groundloop

Yep, I've done this in the past. Normally the Maitre'D is available in one of the dining rooms from approximately 1:30 til 3:00 the day you get on the ship. In my experience they've always bent over backwards to accommodate you (within reason - not everyone can get a table by the window for instance).

Absolutely true. My wife always packs a single full sized suitcase and winds up not wearing half of the things she's packed.

Yes, there's an "Elegant" night. It's not as formal as it used to be, some people choose to simply wear nice clothes such as trousers and a polo or button down shirt, while others still go all out with tuxedos and evening gowns.

I'm glad we're having this meaningful discussion about fries. We could be spending hours upon hours having a totally stupid discussion about the buns. 😁

To the OP's question, yes, you can always get OJ at breakfast or brunch for free. Sometimes a staff member will come around pushing "fresh squeezed" juices for $5 per glass, but the regular OJ is always free. AND I've never had any complaints about the OJ either from the machines in the buffet or in the MDR, I guess some people are a lot pickier than me. (And I grew up in Florida with orange trees in our backyard). Also, the Passion Fruit Cocktail, when it's available, goes great with rum. 😁

Just for grins I looked up the itinerary for that cruise - Cozumel is the first stop. All that hassle for two days on the ship just isn't worth it. The only option that makes any sense is for your hubby to be a no-show so you can at least get back taxes and port fees. (And I'll add that in my most humble opinion if I'd have ever had a job where I found out at nearly the last instant that my vacation with my family was getting trashed I'd have told them to stick it where the sun don't shine.)

There are plenty of non-smokers (such as myself) who would spend more time in the casino if we didn't have to breath that awful stench. And the land based casinos which are non-smoking seem to be doing well.

It sure sounds like a lot of people are just looking for an excuse to be stingy.

Heck yes, there's plenty of spots to relax on the Spirit Class ships. I really don't understand why everyone has the impression that Carnival ships are nothing but a huge frat party. Yeah, they have parties around the Lido pool a couple of time during the cruise, but if that's not your thing their easy to avoid.

I'm not sure if all travel agents handle this the same way, but there's always a note waiting for me in my mailbox when I get to my cabin on the first day indicating that my travel agent has given me a gift of xx dollars of cruise cash. That shows up on my S&S account along with OBC from my shareholder benefits as well as any promotional OBC, but the cruise cash is used first for any expenses since that's "use it or lose it".

And because of this, in my most humble opinion, it's wrong to take gratuities off your S&S account. If you want to tip your cabin steward extra go for it (I often do), but don't deny the others on the team who you never see.

It must drive you nuts having to walk through the casino while smelling all that smoke. Hell, you can usually smell the casino from the stairwell on most ships.

The appointment time you chose isn't for when you get on the ship but rather for your arrival time at the port to begin the check-in process. People with the earliest check-in times generally have to wait an hour or so before boarding the ship (typically boarding begins around 11 AM but that varies). Also, you won't be able to get into your cabin until 1:30. Folks that arrive at the port around 1:30 or so can generally breeze right through the check-in process and head to their cabins.

Just that aft pool on the Conquest Class ships is marked as adults only. The area as a whole isn't.

Yes, but as I recall the aft pool is marked "Adults Only" and I've actually seen kids being told they can't be in that pool. There are rarely many kids in that area.

We'll be doing some cabin swapping on an upcoming cruise due to my daughter not getting the great offers that both of us had. It would obviously be more convenient to get new cards instead of having to carry around a second key-only card. Will Guest Services take care of that if you ask? (I always thought they'd only issue extra key cards, which they did for my daughter once when she locked herself out of her cabin).

As I understand it you'll get two extra room key cards from Guest Services which will only be used for opening your cabin doors, and you'll have to use your original sail-and-sign cards for any purchases etc.

Yes, but they still don't want guests in the halls getting in the way of cabin stewards. They're busting their behinds getting everything ready for us. Anymore I wait even longer than 1:30 to go to my cabin so as to avoid the mad rush.

On RARE occasions I've seen them be ready earlier than 1:30 (there will be a ship-wide announcement), but not very often.

As others have already said, Guy's BBQ is open for lunch every sea day, your Gub app will give you their hours. We were on Magic for Christmas and even my adult daughter who's super critical of everything said that the BBQ was good.

This gives one the impression that Carnival doesn't do a very good job of planning ahead, and it's going to really piss off a lot of customers.

This topic has morphed from answering the original question into everyone sharing their personal opinions, so here's some of my thoughts. Once upon a time I never saw anyone in the dining room on formal night without at least a nice shirt and a tie. And I never saw anyone in the dining room on other nights with shorts, much less shorts and a T-shirt. Now it seems that a few folks are getting away with cut off shorts, T-shirts, and flip flops on formal night. And once upon a time everyone would be considerate of their neighbors and take care to not let their cabin doors slam shut at night. Now you hear cabin doors slamming until well after midnight, and on my last cruise I even had the pleasure of hearing a woman at 2 AM pounding on a door screaming "open this fu#$!in door!!!!!". I think I'm seeing a pattern.

Every time this happened we'd put in for our table 10 minutes before dinner or brunch started. The dining room never got crowded for at least a half hour after we arrived.

They actually have the ability to make it so we'll be guaranteed a private table every time we check in on the hub app?

Shorts and a decent shirt (or even a T-Shirt) are accepted on "cruise casual" nights. For "Cruise Elegant" at least decent pants and a polo or collared shirt are ok. With that being said, last week on Glory I saw someone get seated on Elegant Night wearing a t-shirt, cut off shorts, and flip-flops. On other cruises though I've seen folks turned away for similar "offenses".