Almost Packed

Drinks are suppose to be carried on during embarkation.

I have forgotten I had 2 bottles of wine in my checked luggage from my flight on one cruise.

I got to my cabin and there was my luggage, wine all intact. No problems. I guess they didn't even find it.

The worse that would happen is you would be called to the "naughty room" to open your bag and pick up your juice boxes.

Pack a bottle in your check in luggage. Carry on a bottle.

Then (if) when they call you to naughty room, play dumb. They'll give you the wine.

Last time I left a bottle of wine in my checked luggage and it made it to our room....along with my carry on wine. ;)

Thanks for writing your review/thoughts/comments.

I appreciate you to taking the time to do so.

We have done SAS several times as well.

We usually fly in to FLL a few days early.

BTW, thanks for flying Southwest. ;)

i think they all rotate and come and go while we are in ports. i have never seen the same comedian twice.

some have been really good and some were okay, and one i walked out on. he was too raunchy for my taste...but i was there with my adult son (19 at the time).

i cannot speak specifically to the Glory as I have not been on her (in November that changes) but typically there are a few shows throughout the week, with family shows and adults only later (sometimes 2 adult shows in the evening)

go early to find a seat.

and who doesn't love free cocktails for an hour!

We have done this several times. Sometimes we fly in a couple of days early, rent a car and do a one way drop. Sometimes we stay at a hotel in FLL then have SAS pick us up and transport us.

The drive is only about 30-40 minutes or so (if that). It's not bad at all.

Enjoy your cruise.

We are flying into Ft. Lauderdale on Sept. 20th for a cruise on the Glory. Since we are flying from Dallas, can I pack my wine and sodas in my checked luggage? Will be need to take it out of our checked luggage and put them in our carryon before getting on the ship? TIA

I have done both.

Once I forgot to remove my drinks & wine after flying from Dallas to FLL....and they made it right to my room no problem.

I usually check a small suitcase with nothing but our drinks at the airport. Then I don't have to do any scrambling once at the port. I just open it up and show it to them. Then I can roll it aboard and I'm ready to go.

Love the Blue Iguana!

Love Guys

Love the deli

Love the room service

Love the MDR

Love the Brunch on sea days in the MDR

Pizza...i can live without it...but dh loves it!

Most people do as you did, just shake his/her head and "tsk, tsk" the unacceptable behavior. Although I guess it was just offensive and disturbing behavior that was acceptable to you. If it is really unacceptable to you, consider calling security. They can't stop it if they don't know about it. They may not consider it a problem if only one person complains. Silence equals acceptance, and no need for the perpetrators to alter their behavior.

Perfectly said.

I think I would have become the owner or at least temporary owner of a new IPOD with a note saying they could pick it up from me later after I had my peace & quiet lol.

If certain behavior is unacceptable, one must speak up. If not, that means it's okay, no one knows there's a problem and the situation continues.

Had there been rude comments to my daughter, they would have dealt with Mama Bear here...but looking at her....well, they don't know how old she is. perhaps a gentle statement like "jail bait for you or me, your choice?" might suffice.

Glad the rest of your cruise was great.

I personally have only had to call on problems on a cruise (regarding other passengers) twice. One was parents leaving their kids unattended and they were completely unruly. I wasn't the only complaint and the parents who brought their kid in diapers to the pool. Yes, if you come in the pool with a child in diapers, I'll inform staff. I don't want mine and my kids pool time ruined because you don't want to follow rules. :cool:

So, out of 13 cruises, I think it's not bad.

I did a b2b and on the 2nd leg it made me platinum. I was surprised that I received all the benefits on the first leg too. I was able to vip embarkation which was a super fantastic surprise and I received 1 gift each cruise. (2)

So yes, you will become Platinum at the start of the cruise...that you hit 75 days on.

Hi all,

 

Although this is my first post, I have been reading threads here for quite a while and have found this website to be extremely useful for cruise planning. Since your insight and reviews have helped me so much, I thought I would share this spreadsheet I put together for relatively easy, at-a-glance comparison of all of the Carnival ships and their amenities.

 

Can't live without Guys burgers? Want to avoid ships with Playlist Productions like the plague? Forgot which ships have converted to the American Table/Feast MDR menu? Would love to pick a ship with no blaring Jumbotron and that has a pool in the Serenity area? Hopefully some of you will find this spreadsheet helpful for these type of questions and more...

 

I would love to have your feedback and any suggestions for changes, improvements or corrections.

 

Please note that I have saved the spreadsheet in an older format so that users of Excel 2000 and above (or an alternate viewer) should be able to open it without any problems. Also, due to the size of each row, this will NOT be printout-friendly.

OHHHHH, i LOVE THIS!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! This helps my need for organization lol. You are my new hero! :)

We booked two rooms sailing from Baltimore on the Pride for 9/7 on the same confirmation. In one room is my wife, myself and our 1 year old. The other room is another couple. My wife has Platinum status so for our room we have priority boarding. We signed up for FTTF for the other couple. My question is can all of us wait and board together with the Platinum boarding or will they have to wait and board with FTTF and not be able to help us with our son? I have asked Carnival a few times and have gotten no response back which is very disappointing.

one mom and one dad should be able to manage with a 1 yr old son. I don't know why help from other couple would be needed unless it's just an excuse to get them on early with you???

There is nothing stopping you from hanging with your FTTF friends and boarding with them. usually, the FTTF group is called right after platinums (diamonds too of course) So you may lose 2-4 minutes to waiting to board with your friends.

If embarking with your friends is important, just hang with them and board when they are called. That is what we have done or just say see ya on the ship etc.

Enjoy your cruise either way.

I just read that Diamond cruisers are getting some special cruise offers...

not sure what kind of deal they are getting... but sure they deserve them. And then also, feeling a bit , well , I don't know... I was told i would be grandfathered to Diamond.... and it didn't happen... frustrated I guess would be the word. Because... after 26 cruises and many cruise days... I have never received a special offer in my VIFP offers... oh well... maybe some day.. the sad thing is I will not live long enough to hit the magic number that I now need to be Diamond... unless I live to be like 100.. and then SS wouldn't be enough to cover the taxes...:rolleyes:

don't feel bad....I NEVER receive any offers...but my underaged teen son did receive the free cruise offer that was going around. Go figure that one! GRRR LOL.

That's why this is called critic. We all get to critique our cruise.

My kid loves camp. there are activities my ds doesn't care for. We skip those or he sits in anyways, they are usually only 30 minutes long and then they are on to the next activity.

BTW, musical chairs is an active game. I love(d) musical chairs and I cannot imagine a typical 6 & 8 yr. old have already outgrown that game but I guess they do/can. I miss my childhood and duck duck goose and 7 up days lol.

May I suggest for parents who really want to make sure there is action packed non stop camp stuff, go during a "kid heavy" cruise. Go during spring break, summer or Christmas break. Obviously the more kids, the more activities, and the more choices.

Oh, and we always pack a board game too (or go to the library and get one) just to have something to do late at night in our cabin or on rainy/cold days. (yes, even on a cruise it can happen).

Wanna hear about stress? Try flying standby on the morning of your cruise...that'll stress ya out.

Been there, done that.

FFL & Miami are a little further apart than DFW and Love Field.

Take a deep breath and relax. It will be fine.

Since it is all booked through Carnival, you don't have to worry. Enjoy the ride and few minutes to relax on the bus from FLL to POM.

Chalk it up to lesson learned.

Enjoy your cruise.

Just got in today from a short 5 night cruise on the Triumph. We booked 10 days prior to leaving and this was the only balcony cabin available, I didn't do my homework, this was the cabin from Hades. It's over the Piano bar so there is a lot of late evening loud-ish music that may be a problem for some, the real issue was people congregating outside our door in the hallway before heading to their cabins, there is a wide hallway right in front of this cabin, stairs are on the right and a bank of elevators to the left, very noisy until very late, we also had many children yelling and running up and down the hallways, makes you wonder where the parents are but they're right there, yucking it up. Do people not take into consideration that people may be sleeping?

 

The Triumph and the cabin itself were fine, no complaints at all about anything other than the lack of regard for other passengers.

Everyone is there to have a good time but please...think about someone other than yourself and take care of your kids! Not everyone thinks your little darlings, running down the hallways, blowing plastic whistles at 10:30 pm is endearing nor your loud laughter thinking how cute it is.

We had a cabin across the hall from us last month on the Dream full of kids. apparently the parents thought it ok to send the kids to bed while they went and partied. While i yelled at the kids, banging on the door trying to get their attention, they could not hear me.....eventually 2 other cabins ended up calling and security came. after the 2nd time, we never heard a peep again from them. :rolleyes: parents, don't leave your kids unattended...I love kids...but please, if you bring your kids on vacation, you are still a parent. You only get to "not be a parent" if your kids are safe at home with grandma or someone else you trust. then you can be on vacation from parenting.

Here's how I look at it...as my friend was once denied boarding for not having it....

how are you going to feel that one time you get the newbie agent who demands to see the letter? How are you and your child going to feel watching your ship leave port, with you standing on the pier because you didn't want to get a paper signed?

Now, I know there are extreme cases. Mine for example- my ex was a total AHole...i could not get permission. I was never willing to book travel for a family of 5 and then lose out all that money so we didn't cruise with the older 2 kids until they were 18. Sad I know. But he's that big of an ahole. Now we've taken them on a few making up for lost time. :D

I panicked yesterday as my youngest ds-9 & I leave for our cruise tomorrow morning and I forgot to get the paper. My dh is not going with us..he's staying home and working to pay for more cruises lol. Thankfully we were able to find a notary on Sunday evening to get it done. Whew. Now I can relax and wait for my cruise!

$5 for notary for peace of mind? you bet!

I never, never, ever walked into the MDR for dinner with shorts or a polo shirt. Heck, the waiters were wearing tuxes or similar. I was ALWAYS suit or jacket and tie. It was comfy for me! On formal nights ("elegant") I was always in a tux.

 

I'm glad to hear they are enforcing it, as I am tired of the "slumming" down of many pax. If you can afford the cruise you can afford the clothes, and don't tell me about airline baggage fees either. If you can't afford the fees or the clothes, then you cannot afford the cruise. It is as simple as that.

 

If you want to wear your shorts and polo, then go to the lido or similar venue for the buffet.

 

Show some respect!

Perfectly said.

I just got off the Glory yesterday. So many people were turned down at dinner, and asked to go change. On the first night a teenager in front of me was sent back because he was wearing a sleeveless jersey. On formal night a lot of men were sent back because they were wearing dressy short cargos with polo shirts. They want long pants to be worn on formal night.

 

In my 18 cruises, I have never seen anyone being turned down at the dining room. The worst part was the way they spoke to and addressed the teenager with the sleeveless jersey.

well, the teenager should have known better....as should his parents. I'm glad they are turning people away. Everyone knows the dress code...it's in writing...good for Carnival!

My vote...mahogany bay is pretty awesome...but so is cheeseburger reef in Grand Cayman.

Either one will be awesome. We saw lots of great fish etc. in both. I think I probably saw more in Roatan, but we went away from Mahogany bay with a dive trip. I did see my first (2) sea turtles in the "wild" and it was awesome.

heck, I try my best not to rent an automobile when I travel internationally....no way in heck i'm going to rent an ATV etc. Even the best recommended companies are nothing like we are use to.

I rented a car in Cabo one time and used the best rated most highly recommended company from another travel site...I had to trade the car out...I made them come and get it and bring me another one because the breaks were not good. The 2nd car was the same if not worse. They said they are all like that and blamed the hills. Gee, worn out brakes are okay? I don't think so! LOL. Nope, i'll hire a car/driver.

Everyone please be safe! At least have a really good insurance policy if you are foolish enough to rent these things in a foreign country. JMO,

Also....

I would looooovvvveee to see another ship cruise out of New Orleans. That would be great!

I'd love to see the Elation go as it's my least favorite ship of all.

So if it does get replaced what happens to people that have a trip already booked on the Elation? We have one planned for April 2015. Do we just get switched to the new ship in a similar room. Or do they just cancel us? Would our fair stay the same and the interary :confused

This happened on our cruise we had booked for the Conquest for March of next year. They just switched us to what they considered a comparable cabin and our rate didn't change. However, I was not happy as I wanted the Conquest not the Splendor ship. So I canceled (with no penalty). We had only paid deposits at that point.

They supposedly sent out an email explaining all of this but I had never received it. I contacted CCL as soon as I noticed my cabin had changed and my ship had changed in my cruise manager. They verified that in fact they did not send me an email, even though they had all of my email addresses (work & home) and my cell & home # as well. They were very nice and apologetic about it however. I actually received a $50 OBC for my troubles....btw, I did not request at all. I was just upset that my ship was changed and I had zero notification. They realized their mistake and IMO "fixed" it more than I had expected. The $50 OBC was added to my already booked cruise for the November. So kudos to CCL customer service for making it more than right! IMO anyways! :D

I'm an airline employee. I travel a lot. Talk about going through luggage I have learned expensive does not necessarily mean quality. I have had cheap, expensive, good, bad and ugly. 12 cruises never had a piece ruined on a cruise. Airlines on the other hand...lol

Now the best luggage to date I have found with the best warranty and price is ebags....their brand. We own 6 hardsides now.