LaHas2016

12 Days!!

Same here. I'm the one that handles the booking, and my name is first on the reservation, but my husband is the one who gets the mailings and emails. Ironically they're always sent to MY email address! Hahaha! 

We booked though autoprogreso when we went and saw the ruins and cenote in Dzebilchaltun. We had more than enough time to make it back to the ship without concern. It was a nice excursion. My kids (10 and 7) couldn't stop raving about the cenote - it was gorgeous.

21 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

Smoking is absolutely prohibited on all balconies and in all cabins on all Carnival ships.

Thank you for confirming this for me.  I will pass it along to my smoker friend.

I just booked our first Cove and couldn't be more excited - especially after reading through all these responses! We'll be in Room 2423 and 2427 on the Dream. I can't decide if I'm more excited about seeing the flying fish or just being close to the water. It's under the galley, but I'm not exceptionally concerned about the noise. I'll still probably pack some ear plugs just in case.

Am I correct in assuming that,due to not being listed, smoking is prohibited on balconies and cove balconies as well?

First off, I'm glad I jumped on board and bought our package when I did. I don't need every single one in print, but I love having digital images available. Like a previous poster mentioned - making a calendar with my cruise memories is a wonderful idea!

That being said, I know Carnival was hoping for great things with these packages. Unfortunately it got a little bigger than initially anticipated and ended up collapsing in on itself. I would love to see an all digital package available in the future for all ships. After purchasing the rights to the photos I can print them however I want, from whomever I want. I am a fan of that option.

Thanks for the responses, Johnny60 and attran99! We sail in 25 days on the Breeze and I can't wait! I'm off to buy our photo package now! :D

Don't forget to remind new cruisers of the "bathrobe parade" held at lunch time in the buffet area on the first sea day.

Grand prizes include a free 5 day cruise and payoff of your sail and sign card. Lots of fun! For blue card holders only!

Wait, what?! How cool is that! Is this listed in the daily itinerary they leave in the rooms? I've never seen it before! Refresh my memory... what level is blue? You start as red, right? I can't keep all this business straight. lol

I'm considering buying a package, but I'm not 100% sure which one yet. We cruise on Breeze May 6, and I'd love to get all the pictures, but I'm curious if it's only the "professional" ones they do on formal nights, or if it includes the candid shots they do around the ship and/or the ones they take in the dining room. Does anyone know if these images are included in the packages? Has anyone already cruised and experienced the process first hand?

So what I'm gathering is that buy in is $2k, right?

Are you talking about 3 Card Poker tournaments or playing 3 Card Poker?

The Finale Tournament May 6 on the Breeze. Someone gave me their certificates and I'm trying to figure all this out.

I'm curious. How do the 3 card poker tournaments work? Does anyone know the minimum starting bet per hand? I'll admit - I don't know how to play poker, but my husband is looking to play on our next cruise and I'm trying to figure out how it all works. lol Any help or input is appreciated!

*I won't be playing, just spectating. I know I'd lose since I don't know what I'm doing.*

I think I found one for Progreso, but I'm nervous to book through Carnival when I know I can get the EXACT same thing for over $100 cheaper (there are 4 of us) by going direct. I'd love the OBC, but ultimately it's only like $20 over the cash I'd have in hand to spend ANYWHERE, not just onboard.

I was happy with just doing the Adventure Tour. By not coming as part of a group tour, it is just a self-guided tour. After looking at the big turtles, we got to hold the yearlings. I will note that at the 1st yearling tank, Turtle Farm employees will hand you each a turtle to hold and then insist on taking a group picture and not let you use your own camera. They then proceed to try to overcharge you for the pictures. We declined and then moved on to the next spot right next to that tank where we were able to climb in the tank and pick up the turtles and hold them. The key for us was to go early before the group tours arrived. We got to spend a ton of time in the tank with the turtles with no wait. When we were leaving, there was a big long line. Since it is self-guided, you could choose to just head to the back to the yearling tanks first.

Thanks so much for your response! I'll definitely take that information into account!

We just did the Turtle Exploration Tour. It was $18 for anyone over 12 and $9 for ages 5 to 12. We paid in cash. We didn't feel the need to pay extra for the Turtle Adventure Tour ($45/$25). To see the differences in what is included in each tour, check out the Turtle Farm's website: https://www.turtle.ky/. If you choose to do the Adventure Tour, you should pre-buy your tickets online to save 20%. I could of pre-bought my tickets (no online savings for the Exploration Tour), but I chose not too since sometimes the port stop in Grand Cayman is canceled since it is a Tender Port. Even though they will refund your money if your ship doesn't stop there, I didn't want to deal with the hassle of getting a refund if that situation occurred.

 

I did a bunch of research about bus numbers, routes, etc. before going on our cruise, but in the end that didn't matter. We exited the port on to Harbour Dr. Just to the right was Fort Street. We walked up Fort Street for about a block. You will see the Library straight ahead and there were a ton of vans lined up. They just asked us where we wanted to go. We said the "Turtle Farm" and they told us to get right in. I can't copy/paste the map picture I have, but you can use Google Maps to see it.

Were you happy with the tour? I'm considering the Adventure tour with my family, but not sure if I can justify the cost. With the Exploration Tour were you able to handle the turtles at all or just look at them? Thank you!

I think you'd have to do some homework before departure from home, to give the kids an opportunity to learn about Maya culture, to give some background, some context, for what they will be seeing.

There are lots of YouTube videos of the Uxmal buildings they can watch beforehand.

Mayan ruins have carved figures, so you could get them to use their imaginations to explain the meaning of what they are looking at while wandering around.

Bring something to keep them amused on the long bus trip to and from.

We homeschool and I'm building a unit about the Mayan culture as we speak! :) We can look at all the things online, but nothing compares to seeing things first hand for yourself. I'm torn between Uxmal and Dzibilchaltun, but I'll be researching that on my own before we go to decide which would be a better fit for us. Hopefully they'll be excited to see the ruins in person. Thank you for your suggestions!

That looks fantastic! I did notice, however, that there weren't many/any kids around. Is this something that would be better suited to adults? I'd hate for them to be super bored, but I'd also like for them to be exposed to this beautiful historical site. (They'll be 7 and 11 when we go in October '17)

Unfortunately I was told you can only book onboard. We cruised in Oct 2016 and went straight to guest serves upon boarding and had no problem. I was nervous we wouldn't be able to book since I felt it was last minute, but it was fine. If it's something you definitely want to do, go sign up first thing. Good luck, and enjoy your cruise!

I love your reviews! I just saw this one today, but I'm about to leave work so I'll pick back up tomorrow to read all about your adventures!

Last week it was 7 pp each way. I would look for a taxi driver with van and see what that price would be.

Has anyone been lately? Any idea how much the taxi van ride would be? There are 6 that will be in our group so if we're to ride together we'll need a van.

(A couple months before we sailed, we found a Groupon for the Royal Dolphin Swim at Dolphin Discovery for much less, took the risk and purchased them. Hoping everything worked out in our favor! We weren't sure if we were got the buffet as part of it or not so budgeted as if we didn't)

I'm SO glad you posted about the dolphin encounter!! Your pictures are great; it looks like you had a blast! When you got the Groupon, how did you set up your appointment? Did you have to call prior to cruising or did you just grab a cab and head over when you made port? I was planning on stalking Groupon for a dolphin swim encounter as my cruise gets closer, I'm just oblivious of how to redeem it. :) Thank you!!

I loved the ambiance of the MDR! Dinner was fun, but still nice and the menu was great! The wait staff remembered chocolate milk for both my boys with dinner every night, and brought my youngest chocolate ice cream for dessert without being prompted every night as well.

My favorite entre was the prime rib (although the flat iron steak was amaaaaazing as well! VERY close 2nd!) and my favorite dessert was the S'Mores Parfait. O.M.G. was it ever delicious!!

Sun poisoning is the WORST!! I'm sorry to hear you had to deal with that; definitely not a fun way to end a cruise. I'm looking forward to hearing about your dolphin swim!

We're sailing the same itinerary in May 2018 and I can't WAIT!! I will have 2 kids (8 and 11) with me at the time, but I know we'll have a blast. I love reading your experiences and the pictures are so helpful!