gtalum

On 9/3/2021 at 9:09 PM, bucfan2 said:

Bottom line - follow the $$.  When the profits from all of the hoops don’t outweigh the cancellations, it’ll change. 

For better or worse, the cruise lines must follow the CDC guidelines.

1 hour ago, wwwcruisers said:

Has anyone been on a cruise in between chemo treatments? Does Carnival require any paperwork from your doctor?

If you don't tell Carnival, they will have no idea, so there's no need for a letter from your doctor.  The main thing is to ask your doctor if it's safe for you to do.

Just now, matymil said:

What ports are you guys going to?

San Juan, Amber Cove, and Nassau (originally Grand Turk).

John Heald has no idea.  It's a CDC requirement.

What's the big deal about the test?  it's the least of my concerns in the new protocols. 

My biggest issue is that my unvaccinated 7 year old boy (and obviously at least one of the two of us, his parents) basically can't leave the ship in any port. That leaves us taking turns debarking with our vaccinated 15 year old daughter. My second biggest is that the kids' club is closed.

12 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Why would carnival rush to restart more sailings if they are having so much trouble filling the cruises that are going? Capacity is falling ... because people arent booking. They are cancelling. Expect more cancellations not fewer.

Some revenue is better than no revenue.

So long as they get enough passengers to turn a profit they should be restarting more ships.

They're working to reroute power from a plant in New orleans.  They got power back on in parts of the FQ and the CBD already:

https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-french-quarter-lights-ida/37459073

They really don't want to have to move the Saints game on the 12th.

18 hours ago, groundloop said:

I'd be surprised if cruises out of New Orleans happen in the next 2 or 3 months.  It sucks, but there are obviously more important priorities for them to deal with right now.

I wouldn't be that pessimistic.  Once they get power back the cruising will resume. The French Quarter didn't take much damage form the storm and they need the revenue.

I suspect that by listing out all of the spirits, beers, and wines that they carry saves a lot of "hey do you have...?" questions for the bartender and helps things move more smoothly.

On 8/14/2021 at 8:49 AM, crooooze said:

Not sure if anyone experienced this....

Last year when it was taking forever to get refunds, I went the route of contacting my credit card to dispute the charge.

Everything worked out and I ended up getting my refund.

 

Fast forward a year, and I’m booking new reservations - Now Carnival is refusing to accept that credit card.

They said it is part of their “Fraud prevention”... I say it is spite.

Very annoying because that card gives me the most reward value.

This is pretty standard.  In fact, many companies will just completely blacklist you for that.

14 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

I'm getting "network" issue type messages from Carnival when I try to reach a person through their 1-800 number. I'd guess they're a bit overwhelmed at the moment!!

 

Perhaps I'll have better luck with the Diamond Desk tomorrow.

 

Tom

Maybe they use the same systems as Spirit Airlines.

We're booked on Mardi Gras for Thanksgiving week, and one of our kids is 7.  The other is 14 and vaccinated.

What is the process for requesting the vaccine exemption for our 7 year old?  Do we need to wait for a communication from Carnival before we can make the request?  Or do we just call Carnival's 800 number?

Don't be afraid to use the kids club.  Take one or two nights to have dinner by yourselves and put the kids in the club for dinner.

Certainly don;'t be afraid to "jump ship" if you find something that works for you.  Carnival is just one company.  They do a good job, but there are plenty of others out there.

I shop every time we cruise, and we always come back to Carnival.  We did sail NCL once, and it was fine.  We still prefer Carnival.

15 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Fully aware of it.  You mentioned that you have a passport and travel internationally often.  I was just letting you know about it in case by some chance you don't.

Oh heh, sorry I misread the point of your comment.  I was thinking you were suggesting it instead of a passport, for some reason.

We have never sprung for Global Entry, though I've thought about it from time to time.  

11 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Global Entry is 100 and good for 5 years.  It includes TSA Precheck and allows you to return from international travel with the swipe of a card.

You need a US Passport or Permanent Resident card to use Global Entry.

I would never leave the country without a passport.

For $145 per person for 10 years, or $115 for 5 years for children, it's not worth the inconvenience that not having a passport might cause.  It's not doom and gloom so much as it's $520 is a lot cheaper than dealing with the inconvenience if something goes wrong.

That said, We also travel frequently by other means, so we each always have valid passports anyway.

I'm surprised by this, and I wonder if this policy will stand.

Personally, I think you’ll find that a good cashback rewards card will offer better benefits. For instance, the Citi Double Cash card offers 2% cash back on everything. No annual fee. There are others. This is my backup card (I use a USAA cashback card that gives 2.5%, but it’s not always easy to get a USAA account with their membership requirements).
 

Some of them offer up to 5% cash back on certain categories. 
 

Just bank your cash back and it’s the same as having a Carnival cruise credit to use (except you can use it on anything). 
 

You get a bigger benefit that is more flexible. 

3 minutes ago, Don Kehote said:

I'm just here to say I like cruising on Carnival, and can't wait to get back on board soon!

Probably one thing we can all agree on.

We booked a Thanksgiving cruise on Mardi Gras a few weeks back.  I'm reasonably confident it will sail.

So now begins the years-long process of a federal lawsuit, assuming the US Federal Government agrees to be sued.

Anytime you travel via airplane or internationally, you should keep your prescriptions in their bottles.

Most of the time you won't run into any trouble, but it only takes one overzealous security or customs official to ruin your day.

It's under "Carnival Mardi Gras Roll Calls", even though the ship is actually just called "Mardi Gras".

1 hour ago, TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail said:

Not all county courthouses process passports.  I work at one & mine hasn’t in years.  Please call yours before to confirm.

Fair enough.  Here in FL the county Clerk of Court processes passport applications.  I'm fairly certain every county here does.

At any rate, the us state department website will show you all of the closest locations to apply in person.

19 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

The state of FL said it is looking into to getting vaccines for companies including cruise ship industries... info via press conference with the FL Governor this morning. 

Now that's a sensible plan, and in a month or so there won't be a supply issue any more.

I don't think this is a reasonable criticism of the cruise lines.  There is an expectation that cruises will resume.  They can't reasonably operate by only allowing bookings after sailing has resumed.  Nobody is served by them sailing empty ships after the restart because nobody was able to book (well, except perhaps the flexible traveller snagging an epic deal).

Carnival has been extremely flexible for each month of cancelled cruises since at least the April cancellations.  They're allowing everyone cancel June cruises now with refunds and pushing final payment to the end of April for all June cruises.