kwokpot

Hello all. Anthony here. We will be boarding the Ovation on April 30th from Honolulu to Vancouver and will be staying in a Junior Suite. This will be the first time in a JS on a ship with a Coastal Kitchen. Any advice on securing dinner reservations? We do plan on going to the CK as soon as we board. How exactly will this work out? Will they be able to make dinner reservations for the whole nine nights? Any advice will be appreciated!

Big Island, Hawaii, Kailua-Kona port. Coffee plantation tours. https://www.lovebigisland.com/kona-coffee-tasting/

You will receive whatever the C&A points your cruise is supposed earn on casino comped cruises regardless whether you spend any money onboard. Furthermore whatever benefits come with your existing C&A loyalty level you will receive. So if you're Diamond Plus you will get your daily 5 drinks allowance, laundry, access to the lounge,etc.

Sure thing. This is what it will look like (screenshot of mobile browser version)

The website is the only place you'll find your casino offers. They will have separate emails when there's special offers like ultra or Elite and they will also send out post cards with the same special offers. But otherwise you just have to keep checking the carnival website under your VIFP offers.

Wash and fold only, pressing isn't free for ANYONE. PERIOD.

I can only speak about my experience where I received credit for both the number of cruise and days for the comped cruise. It was a junior suite and although it was booked via a fully comped certificate from a land based casino it counted as usual and pushed me from Gold to Ruby. Contrast that with VV where my two cruises, both fully comped, won't count for anything from their current and future loyalty benefits.They are unique and alone from that perspective.

No. Cruises from Miami using Drinks everywhere has no relation to whether the casino is open or not.

Sounds like that's at embarkation,which seems to get allowed everywhere Carnival embarks,but what about subsequent porta of call in Asia?

As of last October in JAPAN, we WERE NOT allowed to keep alcohol with us. On the Luminosa during our Port stop in Hakodate, Japan we visited a wonderful Sake Factory and bought two bottles of Sake, which were all wrapped up in beautiful Japanese gift wrap, back on board. We didn't say anything when we put our packages on the scanner belt but they were identified and confiscated until the last day of the cruise. I cannot comment about any other Asian country.

There's no matching loyalty status between any Carnival Corp.cruiseline.

My husband's most recent BCC offers,which have been for a fully comped Concierge Class cabin and now including longer European itineraries into the fourth quarter.

That's because M-Class ships gave a separate, for fee Gelateria which doesn't exist on E-Class ships. When the Edge first debuted the Gelato at the Oceanview Cafe did indeed have a charge. That was only recently eliminated on E-Class.

You mean Urcomped reps? Yes, when booking through them you are asked about your gambling budget. I guess it depends on how you're reading into implied. It's really no different than when a land based casino gives you a free room. It's implied that you'll be gambling but failure to do so won't mean they will charge you full room rate at checkout. Same with comped cruises. If you don't play at all they aren't going to suddenly charge you the full cruise rate on the last day of the cruise. Again, that's not how it works. At worst on a land based casino they will lock you out of your accumulated comps and not offer you any other complementaries but they won't retroactively charge you for the room. BTW, since I'm not the primary gambler in the family that's precisely what happened to me on a land based casino. Rather than sending me emails warning that I haven't gambled enough they just locked me out of my accumulated comp dollars. But I never had to retroactively 'pay' for any free room, gifts, or Freeplay that I had already used. Lastly, on almost every cruise you most certainly can play 3-4 hours daily. It would be at night. In any case that's the 'standard' quoted requirements for gambling complementaries even on land based casinos. That's like saying everyone should get 7-8 hours of sleep every night or you should tip US restaurant workers 16-20%. Doesn't mean that one Has to do that in order to get gambling complementaries. We have been traveling on casino comped cruises for over 10 years, averaging 6-12 cruises every year, all comped. My spouse just turned into our accountant W2-Gs over $140,000 for 2023.

I'm not sure what you or the BCC rep told you but on ANY BCC offer there isn't ANY obligation to gamble a specific amount or level on THAT sailing. That's not how it works. What you gamble or DON'T gamble WILL determine what your FUTURE offers are. https://www.celebritycruises.com/terms-and-conditions/casino-promotions

This isn't meant as a slight to your wife but as a first generation Chinese American my immigrant parents, despite have come to America in 1956, seem like many Asian immigrants very set in their ways when it comes to food. My parents still won't eat white chicken meat or turkey since there's less taste than dark meat. I 100% agree that rice, for instance, is never prepared properly on a cruiseship but that doesn't mean I can't eat rice prepared differently or eat something else entirely. The same can be said about so many cuisines. There are many ways to prepare things. Just look at American Barbeque. There's dry, there's vinegar based, there's tomato sauced based, etc. So just because one 'grows up' with vinegar based barbeque shouldn't mean that you refuse to eat any other type of barbecue. Most of what Americans call Italian food is American Italian food. Even moreso with American Chinese food. You can go on with every type of cuisine. My point in this is if one is so fussy in eating habits that you can only enjoy food that's only cooked exactly the way you want it to be leads to alot of unhappiness and missed opportunities to experience food cooked DIFFERENTLY than your own expectations.

This is the same for ALL E-Class ships. There's no other location for Gelato.

Yes, Deck 5. It's also the same deck for debarkation. They have self assist gather at Eden and then they lead everyone out through Eden Cafe to the outdoor deck, then forward outside on Deck 5 to the checkout staff.

Felt it here in Center City, Philadelphia. It was scary as Sh*t!

On the cruiselines mentioned, 100% yes. Even on Princess complementary cruises count towards your loyalty status. I cannot comment whether currently Princess honors loyalty status benefits on casino comped cruises since we haven't sailed with them in a long time. That's why it's disappointing that VV doesn't. We will be on our third V sailing this November, the SL TA, and all three will be fully comped casino cruises either via 3rd party or VV directly. And actually we JUST received this morning an offer from VV for a free cruise in a sea Terrace, 7 days or shorter on Caribbean or Europe sailings before November 30th. I think we may book the Resilient Lady out of Portsmouth in September since we have a Royal comped cruise beginning of October from Southampton.

Absolutely not true. On Carnival, Celebrity, Royal, NCL, and MSC you get ALL benefits of your loyalty club status on casino discounted and/or fully complementary sailings.

Just South of Volcanos National Park is Punalu'u Black Sand Beach where you can see the giant sea turtles.

The Chain of Craters drive is a must do/see. You drive literally to the edge of the Big Island.

We are doing a similar itinerary five days later albeit on Royal Caribbean. Unfortunately our altered itinerary only has an overnight in Kailua-Kona with no stops in Hilo. We have been to Hilo many times where we ventured to Volcano's National Park. So I'll be curious to see where you end up visiting when you venture out in Kailua-Kona. I just finalized a Turo rental where we only plan to rent a car for the first day of the overnight.

While there aren't locker rooms associated with the Fitness Center the Spa locker rooms are located within the Spa on Deck 14. From the Fitness Center go down the circular staircase then proceed down the hallway on your left and then turn right and you'll see the locker rooms on the left. The locker rooms are available for all passengers to use, regardless whether or not you have a spa treatment, Aquaclass, or Spa pass. Within the locker rooms are individual lockers with self setting locks, three individual showers, toilet, and a small vanity area with two sinks. There are no free saunas within the locker rooms;those are all in the thermal suite area which is extra charge and accessed through a door in the locker room with a key card.