lissajeff24

Several of us from my breakfast bunch from a year ago on Vista had the 12-hour french toast and it was always cooked through.  Pretty good, just A LOT.  Ask for extra peaches.  I never finished one.  It's for sure big enough for 2 people.  Maybe 3 😄

My SDB go-to is the eggs benedict with salmon with a side of bacon.  My roommate always gets steak & eggs and he hates hot tomatoes so I always get his from under the steak 😋  We leave leave on Freedom in 24 days and I am already looking forward to his steak tomatoes, haha!  

On my first cruise in 2017, I used cash.  When I was checking in at the terminal, I gave them $300 cash, and they applied it to my account.  That was used for my gratuities, first day drinks and some silly souvenir items for my nephew.  It was plenty for me because I also had purchased the drink package already, so those were covered after day 1.  Hope this helps and happy first cruise to you! 

4 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Almost exact same question asked here:

 

 

Just down the board.

Except it isn't.  It's about a completely different excursion site and locations on the other side of the world.  But, thanks anyway? 

4 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

I agree w you about brokers.  However, with Viator, you can usually go onto their site to pick a tour and then do a bit of research to figure out who is actually doing the tour.  That way, the tour company gets to keep all the money.  That said, there have been times when I did use Viator and I was pretty satisfied with the tours I took w them.

 

In response to the OP's specific question about "what ifs",  it is hard to see what sort of "what if" scenario could occur on a Nassau day pass.  You get off the ship and are taken to the day pass location and then are taken at the end of the day you are taken back to the ship.  In a worse case scenario, you could take a taxi from the day pass location back to the ship.

 

The OP is being a bit of a worry wart.

 

DON

Maybe I am being a worry wart.  What difference does it make to you?  Oh wait, it doesn't.  But I do appreciate your take on my personality.  Have a nice day 😒  

56 minutes ago, teknoge3k said:

Lots of people have. I won't use them because they're a broker. I always book with the locals directly, cutting out the middle man. If you book with the locals directly, you can see their reviews, learn about them, see feedback from other people. If you go through Shore Excursioneer, ShoreFox, Viator, Island Marketing, etc., they're brokers. They're not the ones doing your tour. They hire a local to do it. So you cannot vet them and get accurate reviews. Not saying they're not good companies, you just won't know who you're with until the day of. I want to know who I am with and talk to them before hand. (we won't ever do Carnival excursions either)

Good point.  Cutting out the middle man.  I will look into the resort directly, see if it's any better.  According to the web site, it's up to us to get ourselves to the resort & back to the ship, so we'd be paying $100 for the resort plus cab fare.  So they don't even provide a shuttle or anything.  Maybe booking directly w/the resort can get us a slightly better deal.  We'll see.

Thanks for the input!

Some in my group are considering using them for a resort day pass type excursion in Nassau.  I am always hesitant to use anyone but Carnival because of all the "what ifs" but wanted to see if anyone had any experience with them.

Thanks in advance! ⚓

Hahaa...it’s not really like that, they just tend to do stuff like that.  For me, I’m fine with not participating because it would cost additional $$$ for a beach I can go to for free.  I’m cheap like that, lol.  Plus, we have more than 12 people in our group, so not all of us could go anyway.  
 

it’s fine either way.  I mean, I’ll be at the beach regardless, so I’m good 😎

Some friends of mine have rented the HMC private oasis through carnival, for our upcoming cruise,  because they fancy themselves to be ballers and I’m just wondering how close the cabanas are to the public beach area.  You know, the one full of peasants like me, my roommate and two others from our giant group 😄 
 

None of us have been to HMC before so we don’t know the lay of the land.  So, theoretically, could the group of royals and the 4 peasants NOT hanging at the oasis somehow “meet in the middle” and by middle, I mean the water and still all hang out together?  Or, are we banished from getting anywhere near the oasis? 😂   

Thanks in advance!! 

I will sailing on Freedom in 42 days (but who's counting? 😄 ) and according to the CD schedule, ours will be a TJ Partida.  Does anyone know how he is? 

My last one on Vista in 2019 was Matt Mitcham, who was beyond fantastic and awesome and hilarious and so dreamy to look it and the one before that from my 2018 cruise on Breeze was Schwartz, who we LOVED.  I have been spoiled on CD's and I can't imagine anyone being better than those two, haha!  

The Sea Day Brunch is my FAVORITE!  If they happen to have the giant french toast with the grilled peaches on top, GET IT and you can thank me later 😄 

My 3 cruises have been with a group of friends, a huge group, like 20+ and those of us that dined together had to arrive early and get us on the list.  I can tell you from experience that if you have cabin numbers for them ahead of time, they will love it and makes it easier.  You will still have to wait but they'll work with you.  You might get one long table with several pushed together or if you don't mind, several round tables all near each other, sort of in a cluster.  

Oh yeah, I agree, it's not as good of a deal anymore.  I've only sailed 3 times and even since my first (2017), I can see that it's changed.  I even looked around the ports this past February and decided it wasn't worth bringing anything back, lol!  

I will just get the Cheers package and drink just high dollar and top shelf 😎

Pretty sure I know the answer but wanted to ask all the professional cruisers :) 

I am sailing out of Galveston in February, on a Saturday, for an 8-day cruise.  Am I correct in my assumption that the drink package would be for 7 days, and that sailing out on a Saturday makes no difference, because of our silly Texas liquor laws?  😄   

I sailed on Vista Feb. 3-10th and LOVED Mark and Milan!  They would both ask "rum drink or Storm?"  when they saw me approach the bar, lol!  The rum drink was one I had made by Svatava last year on Breeze, I called it the Dirty Brunette.  Mark took the recipe and added his own touch to it and then I tried a menu drink, The Perfect Storm and it was awesome.  They were my favorites of the week.  Now we're Facebook friends

I just sailed on Vista the first week of February and used the app.  Worked like a charm.  It had even saved my friends from last year.  If you have any linked bookings, it will add them too.  The only negative for me is that group chat replies didn't always go to the same original group text.  We had a group of like, 19 people, and sometimes the replies would be it's own thread, so you have a long list of texts to sift through.  But other than that, I love it.

2 hours ago, emoorehead said:

Does the Hub app work on airplane mode?

Yes.  My phone stays on airplane for the whole trip (unless we get some place with free wifi) and it works great. 

I had Svatava on Breeze last February and she created a drink for that I named the "Dirty Brunette" - they have flavored syrups and one was brown sugar.  I asked her to make me something sweet-ish with that syrup.  So she used Oakheart Spiced Rum, Sweet Vermouth and the brown sugar syrup.  She used 3 black cherries on a stick as the garnish.  It was DELISH! 

I read all these comments and have this to say:

1.)  I've used my Texas DL & BC at Customs, in Galveston, AFTER my cruise was over, because Customs asked to see it.  No problem, I was through in a flash.

2.)  I can't believe I read ALL THE COMMENTS and I *still* don't know what has happened with the OP's peeps.

OP - PLEASE COME BACK

5 minutes ago, ChattaCruzer said:

I just found this on Carnival's website:

 

• "f you use a CPAP machine, please note you will need to pack your machine with your carry-on luggage. Should you wish to bring your own distilled water with you to use with your CPAP machine, it must be hand carried along with your CPAP machine. For your convenience, Carnival carries distilled water which can be purchased either pre-cruise or once on board. For pre-purchase, you must contact our Fun Shops department at 1-800-522-7648, Extension 70039, Monday-Sunday from 8:00am-10:00pm ET. For purchase on board, you can contact Room Service."

 

It makes sense if you have a full-size machine, especially if it can't fit inside a suitcase. Have you ever seen how they sling and stack suitcases? I invested in a travel machine and it fits nicely inside my suitcase, so I don't plan on carrying it on. I'll just make sure it's padded and tucked securely. Hope it doesn't set off the naughty police.

This is me.  It's not a big machine, the bag looks like a laptop bag.  I'm going to pack it all up, try a couple of different bags, see if it's heavy, etc. and make a decision.  I also plan on asking others in my group of 20, if they have FTTF or better status, and if they can get to their rooms, I will just toss my stuff in their room!  We are all close together on the same hall :)

This might be a dumb question but here I go 🙂  

Sailing on Vista on February 3rd... Is there a reason(s) why someone would carry on their CPAP machine versus putting it in their checked luggage?  I’ve seen comments about them on various threads and it made me wonder.  I’m bringing mine but was planning on packing inside my suitcase.  It has a bag that everything goes in & it fits nicely in my suitcase, so I’d rather not carry it on, as I want less stuff to lug around once we board since we don’t have FTTF or anything that gets us in our rooms faster.   (This is my first time bringing my CPAP on a cruise so I want to be sure I’m not doing something wrong 😄😄)

Is it just personal preference?   Thanks!!!

Personally, having had a problem with my Cheers purchase in the past, I would bring anything confirming your purchase of it and I would also check once on board at the kiosk or Customer Service that it's there and working properly.  Just in case and all that. 

Found this on Carnival’s site...

I just have to remember to do it, lol!

55 minutes ago, Athankfulheart said:

I would grab a fresh copy from Vitalchek's website and retire the old one.

I may do that anyway.  Wouldn’t hurt to have a second copy until I renew my passport 

I laminated my almost 45 year old original birth certificate because it was tearing badly (I mean, it's 45 years old ) and it just dawned on me that CCL might not accept that.  Does anyone know if they will take it?  Do they care?  (I never re-did my passport after it expired and now it's too late and I don't want to spend the $$ on it right now either.)  Thanks y'all!