Bonnie J.

We booked the Carnival Glory last night for total for both of us with taxes, etc. is $714, 7 nights. Granted an inside cabin but right next to the elevators.

Contact Captain Marvin for swimming with the Rays in Grand Cayman. He has had this tour for many years and is very reliable. He is easy to find, just turn left when you get to the street from the tender and you'll find them. Make sure you take a throw-a-way underwater camera unless you want to spend big $$$for pictures they take there of you and the rays. a large ray will be held over your head, etc. You can Google him or Google 'swim with the rays in Grand Cayman'.

If you go to Tulum make sure you go on the ship's tour. It is a long bus ride there and the ship will only wait for their tours to get back. If you do it on your own and for some reason are delayed from getting to the ship, they will not wait. (You have to take a ferry to get off Cozumel.)

If you are going to Mahogany Bay in Roatan, the snorkeling there is lousy. Take a cab to Tabyanna for great snorkeling. Our last time there you had to have a tour to snorkel there so our cab took us too the hotel next door. We put our stuff on their beach and walked right over to Tabyanna.

We've done the cave tubing twice! We went with Reggie. The ship can have 30-40 people on their tour. The private ones are better because they don't have as many people on their tours. The ships charge between $84 ands $95 for tour to same caves, same amount of time to get there, same everything and we paid $45 plus under $5 to get in. Just Google 'cave tubing in Belize".

If you don't have a waterproof camera buy a throw-a-way underwater camera. They come with a rubber band for your wrist and they float so they don't sink. And they are not worth anything if you leave them on the beach. Why take a phone?

We don't take much cash ashore with us. Our sign 'n sail card, a bit of cash and a credit card are in our short's pocket which are in the bottom of our beach bag when we swim -who wants to swim alone? Sit near someone with your ship's towel and you can ask them to keep an eye on your stuff and do same for them.

We have been cruising since 1985, always go to beaches and they only time we felt our stuff had to be watches was in Jamaica- saw a man climb over n 8' fence with barbed wire on top!

Thanks for the answers but we don't want t pricey ship. Any NCL, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity type ships? We do have a budget and drive to whatever port the ship leaves from.

Many, many years ago we went to San Blas off the coast of Panama. This was a favorite port. There is no other like it! We did a canal cruise on a ship that ended up in India. It was a stop for Holland America on there way through the canal a few years ago but don't think they do that now. We can't go through it (hate to fly to a coast and $$$). Just in to Lake Gatune is fine. Do you know of any ships that go there now? Thanks!

You can bring Downey's Wrinkle Release which you spry on clothes to get the wrinkles out- but do this in the morning to give time for it to work. You can find this with the detergents in any grocery store. You can also bring a steamer to do this.

I would say Carnival, Royal Caribbean (RCCL), or Norwegian (NCL). I know Carnival tires to put ages together but don't know about the other two in the dining room. Celebrity is more of a country club type of cruise, older people. A friend on their 1st cruise got turned away from the dining room because he didn't have a jacket on (he went and got one!). Holland America caters to older people, and I'm not sure of Princess. On our Princess cruise a year ago we had to be the youngest on board and we are in our late 60's. But this year we were closer to the oldest and had a ball. There was so much good stuff going on we often didn't get to bed until 2AM! So you never know with them. Also the longer the cruise- 10+ days- the older the passengers as they are retied and or can take more time off, can afford a longer cruise. A 7 day cruise would be fine. Carnival has a good mix of ages.

When you choose a ship and date, make sure you go to your roll call so you can email other people who will be on your cruise. You can ask about ages here too.

When we started cruising in 1985 you gave the porter a dollar per bag. But, that was a long time ago! Now we give $2 each bag or $5 for our small, carry on size two bags. If they take our luggage to our car, we tip more. The price of everything has gone way up so we feel tips should also reflect this.

We parked there last month. The parking lot is right next to the ship, an easy walk. Only problem was it was raining and we didn't have rain gear so next time I will have a small collapsible umbrella!

You must book 'early saver'. This is 4-6 months before your cruise, depending on length of the cruise. Then every time YOU find a lower price YOU notify Carnival of that price. Then they verify it. They will not tell you when the price goes down you must tell them. If it is before final payment they will match that price. If it is after final payment you will be given on board credit for that amount. On a Glory B2B we had $240 OBC for each cruise!

A Maitre'd on a Carnival ship had a heart attack on the Lido deck and the ship detoured to Port Canaveral to the closest hospital. When he got there he was told if it weren't for the care he got on the ship, he would be in a wheel chair or pine box!

He never told his wife he had the attack and was going home for his 3 month check up when we met him, and was afraid to tell her. They lived in Orlando. He was afraid she wouldn't let him keep cruising but she did.

Well, we met him again a few weeks ago and he is still a Sr. Maitre'd for Carnival and is in good health.

We sail a LOT on Carnival's Fantasy out of Charleston, SC. (A 4 1/2 hour drive!) The ship fills up with their water and we can't stand it. Someone from Charleston told us once why their water is awful but don't remember why. Anyway, we bought a water filter from Lowes - under $20- and put it on our bathroom sink. Now our water tastes fine!

Carnival now counts the DAYS each person spends on board. They do not count the number of cabins anyone books or the number of Carnival cruises you've been on. They started this in end of July, 2012.

First time Carnival cruisers get a blue sign 'n sail card. Then red, then gold, platinum and after 200 days, a diamond card.

We love the Fantasy and are going on her again today. They have a great kid's program! Once when we were on her they had just under 1,000 kids and we never really saw any! (School had just gotten off for the summer.) We have an easy drive, 4 1/2 hours to Charleston and really got to know officers and crew and a captain, who is now working at Carnival's main office in Miami, very well.

We got off the Fascination last month and hardly saw kids there either. They were there but Camp Carnival kept all busy and happy on this ship as they do on the fantasy!

Go with the ship that is the easiest to get to. You won't be disappointed on any of them.

What ships still have the midnight buffet? I can't think of one that still does. When we started cruising every ship had them EVERY night!

And, join your Roll Call here on cruisecritic! This is where other passengers email each other, plan to take tours together and usually have a Meet & Greet to meet each other. When you post here, make sure you scroll down from your post and hit "Instant email replies" before you hit 'post'. Then you will get a copy each time someone posts here.

We have met some great people this way and once 12 of us chartered our own private sunset snorkeling tour in Aruba!

Many, many years ago, when you tendered to a dock across from the Radison as there was no port then, we were told to walk in the MIDDLE of the street. We were walking into town. This was so no one could pull you into an alley. There were 4 of us and we did walk in the middle of the road!

We prefer the southern- Curacao, Aruba, maybe Dominica, Barbadoes. These islands just don't seem as crowded with as many tourists/ships.

Yes, SOME shows are at 7pm for 2nd seating and other nights are at 10:30 for second seating. The 6:15 dinner shows are at 8pm.

WE are Diamond on Carnival- 305 days on Carnival. Don't remember ever missing a show because we ALWAYS eat at 8:15. Shows are at 7pm or 10:30pm. Yes there may be a game we miss but you can always see these on your TV in your cabin.

We have tried the 6:15 dinner but it isn't for us- too early to eat and the night is longer.

Once we got a phone call about upgrading, I said no. Then I called our Carnival TA (works for Carnival) and she got us the up grade for exactly half of what the phone call offered! So, we took it!

I turn off my phone when we get on board. My message says I can't get calls but leave a message. I can get voicemail & texts but don't turn my phone back on until the day we get home. Then I listen to messages/texts.

You can usually get coffee 24 hours a day in the buffet. On most Princess ships this is located right outside the food buffet near the tables.

Once we got to the airport and checked our bags. The attendant looked at our ticket for a flight leaving later and said to us "There's a flight leaving in 15 minutes. Would you like to take that flight?" Of course we said yes and were home a few hours earlier. This was a few years ago. Probably can't do this now. We haven't flown anywhere is a long time- we now drive to ports.

Have done B2Bs. If you get off the ship to go somewhere you can't get back on until all the new passengers are getting on. If you stay on the ship everyone will meet, usually about 10am after everyone else is off the ship, and get escorted to customs. Then all turn around and get back on the ship.

If you must change cabins leave everything IN the drawers and just exchange the drawers in your new cabin. You room steward will help you move.