LoungingMcCoy

My wife was called for jury duty, two weeks I think.  One of which we had a cruise scheduled and paid for.  I assumed that the court had heard every reason under the sun from people trying to get out of jury duty so I printed off every document, e-mail, etc. that I could think of so she could show that we're not making this up.

Armed with a mountain of papers she called the court.  They took her word for it, didn't want to see any documentation, and said to call when we got back home. 

Yes, unless something has changed.

I usually get a bucket of 4 beers in the evening, especially when they're on sale.  I either take them with me and watch the Dive In Movie or take them back to my room.  The cool thing is, if you don't drink them all, the cleaning staff will fill your bucket with ice the following day so the remaining beers are cold.

I'll echo what the others have said about later check in times.  I always wanted to get on the ship as soon as possible, which usually meant sitting in the dock waiting area forever, then grabbing lunch at the least crowded spot on the ship, then sitting there with our carry-ons until our room was ready.  On our last cruise we had a later check in time.  We checked in, went straight to the ship, straight to E-muster, and sat for less than half an hour until the rooms were ready.

Maybe we're boring, but we usually spend the first few hours of our cruise relaxing in our cabin.  We always get a balcony and we enjoy watching sail away from there. 

I love trivia!  It's my favorite onboard activity.  I have won two ships on a stick.  It would be three but the person running classic rock trivia on our last cruise put a Red Hot Chili Peppers song in there.  I have nothing against RHCP but they aren't classic rock!  lol  I lost by one point.

My wife and I play solo (I have to let her know who is the trivia master in our house), but I don't mind teams.  I want to win but at the end of the day we're all there for fun.  I don't really pay attention but I have never noticed anyone looking up answers on their phone.  I have to admit that, after many trivia games, there are some answers that I didn't know at first but when they're repeated on a later cruise I remember them.

Fun question!  I never really thought about it before.

I've never been to a show, the gym, the spa, in a pool or hot tub, and I've never gambled in the casino.

I'm glad those things are available for the folks that enjoy them, they're just not for me.

I have never had my room changed, but what I have gathered in speaking with my PVP in the past I would have a guess at two things.

1)  You chose a room for 3 people max with only 2 people.  Someone needed a 3 person room and you got moved.

2)  You chose a handicapped accessible room.  On a past cruise all the rooms on the deck I really wanted showed sold out.  I asked if any were available on this deck.  She said that there were handicapped accessible rooms available, and she would book one of them for me, but there was a chance I would get moved.

I'm very particular about my rooms as well.  That would stink to get moved after I picked the exact room I wanted.

We're planning a port day in Cozumel.  We have been there a couple of times but have only seen the port passing through to get to our excursions.

Is there anywhere in port or nearby to get an authentic Chelada or Michelada?

It may be gross but I at least want to try one.

I have only ever sailed on Carnival so I can't compare to any other lines.

What I like about Carnival is how chill the people are and we're all just there to have a good time.  (The cool kids still say "chill", right?)  I've never had an issue getting a partner, or partners, for activities like giant Jenga, giant Yahtzee, dance classes, etc.  My wife doesn't want to participate in these activities but she likes to watch.

We're not anti-social but we're also not looking for new friends.  Every cruise we've been on we've made buddies that we hang out with and it's really fun.

I'm a list maker when it comes to packing.  I start the list at least a couple of weeks before the cruise and add items as I think of them.  I don't trust myself to remember everything while I'm packing.  I can totally see myself forgetting something like underwear, and I'm not even joking.  lol  Then I start packing 2 or 3 days before we depart.

I never had any trouble bringing a bottle or two of soda pop back on board.  Sealed and/or half drunk.  Nothing has ever been said about it.

I'm ok with medals.

I won one early on on a cruise and proudly wore it the rest of the trip!

Kind of off topic, but we bought FTTF for two of our cruises.  I had no idea that you could show up earlier than your scheduled check in time.  That would have made it even more worthwhile!  😛

So far it isn't available for our Celebration cruise in January.  While we both liked being able to drop our stuff off in the room and the one time we needed to talk to guest services, but $130 seems a little steep to me.

We're on the Celebration in late January.  We booked the sushi making class on Nov. 2 and it's showing up on the planner.

Trophies and trinkets that I won from games and trivia and I try to find a national team soccer jersey for each new country I visit.

We had a Lido deck cabin on the Dream.

It's close to food (buffet, Guy's Burgers, pizza, etc.), bars, pools, water slides, Dive In Movies, and mini golf.  We have only ever had rooms on or a deck above the Lido, so I can't compare, but noise and foot traffic was never an issue for me.  

The only con is that every morning I thought I could walk to the buffet area and get us coffee without spilling half of it before I got back to the room.  I may have been used to the rocking of the ship but the coffee sure wasn't.

19 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

It's a pricey tour, but....   Did y'all enjoy it?    I've done BtF numerous times and always learned something new or saw something "extra" that I hadn't seen before.  

 

Most expensive purchase I've ever made from Carnival aside from cruises and Cheers was the Private Oasis at Half Moon Cay, for members of our Roll Call.  

Naturally the port visit was scrubbed due to weather, and I got a cash refund at Guest Services.   $1700 or so.  I wanted to ask for an armed escort back to my stateroom.  🙂  

Absolutely.  The tour of the ship was fascinating, but the best part was that I spent some time talking to one of our guides, a young man, about his life and goals and experiences as a cruise ship employee.  You hear and read a lot about what life is like for people working on a cruise ship but it was terribly interesting hearing it first hand.

As far as items go, the most expensive is probably buckets of beer or maybe steak or lobster for my wife.

The most expensive purchase I ever made onboard was when I signed my parents, my wife, and myself up for the Behind the Fun tour.

On 10/19/2022 at 2:30 AM, CruizinSusan70 said:

Why cancel your Mardi Gras cruise for a cruise on it's sister ship, the Celebration?   If there was something that you read about the Mardi Gras that turned the two of you off, isn't there a good chance that you won't like the Celebration for the same reason?

It wasn't because of the Mardi Gras.  Carnival sent an e-mail last year saying we could cancel our January 2022 cruise for a full refund.  I didn't even consider it, but I told my wife about it and she wanted to cancel because of COVID protocols.  I guess I should have kept my mouth shut.  (Please don't tell her I said that. hehe)

We book based on itinerary and vacation dates.  We don't even take the ship into consideration.  It just happened to work out that this year was supposed to be Mardi Gras and next year is Celebration.      

Interesting reviews.  I was under the impression that absolutely everyone was loving the new mega-ships.

We were booked on the Mardi Gras this year, but Carnival gave us the option to cancel with a full refund and my wife decided it was best for us to cancel.  The cruise we booked for next year is on the Celebration.  I have almost no interest in riding the roller coaster, especially if there is a fee.  I did the ropes course on the Magic one time on our last cruise.  It was fun (except that the young man in front of me was terrified and it took an eternity to get through the course...lol) but it wouldn't motivate me to cruise.

I have no intention of cruising on any line but Carnival.  My favorite activities, and what makes cruising so much fun for me, are the group activities like trivia, games like giant Jenga and Yahtzee, and dance classes.  I would hate to see Carnival move away from these smaller activities toward more "bells and whistles".

On a totally unrelated note, we need more dance classes!    

My wife had been wanting to go on a cruise for years but I had zero interest in cruising.

One year there was a mixup at her workplace where she was only able to get vacation time in January.  Around that same time one of my coworkers was planning a 3 day cruise.  I didn't realize that there were cruises that short.  I felt bad about her vacation situation and figured I could handle a 3 day cruise.

We ended up going on a 5 day cruise on Carnival Triumph and we both loved it.

I enjoy Dive In Movies, but not having them isn't a deal breaker.  It could influence my decision when deciding between different cruises.

My dad won a $100 bundle on the claw machine once.  He never opened it.  It is proudly displayed on the desk in his office.

I don't play casino machines, but he once gave me a few dollars to try the key machine.  I guess that since I play video games he thought my reflexes would come in handy.  I could tell fairly quickly how it was rigged.  Maybe rigged isn't the right word, but you know what I mean.  I didn't win anything but it was interesting figuring out how it worked.

Lunch first.  Hang out in our room/nap until muster.  If we know where the trivia and group games are held we may go check that out.  Muster.  Hang out on our balcony and watch sail away.

I never thought of it as a tradition, but I guess it is since we do it every cruise.  lol 

Chances are we are heading back to Mahogany Bay for our next cruise.  The first time we were there I wanted to do the sloth excursion but nobody else in my party wanted to do that.  (I know...my family is lame sometimes.  lol)  I begrudgingly went on the excursion they picked which ended up on West Beach for a couple of hours.  It was a blast.  I want to do both when we are there next.

Is this possible?  Do you have to do a specific excursion just for the sloths or can we just show up and buy a ticket?

If anyone has done this advice would be appreciated. 

Definitely COVID testing.

I would probably still cruise with the COVID testing, even though it sounds like a hassle, but DW is a solid "no".

We scheduled potential cruise time vacations in January hoping the testing will be done by then.