PrincessArlena'sDad

My FIL did the online renewal. Submitted Nov 30, received Jan 15ish, about 6 weeks later.

It says that the turn around time is supposed to be as of the date they received it, not the current processing time. They received my kids applications on Feb 2, and I received them last week, about 9 weeks total. If it says not available, you should call them at the number. They probably never got the application. Also, if you leave within 2 weeks, you can call them to have it expedited. I'd call today, see if they can get it to you.

You could try this: shoreexcursions@carnival.com

Have you considered a Princess cruise? Either to Alaska or Western Carribean. Western Carribean would be the same seas, but less kids/party atmosphere.

Last time we booked a HMC cabana was 2018. It was $370 I think. We considered doing the villa, but decided $499 was too much. Wife sunburns really easily, and umbrellas/clamshells don't offer enough protection for a full day at the beach. She'll still burn. Not sure we'd pay $700 either, so we'd have to think really hard about booking an itinerary with HMC.

So the Mahogany Bay cabana: I booked that in Nov for $375 (cruise is in Aug). I actually got the last one. It is now listed at $499. Selling out 9 months prior to the cruise is a big hint that it was underpriced, I guess.

Supply and demand pricing plus consumer psychology makes the most money.

Pretty sure departure was 5pm. We had FTTF that cruise, so we dropped our carry ons in our cabin as soon as we boarded. I'm not sure when they were open to all.

We've cruised out of Baltimore twice. Both times boarding began between 12 and 12:30. Earliest check in time was 11:00. This was 2018.

I agree to an extent. But, not so much for the villas. There are only 5 of them, and thousands of passengers on the ship. 99% are not getting a villa, regardless of the price. If the villas cost only $100, but thousands of people who would have rented one couldn't get one simply because they didn't do it fast enough lead to better feelings? Of course, they'd be better off building 5 more of them and charging $600 each, and easily get $6000 of revenue per day, as opposed to the $5000/day they are getting. Now, for other optional items, like beach umbrellas, floating mats, then, yes, maximizing revenue could lead to decreased customer satisfaction, which, in the long run, less revenue. Happy customers tend to spend more. Annoyed customers spend less.

It's a lot of the excursions, as well. One we booked back in Nov has gone $25 per person. The other went up $10/person. Glad we booked it when we did!

Have fun! We'll be on her in August! How are you getting to the port?

We have Larry's booked for our July cruise. For our family of 5, it came out to about $50 more than the lowest quote we could find, but chose Larry's because of the great ratings/reviews. For the amount we're paying for the cruise/airfare/hotel, it's worth the $50ish more for the company with the better CS record.

I booked with a TA, connecting cabins with DW and I in one, kids in the other. TA called Carnival to make sure the cabins were linked, as required, and we paid the deposit with gift cards, so they had to call Carnival anyway. Carnival representative failed to properly link the cabins. Kids cabins were cancelled by Carnival, without notice to us or the TA. I only noticed because I was looking at excursions. I called TA. TA still had booking on their system, so they hadn't been notified of cancelation. TA called Carnival, and was told it was cancelled because not linked. They said they could rebook it as cabin was still available (thankfully) but the VIFP rate I had used was no longer available and it would be $500 or so more. TA booked the cabin at the higher rate to make sure no one else took it, but said they would work out the rate change. TA calls back a couple of hours later to let us know what happened. TA records all calls, and TA got in touch with Carnival manager, played the recording that clearly had the request for the cabins to be properly linked. TA got Carnival to reinstate the original rate plus an additional $50 OBC for our troubles.

Only things we have bought/would buy are the charms, if someone falls in love with one. But, they are pretty inexpensive.

newer map https://www.cruiseplanet.co.jp/pdf/holland/halfmooncay_map.pdf

Found this more recent one. halfmooncay_map.pdf (cruiseplanet.co.jp)

My guess is that those "plastic" golf balls are really biodegradable stuff that look/feel like plastic.

Regular golf balls do not float. Many (most?) mini-golf balls float so when they wind up in water features they are much easier to fish out. So they are less dense. But, most people probably couldn't tell the difference. They could easily break a window. The golf balls that I saw on Disney Fantasy were a light plastic that had a 0 chance of breaking a window no matter how hard you tried.

We were last there in 2018, when kids were 9 and 7, and they were already too big for the play area. It's more for younger kids, I think. It is a long walk from Cabana 9 (which is our favorite), but the ocean is much better than the play area at those ages! I'd just skip the play area. Cabana comes with snorkel gear and mats, those will keep them busy the entire day! Lunch is in the same place, a few minutes walk from cabana 9, but worth it for the quieter area. I don't think there is any food available for purchase, but you really don't need any. I don't think they replenish the snacks that comes with the cabana, but we don't know for sure because our group of 5 couldn't come close to finishing them. Well, they did replace them, actually, because the snacks got attacked by a wild chicken while we were in the ocean. We looked up and there it was, eating the fruit that we hadn't even opened yet!

They had cheap plastic balls on the Disney Fantasy in 2019, but real golf balls on the Pride in 2018.

Guest services wasn't just being difficult. They just don't have the accounting tools needed to accomplish that (though, they obviously should have it). The problem they face is that Carnival (like many others, including Disney) subcontracts out their gift card operations. When you need a refund for something paid for with a gift card, Carnival has to submit the refund request to the gift card contractor, and then the contractor sends the new gift card back to the customer. No money is actually exchanged during the refund request, as the gift card contractor has already paid Carnival the money for the previously sold gift card. Guest services just has no way of circumventing that accounting process to use the gift card credit for a different expenditure than the original purchase. I think the reason they don't is that while it would be relatively easy if identical priced items were being exchanged (as was in your case), but if the new items cost more or less than the original, and then those items needed a refund as well, trying to track back the original forms of payment for a refund or partial refund could get tricky.

We're doing a self guided walking tour CTB_Walkingguide_2015.pdf (ctfassets.net)

I wonder if this is a permanent change or they just haven't fixed it yet.

I haven't read anything since covid, but before covid it seemed to depend on how many kids were on the ship, if they're was room to move them around. I take it your kid is in 6th grade? This time of year, about half the 6th graders will be in circle c, half in CO. So he'll be with kids his own grade either way. But, do you cruse often? Will he get 1-2 more chances to be in Circle C? If so, I'd put it this way.... it's his last chance to do CO. Has he been a shark yet? If he was born late August, and the cruise was early August, then virtually all the incoming 7th graders would be in Citcle C, so I would definitely ask to age up.