cruisemein

35 minutes ago, rls1970 said:

Thank you for the review!  Were the gifts the same as a regular Premier?  We leave on ours in 2 weeks -can’t wait!  Also booked a Premier Special Edition for next year.  Hoping it’s similar with a smaller group.  Glad you had such a great time and congratulations on your winnings!

We received 2 tumblers the first day then a fruit basket with a bottle of chardonay the next day then chocolate strawberries, a bottle of champagne the next day and chocolate chip cookies the next day, etc. Very nice. We did get a comped dinner at Ji Ji's. Also we received 2 backpacks with  haloween costumes in each one. BTW-Ji Ji's was very good, ate there 2 times.

We were on the premier plus cruise, Horizon Oct. 20.  We went to the welcome aboard party and there were maybe 50 people there, as opposed to the 300+ at the last premier cruise we went on. Drinks and food were great. The casino was pretty much empty during the week. The waiters in the casino were giving us drinks whether we were playing or not, but most of the time we were playing. I won a drawing for $700 fun money, turned it into $605 of real money. Played blackjack the first 5 nights and lost pretty much every night. Won big time the last night and made up the losses and more...way more.  We are going on another premier plus cruise over New Years, really looking forward to it.

My wife and I were on the Horizon a couple of weeks ago. Previously on our 4 cruises we bought the Value Plan and was pretty spotty and slow.  This time we went with the Premium Plan, one of our dogs wasn't doing real well and even though we had a friend stay at our house my wife wanted to be able to view our cameras, I as well had work to do and wanted to watch a couple of college football games which I knew would not be on the TV's aboard the ship.  Maybe we were just lucky but we had no problems with the wifi.  We were able to keep an eye on our dogs, work was done and was able to stream ESPN, Fox, CBS, etc.

28 minutes ago, Nashna said:

Thank you for the post.  I do have some questions.  I had read on another post that Barcelo limited where day pass holders could sit.  Did that happen to you?  Were you able to get chairs in the shade?  Are you limited to a certain restaurant?  Do they offer bar service on the beach?  A $80.00 per person price seems to be very reasonable.  I'm so glad you thought it was a great option.  

When we arrived we checked in at the front desk, paid and were given our wrist band.  We inquired about the internet and we were given the password but it was only available in their lobby,  We took an elevator down to the pool and beach area and proceeded to get our towels.  We were told at the towel desk that we had to have cards to get the towels, went back up to the front desk and they apologized and gave us the cards for the towels.  We then went to the beach, as we prefer that over the pool, and found 2 loungers under the shade, did not appear that we were limited to where we were allowed to go.  We then went and had breakfast at the buffet, good selection, pretty much what you would find on the ship. Went back to our loungers and stayed there, or in the water, the whole day.  Bar service on the beach was great during the morning, we would order a beer and margarita and they would bring us 2 of each.  We tipped and they came by frequently. After noon we never saw them again, had to go to the pool bar for service.  There was a closer bar but was told I had the wrong colored wristband.  We didn't eat lunch and had to be back on the ship by 3:30 so we left around 2:30 caught a taxi, with another couple back to the port and wandered around there til it was time to get back on the ship.  All in all a great day, just what we wanted.

Will the shops near the port be open?

We purchased the day passes from Shore Excursioner, I believe it was $80 pp.

We were just there last Thursday, at Barcelo, fantastic.  We would definitely do it again. Taxi was $16 for a ride, whether 2 or 4 each way. Takes less than 10 minutes to get there.  Bar service was great in the morning, they would always bring you 2 of any thing you ordered. After noon pretty much hit and miss.  Food was good.  The beach was outstanding, water was  refreshing.  Getting a taxi back was very easy...it was our favorite port of our cruise. Any questions?

Ok, just back from the casino, hoped to have played a few hands of video jacks or better, and then cash out, no such luck, had to play until all the free play money was gone.  Came out with $605 real cash out of the $700 casino cash...not bad for free money!  Still no one playing blackjack...casino has been pretty slow...on the Horizon.

Just won $700 on a raffle.  Casino cash, was given a choice on table play or slots, chose slots...no one has been playing blackjack (my game of choice) the last couple of days and I won't play one on one with a dealer. So what's the best way to turn this into real cash...I was told that it was "free play"?

On 7/12/2018 at 7:28 AM, Davey Wavey said:

Received an email about an hour ago from Carnival's Players Club for a free balcony cabin, last time I received this offer only 2 sailings to pick from. This one there were about 15 or so. Jumped on a New Years cruise out of Galveston, grabbed 1 of the last 2 balconies available. Only paid port fees, taxes,etc. We are already booked on the Horizon in Oct. on an Ultra cruise but had to pay considerably more, oh well, just glad this came along and was able to book it.

So this was free Premier cabin? If so, you can use Premier offers for any available Premier sailings. Last time I got a free Premier offer, I booked four sailings out of 12 available since that is all the vacation time I had available.

Were you on the Oct. 6 Horizon Ultra cruise?  If so, how was it?  Heading out Sat. on the Horizon for our Premier Plus cruise...really looking forward to it!

My wife and I are on the same cruise....was kinda looking forward to the Sky Ride....but if it's not working, oh well. Hopefully it will be working.

Following...arriving at 1:30 as well.

I found their facebook page and sent message, thanks for the advice.

Thanks for the response, I called both dreams and wyndham, there was definitely a language barrier, but the best I could make out was that wyndham the day pass was from 8-2pm, a little short time period, now dreams..had a tough time getting through to guest services, when I did they hung up on me.

Looking at a day pass to one of these 2, less than a month away..not a lot of reviews. Anyone care to chime in or have a another resort for a day pass idea, it would be greatly appreciated.

To Sam...I received the same info, a week before we sail. I am still curious about the difference between a premier and premier plus, some on this board claim there is no difference. We are going on Horizon Oct. 20 sailing, a premier plus, when we get back I will post

I looked at my past emails and yes, it is an Ultra cruise.

Just a flesh wound!!

We went on a premier cruise last March, the welcome party was on the first night at about 5:00 and lasted about an hour. We went to the Steakhouse later that evening and enjoyed the 50% off.

If you don't mind me asking, what did y'all do on port days?

I was told that a premier plus means that they only have 50 cabins to give away, meaning approximately 100+ premier guests as opposed to the normal 300+ premier guests. I know the last premier cruise we took there were 350 premier guests on board. The fewer guests, the better chance of winning a raffle, prize, etc. At least this is what I was told when I booked my cabin. These numbers may vary depending on the ship, but I was told this as it related to the Horizon, sailing date Oct. 20.

QUOTE

Thanks for the replies. I called Carnival just now and got a hold of someone that seemed to be more knowledgeable (however I did speak to 3 different people the first time I called which all seemed clueless) and was told that because this was a premier plus cruise and was booked with a group, the group will not be closed out until a week before the cruise and then I would be able to print out the boarding passes and luggage tags with Priority/VIP status. My previous premier cruises were booked online, on this one I received an email with a number to call.

On our previous premier cruise out of Galveston our boarding passes had priority on the boarding pass. I just printed our boarding passes for our premier cruise on the Horizon out of Miami and priority, nor the premier, are not on there. I called Carnival and was told that premier would have their own line. Now in Galveston as you approached the entrance to the terminal, you were divided into 2 lines, priority and non priority by a Carnival Agent checking boarding passes, but Carnival stated that I would just get in the premier line in Miami. Well there's nothing on my boarding pass that says I'm priority or premier, but they said my name would be on the premier list. Any experienced premier passengers out of Miami please chime in as I really enjoyed the priority boarding and don't want to be told "sorry sir you are in the wrong line, get over there in that long line".

I was told that a premier plus means that they only have 50 cabins to give away, meaning approximately 100+ premier guests as opposed to the normal 300+ premier guests. I know the last premier cruise we took there were 350 premier guests on board. The fewer guests, the better chance of winning a raffle, prize, etc. At least this is what I was told when I booked my cabin. These numbers may vary depending on the ship, but I was told this as it related to the Horizon, sailing date Oct. 20.

Well since I did not know that the Inspiration does not have a steakhouse, I need to revise my comment to say you very well may end up with 2 smaller tails instead of one large one.