nycruise1

Cruise Critic strikes again (in a great way)!  Just booked a European cruise.  This was not even on the radar.  But when I saw this thread I checked out the longer cruises and saw truly half price specials.  Normally the sales are eh but not this time. ☺️

Hadn't thought about flying.  Initially I liked the idea.  But there would not be a cost savings, as there are 3 of us and the additional cost for the one way rental and the gas would be offset by the flights.  Also, this way we can leave Vegas when we want, either later if we are having a good time, or earlier if we have had enough.  Plus with trekking to the LV airport, going through security and the wait times, the hour flight and any delays, we could be most of the way to Long Beach, from the time we leave for LV airport to the time we get out of the airport upon arrival.  But the key, as everyone is saying, is to leave LV early enough to drive the full trip to Long Beach and spend the night locally.  Thanks everyone.

We want to get into Long Beach early, between 9 and 10, to drop off the rental car and then get over to the terminal for an early checkin.  Also cruise leaves on a Thursday so there could be rush hour traffic heading west as we near Long Beach/LA metro area.  Balancing between how late we stay in Vegas before we get on the road and travel towards Long Beach.  We are coming from the East and will have the 3 hour time effects to deal with as well.  Do we stay in Barstow, and leave around 6 - 7AM the next morning, or try to leave Vegas a bit earlier and make more of the trip in the evening and stay in Victorville or even Ontario?  Regardless of where we stay it will be just to sleep and then get up and head over to the terminal so dont need a town with tourist attractions.

On our last cruise in October, we had a late flight that was supposed to land in FLL at 11:15.  Our plane was delayed in getting to us, so we took off and landed 2 hours late.  Annoying, we finally got to bed in our hotel at 2:30am.  But we were minutes from the port, slept a bit later than usual, and were well rested to begin our cruise.  Flying the day of and having a 2 hour delay could have meant missing the boat, versus an inconvenience when it happens the night before.

36 minutes ago, TalesFromTheCrib said:

I think what they are most disappointed about though is that they were supposed to turn platinum on this cruise, but now that it’s being shortened to 10 days they won’t.  I think that’s the biggest blow for them haha.

They probably still will get credit for all 14 days and their status will not change.  In the past when cruises were shortened for hurricanes, everyone got credit for the full unshortened days.

3 minutes ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

Sailing out of Galveston Feb with a 3:45 flight time 😃

We have a 5PM flight, which I was kind of regretting, but it can take 2 hours to get to IAH and Galveston has fog issues in the winter, so maybe we are better off with a later flight.  Have to decide between one of the limo shuttles or an uber/lyft.  If there is a delay in disembarkation I wonder which method will be less chaotic.

Even before all this, I would see Royal, Norwegian and even MSC commercials all the time, but never Carnival.  Havent seen Carnival since the Triumph trouble (bear attacking the family while camping and saying next year we will cruise on Carnival).  Guess Carnival was attracting enough new cruisers until now.

We have cruised Pride a bunch and are looking at cruises on Legend and Miracle and wondering which of these features they also have.

I know Pride has the hot tub, what about Legend, Miracle and Spirit?

Chopsticks is on Pride and Miracle, anyone know if Legend has it?

Another difference I already know about is that Legend and Miracle do not have the Seaside Theater.

I am up extremely early naturally, even on vacation.  Here is some of what you can do:

Gym opens up 6AM usually, though it was 7AM on Horizon.

Slots generally open all night--great way to avoid the smoke and have your pick of any machine.

Pools do not open until 8AM.

Continental breakfast starts at 7AM, sometimes 6:30 if you are arriving in port.

Great time to hit the purser if you need to do something.

You can get the most comfy lounge in Serenity and watch the sky and water flow by.

Sometimes I will go to the sports bar and see what is on or watch the ticker for scores.

Often I run into people who have not gone to sleep yet, and it is still my yesterday for them and their tomorrow for me.

I have not found anything else besides the obvious (lay on a lounge with a book, hit up the 24 pizza or ice cream, etc).

1 hour ago, KmomChicago said:

We'll park in the garage at port rather than messing around with shuttles offsite which hopefully will keep us from having to dig out of a week's worth of white stuff. 

Parking at the port is very close to the terminal, you can see your car from the lido deck!  But it is all outdoors, so you may have to dig out upon returning.  We cruised from Baltimore once in January and luckily were fine but the cruise right after us returned following a major snowstorm and had to deal with snowy cars.

This is great, though the pdf menus will not open for me.  I thought I remembered the Chocolate Buffet on a 5 day cruise, unless that is a recent change?

We are cruising next month but are looking at another cruise to book.  If we book this additional cruise using Early Saver, when we get back from the first cruise, and they have the special recently cruised rate in the first 2 weeks, if that is better, can we match to it?  I am wondering if we should wait to book, unless we can match to it anyway since I believe the recently cruised rate is some form of Early Saver also?

Hey, we are on the same cruise as you.  The roll call has been very quiet.  But the same thing happened to us.  Jet Blue changed us from 12:45 to 11:15.  Also have platinum early disembarkation but did not want to take any chances and have that nagging feeling in the back of our minds during the cruise, what if there is a delay.  Since the airline made the change we were able to switch to a later flight at no charge, even though that flight was much more expensive had we purchased it ourselves.  They even let us fly into a different airport, Newark versus JFK, since they consider them co-located cities.  Now we can be one of the last ones off and not rush, sit on the Lido and have one last snack and look around.

He was also our cruise director on the Pride, in 2018.  He had previously worked on RCL.  I chatted with him a bit comparing the cruise lines.  Found him to be personable and friendly.  Would rate him as average, not necessarily someone who stands out as a top director, nor someone to be avoided, but a good, competent cruise director.

12 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

You asked for the negative but overall we still enjoy many food offerings on Carnival that keep us coming back time and again.

Dont get me wrong, we do too and are Platinum and have sailed Carnival exclusively for about 15 years.  My list of things we love would be much longer.  Just an observation that the watermelon is not that good and curious if there are other foods people feel are better on land.

Has been great this summer.  Buy a whole one from the supermarket and cut it open, just delicious.  Got me thinking, cant get good watermelon on a cruise.  Even when on ice by Blue Iguana, it is just not that good.  Got me thinking, what else have you found to be just not as tasty on a cruise?  I am not looking for things they dont have at all.  I guess another thing is the movie popcorn, but that has been discussed in other threads.

17 hours ago, mondello said:

 

Look at it this way. Say they sold half the ship at the fare rate you paid. They raise and lower rates after final payment to spur bookings or increase profits. Fares could have increased, a lot, above what you paid. You wouldn't volunteer to pay more at check-in, would you?

This is how I feel also. Either book ES or don’t worry about prices after final payment. Precovid prices normally increased as sailing approached anyway, and they never came back and asked us for more money!

8 hours ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

If you'd start with $500 in OBC chips, betting $5 (or $10, if $5 isn't available) at a time, you'd be really unlucky if you would end up with less than $400 in actual cash. 

Are the chips different if you buy them by charging your account versus buying them with cash?  Meaning like fun play you have to bet them all and can only cash out different chips you get back from your winnings?

On 7/28/2021 at 3:18 AM, SNJCruisers said:

The gift card thing at Cherry On Top is banned for those trying to use it from the 300 or 600 OBC from Carnival for a past cancelled cruise.  The same thing with the casino cash out trick.

 

Can the credit be used in the casino, not for the cash out trick, but to actually play, like fun play?  Charge actual play to the 300/600 OBC and keep any winnings?

See you are leaving the same day as us, so it could have been a possibility but you are on MG and we are Horizon.  Not to hijack, but our last cruise pre-covid was the Fantasy out of Mobile.  From you signature, doesn't look as if you have ever sailed out of your own backyard?  We found that port and terminal to be very easy.

Yep same here Halloween on the Horizon.  Will start to seem really close next week when we hit August, so there will only be September separating us from October and cruising!

I had multiple cruises canceled and paid with gift cards. Like you I wanted the FCC  but some how Carnival refunded anyway. Here is where it gets interesting. One cruise was refunded to a digital gift card. I almost didn’t open the email because I was not expecting anything and it looked like spam. You might want to check for that. Another cruise they sent physical gift cards. I think they came UPS but no signature was required 

I got this message too yesterday, kind of scary it still is a problem. I have some time so I am waiting a bit before trying again

We were on the Carnival Glory in the hot tub on the Lido deck. It started to rain but hey we were already wet anyway. It began to absolutely pour and it was a bit chilly but the hot tub water kept us from getting cold. A few brave souls ran by to get to the other side of the deck and looked at us like we were absolutely crazy. Finally I heard thunder and said to my daughter we need to get out right now. Thinking back to those moments still makes me smile

8 minutes ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

I'm staying with Carnival.  I have no plans to go on any other cruise line.  We are platinum working our way to Diamond.

Same here though almost all benefits are for platinum.  Diamond would be nice, though the only real extra benefit is the captain's get together.

58 minutes ago, maryann2 said:

Having said that Carnival is my favourite line. I feel at home on Carnival ships.

That is how we feel, like coming back to your hometown after being away awhile--knowing where everything is and how it operates.

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

I used to cruise so often I knew menus at Mdr by heart.

We were on a cruise at a large table with others and they started to wait to see what we were ordering.  We would look at the menu and say to ourselves I remember this was excellent, and this not as good, and they would sometimes choose the same things based on our comments.