to check out a towel when they need to dry off and hand it back immediately. Didn't want to deal with a lost towel charge.

 

As far as the Elation secret door.......if I remember correctly, it's at the front of the theater.