1lizette1

I loved this review. I especially liked that you included pictures. Refreshing to read that other families have the same struggles.

Thank you for taking time to record the events you participated in. I know it takes time to do that and it's tempting to just have fun not take time to write stuff down.

We're sailing on the Magic in January 2020 in a cove balcony. I'm stoked already lol

How many people are usually allowed to take the tour?

We had FTTF last Feb. But I think the priority boarding didn't apply to us in Grand Cayman because we had booked a Carnival excursion. We were sent a note saying what time to meet in a specific diningroom

I received a similar email about our cruise on the Magic, Jan 12 2020. Now leaving Fort Lauderdale at 3:30 instead of 4pm

We chose anytime dining for our cruises. We like to eat a bit early (5:30 - 6:30 ish). Having said that, we've only dined in the MDR twice in the 2 cruises we've taken. We just found it took so long. Not much longer than a regular restaurant (maybe 90 minutes) but we just felt for us it was wasted "fun" time. I'd rather take 20-30 minutes for a meal then go to a show or casino or whatever

We just sailed the Victory a couple of weeks ago. Our cards were in an envelope just outside our door when we got to our room around noon. The first time we went to the bar they put a sticker on our cards (in our case we had the Bubbles package)

49 minutes ago, Tiger0613 said:

I do the following whenever I get the "Bad Request" error message when viewing the FAQs in Chrome on my Samsung Galaxy S7:

 

1)Close that tab.

2)Open a new tab.

3)Tap the three dots in the top right corner and go to Settings.

4)Go to Privacy.

5)Scroll to the bottom and tap Clear Browsing Data.

6)Choose a time range (last hour, 24 hours, 7 days, 4 weeks, all time) and delete cookies.

 

I am able to access the FAQs after doing this.  I have never had to clear more than the last 24 hours to make this work.  Hopefully this also works on laptops, desktops, and tablets.

I am always hesitant to clear data etc because I usually somehow end up clearing passwords etc and have a heck of a time. Maybe I'll just be more careful and do it like you've said. Thanks

1 hour ago, douglanglois said:

Fascinating. I tried using Microsoft Edge instead of Chrome, and it worked.
 

So I went back to Chrome - still not working. I starting disabling extensions, and discovered that it was Amazon Assistant that was causing the problem. After disabling it, Carnival excursions loaded just fine.

I use Chrome as well and I have such problems on the Carnival site especially the FAQs but if I switch to Internet Explorer it works fine.

Amazon Assistant? I have that as well...... off to figure out how to disable the assistant that I never use anyway lol

I can't say about booking but I am able to look through and click on different excursions

On 11/20/2018 at 2:25 PM, LaneyB72 said:

We have been on only one cruise, which was Carnival from Baltimore to the Bahamas.  We enjoyed it, but would not go out of Baltimore in the winter again. 

 

Why? Is it because it was too cold at the beginning? Any other reasons?

I'm asking because we're from Toronto and we're looking into a Baltimore sailing but if there are enough "cons" then we'll cough up the extra $$ and fly to Florida

5 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

As you likely know by now, final payment for a 4 days cruise is 60 days prior to the cruise while final payment for a 7 days cruise is 75 days prior to the cruise. 

I too did not know this. I assumed it was 60 days for all cruises. Good to know.

OP, sorry this happened to you. I'm glad you were able to rebook

Sailing on the Victory. Having a bottle of gin delivered to our room and we're bringing a case of cans of tonic. What is the best way to get some sliced lime? Should we order some through room service? Or do you think they'd give us some at one of the bars?

I use the same company that we have our car and house insurance with. I usually try and look it up elsewhere, get overwhelmed then end up buying it through them anyway. lol

We recently used the Fly2Fun program. I liked most of it, especially the part about how Carnival booked everything (insurance as well). Therefore if there was any problem I can call them.

But, the thing I really didn't like was that the flight was not finalized until after the cruise final payment due date (60 days before sailing) plus I couldn't access anything to do with my flight until 11 days after that! So I had to wait until 48 days before our cruise before I could go onto airline website (in our case it was Delta) and choose seats etc. 

I found this waiting made me very anxious. I like to be in the know about everything right from the start. If I chose to use Fly2Fun again at least I know what to expect.

Lastly, no Carnival reps (that I spoke to) know much of anything about Fly2Fun. Even the friendly folks at the Fly2Fun extension don't know a ton about it. Not sure I'd ever book using it again.

And that first post talks about upgrading to a different class in the flight, you need to call the airline with your ticket number. What it fails to mention is that you won't get a ticket number until 48 days before sailing.

I agree with serene56, go by booking time just in case a website is wrong.

Trying to decide if we should rent a room at La Quinta Inn & Suites Miami Airport East - 3501 Northwest 42nd Avenue (I have already booked a room but there is free cancellation) and use their shuttle plus use Uber to go wherever the shuttle doesn't go. Or if we should try and find an AirBnB and rent a car (then use Uber to get us from car rental place to cruise). 

We arrive around noon the day before our cruise.

What is it like driving around Miami and area? We're pretty seasoned drivers but I don't want the stress of driving somewhere that is very confusing or difficult to find parking etc.

I am loving your review! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it all out.

We are going on the Victory on Dec 3rd

I can't find it either way. Could it be because I'm in Canada?

Keep checking. My Dec 2018 cruise was 10+ available for weeks then all of a sudden it was sold out. Couple days later there were 2 available then sold out again. It seems to change quite frequently

Have you checked for the FTTF in the homeport excursions? I'm just making sure you know the correct place to watch for it

I learned not to wait until I got home after the cruise to call Carnival about the excursion we had. Bright side is that they gave us a partial refund for the excursion in OBC to be used on a future cruise.

If I had only gone to the excursion desk during the cruise they would have given OBC and I could have used it then. But that just means I now have to book another cruise so I can use the OBC. Aww that's a shame lol

OP, place a couple of personal items on the table (book & a sweater?). Try and get your meal and come back to table as soon as possible.

As for people posting that they would rip up a sign etc, just remember that everyone is dealing with their own things/issues. Perhaps the sign is there because the guest is mobility impaired or blind? Although I think there might be better ( or less "I'm entitled" looking) ways to reserve a seat or table, I just move on and find a table that's not occupied.

I check 3 or 4 times a week.

Be careful though, I did find a lower price so I called them to see if they could process it for me (I was concerned I would mess up the online form somehow). Good thing I called because although the price was lower (by $30 total) I would have lost my $50 OBC that I received when I booked. The better price I found would only give us $25 OBC

We asked in Cozumel for the 2 of us (grown adults) and the driver/runner said "whatever you like to tip". He ran us for about 3 or 4 minutes. We gave him $20US.

This guy was fit omg. Running pulling 2 grown adults (probably 375 lbs combined) like he was jogging to get some cat food at the market. Made it look like it was nothing. I had no issue at all giving him $20

Thank you so much for a great review.

We're sailing on the Victory this Dec. Really looking forward to it

Is it possible that in order to receive an upgrade offer you have to have selected a price where one of the stipulations was "2 category upgrade" (or worded something like that)? Just like there's also stipulations like "great vacation guarantee" or "half off your deposit" etc and different prices for different options.