delacruz

If any of you for the DR excursion have Internet, Paul and I found seats against the wall to the side of the casino. I have a CC sign on the table.

Hi Jim and Cathy! Looking forward to meeting everyone at the DR excursion meetup Tuesday afternoon. It's our 18th anniversary (2nd marriage for both). I hear you for a work week from hell. We had an unusual situation where the 3 longtime staff (I'm the 'newest' at 25 years) had overlapping vacations, and the 'new guy' would make it do-able, except he quit on Monday. His being there and being 'trainable' was also the key to me being able to retire within the next few months. I was SO stressed, and Monday is the one day with nobody in the office, but it's NOT my problem. (and for self-preservation they don't need to know I have the premium wifi package). Hope you had an easy trip in. And to everyone else here - safe travels! We head to the Amtrak station in a few hours. We had a text this morning from Amtrak, and I had a momentary sinking feeling before I read it that it was about a delay, but it was to give us the track number for our train. I better get off here and finish my last minute 'stuff'!

I did not book the cruise through AARP (although I think you still can - I did it once but wasn't happy that I didn't have a specific agent to work with and got conflicting info times I had to call). These are Carnival gift cards, and although available elsewhere (with varying discounts), I buy them on AARP's website. As I said, you don't need to be any specific age to join AARP, and the cards are at a 10% discount. They're available with $100 or $500 gift value, so they cost $90 and $450. They can be purchased under the 'REDEEM' section of the website. Once purchased, you receive an email with the card number and the PIN. When purchasing anything on Carnival's website, the default tab is 'Credit Card' but there's also a 'Gift Card' (or something to that effect) tab. That's what I have used to pay for almost every single aspect of this cruise. I believe you can also print them out and enter the info into a Kiosk on the ship, and probably Guest Services, to apply to your onboard account. A caveat that it seems Carnival is the only cruiseline that allows you to use the card for EVERYTHING. I just booked a short Celebrity cruise for the fall, and although I haven't tested it yet, it appears I can use the discounted cards to pay for the balance of the cruise - but not the down payment, taxes and port charges, gratuities, or purchases.

YAY! Well, the only one who ever called me Judith was my mother when I did something wrong...lol! 2 weeks from now we'll be on our last sea day before our first port in St Thomas. For those joining us for the Dominican Culture excursion and meeting up at the informal get together at the Atrium Bar on Tues 4/16 @ 3:30pm (or anyone who wants to come say hi!), do you want to share your room numbers in case anyone can't make it or wants to touch base before that? Or names, whether you're celebrating anything, etc? Paul and I are in cabin 7501. As we mentioned, we splurged on a Terrazza Premium Vista Balcony since we are celebrating so many milestones - Paul's retirement, his 70th bday, and our 18th anniversary. If you aren't comfortable posting it here but want to share info, if you'd like you can send me a message from my cruise website (I'm not selling or promoting anything on it, so I think it's OK to post it). contact delacruzzer

The next 2 weeks at work are going to be the hardest! Especially since we just had a 3 day weekend, and the last day of work for me will be crazy busy since I'll be covering for a co-worker who's off that day. When you said maybe we'll meet in line I thought about doing something like wearing beads, but it will probably be a zoo in the terminal, so the chances of that might be slim. Although hubby is not a t-shirt wearing kind of guy, for his retirement I got him some t-shirts, and I think he'll wear the royal blue one with a white anchor saying 'Cruising through life one port at a time'. I decided that even though we also aren't 'matchy' kind of people that I needed the same. So that's what we'll be wearing, and if you can see our avatar pic, that's us 'old folks'...lol - so come say hi!

For all you seasoned and loyal Carnival cruisers, you probably already knew to check in a couple of days ago. For the rest of us Carnival 'newbies', the time is today! (Sorry I forgot to come here yesterday to post the heads up). Being late for everything (unless it's cruise related), I still managed to stay up to midnight and complete the check-in process. I got the time I wanted - 11-11:30am. It took longer than I expected - the page hung up a couple of times, but 1/2 hr later I saw some were already seeing the earliest time offered as 12:30. So, 2 weeks from today, we will have plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast (at the Tick Tock Diner in the New Yorker Hotel that we're staying at), check out, and grab a taxi.

I'm not a Carnival regular, but I found this on Carnival's website. For myself, I'm not concerned that I'll overdo any regulations, but I want to be able to handle my own luggage during our travels. A reminder to keep all your documents, medications, important stuff, maybe a change of clothing, etc, in your carry-on. And if you're bringing on water, soda, or wine, that goes in carry-on.

I started my packing process about a month ago - just pulling things from my closet that I knew I'd be taking. Although we're not worrying about the limitations of luggage while flying, we want to be able to handle everything on our own when coming in on the Amtrak, so I've been trying to lighten the load a bit to be realistic that I can wear the same outfit multiple times (and putting laundry/dry cleaning in the budget) and I always seem to have at least a couple of things that come home unworn. But I have my priorities - like room for our masks for the first elegant night, purple temp hair color for 80's night....lol! I even found WHITE water shoe sneakers, so that covers me for White Night AND the pool/beaches! Like some of you - work always seems to get crazy busy before a vacation - for me, trying to get as many work- related loose ends finished so I can relax. So, I will try to pack everything but the clothes that will wrinkle until the last minute. With all the horror stories we hear about luggage not making it to the ship Paul and I have started splitting our clothes between our 2 suitcases. It takes some organizing to make sure that we pack 'equally', so one dressy outfit in each bag - to where we could make do if a bag went missing, but I guess it's like taking an umbrella - insurance that it won't rain...lol!

All 3 pages are on one website, FB. CC frowns on mentioning it, but it is the largest social media platform. Once there, if you search for ' Carnival Venezia April 15' you should see the 3 pages that were created by different fellow cruisers. It bothers me that there are 3 groups, mostly with the same Members, which is much harder to keep up with. I like how on Cruise Critic if multiple boards are created for the same cruise they get merged. I still prefer chatting here. We've had excellent luck meeting people pre-cruise that have turned into lifetime friends.

Hi Donnamarieisme! We're almost at a month out! I haven't seen anything about a meet & greet, although I also am new to Carnival (except for one in 2009). The vast majority of my 25+ cruises have been on Royal Caribbean, and they stopped the official Meet & Mingles after Covid, and I don't think they've reinstated them. In the past I had organized some M&M, especially on cruises under 7 days where RC didn't do them, but being so new to Carnival, and especially wanting to spend time exploring a brand new (to me) ship, and the Terrazza area (we splurged on a premium cabin since we're celebrating my hubby's retirement, birthday, and our anniversary all in one). There are 3 different pages for our sailing on another major social media platform. Don't ask me why - I've never seen that before where at least they didn't try to merge to make just one. Too confusing. Between the 3, there are about a dozen events planned, one being a Meet & Greet on Monday 4/15 3pm at the Rococo Bar on deck 10. From there they plan to head to the sailaway party. I would like to do that but am keeping my schedule fluid depending on what we're feeling like at the time. I DO plan to be at the sailaway party though I might have to fight hubby on that. The sailaway at the Terrazza deck looks like it will be lovely, but I think I have to dance for sailaway, so I'll be wherever that is. I sometimes think of myself as a little old white-haired lady, but I take soul line dancing classes, and when I pretend I don't have 2 left feet I think I'm pretty good at it...lol! We're doing a small informal M&G (previously mentioned) for the handful of us that booked the Dominican Culture (cooking, coffee & casa typica) from Amber Cove so we'll start that excursion out feeling part of a group.

That works for us! Somewhere in my pile of cruise 'stuff' I have a little table placard that I made for a Royal Caribbean cruise pre-'Meet & Mingle' get together. It has the Cruise Critic logo on it, and I can edit it to 'Dominican Culture - Cooking, Coffee & Casa Typica' get together. As if I'm not already overpacking...lol! I'll post a pic of it when I get done so you all can look for it, and we can get a head count so whoever gets there first can try to set aside some space at the bar or tables. (oooh, we can join the ranks of chair hogs, although I figure mid-afternoon on the first sea day won't find the bar to be too crowded). Oh, and everyone else ( @tweety33, @KaiBlue, @FineArtsMama) pipe in to make sure that day and time works for the majority. I think our avatar makes it easy to see what Paul and I look like - except we won't be in our formal wear until later!

Paul and I are 68 and about to be 70 respectively. We think of ourselves as 'young' but maybe others think we're old farts?...lol! Glancing over the Roll Call it looks like we have the following booked on the Dominican Culture - Cooking, Coffee & Casa Typica tour in Amber Cove. We're on the 9:30 one, and I think so far it sounds like most others are that time slot also? @FineArtsMama, @tweety33, @ETski and @KaiBlue. If anyone has changed there mind, or someone else here also booked, let us know. Yes, we should try to get together! I'm not terribly good at planning stuff, but we are doing Anytime Dining, so are somewhat flexible. Maybe a pre-sailaway meet-up, or probably easier to just pick a time on one of our first 3 sea days as we're settling into relax mode. Any suggestions are welcome - I'm still a Carnival Newbie - I know all the good places to meet on Royal Caribbean ships! to the point that I even have a table sign for a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet.

I am no expert on all the ports, and have only been to St Thomas and San Juan, but this is what I know: - St Thomas has available cabs. As I recall, they are standardized, and there should be a board at the stand with the rates to the popular destination. I'm not sure which pier Carnival docks at - either Crown Bay or Havensight...I 'think' the latter. I'm used to Crown Bay because RCCL and Celebrity dock there and that's been most of our cruises. - San Juan - we dock in Old San Juan. There is so much to do within walking distance. Getting to the 2 forts are very doable (uphill getting there, coming back is easier!). We love the cobblestone streets, colorful architecture, the walk down Paseo de la Princesa to Paseo del Morro, the shops, restaurants, etc. This is one of the few Caribbean ports where it easy to find handmade local arts and crafts rather than the same old 'made in china' stuff. Taxis are also available here to go elsewhere. I think they are normally a set rate between Zones (at least that's been our experience from the airport and Pan American cruise port). Also Ubers are easy to get here. - Amber Cove, I know that taxis are available. I've heard warnings about going outside the port area, which is why we're doing an excursion, but also heard people say there were no problems. - Grand Turk - we are just doing the beach at the port. I think people also rent golf carts, and I assume taxis are available. - Half Moon Cay - my understanding is that this is a private island, and our only tender port. It's mostly undeveloped so I think short of just using the beach or taking a Carnival Excursion, that is it. -

Hi FineArtsMama (love the name, I guess I was a CommercialArtsMama till I mysteriously made a crazy career switch to ITMama...lol). Paul and I are booked on the 9:30am excursion. I'm a late riser, but we figured with the earlier start we'd have time to check out Amber Cove since this is our first time at this port. We've done similar type excursions, and yes, it's nice to start our with 'familiar faces'. We're celebrating our 18th anniversary (2nd marriage), Paul's 70th birthday, and his retirement.

No problem! This is my first Carnival cruise since 2009, and I don't even remember how I found out about paying by the AARP gift cards, but I took advantage of it starting with the deposit, and it is wonderful to save 10%. When I first started cruising, I had never heard of Cruise Critic, and in hindsight wonder how on earth we managed without it (and now all the additional pages on other social media platforms). When I find something that helped me, I try to pay it forward by passing it along. Oh, and thanks @tweety33for reminding me - I fell behind in greeting new fellow passengers...WELCOME!

Welcome aboard, @leavingforvacation! After you purchase the card and get the email to redeem it, you go into your planner to order what you want, and when you check out you will either see a tab to the right of the credit card section, or the paying by gift card option is below ( I've seen both and don't remember why the interface was slightly different, I think it was because I usually use a browser on my PC, but last time I was using my phone.) You enter the card number and the pin. If your purchase was more than the card you can use a CC for the rest. If you buy multiple cards you can enter another if there's more to pay. If you have a balance left on the card you can use it on something else. Or you can apply it to your sail and sign card at a kiosk onboard. After thinking we were DONE (we already paid for the cruise, 2 excursions, 3 specialty restaurants, wifi, and Cheers, almost 100% with AARP cards; but then noticed there was an option to order an umbrella at HMC (we were going to get clamshells but worried it would get too hot with no airflow). This was $34.99, so we bought a $100 card (for $90) and applied it. I worried I'd forget about the balance, so I bought $75 cruise cash with the rest I had to add $9.99 from my credit card, but that still worked out to $109.99 purchases that only cost us $99.99. We figure we'll spend that $75 on day 1 before Cheers kicks in - welcome aboard and sail away drinks

We are booked on that excursion from Amber Cove. I hadn't been able to find any reviews outside of the Carnival website. However, it seems rare for there to be reviews that are 100% 5 star, and this one is. Over the years we have done 3 cultural tours similar to this - 2 being booked on our own (Costa Maya and Grenada) and 1 being a ship tour (Dominica). I would rate all of them among our top Caribbean excursions. I don't recall more than 1 or 2 minor remarks about the drive being bumpy; I always watch for that with my husband's bad back. This cruise can't come soon enough; we were daydreaming about it while shoveling the 5-6" of snow from our driveway and cars. But I try to not wish for time to go fast to get here since that makes the cruise go by too fast also!

Happy New Year to all! Reminder to our fellow cruisers that our final payments are due in a couple of weeks. We are now paid in full and also paid off the drink package, wifi, 2 excursions, 3 specialty restaurants, and gratuities. That makes it more 'real' to me somehow! I don't remember if I had mentioned it before that we used Carnival gift cards from AARP to pay every bit of this. They have $100 and $500 gift cards that cost $90 and $450 respectively, so our entire cruise, including all extras, was 10% off! There is no age requirement to join AARP, and it's only $16/year, although they usually run a special on the first year of membership - right now it's only $12. (caveat that their rewards page has been down for purchases for a few days for maintenance - but will be back up 1/3) No, I don't work for them, and I'm not a paid advertiser...lol. It's just an amazing idea that most other cruise lines don't offer - for some of them you can only use it for the initial deposit or for on board credit. 105 days to go!

I'm at work, and not supposed to be doing anything but working, but my mind is needing a cruise! Don't worry - I'm not about to be fired for it - I AM getting all my work done, but just saying. 🙂 We've got 125 days to go! I know it will go fast, so I'm not going to wish it to come sooner, because my theory is that when you do that it makes the cruise itself go too fast! I have a co-worker about to take his first cruise next month, so I'm living vicariously through him, and imparting my vast amount of cruise knowledge...lol...to him. OK, that's it, just wanted to say hi, keep activity going on this page. Back to work!

Glad to see some more activity here! 'Welcome Aboard' to all our new shipmates! As a former New Yorker (I lived there till I graduated college, all my family is still there), give yourselves as much time as you can afford to explore the city. What's funny is that while I was growing up we were so jaded we never did the typical 'touristy' things - so I never visited the top of the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, etc. until after I moved and came back as a visitor...lol! As much as we love the R&R of Caribbean beaches, we like to balance it with something cultural, and have had some amazing experiences with tours like the Cooking, Coffee and Casa one. @KaiBlue, we also usually look at non-cruise excursions first, but if the cruiseline offers something that gets amazing ratings like these and are no more than on our own, it makes it easier than trying to find the tour operator and having that slight risk of not getting back in time. Happy Thanksgiving!

I've wondered that also and can't find a definitive answer. I found a couple of cruise blogs list that 9-12 night cruises have 3 elegant nights, but not sure if that's outdated info or not. I went to look back on the only cruise longer than 9 nights we've been on (RCCL Brilliance 12 nights in 2016), but because it was such a port intensive and busy itinerary, and most days included early port days and amazing lunches in most of our stops, we actually skipped the MDR altogether and had most of our meals at the buffet and other casual dining spots. I'd say of all the 20+ cruises we've taken on multiple lines, the first formal/elegant night has always been the day after embarkation, but I can't speak to when the other nights have been (although never on the last night because that's usually packing night). A friend of mine just returned from the 12 nighter on Venezia, and I should see her at my Soul Line Dancing class tomorrow evening and will ask her. Speaking of line dancing, who will be joining me on the dance floor? I hate to exercise, but discovered line dancing a few years ago, and I really enjoy it, and it doesn't feel like exercise so I DO IT! It seems that Carnival has more dance parties than RCCL and Celebrity - I hope so! Gotta work off the gazillion calories I expect I'll be eating and drinking!

I know things change, but we categorized our dinner many moons ago at David's Steakhouse on the Carnival Pride as one of our top 5 food experiences to date! So, we're hoping Fahrenheit 555 lives up to its predecessor! But that was since our Chef's Table experiences - several on Royal and Celebrity ships took the lead for our best meals! I am certain the Carnival Chef's Table will also be excellent, but after the previous experiences, the environment of being in the galley seems odd, although I can see it. Since this is Paul's retirement from being a CHEF he'll want to stay out of the kitchen....lol! We'll plan for it next time. When the Venezia started sailing, I saw a lot of negative reviews of Il Viaggio, but since then they've all been excellent. Don't know if they've worked out the kinks or if the early reviewers were used to a different type of 'italian' restaurant? Generally, many of the early reviews for most things Venezia were mixed. I chalked it up to it being a different ship than the usual Carnival experience. Although Bonsai Teppanyaki gets great reviews, it's not our favorite type of experience, so we booked the Steakhouse 2x, and Il Viaggio 1x - for our 3 celebrations - bday, anniv, retirement. (although not on the exact nights that the birthday and anniversary falls, but the whole trip will be a celebration! ETSki, I assume you are on the other social media site, since I saw someone list those excursions. Maybe we'll see you on Water Island, because we'll be Kontiki party boating our way there, and definitely will see you on the same Amber Cove excursion! I agree with you about 'whichever ship we're on is our favorite'. It was nice building up the loyalty ladder on RCCL for the perks and reciprocity on Celebrity, but are starting to expand our horizons. We've been lucky to have had mostly very good experiences for Anytime/My Time Dining since the very beginning of it being offered. We love the flexibility of picking the time that works for us on any given day.

Yipes - I can't even blame how I get wonked out from changing the clocks back because it was the day before! I had my calendar open to Nov 14 to enter an appointment, and hey - Nov 4 or Nov 14 was enough to confuse me....lol! Yes, I WILL be boarding on April 15 with the rest of you! 🥴 Actually a lot of my OCD planning is to spend the time I'm not on cruises imagining I'm on one! And I usually feel that once we've decided on what we're doing, we're much more relaxed during the trip. Yesterday we booked our specialty dinners (we've gotten used to on RCCL and X that if we don't book far enough ahead our preferences aren't always available, but so far everything is wide open). And part of booking ahead is that everything is pre-paid and we don't rack up a bill once on board. We also did decide on an excursion for Amber Cove. We're doing the Dominican Culture - cooking, coffee and casa typica. We did similar excursions in Dominica and Costa Maya and they were wonderful experiences. We were interested in a beach, but this does end with an hour at a beach, and with 11 days of R&R we'll get enough beach/pool time. I've always gravitated here at CC. I've learned so much here and made some great friends and met shipmates. I still can't believe that we survived our first cruise without knowing this resource was available! We had DR as a cruise stop many moons ago when Samana was the only cruise port and it was tender only. We took a boat to Cayo Leventado and had a lovely island day, and post-Covid before cruising started up again we spent a week in Punta Cana, but never left the resort, so haven't really seen much of the island yet. Although one other bar in San Juan claims they originated the Pina Colada, Barrachina's churns them out, but they ARE good. It is somewhat of a tourist trap, but we've found their food and drink to be authentic. We've spent a lot of time there - for a longer visit we did a flamenco dinner/dance, and have enjoyed our couple of meals there. The courtyard is lovely, although really pretty at night but we'll be long gone. We especially have appreciated that they will hold luggage for those trips we took out of SJ with a long day before the flight home. A couple of our favorite cafes for breakfast are Cafeteria Mallorca (it is no frills, but a lot of locals eat there), La Bombanera (much nicer since they renovated),and Caficultura. We still have Cafe Manolin and Chocobar Cortes on our list to try. We somehow have never made it to the rain forest - weather and/or cancelled excursions. Funny, as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity 'regulars' we think the price of the drink package on Carnival is wonderful! We have been very spoiled because with our loyalty status, we get enough free drinks that we don't do the packages. We calculated what we expect to drink, and we think we'll mostly break even, (a couple of lattes, bottled water all day, occasional pool drink on sea days, a couple glasses of wine with dinner, cocktail or 2 later in evening)

Yes, it is quiet here! I pop over periodically to see if there's something new and aside from your couple of posts not much. I've been meaning to post here to 'wake things up'-lol-but I always get sidetracked. There are actually 2 pages for our sailing on a certain social media platform and although not 'hopping' has much more frequent activity. Today we are going to book our specialty dining. The availability seems to be wide open, but we know we will be booking them, so may as well get them done so we don't get disappointed later if our preferred dates and times get full. This cruise is for my husband's 70th birthday, his retirement, and our anniversary, so we have a lot of celebrating to do! Our next step is to plan our day at Amber Cove. We wouldn't mind spending some time at the pool in port but prefer a beach day. Does anyone have recommendations? We have read that it is best to take a ship excursion rather than venture out on our own at this port. In our 'younger years' we would have ignored the advice and book our own excursion - always saved $$ and had more personal experiences, but except for some exceptions we have lately been booking ship excursions - takes the worry out of getting back in time. These are our plans so far: - St Thomas - we have been to this port probably more than any other port, and although we have enjoyed beaches and sightseeing there (Sapphire, Coki, Magen and on St John Cinnamon Bay & Trunk Bay), wanted something different. Our last time in STT we had planned to take the ferry to Honeymoon Beach (we were on a Celebrity Cruise at Crown Bay cruise terminal (an easy walk to the ferry to Water Island where the beach is) but when we realized how small the ferries were and how infrequent the schedule was, we bowed out. And on that cruise we took an AMAZING catamaran excursion from St Kitts to Nevis, that included snorkeling, a Nevis beach, and then essentially our catamaran turned into a party boat on the way back that was so much fun, so we picked the Kontiki Party Boat excursion to combine the fun with the beach we wanted to visit. - San Juan, and specifically OLD San Juan is one of our favorite places and we have taken many cruises out of that port, always spending time before and/or after the cruise in town. We will do our routine of having Mallorcas and Puerto Rican coffee at our pick of our favorite breakfast cafes, walk down Paseo de La Princesa, then mosey around till we're ready for our traditional Pina Colada at Barrachinas. Some shopping and more wandering, and maybe lunch before heading back. May sound boring to some but for me and Paul, it is one of our 'happy places'. - Amber Cove I think we lean towards a beach or beach All-Inclusive excursion. Haven't focused on picking one yet. Open to recommendations! - Grand Turk I think we'll head over to Jack's Shack for an early but relaxing beach day. - Half Moon Cay - another beach day. Still contemplating doing the Sting Ray Adventure - we did a snorkel with Sharks and Rays in Belize and it was too disorganized and crowded to really experience it, but will likely just make it our last beach day. Although Paul is retiring and looking forward to some R&R, with me still working and taking off 2 full weeks, I'll need the rest before I have to hit the ground running. Disappointed we can't rent an umbrella - we like the sun, but have to be careful, and the clamshells seem like they'll get too hot. We even considered splurging on a cabana, but even though we're treating ourselves well on this trip, that seems a bit 'overboard'. Hope to see more activity here soon. In exactly 6 months from tomorrow we will be boarding this beautiful ship. 6 months from today many of you will be exploring NYC - my hometown - and having a great Sunday! (We are taking an early Amtrak in the day of - with enough cushion to take a later Amtrak or drive in case of any major issue, so we feel OK with that decision to not leave our fur-babies the extra day).

@KaiBlue - At first glance I thought the decor was a bit over the top, but it has grown on me. Our only previous Carnival cruise was on the Pride, and I thought it was rather dark in the interior spaces - the Venezia looks much more interesting @dferreira7- Dan & Donna - looking forward to getting a first hand report on the ship from you for your 2023 sailing!