cruisinqt

I’m from Texas and I can verify this. It’s always free the evening before but they say the next day because they don’t know how long it will take to get 50 miles out, especially if the ship is delayed in leaving. I just order what I want if I’m doing an elite cruise with free drinks everywhere though. If some charges pop up from the first day I just go to the casino host and they get it removed asap. It says free drinks anywhere on the ship for the duration of the cruise so they honor that regardless of when the drinks were consumed.

My kids used bottomless bubbles a lot though there were complaints about waiting at the bar forever to get a drink. They were always served (the bartenders are used to kids asking for sodas) just not very promptly. I’m assuming they put the higher cost alcoholic drinks ahead of sodas because they cost more and they get more tip money. But on a positive note we loved it in the MDR because our waiter had their favorite sodas waiting at the table when we got there every night.

We are Platinum and have been cruising over 20 years. For the first time ever I got lost in a ships casino. And it was onboard the Mardi Gras. The Excel class ships are huge! I felt like I was in one of those big Vegas casinos because I kept getting turned around not knowing which direction to go to get out. It will be difficult going on the Pride for our London trip this summer. I was spoiled by that big casino. At least I’ll get to see London though.

According to John Heald the Celebration, Mardi Gras, and Panorama all have it. And they’re working their way through the fleet. There’s no word on the order they’re going in or when they’ll finish.

If you’re strictly looking at beaches then the western itinerary would be better for you. Personally if it were me I’d pick the eastern itinerary. Amber Cove has a gorgeous multi million dollar cruise pier with pools, beaches restaurants etc that I love to go to. And St Thomas has some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world. I’m not sure about beaches in San Juan but we once walked through old downtown and toured a beautiful old cathedral then ate an authentic meal at a local restaurant. We absolutely loved that visit. The next time we took a cab out to visit the rainforest and it was breathtaking.

Even though Carnival has made some cutbacks they aren’t super bad cutbacks like some cruise lines are doing. And they’ve tried to soothe our anger about the cutbacks by adding more free restaurants like Shaquille O’Neil’s Big Chicken and Chibang on the Excel Class ships. And when they added the new specialty restaurants Cucina Del Capitano and JiJi’s Asian they made lunch there free which is nice.

I’m not sure if this info is what you’re looking for but I’ll share with you what I’ve learned about international flights recently as I’ve been researching it extensively the last few months. We are doing our first ever transatlantic cruise and our first ever overseas long haul flight. At first I was more focused on what airline to use because I honestly just didn’t know where to start. After a lot of research I realized that the flight itself was far more important than which airline I use. Things like how long the layover is, how long the flight is, which city the layover is in, and which airplane will you be flying in (some are better than others) is what you should be focusing on. Here’s what I’ve learned. Your layover should be at least 2 hours long to give you time to go through customs and immigration. Some cities have more relaxed customs than others so do your research on your layover beforehand. Airplanes have different seat configurations such as 3-3-3 or 2-4-2 or 3-4-3. The 2-4-2 has less seats so the seats will be wider and more comfortable. Once you’ve narrowed down your flight choices you can go to seatmaps.com and look up the airlines planes to see what seat configuration your airplane will have. It will even tell you how wide each seat is, how much leg room there is and how much the seat reclines. That may not be a big deal on local flights but on an international flight it’s super important since you’ll be on the plane for quite a while. There’s also roomier seats that are between regular economy class and first class. They’re called premium economy. They have wider seats, more leg room, seats recline further, and you get other perks like priority boarding. On Delta they’re called comfort plus and on American Airlines they’re called main cabin plus. Which airlines are better for international travel? There’s a lot of good ones out there. I like Delta, American, and Air Canada. But that’s just a personal preference. Like I said, find the flights with the best times, and layover cities for the price then go from there. Good luck I hope this helps.

If you booked under your offer you will get drinks in the casino plus $1000 in free play and she won’t get anything. If you booked under her offer you’ll both get free drinks everywhere and she will have $200 in free play. They won’t honor both offers at the same time. It’s one or the other. So you will get whatever offer you booked under.

We’ve always done side by side balconies. We have them remove the divider to make it one big extra long balcony. You have 2 bathrooms, double the balcony space, and double the closet space. And if we decide to stay up late and talk or watch a movie on our iPad it doesn’t wake the kids because our rooms are separate.

That’s good to know for when I travel I’ll check it out. I usually put various sink detergents in my cart on Amazon and wait till they go on sale then stock up. It’s great for when you travel internationally.

Or you could wash a few items each night in your sink then hang them to dry on the clothes line in the shower. Before I became Platinum I did this and it’s super easy. You can buy Sink Suds on Amazon for $8.48 which has 8 packets of laundry detergent made for sinks. I would wash several items then hang them up and they’d be dry or almost dry the next morning. It was much easier, cheaper, and more convenient than using the laundry room.

Wow what great info! We were looking at airport hotels (the ones near Tukwila were very reasonably priced) but decided against it. The idea of driving 30+ minutes each way to get to the sights in Seattle was just too much for me. I’ve had a very long stressful commute to work for many years and when I’m on vacation I avoid driving as much as possible. We found some great deals in the Lake Union area and are currently leaning in that direction. We are sailing on the Quantam of the Seas from pier 91. We plan on taking Uber or Lyft to the port. We will also be using buses, light rail, or Uber & Lyft to get around town. We discussed it and parking is expensive and a hassle so we won’t be doing a rental car. We will definitely be checking out 13 Coins it sounds like a cool restaurant. And I love history so the Klondike will be put on my list of things we have to see. Thanks for your input it helps a lot.

For anyone reading this thread looking for a decent priced hotel near the downtown area that’s not a cheap budget place but not a super expensive high end hotel either, I found a couple. Keep in mind that I’m looking for something family friendly with a fridge, microwave, and sitting area so our family of 4 don’t feel over crowded. First off, don’t use kayak.com. For some reason a lot of decent hotels in Seattle weren’t showing up there and was the reason I wasn’t seeing many good deals. I went to skyscanner.com and there were tons of good hotels to choose from. I narrowed it down to either Silver Cloud Seattle Lake Union (a local chain), or Staybridge Suites downtown/Lake Union. Both have suites at reasonable prices and are located pretty close to all of the attractions downtown. They also have fridges, microwaves, free breakfast, free WiFi and laundry rooms. I can get a studio suite room at Silver Cloud with 2 queen beds, a sofa/sitting area, and kitchenette for $239 a night. And Staybridge Suites has the same amenities for $259 a night. Both are in the Lake Union area close to downtown. And they both have 4.5 stars out of 5 at TripAdvisor with great reviews. I’ll be booking our stay at Staybridge Suites since the rooms are a little bit nicer and they offer government discounts (I work for the government). We will be there in May so I’ll come back with a review of the hotel after our trip for anyone interested.

That sounds like a good idea. I’ll keep checking to see if I find any deals on something closer to Seattle and if not then I’ll do an airport hotel and use the light rail. Thanks.

This is exactly the information I was looking for. It’s a long drive and there’s not much to do in the area. That’s what I was worried about. I guess I need to focus my search on Seattle itself instead of the suburbs. We will be staying in Seattle from 5/19/23-5/22/23. We are going on the Quantam of the Seas so we will be using pier 91. I’d prefer a suite since my girls are adults now and tall just like my husband who is 6’6”. I don’t want to be packed like sardines into a small basic hotel room for several days. I was hoping to not go over $300 a night which I know is asking a lot for a popular city like Seattle during tourist season. I’ve been mostly looking at Hilton hotels since I could use my points but Hilton is super expensive in Seattle. Thanks for the info I’ll start looking around Seattle Center and Lake Union.

We are trying to decide what area of Seattle to stay in pre cruise. The hotels in downtown Seattle are pretty expensive (and small) for a family of 4 requiring at least 2 queen sized beds. It’s a lot cheaper to stay in Tukwila (and the rooms are suites) but it’s a 30 minute ride to the downtown Seattle area from there. We will probably get a rental car since we will be there 3 days but I dread driving an hour round trip to Seattle every time we decide to go somewhere. Is the Tukwila area pretty nice with shopping and restaurants? Or will be be constantly schlepping back and forth to Seattle? I’m torn because I want the bigger roomier & cheaper rooms in Tukwila but the convenience of being in downtown Seattle is appealing too. Right now I’m looking at the Sound Hotel Seattle Belltown or the Home2 Suites Seattle airport.

They open at 8 am so I imagine you can. We never had them for breakfast but that’s a great idea. I might try them for breakfast on the Celebration next month.

Yes those are the two I was looking at. But the reviews for the Hilton London Hyde Park had a lot of negative comments. They renovated an older building and guests say it’s a bit worn down so I may pass on that one. I don’t want to use my points for something that isn’t worth it. I’ve been leaning toward the Doubletree Hilton London Hyde Park. It has very good reviews, the tube and buses are nearby, and it doesn’t require as many Hilton points as some of the others. The Hilton hotel that was a good ways from the Tube that I was considering wasn’t the Hilton London Hyde Park one, I misspoke. It was the Westminster London Curio Collection Hilton. I was very interested in it because it sounds like a really cool hotel and it’s so close to the palace. But I’m thinking the Doubletree in Hyde Park may be the better choice it’s less points and is a great location. I like the Doubletree by Hilton Victoria too. It has great reviews but it costs more just like the Westminster one. And the Doubletree Hyde Park fits my needs just fine. For some reason I’m getting offered a rate of $205 a night for a king room with a view under some promotional sale and that’s without using my points. It’s hard to resist that price. The Premier Inn wants $159 a night. You make some good points on the bus versus the Tube. If we are in a hurry we will use the Tube but if we have time we will enjoy the bus. Thanks for the insight.

If luggage is a worry try stasher.com. They have dozens of locations all over London and will hold your luggage while you go sightseeing.

One of the hotels in Hyde Park had a room with an outdoor patio and I really liked it. But even though the bus was right next door, the Tube was a good 15 minute walk. I’d prefer a hotel with the Tube and a bus right next door so I’d have a choice of both pretty close by. I’m not sure which we will be using between a bus and the Tube. Is one better than the other? Is the price a big difference?

That’s the info I was looking for. Thanks.

Yes. My daughters have been staying in their own cabin next to ours for many years. They are 23 & 25 now but they started cruising when they were 3 & 5 so many those years they had their own cabin they were under 18. My husband and I get really good casino deals so we usually book one cabin under my name and another cabin under his name and split the girls between us. Then when we get on board we go to guest services and switch it around to where the girls have one cabin and we have the other cabin. Carnival has never had a problem putting the girls in their own cabin as long as we were nearby and they had adults cruising with them.

Your 19 year old son and his girlfriend in a nearby interior cabin is just fine. You and your youngest son in the balcony cabin is fine. You could wait till you’re onboard and go to guest services and switch everyone around to the new cabins if both offers booked are yours or your kids offers. I do it all of the time. BUT, if one of the cabins is booked under an offer from your husband then the offer won’t be honored unless he’s there. I would call Carnival and put both rooms under offers you or your children have received and move the people to the cabin you want them in if one of the cabins is booked under an offer of your husband’s. A good PVP at Carnival can easily arrange that.

Thanks I’ll check them out

I don’t lean over the railing and look down, I look out. So having something below isn’t a big deal to me. I’ve had plenty of cabins with something beneath the balcony and I just don’t get why people complain. I look out across the horizon to see the sunset or sunrise. I look off into the distance to wildlife or other ships. But it doesn’t occur to me to lean over and look down. Maybe I’m different I don’t know but it just isn’t a big deal to me. As to privacy I rarely see people out and about when I’m on my balcony so it’s never been a problem. I had an ocean suite on deck 9 on the Mardi Gras in February and liked it so much I booked an Ocean Suite on the Celebration for July and I’m really looking forward to it.