ffmikey

I felt your pain. We did a Miami cruise several years ago and had NO idea it was Super Bowl weekend. Prices were absolutely stupid for hotels. We flew into FFL and took a shuttle to the MIA area. We found a descent price for a room and ended up getting a (2) bed room and split the cost with a couple in our group. 

We too did this several years ago. My best friend wanted to have some of his ashes spread in the Atlantic Ocean. I only had a hand full with me. I made my request with Guest Services for a Sea Day burial. I was connected with the Environmental Officer who arranged the time and place. We met at Guest Services and was escorted  to a lower deck. We too received a folder with an official letter as above. It was a nice gesture from the staff.

36 minutes ago, tja273 said:

 

They did this for our cruise on the Dream in January out of NOLA.

For us as well. Being Platinum, I went to the cabin right away to drop off carry-ons. Our S&S cards were in sealed envelopes in mail box. Our daughter was in the cabin next door, theirs was there as well.

General Thoughts:

Had a good time. One couple in our group had Cheers. For them it was worth it. They saved several hundreds of dollars during the cruise…. No they weren’t wasted.  They were able to buy water and coffees as well. We got our fair share of soft serve ice cream, as usual! Our CD, Gary, did a good job and was full of energy. The Love and Marriage Show was hilarious! While in Cozumel, the Vista became our neighbor… that was neat. Two large ships sitting across from each other was cool.

Getting off the ship went well. My sister did Self-Assist and was off the ship and on the road before 0900… missed all the Mardi Gras parades. We just hung out with the other family on Lido and waited for our number to be called. Line went pretty good and no issues in baggage area. Customs was not an issue. We did not have to fill out the Custom Forms and getting thru was a breeze. It took longer to find an Uber ride. Speaking of that, if using Uber, make sure it does not give the Convention Center as your pick up location… ours did at first.

I will try to answer questions once I see them. It might take a few days. Hope this wets your appetite for your next cruise

Thanks

Sea Days (all):

As all previous cruises, there was plenty to do onboard. We decided to catch some sun, our normal thing to do. Lido was crowded and we noticed a lot of loungers being saved. Serenity had a few open places on day one. We ended up being on an upper deck the other sea days above the putt-putt golf. Only negative there were the loud speakers from the big screen, we were just behind it. Pools were well used with the aft pool and hot tubs being mainly kids with very little adult supervision. Crew had to patrol the area and actually removed a few of them and talked to parents. The evening shows were good and worth seeing. Really liked the Rock Show with the live band. Did several comedy shows as well. Comedians were good but the lounge filled up to capacity so get there at least 20 minutes early to get a seat.  Might as well throw food in here as well. We had early seating in MDR. Our wait staff did a great job at serving us. Food was a little slow coming out at times but I had no complaints, enjoyed pretty much all of it. My DW however is gluten-free. She had more issues on this cruise than any of the others we have taken. Food texture and taste was off, sometimes just bad. I tasted it a few times and agreed. The GF pizza crust was not good at all. We usually share pizzas so we can get (2) that she can eat. We ended up eating off the toppings. Blue Iguana offers corn tortillas that we did tacos with. Ask for shrimp from the burrito side.. yum. Mongolian Wok had very long lines so we didn’t partake on this cruise. Our kids (adults) did the Sushi Bar and stated it was very tasty and the upcharge was reasonable.  Only did Guy’s once and liked it. First time for Pig and Anchor as well. Did it on Embarkation Day…… it was empty! Plenty of seats and very little line at 1230. Slip down to deck 5, not very well known.

Ports of Call:

First stop was Roatan. DW and I dove here with Anthony’s Key thru the ship. They are a pretty well oiled machine and do a good job. Good weather and good conditions. 3^rd time to dive with them. Our granddaughter and her Aunt did swim with Dolphins also thru Anthony’s Key. They loved it! Our daughter and SIL did a horse back ride….. so-so.

Next Belize City. We hung out on the ship until 1300 then went to shore to go shopping and walk around. Ship was ours, no issues with loungers or waiting in line. Family did Mayan Ruins and liked it. My sister did a beach day. No complaints from anyone.

Cozumel was good as well. We dove again with The Dive Shop. Very good dive operation. They know their stuff and I would not hesitate to dive with them again. Sister did another beach day and the other family did an Adventure Day on the mainland. They were gone ALL day. Stated it was a lot of fun and worth the money.

Going to do a mini-review of our Feb 24^th Dream Cruise. This was our first cruise on the Dream Class. Overall, liked the layout and décor of the ship. Getting around was easy enough once we got use to the Lido being Deck 10.

Pre-Cruise:

We flew in the day before the cruise as we always do to be safe. We had a few issues getting there but made it. Due to Mardi Gras, hotels were expensive and traffic was bad…. The rain didn’t help matters either. We booked a hotel in Harvey, LA about 20 minutes from the port. It was a Best Western Plus. Nice room, quiet and good breakfast. There was a CVS next door that had a decent selection of wine and other liquors if you are into that.  We did an Uber to the port which was about $20.

Embarkation: 

Had traffic issues with Mardi Gras parades getting to port. We decided to get there about 1100 (platinum). Once there, things moved quickly. Porter got the bags and off we went. Getting thru security scan was fast and there were several agents getting us checked in. They were however checking boarding passes for check in times. We had family traveling with us so decided to board with them. Our Boarding Zone was determined by our place in line. We were seated for no more than 15 minutes and were on the ship before 1145. We dropped our carry-ons off at the room and started getting oriented to the ship. Safety Drill was done in the MDR. They did scan our S&S card and I noticed when mine was done all cabin occupants came up on the screen. If you did not show up (scan in), you had to do a make up drill before we sailed. Sail away was fun and pretty. A bit about our room. We had cabin 2409, starboard side towards the rear. It was a cove balcony that was under the galley. Noise was not an issue. We loved it. We had plenty of room and loved the cove. Being that close to the water was great. We could hear the waves and easily watch the flying fish as we sailed. The life boats were not an issue since they were 2 decks above us. Would definitely do one again.

We just got off the Dream and our first cove balcony. We loved it. We have had traditional balconies as well. Being that close to the water was fun and relaxing. We had several windy days and sitting out was not a problem. The views were great and it was nice clearly seeing the flying fish skipping across the water. We were in cabin 2409 under the galley and only heard a few sounds in the late morning, not once at night. Our A/C worked great and opening the curtains on cool days revealed a great view as well. 

Have fun Greg. We will be in Coz with you on the Dream. We have done the Stingray City Excursion and loved it. Interacting with these animals was fun.  Mike

Thanks for your time. Have fun in Coz. We are doing this itinerary in February. Safe travels...… Mike

Havana Bar in the back. Lots of nice seating and I believe we ate at the Wok back there. Ate most of our afternoon meals there on our Journeys Cruise. It did start getting busier there as others discovered the area.

Mike

We have done both and would do the Journeys Cruise again over a B2B. On a B2B you have to return to port and lose the Sea Days getting to and from that port. On our Journeys Cruise we went to ports that Carnival had never been to. Ours was a Southern/Eastern Caribbean cruise.

Mike

We did this itinerary and ship w/ our GD a couple of years ago, she was 7 at the time. She loved the ship, Camp Carnival was great. We did the Build A Bear together... good time. In Cabo we did the Rhino ride (side by Side 4-wheelers). Mazatlán was a Beach Break day w/ a couple of tours included and in PV we did a Zip Line Tour (Rio Caule) or something like that. It was the highlight of the trip. She had an absolute blast and got 1 on 1 attention the entire time. I booked them all online on a popular website. Hope this help and have a great time. Mike

Game is on multiple screens around the ship. Seats get taken quickly on deck so get there early. Enjoy.....

try semaitred@carnival.com "se" is the code for the Sensation. You can search CC for "Carnival Ship Email" and get most of the codes... Good luck. Mike

I looked up the time zones on your cruise... all Central Time Zone. As a rule, we always set our watch to ship time. If it does change during the cruise we reset it before going to sleep. That way we don't get up late. Have fun! Mike

Does anyone really keep the pins? I think most people would rather have lobster in the MDR on shorter cruises and twice a day visits from their room stewards instead of a silly pin.

I have one from every cruise on our "Cruise Bear". It's our way of remembering the cruise.

Thanks. We will be on her in about 3 weeks for the 1st time. Looking forward to it.

On that itinerary, we like Cozumel and Roatan. At Cozumel we do our own thing w/ plenty of time to spare. We can usually get a (2) tank dive in and still have time to shop around. At Roatan we have done private and CCL. CCL was about the same price. With them, they provide the transportation too. They use Anthony's Key Dive Resort. It was a good operation. Never tried diving at Costa Maya. We personally did not care for Belize. Have fun choosing! Mike

Just another option. We have done a one-way a rental couple of times. Makes things easy. We leave the hotel when we want, pick anything up along the way we need and drop the car off when we want. the POM has set rates from the downtown area to the port and they were very reasonable. Well under $20 to the ship. It was cheaper than a shuttle for 2. We reversed it to fly out of FLL. Had enough time to kick around the area, have lunch and drop off the car at the airport. I pretty much always book a later flight back home to be safe and not rushed. Last time we did the "checked luggage thing" on SWA and it worked great. Anyway you go, have fun.

We are booked on her now. 1st time, just too far away, not until Feb '16. But it's a 13 day cruise! I'm looking forward to it. I take the review for what it is. I have gotten a lot of info from them. I consider it a "heads up" and look for ways to avoid any issues that any ship might have.

We have only done a couple of B2B cruises. In our experience we got a letter in our room on the last night of 1st cruise stating where and roughly when to meet. The ship had a point of contact that handled the group. We were escorted off after all other guests left and lead to the counter. We got our new S&S cards and took care of the usual paperwork. We were then lead back onto the ship and that was that. We met friends at the Embarkation photo place when they were boarding for a group pic. It's a pretty simple process. The fun thing about it looking at all the "sad" people getting off and knowing you are still cruising. Of course that ends soon enough. But it is nice having a quiet ship even for a little while. Have fun.

looking forward to your review. Our next one is on the Sunshine. Thanks for starting with the positive comments, she does seem to get some negative reviews at times.

We have, and will continue to dress formal every cruise. I "tux" it on all formal nights. My DW and I usually match our outfits. A black tux/suit w/ color coordinated shirts and ties don't take up much room. Since most of the cruise is in shorts/bathing suits, that takes care of most days. I bring 2 pair of slacks and nicer shirts to pair w/ them. Since most days are in sandals I don't pack a great deal of white socks. Black socks for the evening. Shoes are the tennies I travel in, sandals and dress shoes. Couple pairs of shorts and bathing suits. Tees and tanks for day time. I usually by some as souvenirs. I have been trying to pack minimally for the last several cruises but still repack clean clothes. I always tell new cruisers they will over pack. We try to pack so we can bring a few things back. Being the guy side of the packing formula, I have less clothes than my DW. Last point I live by. If I miscalculate, no biggie. There are washing machines. Have fun!

DW is GF. We have had very little issues in the MDR. Just let your head waiter know on your first night. You will be given the next night's menu to chose from. Lunch was a learn as you go affair. Just don't be afraid to ask.

We were on the Miracle last month and got the game board set. Our DD and fam were with us so gave one to them. Nice little set.