GuitarPlayer

Seems to me about 30 days out is when they really start trying to fill a given sailing. Farther out than that, seems they are working on those within 30 days.

Closer in than that, and the price can really come down, A LOT.

But...you have to be ready to leave fairly quickly (within 30 days).

Just from my experience of watching prices...no hard and fast evidence.

GP

Email? What Email? I never received it.

;)

GP

Invester Daily recently ran an article on CCL, saying that last quarter, they stopped the practice of dropping fares to insure sailing near capacity. The theory here is that if you have a limit for prices and sell with some empty cabins, it will help firm up prices.

For those who like to parrot "They must be doing something right, they sail full!", well, that has been put to rest.

However, also surprising was the state of the other CCL lines. While some will say that the Concordia, Splendour and Triumph ships put a dark shadow on CCL, NCL and RCL have seen growth in bookings. People ARE switching to RCL and NCL!

People are not just avoiding CCL; they are also avoiding Princess and Hal.

I have never been on HAL, but have sailed on Princess a lot and my last two cruises (most recently a year ago) saw more and more cost cutting.

That can be what is turning people away.

Link to the article (at least I think this is the article) being referenced:

http://news.investors.com/business/112013-679917-carnival-corp-and-royal-caribbean-and-norwegian.htm

GP

I (for one) am hoping they don't lose their MoJo.

CCL (the only one I can really speak to) IMHO, appears to be searching for it. I have seen some less quality choices being made in recent years, but at least they are still adjusting (it appears to me, anyway).

I believe they are listening, and seemingly simple things (like an actual reggae band vs. a DJ) that had gone away recently may be on the return. Perhaps they are realizing the cuts are too deep, and driving people away.

While the band thing is not a huge thing, it is one thing that makes a cruise memorable (to me anyway). Simple things like this can help to show the consumer that they are (the consumer is) truly important to the company.

I can't even imagine all the variables involved in filling a ship week after week, but if a vacation is memorable, it is much more likely to reap rewards in return customers the next week (or month or year).

I'm not against Celebrity or RCCL or any others, but we haven't really had a need to try another line (15 CCL's and counting). We typically travel with friends and/or family and we make our own fun as best we can, while enjoying the cruise vacation we receive for the $$$ spent.

So far, that equation has worked out to be fun vacations, so it seems the MoJo isn't completely gone (at least, not yet).

GP

2 Carnival Caps on the Fascination in mid October.

2 more the next week on B2B on the Fascination.

Never thought of trying to "trade them in" with steward or front desk.

Good idea. I love this board.

GP

So can you confirm they *are* printing brochures again?

Or is this the "online" (or CD) version?

GP (hoping it's printed ones again).

We drop luggage off at the port, and then drive across the street to the Park N Cruise. (you can just drop off luggage with the porters...you don't have to accompany them)

Both times we've used PnC (booked online prior to cruise day), we were there early enough to get in the "closer" lot. Note they do have a few lots, some closer than others.

Park your car, lock it up, wheel your carry-on down the sidewalk, across the street (and across some railroad tracks, too, which weren't too hard to navigate), and walk into the terminal.

With early disembark, we have been in the car and on the road by 7:30am. Makes the trip back to KC more bearable, with such an early start. It's bad enough you *had* to just get off the ship! :rolleyes:

GP

Having been on a few different ships(see signature), I find there are good and bad on all ships.

On the Fantasy (and most recently on the Fascination), the shorter itineraries have been GREAT deals $$$-wise.

The other couple we cruise with pointed out that they felt like there was a LOG less "stuff" to do on the Fascination than on, say, the Magic, and they had a hard time finding a spot on Serenity. DW and I never had trouble, maybe just timing of when we were headed out there vs. when they were.

DW mentioned that she thought the crew was much more friendly on the smaller ships. I would agree.

I like playing Hold 'Em and the smaller ship has typically the same players each night, whereas the Magic had two tables and was a mix of a lot of different players each night.

If you are looking for a lot of activities, the smaller ship may not be for you, but if you are looking just to get away from it all and have some "me" time (or "us" time), then the smaller ships are great.

If you are looking to get a 24K plastic gold piece of ship-on-a-stick, then the smaller ships give you a better chance for winning a trivia game :rolleyes:

On and off the ship, especially when tendering, the smaller ship wins hands down.

As others have said, go with the correct expectation, so as to not be disappointed. (but that's true with most things in life!)

My opinion is that you make the decision to have a good time, and 99% of the time you will.

GP

... and don't smuggle:eek:

No fun in that! LOL :D

GP

Could you please describe what they looked like? did they have tentacles or just the round, clear looking creatures?

I only saw the "round, clear looking" ones, but people were getting "stung."

I'm guessing they must have had tentacles, or they wouldn't be able to sting, but then again, I'm no marine biologist!

GP

Probably depends on the time of the year like it does on all beaches everywhere. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

~~~~

Could be...just putting out our experience last week.

GP

Was there last week on the Fascination.

Prior to that, we had there 3 times.

Of the four times, this was the only time we saw jellyfish.

Not just a few this time around, but a very large amount. Really made the beach day less than enjoyable.

The sun was out and the temperature was great, but not being able to get into the water w/o worrying about the jellyfish was disappointing.

If you go there and people are telling you "These aren't the kind that sting," be wary!

People were saying that this time around, but we met a guy later that day on the ship that had red swollen area on his stomach where he was "stung" by a jellyfish.

We also heard of a mom telling her daughter that they are ok to pick up, only to have the little girl get stung on the hand.

Not trying to freak everyone out about HMC, but just passing on our experience and help others set their expectations about HMC.

Here's hoping the jellyfish leave HMC and don't come back!

GP

(We all joked later on the ship that we took part in the free "swimming with the jellyfish excursion" on HMC :rolleyes: )

We did a B2B cruise in 2010. First leg was a 5 day on the Destiny in Miami. Second leg was a 7 day on the Dream in Port Canaveral.

We got off the Destiny on a Saturday morning, drove up to Port Canaveral ON THE SAME DAY, and got on the Dream for a 7 day.

Now, I might not have attempted this on a weekday, but on a Saturday, no problem.

For you, coming in a day early from Orlando to Miami...piece of cake.

GP

Although not necessarily well advertised, you *can* get car rental drop off/pickup at port of Jacksonville, it just takes a little bit of planning.

I was so impressed, I wanted to pass on this info to others.

We are just back(yesterday) from a B2B on 10/14/2014 - 10/24/2014 on Fascination out of Jacksonville (B2B 5-day cruises).

We rented a car from Avis at JAX (airport location) for our 1 night pre-cruise stay on 10/13, and dropped off at J3X (10536 Atlantic Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32246 - which is about 7 miles south of Heckscher on 295) in Jacksonville the next morning.

When dropping off the car at J3X, I asked about a shuttle "drop off" at the port and was told they stopped doing that a few years ago because it wasn't used very often.

However (and here's the good part!), the guy at the counter, Ray, said "We will drop folks off at the cruise port *IF* they call ahead and let us know what they need. We'll make sure a person is available to do a drop off, and if they let us know when they are coming back, we'll come get them, too."

He got on the phone and called someone and in about 10 minutes we were on the way to the cruise port, where we were dropped off, no charge. (I tipped the driver though...well worth it!)

When we got back to the port on 10/24, I called the J3X location and they said they would have someone come get us. About 20-30 minutes later, we got a phone call saying "I'm here" from the AVIS guy and directed him where to pick us up, right outside the terminal. (Be sure and give them your cell phone number to make meeting up easier).

He took us back to the AVIS J3X location, and Bryant was there (with a Budget car rental logo on his shirt) to check us in. (Turns out Bryant is the Budget manager, and was filling in for the AVIS manager that day)

I asked what was up with that, him being in the AVIS store with a "Budget" logo'd shirt. He said they were both owned by the same family, so one should book whichever rate was cheapest, and that either place would do the cruiseport dropoff/pickup *if* they knew ahead of time what someone was planning.

We just got lucky on our first day that there was a extra person available at AVIS to drop us off to start the cruise. However, since they knew when we were coming back after the cruise, they arranged to have someone available to come get us. He said that the cruise ships didn't really like for car rental agencies to advertise at the port (didn't give a reason, but I'm guessing this is to allow the ship to sell more of their own transfers to the airport). Not being able to advertise at the port killed the car rental business for people wanting dropped off/picked up at the port, enough so that AVIS stopped running the shuttle a few years ago.

At any rate, my experience with AVIS is how customer service is supposed to work. Kudo's to AVIS on this trip.

Just wanted to pass this info along, in hopes that it might help someone else, and to give good review of AVIS based on the great customer service we received while in JAX.

I did a bit of research on "Shuttle drop off at the Jacksonville cruise port" and couldn't find much recent info on the subject.

GP

Some of the people in our group of 18 also went to the wrong carousel to get luggage. I got them back on track, but I agree, it wasn't made "OBVIOUSLY" clear. I just happened to see the numbers out front of each carousel area and put 2 and 2 together on my own. I guess once people catch on it won't be as big of a deal, but that may have led to the delay getting off the ship.

We had an early flight, so we were in group 2. Once off the ship and we all found our luggage, it wasn't very long through customs.

I do have a question about the porters...did they take you *past* the line of folks waiting (with luggage) for customs, or did you still have to wait in that line? Might be worth the $1/bag to bypass that line. That is where we spent the majority of time during debarkation.

Great review...I liked re-living it as well, through your review.

GP

There must be different shows for different ships. Perhaps the karaoke host matches the legends with the singer he/she chooses based upon the available talent on that particular cruise ?

On the Miracle 5/30/12 - 6/7/12 the legends were:

Madonna

Britney

Gloria Estefan

Ricky Martin

Garth Brooks

Frank Sinatra

Elvis... BTW controversy for this one The passenger who played Elvis was a dancer from another Carnival ship. He was on the Miracle having a week long " conjugal visit' with his loved one. Some felt this was unfair as he had an inside edge. My opinion who cares :eek: he was awful and got the lyrics wrong.

 

Also the karaoke host and another social host did Sonny and Cher very cute both were guys. They did drag the CD, Henney something or other, out dressed in bad drag for something but I can't for he life of me remember what .

May 26th Liberty still had the "old" show. I did Garth Brooks.

In our show, the CD was dragged onto stage dressed as "Dolly Parton" just like the last N times we have seen the show. Everytime, though, it's still a pretty good show.

Don't sit on the sidelines, get in there and sing!

GP

Great Pictures! Keep 'em comin!

GP

Couldn't tell you about the rope course, but I can help with the Tender questions..

 

You get your tender ticket and line up/wait in the theater.... the only tender port is Half Moon Cay..

No ropes course. (But the "Guy's Burgers" more than make up for that!)

For tendering, find someone that's platinum, buy them a drink and ask them to "escort you" to the front of the tender line when you want to get off the ship in HMC. :D

GP

THat's pretty funny, because I was the "guy in the middle".. LOL I actually whispered to the girl next to me and told her I was going to say my name was "Jeff" and I wanted her to do the same. I was afraid that she wasn't going to do it and was going to make me look bad..LOL.

Ok, If Jeffette shows up here, I'm going to buy a lottery ticket!

Too funny!

I still don't know how she caught the thing on the last attempt, because she didn't seem too interested in making an effort on the previous attempts!

I guess you *really can't* make up stuff as good as real life.

GP

Hey Jeff! You're not hijacking the thread at all. I'm happy to have participation, especially from someone that's already been mentioned in the report!

 

You're one of the siblings! So, was it your wife or SIL that was laughing so much at the Dan Smith show? She's the one I spoke to by name before the Wonderful World show.

 

I remember now from EDGE that you were Team Kansas City ;) And, yes, he was very surprised you pulled the stunt off. It really was quite amazing, I bet it doesn't happen very often.

 

We enjoyed seeing various members of your family throughout the ship. One evening, some of the younger members of your group were sitting a couch or two over from us at one of the comedy shows. And seeing your Mom do so well at the slots tournament - it made us feel like we had a 2nd person there that we knew. :)

What you probably didn't know is that mom's first name is Wilma, although she goes by her middle name. It was very interesting to see the slot scoreboard with that name on there, as that isn't a very common name these days. I, too, had the feeling of "rooting" for someone I didn't really know, just because of the name.

We heard that the delay was because of someone getting off the ship (not feeling well), but they were trying to locate their luggage. I hadn't heard about the ambulance, though.

I think it was my SIL that was laughing so hard at the comedy show. I wasn't all that "hip" on sitting in the front, but big brother picked out the tables...:confused:

I'm on the "Edge" :p of my seat...waiting to hear the rest of your review.

GP

Now, on to the Venetian for the show, EDGE. There wasn’t much of an advertisement of what we were about to see. Karl with a K came out and announced that EDGE was a one-man-show with variety, comedy and juggling. The variety was good, comedy OK, and the juggling was great. I do remember an audience partipation portion where 3 people were called onto the stage. I don’t know if this was staged or not, but – when the first guy gave his name, the woman on the end whispered to the guy in the middle. Turns out, for the purpose of this show; both men and the woman – were all named “Jeff”. :p

Not to hijack the thread, as the review is VERY good, buy my two cent's worth says, "It wasn't staged."

I was the first "Jeff" on stage. I don't know the other two participants, but I, too, saw them whisper to each other. I guess that part may have been staged, by my part in it all was not.

Did you see the look on "Edge's" face when we actually pulled off that trick on attempt number three? The other times Jeffette didn't seem too interested in catching it, but the look on Edge's face was certainly priceless. He was more surprised than we were!

GP

Yes, I was part of that "Team Kansas City" thing. I certainly hope we didn't monopolize any part of the ship and take away from anyone's enjoyment. Having 18 of us all together, I considered that might be a problem, so tried to go out of my way to make sure we didn't...I hope it wasn't a problem for anyone.

...But surprised the garage associated with the Liberty was full unless the Liberty pulled at 10:30AM and the ship's boarding not delayed. Must have pulled into a different berth than the one she departed from.

It did the week we were on it(same week as you), so maybe it did the previous week, too. I remember hearing an announcement at debarkation that we would be coming into a different terminal than where we departed.

GP

Anyone have any recent experience with these? Do they even exist? I found a quoted policy online but not on carnival's site and I'm not sure it's current but I can't find anything on carnival.com. I want to book a cruise next April with friends and I'm ancy to book because I want a particular type of cabin. I will be cruising in July but definitely don't want to wait that long to get my own FCC. Our friends are planning on booking the same cruise next April but they will be on the Valor next week and are going to get some FCC before they book. Can they purchase friends and family vouchers for us? From what I understand the friends and family vouchers can only be used to book on the same sailing that they booked and they must be used within 60 days. That would mean waiting a little over 2 weeks to book but would also mean $200 in OBC potentially. Definitely worth the wait and risk of losing our first choice cabins BUT not if the policy isn't valid anyway. I know, I can call Carnival but thought I'd check here first.

 

Thanks for any insight!

The couple that is getting the FCC's will get them in their hand before getting off the ship, so you can book immediately when they get back.

Remember that you can't use two FCC's in the same cabin.

However, you *can* book with another couple and split couple one (with 2 FCC's) each in a separate cabin and split the other couple so that hubby uses FCC in one cabin and wifey uses FCC in the other cabin and then get everyone back in the right cabin once you get on board. (I.E. put the guys in one cabin, and the gals in the other cabin)

This is very easy to pull off, speaking from experience. :D

GP

In January while on the Valor we booked our May cruise (5 day). We recieved $50 OBC and two friends and family vouchers. The vouchers have to be used within 60 days of when you booked and they have to be going on the same cruise you booked. While it seems to be a no brainer because of the free OBC, I will not do it again simply because of the inconvenience. So many things went awry and cause me hours on the phone with CCL....They gave me the two friends and family vouchers on the ship but did not give me my own $50 OBC. When I called about it, I was first told that I shouldn't have gotten 2 F&F certificates and that it was supposed to be $50 for me and 1 for F&F. I knew that wasn't true so I had to argue my point and after being put on hold several times she then told me that I was right and that my $50 obc would show up 4 days before sailing! She said that's when it would be applied. Also, when you book your cruise while onboard a cruise, you lose all ability to manage your cruise from Cruise Manager on CCL. So you can't edit your bed options or see your billing. In essence, it is as if you booked with a Travel Agent. Every time I called to talk about issues with this booking I was told they can't discuss with me and I have to have my TA call...then I'd have to explain that it was not a TA and that I booked while on the Valor. I also couldn't apply for price drops even though I booked ES rate because CCL recognized it is a TA booking and they told me the TA had to apply for the price drop. Anyway after many hours of arguing, it is now all straightened out. They ended up applying my $50 OBC about a week later, the tech dept. straightened my account out so it didn't look like a TA booking, and I sent the F&F in for my friends on this same cruise (although it has not been applied yet). I will not book a cruise while on a cruise ever again because of the incovenience it causes...especially if you are used to managing your cruise, checking and applying for price drops, etc....

Wow, that's messed up.

Thanks for the info. We were considering booking while onboard next time around. May just rely on the FCC like we normally do.

GP