Cruisin' Lisa

We will be on the Costa Diadema -- what port will we be docking at? I have read that "old town" is very close to the ports . . is this true for which ever port the Costa diadema docks? We would like to see the cathedral, go to the alley where the restaurants are ( and the tapas and paella) and then shop for locally made ceramics or souveniers . . . Is the cathedral within a 30 min walk?

New to Costa, will be cruising W. Mediteranean Dec 4- 11. Since I purchased my cruise through Cruise vacation Outlet based out of Florida, I am assuming we will get the "USA water" package . . does that mean water only at lunch or dinner. . . or anytime? Could I bring empty water bottles and get them filled with water during lunch and dinner?. Can I buy bottled water during ports and bring them in ( I am assuming just NOT at barcelona-- since that is where we are initially boarding)

I am Elite on Princess and Platinum on Carnival , and have mostly sailed the shorter cruises and a few 7 days cruises since that is what is mostly offered out of southern California.

I agree with the majority of what OP said in his comparision review.

Carnival--

younger crowd, more night life for people still up past 11 pm . 24 hours pizza, ice cream. On Princess there is nothing to eat besides the international cafe late at night. Horizon court is more organized than princess as Horizon court has more "mini" stations" so people dont get "Bunched up" as much. For elites, you get a "free gift" ranging from useful ( tervis cups, packing cubes) to not useful( baseball caps, writing journal). towel animals for kids. Dining staff sings to you. Staff more casual -- still great service. LOVE the seafood brunch! Past cruisers get 1 bottle free water, platinum still get a free drink ( and the free water). Still can get free pack of "Carnival" playing cards at the front desks if they have them available.

Princess-- platinum get 150 minutes of free wifi (this is a Major plus . .much preferred than getting carnival's free gift). no towels animals, no singing dining staff. Princess staff more formal -- great service. A little bit more "old fogie" feeling -- (hubby and I are in our late 50s) . . .everything seems to go dead past 11 pm. I like that as Elite status, I have a choice of 2 coffee card or alcohol in in my cabin -- I choose the coffee cards since I dont really drink.. Princess have fridges in each cabin.

Major "Dislikes on Princess:

1. Buffet not as organized and too crowded because they dont have mini stations (eg sandwich area, salad area, pizza area, main entree area)

2. No food available past 11 pm to nosh on unless you go to the international cafe (hubby mentioned he would have enjoyed some food after the evening movie). On carnival there is a late night buffet from 1- 12 midnight every night, and then pizza 24 hours and ice cream elf serve 24 hours.

3. their casino, library, guest services are on the lower decks with the guest cabins on the higher decks -- I would prefer the "activities" to be more Mid level decks so that guests can access from above and from below.

Major "Dislikes" on Carnival:

1. No free wifi for Elite guests,

2. ship can look a little "garish /neon light- y"

3. Some ships have strange deck layouts where you cant walk all the way from front to back of ship.

Also I like the "outside the cabin" door mailboxes (which I think are on Princess ships), rather than your cabin steward having to slip something underneath the door or having to use his key to put on the cabin desk.

1. can you book a dummy cruise and use it for a another you are already booked on? (we are going on a 4 day cruise in 3 weeks, and have another one booked for October)

2. Does each person booking ge the OBC , or is it just one per cabin?

3. Can you use later for casino rate cruises?

4. can you book more than one aboard ship?

thank you for all the answers.

We are gong on a "casino" cruise and from what I understand, hubby gets a drink card too. He doesn't have to play to get a drink does he? (Because its me to likes to play the slots, hubby will watch me play but he doesn't like playing himself).

Its curious how guests even qualify for casino cruises because I only play about $500-700 max for the whole cruise (although I have gotten 2000+ points from that amount of money, a few times when I have been lucky).

I read that a player has to earn 7,500 points to be invited-- and I dont think I come anywhere near that (maybe 2000- 3000 points max on a cruise). . .unless that 7,500 points is an accumulation of points over a 12 month period from more than one cruise.

Does anyone have a copy of the bar drink menu for me to look at ahead of time before my cruise?

I will be getting one of these on my upcoming cruise in 2 weeks. I don't really drink alcohol or soda . . . . Can I use for juices (orange, pineapple, etc) or for specialty coffee drinks instead. Do you tip everytime?

I thought I read that the tickets were changing in 2015.

We bought the book of 10 at the 7-11 in the airport last summer so we didnt have to pay the extra "tax" to go downtown from the airport

Extra tips:

1. On weekdays after 6:30 pm and all day on weekends, you can use "one zone" tickets for anywhere,

2. also each ticket can be used for 90 minutes (which means you can use to go on a fast errand or restaurant and then use the same ticket back , if within 90 minutes))

Hubby and I went on an Alaskan cruise last year departing from Vancouver and we bought 10 faresaver tickets, of which we still have 6 left. The tickets DON'T have an expiration date, correct?

We will again be in Vancouver Sept 18 and I just wanted to verify that we can still use our remaining tickets this year? (I thought I read that the fare system for the Skytrain would be changing in the near future, and faresaver tickets will no longer be valid?)

Also confirming that the Skytrain fare after 6:30 pm M-F and all day Sat/ Sun -- still just uses one "single zone" ticket?

Secondly, we will be staying at the "Hotel near River Rock", which is next to the Bridgeport skytrain station. Any Chinese restaurants very close by (eg walkable) that you would recommend?

Thanks for the information.

can you get both hot brewed and iced coffee without using a punch? also do they have "cold brewed" coffee?

miracle's home port is now Los Angeles.

I just booked for an interior for next week on a 4 day cruise Princess Imagination from Los angeles as a single since hubby couldn't go . .. and I just broke my foot, am wearing a boot, and have to rest anyway (so what better way to rest than on a cruise ship -- I just wont get off the ship at Catalina or Ensenada).

After I booked ($183 total), I sent an email to the Carnival's players club top see if I qualify for any OBC (usually I get $25) . . .and was told I dont qualify for anything because I was such a low gambler last time (I gambled about $200- 300 on a 4 day cruise this past summer).

So obviously I qualify to get this offer but dont qualify to get even $25 OBC. For a solo, Ocean views was only $5 higher but $25 OBC less.

this offer came with $100 OBC. there are several other such offers out of LA-- the best being a 7 day cruise for $75 solo pricing + port fees and taxes -- that unfortunately I can't do.

Glad I booked it right away as the offer was gone in 24 hours.

you have to at least have a copy of your printed boarding pass or you might wait a couple of hours to get checked in -- at least that is what happened to our family 2-3 years ago on the glory.

we live in Calif, met my daughter who lives in NY and went to get checked in on the glory and didn't realize I didn't have the boarding pass for all of us.

There was no place there to print one up-- so that meant we had to be matched to the passenger manifest which the check in people didnt have. . .so we waited 2 hours until finally someone was able to get the manifest and check us in (by that time, there was probably about 15 people in the same situation as we were).

So Print, Print, Print -- although if you haven't done it yet, it may be too late as I have read that you cant print your boarding pass online 48 hours prior to your cruise because it no longer shows up online,

anyone know which MDR will serve embarkation day on the Crown -- I will be there Dec 6th.

Hi Janie;

Would love to meet up with you -- I dont drink much, so maybe a specialty coffee instead?

Not sure what excursions I will be doing -- if I do any at all. . . .but I have 2.5 months to explore the options :) Definitely plan to read, hangout on the beach or by the pool, lose some money playing slots in the casino. . .maybe arrange for a massage in one of the three ports in Mexico.

I have four kids ages 26 - 20 (our youngest just turned 20 yesterday -- so no more teenagers). My oldest just finished getting her master degree and lives in NYC, my 23 yo just started law school in Boston this fall , my 22 yo is teaching the next two years in Alabama and then wants to go to graduate school, and my youngest is a junior at UCLA. We have an "empty nest" except when our kids come home for the summers or for Holidays. . .and I am slowly getting used to NOT cooking for 6 (or even 12 as when I used to make a "double" meal)

I guess the good thing about being an almost fully "empty nester" (although I still work) is having the luxury of going on a solo cruise this Dec.

Hi Janie

i too am going solo on that ship Dec 6th. Although I also cruise with family and hubby -- on this one, he cant take the time off whereas I am self employed (and I had some cruise "credits" that I needed to use before the end of this year).

Looking forward to relaxing and just having some "me" time -- because what I do when I am going solo by myself is often totally different than what I do when I am cruising with my family.

thank you for the re assurance . .. yes, I was concerned about the (potential) extra noise and additional foot traffic.

but it is very near the elevators. I noticed that there is another quad cabin 6 doors down, can I request that cabin instead if it is in the same category that our current cabin is in?

Our TA said "no" but I think she is new because she also said I can't put "upgrades ok" on our booking (she said you can only request upgrade availability once we board the ship -- which we experienced carnival cruisers know is NOT true).

I usually book my own cruise but used this online TA because we got $50 obc.

just got off the inspriation last week, and had the american table menu. There were tablecloths, no water pitcher and we got served rolls. No mention on the menu that we could share.

I think what I dont like about the AT menu is that you cant tell which items will be there the whole cruise ( like the choc melting cake) and which will be there just that night only ( like the escarot).

I had to ask the waiter each time -- eg for dessert, I decided to have the tiramisu one night because that would be the only night it would be served, unlike the choc melting cake which would be there every night. Same for the entrees, I never did figure out which were offered every night -- maybe none of them were.

I just did a solo on the inspioration 4 day cruise last week because it was less than $300 TOTAL for a 1A interior and my husband couldn't take the time off. I ws put at a table for 10 -- family of five, newlyweds and 3 -- including me-- solos. I didn't feel ill at ease being a solo at all.

You do get lots of "me" time ...if you want to go to shows, then go, if you want to gamble then go, if you want to sleep in late, then do it.

Just off the Inspiration-- gift was the coffee cup with a little sample of coffee and 2 tea bags. MDR has American table.

just returned from the inspiration and they now have the american table menu

FYI -- closer to your sailing date, when and if prices come down, Carnival just might let you upgrade.

We were 5 in an interior room booked through "3rd,4th,5th person sail free" promotion for our upcoming 4day Imagination West Coast cruise in July.

Then a few days ago, 21 yo "just graduated from college" daughter found out she can no longer go on cruise due to newly scheduled new job teacher training which is scheduled same time as our family cruise .. .. we can't get any money back even through its over 30 days until sailing (and according to contract should be able to get 50% back) because she's considered "free'.

I then notice that prices have come down and it is now less expensive to have both a "2 pp" ocean view AND "2 pp" interior cabin on a higher deck (eg Upper) than what we paid 3 months for our 5 person interior cabin on Main deck. I called Carnival to ask -- and was able to switch to two cabins just across the hallway from each other.

Did Carnival have to grant my request? No, esp since it was after final payment and I wasn't booked on Early saver.

But they did and now we have 2 cabins (ocean view and interior) instead of just an interior cabin for five, now interior cabin for four since daughter had to cancel.

So as your cruise gets closer, start looking for price drops. You wont get refunded the lesser price unless you booked early saver, but you might get upgraded to the deck you want.

Good luck.

does anyone have a photo of the ceramic coffee mugs with lids that they can post? (hopefully I get one of those on our next cruise)

happy ending to my story . . .

I looked on carnival website last night (trying to see if there was something else we could do since we couldn't get any refund for my daughter's cancellation since we booked under the "3,4,5th person sail free " promotion) and discovered that rates for 2 ppl cabins have come down since it is less than 1 month to sailing time, and if I were to book the cruise today, we could get an ocean view "2 person" cabin AND an interior "2 person" cabin for less money than we paid 3 months ago for all five of us in just one interior cabin.

Didn't know if Carnival would go for it, but I called my online TA this morning and explained the lower pricing and asked him to call carnival to see if we could take advantage of that ( maybe now that daughter was cancelled, the now higher average per person -- eg total paid for cabin divided by 4 people instead of 5 -- would allow us to upgrade instead).

After spending 2.5 hours on the phone this weekend -- eg. finding out yesterday that we wouldn't get any part of our costs back and then calling today to see if we could do an upgrade instead -- the online TA that I got on the phone today, and the carnival rep he spoke to, was able to make it happen.

We are now in two cabins -- one oceanview and one interior-- just across the hallway from each other.

This is my first time using a TA (usually I book on my own) . . . not sure I'd use a TA again because it just takes more time using an intermediary and I am cruise savvy enough on my own . . . but we got some OBC using the TA so that's why I thought I'd try using one for the first time.

AND I found out that it really makes a difference who your rep is on the phone (both on my TA's side and Carnival's side). Because some reps will go to bat for you and some won't. The gentleman who helped me today spent 1.5 hours helping me and I really appreciated him . . .and if I used a TA again, I would ask for him.

Just a caveat: be careful of doing any Carnival "kids sail free" promo -- esp if one might have to cancel.

I booked this fare for my family, a few months ago for a 4 day cruise.. Hubby and I was $784/pp and kids 3 - 5 sailed free. It was little less expensive than other fares we could have booked, and carnival has a pretty good cancellation policy if someone needs to cancel later, so i thought.

Found out tonight that one of my kids cant go, and according to the contract, we should be able to get 50 of fare back since it is 30 prior to sailing.

But because kids sail free and therefore didn't pay anything, we dont get anything back (except for taxes and fees).

I then asked the carnival phone rep if hyypothetically, hubby or I had to cancel, would we get half of the $784 back, and phone rep said "no" because one of the kids would then move up to being the second person.

So it sound like when someone books a "kids sail free" fare, no one gets a refund at all unless it is before the penalty phase. The only way it would work is if everyone had to cancel because we would only be out $784.

I have never booked any type of "3rd or 4th person sail free" before , and based on carnival's cancellation policy . . . I now don't think this is a good fare to book . .unless this fare is WAY less expensive than the other fares offered, just because of not being able to get any refund for anyone in the cabin (again, the only way it would help is if everyone cancelled).

Much better for each passenger to pay their own fare so that some refund is possible if a cancellation of just one or two people occurs.