kgerkin

Good point. In fact, I remember the Ocean View rooms having pretty comfy beds so maybe they are all the same.

Karen

Does anyone have any idea of the make/model of the beds in the Carnival Suites?

Over the past several years I've developed back problems but have always found the beds in the suites to be very comfortable. I'm looking to purchase a new mattress for my home and I've tried contacting Carnival to see if they could give me this info but no luck. I've also tried reaching out through the Carnival Comfort Collection but no luck there either.

Does anyone here have this info or know where I can get it?

Thanks, Karen

Wanted to post an update. All should be good with bringing my daughters friend on the cruise with us. We got all of the paperwork that we needed so we are all set.

Karen

My daughter gets motion sick and she's been taking Dramamine on cruises since she was around 6 years old. Her pediatrician said it was fine. A few years ago I noticed they started selling Children's Dramamine (grape) and I found that both regular and children's work quite well.

Karen

Thank you for the kind words and advice. My daughter is a little shy so I'm going to check for a roll call. This is a back to back so maybe we'll be lucky. typically we do a 7 or 8 day ,but this year with my husbands illness, I thought a 4 day and a 5 day might be better. Just in case we need to make changes mid trip.

We are all praying this works out. My daughters friend is writing her dad a letter, hoping that he will change his mind.

Its ironic that when I talked to the kids last summer about this summers cruise, we picked Canada because my daughters friends dad had taken her there in the past and she wanted to show us Canada. So now that happy memory with her dad has now been tainted with what he is doing now. Its very sad.

K.

In prior years we did have a letter from each parent approving the cruise. Typically I check the dates in February (for a summer cruise) and then get the letter a few weeks before the cruise. I've always had it with me although I've never been asked for it.

My guess is that the dad thought that by taking away her cruise, she would start seeing him again, when in fact its doing just the opposite which is sad. She is like a second daughter to us so we are praying things change but unfortunately their next custody hearing isn't scheduled til after our cruise. The moms opinion is that since she doesn't see him he doesn't have any idea of when the cruise is even scheduled. Being rule followers we certainly don't want to be arrested if he says we are taking her out of the country illegally.

My 15 year old daughter doesn't want to go without her friend which of course wont stop us but might make for a miserable trip. Its just a horrible, horrible situation that I'm praying changes.

I have a dilemma.... my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer in January. Long story short the doctor gave us permission to go on our yearly cruise and we are all looking forward to escaping reality for a little bit.

My dilemma: Each year for the past 3 years we have taken my daughters same friend (same age as my daughter, 15). I pay for everything, including all of her spending money last year. This year in early Feb I did what I've done each of the last two years and called her mother to give her the dates of our cruise. A few days later she called back and said that the dates work. Her and her ex shared custody so each year she has to clear the dates with him.

A few weeks ago a man showed up at my house (saying he was my daughters friends father) and saying that I never asked his permission this year for the cruise and he wasn't going to give her permission to go. Too bad if we already paid for it. He said this should "teach her and her mother a lesson". Seems that my daughters friend hasn't seen her dad since December, which I had no idea of or no way to know that. The mother says he gave permission, he says he didn't.

I was wondering if anyone had been in a similar situation and if anyone had any advice. I don't know what to do. I'm devastated and with everything going on with my husband, I'm praying that the situation changes. Bringing a different friend is not an option. I really don't want to get in the middle of their custody battle and had no idea any of this was going on. I've only met her father one time so I can't really even say for sure that the man that showed up at my house was her dad.

Has anyone ever had a parent agree and then change their mind? Any advice?

Karen

Thank you everyone for the responses and the great ideas. Many I had not thought about! I appreciate the kind words and prayers.

Karen

Hi. My daughter, stepmother and I did my dads ashes 3 years ago onboard the Sensation. The funeral home gave me the box of ashes with the form attached to the top of the box. When I went through security, I explained to the agent what was I the box and no other questions were ever asked.

My dad wanted his ashes in the gulf stream so a day or so into the cruise guest services called us down and we were escorted by an officer and security to the area where we could do his ashes. They told us to take our time and they would wait with us for however long we needed. Lucky they were there because I could not get the bag with the ashes open and luckily the officer/security had a pocket knife and helped me open it.

I was happy to have been able to follow my fathers wishes and Carnival made it so easy. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Karen

Hi everyone. I've been reading these boards for many, many years but have only posted a few times. Love all of the information I can find here and have used many of the tips I've found here over the years. My husband, 15 year old daughter and I cruise every summer and have done so since my daughter was 4 years old. We have 10+ cruises on Carnival, 4 on RC and 2 on Celebrity.

This past January, my husband was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer which has spread to his lymph nodes and brain. He is undergoing palliative care and will take a mini break from chemo at the beginning of June. He has gone through radiation and chemo and we have no idea what lies ahead. Very tough for all of us, especially our 15 year old daughter.

When it came time to book our yearly cruise this year, I was very reluctant but my husband urged me to book the trip. He craved a sense of normalcy and planning the trip has helped. With dr's approval, and god willing, he will go on the cruise this year. We've booked a back to back, 4 day and 5 day out of New York.

I'm trying to gather all of the information that I can and was wondering if anyone had any information that you found helpful cruising post chemo. Of course his doctor will give us his list of precautions, but was wondering about the little things that the dr may not think of. The dr is encouraging us to go and my husband wants to go and just have "fun" and that's what I want too, but I also want to be careful and for him to be comfortable. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you for sharing.

Karen

The offer came in an email to my email address. We had associated my email address with all of our bookings.

My cruise rep at Carnival is still looking into it. I think you guys are right that its either random, or they are reaching out to people that haven't cruise in awhile.

Its good for those that are getting the offers so maybe one day we'll be that lucky!

Karen

What a shocker! I've cruised on Carnival 11 times and have never earned anything free other than a reduced rate through Carnival Players Club. Several years ago, we paid for a babysitter to come with us (she was actually a friends 17 year old daughter). In my email today, she got an offer for a free inside cabin that she can redeem 2 times. I called Carnival and they said they

think its because of what she spent on board....which can't be true because I paid for everything. They are looking into it.....

I saw all of the threads on free cruises and thought I would post this. What a disappointment to finally get the "free cruise" email only to find out its not for me to use....

Hmmmmm :(

K

My dad passed away in 2011 and he wanted his ashes spread at sea. One of the hosts here on Cruise Critic helped me contact the right person at Carnival and we took a cruise on the Sensation and spread his ashes.

We met one of the officers and one of the Pursers at the Pursers desk and they escorted us to the back of the ship. Once there they told us to take however long we wanted. When we were ready, they helped me open the bag the funeral home had put the ashes in, and my stepmother and I spread his ashes.

We did not need a biodegradable container but we did have the funeral home put paperwork on the cardboard box identifying what was in the box. I was worried about going through security when we were getting ready to get onboard. I did whisper to the agent that I had my dad's ashes and we had no problem at all.

Take care,

Karen