cruziJenn

(@ cantwait2setsail) But what everyone is saying is that it doesn't matter how you pay, a cancelled excursion gets credited to your S&S account. But we actually had to cancel an excursion ourselves on our last cruise for personal reasons and it was paid for by Gift Cards....and the refund was credited to our S&S account.

OP yes you may be able to book another excursion IF there is time to get there and IF there are any openings left. We canceled our excursion at about 10:15 that morning and it may have been possible to book another one that was starting later....I think...unless Carnival automatically shuts off booking all excursions for that day in port. I can't really say if they do that or not.

There is a difference in tipping for service that is unexpected such as the waiter remembering what you drink and tipping because the waiter was nice and chatted you up. They are in the service business it's their job to be nice.

Agree 100%. A number of times I/we have encountered service professionals that are clearly in the wrong job....and at other times it has been really obvious that someone is doing what they are really good at. To me bartenders are a perfect example, the ones that are able to truly remember you, SERVE YOU WELL (absolutely required!!) and always have something apropos to say to you, even when the bar is a madhouse of chaos. People like that really deserve having the tip glass stuffed to the brim....even when they are also getting 'standard' autograts on the baseline. It is my firm opinion that because they stand out in how they serve their customers then they really deserve sonething extra. It is not about how much they make in salary plus tips overall compared to my income or whether they are from Indonesia or Poland or UK or Russia or America, it is always about recognizing better than average service with better than average income. A job is a job is a job and when someone is at least a little 'outstanding' at their job then they should be rewarded for that.

Carnival allows knives with blades 4" or less.

Yes I just meant that I was stupid for forgetting about that knife and it caused us to get slowed down so he could check it out :rolleyes:

Sorry OP for misreading your Q which is mostly about texting each other. I didn't help at all.

And just btw I totally agree that the more you pay for internet service does NOT mean that you will get better internet service.

$200 as an additional TIP? Thats seems sorta high to me.

Lol....I think 'Havingfun2010' was just having a little fun with that :rolleyes:

Also I think that by normal restaurant standards the MDR portion of standard Gratuities is a little low, and so that's why we usually don't mind tipping a little extra when the service is at least 'good'....but not just because they're 'nice' because they can be nice or entertaining but still not give good service.

Depends on your own personal scale but for good service we always make sure to keep several $5 bills on us for extra tips....remembering that MDR crew are at the top of the list for the standard Gratuities that we always pay....and if more than one person on our wait staff team give good service we will tip each of them individually, usually $5. But then if you sit at the same table every night will you tip $5 (or more) every night?.....just don't get locked into feeling obligated to tip extra at every meal in MDR or feeling guilty for not tipping on some nights.

So if i can get/receive texts for a small charge, do I put my phone on airplane mode once on board?

 

And another thought - Can I deactivate my current phone & reactivate an old one for the trip? This way if something happens to it, I’m not losing my good phone?

You can switch phones through the Verizon website, don't need to call. DH has done it many times. I think you will need the SIM card number (it's on the card in tiny print). If you have used the old phone on Verizon before it will be on their list to be selected. Right after switching phones make a test call just to be sure that it registers on the Verizon system. I probably made it sound too complicated, but yes you certainly can switch phones back and forth on the same number.

We always buy one value package that can only be used on one device at a time and then we both can use one device at a time, either the laptop or my cell phone or his phone. We log out of each device when done. If you forget to log out and then try to use a different device it will remind you and ask if you want the other device to be logged out.

corkscrews are TSA approved

This sounds right to me. On our last cruise the guy searched my carry on bag and I was thinking "omg, that fold up corkscrew that's all metal and may have looked like a switchblade or something." We had left our good one home and that was the only one that we could find at the Publix that we stopped at the night before. DH started to tell him about it but the guy quickly shook his head and said "no that's fine"....and then he found the paring knife that I had brought to slice up apples on the drive down :rolleyes: lol....had totally forgotten about it. But he didn't even confiscate that. Stupid but true. But he didn't even give the corkscrew a second thought.

On this we agree. I've had a passport since 2006. Don't understand why some people are so reluctant to get one.

Maybe because of 'political' paranoia? :) .......

Depends how long the passport has been expired. If expired less than 5 years, she can renew the passport with just new photos and the old passport.

I can vouch for that because a friend let hers expire for 2+ years and just 'renewed' a few months ago.

It was so slow on Magic that sometimes DH or I just gave up and waited until lunch or dinner hours to try again.

You will probably find the same problem on Magic that you had on Miracle. Most times we often had to wait 2 or 3 minutes just to check email. Off peak was better but still slow. It really discouraged us from trying do do anything else online. We had the middle tier internet package (April 28th cruise).

They keep bumping up prices for quite a few amenities/excursions. I booked a cruise on Pride in January and reserved a cabana in HMC for $279. By February it was $289. Now, it's up to $319. Villas are $594. And there's been zero changes to any of them for the price hike. But, I still think there's much more value to the cabanas that FTTF.

And people keep right on paying the increasing prices for all of those one time uses. But your money is your money and my money is my money.

As long as the suitcase is not oversized in its smallest dimension you will not have any problem. We can always get 2 suitcases (1 large and 1 medium) under a king bed easily with room to spare. The only real concern is if it is too thick lying on its back to go under the bed but any luggage that I know of is not too thick.

1. Breeze

2. Magic

3. Dream

But Dream is still a nice ship and a lot of people have said that they love it especially after it was refurbished. Our second cruise on Dream we opted to try a deluxe OV instead of balcony and loved the room.

I'm glad you liked the Magic, we're on the Magic in September. I'm a little apprehensive after I loved the Breeze so much. What's the difference between the Magic and Breeze lido buffet seating?

Adding.....but don't get me wrong, you will probably also enjoy Magic overall, and in my opinion the buffet food is as good as Breeze which I also enjoyed. And seaday brunch in Magic MDR is the best ever!

I'm glad you liked the Magic, we're on the Magic in September. I'm a little apprehensive after I loved the Breeze so much. What's the difference between the Magic and Breeze lido buffet seating?

Just for one thing, about midway in the buffet area on each side (inside, not next to the windows) there are some booths with tall tables and seating, with a couple of those fake palm trees as accents...and so everything else seems a little more adventurous as well. It isn't a spectacular difference but it really breaks the monotony of all other Carnival buffets that all have the same boring layout that you can walk in your sleep after a couple of cruises. We were hoping that Magic had the same but no they don't, and Dream doesn't either.

Do room stewards still do towel animals in the rooms? Particularly wanting to know about the Magic

 

 

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Yes they still did the towel animals on Magic in April, but even better on the last sea day they FILLED UP the whole lido main pool area with towel animals, and there were even about a dozen giant human sized towel critters 'sunning' in the loungers :p I almost missed it (they started removing them at about 11:00am) but DH saw it and came running to find me. It was an awesome display of handiwork :)

The Breeze is that ship that made me fall in love with Carnival. The decor, colors and design of the ship is beautiful.

This! And we just sailed Magic this past April, enjoyed the cruise and decor but BREEZE is still our favorite, colors are more aesthetically pleasing, lido buffet seating is unique, crew seem a little more alive and pleasant....probably the most 'perfect' cruise ship that we have ever been on.

A few years ago, this subject came up. There were a lot of replies from teachers. Most of them said that unless the student is struggling, the cruise is a great way to learn about other cultures. They said that if you ask, most teachers will prepare a study plan for the student to keep them abreast of the classes that they will miss.

This. Travel and new environments can be extremely rewarding not only for 'education' but as well for stimulating interest and getting charged up about exploring and learning. You could probably even find studies that support that. Mom really does need to change her mind, let the boy go and have his eyes opened far beyond his neighborhood, school, friends, the limits of his local environment and culture, so many different reasons for a child to be exposed to other worlds....live, not just from books or TV. Maybe there are other issues at work with mom but letting him go on this cruise could be the best thing that she could ever do for this young man.

Grand Turk....The beach and pool area right beside the pier are nice. Lots of chairs in the beach area and shade if you want that, clean, pretty, water is great. Sometimes the best music that you'll hear anywhere, maybe a lively crowd at one of the pools and so on, flow rider/surf thingie at the main pool.... We have never taken an excursion on Grand Turk, just maybe had lunch and hung out right there near the pier for awhile. To me it usually has one of the best Margaritaville vibes that we have found at any of the Caribbean ports that we've been to. Very true that it isn't worth paying for a beach excursion, it's literally right there.

We had a 1:00 on our last cruise (on Magic not Breeze) and it was the latest that we had ever boarded, got there right at 1:00 and after clearing security we literally walked right through and onto the ship. It was really too quick because the rooms weren't open yet. This was Port Canaveral not Galveston but just wanted to share our experience with assigned arrival time. It was great, a really pleasant surprise.

I was in the Navy for a couple of years on a Cruiser. It was not unusual for the alarm to go off every once in awhile for fires and other circumstances. It's because you are living in a giant steel box and you take action accordingly. Given the miles cruised and the number of passengers transported, Carnival ships do well. It's no different than standing on your main street. By the end of the day, you will have heard sirens and seen a fire truck heading to a fire. It's the same at sea although it gets more attention on a cruise. There's limited space to go to so you want to act quickly.

Thank you for that, it's very true. Reminds me of how many times in a month that we may see or hear fire vehicles in the close area around us. It is not really the same as having it happen on a ship that you can't escape from except under extraordinary measures but it does happen a lot and any fire can spread and get out of control and endanger lives.

As for Carnival compared to other cruise lines I do remember that a few years ago there was a fire on one of the newer Royal ships and someone posted pics of that, 2 or 3 different places online. But it seems that it was quickly forgotten about and I don't even remember which ship it was now. I do remember the Triumph fire really well and then another one, Splendor like someone here said? But yes it happens and hopefully no one is hurt or endangered and then we sail on :)

Our forward OV on Dream was about 12 to 15 cabins back(?) but not right at the elevators and it was cozy quiet, didn't hear anything at all from the theater or anything. On Breeze we had a balcony on deck 8 so nothing to compare there.

Breeze, great choice!! So much more room to move around, get away from crowds and so on, more food venues than 95% of Carnival ships, really nice decor theme, great crew....

As for food being 'different' from on ship to the next they all have different chefs and other staff and more.

Deck 2 cabin if for no other reason than it gets you a little further away from possible noise below passenger level. We once had a deluxe OV on sister ship Dream deck 2 forward and loved it.

East coast....Breeze moves from TX to Port Canaveral in late October. Breeze will defo be our next Carnival cruise.