Carnival Secrets they Usually Don't Tell You About 2

[smarks]

Hi wbmom, I just tried to order a case of beer from wellwishers and they informed me that they can't deliver beer to Carnival anymore. Carnival has stopped them from doing that. :mad: So I called Carnival and they told me I could order beer as a gift at $4.50 for a 16 oz. I don't know if you can get it by the bucket any cheaper. Bummer. It worked out great last yr. I didn't have to smuggle. I don't know if that includes tip. Sorry for the bad tip. I should have checked before posting. Things sure can change in a yr. Happy sailing.

[looneytunes31419]

Elaine,

 

Thank You for the tad bit of information when we go on our cruise in August we or should I say I will be trying some of the things on the list. This stuff is Awsome Thanks

 

Michelle Stegner

 

RCI- Sovereign Of The Seas- Sept 2005

RCI- Sovereign Of The Seas- Sept 2006

Carnival- Celebration - December 2006

Carnival- Sensation August 23, 2007

[Lowie]

great list, thanks for putting it together!

 

p.s. small world, i work in boynton!

[David-n-Rita]

Hi,

I thought I would add our tip as I haven't seen it here. We bring a tray to use for the buffet. They just have plates, bowl etc and a tray really helps if you want a salad in a bowl besides your plate. It becomes to much to carry. The tray is also good for carrying snacks back to the room or if one wants to stay in the room and one person goes up and brinjg back some drinks, snacks etc.

 

We also bring a picture and some crystal light to make diet lemonade etc. They have free punch, leomonade etc but none is sugar free.

[Attack Dog]

Hi,

We bring a tray to use for the buffet. .

 

Do you bring your own tray or do get one from the ship's staff?

[CSH48]

Hi,

I thought I would add our tip as I haven't seen it here. We bring a tray to use for the buffet. They just have plates, bowl etc and a tray really helps if you want a salad in a bowl besides your plate. It becomes to much to carry. The tray is also good for carrying snacks back to the room or if one wants to stay in the room and one person goes up and brinjg back some drinks, snacks etc.

 

We also bring a picture and some crystal light to make diet lemonade etc. They have free punch, leomonade etc but none is sugar free.

 

Hi Foster & Susan,

 

Really GREAT ideas! It looks like we will be hitting the "Dollar Store" for a couple of trays before boarding...thanks for the tips.

[cruie4ever]

The list is excellent.We too are long time cruisers;but reading cruise critic regularly has sharpened our knowledge base.

 

I would like to add that we have gotten on board ship credits .The ways which I know are :

 

.one, own 100 shares of the company stock. with Carnival Corp ,the stock symbol is CCL .With Royal Caribbean ,the stock symbol is RCL .We own shares in RCL,as we have mostly sailed on RCL's Celebrity Cruise Line & lesser on Royal Caribbean Ships .We have also sailed with Carnival & we have a Jan 2008 Mexican Riviera Cruise booked . Perhaps i will buy 100 shares of CCL before the Jan 2008 cruise so we can get the ship board credit. But, I caution not to buy stock with out first investigating the merits of such a purchase. I happen to have invested in equities & other market instruments for quite a long time,so I am personally comfortable with my investment decisions. Owning stock of 100 or more shares gives us any where from $50for a 3-6 day cruises(7 night cruises are $100 SBC. all the way to $250 for a 14 day or longer cruise .The cruise on board credits are graduated by the length of the cruise. For further clarrifications contact the investor relations department of each respective cruise lines corporate offices.

 

Second,I am not sure it applies to Carnival or their other cruise line division lines ;but, I do know that in addition to the above when we book on board either a Royal Caribbean cruise ship or a Celebrity cruise ship for either a future booking on a Celebrity or Royal Caribbean cruise we get more on board ship board credits.

 

Add these two together & we pay for our tips in full & still have a bit left over for other things.:D

 

Happy Cruising:)

[Lisl123]

I always bring a large sport bottle (non-disposable ... mine is bright pink, no one will mistakenly think it is the one they took from the mini-bar) and fill it with ice water. This is especially great for going ashore on very hot days - if you leave a little air in a rubberized bottle it will float in the pool too! To make them pack smaller open the drinking nozzle or spout and press the air out ... close the spout while pressing down. I fit 4 empty liter bottles into the front pocket of my suitcase.

 

Also, travel coffee mugs are great if you like to have more than a small cup of coffee in the morning, or want to have a cup of coffee while you lounge. I have never brought one myself, but I have seen others do it.

 

For seasickness, ask the sushi bar for some pickled ginger or eat a dish with a lot of ginger in it. Ginger tabs are much better than dramamine (for most people anyway) as they don't make you tired and goofy. I know at least one person who brings a bottle of ground ginger (yes just a mccormick spice bottle) and sprinkles it all over a little cup of frozen yogurt. It is actually pretty tasty, but I have no idea if it works.

[Attack Dog]

Ginger in frozen yogurt. I don't get sea sick but I still might try that.

 

Here's another tip. Lock your balcony door when your not in the room. It would be foolish for someone to crawl along the outside of the ship to get in your cabin. However, I noticed that it can easily be done from a nearby balcony:eek: .

[dzcruisers]

My DH got an over the door travel helper at Wal Mart before our last cruise. It had double compartments and I thought worked better than the shoe bag. The hooks for over the door and the poles to keep it straight come out and are easily packable. It fit great and is the full length of the door.

 

Happy Cruising!

[DarkJedi]

The clothes iron in the launderettes can be unplugged and plugged in to the "shaver" shower plug in your room.

 

On the Spirit class there is an outside doorway on deck 3 on the starboard side just before you run out of decking. On the Miracle it was glass and unmarked and led to a stairway down to deck 2. This is an unmarked crew only stairway/passage.

 

Ifyou like the technical side of the ships hang out on the back corners of deck 3 outside on Spirit classes. These corners have ties for ship's ropes that the ship's engineering staff use to sit on while they take smoke breaks.

[WorldlyWise]

Here's my favorite things to bring tips from other boards:

 

A pop-up hamper for your dirtys (<$5 from Dollar store and handles work as clothes basket for laundry)

 

Night light for bathroom (for that unfamiliar path after dark)(Dollar store again - you can get very low light LEDs if you need it dark to sleep)

[Attack Dog]

Are we running out of ideas here? Keep coming up with good ideas or else I'm going to have to start putting in a bunch of dumb ones like this:

 

How to freak out your cabin steward:eek: . Take a shower everyday at the gym. Your cabin steward will wonder about your hygene.:eek: :eek: :eek:

[DarkJedi]

Are we running out of ideas here? Keep coming up with good ideas or else I'm going to have to start putting in a bunch of dumb ones like this:

 

How to freak out your cabin steward:eek: . Take a shower everyday at the gym. Your cabin steward will wonder about your hygene.:eek: :eek: :eek:

 

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

[Kace]

The "secret doors" that I'm aware of don't access the crew area. And they're not a big "secret." They just aren't in places one would normally travel.

 

On the Valor (and presumably on her sisters), the secret doors are on the port side at the front of the ship on decks 9 and 10. You go down the hall past staterooms, and the doors are just there waiting for you. Probably not a secret at all to the people staying in the staterooms on those halls. The doors have a small window, so you can see that they lead outside.

 

The area has a lovely foreward view, though it's wickedly windy. Certainly there weren't many people who "discovered" the area on my recent Valor cruise; I saw few people other than those in my group.

 

It was a nice place to take sunrise/sunset pictures, as well as to watch the ship coming and going from ports. However, there were similar views available on all of the upper decks. None of these viewpoints were ever crowded, perhaps because of the wind.

 

And no, this wasn't a crew area. The crew area is clearly visible a few decks lower.

 

Hope this solves some of the mystery!

 

Kace

[Zipliner 1968]

DarkJedi - - I've gotta ask. And truly, I don't know if you're the dude or the chick in your avitar - I'm thinking you're the guy. And if so, is that your partner's naked thigh? I'm so whimpy I barely even show cleavage, let alone thigh. Go DarkJedi-ette, go! :D

 

By the way, love your user name. Star Wars fans, UNITE! *hi-5*

[Attack Dog]

The "secret doors" that I'm aware of don't access the crew area. And they're not a big "secret." They just aren't in places one would normally travel.

 

On the Valor (and presumably on her sisters), the secret doors are on the port side at the front of the ship on decks 9 and 10. You go down the hall past staterooms, and the doors are just there waiting for you. Probably not a secret at all to the people staying in the staterooms on those halls. The doors have a small window, so you can see that they lead outside.

 

The area has a lovely foreward view, though it's wickedly windy. Certainly there weren't many people who "discovered" the area on my recent Valor cruise; I saw few people other than those in my group.

 

It was a nice place to take sunrise/sunset pictures, as well as to watch the ship coming and going from ports. However, there were similar views available on all of the upper decks. None of these viewpoints were ever crowded, perhaps because of the wind.

 

And no, this wasn't a crew area. The crew area is clearly visible a few decks lower.

 

Hope this solves some of the mystery!

 

Kace

 

I stand corrected then:o . Everyone it's okay to use the secret door!

[boowaaccaa]

DarkJedi - - I've gotta ask. And truly, I don't know if you're the dude or the chick in your avitar - I'm thinking you're the guy. And if so, is that your partner's naked thigh? I'm so whimpy I barely even show cleavage, let alone thigh. Go DarkJedi-ette, go! :D

 

By the way, love your user name. Star Wars fans, UNITE! *hi-5*

 

 

I was wondering also about that thigh.....?

[flygrass]

I thought I would throw this out there, being there is so much talk about that elusive secret door. This picture was taken from behind that secret door on the Glory in St Maarten. I dont remember what deck we were on but there was no sign on the door and it was just a small area I guess the size of standered balcony. We liked it because we had a inside cabin at the time and this ( secret door ) was just a couple of rooms down the hall.

 

 

http://www.imagestation.com/2538466/3930492821

[Uncle Deane]

On many Carnival Eastern Caribbean cruises from Florida, Nassau is the first port, on the first day. There is a grocery store a few blocks from the Straw Market (not far from the dock). We always go there and buy a case of soda and a few gallons of water. The price isnt too bad. We've always walked back on board, no problem. Since we often fly in to FLL or MIA on the morning of the cruise, picking up supplies in FL isn't an option.

[Another Cruise]

Even though we have a balcony, we also use the "secret doors" sometimes. They were great leaving San Francisco and sailing out under the Golden Gate Bridge. Also when we were entering the Panama Canal. Even if you can see from your side balcony, these open deck areas make for great shots straight on. But, as someone pointed out, they are very windy!! Leave your hats in your room. We found out about the deck for Panama on CC. It also put us directly under the Captain and the person doing the narration through the canal. However, I have read on CC of people who want the "secret" for other reasons, but I'll have to leave that to someone to post (boast) about!

 

The suitcases ARE getting packed today!!

[Carolinamamasita]

Go to: http://www.cruisedailies.com/portal/ to see copies of the Carnival Capers, Compass, etc. The site also includes sale fliers.

 

I just love this link . :D

I have never been on a cruise before , so this really gave me a good idea of the opportunities ahead. Thanks:)

[Attack Dog]

Carolinamamasita, I'm glad that helped. Your already visiting this website and you haven't been on a cruise. Your sure to get super addicted. When I went on my first cruise I didn't know what I was getting into.

[Carolinamamasita]

Believe it or not , I am so excited about this cruise coming in April.

I cant wait to see if I like it or not.

 

Main reason... I was thiking of either sailing again without the kids :D

or a trip to CANCUN through Funjet...:cool:

 

But I have to wait to see if this is somehting I am interested in continuing ...

I love CANCUN...

but I was told a cruise was better... so here I AM !

[westwingjazz]

I think everyone and their 'mama' will use this as a point of reference. I leave for Liberty in 26 days; and I printed it off in order to use it as a checklist.

 

Thanks a million!!!!!!