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mg194

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Posts posted by mg194

    Half moon cay PRIVATE OASIS

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    My wife and I did it a couple of years ago.  We were part of a group of folks we met online.  12 of us pitched in and split the day.  We thought it was great.  I think it broke down to about $275 per couple.  I really like the private cook and bar.  It was also nice being off with our small group.  It was quite a bit of money for one day.  I don't remember but I'm pretty sure we were there longer than 5 hours.  We were on the first tender in the morning and didn't have to leave until the end of the day.  I do think that the bar/food service may have ended after 5 hours.  The hot tub wasn't working on the day we were there and they gave us a partial refund after one of our group talked to guest services on the ship.

     

    I think it was worth the money for the day.  I'm not sure I'd want to do it every time I cruise but it was certainly a great time.  Easy access to the snorkel stuff and other floats and stuff was pretty nice.

    Did you like a Cove Balcony?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    We had booked 2379 on the Breeze but after reading this thread I wanted to change to a cabin that wasn't under the galley. I've been checking and 2273 showed as available so I called. They also had 2283 which looks like it's just to the aft side of guest services. I'm guessing it will be quieter than under the galley. Now we just have to wait until October. We're really looking forward to trying a Cove Balcony.

    Carnival Glory Sept. 3-10 Eastern Caribbean Report

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Below is my report. It isn't super exciting but might have some info folks can use.

     

    Mark

     

    I booked this cruise in June of 2014 and spent the 15 months doing research and getting ready. We booked an aft wrap 7440 thinking it would be fun but my wife’s employers wanted to do something nice for her 20th anniversary with them. They upgraded us to an Ocean Suite and also paid for first class airfare for the trip. The months passed slowly but there was never a price decrease even though we booked early saver.

     

    The day finally arrived and we hopped on a plane for a 12 hour odyssey that took us west to San Francisco, southeast to Houston and then onto Fort Lauderdale. I had booked a room at the Cambria Suites near the airport. We called for the shuttle and grabbed our luggage for the ride. Check in was simple and the room was nice and even on the first floor with a pool/hot tub view.

     

    A good night’s sleep had us up and ready for our shuttle with MJS Shuttle Service. They were supposed to pick us up at 9:30 but were running about 40 minutes late because of a delayed flight. It didn’t really matter as we had plenty of time to get to the port. We arrived at the port around 10:45 and walked right into the Faster To The Fun line. They checked us in and added our $960 in gift cards to the on board account. We were sent to the Captain’s Lounge even though I’m not sure you would ever catch a captain in that place. After about 20 minutes we were taken upstairs and dumped in a larger waiting room with not much in the way of instructions. We were there for another hour or so until they called us to board. We went through all the requirements on the way to the ship and were soon walking onboard. After a quick stop to drop bags and look at our suite we were on our way to Guy’s for lunch. It didn’t disappoint as the burger and fries were great.

     

    After lunch we spent a bit of time wandering around the ship and took the spa tour. I suggested that we go back to see if our luggage had arrived so we could unpack but it wasn’t there yet. It showed up a little later and we unpacked. The first thing we realized was that there wasn’t a way for my wife to plug her cpap in close enough to the bed for her to be able to use the thing. I called housekeeping and our cabin steward, Resty, showed up a few minutes later with a big extension cord. He introduced himself and gave me the cord. I hit him up for a few extra pillows which he agreed to bring when he made the room up for the evening. I tipped him a few bucks then and also left a few bucks out for him each morning and evening when he made up the room. I also had the automatic tips on my account. I usually take a stack of singles to tip different folks. I always leave a few bucks for each table service meal and give a buck or two to folks who make and serve my food at places like the omelette station, Guy’s Burgers or the pizza joint. I leave a dollar on the table for whoever cleans it up after we eat. Those folks work so hard taking care of us that I’d feel bad not leaving something extra.

     

    We wandered around a bit more and then went back to see if we could unpack. The luggage had arrived so we unpacked. My brother had arranged for a couple of gifts so we had robes and beach towels to take home. We hadn’t been finished for too long when it was time for the muster drill. We wandered down at the alarm and stood around waiting for everyone to show up. It’s amazing how long some folks take to get there. I figured anyone that took longer than about 10-15 minutes would probably be dead in an actual emergency so I guess it’s a cruising version of natural selection.

     

    When the drill ended we went to find a place to watch sail away. We ended up on one of the decks at the front where you have to walk past all the cabins. There were only three or four people there so it was pretty tranquil.

     

    By the time we were out of sight of land it was time for dinner. We ate dinner in the MDR every dinner on this trip. It was a first for us. I had vegetable lasagna the first night and it was pretty good. I also had a salad and the no sugar added dessert. We found our way to the casino and played a few quarters in the poker/keno machines but didn’t win anything. By then it was time for the welcome aboard show. It was fun and quick and we got back to wandering around to get familiar with the ship.

     

    The first full day of the cruise was Half Moon Cay. We had met 5 other couples on the Facebook and all pitched in to rent the Grand Oasis. They had us meet in the showroom at 8:45 but we were a bit delayed getting there and anchored so we didn’t get on the first tender until close to 9:30. It was a quick ride and we were met by a guide that walked us to the Oasis. If you haven’t done the Oasis it’s a blast. It comes with a hostess, bartender, chef and lifeguard all for the entire stay at Half Moon Cay. It’s pricey but includes all the foods and fresh made food and salad. The chef prepared mostly the same items available at the buffet just not in mass quantities. I had Mahi Mahi and it was incredible. We spent the day floating and snorkeling and relaxing in the shade. The hot tub wasn’t working and the slide into the ocean had blown away in a storm a few weeks back but it was still great. For the inconvenience of the items not working they gave us a generous reduction in the price. That made it a really incredible deal.

     

    When we got back to the ship we took a bit of time to relax before we sailed off. I took some pictures as the ship moved out of the area and then we went down to dinner. I had shrimp curry for my second dinner and it was fine but nothing great. That night was the Getaway Island show. My wife wasn’t feeling great after dinner and went to rest while I went to the pre-show. She was quite surprised when she walked in late and saw me doing the limbo with a bunch of other folks on stage.. After watching the video it’s clear that I look very funny when I try to limbo but I never knocked the stick down. I was kind of happy that she missed the hula hoop contest portion of my time on stage because I can’t hula hoop. After dinner we played a few coins and went up to have some dessert on our balcony. We really loved going out on the balcony at any time of the day or night and just enjoying the solitude. I don’t know if we were lucky or if it’s normal but I only smelled smoke a couple of times and the neighbors were mostly quiet.

     

    Monday was our first of two sea days. I’m not a huge fan of the sea days but we made it work. We spent some time in the casino and in the sun and on the serenity deck and taking a nap in the cabin. There was a group from the Facebook that was doing a slot pull. There were 40 of us at a dollar machine. We each coughed up $25 and got 4 pulls on the handle. The end result was we each netted $11 back so we lost $14. It was still fun. Other than the slot pull II don’t think we did any organized events but we might have. We did play bingo later in the day but we never win. This day was also the first elegant night. My wife had a very nice dress and I had some khaki pants and a nice shirt and shoes. We were squarely in the middle in terms of apparel in the MDR. I don’t care what people wear but it amazes me how some folks have a total disregard for the written policy. Anyway, I had a lobster tail and prime rib. It was tasty and I even had a warm melting chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream this night. It wasn’t kind to my blood sugar but it was good to eat. This was also the first night of the Hasbro Game Show. It seems like more of an afternoon show to me and we skipped it the second night. However, my quite shy wife made it up on the stage after answering a question about the book Twilight. She played Simon Flash and they lost 3-1. She did walk away with a tiny Simon game. It was fun to watch her play. We wandered around and hit the yogurt bar after the show and then called it a night. We didn’t go to bed early every night and we did spend a little time in the bars. My wife drinks a little but I don’t so we don’t spend a whole lot of time partying.

     

    Tuesday was our visit to St. Thomas. My wife was having the “Piece of John” package in the spa. It wasn’t a very easy thing to schedule. I read about it on the Facebook and had arranged with a gal through John’s page to get the special. It was a 60 minute Swedish massage with chocolate covered cherries, champagne and a ship on a stick for $99. Well, the spa didn’t have our reservation so she sent it again and they still claimed they didn’t have it. I went down to talk to the manager and she wasn’t available but I was told she said she’d call me later. I’m sure you can guess how that ended. Yep, with me back at the spa. I got the feeling they don’t care for that package and posted my thoughts on the Facebook page. Anyway, eventually I went down a final time and got someone willing to help me book it. So she was scheduled at 8:00 on a port day. BTW, it’s only valid on port days.

     

    I got ready and went up to the Lido for breakfast while she was in the spa. We had everything done and got off the ship not too long after we docked. We didn’t have any plans other than the Skyride for this day. We rode to the top and spent about 30 minutes looking around. My wife made it into every shop she could looking for a sweat shirt. It turns out they’re kind of hard to come by. We went back to the dock where we had seen taxis earlier and told a guy we wanted to go to a beach with snorkeling. He suggested Coki Beach and put us in a taxi van. There was a couple in there and another came along shortly. The first couple was going to Secret Harbor so we decided that was good enough for us and so did the couple that boarded after us. They told us $10 each to go to that beach in the taxi. The driver really wanted a full cab and kept looking and looking for people to ride with us. We had been on the bus about 15 minutes and the first couple had been there closer to 25 so we all decided to get off and look for better transportation. Strangely, as soon as we got out of the van our driver was ready to go. We agreed to get back in as long as we were leaving right away. He agreed and we all got back in and then he started to get out and we all told him that if his door opened we were leaving. He realized that four in the cab was much better than starting from scratch and took off for the beach.

     

    Secret Harbor is a private resort and was not very crowded. The beach was free but everything else had a price. It was $10 for a lounger, $15 for snorkeling gear, $15 or so for an umbrella and a few other things. Nothing seemed too expensive. I would have liked to try a stand up paddleboard but opted to snorkel instead. We spent about three hours at the resort. After we were done swimming we went to their little restaurant and had some drinks and fries with the chickens, roosters and iguanas that roam the grounds. My wife jumped pretty high when the iguana walked up to where she was sitting. It was much easier getting a taxi back as there were several waiting and ours filled quickly. We spent a bunch more time searching for a sweatshirt when we returned to the port area and she finally found one she liked back in one of the first shops she had visited. We got back on the ship a few minutes before the deadline and were soon headed off to our next port.

     

    Another dinner in the MDR and I’ve forgotten what I ate. I’m sure it was good but not memorable apparently. We decided to go see the PG comedians and skip the Hasbro show. The first guy was awful! It was almost like he’d never done it before. The second guy was quite a bit better but neither was outstanding. We checked out the movie upstairs and a few other things around the ship before retiring to our balcony for the night. We decided to order late night room service. I had a veggie tray and my wife had a BLT. I never ate the veggie tray because it took so long that I wasn’t hungry anymore. My wife said the BLT was very good and worth the wait.

     

    San Juan was the next stop and it was an early arrival. We opted for breakfast in the MDR. I had eggs Benedict and some corned beef hash. I thought it was okay but not as good as the breakfast burritos at the Blue Iguana. We left the ship with no particular plans other than to tour one of the forts. There were several guys selling city tours for $20 so we took one. It was informative and interesting in that I learned quite a few things I didn’t know about Puerto Rico. The tour lasted about two hours and basically went up and down a few parallel streets. We had a stop at a beach and a stop at the capitol building. The tour dropped us near shopping and one of the forts. Fort San Cristóbal costs $5 to look around and was quite a place. I can’t imagine spending any time in the dungeon. It was strange walking around thinking about what life was like when the place was new.

     

    My wife did her usual shopping tour and then was delighted to find a Starbucks. We also checked out Walgreen’s since I needed a razor but the line was really long so I figured I’d make it through the trip with the razor I already had. We took the short walk back to the ship and had a late lunch at Guy’s. Late lunch also meant late dinner. This was the night of the second Hasbro night and we just decided to pass. After dinner we just spent a couple of hours wandering the ship and enjoying some of the things that were going on that night.

     

    The final port was Amber Cove. We had a leisurely morning on the Lido for breakfast and then got ready to get off the ship. It’s a long walk from the ship to the pool and they have several folks that will take you on their bicycle trailers for a few bucks. We just walked and enjoyed the views. It didn’t look like they had rented too many of the cabanas or the big cabana but they did look nice. We had an excursion scheduled to go to Ocean World and had about an hour to look around before we left. We were under the mistaken impression that we would be back in time to enjoy the pool and zipline for a while before the ship left. I bought a pass and rode the zipline twice before it was time to go on our bus. The bus was full and it was a short ride to Ocean World. They had the shows scheduled one after another to accommodate the cruise passengers. There is a Sea Lion Show, Shark Show, Dolphin Show and a Bird Show. They also have their own little beach you can use and a couple of swimming pools. We did the four shows and headed straight for the pool. It was nice to do some fresh water swimming. I’ll bet we spent about an hour at the pool and then went to look for the bar. We had a couple of sodas after a bit of communication trouble with the waiter. I wanted a Diet Coke and didn’t realize they called it Coca-Cola Light. I was surprised when the guy came back with an orange soda. I have no idea how he came to that conclusion but I walked to the cooler with him and we got it all straightened out. After the break we went to tackle the snorkel tank. They will rent you a little locker for $5 to store your stuff while you swim around their snorkel tank. The gear is included and it’s a good sized tank with lots of fish. You get to make one loop around the thing and watch all the sea life. It was worth doing but I took a long shower afterwards because there was a lot of fish waste visible in the water since it’s a closed system unlike the ocean.

     

    The bus headed back to the port around 2:30 and was only about half full so there must have been some other option to get back to port earlier but we never heard about it. My wife had some time to browse the shops at the port and it was time to get back onboard.

     

    I didn’t realize it but this was the second elegant night. I drug out my pants and nicer shirts and we got ready for dinner. We both had prime rib and split the shrimp entree. It was fine but certainly not any better than you’d get at Denny’s. We decided to skip the Latin show because we had a late dinner and didn’t want to wait to see the late show. We had a bit of yogurt up on the Lido and watched a few minutes of the dive-in movie. We sat down in the middle of the movie and never figured out what was going on enough to care if we stayed until the end. That was the end of day five.

     

    Friday was the final sea day and the last day of the cruise. We slept in as late as we could which wasn’t very late because we never quite adjusted to the three hour time difference. We decided to do the sea day brunch because our dinner waiter was working and we liked him quite a bit. I had a pastry and some eggs and corned beef hash. It was better than the buffet but not nearly as good as the burritos.

     

    Playing quarters in the casino and taking a nap were the main orders of the day. We did squeeze in time for lunch and then later had our final dinner in the MDR. We saw the first comedian’s early show and he was a riot. When he finished his set we hustled down to the showroom for Epic Rock. I think we saw the same show in the Imagination last year and we liked it quite a bit. We were in the balcony this time and I almost like the view better. After the show we went back to the room to try and figure out how to pack all of our stuff into the few bags we brought in the first place. Somehow, we got it all in all the bags. We didn’t put them out because we decided to carry them off so that we could get off the ship early as we were renting a car and heading off to Walt Disney World as soon as we could. We went to bed for our last night in our cabin.

     

    I didn’t sleep great because I had too much going through my brain about the logistics of getting off the ship and to Orlando. I finally gave up around 4:30 and got up to go out and watch the ship pull into Miami. That was kind of nice as I hadn’t really watched us dock anywhere else. We had a leisurely morning getting ready to go. They had told us to meet in the dining room at 7:15. We left the cabin at about ten minutes before seven and it took a long time to get an elevator. They kept passing our floor or only stopping on the way up. We finally took an “up” elevator and then rode it down. We walked out of the elevator and were in the line to get off the ship. We walked off, got through customs, grabbed a cab and were at the rental car place at 7:15. Too bad they didn’t open until 8:00. Luckily they had a Starbucks in the lobby so we got coffee and had some food.

     

    That’s the end of my story. It’s pretty vanilla as we don’t do a ton of unusual things. I will say it was nice having FTTF the few times I had to go to guest services and I always like having the room ready. You’ll probably notice that we “wander” a lot so that’s not too exciting easier. I did but the Value Plan for internet and found it perfect for everything I needed to do, which wasn’t a lot. I even took a Facetime call from my son and while the call worked fine there was no video. My wife got the social media plan on Sunday for the week and it quit working Monday morning. They did refund my money but it took two trips to guest services.

     

    I think we need to cruise a little more often but our choices on the west coast are so limited. I guess I’ll have to find a way to get to Texas or Florida cheaply.

    Warning on using Carnival Gift Cards

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I've used Carnival gift cards bought from multiple sources and was never required to provide a PIN when I redeemed them online for shore excursions or to apply to my cruise. I purchase 5 one time and the numbers were not sequential but each of the 5 cards was 17 numbers away from the one before. I wondered if they were that easy to guess and checked the balance of a card number in between the numbers I had received. It came up with a $100 and could have been applied to my account. Of course, I didn't do anything more than check the balance but it is a pretty big security flaw in their setup.

     

    I really wish that they would allow you to apply the cards to your OBC account as soon as you received them. I do have a fear of showing up to the port and discovering that some of my card numbers have been compromised by lucky guessers.

     

    Mark

    Upsell Call Glory September 3

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I just received an upsell call for our upcoming voyage on the Glory. The offer was to go from an Ocean Suite to a Grand Suite for $692.00 total for two of us. It was about a $500 discount from the last price I saw for a Grand Suite.

     

    As much as I would have liked to do it I just couldn't pull the trigger on another $100 per day but it was fun to get called.

     

    Mark

    VIecotours SUP Mangrove Lagoon

    in St. Thomas/St. John

    Posted

    Hello,

     

    We are thinking about booking this excursion with viecotours. Has anyone ever done it or, for that matter, any Mangrove Lagoon tour with them?

     

    What is the area like? If my wife doesn't want to paddle board will she be able to stay occupied for a couple of hours? "Occupied" can mean sitting in a chair, in the sun with a drink.

     

    The tour starts at 2:00, runs about 2 hours and I'm told it's about a 25 minute taxi ride. The ship leaves at 6:00 PM. Should I have concerns about missing the ship?

     

    Thanks,

     

    Mark

    Travel from Disney World to Miami Cruise Port

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    I looked into Megabus and several other private shuttle type services and nothing came close to the cost and convenience of a one day car rental. I Googled every possible option I could think of. I went with Alamo and pick up at the Intercontinental and will drop off at the Disney Car Care Center and take the Disney shuttle to my resort hotel.

     

    Mark

    Disney World Post Cruise from Miami

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    Hello all,

     

    We are doing an Eastern Caribbean on the Glory from Miami later this year. Post cruise we want to spend two days at Disney World and then fly out of Orlando. I'm researching the best way to get to Orlando. It looks like I can rent a car from MIA to MCO and take the Disney Express for free from and to the airport. Are there any other possibilities? I thought about the MegaBus but I'm not sure how far we'd have to haul our luggage to reach it in Miami and again in Orlando.

     

    Suggestions?

     

    Thanks in advance,

    Mark

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