Ctrain246

On an upcoming Carnival cruise the primary person in the cabin has decided to back out of the cruise. Two are in a balcony cabin with a great promotional rate.  will they allow the other person to board?  Will they charge the other person the current rate or deny boarding?

Great info, thank you so much for the response..we're 18 days from cruise. 

Does anyone have suggestions of where to purchase cigars in Roatan, Belize(Harvest Cay), Costa Maya or Cozumel? Thanks for your help. 

8 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

Mixx is the bar between 2 of the MDRs. The menu they have their is the regular one and they can get slammed during dinner times (everyone is either grabbing a drink right before dinner or if they have to wait a bit to be seated). 

smplybcause, thanks for response. Mixx's location is similar to Alchemy as it also is very near a MDR and the area is congested at dinner time. Alchemy becomes much more desirable in the 9,10, 11pm timeframes. Maybe it's similar with Mixx? 

9 minutes ago, trivimp said:

I'm not a huge Carnival fan, but I did love the Alchemy concept... Your best bet for an Alchemy-esque experience is to chat up one of the bartenders at Mixx, or maybe Tobacco Road. I've yet to run into a 'tender that doesn't love to get a little creative if you catch him when he's not slammed.  Go at a slow time & ask for recommendations.

trivimp, thanks for the tips, they make sense to me. 

8 minutes ago, LrgPizza said:

There are 4 to 6 drinks offered in District Brew House that were created by world renowned award winning mixologists.  the same goes for the restaurant Food Republic, which has some unique,  special cocktails.  You'll also want to visit Tobacco Road, which has specialty cocktails you can't find elsewhere on the ship.  Also, as mentioned, check out Sugarcane Mojito Bar.  Those should meet your needs.

Thank you very much for the suggestions, we'll ck them out for sure. 

46 minutes ago, indygirl76 said:

Alchemy Bar is a mixology place - they don't do sour mix, "Jack and Coke," and things like that. I'm interested in the answer too, because I'm also a Carnival girl, going on my first Norwegian in May!

Indygirl, the link Cole Thornton sent is very helpful. It seems to me Mixx Bar and Prime Meridian might be the most similar to Alchemy. 

1 hour ago, ColeThornton said:

Can you describe what the Alchemy bar is like?

 

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/escape/whats-on-board/Bars-&-Lounges

Cole, tks for the link, without a doubt we'll find alcohol, and atmosphere to our liking. 80 days out, to say the least, we're excited!!

Thank you for the response.  My mistake, I intended this for those who are familiar with Carnival and the Alchemy Bar. The Alchemy is kinda gimmicky in that it's set up like a chemistry lab and the drinks are concoctions. It's more the atmosphere and the attitudes of the "chemist's" 😏. I think it's difficult to fully explain as it's something that has to be experienced and I understand not all will appreciate it the same as my wife and I. 

My wife and I are frequent cruisers with Carnival. We will finally "broaden our horizins" when we sail with Norwegian in November on the Escape. On Carnival ships we found our go to bar, the Alchemy Bar. I'm wondering if anyone can advise if the Norwegian ships have a bar similar to Alchemy. Thanks for your time and attention. 

Always the Mongolian Wok...usually the toughest to get to after the first day. Looking forward in 30 days to our Sunshine 8 day cruise.

Does anyone have access to the most recent main dining room menus for the 8 day itinerary on the Carnival Sunshine? Any assistance, prior to April 7th, would be most appreciated.

Will be in Aruba on cruise in Mid April. We want to do an ATV tour and so far the best choices for us seem to be Action Tours or Around Aruba Tours. Does anyone have experience with these 2 companies? Would love your feedback.

I am going to concur with most of what jasong said. Although we have sailed the Dream, my favorite is Sunshine. I like Sunshine for the reasons jasong likes the Dream, including the flying Scotsman. He was the Sunshine's cruise director in December '17, and this includes John Heald, is the best cruise director we've sailed with. As far as the ship goes, the 2.0 upgrades are really good!

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Class has nothing to do with wearing a suit - I agree. But it isn't "class" evening; it's elegant evening. And a polo and kakhis are not "elegant;" at best it is business casual by today's standard. I understand it is within the dress code but the title has become a misnomer - and let's face it, CCL doesn't enforce it on elegant or casual evenings. When I am having to look at a man's armpit hair tufting out of his tank top it's hard not to lose ones appetite!

 

DH wears a suit everyday for work and I do the same or a dress. So "dressing up" is no big deal for us. But we both feel that you get out of it what you put into it and the atmosphere is intended to be more upscale. The atmosphere loses something when so many are trying to do the bare minimum to comply rather than just going to the lido deck. So I always will pack a little black dress and heels he will have a sport coat and we will "take it up a notch" and enjoy our romantic elegant evening.

 

And no, if you wear kakhis and a polo it isn't going to bother me...but how a person dresses broadcasts a great deal so that's up to the individual as to what message they wish to send.

 

 

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A&J family: I give you nothing but mad props. You made your statement succinctly, without malice or ill will. Not only that, I fully agree with your opinion. Well done!!

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Ok,tks for that I will research Marysol Tours, have a great cruise!

Just wondering if anyone has experience, or knows if ATV excursions are even offered at Amber Cove. Tks in advance.

Absolutely no issues and no need to apologize. We definitely appreciate your perspective and you touched on a couple of points that we neglected to mention.

Thanks for the review. I have 30 days to go until the Conquest!

We want to go to Jack's also. When you come off the pier, do you just head left and walk down the beach?

TIA.

That is correct, less than 15 min stroll.

Yes, the dogs are still there. ...it was hilarious watching Topher digging like there was no tomorrow.

I'm picking up where zebramatie left off if you all don't mind. I'm her other half. I'll address entertainment in this segment.

We saw many, but not all, of the shows in the "Toulose Lautrec" lounge. We did not attend the welcome aboard show, although we did catch a little of it on TV and it looked really good. We thoroughly enjoyed the Epic Rock show, and oddly enough with the 7 person cast, it was not always clear who were the lead singers, male or female.....not an issue just an observation. In most of the shows Carnival used a lot of graphics which we've never seen before. Some were a bit over the top but all in all they did a fine job with the productions. Additionally, this was the first cruise where there was no show band which I greatly missed.

All of the bands in the deck 3 lobby area were extremely entertaining and some lively trivia/sing along took place in the area. The bands Take 2 and Shiplash were very good. Deck 5 promenade also had very good music and that area was quite the gathering location on many evenings. we made a few appearances in the club, but were never there much past midnight. This ship had a large number of singles on-board, reportedly about 500, so the club became very crowded and lively after the last adult comedy show.

We managed to see each of the 4 comedians perform at least one of their adult comedy shows. Of the four comedians, we enjoyed Mike Macey the most. We did not attend any events in Alfred's, Alchemy bar or the Blues venue.

Both of us had massage sessions in the spa and the sessions were good. As typical the therapist do try to sell products, to no avail with us. We watched a couple of "dive-in movies" on Lido deck. Popcorn is available but is not available after 11 pm. On Lido deck music is supplied by a DJ, still no Caribbean steel band...yet. The entertainment, both ship sponsored and customer driven was fun to watch. We have seen better deck parties but the ones we saw on the ship were OK. The CD,"Wee Jimmy" and his staff, work very hard to provide fun and entertainment. Some might think him corny, but he does work hard. Neither of us used the water slide so can't comment on that.

I'm going to sign-off and zebramatie will address ports of call soon. Feel free to ask any and all questions.

BTromboneFrack, I am zebramatie's other half and will address your inquiry. For most of the cruise the waves were calm and no issue. On the way back to Lauderdale, and not long after leaving Curaco, the seas were a bit rougher (not sure why) but after that the sailing the last 2 days was calm again.