Lee Cruiser

Not a big fan if either port, but prefer Costa Maya between the two. At least there you can get off the ship and walk around the port area. They also have a pool / lounge area if you like that. We stay on the ship now in Belize. For us there is nothing in Belize that is worth the very long tender ride. It may be different once they get the docks done, but we avoid Belize if at all possible or stay on the ship.

My post was simply referring to transferring it to a new booking versus one already booked as mentioned in the quote. I had already mentioned the penalty in my previous post.

Last year we transferred it to a cruise we already had booked.

Read the link provided above. It provides you all the information needed. No one can truly answer that without knowing what type of rate you booked. If you booked with an early saver rate, the deposit is not refundable, but you can transfer the amount paid to another cruise, less a $50 per person fee up until the final payment due date. After that date other cancellation penalties start.

If it was booked with Early Saver, you will typically have a $50 per person penalty

Now I'm curious about another thing. Do you know if the individuals stewards / others get to keep all of the extra tips we give them or do they go to a pool as well?

Absolutely agree. It’s optional from the standpoint that Carnival allows people to remove them. When that is allowed and lots of people apparently do it, Carnival has to keep raising the amount to make up the difference.

I disagree. A tip/ gratuity is not the same as disclosing a salary of entertainment staff or officers. By definition a tip or gratuity is an "optional" amount left by a patron for an employee of a business "in gratitude" of their service. If Carnival doesn't want to disclose how your "gratuities" are distributed, then they should make it a non-optional service charge or add it into the cost of the cruise, without an option to remove it. Again, I'm certainly not opposed to them, I pre-pay them, have never removed them, and always tip extra.

It’s a shame that people would do that. It would probably just be better if Carnival rolled it in the price of the cruise. I’m guessing many of us on here already figure that as part of the overall cost, just like travel to port, hotels and excursions expenses. These are a part of the cost. If I can’t afford these things, then I shouldn’t take the cruise. If I can’t afford, or don’t want to tip, I shouldn’t take the cruise.

That’s exactly my point. Carnival used to do a better job of explaining that. From our very first cruise years ago we understood that. We always pre-pay and then tip extra, but would still like to know who gets what. If Carnival would do a better job explaining that and not relying on information or misinformation on sites like this, then less people would probably be removing tips.

Does Sol Y Mar have shaded areas along the beach or offer umbrellas? Some of the videos I've watched doesn't appear to have either. Thanks

There have been many of us who have wondered that, so you are certainly not alone. I don't see why some seem to have a problem with someone wanting to know how it is broken down. It used to be posted by Carnival. Not sure why they stopped that.

Are they the full detailed version like before or just an abbreviated one?

I went on to make a payment yesterday. I tried three different browsers on two different devices and never could get into my cruises. It would occasionally log me in, but still couldn’t access cruises.

Not really. You actually gave your opinion about somebody asking that question. The OP asked about the possibility of moving the non-refundable deposit to another cruise, which is possible with a $50 pp penalty.

Correct, as long as it is outside the normal cancellation periods in which case you can lose all of your deposit or more depending on the timing: Once your booking is within our cancellation penalty period, the amount of penalty will increase as the cruise departure approaches. When calculating the days prior to sailing, the day of sailing should not be considered as one of the days. The day of sailing is considered the first day of the cruise: From the final payment date to 56 days prior to sailing, the penalty is the standard deposit amount. From 55 days prior to sailing to 30 days prior to sailing, the penalty is 50% of the total fare or the standard deposit amount, whichever is greater. From 29 to15 days prior to sailing, the penalty is 75% of the total fare or the standard deposit amount, whichever is greater. From 14 days prior to sailing to the day of your cruise, the penalty is 100%* of the total fare. No refunds will be made if you do not show up for your cruise or if you interrupt or cancel your vacation once it has begun. The total fare is defined as Cruise Fare, Transfer Services, Pre/Post Cruise Vacation Packages and Fly2Fun Air (please note that Fly2Fun Restricted Air which is non-refundable at time of booking). Note: For full 100% penalties, the refund will only include: Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses and Optional Prepaid Gratuities.

I cancelled a cruise last year that was an early saver rate. I did so to book a week earlier under the 50% off sale code from last year. The original deposit was $250. Even if we would have lost all of the deposit, the new cruise rate was definitely worth it. After cancelling I received an email stating that while the deposit was non-refundable, I would receive a future cruise credit less a $50 per person fee, so I was able to apply $150 to another cruise.

Then you probably will want to stick with those. Carnival cruises out of N.O. probably won't be enjoyable for you.

We are also ones that spend a lot of time on our balcony just relaxing. If you can do something besides N.O., I would recommend going on Mardi Gras, Celebration, or the soon to be out Jubilee. They have much better shows. They also have extended balcony cabins mid-ship that are great. We have three cruises booked right now on these ships. The extended balcony cabins are cheaper than suites and are great if you spend a lot of time there. You can stay in the shade and out of the rain at all times on these. You also get a lounger on them.

On ours it was the same type cabin (balcony) just one deck up. I can’t imagine anyone would pay that.

At $206 for one deck up, I would hate to see what higher decks would be

We've received a lot of upgrade offers over the years, but this has to be the worst one ever. To start with we typically book the areas we want to start with. In this case it was a balcony cabin on Valor, mid-ship deck 7. We received an upgrade offer yesterday. When I clicked on it just to see what the offer was, it was a move from the deck 7 balcony to a deck 8 balcony for $206. You can book that cabin right now for only $24 more. We prefer deck 7 because we don't want to be below the Lido, so we wouldn't have taken it even it were free. We've seen a lot of upgrades offers (some for suites for a few hundred more or higher deck balcony for $15-20 more), but this one is actually laughable!

Wow! That's a lot. Can't imagine us using that much. We don't gamble, so ours would be primarily on shopping and excursions. We could rent one of those HMC cabanas 😀! The most we've had was $750. We are approaching our 25th milestone. We will spread that over two cruises with me taking it and then my wife.

The comedy club is an enclosed room where people know it's going to occur and have the option not to attend. Not saying Carnival should be policing language, but there are a lot of us who would not want to listen to constant foul language while trying to relax on a cruise. It's one of the reasons why we spend a lot of time on our on balcony. However, Carnival should be enforcing no children in the serenity area.

We've always (20+) booked online ourselves.