dchurchward

My wife, teenage boys and I will sailing on the Carnival Magic from Port Canaveral over Christmas, with the holiday being a sea day. I am curious how Carnival ships handle the holiday? I am sure there will be Christmas decorations, but would like to know if there are special activities or events due to the holiday. I appreciate any thoughts you can share.

I would say it depends on the interests you and your family have. Norwegian and Royal Caribbean are great. if you want more of a fast paced cruise, Carnival is also a great option. Like has also been said, the newer Royal Caribbean ships have a lot to do, with multiple activities for people of various interests. One thing to consider as well is if there are specific ports you are interested in seeing. I hope my thoughts are helpful.

I went on a HAC cruise with my wife when we were in our 30's as well. I tend to agree with the advice you have been given. If you don't see the activities on the cruise as being a high priority to you, and enjoy better food, HAC is likely a better choice. If, however, you are concerned that you may get on the cruise and decide you want a more active itinerary, then go with RCI. While you didn't bring up this option, if you want to go somewhere in between, Princess may be another option to consider.

Hope that helped.

My wife and two teenage boys will be taking an Eastern Caribbean cruise over Christmas. While we have decided what we want to do at the other ports, we can decide if the train tour would be a good excursion. We tend to like train tours overall, such as the train in Skagway, Alaska, but wonder if the train tour in St. Kitts is worth it, and what people think about it. Also, if you go on the tour, is there a better side of the train to sit on. Thank you for the help.

First off, I would never fly in on the day of the cruise. That being said, if you do, you will want to try and fly through hubs with lots of flights to your cruise departure city so that you increase your chances of making the cruise even if a flight is delayed cancelled. However, as other's have called out, remember the airline will likely prioritize frequent flyers and those who pay more for their fares.

My first cruise was in 1991 on the original Carnival Mardi Gras. It is exciting, but also a bit sad to see the new Mardi Gras in the Carnival Fleet. I do want to take a cruise on it to see if they have any items or areas that commemorate the original "fun ship."

My advice, having been to Nassau a few times, is to be very aware of your surroundings. I wouldn't call it dangerous per se, but there are a large number of poor people and some sketchy individuals, depending on where you go.

5 hours ago, SimplyMarvie said:

Check the travel.state.gov website for the countries you are transiting. If they require 6 months validity on your passport, it will say on the website. Don't trust what random people on the internet tell you they remember being the regs -- actually look them up for yourself. It'll save you no end of trouble.

Thanks! I did check the travel.state.gov website. I asked here though because, as many responses have pointed out, the cruise lines seem to have their own rules. For the record, I call RCCL and they said that my passport had to be good for 6 months after the cruise. In order to be safe, I went ahead and renewed early. Honestly, the rule seems really dumb because what is the point of have an expiration date you need a new passport 6 months before. In any case, I do appreciate the advice.

Thank you all for your assistance. I decided it was better to be safe than sorry and am doing an expedited Passport renewal so this won't even be a risk. I'd rather spend a little extra money now than have it be an issue during check-in or disembarkation at the end of the cruise.

I see that most cruise lines recommend that your Passport not expire until 6 months after your travel. Does this really matter? I am on an Alaska cruise at the end of July/beginning of August and my Passport expires in October. Do I really need to renew it early?

We chose Radiance, because the itinerary was the destination for us; not the ship. When we sail the Caribbean, then we care more about the ship than the ports. But we want to see Alaska. Cannot wait!

If it was just and my DW, I would likely have chosen Radiance as well or one of the Princess ships. Since I am bringing for four teenage children, I decided that the ship itself and on board activities were more important, so I should either choose Ovation or the Norwegian Bliss.

One thing I have seen is that the shore excursions and on-board activities currently for sale (specialty dining) are selling fast. I talked with RCCL today and was told the same thing by the support agent I spoke with.

My family and I are booked on this cruise in late July 2019. We definitely went with the ship over the itinerary, but also because we live in Seattle, it is way easier to get to the port over Vancouver for us. However, if Ovation was going out of Vancouver, we probably would have still booked her. It seems like Seattle is will see some competition between the Ovation and Norwegian Bliss for passengers next summer.

Well if they had said it, people will be demanding to know what caused it and why it happened again.

Yes, that is certainly possible. It seemed like they called it out specifically for the dry dock in 2017 so would be interested if it was the propulsion or something different this time. I could find any details in some quick search engine queries.

It is interesting that RCCL is not stating that it is dry dock for propulsion repairs. When it went into dry dock in 2017 RCCL said it was for, "maintenance on components of the ship's propulsion system." They have just said it is unscheduled maintenance this time. As others have said, it must be below the waterline though, if it required a dry dock.

This argument does not make any sense. If you have the unexpected expenditure you'd have to pay it whether you have already paid for the cruise or not. You either have the money for both or you do not.

 

 

I charge my final payment any point before the final payment date during the credit card billing cycle in which final payment is due. For my next cruise that's between Sept 26th and Oct 3rd.

I probably didn't explain myself clearly. I'm talking about that situation that seems to arrive if you have set aside money for something you want, but haven't spent it yet. It always seems that a need or an emergency comes up and while you very likely have the money to cover both, it can be very tempting to use the money you have set aside for the thing you want.

For a specific example, after I paid the initial deposit on the cruise, my daughter started experiencing some serious medical symptoms. Overall, getting her issue diagnosed has cost my wife and I over $20k over and above what our insurance paid. While I had set aside the money for the cruise, including the dining and beverage packages, excursions, etc. it was very tempting to cancel the cruise so i could use the money for the medical expenses. It is not about having money for both things, it is about priorities for money that is budgeted, but not yet spent. And, yes, I did get the cancel for any reason insurance.

I am very happy to hear that you were able to get the amounts refunded from RCCL and the airline. You have my deepest sympathies for the loss of your brother. Hopefully you will find peace and comfort in the upcoming weeks and recall positive memories of your time with him. If possible, I hope you were able to put the refunds aside so that when you are ready, you can go on another cruise and get some time to relax and reflect.

You have received some good advice. The one thing I would add is the method you ask your parents to use depends on what you consider an emergency. If you are looking to only get contact in the case of a situation that may cause you to fly home from the next port, giving the grandparents the way to contact the ship may be sufficient. If you want to be accessible for important items, but not true emergencies, then a wifi plan or adjusting your cell plan may make more sense. For me, I will generally get the wifi plan as having internet access, plus being able to be contacted is worthwhile to me.

What does that have to do with anything? You wouldn't want to know if your child was hurt or if there was an emergency? I'd want to know IMMEDIATELY so I can make arrangements... using my fancy Voom internet that was just used to notify me of the emergency, I'd be booking a flight from the next port of call or trying to make arrangements the best I could.

Not really, I have 4 children so if one didn't survive while I was on the cruise that would seem like acceptable losses. ;p In truth, it might depend on which set of grandparents were watching the kids. My wife and I took a trip to Hawaii when my two oldest were very young. We received multiple calls per day about how to address very basic things. I think they volunteered to watch the kids, but then regretted it because I am sure they knew what to do in most of the cases. It didn't ruin our vacation, but was highly irritating.

My cruise is through a big box store so with the 2% cash back on the credit cardfor travel and 1% for executive I will pay before the end of the year so I get the cash back in Feb and use that for excursions. I don't earn anything like that on liquid cash so for me why wait.

Thanks, that is a good point that I didn't consider.

Since I am cruising in July 2019 next year, my final payment is not due until April. I was wondering if there are any reasons to make the final payment early, or if it makes more sense to invest the money, and pay closer to the final payment date?

It seems to me that the advantage of paying early would mostly relate to not facing an unexpected expenditure that requires you to use the money, but I don't see any other reasons. Am I more likely to see sales on the beverage and dining packages, shore excursions, etc.?

The only real downside to paying it late is if the payment somehow didn't get applied in time and you lost your reservation. Since I'm going through a TA, that possibility seems remote.

Any thoughts from the experts here?

You will get a lot of different opinions on this question. My family and I will be on Ovation in July 2019. If you truly want to get great pictures, you can't go wrong with a one way North or South bound between Vancouver B.C. and Whittier or Seward. If you go on Princess or Holland America, they are both able to go into Glacier Bay which is beautiful. If it is your first time, I would suggest a Vancouver departure instead of Seattle because you spend more time in Alaska and don't have to stop in Victoria B.C., although Victoria is a nice place to visit.

It may be worthwhile for you to ask in the Alaska board as well to see what advice you get there. In terms of month, I highly suggest July and August, but the weather in Alaska can vary a lot so you still may get rain whichever month you choose. I hope that you have a great time, Alaska is incredibly scenic.

My advice to you is try not to get overly stressed. Once you go on your first cruise you will learn what things are of the most importance to you. I personally would not get a balcony for a Caribbean itinerary, but would going to Alaska for example. The middle of the ship is the best place to reduce the motion you feel, although the Caribbean tends to be pretty calm, except during hurricane season. For talking with a TA, think about what elements you most enjoy when you are on vacation. Are you someone who wants activities all of the time, or do you like to rest and relax. How important is the quality of the food, how much do you drink, what do you like to do. If you can provide a TA information like I have listed they can suggest a ship that will most meet your interests. Good luck and I hope you enjoy your first cruise.

When I was on the ms Mardi Gras in 1991 we sailed in close proximity to the Carnivale the entire cruise as both ships were on the same 4 day Bahamas itinerary. I was able to get several great photos, but they are currently in storage.

This says they booked a “paid upgrade” and was assigned a cabin number which sounds like it was a Grand Suite, then at some point in time was downgraded to a Junior Suite. If this is true I think RCL was 100% wrong in downgrading them with no extra compensation. There is no timeframe where they have to assign a cabin so they should not change it after the fact.

If the upgrade was to a specific cabin, I would agree with you. However, as others on the thread have said, and upgrade is normally to a guarantee level which RCCL delivered by putting the OP in a Junior Suite. It sucks if they were ever shown in a higher level suite, but it is the chance you take when booking a guarantee room type, not a specific cabin.