cganesh

Check out the 7 day 4 days in Cuba (3 cities) on Sirena. She was recently renovated and holds 750 passengers and doesn't have to tender anywhere. We don't have our Cuban cruise until Oct and booked last April. They also have other lengths of cruises including Cuba plus other Caribbean stops.

Cherie Ganesh

Memphis, TN

Darwin Maya. Thanks so much for the clarification of how the Cuban insurance is done. I kept reading on Oceania website that required Cuban insurance is included nothing I got from TA stated anything but Cuban insurance is required. We don't normally buy cruise insurance but self insurance so glad to see we don't need to buy anything else unless we want typical cruise insurance.

Cherie Ganesh

Memphis, TN

We did afternoon round trip. I wished we had chosen the rail up and bus down so we would have had opportunity to get out at various places aling the way down and take pics. Coming down on train was a little boring and we had shopped and walked all morning in port so fell asleep on way down.

Cherie Ganesh

Memphis, TN

I was on Triumph Dec 9-14, 2017 and at that time the ship was very clean, buffet area was very clean with crew cleaning aling the passenger side of the line everytime I went there, no garbage lying around public areas and cabin was kept very nicely. It's my understanding that issues in the inspection and been rectified and ship will be ready for the required follow-up inspection. No reports of noro onboard during the same time as multiple reports from various other brand ships. We had no complaints about the overall condition of the ship, condition of cabin or overall food and foid service. Just like stateside restaurants and hotels, inspections can be worse than operator expected but just like stateside restaurants and hotels, in most cases, Carnival took immediate action and rectified the problems. I wouldn't hesitate cruising on Triumph again.

We had a fun cruise and enjoyed spending time with the new crew especially in Windjammer prat ice their English. Some of the girls were especially excited that we took time to talk to them. DH and I went to some napkin folding classes and his favorite was a shoe with a pointed toe. He made one in the Windjammer and his favorite girl loved it and next day she comes back with a rose napkin for him. She had gone looking for someone to teach her how to do one and was so excited to give it to him. We tend to find many ways to enjoy ourselves and once we understood what was going on with renovations during the repositioning, we just ignored the problems and enjoyed the small pleasures on a cruise. I imagine that the worse part of renovations will occur once in drydock but I would guess they will start. Enjoy the port stops and hope you have a few days in Singapore pre-cruise. We met some lovely people there and the city was beautiful. You can spend all day in the airport and still not see everything there. You'll have a great cruise, just go with a sense of adventure and don't let the small things bug you.

Cherie

We were on Mariner between Dubai and Singapore when she repositioned to Singapore. The casino and other public areas were under construction as more space was converted to Asian style gambling venues and most of regular casino was being converted. New staff was being trained including customer service manager and staff. The work had started when they left Houston and continued until Singapore so effectively folks who did Houston to Singapore were on a "drydock" cruise and were livid about not being told the ship would be under construction the entire time. I was glad to see that the TA was canceled since based on past experience a lot of work would have been done prior to the scheduled drydock and probably a lot of staff changes to leave the primarily Chinese managers and start conversion to more English speaking management. I loved the ship itself and hope to cruise on her again after this massive drydock.

Cherie

Sauces could have butter, cream, yogurt, etc but not sure about kabobs. Many times kabobs are marinated in a spicy yogurt sauce before being grilled. The cooks there would be more than happy to tell you what marinade they use. Rice is usually steamed and seasoned or steamed and stir fried. My husband is lactose intolerant but doesn't seem to have issues with yogurt since whey is usually drained out in the process of making yogurt. If you are a true allergy and not just lactose intolerance I would definitely get there shortly before they open so you can ask those questions. There is also a main chef that is over all of the restaurants who would be the best person to ask about ingredients. We have had the pleasure to talk to him on several cruises about the Indian food they serve on the Dream. I believe if you ask guest services they can help you get a time to see him about your questions.

Cherie

It's really no big deal. The only real benefit is having cabin ready as soon as you board so you can drop carryon stuff off in cabin. We have always chosen boarding time noon-12:30, get checked in and usually onboard in about 15 minutes, have lunch and cabin is ready. No rush, no stress, just taking our time to fully enjoy the cruise.

Cherie

DH is from India and he's always at Tandoor Grill for lunch. We're on Dream 9/17 and you'll find us there every day when they open. The kabobs they make are very tasty and not overly spicy. Years ago I learned to eat Indian food by mixing yogurt into anumythibg that had a sauce until my taste buds got used to the spices. Food is different throughout India and there are some things even he doesn't like because it's so different from what he grew up eating. Drink water, tea, coffee or beer with Indian food since sodas can make the hot taste hotter. There are usually different dishes to try each day. Try a little and see if you like it.

Cherie

FTTF was not offered in Europe for any of Carnival's sailings on the Vista. The Horizon will be the same way.

Agreed. Too many Platinum and above passengers so no room to offer FTTF. Our Journeys cruise in Oct for Panama Canal isn't selling any FTTF for same reason. We turn Platinum on that cruise and I've met a dozen or more online already that turn Platinum on that cruise.

Cherie

If you parked did y'all use the port parking thanks trying to decide where to park

 

 

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We always park at Fulton St garage and get shuttled to the port and avoid the long lines of cars trying to get to port garage or to the area to drop off bags and park elsewhere. Rooftop parking at Fulton St is usually $10/day or less with a coupon and inside is about $12/day. The guys there help unload or bags, put them on shuttle and when at pirt, porters come to bus to check and take our bags. Bus us always waiting when we disembark and we really like avoiding the heavy traffic at the port and love how much easier it is to get to the northbound highway to head home. We take our time getting off since we don't have a plane to catch so we're really relaxed when we pickup our car and head home.

Cherie

Be aware that the towns aling the gulf Coast from NOLA east to Gulfport all have Mardi Gras parades and schools have a holiday week one of the two weeks of Mardi Gras. Will be more kids onboard those weeks than other "school" times. Hotel prices will be crazy all through the area so book early if going during Mardi Gras.

Cherie

My husband is from India and he's never had trundle getting Indian food every night if he wanted it. Since Indian food varies throughout India he really enjoys the foid when chef is South Indian. They usually cook Indian food for crew every night so he often asks what they cooked for the crew. Just ask.

Cherie

I just reinstalled the Drivewise app for Android and it's working. I was told they weren't going to update it but I guess they did. Great news and I'll see if it tracks next time i'm in car.

Haven't used my All state drivewise in a while. I went to order some the other day and it won't let me in with out updating a policy number. Anyone have the same issues?

 

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The Drivewise app is no longer supported and everyone who has a password still can use the Allstate site to login. We just cancelled our policies and before cancelling I called and talked to the Drivewise customer service line and they indicated that I would still be able to access my reward points. I have more than enough points to buy gift cards at a discount for a long time so don't really call much right now about earning more points. Go to Allstaterewards.com and try to login there. I just logged into my account after the insurance was cancelled last week and go it ok. I talked to a person named Brandy and she said to use the Allstate mobile app to use Drivewise to track mileage. Haven't tried that since dropped the insurance and we had the monitors on our cars before. good lubk.

Definitely leave roaming off, leave wifi if on and keep your Samsung in airplane mide until you're back in the states. Roaming onboard the ship will tie you into the satellite cell phone service which is very expensive. You can usually do a wifi call through Facebook Messenger on any phone and tgat's what I do. You can easily play around with wifi calling before your cruise by putting phone in airplane nose which turns off the cellular connection. Turn on wifi and get on your home Internet service and call someone on your phone. If it doesn't work call Verizon' tech line. To call from Facebook Messenger do same steps and then open Facebook messenger app and call one of your folks in your contacts. Should work. You'll have no cell phone roaming charges or data service bills as long as you always stay on airplane mode.

Cherie

I traveled several times with Mom who needed walker and never had any issues flying with it. Flight attendants either helped us gate check it once Mom was seated or in most cases found a place to store it onboard if needed to get to restroom. You'll find that the help you get is great when traveling with someone with medical problems. Make sure to put on your flight reservations that she needs wheelchair at airport. That assures that one is waiting when you get off to make connections. DH and I are seniors and pretty mobile but he has breathing issues if we have to go really fast to make connections. We had a 40 minute time between connecting flights in a major airport so I ordered one for him and whrn we got off plane they insisted I get in one also. We would have never made the connection if we had tried to walk. I would definitely take her equipment and ask for wheelchair at airport.

Cherie

Wait, so you only need one fttf per cabin? I had no idea.

Yes. See the link in my later post.

I should have been more clear i suppose. The photo op was only one of the reasons and i just used it as an example. There is really more to it. My DW agreed to be paired with one of the children of the group that got FTTF but we were unable to get it for her cabin. This is our first cruise in 27 years and the 13 year old child's first ever. We just all wanted to be together boarding to see his face light up when he walks on board. There are numerous family members and it would just be a fun experience and stinks that Carnival will not accommodate such a situation. I get all of the staffing issues and such but i'm sure there are not that many groups in our situation and adding 1 cabin can't be that big of a deal. Oh well, thanks for the input and I guess we will work it out someway.

Cherie

Yes. If more were purchased you should be able to get them transferred to the other cabins that didn't get one and get refunds from Carnival for the extra ones. Here's the link that explains what you get and that only one per cabin is needed. Since it's booked as an excursion you shouldn't have issue getting refunds if too many were purchased. Carnival will sell them as soon as they hit the website for your cruise.

https://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/galveston/faster-to-the-fun-115020#

Unless there are delays in your ship getting into port and cleared for an on time debarkation, the ship is typically empty by around 10 am. We have chosen to wait until end to avoid standing in lines getting off and going thru customs and last time on Dream were next to last folks off the cruise. If there's no football game the day you get back to New Orleans you need to allow an hour to get from port to airport by taxi or Uber. If a football day. Allow 2 hours to be safe if daytime game. Ships we have been on thete have started debarkation around 7:30. If you don't carry off all your bags or have priority debarkation numbers assume worst case 10 am off, 20 minutes getting bags and thru customs and a few minutes to get a taxi. I think they used to say no earlier than noon but that could be tight if not off ship early as mentioned above. I hope that helps.

Cherie

Getting into the hallways without priority boarding which includes FTTF has really tightened up over last couple of years. There are less room stewards and they have a very short time to turn around the cabins and csn't do their work with everyone on ship ignoring the signs and clogging up the hallways. Just checkin and wait in terminal until 1:30 to board or just wait until 1 pm to checkin and you won't have but a few minutes to wait. I take one small rolling suitcase onboard as carryon and I just keep it with us while we have lunch.

Cherie

Bermuda is very expensive for everything so you won't find any deals there on perfume. I have also never seen any significant savings onboard. I too buy all male and female fragrances online--fragrancenet.com is my favorite and many times I can get testers for a significant savings. They come without caps so I save caps when the bottles I have from "retail packaged" bottles are empty.

Cherie

while booking for a group of 24 people, the last 2 were not able to purchase fttf. We have diligently watched for months. We are now 12 days out with no hope of getting FTTF for the last two. We really want to board as a group for a picture. Any suggestion?

I know of nothing you can do if no more FTTF slots are available. Make sure only one per cabin was purchased since that's all that's needed. If any are platinum or above they already have priority boarding and can wait a few minutes to board with the group. You may just need to get a group pic made onboard during the cruise instead of when boarding. With that many people that would be much easier to coordinate and set-up. The photographers have many different backgrounds that can be used for your group or you could find a staircase where a pic could be made and have everyone on different levels. Check with the staff at Pixels when you get onboard and see what they suggest for such a large group.

Cherie

I would suggest going online and putting your dates in. If the dates are accepted no problem. I'd drop everything off at hotel before going to parking garage. Be sure and check their hours so you get the car there before they close. You'll probably need to book the indoor parking since roof may be full of 7 day cruisers.

Cherie

I redeemed that code June 4th did you get it in an email today?

Just redeemed it in last 30 minutes. Got it from here and always just input and see if they are accepted.

Cherie