oldvato

Just to clarify, the "children's pool" is a very shallow wading pool, not one that a child could actually swim in.

 

The family-friendly aft pool on the Victory was our favorite thing about the ship.

Family friendly to you is anti-adult to others.

If you are looking for an inexpensive nice hotel, The Westin on Royal St. at Canal St. is where we always stay. Used to be a Holiday Inn. It is at the beginning of the French Quarter, a block from Bourbon St. and a few steps from Canal St. Canal St. is like the main downtown St. A lot of retail stores, businesses and hotels very close to the French Quarter. A lot of tourists, and locals that work on Canal, and the trolly cars go up and down on Canal St.

My questions are about tipping in the casino. Even tho the gratuity is included when you order drinks, we still tip the server a couple of dollars, and I know if you win on the slots and they have to do a payout, you should tip them, but how much? Obviously, I have never won a jackpot!! My husband does a little bit of table playing and tips when he wins. I also want to know if we are supposed to tip the casino hosts. Thank you for any responses!!

 

Stef

If the drinks are free in the casino, then by all means tip the server. But if they are being charged to your S&S, the tip is already included, no different then on the lido deck or any other part of the ship. Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks Ryansmith and tappi. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I am a former smoker, but stopped over 20 ears ago. I must say that I am very sensitive to the smell of smoke, and can smell it a long ways off. I was hoping that we could enjoy our balcony. We have always cruised on an ocean view, and this will be the first time on a balcony. Thanks again for your responses.

No not at all. You can do something about the slamming doors, but you can't do anything about smoke coming into your cabin.

 

I like the one response about calling the perps from a public phone early in the morning. That would work for me as I am an early riser.:p

Are you serious? We booked a balcony. Does smoke come into your cabin even with the door closed? I hope not because that will totally ruin my cruise. At the very least, they should do what they do at the lido deck. Put smokers on one side of the ship and non smokers on the other.

I've been doing a lot of research and thinking. Corpus Christi would be PERFECT for the next cruise port. Think about it. I live in New Braunfels, TX, smack dab in between San Antonio and Austin. It takes two hours to get to Corpus and 4 to get to the Houston/Galveston area. South and Central Texas has a HUGE population, which would be more accessible to Corpus. Corpus is closer located to the ports of call, so Carnival could cut their fuel costs by travelling slower but still having a 6 or 7 day cruise. Corpus has tons to do and a more convenient airport than Hobby or Bush Intercontinental. I've heard that there are some people working on getting Corpus to be a port, but that will take FIVE YEARS. Here's my thoughts on it.

 

Carnival should (If this is true) take the Fantasy off the sales market. Instead of moving a larger ship to Charleston, they should put the Vista wherever it is going to go (I'm betting Miami :mad:) and place one of those ships (Either Ecstasy or Victory, preferably the latter) in Corpus. There, they could do a Roatan, Belize, Cozumel, and Costa Maya or Grand Cayman itinerary, A Grand Turk, Grand Cayman, Falmouth itinerary, and a Key West, Nassau, and Freeport itinerary.

 

So what do you think? Should Corpus Christi become the next major Gulf Coast port and should Carnival take that chance? I'm thinking of calling them this week and pitching it to them! :D :D :D

 

Feel free to share your thoughts!

 

Thanks,

Tate

Sodas and bottled water are not free. Coffee, juices, tea, and water from dispenser are included in price in the dinning rooms.

We paid in advance on our first cruise, and then we also tipped extra, the Cabin crew, and the server and assistant server in the main dinning room. We were really impressed with the service.

On other cruises, we pay it when they add it to the cabin and we settle the account at the end. Usually we just pay off what's been added to the account with cash. This time, we have an OBC, so we will take care of it with that.

I got a call too, from a balcony to a suit. But I turned it down because it wasn't free. I guess you can call it an upsell. On this cruise, we got a balcony for just a few dollars more than an ocean view. We also got an OBC. I guess that would be an upgrade. I've had fee upgrades before but they are mostly from one deck to a higher deck for the same type cabin.

But the upsell is still a lot cheaper than buying it when you book the cruise, and that works good for some folks. As long as the OP is happy, with the savings, that's what counts.

Do they have a full bar, or is it just beer.

I don't have a problem with adult humor and an occasional use of foul language because if used correctly, it can be very funny. It doesn't offend me, but I just don't find the F word funny when used as a filler.

There is one who is usually on ships out of Galveston, can't remember his name. He plays a hot fiddle and participates and plays in some of the ship's shows. He also participates and play in the guest's talent show. Last time I saw him was on the Ecstasy when it was out of Galveston. He's probably on the 4 and 5 day cruises from Galveston now.

Cozumel is Mountain time and will be 1 hr behind Magics ship time. Magic sails Central time. Don't worry they will tell you what time it is when you get there vs ship time.

Right now, Cozumel is on Central Daylight Savings time, same as the Carnival Magic. The ship will stay on CDT the entire cruise.

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but how bad is the cigarette smoke coming from other balconies. Being an ex smoker that stopped smoking 25 years ago, I can smell cigarette smoke a mile away. This will be my first time on a balcony.

Well I'm certainly disappointed that the aft pool on the magic allows kids. They already have the main pool. I was hoping that on such a big ship, they would have a pool for adults only. Not that I don't like kids. I just prefer that they stay in the big pool. I remember Conquest aft pool was for adults only.

We are trying to decide if we want to go in November. Does anyone know how the beaches and weather are during that time? I've heard people say that the beaches don't have many people due to the weather during the winter. But I'm wondering how they are during November.

In fact, how would the entire cruise be, as far as weather is concerned, since KeyWest, Free Port and Nassau are above the tropic of Cancer, and don't appear to be in the tropics? I've never been to any of those ports so any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The easiest way to describe what I'm talking about is by telling you what it's not...hip-hop, rock, disco. I'm thinking of basic ballroom type dancing and any music that goes with that. We foxtrot, waltz, rumba, swing, etc. I LOVE latin dances and we can dance to country, but it's not my preference. Does that help? Thanks!

Henri's disco caters to the young with hip hop. But I believe they do have theme nights on some nights possibly latin dancing. We went in one night and walked right out because it was freezing in there. Alfred's was a cigar bar last May, don't know if it still is, but you may want to check it out.

But there was a band on board that played oldies and music for us older folks. Don't think they do ballroom. Can't remember the name of the club but it's the one where they have the captn's party at the very rear of the ship. It doesn't get too packed but they do play danceable music. One night they did switch and played at the Karaoke bar.

Hello. I will be on the Conquest May 6th. I am so excited. Only 10 days to go. I have a question. If I had an emergency back home, how would they get ahold of me? Is there a number they could call to get a message to me?

 

Thanks,

 

Susie

Yes. Check your Docs. All that info is there. There is a number they can call but they will need a credit card. Instructions should all be in your docs.

Our first cruise was on the Elation out of Galveston. Our 2nd was on the Conquest out of Galveston.

We tend to like the Lido deck on the Elation better then the Conquest. The Conquest is a bigger ship but I'm not too crazy about the stadium style lido deck on the Conquest.

But I tend to like the covered pools on the Conquest at the rear of the ship better then the open rear pools on the Elation.

I think the itinerary on the Conquest is better then what it was on the Elation.

There are plus and minuses to everything. We will be going out on the Conquest again this May 6th. Hopefully there won't be too many school age folks invading the pools and saunas this year.

awesome! Why would Carnival recommend flying into Bush? Just to know- Thanks for your reply.

Probably because that's where all the major airlines fly into. Hobby is where Southwest Airlines flys into. I don't know who else uses it.

DNJ1

For more info on Sunset Beach go to this link.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=111

Crusing Mama7,

We were on the Conquest last May and will be on again this May. As far as the talent show, last year the talent was made up of people who could imitate other stars such as Frank sinatra, Aretha, Elvis, and so forth. They had a contest to pick the performers who can imitate the stars the best. Then they dress them as best they can to look like the real artists.

I don't know if they show is already set up and they just add singers or if they put the show together based on what each person will sing.