cruiserbrianj

Depends on your area and availability.....but we go to CVS.  Haven't had an issue scheduling an appointment and results are back usually by the time we get back home.  I think the at home tests are good for people in less populated areas or those areas where testing is difficult.  For us, we'd rather drive the 10 min up the road and save the money.  

14 minutes ago, Camden72 said:

7 night cruise.  We won’t spend a lot of time but a teenage girl spends a lot of time getting ready!

You, your husband or your daughter could always utilize the showers in the spa/fitness area.  They're much more spacious than the bathroom in the cabin.

I'd also suggest procuring a PVP to eliminate that 3 hour hold time.  For us, we have her direct line and even if we leave a message she calls us right back.

I couldn't tell you what other people wore on formal night or any other night in the MDR...that's how little I pay attention to that kind of thing.  We, our family, dress in what would probably be considered business casual and I think that's more than adequate attire for the MDR (elegant night or not).  That said, it's your vacation and you do you 🙂

That's why we book with a PVP.  She either answers or gets back to us really fast.  

In November, I asked on embark day if I could go ahead and use my OBC to pay for the gratuities (just so we could get it taken care of) and I was told that once you're on the ship it'll just come out towards the end of the cruise (which it did). Hope this helps.

I'm never gonna to judge someone for trying to sneak liquor onboard....I've thought about it myself but it just doesn't make sense for "us".  We like to try different drinks throughout the cruise...beers, frozen drinks, alchemy bar drinks, etc.  I suppose if we just wanted to drink vodka/sodas the entire time I'd consider it....or just buy a couple of bottles for the room.  We just like the freedom to drink what we want, where we want and when we want....and honestly, I like when they wait on me and bring me my drink.  That's part of the vacation/cruising experience to me.

Hopefully this is helpful for anyone traveling with someone unvaccinated (ie kids)....do NOT go to Walgreens for a PCR test.  Told me after the test approx 3-5 days turnaround....uh, nope.  Fortunately, I found an Urgent Care in my area that just started PCR tests with 2 hour results (and they take insurance). Nonetheless, it's been a stressful few days.  Also, no issues with CVS and their antigen tests and turnaround time so that was a positive.

I'd like for the Cheers package to work on the private islands like it does with Royal C.

Our family was scheduled for an interior cabin on the lido deck for our Thanksgiving cruise on board the Magic.  Email rolls in for balcony upgrade for $480...eh, wasn't that keen on moving but clicked it anyway.  Turns out, it went down to $240 for the balcony and we're still on the lido deck...that was just too good to pass up in my opinion.  We're all beyond excited and ready to get back on a ship after almost 700 days since we were last on one!

I look at it like this....on my last cruise the tips were $14/day/person and it came out to roughly 18.5%.  I'm typically a 20% tipper, start there and go up or down accordingly.  That said, I could never see removing the tips as a whole.  I can possibly get by with reducing the tips but even still, I personally, don't feel right about that.  There really are so many people behind the scenes that get these tips....the same people that serve in the MDR you'll often find on the Lido deck during the day.  The vast majority are busting their butts to make our trips enjoyable and I always see the employees working....doing something.  That's just been my experiences but I really do think if people do the math and see what percentage they're actually tipping it could give a little more perspective vs simply removing/reducing because of "bad service."

You'll definitely be able to get your specialty coffee on that last day (we always do) but I haven't seen the bars opened.  One cruise we were in a lengthy "fog delay" coming back in and they "opened" the bars up which lends me to believe they would all normally be closed.  We were able to utilize Cheers for our drinks but the count to 15 was continued from the night before.  For example, I had 13 drinks the previous day and was able to only get 2 debark morning.  Not complaining, just explaining.

2 minutes ago, mscinmia said:

They are doing a major renovation of the port, widening the basin and some other improvements.  I think there will only be 1 or 2 ships sailing out of T18, which is the RCCL terminal.

That must be it.  I got even more curious and looked to see which lines/ships were there during those months and not many.  Celebrity, Holland America and Caribbean Princess.  Thanks for the info.

32 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Carnival mostly sails from Miami. Did you check there? 

I did. It was just in scoping out what else was out there I thought it was odd. Seemingly a big gap of nothing. 

Just curious if anyone knows why there are zero Carnival cruises out of Ft Lauderdale from May thru Sept 2020. Was planning for next years family cruise and found that odd. THI

I live just outside Atlanta and with my first two cruises I guess I just didn't know any better and we left around 5am to get to Jacksonsville.  1) We had no issues thankfully.  2) I was way too tired that first day of the cruise.  3) Unless there'd be no other way around it, we now arrive the day before our cruise and stay in a hotel.  Arriving a day earlier makes all the difference to me.  Lot less stressed.  Lot less tired.  Vacation starts a day earlier too!

13 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Go for deck 14.  the cabins are much bigger!  This is G38, one of the new insides.  Sorry for the mess, I was running around taking pictures on elation on debark morning.  Note the space, plus there are two USB ports at the desk, and two on the base of each lamp.

 

 

 

 

Just the kind of information I was looking for.  We did go ahead and get it and will be in G26 and are very much looking forward to it.

13 hours ago, belkin said:

Our Empress deck cabin was  close to the Atrium and I could hear too much noise from performers.

Deck 14 was quite with easy access to the Lido deck.  We had cabin G2 which was awesome.

Appreciate it....thank you.

1 hour ago, belkin said:

We stayed on deck 14 and deck 7 on the Paradise.  We liked 14 so much we have it booked again for next January.

Can I ask why you like it so much better?  I realize everyone is different, just curious.

Any help is appreciated....currently booked in an interior room on Deck 7 (Empress) on the Paradise.  Poking around I found some interior rooms on Deck 14 and it'd be $180 more (total) to switch. Any opinions on this deck?  We stayed on the Lido deck on the Liberty last year and loved it.  The Fantasy class ships don't have that option so this seemed "close."  I appreciate the feedback.

Carnival does have a soft sided cooler for sale that comes with 4 beers, stadium cups, opener and coozies for $40....not a bad deal really considering you get a cooler.  I realize it's not the same as the Cheers package but as a previous poster mentioned, you can sometimes get unopened beers (and then put them in the newly purchased cooler)

We did it on the Liberty back in December and it was $15.  I did not see anything about it in the Fun Times so I asked one of the bartenders on the first night about if/when there was a class.  She told us yes, there was and it was held on a sea day.  She also said we needed 5 people so we quickly recruited 3 more people.  We gave her our stateroom numbers and the next day we had the class.  It was one the best things we've ever done on a cruise.  Very fun.  Very informative.  You can also buy a shaker set with a jigger, strainer etc.  I think that was $15 too.  

Has anyone bought liquor from duty free shop at Amber Cove and then took it to the pool instead of buying drinks from the bar?  Don't judge, I'm thinking purely economics here.

3 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

We did Carnival’s Pub Crawl excursion in Key West. It’s awesome and very reasonably priced! You could do your own self guided pub crawl.  But I think the group dynamics make the experience that much more fun! 

 

Thr $300 we exchanged turned out to be just about right. We had reservations at different restaurants for lunch and dinner (dinner required us to take taxis there and back). Plus my hubby wanted to spend some money at the cigar factory. And we planned to do our own little pub crawl near the port area. We had enough to do the things we wanted to do! 

Awesome, thanks!  I think I have sketched out a little pub crawl in Cuba as well.  I guess we'll drink until we're out of money lol

Thanks for the details, this is exactly how I plan our cruises and trips!  Where did you book your Key West pub crawl through?  We're currently scheduled for the same itinerary in Sept 2019 (fingers crossed).  Nice to know it didn't take long to get off the ship, through customs, currency exchange, etc.  I will say that trying to decide how much money to exchange has been on my mind since I booked the trip.