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They might be considering offering FCC's again. JH made a comment to that effect on his fb page yesterday.

 

Much better than booking on board.

wow, that would be great :)

What is Price Protection and Early Saver? This will be our second cruise and wondering if we're missing out on something?!!

 

Thanks!

Early saver is one of the rate types you can book. Price Protection allows you to get a direct credit or on board credit if the price of your cruise goes down. Price Protection is good on most rates up to final payment date and good for up to 2 business days prior to the cruise for an Early Saver rate.

Yes, I am very frustrated -- last year, I had over $1000 in price drops for our cruise in September on the Conquest. This September for the Breeze - nothing, nada, zilch. Our cabin category is sold out, and prices keep going up. I really wish I had to call them to lower my price.

I am not frustrated but I too am watching the prices climb for our Sept Splendor cruise. I got some price drops a few months ago, nothing substantial but over the past few weeks, the price has jumped significantly and checking today, both IS and OV are sold out. So, very doubtful if we will see any more price drops. Oh well, but at least I have a good rate plus I got an additional $100 for booking this cruise onboard.

I've experienced both. Sometimes I get rejected and have to call and get them to see what I am seeing. Other times (especially lately), they have accepted the form with no problem and applied the credit or obc. But when I do call, it is usually just a 5 minute conversation and all is corrected.

Would I rather just call? Yes. But I am sure Carnival has done its due diligence for determining return on investment with the form.

I agree with you regarding the value. We have purchased it for each cruise since they started it a few years ago. Fortunately the upcoming Sept cruise is the last time we will need to purchase since after that cruise, we become platinum. We got there a bit faster than planned since we normally do one 7-8 day cruise a year but in the past 12 months, we will have done 4 for a total of 36 days. Really jumped us up in the standings :)

Having done most of those stops (exclusive of Dominica and MB), Bonaire will be your best. If you can, book with an excursion called Woodwind. They are first-class all the way. When we went last March, there were two excursions, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. The morning one (the one we were on) went to two spots off of Klein (Little) Bonaire. The afternoon one only did one spot. You will have about 45 - 60 minutes in the water at each spot and will see some truly amazing coral and wildlife.

I've heard Dominica is also a nice place to snorkel, Coki at St Thomas is supposed to be good. The rest of the islands are fair to poor, at least IMHO.

Steve

I have treated myself to a South Asia cruise on the Mariner of the Seas! As a single traveller I was wondering if anyone had any experience of snorkelling at Phi Phi Island? This is a shore excursion available directly from Royal Caribbean. On there site they list item under the heading "What To Bring".

 

SeaPass card and photo identification being one of them.

 

My question is, where do I put my SeaPass & my photo ID when I'm in the sea?

 

And what is classed as sufficient photo ID? Does this mean my passport?

Having not traveled RCCL in a few years, but Carnival has the same things. A photo id is a US drivers license showing your picture. To keep things dry, I have a waterproof case (3x4x3/4) that has a lanyard. I just put this around my neck while I snorkle. I keep the license, sail&sign (same as your seapass), a credit card, and some cash in the case.

The loophole, I anticipate a closure of- is- the jointly held shares, and people getting 2 benefits for a single 100 share ownership, by, booking 2 separate cabins and applying the same single 100 share ownership to both cruises.

Why is this a loophole... it is two cabins, so each gets the credit.

we've never had to wait for boarding a tender returning to the ship. Only wait was for the tender to fill so it could leave to the ship :)

You don't need to go to the presentation. Last one we did was when the FVCs were still around and that is where you got them. Now we just go to the future cruise desk, early in the cruise and book our next one.

I think I would rather stick to I95 than the turnpike, at least until you get closer to Miami. First, to get the turnpike from PC, you would have to go to Orlando. Second, the turnpike is more of a restricted access highway than I95. So, if there is an accident on the turnpike, you have less options to get off of it and work your way around the accident.

On the two past cruises, March and May 2015, Guys was available, though for different times. On the March cruise, it was open from 12-6 daily. On the May cruise, it was open 12-2:30, 6:30-9. So it looks like it is dependent on the ship. I preferred the 12-6 daily which gave you the opportunity to have a good burger mid afternoon :)

This is what I use for emailing to get the OBC... worked last week :)

Here is the e-mail I send to guestadmin@carnival.com

Dear Guest Admin,

Please accept this e-mail as a request for shareholder benefits applicable to a (number) night cruise.

My name is ****** ****, and I am booked to sail on the Carnival (Ship Name) out of (Port Name) on (Date), Booking Number ******.

I have attached a PDF file (filename.pdf) of the relevant pages of my stock account statement as proof of ownership of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation Stock (ticker CCL).

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Kelley, hopefully someone will post about this. We have a cruise booked in Sept and last year, got some ice-cider in Portland. I would hate to have to wait to get the bottles since we are parking our car at the lot in NYC and want to get on the road as soon as possible.

there was a comment in JH's blog regarding this that stated it took about 5 minutes wait. The only concern I have with this is if you carry off your luggage, you may have to wait to get your alcohol after they've started

disembarkment.

submitted last week for two cruises, one in Sept, the second in Feb 2016. within 24 hours I received notice from Carnival that the OBC was applied to both. I then checked both bookings and found my OBC total updated with the shareholder credit. :)

regardless of the cost, it is more time-smart to drive than fly. Driving as has been said is a straight shot south down I-95. Make sure you check the times the rental car offices open in PC so you can be there as they open. You should probably take a cab from the port to the rental office otherwise you will be waiting for the rental car shuttle which could take another 30 minutes.

Going through MCO, you will (probably) have to check bags, which can take time, get through security. Also, you need to be there at least 60 (preferably 90) minutes ahead of your flight. Then when you get to Miami, you will need to get your luggage from baggage claim (don't know how efficient MIA is with this) and find travel to the POM. So worse case, you are probably even in time spent just traveling. But if something happens that causes the flight to be delayed, you could have more issues.

Me, I would drive. :)

they will give you a plate with the burger and fries. You can then go to the fixin's bar and load up with more stuff if you want. But if all you want is LTO, the staff can do that when they give it to you, just ask.

Hand held, in a boat, ISO 100 at about 750MM equiv

 

nice pic.

Here are two from the same position, one at 50x optical zoom, the second at normal zoom. The VAB is in the center of the 2nd picture.

I have the 50SX as well for the past 2.5 years. Before that, I had the 2IS. I love the 50SX. And disagree about needing a tripod at higher zooms. I have not used a tripod with either camera over the past 10 years and have taken some incredible long range shots. Pay the extra $75-100 to go to the 50SX or the new top of the line which I think is the 70SX. I made a similar decision years ago with the 2IS which at that time was the best (12x) and don't regret it. It lasted 7 years for me before I gave to my niece and got the 50.

I too was on the Pride repo with "love" and did enjoy the chats I had with John. Some people don't like him but I found him very easy to chat with.

We're planning on cruising in August of 2016, but are holding off on booking. We really want to try to get FTTF. When do they usually have it available? I know it goes fast, so I don't want to hold off too long and miss it.

It is hard to say when. I know that John Heald mentioned that they would make FTTF available around June 30 and they did for cruises into 2016 (Feb for me). You can either ask John on his blog, contact Carnival excursions, or just keep checking. And it really depends on the cruise. I know the one in Feb 2016 for me, they FTTF has been out for 2 weeks and still some available.

I checked earlier this morning for both booked cruises, Sept and Feb... no price drops for me either :(

I always figure that we will probably have a wait somewhere. At the hotel, at a restaurant, getting in the terminal, getting parked, getting on the ship, etc. until after muster drill when the cruise starts. I'd like to do most of my waiting on the ship. If I have to wait 15 to 20 minutes in the terminal, that's all right. After that, I'm on the ship! Other people are waiting through some other process. They may go on the same cruise, but mine started earlier. That's the way I look at it.

Jeanie, I agree with you. It has nothing to do with lack of patience. If I have to wait somewhere, why not at the terminal which gets me on the ship earlier, drop my carryons in the room, and head to the food!!! :)

This may sound totally uneducated (which I am regarding stocks)...,

 

How does one go about purchasing CCL shares? And checking current value?

You can check the current value by typing CCL into any search engine (Yahoo, Google). There are many online stock brokers for which you can purchase the stock. Do a search on "online stock brokers"