Mysticks1

For those that may be wondering how long it takes to get your passport renewed I just received mine back. I mailed my renewal application from a Mobile, AL post office to the Philadelphia, PA processing center (USPS Priority Mail) on May 12, 2017. I received the renewed passport in the mail today May 26, 2017. I did not pay for expedited, just the regular renewal fee and it was back to me in exactly 2 weeks.

We don't fly to cruise normally so I pick a port that we can drive to in one day or approx. 8-9 hours drive. That limits me to Ports that are between Port Canaveral and Galveston. We figure out where we want to go then I research the different cruise lines that go there, check pricing and then the port of embarkation.

Anyone know how long it takes for cards to arrive?

It was 5 business days for mine to arrive. Ordered on a Saturday and they were delivered the next Friday.

Sorry if this has been asked before lol, but what does lgbt mean lol?

lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered.

If you were just looking online you need to call them and ask. There will be cabins open that you can't see online. I had to do that to book an aft facing cabin. They were available but when I tried to book online it wouldn't show them to me.

I know they have the Cozumel plus itinerary now, but I feel the opposite. I want to be at sea and have no interested in overnight. Especially when I sleep, I want to be sailing.

I agree with you - we have been to Cozumel multiple times and really don't care to spend more time there. The Cozumel Plus itinerary that I booked only seems to add one hour to what we have spent there in the past.

I would also like to know if you found the casino area smoky. My last cruise on the Fantasy was about 8 years ago and there was so much smoke in there - it even was a little smoky on the Promenade area outside where the casino is.

There are some new itineraries that stay a little longer in Cozumel - they are called "Cozumel Plus".

Before booking learn as much as you can about the cabins that are on each ship and check pricing to determine which type you will want to book. You can find lots of information on these boards and there is a cabin review section. Search on youtube for videos, there are a lot of video cabin tours and that may help you decide which type you want to book.

I would recommend making sure that the deck you are on has cabins above and below your cabin. Take a look at the deck plans (on the Carnival site or cruisedeckplans.com) and make sure you aren't near any things that may bother you. Low decks toward the front of the ship may have noise from things like thrusters or noises when docking and possible noise and vibrations from the engines/props/thrusters when in the back.

If there is a gray area on the deck plan that is probably a crew area and I personally stay away from those because they could be noisy areas. If you are concerned about seasickness it is better to be on a lower floor and towards the center of the ship.

I saw a lady pick up bread with her hands in the buffet line, look at it and then put it back. I told one of the guys behind and he took all of it away.

I also saw a lady carrying her young child in the pool with just a diaper on (the kid, not the lady LOL) despite all the signs saying you can't do that. They had been in for a while, that diaper probably weighed 10 pounds. That is why I don't do pools or hot tubs on a cruise.

Thank you. In the photos, Guy's Burgers and Guy's Pigs and Anchor look like they are buffets....have you eaten there and can you confirm that they are not buffets?

Guy's burgers is sort of a hybrid. They will hand you the burger itself. The toppings are more of a buffet type because they are self-serve so if you didn't add toppings that would be a choice. I haven't seen the Pigs and Anchor yet so can't comment on that one, the barbecue that they had on the Dream when we were there was a buffet type thing set up on an outer deck.

Here is a link to them. You will have Guys Burgers, Blue Iguana, Mongolian Wok, Deli and Pizza to name a few.

https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/?shipCode=DR

My pup pulled through his second procedure and seems to be doing really well. thank you all for your well wishes

 

I THINK it might still be possible to do the cruise, but I have to sit and do some serious number crunching

So sorry that happened. I hope you can work it out - can the vet set up a payment plan for you? Some of them will do that. I would explain to them what you are trying to do. I hope your fur-baby recovers quickly.

I ordered one last Saturday and I received it today so it was exactly 5 business days.

Watched Liberty arrive at Nassau this morning. Several pax were on the bow ??

 

 

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I have never seen this on Carnival but on my Royal Caribbean cruises on Freedom and Mariner you were allowed out on the bow where the helicopter pad is. Maybe security just didn't notice them yet. Every Carnival ship had that area as off limits with signs stating so.

Carnival use to be the best in entertainment, food, amenities, and customer concerns. Over the past years with 2 new CEOs, the line has made the bottom line priority. I continued to cruise Canvival while I cruised othe lines to compare them. I found that the other lines have improved greatly in their commitment to its past passemgers. Each time I have cruised Carnival another takeback was discovered. There comes a time when enough is enough. It took me this much time to realize that Carnival is not getting better. This is not a complaint but but information that others can use to compare lines. I realize that I have a choice to cruise any line. I will cruise any line that I feel is going to treat is passengers with them in mind and not their bottom line. Carnival will change in time, they have in the past, as other lines as well.when this happends It will be on my list again. This is not to give Carnival a bad name, but to try to make them aware that its most loyal customers are not happy with these changes and maybe fix them so their customers can go back to enjoying cruising with Carnival again.

Have you looked at any of the other cruise line boards? If you look at my signature you will see that I am not loyal to any line because I don't really care about the perks or "status" and choose based upon itinerary alone most of the time. I have been on 4 different cruise lines and I can tell you each time when I am on the boards I see the same type of complaints on each one. This is the first time to see complaints about pie though. You may want to try Celebrity or Holland America.

I just got a $100 card - they were still available a few minutes ago.

No, we have never done that with YTD. If we wanted something to eat later we would swing by the buffet or pizza, etc. to get a snack. We also change back into comfortable clothes after dinner so that would require changing again for us. I could see that if a good number of people start doing that it could cause problems with those who have YTD and choose to go to dinner later because of the tables being taken up by folks on their 2nd trip.

I am actually very tempted to purchase FTTF for our Freedom cruise next February. I know it's money that some regard as wasted - but now that we aren't having to skimp and scrape up every penny to be able to afford our cruise in the first place (i.e. we are earning more nowadays), and the fact that we have booked a balcony cabin - yes, I am actually seriously considering FTTF for our cruise. The ability to get onboard ASAP and KNOW that your cabin and luggage will be ready for you......THAT is worth its weight in gold for me. Not having to sit around on Lido and moo with all the other cattle while you protect/hoof around your carry-on luggage sounds absolutely wonderful to me. We don't have kids, but we DO vacation fairly seriously. My DH is a photographer and invariably had tripods, cameras and various assorted bags of lenses/equipment dripping from his (and MY) appendages on any trip. So......

 

Plus, debarkation. That was the most painful wait when we got back the last time. Would like a guaranteed exit time.

 

Just my $0.02.

If you have that many carry on's then I would say it will definitely be something you would like. And since you have a balcony you have the plus of relaxing there after you eat lunch even if the other cabins are not ready. It was wonderful in New Orleans to be able to board quickly, drop off our carry on luggage and head back up to eat. We still beat the crowds, even with going by the cabin first.

#5 would depend upon if the food is actually eaten or if it is wasted. I am sure they expect and budget for a certain amount of waste.

I have a Cozumel Plus cruise booked - 8 day on the Fantasy in April 2018. I just checked and the time in Cozumel is listed at 8:00 to 5:00 on it and the normal time for Fantasy in Cozumel is 8:00 to 4:00.

You will go online and print those things out yourself. A few travel agents might still do it for you and send it in the mail but if you book on Carnival you need to go to their website and sign into your account to print all of that out.

So carnival says no flights earlier then 11:30. Surely 5 minutes isn't going to kill me right? We plan to take bags off ship and catch uber to airport in New Orleans. Any tips? Will we make it? Does Uber hang close by like the taxis will? Thx

As other have said there are a lot of "If's" involved. One thing to consider is "IF" you are cruising during a time of year when fog may be a factor. The ports can close due to fog or the ship could be really delayed due to fog. I personally would book a later flight rather than take a chance.

Since my wife can't sleep with intermittent noise, we always carry an electric noise machine. Works great. However, the first night on a cruise, the dang thing stopped working. Two hours of listening to toss and turn and griping! Had a brilliant idea. The cell phone search found an APP ! 20 minutes later, nice peaceful snore and then I could go back to sleep. Now, we just use the cell, less to pack

I was going to suggest the exact same thing and the same thing happened to me except I forgot to pack my sound machine. I found the app called "white noise" and have used it ever since. I love it because you can actually customize the sounds and play multiple sounds at the same time. I always sleep well on a cruise ship though.

To me it was worth it just to be able to board quicker and go straight to your cabin when you board and drop off your carry on luggage and things. Not having to lug around those things at lunch was really nice. Your luggage will also be delivered quicker than normal so if you like to be unpacked completely before sail-away that is a plus. I only used the guest services line twice so that didn't help me much since there were very few in the other line.

I noticed that the price has increased since I used it last though - 3 years ago when I used it on the Dream I am pretty sure it was $49.95 and that was a 7 day cruise. It seems to have gone up since then so you will have to determine if you are willing to pay the price.