CruisinHoneymooners

We just got off Miracle today with FTTF. The picture I took of my son walking up the gangway was snapped at 12:02pm.

The code (P41) is a discounted rate on the Park & Cruise package. The rate is $169/night and includes up to 7 nights of parking. This is per my email confirmation from Jessica at Hotel Maya when I booked for our upcoming cruise a while back. If the code doesn't work for you, definitely email her - she was very helpful when I contacted her.

Thanks SO MUCH for posting this, I've dug and dug, too, hoping to see more details about this. I'm looking forward to surprising my son with it on our cruise next month. :D

From Carnival's web site.

A child cannot be moved to another age group as it is a strict policy set by Carnival and cannot be deviated from, regardless of the situation, such as moving into a camp of different age range so the child can be with a family member. There are many times that the different age groups are together so that those families with children in separate groups can be accommodated.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1397/~/carnivals-youth-program

We'll be going to Las Caletas during our cruise next month, and I'm wondering about how much money I should expect to budget for miscellaneous spending money? I see the prices for some of the "additional cost" activities on their web site, but what other items are there that we should anticipate for extra spending? Souvenirs/photo costs? Are there other extra cost things I should know about? TIA! :)

We will be on Miracle with our 7yo in March, and I will happily report back our experience with the club. :)

As far as car seats, I have found several of the airport shuttle companies offer car seat options when doing an online reservation. We haven't booked ours yet, but I've looked at quite a few websites and noticed this along the way. As far as in ports, I'm not sure the answer to that, as we don't have any plans in port that will involve needing one.

For our March cruise, it was released at the end of May 2016. If I remember correctly, they released all of 2017 at the same time.

Hi there, I'm interested in hearing from folks who have done the "official" Build A Bear Workshop at Sea since Carnival began rolling it out in the past few months. Can you share, please, is the experience the same as going to any land BABW store? With the big stuffing machine, the "grooming" stations, etc? Any pictures to share?

Most of the threads I was able to find about this seem to confuse/combine the BABW with Carnival's other (previous?) stuff-your-own-bear type of event, but I am trying to find out specifically about the branded BABW.

TIA! :D

We're considering a day pass for part of our time in Mazatlan, and I am trying to make sure I understand their web site correctly.

It reads:

European Plan (only room)

Adults $17 USD | *Children (5 – 12) $7 USD

 

* The price of the Day Pass in European Plan is redimibile in consumption of food and drinks. Children from 0 to 4 years old are free, children under 5 to 12 years old are charged as Child.

Does this mean that we pay $17pp to get in, but then are able to use that $17 towards food and drinks...so, basically the day pass is free as long as we order $17 worth of food? Is that correct?

We'll be on Carnival Miracle in March with a stop in Cabo on 3/20. Is it reasonable to book an excursion (not through the ship) scheduled for 12:30? Our itinerary says arrival at 11am, but I know that's not a hard set time and we have to tender. We do have FTTF, which I know gives us priority tender, but I don't know just how much that speeds things up?

Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone! :)

What have been your recent(ish) experiences with how long it takes to receive gift cards through the Verizon rewards program? If I order today, should I be able to comfortably assume they'll be here on time for my final payment on 1/2?

Carnival's web site specifies that they are to be carried on.

You must bring your own equipment onboard for personal use. Please hand-carry these items and do not place them in your checked luggage. There is one electrical outlet in each stateroom located in the area of the desk/vanity. The outlet is equipped with a 3-prong 110 volt (North America Grounded) and a 220 volt (Europe German-Style). It is recommended that you bring your own extension cord to accommodate your equipment comfortably.

 

Carnival Cruise Line carries distilled water which is available by contacting Room Service once onboard. The cost is $3.00 USD per gallon.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3372/~/cpap-machines

I just got off the Fantasy, I notice that the kids club diner was held at the Lido buffet and I saw several of the kids going to the bar in the buffet area to get soda. (I never saw a kids getting juice.)

Good to know. Thanks so much for the info. :)

Thanks so much for the information, all. I greatly appreciate it. :)

We plan to purchase the bottomless bubbles package for my son when we cruise in March. If I recall correctly from our long-ago cruise, drinks for this package were gotten at the bars around the ships. Is this still accurate? If so, are there restrictions to kids being able to get drinks - do they have to have an adult with them to go up to the bar? Also, how does the drink package work with the kids club? If my son decides to do any of the kid club dinners, would he be able to use the package while with the club to get juice to have with his dinner?

 

The Hub app has a nice feature for the pictures. Take a selfie and it will use facial recognition to find the pictures. You can purchase them as a digital download through the hub app. You never have to go to the Pixels area and search for your pictures again.

Could you tell me which ship(s) you were able to use the photo feature on? The Carnival web site only lists this as being for Vista - did you find it to be available on other ships?

We are going to do this when in Mazatlán August 16th. Looking at the pictures does the pool have a waterfall? By any chance do you know any of the spa prices? Is it expensive? Thanks in advance!

I hope you'll come back and share your experience! :D

Thanks so much for taking your time to share these. Can't wait to see the rest. :)

I can't wait to grab my first Kiss On the Lips when we board!

It's interesting to see how everyone approaches packing so differently. I'm envious of those who've gotten it down to such a science as to pull it all off in a carry on. ;)

We're just now planning for only our second cruise - which will also be our first family vacation - but I'm fairly certain that there will be several suitcases involved for the three of us. :eek: My son is neurodivergent, and we absolutely can't travel without bringing along some of his usual coping tools, which will take up a fair amount of a suitcase. And hubby and I are big people, which means bigger clothes that take up more room. I'm hoping to get by with two large/mid-size suitcases, plus The Boy's carry on size suitcase and our backpack/totes for on the plane. Hoping... :rolleyes:

Thanks so much for starting this thread - it's been very interesting to read everyone's thoughts. I'm having my own debate about this exact thing for our cruise in the spring. In our case, I'm the one who will obsess over the cost. Even if I go in saying "we're going to spend $X on drinks," once we're on the ship, I just know the dollar signs will start flashing and I'll be obsessed with watching how much it's all adding up to, etc. DH is fine either way. Neither of us drinks very much, but the idea of the all inclusive feel once we're there is still very appealing.

I hope you're having an amazing time celebrating on your cruise. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on this when you return.

If you have pricing info for the non-alcoholic drinks that are included with CHEERS, will you please share? Seems I've mostly only been able to find prices for boozy drinks so far. I know that hubby and I won't come close to drinking 15 alcoholic drinks a day. Maaaaaybe 3-5 each. We're throwing around still getting CHEERS, instead of Bottomless Bubbles as we originally planned, but would like to do some number crunching on the other drinks we may also get with the program to see if it would be a wise choice for our budget.

TIA! :)

Thanks so much for the feedback, all. :)

We don't have a specific occasion or time that we want to go. Rather, I'm just thinking it might be something to treat ourselves to at some point. Ideally, I'd like to wait until we're on board to decide after we've seen how our son does with the kids program. I'm assuming that the steakhouse experience is a rather drawn out evening of dining, yes? Theoretically, The Boy (7yo when we sail) *could* go with us and would loooove the food, but I'm imagining it as possibly being too long for him to join us?

Is it necessary/recommended to make a reservation online ahead of time for the steakhouse? We haven't totally decided to do it, and I'm wondering if we need to have this decided ahead of time or can be more spur of the moment about it?