LHP

Btw, the FTTF on your luggage tags are to alert the PORTERS to put the additional ORANGE tag on your luggage to get Priority luggage delivery.

Make sure you get these extra orange tags placed on your luggage.!!

AND WATCH CHARLESTON if you do the early luggage drop off. Do not leave until you see them physically put those orange tags on your luggage or you will not get the priority luggage delivery.

They will tell you they will do it and then they don't.

The Spirit class was my favorite until the Breeze.

I love the Cloud 9 Spa and the Red Frog Pub.

Things like cabin selection (which is always important) is especially important on the Sunshine due to the large number of cabins over the Main Theater/Disco.

So unless you are a real night owl, make sure you avoid any cabins that can have a noise issue.

We attended the naming Ceremony and did the Inaugural cruise from New Orleans and had a great time.

Yes, there were some disappointments but they were personal preferences like not enough karaoke.

I like the new layout except for the lack of karaoke space. It is different. Just make sure you see ALL of Lido...there is an entire world just passed the Aft Buffet area.

My Mom, Sister, BFF, and I recently used Tours Plaza. We hired a private driver for the 5 hours. Gerry was our driver and he is fabulous! His english was perfect and he was so helpful with my Mom who uses a walker. The price was reasonable. If i'm in Cozumel again, I will use Tours Plaza again and hopefully Gerry will drive us!

We have used Gerry several times.

He is a jewel!

As the Mom of an adult son with Autism, unlimited internet (even if it is $200 a cruise) would be a great benefit for us.

Our son "stays connected" through the Internet constantly when at home.

John has hinted on his Facebook page, but again until I see something official.... I can only keep my finger's crossed!

:( why would someone start this rumor?? Then everyone else here acts if we r stupid for wanting to believe it. Still they should bring another option to Charleston.

Having been around Cruise Critic for over 10 years and with Carnival even longer (and who knows all the major players).....

the answer to your question is that sadly some folks try to inflate their own ego by pretending to be closer to John ( and Carnival beards) then they truly are.

I prefer to wait for the official announcements.

We can't say enough about Gerry and Eduardo!! Fantastic, professional, courteous, friendly, personable, funny, knowledgeable.....just a few adjectives that come to mind! From initial email communication until Gerry dropped us back off at the dock, our experience was first class! Everything we did was customized to our goal of seeing as much as we could in one day!!! And they exceeded our expectations!! Can't wait to go back and we will be looking for Gerry again!:D:D:D

They made our experience in Cozumel so memorable and made us feel like family!

Thanks! Kim

It is so great to find an independent tour operator that you can really trust your vacation with!

We have never had an issue.....

but they are hard on the luggage.

I have seen a little lady cabin steward (that weighed less than the 90 pound bag she was trying to drag off the top) just pull it and let it drop.

But to be honest...I do not know how else she would have does it since she was so tiny.

Karaoke.....

We just sailed with Troy last September in Alaska...he was great.

Do be aware that IF you are driving your car to the port....the delay can be another hour to get parked....which would affect the value of FTTF for Embarkation.

We arrived at 10:30am and did the early luggage drop off....

got back in line to wait for the garage to open....

the line started to move at 11:15am....but we did not get parked until 1:15pm because the garage has to empty out completely before they will allow cars to start parking.

This is because this port was not set up as a cruise terminal and traffic literally crosses itself coming out of and into the parking warehouse.

So IF you are arriving by taxi or shuttle bus, you will be fine....IF you are parking your own car at the port, then the FTTF will be of less value.

We are Diamond and we were not processed any faster than "regular folks" that arrived with us.

In fact there were some "regular folks " that came in after us and they were processed faster...

Another great review for Tour plaza and hiring a driver for the day in Cozumel.

Our driver Gerry was exactly where they said he would be and on time. He was very nice, and took us to see the Myan ruins at San Gervasio. He also arranged for Bianca to meet us there and be our guide for the ruins. Bianca was the best!! She has a vast knowledge of everything Cozumel. Thanks so much Gerry for arranging that for us. Gerry also took us to the KAO KAO chocolate factory where we were able to taste and purchase some awesome chocolate!!

We took a drive to the east side of the island and got some wonderful pics.

I would highly recommend hiring a driver through these folks!!

Eduardo responds quickly through e-mails and sets it all up perfectly!!

 

 

THANKS GERRY!!!!! :)

Gerry is an absolute doll.

We have used him many times and he has never disappointed us!

My Dad at 91 just (last week) had his diamond and milestone cruise on the Miracle with John Heald as CD. There were 8 diamonds on board, but only 3 (that included Dad) that came to past guest party, and only 5 came to the diamond cocktail party with the captain, major fab snacks enough for 40 people not the few who came. My Dads invite said and guest , so I went with him as his plus one. Now my questions are

 

1. He got a different thank you gift, ( I am platinum and got tote bag) he got a set of nice cocktail glasses... Is that normal for diamonds to get something different?

 

2. Carnivals website says diamonds are presented with luggage tags. When? Cause no one gave him any on the ship.

 

3 are all diamond do's a you can bring a guest along, or are they just for Diamonds only and since I go as his care giver they included me?

 

My Diamond /milestone cruise is next January, so want to be prepared.

Thanks, Jackie

Your Dad will have a red leather luggage tag, a red leather passport cover and a letter mailed to his home.

MAKE SURE HE KEEPS THE LETTER...this is how he gets his free steakhouse dinner.

Why do you think this may I ask? Priority boarding may annoy some priority tenders may annoy others and any combination of FTTF but why specifically Guest Services line annoys you?

 

In all my cruises I dont think I have been to guest services more than 2 or 3 times!

 

I often wonder what on earth all those people queuing up are doing!

 

A simple cabin call to desk can sort out most problems and Carnival give you a check for unused OBC etc in cabin last day.

 

I understand first day and last day problems but what on earth are all those visits to guest services for during the cruise?

Personally, it is a bit irritating because the whole point of this "perk" is not to have to wait.

Unfortunately, the FTTF are generally the less traveled folks who have 9,000 questions...thus holding up the Priority line.

First, my intention is not to "rile" anyone up... We recently reached Platinum status, not that we didn't thoroughly enjoy every step of the way, but it was a process! I feel a bit cheated that others can "buy" their way on the ship for the same priority perks that we've invested 10 years into receiving. On our last trip, we were nearly trampled by FTTF participants. I totally understand why people would pay for the perks, just a bit irritated that the cruise line offers these perks for a price... :(

The only thing that really irritated me about the whole deal was Carnival's hypocrisy.

Carnival said the reason to they changed to Sea Days was because the current system was "not sustainable" (translation...to many people were achieving that status).

That was the same reason Carnival gave for cutting 2/3rds of their most loyal cruisers when they did not grandfather Milestone cruisers to the Diamond level.

That is all fine and good....I completely understand those moves...

BUT then they go and SELL the very same perks????

The same perks they said they could not service because of the growing numbers were unsustainable????

:confused::confused:

Last time we were there...the water park opened at 10AM....our ship sailed at 3pm...so we just grabbed a taxi and bought tickets at the Kiosk...(I think they were $110 a person but that was 2 years ago)...instead of taking the ship excursion.

We have done The Dig and all that several times before....so we just did the waterpark.

I thought they would have transferred the new costa diadem to carnival after the Concordia incident. Especially since it is a dream class. Guess I was wrong though lol

 

 

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The Splendor is a Costa Fortuna class. It was built for Costa and while being built, Costa realized it could not support the ship, so they stuck a Carnival funnel on it.

So a lot of them seem to be interchangeable indeed.

Since it is satellite based....it is whatever company won the bid.

Yes, for most of our cruising years, it was Denver...just within the past few years has it changed to Miami...which at least makes more sense because Carnival is based in Miami.

Our rule of thumb is $100 per person per day (there are always 3 of us..sometimes 4) for an OV. (I don't do balconies)

And we are always way under that.

Carnival does not have any pressure on them from anyone....

Carnival is doing what works for them and Carnival could care less what the other cruise lines do....especially when other cruise lines have such a horrific debt load for the number of ships they have and Carnival does not.

NCL was "innovative" when they put 3 ships in Hawaii and it almost bankrupted them.

Royal was "innovative" with those big ships, but if you are like me and do not wish to pay for things I would never use (flowriders, ice rinks, etc)... then all that innovation is a waste.

I usually compare the medical facilities on a ship to a minor med when trying to explain to someone what they can handle.

The downside is that they do not have the pediatric designation, so be aware of that.

IF you do not book Early Saver....

AND there is a price reduction BEFORE your final payment date....

Just contact your PVP or TA and they will issue a credit to your credit card.

(sorry, no OBC - unless you charge that same amount to your credit card and apply it to your account???)

AFTER the final payment date, the price is set.

BTW. being "paid in full" does not affect your getting credit...as long as you are not past your FINAL PAYMENT DATE...THAT is the only detail that is important.

I just did it on the Fantasy last month.

Was your cruise a 3 day???

Perhaps they are pulling it from the shorter cruises????

We cruise Carnival because we feel it has the best product for the vacation dollar that fits with our needs.

While we are blessed and can "afford" to sail any cruise line....why pay for something that you are not going to enjoy?

True, we started cruising Carnival as a family because of familiarity. Hubby had cruised 9 times with them when he was single back in the 1980s.

I love to sing and Carnival provides many venues for that.

Our youngest son with Autism is now very comfortable there. He just completed his 59th cruise at the ripe old age of 22.

We have met made many "cruise friends" over the years that we stay in touch with even when we are not sailing. We meet in ports for lunch when our ships are there together.

Now I do look forward to giving Oceania a try when our son feels like he can handle it. But with Autism, change is not your friend.

Btw, as much as we enjoy Carnival...we try to never cruise when school is out and we never do 3 day cruises (usually 5 days is the shortest and even then we do a B2B).

It is a shame that with all the technology out there that Carnival does not care enough to implement a system that would keep the interior (even the disco) properly maintained.

Even though I do not smoke, I have campaigned for a decade for proper ventilation, because not even smokers want their children exposed or what to sit in a haze of smoke themselves. (shows how few connections I have with Corporate...lol)

And sadly with the lay out of most of the Promenades, you can have small children walking right past folks smoking in the casino.

That is just irresponsible in this day and time...especially with a cruise line that proudly boasts about being a family cruise line.