CGrey93

Wonderful information! Thank you so much!

Thank you! This was very helpful! If you're not saying, "I remember that excursion! What a nightmare!" then we're all good. I appreciate the feedback. I'm not nervous about it, really. Worst case, they leave without us and we go to the airport on our own, check our luggage, and go do something on our own. I've just never done a post-cruise excursion, so I figured I'd get some info so I don't feel quite so lost.

LOL! You crack me up! I'm not afraid to pet alligators, I've raised 8 kids. Thanks for the help :-). We're actually flying into Green Bay, since we live in Kimberly. Driving to Milwaukee when it's 70 and sunny is already more stress than I need. Adding winter weather is too much. It's not the snow and ice I mind, it's the other drivers. I swear, every time it snows around here, I suddenly see a gazillion people who have seasonal amnesia and have completely forgotten that ice is slippery. Or on the other end of the spectrum, people who think one snow flake will cause their vehicles to careen over the side of a cliff if they drive in excess of 5 MPH.

For anyone who has done this excursion post-cruise, I have some questions I'm hoping you can help with. 1. 8AM seems really early. I thought 8AM was when they STARTED debarkation. Was there any difficulty getting off the ship and to the excursion on time? 2. Can we put our luggage out the night before as usual, or will we need to take our own luggage off in order to make it to the bus? 3. Did Carnival provide excursion information the day before, as they do for other excursions? If so, were the instructions clear and helpful? 4. Did you have any concerns or problems with leaving your luggage on the bus? 5. When they drop you at MIA, are you able to request a specific entrance? I ask because MIA is huge! I know that we need to be at the South Terminal for our Delta Flight. We'll still have some hiking to do, but it would be nice to at least be at the correct Terminal. 6. The times listed are 8-11:30, but the excursion information says it is for people with flights after 3:30 PM. Our flight isn't until 6PM, so we should be more than fine. Do you recall what time they had you to the airport? 7. Lastly, has anyone done this excursion in the winter? I'm wondering about what to wear. It's Miami, but it's winter, and I know we'll be in the everglades for part of the time. Was it cool? Were there a ton of bugs? Shorts or jeans? Anything else you recommend? 8. Anything you wish you had known ahead of time? 9. Anything we should make sure we do or don't do? 10. Besides the shuttle driver, how many people might we need to tip? (I'd like to have cash ready). Thank you so very much for any help you can provide!

I'm NE Wisconsin as well. Appleton area. My husband took our son for his temps on Saturday. 30 minutes. I think they do a nice job. It used to be worse, but when they switched to different lines for different things and the whole number and letter system, it got so much better. I don't really know how it works, I just know that it does.

(sigh) thank you for the information. Carnival (whom I love), drives me crazy. I can literally go to 3 different places on their website right now where it says that Suite guests do not get that. I give up. As long as the Cheers! package still lets me order booze, I'm just gonna roll with it.

There are varying opinions on what is and isn't included for suites and FTTF (and Diamond and Platinum for that matter). Even Carnival's own site contradicts itself in more than a few places. Also, Carnival's website and shore excursion description say FTTF will have their rooms ready as soon as they board, while their brand ambassador, John Heald, just posted that they can't guarantee it (face palm). But the one thing that's universal (at least as far as I have ever seen across at least a dozen sites), is that suite guests do not have access to the dedicated service desk line/phone number. So, even though it's pricey if that's all you get, for me, it's worth it. I have seen some of those lines. If it saves me 30-60 minutes of vacation time, and a lot less stress, then I consider it money well spent.

I was just joking about the Xanax, by the way. I realized after I posted that some folks might think I'm seriously that freaked out. I'm not. It's a minor annoyance, really. I am a nervous person, but not THAT nervous, LOL. I did see this, though. This is a picture of our boarding pass when we last cruised. We had a suite in that cruise too, and we bought FTTF for that trip as well, since we like the dedicated line at the service desk. I am showing you that, so you can see the FTTF logo. Next, here's a close-up of my current luggage tag. Does that look like the FTTF logo peaking out from behind the priority logo to you? It's only on the first tag, not on the others.

Yeah, I can't find anyone else having a problem. There definitely is something going on, though. If I click on shore excursions, and find it that way, it would let me add to cart and buy again, even though I already did. If I bring FTTF up under "categories", then it recognizes it as already bought and won't let me buy it again. Since I had $500 in credit, I played around about. I went back to shore excursions and bought it again. Luggage tags still didn't update. Then I refunded both FTTF purchases I had made, so it no longer showed at all. Still the same luggage tags (obviously, but I just checked anyway). Then, I went back in and brought it up under categories and purchased it again. Still no change. Also, it still does the same thing where I could buy it again under shore excursions, but not when I bring it up under categories. Anyways, it shows in booking and order details, I have the email confirmation, and all my cruise credits are exactly where they ought to be after all my fooling around. Obviously, I'm not going to mess with it anymore. I have almost two months until we cruise, so I'll just wait a bit and see if things work out on their own. When I do online check-in at the end of Dec. I'll be able to get boarding passes. As long as it shows on there as it should, I'm not gonna worry about it.

Great idea! I tried it on two different computers, and I also tried logging in with my husband's account. Still not there, but it was still a really good idea, and I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Thank you. You're absolutely right. I love Carnival. I know not everyone does, but they have always done right by me. I can't say there haven't been a few bumps and even a couple issues that were bigger than bumps, but I NEVER have felt like they were trying to be unfair or trying to do anything sneaky. The funny thing is, as crazy as I get pre-cruise trying to work out every little detail, once my feet cross the threshold at the airport, my vacation has begun. From that moment until the trip ends, I just roll with it, no matter what "it" is.

Someone! Please ! Make me feel better. Being an incredibly nervous person, I am overreacting to what is probably a non-issue. If anyone else is experiencing the same issue, I would sure love to hear about it. I bought FTTF this morning. All good. Got email receipt and it shows up in my order details. Swell! I go to print my updated luggage tags and . . . No FTTF Logo that is supposed to be there to ensure Priority Luggage. Okay . . .breathe. It just went live. Give it some time. Stop being such a freak! (Insert Nervous Chuckle). Post to my Facebook group. Another member says his luggage tags updated immediately. I clear cache and cookies and restart my computer. No change. 8 hours later, still no change. 8 hours is long enough, right? Call Carnival. I get through to a delightful lady who assures me it's still getting implemented and some people update immediately, but others don't. It will all work itself out. I feel better for about 5 minutes. What if she has no clue? What if she's just guessing? What if I'm the only one? So, anyone else buy FTTF and have luggage tags that have not yet updated? I'll be waiting anxiously for your replies assuring me I'm not alone. I'm just going to step away to grab a Xanax and a glass of wine. On a side note, I REALLY need a vacation. 57 days to go!

$1200 for Dream Studio photo package on Carnival. I won $1500 in the casino the first night of the cruise, so I scheduled a photo shoot. I didn't intend to get the large package, but my husband and I had never had photos done like that, so I went for it. I knew you could try to get the price down, but I don't feel comfortable doing that. It's just not me, but I have a lot of respect and admiration for people who are good at getting a deal. I loved the pictures so much. They used a little "photo magic" (that's what the photographer called it, anyway). It smoothed out some of my experience lines (wrinkles), but it didn't change me so much that I didn't look like me. I wouldn't do it again in the next 20 years, but it was worth every penny to me. We got the photo release and all the photos on a jump drive, so in addition to the beautiful album I got with the package, I came home and made an album of our trip on the Walmart site. That turned out so cool with our photos, the pro photos, and captions.

Thank you. That's quite helpful. The Customs site says that if you can verify American Goods Returning (AGR), they would not count towards your allowance of 200 per person. Hubby and I both smoke, so we're packing 1 carton each to take with us (more than we really need) and taping the receipt to the carton. We'd only be buying 3 cartons anyway, so if we are allowed to take them with us after purchase, we could share the 3rd carton and use it before ever leaving the ship. Then, we'd just have the one carton each we're allowed and whatever was left of what we brought with us, which we'd have receipts for and they would all have the American Tax Stamps on them to verify. I'm sure they probably won't check, but I want to do things the right way, and it would drive me nuts to make a customs mistake, even accidentally. I know, I sound like a bit of a lunatic, but any worries I can eliminate before we travel make the trip so much nicer. Again, thank you.

Hello, For my fellow smokers with recent experiences, I have a few questions about purchasing Duty Free cigarettes on board the ship. 1. US customs has information stating that the maximum number of cigarettes is 200 per person. When I read the information available on US customs website, I'm unclear if you can declare more than the 200 and pay the duty for the overage, or if they will simply confiscate anything over 200. 2. We'll be on Carnival Spirit. I know they hold alcohol until the end of the cruise, but are you allowed to take cigarettes at the time of purchase? 3. What was the onboard price of cigarettes (Newport), when you were last onboard and when was that? 4. Is it cheaper, more expensive, or about the same to purchase from Carnival or in one of the duty free shops in the Caribbean? For anyone who wants to offer ideas for "ways to get around customs", I appreciate you wanting to be helpful, but I am a rule-follower to the extreme. The guilt and stress would kill me if I even tried to bend the rules. I want to make sure I'm completely following all US customs rules and regulations 100% Thank you so much for any assistance you can provide.