galimeyer

I was searching around and found a thread from 2021. Are there still taxis lined up in the terminal area (Mardi Gras) to take you to MCO?  

I checked out his page and it's a lot of good info. He was on the Mardi Gras in 2021. How often does Carnival change up their shows? Yearly or every few years?

Hi All - Cruising on the Mardi Gras in December. Looking for what shows, comedians and nightly activities are scheduled for Mardi Gras to get an idea of what there will be to do. Does anyone have a list or know where I can find one?

We are considering a tubing excursion in December. What is the water temp like? 

On 1/21/2020 at 10:17 PM, mitsugirly said:

 

Thank you and glad you enjoyed them. I'm super excited about the Oasis! I have said for many many years now that it was my goal to sail on it and I'm finally getting the chance!

 

Oh, so sorry to hear about your sons break. It's never easy but glad he sounds like he's doing good.

 

Yea, multiple surgeries are crappy and I have more to go still. I really don't know if I'll ever be back to "normal". Snorkeling....psshhhh....you mean scuba diving!

😁

Yes. I meant scuba diving and not snorkeling. Sorry. 🙂

I have enjoyed all of your reviews and I was excited to read that you're going on the Oasis. We are booked on the Oasis in December so that will be great to read your review beforehand. I will have two middle schoolers when we go (6th and 7th grade). 

My son broke is tibia and fibula at the end of October. The pediatric ortho decided not to do surgery as he has tons of growing left and he has age on his side. He has went through two casts (one above his knee and then the second below his knee). He is currently in a walking boot (5 weeks in and another 3.5 weeks to go). He finally got the go ahead to ditch his crutches and walk with his boot 2 weeks ago. What a long process and I can't imagine the process with having to do multiple surgeries. Kuddos to you for braving a cruise and snorkeling too! 

One thing Sensation has going for it is there is an Alchemy Bar on the ship.

The Victory also has the Alchemy Bar.

We are going to do it for the first time this year. Our kids get 2 weeks this year for Christmas break (they get out 2 extra days this year at the front end because of teacher workday and then an extra day on the back end for the same reason). I am so tired of doing the same thing at Christmas year in and year out. We see the family that lives local 3 times once Christmas Eve, Christmas morning and Christmas dinner and then we are all back to our lives. We wanted a change and this is the year that the kids find out about Santa. I would prefer to take a vacation and make some memories with them. We still have presents from last year unopened and it happens every year. It doesn't matter if they've asked for it either. We were originally going to do Carnival but decided to switch lines/ships.

Thinking about booking a last minute cruise...6-10 August! I prefer to dine in the later dining slot (8pm) but I'm afraid that booking this late means I'll be assigned YTD by default. Has anyone had success checking with the maitre'd on embarkation day and getting YTD changed to assigned seating/time slot? BTW, who is the maitre'd on Victory right now? And who is the CD?

I cannot for the life of me remember the CD's name. I want to say Felipe but I'm not sure that's correct. He was good. He always ended his announcements with "Chow for now" and a Woo-hoo. When we were disembarking, he was talking to guests as we got of the ship. My daughter told him "chow for now" and he laughed.

We were on the Victory last week and sailed in our first suite (#7238). We had a great time. Zero issues. If you have any specific questions let me know.

My bags and I were searched for fresh food in Cozumel by dog and guard. It does happen.

 

 

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Same here. We were in Cozumel last Wednesday and they searched bags. They have signs that tell you not to bring fresh food off of the ship. The ladies in front of me all had their bananas taken from them as well as yogurt. They had a bin full of bananas that they were going to throw away because people don't listen.

Ok - I was wondering if the 4th holiday /summer traffic is typically bad?

We are in NC and we drove down via I95 last year the Saturday before the 4th of July. The trip should have taken us 9 hours but it took us over 12 hours to get down there. We went back up I95 on the Saturday after the 4th and it took us the normal amount of time. We hit a lot of beach traffic through SC (we go I77 to 26 to I95) and it was smooth sailing until we got on I95. I really wish SC would expand I95 to at least 3 lanes.

No, and yes.

 

If you are afraid to leave a child on board ship in case something happens to you and you can't get back, then why wouldn't you be afraid to leave a child in school in case something happens and you can't get back? In both cases there are trained professionals who will look after the child for as long as it takes.

It's obvious you don't have children. Big difference between them being at school (a place they go day in and day out for 5 years, 3years or 4years) and a ship that goes to foreign countries and not to mention the thousands of complete strangers surrounding them. I shouldn't have to explain further.

We did the social package on our cruise in August. It was good enough. Our kids stayed with their grandparents as well. I found Facebook messenger worked as the best way to communicate with my MIL. We were on the Freedom cruise that was diverted to NOLA instead of back to Galveston during Hurricane Harvey. I contacted her on Messenger and asked her to re-book our flights home from NOLA (as the ship had opened up the internet for all to use but it was slow as molasses) and she was able to take care of everything for us.

Our first cruise was a 3 day on the Fantasy to the Bahamas in 1997. Back then, the Fantasy sailed from Port Canaveral. We went on the Fantasy again this time out of Charleston in 2012 for our 10 year anniversary. We recently docked next to the Fantasy in Cozumel back in August. We were on the Freedom for our 15 year anniversary. She's a small ship and isn't aging well. I would go on the Breeze for the $500 extra.

We saw the Vista when we were in Cozumel on the Freedom and we were thinking of taking our kids (would be 9/10) and some neighborhood friends. I was glad to see this review. I was also looking into the Family Harbor Cabins and thanks for the tip about the galley.

Oh and Go Irish!

They don't do PPV on the ships because they would have to pay per person and the fees would be outrageous.

What exactly is a 24 HR curfew?

https://www.sxm-talks.com/the-daily-herald/government-lifts-curfew/

"PHILIPSBURG–The Government announced on Tuesday that they are lifting the 24-hour curfew from 8:00am–3:00pm starting September 13, 2017.

This decision will be valid until further notice. The curfew was put in place last week Thursday after Prime Minister William Marlin declared a state of emergency post Hurricane Irma.

As a reminder all persons who do not have a disaster/emergency pass or were given permission to be on the road during curfew must stay off the road from 3:00pm-8:00am. Persons who violate the curfew will be arrested on the spot."

You will not have a problem getting gas. The Orlando area did not have major damage and there in no gas shortage in that part of the state. Down lower towards the keys gas could be a problem but not where you are going. You can Fill up in GA before you get into FL if that will ease your mind. Go on your cruise and have a great time.

 

 

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If anyone will be traveling back to FL via I95 South please be aware that there are some exit closures in GA.

Glynn County in Georgia has “extreme flooding” from Irma, which has necessitated closing exits, law enforcement said.

While I-95 north and south are open, exits 42, 38, 36A, 36B, 29, 26, 14 and 7 are currently closed. That means all exits from 42 to the Florida state line are closed. Drivers can stop at exits 14, 6, 3 and 1 for gas and other essential items.

Also I75 near Gainesville may be closed due to possible flooding. There is a detour.

I have friends that live in the Keys and they have no idea when they will be able to get back on the island. All they know at this point is their house is still standing.

How late in August did you go? I'm looking at a 7-day August 26th of next year and wondering what the kid level will be. I know schools are well in session by then here but that may not be the case everywhere.

Our kids will start that week (I'm in NC) but the NE will still be out as they generally start after Labor day. We were on the Freedom from August 19th - 26th and I didn't notice a lot of kids. We mainly stayed in the adult pool though as we were kid free.

So if it was a 7 day cruise and turned into an 8 or 10 day do the passengers get credit for those "extra" days? Like going from Gold to Platinum?

Yes. We were on the Freedom and we received credit for the additional days.

We cruised on the Carnival Freedom on the August 19th sailing. We are from CLT so I was really anxious how we were going to get to the port. My husband was leaning towards Uber/Lyft. I ended up booking Carnival transfers. We had a really good experience on the way there. We flew into IAH on the 19th and arrived at 7:40am. A Carnival rep was at baggage and he waited for us to collect our bags and then took us to the waiting area. The coach bus arrived at 10:30am. The times of the transfers day of is from 10am-1pm. It was $47 per person from IAH to Galveston.

I can't imagine that there will be many Uber/Lyft drivers since the Houston area flooded.

We booked transfers back from Galveston to IAH but weren't able to use them because of Harvey. We got a free ride from NOLA to the airport on the 26th.

I feel bad for the room stewards and dining staff who are probably not getting tips for these days. I would be surprised if Carnival is adding charges to the S&S for tips for the extra days.

Carnival is taking care of the gratuities for the staff. I was on the Freedom and got off on Saturday in NOLA. I'm sure that some of the passengers are also taking care of the staff as well.

I wonder if they are still doing shows, comedy club, and all the other activities or have just reduced it to bare bones.

 

IMO they would be justified to close down all the food options aside from the buffet and roll back the activities.

I was on the Freedom and got off on Saturday at the NOLA stop. They had announced that they had 4 new comedians coming in for shows. They were planning other activities as well.

Guys Burgers was grilling away and the Blue Iguana was also open for lunch.