Davey Wavey

30 minutes ago, evandbob said:

For comparision, I just turned Platinum on NCL, and got 2 free specialty dinners for 2 - wish Carnival gave a free Steakhouse dinner to its loyal customers!

Carnival does but not until Diamond level.

On 5/20/2019 at 10:46 PM, Woodfaerie said:

I feel sad to say I agree. My recent  week on the Conquest made me miss the old days when staff smiled at you, your steward called you by name and the dining room staff didn't look so totally burned out.  Remember when the hostess that seated you would place your napkin in your lap? 

I remember it well. It was last month.

But maybe a little reminder would help them. Have you ever thrust out your lap and said, "Missed a spot!" 😄 

I will tell about my experience with Nationwide Cruise insurance. Note, this is their "Cruise" insurance and not the travel insurance. It specifically covers getting you to your cruise, whether the beginning of the cruise or if you miss the ship during a port stop.

We had a cruise out of Miami scheduled for Sept 2 when Hurricane Irma took aim at Miami. My Southwest Sept 2 flight to Atlanta on to FLL was cancelled and Southwest let me rebook any available flight for no additional cost. Carnival announced the ship would stay at sea until Sept 5 when the storm was forecast to pass. My new Sept 5 flight through Charleston was then cancelled because of threat to the east coast. Southwest gave me a full refund as a future credit, but all flights to Florida were cancelled. I searched every site and eventually found a single American Air flight to Miami on Sept 5, but only 2 first class seats were available. We booked it (even though the insurance stated it would only pay for flights of equal class or less) and that flight through Atlanta was suspended because the Atlanta airport closed while the storm moved through there. It did eventually open in time for the flight to leave on time. On the connection in Atlanta, there were HUNDREDS of people on standby for that one flight since it was the only one not cancelled. Boy did we feel bad for those people trying to return home. We made it to Miami only to have Carnival announce the ship couldn't make it to port until Sept 6 because the channel had sunken boats that had to be removed. Power was still out in much of the city and streets near the port were flooded, but we found an expensive hotel near the port that had power. We took a taxi there, walked to a restaurant to eat when pretty much everything was closed down. Took an Uber to the port next morning to catch the ship. During all this Carnival had announced the ship wouldn't go to Miami at all and would detour to Cozumel to let people off and just head back for the Sept 9 cruise. We ALMOST flew to Cozumel to meet the ship.

I will add in here we were hell bent on making it to the ship because we had a B2B on the Sept 9 cruise, otherwise we probably we have cancelled that 7 day cruise, since it was now only a 3 day. Another big thing was the insurance pays $1,250 if the itinerary is changed before boarding and another $250 if the itinerary is changed after. Carnival did say the ship would still do the final stop in Cozumel as scheduled, but once on board changed it to Nassau. So my insurance claim included all expenses even those I knew weren't covered because the form asked those be shown.

Paid:

-$1,250 per person for pre-change of itinerary, and $250 per person for post-change of itinerary

-Reimbursed the first class tickets even though Southwest had issued a full refund as a future fare credit

-Reimbursed the hotel, taxis, Uber, and restaurant including tips

-Reimbursed a non-refundable pre-paid excursion through a 3rd party

-Reimbursed taxes and exchange fees on the pre-paid rental 

Denied:

-Southwest flight because it was already refunded as a credit

-Carnival cruise fare because Carnival pro-rated refund the missed days and fees/taxes

-Pre-paid excursions that Carnival refunded

-Pre-paid rental car (Sept 2 FLL to MIA) that I paid for with rewards points because no points transactions of any kind are covered

The claim checks came exactly 3 weeks after filing.

P.S. I will also note that the Nationwide rep walked me through how to word everything and how to put it on the two separate forms (one for trip delay and one for trip interruption). Super customer service from their Tampa office that was also hit by the storm.

On 5/11/2019 at 3:51 PM, estrawn said:

...I'm curious as to why, if Carnival can't provide the cruise I have booked and paid for, I should have to get my money back through an insurance claim.  I would think that Carnival would owe everyone a full refund in this situation because it was caused by their actions...

They would certainly give you a refund, but it in theory could come in the form of a future cruise voucher. Using a credit card offers coverage. But does travel insurance?

When that big hurricane damaged the eastern Carib islands and came through Miami, Southwest canceled my flight and issued a travel credit for a future ticket. My insurance didn't refund my money because I had already been reimbursed. I did end up finding and buying a first-class ticket and they did reimburse me for that, even though the policy says it will only pay for the same class of ticket. I did explain on the form that it was the only flight available and only first class was available. I also found out they would not reimburse stuff bought with points, even if those points have a money value. So, if I use reward points to pay for a prepaid non-refundable rental car, they won't reimburse it.

Yes, you can grab a meal and some coffee and hang out up top. Do take the hint when you see no more passengers and the crew start looking at you funny, you have overstayed. 🙂 You can then move down to the lobby and do more people watching until the final notice. I have actually never heard a "final notice" announcement except when the cruise director told me if we were trying to be the last off, we had done it.

For Orlando, be aware of the possible traffic around the airport in middle of the day, and know the airport is generally an hour away from the activity-type areas. Since you have a car (I'm guessing a rental from Canaveral to the airport), maybe treat the day like an Orlando excursion day. Get off the ship early and try Kennedy Space Center, which is close to port, or drive an hour past the airport to the theme park and touristy areas. I like to shop around Disney Springs (aka Downtown Disney) and eat a late lunch there or Citywalk (near Universal Studios). Some people do daytrips to a park (costs too much for me on a shortened day) or Gatorland, or ride an airboat, or go to that upside-down museum place. Whatever you like, just do a search for that topic and Orlando. You will surely find something of interest, but also keep some place close to the port (Cocoa or Daytona Beach areas) in mind.

17 hours ago, maryred said:

...In the evening public transportation  slows down, where during the day a route would have a bus every 15 minutes, in the evening, about 7pm,  till midnight they might run once an hour...

Just to add to maryred's excellent info, transportation at night gets scarce, especially if you depend on the bus. You may find that the bus comes once an hour and it will be filled to capacity. Try to be aware of how to get a taxi. Some from our cruise had to take the empty bus back away from the port to reach a population center where there were taxis.

I will also note that we were there on a Sunday overnight, and so much stuff was closed for the day or closed very early, even the tourist spots. Ferries and buses were also on shortened schedules. Unlike most cruise ports that know a ship is in port where the vendors largely adapt to the ship's schedule, Bermuda keeps to their regular schedule.

On a B2B, you will be Platinum on BOTH legs even though you only earn platinum on the second. I am not sure if your family's boarding passes will show priority, but if they don't, you can exit the ship and reboard with your family. Make SURE you take your ID, boarding pass for the second leg, and the Transit Pass they will include in your envelope of instructions for what to do to stay on the ship or exit and reboard.

So, if you go to print your boarding passes and tags prior to your first cruise and they somehow don't reflect your priority status, call guest services and tell them you turn platinum on your 2nd leg of a B2B so they can make sure your bookings are linked and the platinum shows up for the first leg.

8 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have learned not to trust Carnival’s website. Their website also says you will receive a letter every time you reach a milestone.  Both my wife and I never got a letter after our 25th cruise...

I knew about the program but didn't know exactly how they did it. We received no letter or anything else for our 25th cruise. I just happened to be sitting at roulette with a woman on her 50th, and she asked me where my 25th milestone S&S card was and showed me her card. I went to guest services and asked. They pulled up my history and said Yep, you and your wife have 25. They went in back and printed us some generic white cards and said they would send a request to corporate to have 25% x 2 of our cruise rate issued as an OBC for the current cruise. Yuck, but ok... We did ask if we could get the card that said 25th milestone, but they only gave us a blank white card. Once home, we called customer service and asked if they could send us keepsake cards, but they said only the ship could print them. Oh, well...I thought about asking Heald but figured bah whatever...I can live without the card although using the 25% credit on our choice of cruises would have been nice. 

23 hours ago, Liverpoollovely said:

Vista is new but there are layout issues with the ship (that I have) for example ... the elevators are constantly crowded because the ship lacks atrium elevators...

Oh my, I forgot about the stupid elevators. People push all three sets of buttons so all the elevators constantly stop on floors with no one waiting. During busy times like embarkation/debarkation and port days, there were ridiculous waits for elevators. And people got so impatient they would not yield for strollers or scooters. So many people cursing and calling a-holes because people rush into the elevator ahead of everyone else waiting. I guess good thing is lots of exercise. We got used to the stairs when doing 6 or fewer levels.

So, if you can't tell from all the different responses, your B2B experience may vary. I have always seen them send a letter asking you to meet in some room (lounge, dining room, etc.) at some determined time IF you plan on staying on the ship. The letter also has Transit Pass IF you plan to leave the ship, so that you can reboard using that pass AND your second leg boarding pass (we didn't know about the boarding pass part and had to print them off at the FunHub before we left). Sometimes they took all our cards to scan us out then came back with old and new ones, then sometimes they walked everyone down to customs, then sometimes customs asked questions or we just said Hi to an officer and turned around and went back onboard. Other times they just presented new cards, or sometimes customs officials came onboard while we sat and watched them look at a clipboard. I have always seen them take a group picture on reboarding that will be delivered to your cabin for free, and offer a free champagne in the atrium before/during/after the photo.

Hope your answers are in there somewhere!

Interesting that Princess and Carnival are under the same company but one makes you do muster always, and the other doesn't.

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

 

So did you have beignets for breakfast?  EM

Yes, my wife did. We walked through Riverwalk mall and grabbed some from Cafe du Monde, then continued over to Poydras Street and found a cafe when crossing over to Canal Street. We had crab cakes and eggs with biscuits and their jam.

12 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

...You would think you would be able to sleep in, but there will be so much noise from those clearing out from the cabins around you, plus the breakfast hours will start earlier and close down by 0830, so if you aren't up to eat, you will go hungry until noon...

I guess we do a good job of sleeping through the noise. Last cruise, like our other B2Bs, we were asleep until guest services called at 10am to get our new cards and go to immigration.

On that cruise, we asked if we could just leave the ship and come back using our transit pass. So, we went out and walked around New Orleans and ate there. When we boarded, our keys weren't in the inbox, but our old cards still worked. When we went to muster, they couldn't scan us in, so we went to guest service and sat through muster there even though security made everyone else leave and go to their muster stations. When guest services opened after muster, they printed us new cards.

Did you ask anyone about the shower temperature? They can fix that.

We do want to do behind the fun tour on Glory as we did one on the Dream. It covered different areas from what you did.

We were on a B2B and went to excursions on the second leg before boarding had begun, and we got the last 2 spots. Must be some way to get it early. We felt it was really interesting and worth the price.

Well, Glory is my favorite ship because it has all the newer food venues, the much larger comedy venue, but is not a huge ship. I still think Carnival doesn't handle the Dream/Breeze/Magic/Vista crowds well. Glory's class of ship has 500-600 fewer people and it feels like it. It seems just like many companies do, Carnival tried to optimize the newer ships by making everything smaller to fit more stuff and people in. We liked the Vista's newer activities, but the public places feel small and crowded. I do spend a good amount of time in the casino, and Vista has BY FAR the worst casino layout ever devised. For me, that alone makes Vista the last ship I would go on again...yes I would still go on it but it's at the bottom of the list.

Certainly the 45 minute (Hobby Airport) or 90 minute (IAH airport) rides are long and obviously more expensive to the Galveston cruise port. This was a rare time we used the Carnival airport transfers and sat back and relaxed. We flew into Hobby and out from IAH. New Orleans airport is just 15 minutes. Each city, Houston/Galveston or New Orleans, has plenty to do so that depends on your tastes. New Orleans with more food and history and festivals, Galveston is more beaches and boardwalk vibe. You can have plenty of enjoyment from either option.

Depending on which ship, the usually overlooked non-buffet place is the pasta place (some ships called the Cucina del Capitano and others the pasta bar/kitchen) at the rear of the ship on the deck above the buffet. On some ships Jijis Asian Kitchen is another place aft of the buffet. And the BBQ place and/or snack place on the 5th level is open. None of these places has a surcharge for lunch.

12 hours ago, keywest1 said:

Also, folks who have to fly to port get two cruises for one airfare.

To add to this, the whole travel thing of airfare, pre/post hotel stays, port transfers are non-trivial expenses. We do look only for B2B on the same ship that have different itineraries each week. Also, from the Journeys cruises we have been on, the people are very different on 14 day vs. 7 days. In my experience, the shorter the cruise the more generally lively the people.

9 hours ago, AmBear said:

We also were looking at those 2 dates, but our Ultra offer was $500 casino play, while our Premier offer is $1000. casino play!

Only a few of the gifts are over $500., and I never win them, so we'll likely take a Premier, mabe a land vaca.!

When I checked the regular price of the cabin to the ultra price, it was only $8. less!-))

I had those offers earlier this year and took the $500 Ultra in March and B2B $1000 Premiers in April. I sat with a daughter and mother at roulette the first night and they kept saying they weren't coming to the drawings because they never win. My wife also wouldn't come for the drawings. They called the mother for $500 that she missed. They showed up for the drawings after that and the daughter won $300 and another $575 when they called her for the cash cow. Then the mother got called for $300 and won the slot tournament. They called my wife for the basketball game that she missed, so she came to them and got called for the HiLo game. I got the Macbook in the drawing and sold it for $999 to a dealer who buys those gifts and resells them on Ebay. He sold it for $1149 the week before Best Buy marked them down in a sale from $1299 to $899.

On 5/7/2019 at 9:09 AM, MT_Sea_Cruisers said:

We always get the bottles water and drink coupon but sometimes we do not get a pin.  We have been assumed a few times a year so I just assumed that maybe they only give it once per year, or perhaps they were out of them.

We have had to ask the steward for the pin plenty of times, but always eventually got it. One time they said they were out but they eventually got more about 4 days later.

1 hour ago, wo5m said:

Everyone has already covered most things I was going to mention. The only one thing I'll add in on is the Italian restaurant, Most people don't learn that it is free for lunch until a day or two into the cruise.  Because of this it is almost always underutilized and never a crowed(like lido)  on embarkation. I'm usually one of the first on-board and that is usually my go to place. I usually spend an hour or two up there by a window watching loading process on the dock.  However, once the word gets out to the new cruisers that they have free lunch, it will be crowed later in the cruise.  

We are also early on the ship and go to the Mongolian Wok as it is the rare time the wait is 10 minutes at most, but we do go to the Italian place (pick up a dessert on the Lido before heading up) if there is no Wok. The other less crowded place during embarkation is the BBQ place on the 5th level. Carnival has started pointing that out in the "Lunch Express" elevators (they only stop on 5 and Lido), so don't know how long the quiet there will last.

Last time out of New Orleans and Galveston they checked outside the building first.

6 hours ago, cruisemein said:

Just booked 2 Ultra cruises, here is a list we had to pick from:

Sept 28, 8 days on the Magic

Oct. 12 7 days on the Vista

Oct. 19 7 days on the Conquest

Oct. 26 7 days on the Vista, Conquest and Sunshine

Nov. 2 14 days on the Breeze

Nov 9 7 days on the Vista and Miracle

Nov. 16 8 days on the Horizon

Dec. 8 7 days on the Glory

Dec. 14 7 days on the Breeze

 

We chose chose Oct. 12 and Nov. 16,  prices were discounted a little bit, plus the fun money, DOU and the gift, it's better than paying the rack price.

Sept 28 Grand Turk, overnight Bermuda from Ft. Lauderdale Carnival Magic 8 days
Oct 12 Mahogany Bay, Belize, Cozumel from Galveston Carnival Vista 7 days
Oct 19 Grand Cayman, Mahogany Bay, Belize, Cozumel from Miami Carnival Conquest 7 days
Oct 26 Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Amber Cove from Miami Carnival Conquest 7 days
Oct 26 Mahogany Bay, Belize, Cozumel from Galveston Carnival Vista 7 days
Oct 26 Princess Cays, overnight Bermuda from Charleston Carnival Sunshine 7 days
Nov 2 St. Croix, Aruba, Curacao, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, San Juan, Amber Cove from Canaveral Carnival Breeze 14 days (Journeys)
Nov 9 Mahogany Bay, Belize, Cozumel from Galveston Carnival Vista 7 days
Nov 9 Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallara from Long Beach Carnival Miracle 7 days
Nov 16 Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, Aruba from Miami Carnival Horizon 8 days
Dec 8 Mahogany Bay, Belize, Cozumel from New Orleans Carnival Glory 7 days
Dec 14 Amber Cove, St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk from Canaveral Carnival Breeze 7 days

We chose the Oct 19, Oct 26 on the Conquest since it was the only B2B.

Back on board time is pretty standard 30 minutes before leave time. They do post it in the Fun Times and on a sign at the exit.

Serenity is included and cabanas are first come first served.

You don't need a spa pass to use the fitness center. It is not part of the spa even though it does share the entrance hallway.

The elegant nights are everything from really fancy to casual. They just restrict sleeveless shirts, shorts, and really casual stuff, and even then those are generally allowed. The added cost restaurants are sometimes just a bit more strict, especially the steakhouse, but it is not consistent. If you have casual attire, you are safe pretty much anywhere.

All the restaurants are open for lunch, except the steakhouse. The italian place has a different lunch menu from the added charge dinner menu.

The pool is open at embarkation, so bring a suit in your carry-on and jump in!

Don't know about the lounges.

The outside activities are pretty empty before noon and during dinner, with a bit more of a crowd during lunch.

In between meals are generally the most crowded.

Spa balcony gives a spa pass and is very close to the spa. They have different colored beach towels, thicker towels and washrags, a better robe and slippers, and some sample soap/lotion stuff like you find in some hotels. If that interest you, then it is worth the cost.

Remember, all these are very general observations and your mileage may vary.

5 hours ago, InitialD said:

Around 8 to midnight or later the casino is packed so expect to wait for drinks...That said, they do have a lot of people to wait on but I've never gone more than 20 minutes between drinks even during the busiest times. 

 

I'll add one more. When they are really busy and drinks are taking 20 minutes to come, just order another each time they bring one.

On 5/3/2019 at 7:46 PM, Elaine5715 said:

Yes, it is the same as the Platinum/Diamond Reunion Party.  It used to have better food but now it is the same.

I was just on back to back premier cruises. I was pleased to find that each party had different food. The two premier parties had the same wings and shrimp, but all the other 5 appetizers were different. Same with the diamond party. All four had totally different foods from each other. I made sure to point that out and thank the chef at the diamond party.