Bobblefrog

As a couple we've done YTD both cruises and haven't regretted it. Trying to get to a seating at a particular time, having dinner companions waiting on us, sounded stressful to us. Was glad to be offered the choice.

If I was traveling solo, I would probably try early seating though - see how the formal experience was - I'd enjoy having a table of new people to get to know.

In a sense, I wish we would have gotten the coupon on our Splendor Cruise last month. My DH is as Dutch as they come. Since we had 45 minutes and the drinks were flowing freely he had about 3 too many of those rum punches in that allotted 45 minutes :o. I ended up spending that night in the casino by myself instead going to the show since DH was in the room losing his supper. Our next day at Grand Turk didn't end up being the nice beach day I had hoped for either as he wasn't feeling any better until late afternoon. I don't have to worry about doing that again on our next Carnival cruise :p;):D.

I loved this! Was on the floor laughing! Yes, there is a silver lining in every cloud :D

Therefore..if I ever decide to be an early arrival will aim for Faster to the Bourbon...ahhh I mean Fun...Sarah

I wonder if you could just put a couple of plastic topped airplane bottles in your pockets? I've considered doing that with rumplemints because it would be fun to spike our hot chocolates (we like to cruise around Christmas).

You may know this - but don't forget the showers by the gym. I would personally kick all the "boys" out so you can have the room to yourself to get ready for dinner.

Or vice versa, take up a tote of your things - there's more room - and have a nice sauna first :D

And...earplugs...earplugs would be good!

How do people find out when OBC is offered - I am not getting emails or anything about it and curious - I do check periodically for rate drops (so far no luck) but I have no idea how people find out about the OBC?

 

Thanks! ;)

This is easiest way to check: http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer/

Tiramasu Martini.......... love it!

Another vote for this - delish!

What browser are you using? If using IE try compatibility mode, it works for me when I have to use IE.

Or try a different browser entirely. Mac/Chrome worked for me yesterday morning.

OP - I expect you are smart enough not to take the above posts personally, but just in case you do - don't pay them any attention. My dad thinks the same sort of humor is funny and nobody but his wife laughs at his jokes.

It helps to remember every village has to have its idiot :D

On our first Fantasy cruise we would ask to sit with others and they never did put us with anyone. On the second we didn't bother to try. The tables are often close enough to talk to others if you want.

I guess I think of it like a restaurant - some nights you get great servers and sit by the window to watch leaving port, some nights you get seated by and get to watch the captain show up with his latest "kitty" and then make a big blow over the meal not being to his liking...others you get stuck by the wait station and get miserable and nose in the air service. Rather than try to control it we just decided to look at it like it's always an adventure. And miserable is relative :-)

Oh and it might have been his daughter - who knows! But certainly it was an odd awkward half an hour of flurry of anticipating his arrival and he was there all of ten minutes before he and his younger female companion left. Then another half hours of whispering and "fear" among the staff. Yuck. Glad it wasn't our drama.

I'm subscribing...will be on her December and would love to see the Fun Times in advance!

So, are you not allowed to dump bags/carry-on in your room without FTTF?

Only if you are on board before the rooms are ready, which is generally 1:30. If you board later, then FTTF isn't going to be a perk when it comes to that :D

Pretty non experience cruiser here, what if time isn't really an issue for me? Is FTTF still worth it? Will be doing excursions through carnival and not really worried about time since we ARE on vacation.

It's hard to say what is worth it to you...my experience out of Charleston was yes...

....my DBF is such a grump standing in lines, that anything I can do to avoid one is worth every penny - LOL. In Charleston it did save us about 30 minutes, but we did arrive at port at the peak time. Arriving later probably wouldn't have had that line

...passing by all the people crowded on the stairwells to get onto the first available tender was awfully nice - do you have a tender port without carnival excursions? I'm not sure, but I do believe those give you priority ...

...the second cruise I did have to use the customer service line twice and honestly it was great not having to stand in it as when you are on vacation you just don't want to stand in line when there is something fun you could be doing. But I was aware of a dirty look or two being aimed at the back of my head.

...loved having room ready, dump bags, explore a still somewhat empty ship (but I repeat my earlier post)

...I don't know about any advantages getting off on last day, but could be useful as this time we have a long day drive ahead and won't be lingering

Hope this helps you in your decision!

Could be the ship type, too - great question. We've only cruised from Charleston on Fantasy - my problem is the first day out and back going down the coast. Fortunately the meclazine (generic bonanine) seems to work for me. We're cruising gulf next December on the Valor and would love to know the answer to your question!

I have to agree with most things on the list - except the FTTF. We find that is worth it. Especially at a tender port when we have an independent excursion waiting. And I love getting on the ship first thing and exploring it while still relatively empty ...

And we do bring on a couple bottles of wine. Doesn't add much weight to our carryon and we have preferences for types Carnival doesn't offer. Also it's nice to have a bottle in your room for a pre-dinner drink without having to find a bar or wait for room service.

Thanks guys I though the dress was really pretty too!!

I just didn't want to dress up and then go upstairs and everyone be not dressed up and my boyfriend start complaing because he hates dressing up unless he has to!!

On our two Fantasy cruises lots of folks dressed up. Many use it to take formal photos. So while there are exceptions, I think those that dress up, make up for it. You know, all those pretty, glittery heels and dresses catch the eye - so the atmosphere feels more festive. Enjoy dressing up!

When we smelled the sewage smell on the Fantasy - a few years back, only the one sailing we found it was in the stairwell we used and then up by the mini golf. It's not a chemical smell, that's for sure, so I don't think that was what you noticed. And we never smelled it in our cabin or in table napkins or anything like that. Just kind of held your breath/avoided those areas.

You didn't say if anyone you were with noticed it as well? I would have thought maybe you were sensitive to a cleaning smell, but then you said on food as well?!

Blow dryer was definitely not the one I had at home but it got the job done. Just took a little longer. Not sure if it is the same in all rooms but the blow dryer was attached to the vanity drawer. So you kinda just had to stay there with it. Also, no on/off switch in it. You held a button in the high/low position to keep it on.

 

We were in serenity for a minute then went to get ready for dinner. Chairs/loungers up there were nice. They all had cushions on them. They also had these really big circle loungers that looked like 4 people could sit in. They had hammocks too!

 

Thank you - I just put "fat rubberband" on my packing list to have something to hold down the switch with - tyvm!!! I have short hair so I'll deal. Hate having to pack a BD.

I am looking forward to the Serenity loungers...!

I KNOW - the cruise is NEVER long enough!!!

I'm still debating whether to drive home the same day, or get a hotel room halfway ... our drive will only be 9-10 hours though. I used to drive all night to get somewhere but that when I was closer to your age :-)

I can only imagine that drive home, but glad you all made it safe and sound.

Let's see what other questions...how was the blow dryer? Adequate? How about the light at the vanity - adequate for make up?

Was the pool in the aft adult only? Or just the hot tubs? Enforced?

And Serenity...did you all take advantage of that? Oh and you didn't mention the fish and chips. Did you try that?

What a fun trip you all had! Loved seeing the pics. Thanks so much for posting -

We're going to be on the Valor this next December and I appreciate the view of the sauna. Did you use it? Tried to use the one on the Fantasy one time but the lights were out (no window) and the front desk seemed clueless, just "oh they're broken again we guess" sort of shoulder shrugs - LOL.

Did you all do the slide? I'm looking forward to that as well - the Fantasy's is a closed tube and I found it claustrophobic - only did it once just to say I did it :-)

We did the same itinerary and enjoyed it as well. Was the drive home rough? We won't have as far as you did, but still a haul.

I know you can only bring one bottle of wine per person per cabin, but what about the pop, water, juice, etc?

 

If there are three of us in the cabin, can we EACH bring one pkg of pop, one water, etc? Or are those all one per cabin?

It's a per person rule - "Guests may bring a small quantity (package of 12 per person) of non-alcoholic beverages."

And just a few tips:

No large coolers. "small, personal-sized coolers, no larger than 12”H x 12”L x 12”W for the purpose of housing small quantities of non-alcoholic beverages and/or medications are permitted as carry-on luggage" We found a soft-sided square cooler holds two six packs nicely and then we have an extra place for icing (although a lot of those soft-sided ones leak - so you might have to keep it in the shower if you find it does).

I suspect you could bring one of those fold up luggage carts on wheels to stack the coolers on :-)

Also, unless you buy FTTF or can board early, your room won't be ready til around 1:30. Our first cruise I was the one stuck sitting watching all the stuff we were hauling. Not a lot of fun because that new ship invites you to go EXPLORE - lol!

After two cruises I think I'm ditching the whole "bring on board" idea unless DBF just begs for something like coconut water (or something they don't have on board). I'm not sold the little bit of savings was worth the pain. But then there were only two of us. :D

For various reasons, we are thinking of purchasing trip insurance on this cruise though we never have before. I have several questions:

1) What happens if there is a hurricane that changes your planned cruise and

you don't have insurance? Are you out the whole cost of your cruise or do you get a credit to a future cruise? Do you get a full refund if you do have insurance and there is a hurricane?

2) What if you have to cancel your trip due to business/work reasons? Does trip insurance get you a full refund?

3)I understand it may be cheaper to purchase trip insurance through insuremytrip.com. Is there a reason to purchase Carnival's plan even if it's

more expensive?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

You have to ask those questions against the policy. This was my first cruise to buy insurance and I ended up going with insuremytrip because they had representatives there to answer my questions and almost all the policies had a 10-15 day review time after purchasing.

1. I've noticed, although this probably isn't 100% that if there is a hurricane your cruise will still send you "somewhere". They don't want to cancel a trip. On the policy I purchased, a nationwide one, for some things there is a 100% coverage of anything nonrefundable - and you could choose to take a cruise credit if one were offered OR take the reimbursement from the policy (you can't do both obviously!) Then I added a for-any-reason addition (I learned my lesson this past year that bizarre things can come up when a family member's mental health isn't considered a medical issue). In that case I get 70% back.

2. Again, that's the thing to ask the policy..consider the for-any-reason if you suspect the policy doesn't cover it.

3. I don't know - I just went with the insuremytrip as I felt I had more control - I feel I just didn't know enough about carnival's policy and I SUSPECT it is more expensive. I don't trust the cruiseline to do anything but charge me the highest price it can and give me the least it can (aka loyalty program - lol) with lots of loopholes.

Oh and a caveat - the cancel-for-any-reason has some things too to watch out for, like you have to cover every nonrefundable trip expense or you forfeit it. Not sure I understand that yet, but playing by the rules.

Hopefully someone who uses their insurance can chime in as mine certainly isn't a fully educated opinion :-)

Good point, soon Serenity will look like a past guest loyalty party before the gold members were eliminated. ;)

Ah but now we see - that is their evil plan - because they don't enforce their own rules, and it gets too crowded and people don't respect the serenity, then they'll give it to Gold, oh but wait, then take it away again - and wait, then add it to FTTF and then raise those costs. It is BRILLIANT!! Bwahhahaha

First, let me mention my response is from an enlisted Vietnam veteran. To my knowledge, there is no draft any longer and hasn't been for a while. Draft orders were terminated in 1973 - 22 years before the passenger in question was even born. The 20-year olds in question are NOT veterans and are NOT in danger of being pressed into the military. Maybe your point is appropriate for drinking age as it applies to underage active military, but it certainly doesn't apply here. As a matter of fact, it diminishes the importance of those who are serving or who have served. My military service was a choice; I never expected it to open doors to any other restrictions in life. Should a twenty-year old be granted senior discounts in stores just because he or she is old enough to have been drafted up until 42 years ago.?

 

And as a veteran of a foreign war well over the age of 21, I don't wan't any additional unauthorized use of chairs already difficult to find.

Ah, I didn't express myself clearly! You are correct of course the draft hasn't been exercised in 42 years.

However, at 18 "men" (are they men or boys or children?) are required to register for selective service (ie conscription). The draft can be reinstated and at any time. It's there for that reason.

I have young nieces and nephews that have served, by their choice, and I have just always found it ridiculous that they can be cannon fodder at 18 but not "responsible enough to handle their liquor" til 21. I'd rather see the selective service registration moved up to 21 and enlistment rules at the same, but I am not Queen (even for a day, darn).

That's my beef - that "serenity" seem to mean nothing to some adults that are there, but I don't see anyone kicking them out because they ruin the experience. So these rules? Schmules. It's just an arbitrary line that isn't doing a darn thing to keep Serenity serene.

Just call me Chez! :D

There are all kinds of places for them to relax and have some quiet, as you say. Library for one.

Ah, very good point. We often found we preferred places like that on the Fantasy - a cigar bar aka sports bar now - for example, that was always empty. Nice comfy chairs, too. Library maybe - it was hit and miss - it's a good place to play board games that lots of people took advantage of.

As for outside dependent on the ship you should be able to find a deck farthest away from the pool that has some loungers in a quiet spot. On Fantasy we gravitated to Serenity because it was such a great place to watch the wake, but each ship will have it's own configuration. For example I've heard on the Valor (our next cruise!) that the deck outside the lobby has lounge chairs (never saw this on Fantasy's exterior decks) but worth a look as no one ever really goes there.

This is a tough one - I certainly get the "more chairs for the rest of us", but to be honest, on the two cruises I've been on Serenity, when the experience is ruined, it is by the adult drunks who are either too illiterate to understand the concept, or think by "adult" it means they can go on and on in the worst language in their vocabulary at the top of their lungs.

A mature 20 year old can take their chairs anytime.

I suggest going the first time by yourself and check out the scene. On the Fantasy, if they weren't obviously children, no one was deporting / checking IDs. Most of the time there wasn't even an attendent. And now that I think of it - if they are of the age to be drafted or join the military and die for our country, they are doubly welcome to share my serenity deck anytime.