BTHodgeman

Make it a point to enjoy yourself and your cruise! That's the biggest "mistake" people make when traveling. Personally, I find it next to impossible to not have a good time. You're with family, away from work, and you should have a great time.

Sometimes, stuff goes wrong. Make the best of it and move on. No point to let something minor ruin or inconvenience a vacation.

I carry two cards with me to Europe. One is a debit to an account I have with USAA. I only have funds in this account I want to spend on the trip. The other is a Capital One MC that I use as back up. Both of the cards have foreign transaction fees.

Capital One doens't charge foreign transaction fees on any of its cards. I'd be surprised if USAA did, too. Did you mean to put that both of them have NO foreign transaction fees?

Outdoor Promenade on Deck three is always relaxing, and shaded.

Another vote for the outdoor promenade area. NO traffic at all. Serenity level would be a second, but it still gets kind of noisy up there. You can hear the music and activities from the pool.

Does anyone have any experience using Apple Music through ship's wifi? I wanted to try it on Sunshine next month.

I listened to my Playlist songs a few times in December, but it wasn't streaming. It was all pre-downloaded stuff.

For us, FTTF was worth it for two main reasons:

1. No wait for our cabin
   
2. No wait at Guest Services
   

We didn't expect to spend much time at Guest Services, but it was nice not to have to wait in a 20-30 minute line the few times we did have to get things addressed (Sail & Sign card malfunction, charged for someone else's spa service, etc.).

Also, not sure if this is consistent, but we got Zone 2 luggage tags with a letter indicating it was due to having purchased FTTF. So if you're not self-debarking, it's a good zone to have. We self-debarked and flashed our cards to be able to join the Diamonds in the dining room. We were probably among the first 50 people off the ship.

We sailed "Valor" about three weeks ago, and had a flat screen in our inside cabin, on deck 1. I think they upgraded the T.V.'s when the original old tube type T.V.'s failed.

We too, had a GREAT time aboard "Valor". No major complaints at all. ;)

 

"SKY"

I think you're right here. We did the Behind the Fun tour, and when we were on the shipping/receiving deck, we saw a couple pallets with old TVs on them.

I too imagine that when an old TV fails, they replace it with a flat screen. Her upcoming dry dock may swap all of them out -- but I believe the focus is more on the public spaces, adding Red Frog, etc.

I have no medical reason -- just comfort -- and on my last cruise on Valor in December, I called Guest Services and they had a fan sent to my cabin within 10 minutes.

The one thing I've seen on JH's FB page is that there is a ton of inconsistency. Some people don't get them confiscated, some people have no issues getting one from Guest Services, and others get hassled both ways.

We were FTTF on our last cruise, but there were plenty of tender boats waiting as soon as we anchored that we didn't even need to jump to the front of the line. We were on Valor in Belize in December, and waited less than 5 minutes to get on a boat to shore.

Also - we didn't receive any instructions on how to take advantage of priority tendering in our cabin.

Does Carnival only offer these on the first day? It's the only time we saw them on our 7-day in December. I grabbed a handful and they were delicious. Was hoping to see them again throughout the cruise, but never did.

I took my first cruise in December 2015, and just last week in my account saw a "Pack and Play" offer, with fares starting at $75 and up, with $100 OBC included. On that December cruise, I earned around 3000 points over 7 days.

Booked the Vista trans-atlantic for this coming October. Upgraded to a balcony room for, what I think, was a phenomenal price.