ekajun1957

First off the things in NOLA all the good have been mentioned but you not arriving until 5PM the day before, that only leaves a chance to eat, maybe street car ride, see Jackson Square and a walk down Bourbon. Want more on where to eat tell us what you like.

One thing once on the ship, be out on deck for sailaway and a while after, sailing the river is wonderful especially as it gets dark.

This is something no one can answer for you because how much and what kind of motion makes you sick and what medicine or what other natural remedy works varies much between each person. Sometimes it takes a few trips to find what works or that nothing works at some point. Being you have experienced it before you don't mention if you ever took something and it helped or never have tried. But just my advice is if you have something you have taken before and it helps go ahead and start that ahead of time as the medicine advises. Also the ginger does work for many people so using it might work and surely won't hurt.

We have had connecting bedrooms on deck 9 and 10. On 9 the balcony connected also and we could get them to open it. On deck 10 we had connecting rooms with a friend on one side and a friend on other side. Odd that the balcony opened to the adjoining room and not the connecting room. Worked well though as when all were awake we could move between the three rooms without going into the hallway. We were in room 10228.

If your go lock at deck plans on Cruise Critic or Carnival page it does have a little door emblem on the connecting rooms but no info on which balconies connect.

Loved Bodden tours, no complaint what so ever. Made shopping stops at Chocolate Factory and Rum Factory. Stopped at the cameo store. They almost always take you to the hill top to look down on the port. Quick tour of town to learn a bit of history and how they live.

Think you can see that Cove vs Lido is a personal preference. I have done both and would do either again. My wife likes both but prefers Lido.

Also agree it is well worth it.

I have read these FIVE pages of comments on the propulsion issue and think back and went check and the threads on propulsion issues with Carnival have not changed in frequency a whole lot but the number of comments and views on each of these threads are getting longer and longer each time. Also googled this subject and seldom found an actual news media article on a propulsion issue on a ship 5 years ago. The latest ones the past two years each had multiple articles written. So maybe this is another of those perception issues caused by the ever increasing amount of information we get on each day of our lives. Just look at the number of people on Cruise Critic now and 5 years ago and the number of threads created.

The one example I always use is 9/11. On September 10th 2001 we all viewed air travel as pretty safe and certainly not a likely target of terrorism. The next day our perception completely changed.

We did Bodden tours and it was great. We had a private tour with about 14 of us though. Highly recommend them. Also don't worry about fitness on the tour most things are a short walk. Oh, catch the $2 cab out to the excursions as it is bit of a walk if you don't book with Carnival.

Just back month ago and went to Nachi. $17 for up to 4, $34 up to 8

Did you book it? I didn't see a date of your sailing. We will be on the Dream on Feb 19th. We also have a cove balcony. We had our first cove balcony last year on a med cruise on the Vista and loved it. Can't wait to get my sea legs again.

 

I was looking at LFK as well but I read somewhere that they aren't very nice to the animals. For those of you that have been.......What do you think?

There are of course some animal people never like any animal in a cage. But I saw nothing my two times there that at all looked anything but well cared for animals. Yes they do make money from the animals but saw no abuse or mistreatment to do this.

Thanks so much for the info!! We've only ever dined down in the quarter. Acme Oyster, the other one across the street. tried not to venture too much further down in the evening becuase we have kids along.

 

One year we took the streetcar and went ot Katies. That was really good. But I like the thought of trying the other direction. Are the restaurants you've listed kid friendly?

Superior Grill or Superior Seafood would certainly be and has outside with a view or patio.

Rest are bit more upscale

Nachi Cocom gets my vote too. You can search it out online and book in advance, it now takes 130 people and there are some days that I heard have booked up in advance so might be good to reserve.

http://www.cozumelnachicocom.com

Well as I live near by here is my advice. Have them come in and park at a lot that will keep their car from time they get their to after cruise and stay at Drury Inn. Need help with a lot to do this I can help. St. Charles Ave is just a block from the Drury Inn. Catch the street car to go where you want to go, very cheap, little walking. And here is another idea, if you never have instead of going to the French Quarter catch the street car in the other direction and ride to the end of St. Charles for a good time. Several great restaurants on St. Charles from the far end back to Canal St. , Superior Grill(frozen margarita), Superior Seafood, Vincents, Blind Pelican(also a great pub), Herb Saint, Desi Vegas(superb high end steak house), and even more.

ekajun1957 - just as I had posted below - do you happen to know if the port WILL take your bags early? We had read that they will turn you away until your board time. That is why, even though our hotel is a "Park and Sail" hotel (the original reason we booked with them), we are thinking to not take that benefit and just go ahead and park at the port parking deck around 9 and just walk around until time to board.

The time will vary I am sure of when they start taking bags as it depends on the time back in port, clearing customs and unloading. I would do the port parking if the money is not an issue. Get back to car in parking and unload bags when you want.

I will also say if you have never been LFK is a must, wonderful place, been twice. Also if looking for something else in Roatan then Bodden Tours are great and wonderfully priced.

We are going in late April on the Jade out of Tampa ... Was wondering where you all jump in off the higher point, is the water deep enough that you can dive in without hitting bottom ???:)

Yes everything is safe there, proper depths and equipment for diving and swinging off the rope.

Just thought I'd throw this out there, I read on a Tripadvisor review that they have added an additional bar on the beach. A good idea with the increased capacity

There now is a bar on the beach saving the servers some time and walking

We did Nachi Cocom again in December. The food was very good. The salsa is nice and hot and authentic, quacomole was very good. Fish is grilled a few different ways but is fresh and was grouper when we were there, excellent.

But for me the hit was the ceviche. It was real Mexican and even had octopus in it with great lime accent to it. Not watered down for American taste.

Well love these Mardi Gras New Orleans cruise threads. Yes it will be difficult in some way to get to the port because of Mardi Gras. LEAVE EARLY! If coming in from I 10 West then turn on local radio or find a traffic app and check on Bonnet Carre spillway from the time you leave Baton Rouge and know the alternate route. Get there before 10AM by all means possible. If parking at Fulton Street garage get there early. The Krewe of Thoth will block up traffic as their busses that take them to their parade line up and leave on Convention Center Blvd. The yellow school busses head out around 10 carrying 1500 riders. If you leaving that day remember this also. I ride in Thoth so know what a problem we can be. If you decide to attend that first parade or if you staying in New Orleans that day and will walk to the port at some point make sure you are on the port side of the parade route before the first parade gets there. If you are near the parade route after the parades reach that part of St. Charles you will not get a taxi. So go drop bags early.

Also for anyone else if you want a more relaxing Mardi Gras experience come in early on Saturday and enjoy the parades that day and night. Endymion on Saturday night is amazing. Your hotel should store your bags until check in time.

Also if coming in Saturday might check with Machu Picchu Tours and Parking and they deliver to the port and pick up. Think you can arrange for them to bring you to hotel on Friday or Saturday stay parked there and they pick up at port and bring you to your car.

Also since on the Lido go the the front and find the door around the corner and they have a walkway across the front of the ship that is great, kind of a secret place. We loved Lido deck

4. People bumped into me, I bumped into people. We had to wait for elevators. People cut in front of us lines, sometimes ones we had been waiting in for a long time. People behind us were loud during a show. I decided these annoyances are part of the experience and decided not to devote any energy to being worried about it.

Last cruise this guy bumped me and nearly knocked me down and I dropped my small carry on. He was truly sorry and apologetic. That night he is at the card table with me in the casino. He is winning and buying the drinks. Bumping can be a good thing

Last people behind us in a show talking too much were better entertainment than the show. Could not believe this group of four or so talking about the other with them that were not there. Hilarious.

Waiting in line and on elevators and people cutting teaches me inner discipline and peace and affords me more time to just ignore it all and relax. We also stand at elevators and amongst ourselves point out the "amusingly" pushy people. Like the 5 foot nothing 83 year old grandma cutting off 6'4 monster size guy with 4 kids and a stroller.

First of all the beach side of your question is totally your choice, both Roatan and Cozumel have great beaches. Looking for quantity of stuff to shop for inside the town then Cozumel is it. Cozumel is about shopping for those who wan to. If you are going into Mahogany Bay with Carnival they have a nice local vendors area within the port area you can stop at on the way back from the beach.

Bored? I would not think so. There will be some ship activity, chances to meet and talk to others who did not go on excursions which more likely be regular cruiser and learn a lot from them. Being its your first then take a walk on the dock watch the how independent operators work in that port. Go to the exit see if it looks like an area you would be comfortable in for future reference. There are usually places for more local drinks and drink specials and food quite often intentionally not like ship food.

So now that we see you are going here is some observations on the items you mentioned. We sailed Dec. 11 through 18. Did not have problems finding tables except right at a peak time but not like we were standing holding plates, just had to walk around and look a bit. As a note if it is not removed at dry dock the Pasta Bella was never full and never took long. It is above the buffet on Deck 11. There is a stairway behind the very rear dessert bar in the buffet. Good food when we ate there few times. There was most always a few chairs open at the pool and very few if any chair hogs.

Most notable thing to us is MDR takes longer to finish now than in the past. Most everyone we talked to had one night when it was worse but not like terrible. With reduced staff when they fall behind its hard to catch back up.

Actually I kind of liked the slow pace in the dining room as we were a large group and had fun with the leisurely pace. Although slower our food was never cold from sitting around.

Sea Day breakfast/brunch never took long to get seated. Steak House was well worth the price the one night we went.

We had robes when we got to our rooms but some of the group had to ask for them.

If you want to know more write me or ask on here I follow this regular

I am from right outside New Orleans so this is a resident not a every so often tourist.

The last station of the street car line is very close to the port. You can catch and get to the "edge" of the French Quarter. It does not go "into" the French Quarter.

One line will follow the River Front down to French Market and pass right the foot of Canal St. then by St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square.

It also has a line that turns down Canal Street which again is along the edge of the French Quarter.

$1.25 each way and takes like 15 20 minutes to get up to the French Quarter.

I don't know what times they will start letting cars park but I know of people who say they arrive as early as 930AM.