HawksFan74

We will be sailing on Splendor in 36 days! Looking forward to the rest of your review.

If I get a card can I use the gift card to pay off the remaining balance of my cruise fare then if there is a balance on the card use the balance onboard?

Yes

What is the length of your cruise? If it is a 6 day or longer, you are already inside final payment and would lose your entire deposit (typically $250 pp). If it is a 5 day or shorter, you are still outside final payment and would forfeit just the $50 pp change fee, with the remainder of your deposit being held as a future cruise credit.

PS: The drug test strips used by the TSA are placed outside of the bag for testing; the bag(s) of sand are never opened. It's a quick & painless (post 911) test at the airport.

Pretty sure they're testing for explosives, not drugs.

We will be in 2314. Do you think we should move?

2314 is under the dining room, not the galley, so you should be fine.

I agree, you probably should either wait to book ES, or if you book now, choose a fully refundable rate. I see a couple of problems with your situation: 1) If you book a cabin for 3 and remove 1 child later, you might not be allowed to keep that cabin, since it is designated to accommodate 3 passengers. And 2) If you book a cabin for 2 now, you might not be able to choose a cabin that accommodates 3, so you wouldn't be able to add a child later. Even if you are able to book a room that holds 3, there may not be available lifeboat capacity to add a 3rd passenger later.

I would guess crew quarters.

And yes, we are both bio parents to both kids so that info is in her passport.

Where in the passport does it list a person's biological parents? I haven't seen that before.

Do you have any information about to the engine trouble that caused the late arrival into Boston?

 

I'm sailing on the Splendor next month. Hope it isn't anything major!!!

I'm hoping the same thing.

So, do all the Carnival ships in the Caribbean pretty much stay on the embarkation port's time? When we sailed Miracle last year, the ship's time was adjusted ahead 1 hour to match the port time in La Paz and Cabo San Lucas, and I was under the impression that this was standard on the Mexican Riviera itinerary. I wonder why Carnival does this on the West Coast but not in the Caribbean?

Is there a Walmart on the shuttle line?

Yes. The closest stop is at Pacific Ave & 5th. Get off and walk 2 blocks east on 5th to the store entrance. More information on the Passport route can be found here: http://www.lbtransit.com/services/passport.aspx

I should add that the Miracle will be traveling South along the coast of Baja California at this time, so you'll want to find a spot with a view off the port side of the ship. Any port side balcony should work, but for a better view, head up to Deck 10 or 11.

Unfortunately, the eclipse of the blood moon may not be visible to our West Coast cruisers. By the time the moon "rises" over the Pacific, the eclipse may be over.

As you can see in the graphic below, on the West Coast, the moon will be partially eclipsed at moonrise and will become totally eclipsed shortly after. In Los Angeles for example, the moon rises at 6:39 pm on Sunday. The total eclipse begins at 7:11 pm and ends at 8:24 pm (Pacific Time). As long as a person has an unobstructed view of the eastern horizon, they should see it.

martincath is correct. This Google Street View shows just how close the two stations really are: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5923951,-122.3270168,3a,75y,180.53h,74.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6quqX2FMMSgiNyR_bxge2Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

On the left, you can see the Greyhound bus station. To the right, is the light rail station.

Does FTTF give you a "zone 1" disembarkation number.

We were given Zone 1 with FTTF on Miracle last November. I could be wrong, but I assumed it was included with FTTF?

We (Wife, 4 yo DD, and I) have an 11:36 am flight out of MIA after disembarking Splendor (at the POM) on Dec 13. We have already purchased FTTF, so would presumably get Zone 1 luggage tags. Would that give us enough time, or do we need to do the self assist? Physically, I think we can do self assist, but it would certainly be easier if we didn't have to.

Just a note about our flight time: When I booked, the flight was scheduled for 11:50 am, which seemed "close enough" to the recommended noon or later departure time. United has since moved the flight up to 11:36, which is only 14 minutes earlier, but psychologically, it "feels" more like half an hour, as we are now leaving "just after 11:30", as opposed to "almost noon."

Daisy - I did an easy Kayak search and found a nonstop from TAME. Also several good connections through Miami, Bogota and others. COPA (operated or associated with United) has a flight for about $430 thru Panama! The nonstop was $200 more. Seemed a pretty good fare for the security of not needing to change planes and miss a $5000 cruise. I note Kayak showed 9 airlines I had never heard of before.

Do you even know which dates the OP is looking to travel? If not, you may very well be comparing apples to oranges.

It would be helpful if OP would give us the exact dates to look at, but I just randomly picked one of the May itineraries for Xpedition (May 13-23), and found that the nonstop on TAME was $1,484 r/t pp. COPA through PTY was only $593 r/t pp, so the difference is much, much more than $200.

Per above, HMC is a private cruises ship facility.

Both Holland America and Carnival ships use HMC.

When there is a scheduling conflict, the HAL ship goes to HMC and the Carnival ship is normally sent to Nassau.

 

LuLu

OP's cruise was originally scheduled to visit HMC on Dec 9 2016. As of today, according to the cruisetimetables page, there is no ship scheduled for the 9th. Maybe HAL has something in the works?

I would be bummed too. We will be in HMC in a little under 3 months, unless Carnival decides to change our itinerary too. :rolleyes: But this got me thinking...Will Carnival waive the $50 pp change fee for cruisers who booked Early Saver in this situation?

Looks like Splendor is now scheduled to the first week of March as well.

I have found the 3 or so weeks immediately following Thanksgiving to have exceptionally good rates. I will say however, if flying to the port, you'll get much better airfare if you avoid flying out Thanksgiving weekend or flying home the weekend before Christmas. That's how we ended up choosing our cruise on December 6 this year - great prices on both cruise fare and airfare.

The announcement I received from Carnival stated Splendor would be based in Miami full time. There was no mention how long full time meant.

I would think until Vista arrives in Miami at the end of November 2016. They may keep Splendor around through the winter season, but I would expect her to be deployed elsewhere by spring of 2017.

How far is the Miami airport to the cruise port and How much should I expect to pay one way in a car/taxi for 3 people?

The distance is about 9 miles. Taxi is $27 flat rate, I believe.

I thought Cozumel is Central? That's what it says when I google it.

Prior to February of this year, the Mexican state of Quintana Roo (which includes Cancun and Cozumel), was in the Central time zone and observed daylight savings time. On February 1, a new time zone was created that effectively moved Quintana Roo to Eastern Standard Time, with daylight time no longer being observed. With this change, Cozumel will now be the same time as Jamaica and Grand Cayman year-round.

Here is an article about it from the Time and Date website:

http://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/mexico-quintana-roo-time-zone.html

Glad I read this thread. Wife and I are going on our first cruise in April and wondered about time differences and time zones with daylight savings. Our cruise will be western Caribbean ports of mahogany bay, Belize, Cozumel and grand cayman. Isn't mahogany bay and Belize in a different time zone then Cozumel and grand cayman? Now let's throw daylight savings into the mix. Cruise is in April, daylight savings is in effect now. Florida uses daylight savings, I think grand cayman does too but mahogany bay, Belize and Cozumel do not right? BUT Cozumel is a different time zone then Belize and mahogany bay because time line cuts straight east just between Cozumel and Belize. So after I've thoroughly confused half the people reading this the conclusion I come too is mahogany bay and Belize will be 2 hours ahead Miami/ship time and Cozumel and grand cayman will be 1 hour ahead Miami/ship time? Correct? Phew. :o

That is mostly correct, except Grand Cayman does not use daylight time - it is in the same time zone as Cozumel (Eastern Standard Time). In April, those two ports will be 1 hour earlier than Miami. Roatán and Belize are on Central Standard Time and will be 2 hours earlier than Miami time.