brownc424

I take a salt/magnesium/potassium combination every morning. It's meant for fasting, but I find it helps me in general.

I packed the same amount for my two week cruise as I generally do for my one week... I'm a travel hoarder!

Unless you're traveling with very small children, take the big suitcases. You're a big enough group that you'll need larger transportation options (Uber xl instead of regular for example), so that won't factor in. This way you don't have to try and travel as light as possible, and you have room for anything you might want to purchase on the trip. Personally, as a duo, I take three suit cases, but i admit that's out of sheer laziness.

Just a FYI, if you don't know and care, bitters do have calories. It's pretty minimal, but a teaspoon of orange bitters is about 20 calories.

Not exactly the same scenario, but when I had to file a trip delay claim (missed connection due to delays), I wound up having to send in the exact same forms three times. Took me four months, but they eventually approved it. It definitely is a delay tactic to get you to forget / lose the paperwork.

I'm on Voyager later this month, and I've been wondering how the demographic compares. Are there a lot of Puerto Ricans onboard, or is the cruise demographic basically the same as you'd find on a ship out of Miami?

I booked an owner's suite, my friend is in a balcony. He paid for the Key, does anyone know if the reserved seats are the same section? If not does anyone have any suggestions for the best way to coordinate theater seats? Thanks!

I'm not in the slightest bit referencing the validity of this lawsuit, however. You realize there are class action lawsuits over items that cost less than a dollar, right? If you're referring to the expense of a lawyer, virtually all class action lawsuits are billed on a contingency basis (the lawyer is only paid if they win, and than a percentage of the award).

It sounds kind of cool to do once, but even $99 for a tour around the ship sounds ridiculously overpriced.

You know, if they served a decent sized lobster tail, I doubt anyone would complain, but they serve you a 4-6oz lobster tail, about half the size you'd get if you ordered it at a decent restaurant.

Oh! Sorry I read photo package as photo session. The photo package is an ok deal if you like cruise photos, the actual session IMO is overpriced and blah.

If you have OBC and no better use for it, but unless there's something special about this cruise to you, I'd highly suggest just paying a professional (at home) instead. It should cost you approximately the same amount of money (depending on your location) and you'll get a lot more than 5 prints, as well as someone who actually knows what they're doing. Admittedly, I'm a bit of a photo snob.

You've got some brown stuff on your nose, maybe you should take a step back and wipe that off. If the Cruise lines cared, they'd close the "loopholes", but the truth is that they're making money on people who think they're being clever. It gets people into the casino who would never go otherwise.

But what was the deal with the tournament, was the grand prize actually $100,000 in cash? Was it even a top cash prize, or something else and the $100,000 was just totally misleading?

Funny, I had a totally different experience with Cookie, but the exact same reaction! I found him to be incredibly annoying and obnoxious. I also really disliked the way he ran all of the events. I plan to avoid his cruises as well.

Celebrity and Princess are both considered Premium, HAL is as well but it seems to be very hit or miss. Generally, CCL/RCL/NCL are considered mass market or "contemporary" cruise lines. Celebrity, Princess, Disney and HAL are premium. Ultra-Premium includes Azamara, Viking, Oceania and Cunard. Ultra-Luxury would be Regent, Seabourn, SeaDream, etc.

I'm on my first real cycle of Carnival offers, and my offers make zero sense to me. $1000 in freeplay, drinks on us for myself and a companion, and yet the room isn't free. Depending on the specific cruise and which offer it decides it likes the best, it's anywhere from 10-80% off.

Other way around, those suite guests are subsidizing the masses. Those suite guests are the most profitable passengers by far. In general, they spend more per square foot, and they spend more onboard, and with excursions, because on average, they have significantly more disposable income.

From what I've seen/read/experienced, Carnival is fairly tight with backend comps, but incredibly generous with front-end. Expect fairly generous offers in a few weeks or months.

I mean... DUH? Do you really think that needed to be stated? Although, somehow while pointing out the obvious you managed to also be wrong at the same time. The service is "more human and friendly". Even if it's simply a "performance". They're doing their jobs, which is literally to pretend to be your friend.

To be honest, it's not as nice a hotel as the one in Cabos, but I liked it so much better in almost every way.

I think I can help you understand. It's the difference between a typical 5 star hotel, and a Real 5 star hotel. I'll try to explain. If you stay at a nicer hotel, let's just say The Roosevelt (A Waldorf Astoria) in New Orleans. In a regular room, as an unknown. You'll get great service all around, all of the food options will be good, you won't have to wait particularly long for help, service, or even a taxi. If you stay at a higher end hotel, generally a more boutique location, let's go with another Waldorf Astoria, The WA in Los Cabos, by the second day every single person, almost without exception, will refer to you by name. Your personal concierge will check in with you at least once a day, sometimes more. Any request you have will be answered almost instantly. Theoretically the food will be better (although I was very underwhelmed at this hotel), and if you have a special request, it will be done without any question. Your preferences will be remembered, and if you come again the next year, odds are Very Good that you will recognize and be recognized by the vast majority of employees from your last trip. That's what I found on Celebrity, in a suite at least. It's a completely different sort of experience, and much more personal. I went to the buffet one day, and one of the assistant waitress for Luminae (the private MDR for suite guests) was working there that shift. She asked how everything was going and offered to get my food for me, we had a pleasant conversation and I continued to serve myself. Every single staff member that I dealt with on a regular basis was the same way. They all did their best to make me feel like they genuinely cared about my happiness, and were willing to do almost anything to ensure it, even if it was above and beyond what was necessary. That's the type of experience you should expect on the smaller cruise ships, and the more expensive lines. A more human touch, and a friendlier experience. That isn't to say that you can't have the same experience on Carnival, or any of the other lines, it's just much less likely. That kind of experience might not be for you, it definitely isn't for everyone. Personally, I only want that experience some of the time. Sometimes I want something similar but lesser, and sometimes I want to be an anonymous cog in the machine and just drink and relax.

I'm really not sure why anyone would pay for the Loft 19 cabanas. Than again I also don't understand paying for the Excel suites. I'd much rather do Star class on RCL, or suite class on Celebrity for the same money. It feels like Carnival is dipping its' toes into the "ship within a ship" concept, which is great! But they haven't actually touched upon the vast majority of amenities that actually draw people in.

I found mixed drinks to be the weakest part of my Celebrity sailing. Outside of ordering at Luminae, every other drink varied from "that was ok" to "disgusting". I found that overall Carnival had much better drink service. At the pool bar on Reflection I was served multiple drinks that were undrinkable. Like a mudslide that was literally just solid ice with a little bit of bailey's and chocolate syrup.

It's actually cheaper to just stay at the hotel (well, the comfort suites next door that they own, it gives you full park privileges), for 2-3 nights (1 night is the same price as 2). It's ludicrous!