calbred01

I am pretty much going to echo (somewhat) what others are saying. We have sailed on Royal, Celebrity and Carnival. Our first two were on Royal, then about 8 on Carnival and one on Celebrity. Food is so subjective that what one person loves another will spit out, personally if what is suppose to be hot is hot and cold is cold I am good. I cook and bake at home so I know how I like my food and if I order something I don't like I will just ask for something else. We had fun on ALL our cruises and they were all different (even between Carnival ships), Celebrity did have a bit of an older crowd but I loved talking to the older couple (we are in our 60s) that sat next to us at dinner. We have never run into fights, kids running in the hall etc... but I am certain others have so I do not pooh pooh them like some people will do. We are pretty easy going but my hubby prefers all the energy on Carnival ships where I enjoy and embrace all the differences. Have fun as I am sure you will.

17 hours ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

How many vehicles are you planning to bring for all those people and stuff?  Since two don't fly there aren't many options for you.  I would just on line shop for park and stay hotels by the airport since it's usually the cheapest area.  

Just two vehicles, both are medium SUVs, one for luggage and one for four people (one couple is flying in to SFO from Detroit). the easiest is to just stay at a hotel with parking overnight and then go to the parking garage near the cruise pier for the cruise. Also we are splitting the parking and gas among the 3 couples that are driving to make it fair. 

On 10/17/2023 at 12:29 PM, scottca075 said:

When we cruise out of San Francisco and drive up, we park at the North Berkeley BART station and take BART to the Embarcadero.

Is that difficult with luggage? Some of us in our party do not pack light!

On 10/7/2023 at 7:56 AM, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

Embassy Suites Waterfront just south of SFO has a stay & park rate.  We have used it.  You won't find any hotels out by the airport with a shuttle to the port.  The hotels in downtown will be crazy expensive to park at.  Depending on how long you are gone it might be cost effective to do a one way rental car.  We did that once to/from SFO when we were gone for two weeks.    

Thank you for your reply but there are 6 of us (3 couples) and one of the couples does not fly! Sooo since we live in the Inland Empire we will be driving up, renting one car (or van, because of luggage) is expensive and then the logistics of dropping it off then getting a new one when we dock afterwards is a nightmare (unless you have any suggestions with that scenario?)

Lots of info here for other West Coast ports but San Francisco is few & far between! Any way, is there a hotel in San Francisco (or outskirts) where

you can park your car for the duration of your cruise if you stay there and has a shuttle (or we can call a taxi, Uber, Lyft) to the port? We did this in Galveston and it was perfect! I tried google search but nothing comes up. Thanks in advance!

1 hour ago, EllieinNJ said:

That's just it.  I read the T&C for the 20,000 points on their mastercard and found it very ambiguous. So I called Barclays and spoke with an agent who didn't speak English very well.  According to her I can charge anything for any amount and get the points.  

 

I have final payment on a cruise at the end of this month.  I had already purchased gift cards from AARP to pay off this cruise but still had a small balance under $100.  I asked if this would be an acceptable  charge and she said yes.   I hope she's right.  If I get the points I plan to convert them to OBC for this cruise in February.

You get double points for a Carnival purchase and 10% off excursions on a Carnival cruise if you use your card.

We did the on again/off again bus and it was great, went over the bridge into Sausalito and walked around (there was a great Christmas shop there that us women spent a couple of hours in much to our husbands dismay!) and a hamburger place that serves the worlds BEST burgers, we still talk about those burgers and plan on going back when we leave there for our Alaska cruise. The name of the place escapes me probably because the name is so simple I can't remember it but my husband does.

To the OP: I live in Los Angeles and unless I am leaving first thing in the morning (I mean around 5am) I HATE LAX, it is poorly run, traffic is horrible and if there is ANY backup you will be late! Since I live here and have the luxury of driving to an airport I always search SNA (john Wayne), Burbank, Ontario (which I love, one of the easiest into and out of!), Palm Springs (have found some great deals from there) and I even drove to Las Vegas once or twice! If you are renting a car I would suggest checking those out, if not, I would see about flying into SNA and getting a hotel close to port or checking to see if any of the hotels near SNA has a shuttle taking you to the port. Also, depending on how many of you are traveling check into a private car to pick you up and drive you to either the port or hotel from airport (if traveling from one other than LAX), I did this Florida going from Ft. Lauderdale to Maimi and it was only $60.00 but that was pre covid.

I am from San Diego (live in Los Angeles now) and without knowing what YOU like to do it is difficult to offer a suggestion. The other suggestions are all really good but is there something you like to do? Also, are you renting a car? Times in port? Where are you from (if from California then you might not care to visit beaches but if from out of state you might want to see something you can't see at home).

On the Panorama I went to the deli multiple times (ok, almost daily) and any sandwich I ordered was not pre-made but made in front of me.

I enjoyed our Celebrity cruise (we have cruised Royal & Carnival before Celebrity) and the vibe is different. By that  we had an older clientele on our Pacific Coastal (or at least a more laid back cruise) and our Carnival cruises are more lively (according to my husband who prefers Carnival's vibe). We are early 60's and I enjoyed the differences, I must say that I felt more pampered on Celebrity but this was also pre covid so not sure of any changes. Also, we felt that the balcony rooms were larger on Carnival but once more I think the Celebrity ship we were on was an older, smaller ship.

3 hours ago, skrufy said:

I’m attempting to contact AON to find out the reason for basically denying my claim. I had two cancer operations in March but the cruise was booked in March 2022 and the cancer was not detected until August of 2022 so it could not have been denied for a pre existing condition. 

Hope you are doing well now!

4 hours ago, Stowaway LFC said:

Let me know what you decide on!  I've been looking at the 2023 cruises like mine to see what all excursions there are.  The absolute must one is the Tracy Arm boat. I kinda have an idea of the rest but watch them change them all up next year and I'll have to choose again lol.

We are looking for stuff to do that we don't have to book through the ship, I want to do some hiking and I know one friend of mine wants to find a place to eat really good halibut! The train into the Yukon and Emerald lake is one I am researching (My boss did this and said the scenery is amazing!) Since excursions are expensive we are trying to figure out one that we MUST do and can't do anyplace else (I keep seeing the Princess commercials where they are in an ice cave and I sooooo want to do that, Lol) Hubby is claustrophobic so I believe a helicopter ride and walk on a glacier is probably not in my future.

On 4/8/2023 at 5:45 PM, Stowaway LFC said:

September 6th 2024 from San Fransisco!  OMG I didnt know the mosquitos are on steroids there, they must have migrated from Texas then!  Thanks for that advice, adding bug spray to the list! Nasty critters!!

We will be on that cruise also. I have been to Alaska before but to Fairbanks and (believe it or not) during a heatwave (it was close to 100!), since I am of a certain age (and it does NOT seem to want to hurry and leave me alone) I am my own weather front and it is usually a very warm one! I have started researching excursions and will be talking to my daughter & son in Law who lived in Alaska for years.

When on the Panorama last week, we were a party of 4 (two couples), we each made  and paid for our reservations seperatly on the Carnival app, when we got on board (we were linked together as traveling partners), the Steakhouse put us all under one reservation. The confusing part was that our friends got a cancellation notice but that was because they put us under one reservation instead of two.

Just off the Ship and Joey was funny, laid back and was very nice when we spoke to him! 80s night was a blast with his Dirty dancing re-creation (and yes, they did the lift)

I was also on this cruise and while not experiencing what the OP did I did notice a few things (not Carnival's fault, at least not all), Embarking was a bit crazy (people getting off and then people wanting on), while we were in the building they had stopped the health part of the check in because of backup (and some people having to get tested), after that cleared up we were through quickly (we asked Carnival employees along the way about what was happening and they were helpful). I also had to go to guest services and waited (I was checking in to scatter my Mom's ashes) but first day at guest services is ALWAYS busy. Had no problem at any time with checking in for sea day brunch or our anytime dining (except first night dinner, the person who seated us took us on the scenic route of the restaurant and I mean completely around the restaurant!). Another time at guest services (we had purchased the chat app) they had a glitch which kicked EVERYONE who had purchased the chat off, they had to refund everyone the $5.00 and then we had to re-purchase (I think this was on the 3rd day), it was crazy busy because of this and yes, there were several people who took waaayyyy longer with a lot of questions and some just not understanding things they were told at all. At no time did I feel the ship was over crowded and the Deli & Pizza usually always have some type of line (so does blue Iguana but so worth it), the crew is short handed and really doing the best they can, however, there is no excuse for a dirty room (unless they were unable to get to it in time and then cleaned it to the OPs satisfaction) but roaches? I think I would have run screaming from my room since I HATE roaches, Lol. We had a great time and this was one of the most physical cruise we have been on, with all the ports and doing the ropes course etc....  

I second what MistyRo76 said, those Tiramisu martini's are the best thing ever!

The white is much better than the red. I like wine (price can vary on what I buy) and inexpensive wine can be just as good, if not better, than pricier ones (I am NOT a wine snob so I will try everything, Lol) BUT that being said the white wine is ok and the red was meh.

They do not pay the cruise line directly. You can go to your online account and go to Pay with fun points and when you find the cruise payment click "redeem now", we had enough points to pay $1,700 of our $1,900 cruise. I prefer it this way because you get double points when paying for a Carnival cruise with your card ($500 is worth 1000 points) also you get 10% off excursions (if you book through the ship), I have learned when the best time to redeem is and use it, of course we pay it off every month so no balance and others will say there are better cards out there but I have redeemed points to pay for airlines & hotels too so it works for us.

On 3/15/2022 at 6:45 AM, pohlerbear said:

Hmmm I’ll have to look at that. Not sure what the rate is for statement credit but for the points I have I qualify for $250 obc or gift cards 

You do get double points for any purchase using the credit card also, we received a 10% credit after booking our shore excursions.

On 12/26/2018 at 10:28 AM, peymas said:

We will be meeting a tour at pier 2 in Honolulu.  We will be on Carnival Splendor.  Is this the pier for Splendor?

We will also be on that cruise and the Splendor Docks at Pier 2 Terminal 521 Ala Moana Blvd. Hope this helps!

23 hours ago, tigger54 said:

My husband and I are taking the Splendor on a 14 day cruise to Hawaii next month. We have never taken a cruise longer than 8 days except for B2B cruises. What will be different about this 14 day cruise?

We are on this cruise also and this will be our longest one yet (8 days was the longest so far)! I am so excited I could squeal (I think I am, Lol). On the facebook page there all kinds of stuff people are planning to do: a cabin crawl with a poker run, slot pull, on the second formal night there is an effort to have people dress in Hawaiian attire etc...Also, I believe a lunar eclipse will be happening on our way home so a viewing party is in the works (actually, just as a reminder that it is happening). I have already been talking to amazing people, so cruise on over (although I believe there are two pages) and check it out! See you on board!

On 11/16/2018 at 6:24 AM, lele100 said:

Yes, I saw that, however I purchased $200, so it cost me 20,000 points and it equalled out to the same as purchasing 2 $100 gift cards

I did not know that, I stand corrected! But I actually just found this out even though I also bought $200 obc on our last cruise (2 years ago). This time I only bought $100 and did not see that I could save points until I was checking it out (good thing I did not buy the obc yet)

On 11/14/2018 at 10:21 AM, lele100 said:

I just redeemed on board credit from my carnival mastercard,  does it display anywhere on my documents or on my cruise manager page?

 

Thanks

for future reference: you can purchase a $100 Carnival gift card for 10,000 points and use that instead of using 12,500 points for $100 of OBC, you save 2,500 points! That is what I did for our upcoming cruise!