karessamom

Were staying in Texas City at the Best Western Mainland. (in the Mall of the Mainland perimeter.) the Avis rental car place is right there so we can return the car on Sunday morning of our cruise and take a shuttle to Galveston. In fact I just found out yesterday after calling the Local (texas City) Avis that there is a key drop outside the mall so you don't even have to wait for them to open to return car. There is a VIP shuttle that runs the Galveston and Texas City areas--recommended by the (BW Mall of the Mainland) hotel that we're staying in that will come and pick you up and shuttle you to Galveston for $25 for the 2 of us Total! I was very excited because Avis said they'd shuttle us back for $50 and of course you'd have to wait til they opened.

In a very good way! Down because there are no time limits--no ports or activities to make no time Frames! TOTALLY relax and do what ever you want days!! Go swimming, sit in the sun, shop the shops, go gambling, explore the ship--Dive in movies, Art auctions don't have to buy but sometimes it's a hoot to go and listen to the others that go and get drunk lol, there's a lot to do. On our first cruise DH was ready to jump ship at the first port because he didn't know how to turn off his type A personality and relax. It took us our first cruise 10 years ago for him to learn! we're looking forward to our next cruise together in Aug! and Oh how I love sea days!!

Didn't know you could pick the time you wanted to board??

No subs on the free wine

We don't drink so I guess we'll bring our own or pay for it if they have it on board--we'd be willing to even do that if they carried such a thing.

Can you get sparkling cider instead?? or do they have that available???

So what happens when you choose a rate that's cheaper than what you paid? Do they apply that amount as OBC?

They can give OBC or refund the difference. In my case what they did was that I just ended up owing less (when we changed the first time) 2nd time because I had my cruise paid off already I gave my TA my cc and she charged the additional $20. I think like I said that if you don't have your cruise paid off yet you'll just end up owing less if it's paid OBC or you might be able to get a refund.

When I first booked my cruise last year for this year, we booked ES and because we couldn't afford anything else we booked an inside Port hole at I think it was about $900 p/p for inside(I know it was terrible) then in Feb the rates went down so we could book an OV even for a little less than the 900 so we changed. then in March the guaranteed Balconies (which is really what we wanted in the first place) went down to where we only paid $20 bucks (total) more so we were able to grab that! no cancellations or penalty fees, because we stayed on same cruise same ship etc. we were just again taking advantage of the savings available. TA had no problem switching things out.

"I know some do not start dancing until they reach sd's,but we will also be doing a dd dance since we booked 18 months out. DH is having surgery next week. Hope he will be up to dancing a couple of weeks after. If not I may have to come on here to find some friends who will share in my dance."

a Speedy recovery for your husband and his surgery.

OMGosh! only 99 days and we're off on our trip! it's coming fast! and I can't be any more excited!! I'm doing the double digit dance! YIPPEEEE!!!!!

Probably--this is the time to start shopping around for airfare and if you find a good price take it. On May 14th they will release the schedule thru Jan 4th for Southwest. Usually you'll find better fares with SW and there's no baggage fees. but again that's your call to make. Good luck. we're flying out of SLC to Houston in Aug. and we got really good airfare with SW. Good luck oh by the way here's the link for the schedules https://www.southwest.com/html/travel-tools/index.html if anyone needs that.

We found this out the "hard" way well sort of--ha! We were booked on a SW flight from SLC to Hou for our cruise the returning flight at 1:30 the day we got back, however when I tried to plug that into the system so we could book the carnival transfer from the pier to the airport it said it wouldn't allow flights any earlier than I think 2:30 or 3PM so we had to rebook the flight at a later time--low and behold the new flight was less expensive than the original one so we have a credit on our acct. personally if you're off the boat by 8 or 9 I can't see why in the world they won't let you book a flight earlier than 2 or 3 but oh well I guess we'll spend a few hours hanging out at the airport ha!

If you booked ES they will let you change--we did twice!! because the prices kept going down. we're finally into a GU Bal. for our Aug Cruise! That's what we wanted to begin with but at the time of booking (last year) they were like 1400-1500 per person) we couldn't afford it so we booked inside PH (even that was over 900 at the time) then OV went down so we changed and a few weeks ago the balconies finally went down so we changed again. We'd made final payment first part of March. but the final payment wasn't DUE until May so with a June cruise you're final payment date might of passed and maybe that's why they couldn't do it??

We already purchased FTTF for our Aug 9th Magic sailing--now that the price has gone up will they still honor it or are we screwed. I actually looked yesterday and yes the price had gone up but there were also none available. will the one we purchased for the $49.95 still work?? and by the way we purchased it so we can get aboard the ship sooner so we can hopefully book the Behind the Fun Tour before it's sold out.

for Aug 9 2015 we booked thru a TA. We really wanted a balcony as we were very pleased with the one we had on first cruise 10 years ago. however at the time they were like $1400 per person or some ridiculous amt. so we booked inside PH. on Early saver. In about Feb the price went down for an OV so we changed it to an OV (it was actually less than the PH by about $50-100 bucks can't remember exactly) now after checking last week, the GU balconies had come drastically down to where I only paid $20 more to get a guaranteed balcony than I had paid for the OV. so stoked! I had paid off our cruise in March about the 12th or 13th. it has so worked out for us. now the TA did say that i'd be unable to change it again, so hoping we don't get a room in a bad location but it doesn't really matter. we got our balcony! (i'm sure the TA thought I was crazy changing so many times ha)

Would they have Martinelli's Sparkling Cider by any chance?? We don't drink but would love something like that

As soon as your room is assigned you will be able to change it to a king bed. No worries!! Congrats on an awesome deal!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you I was so panicked I put a call into my TA or at least left her a message. Glad I don't have to worry. Thanks

When I just pulled up our booking it says 2 single beds (with no option to change)--it was supposed to be a King--does this mean that we could end up with single beds?? I thought all balcony cabins could covert to KING?? or am I mistaken??

~~~"I'm about to loose control and I think I like it........~~~~~

Well I am excited! I was able to change our OV room on Magic to GUaranteed Balcony on Magic for only $20 more! yeahh!! We actually wanted a balcony to begin with but when we booked our cruise they were like 1400-1500 pp which we could not afford. They've come down to $929 for Guaranteed only costing us $20 more total than what we were paying for OV!!!

If you're typing on a phone it will auto-correct and most of the time when it does that it's wrong LOL!

I know that for our cruise in Aug, when I tried to book a flight with the Carnival transfer, they wouldn't let me book it any earlier than 3:30. Crazy because we're going to have to sit and wait all day at the airport. but it was the only way I could do this with the Carnival transfer. If I tried any earlier it would come up invalid or some stupid thing.

if there was something on Magic's Aug 9th cruise but it's not a deal breaker--we're already booked so it doesn't really matter that much. it would just add icing to the cake ha!

on Magic! I was super excited until I had Open Heart surgery a couple of weeks ago (actually almost a month ago) and although we're still really excited i'll be more excited once the pain all goes away and i'm back to normal again. 17 weeks to do that! yes it will be done!!

My husband and I both have cpap machines and I will be taking portable O2 consontrator, they are supposed to be connected to a surge protector (I use a surge protector power strip so we can also plug in our phones etc.) would that be ok?? we can take an extension cord and run it under the bed but we still need the surge protector hooked up

When I checked again a few days later it was back up to the normal rates--don't know what happened. oh well. I'm still happy with the cabin we have.

Yes I booked early saver

As I figured as soon as my cruise got paid off balcony cabins are going for less than what I paid for ov. What options if any do I have. We originally booked magic porthole cabin upgraded to ov on back of ship then paid off cruise and have done a mock booking to find that balcony is now less. Do I have any options