chefchick

Booking 2 one way fares (on different airlines) can sometimes result in a lower overall fare (and better schedule) than a round trip fare on a single airline. If you aren't in a real hurry, then investigate all your possibilities.

But the poster above is correct...the cruise air board is a great reference.

Since this will be my first time cruising with Carnival I researched and subsequently purchased FTTF because I wanted the perks including having my cabin ready when boarding. Not carrying around my luggage is important to me so I ponied up for the privilege. I don't care if I COULD get away with just "dropping stuff off" or that other lines let me do that so "why not"?

Come on people, when did we as a society become so self entitled? The aurgument that other lines I've been on have different policies or "they've always let me do it" is just a justification for bad behavior. If you don't like Carnival's policies, cruise another line.

This scenario is a lot like drivers who see a huge line waiting to enter onto the freeway and pass on the right and merge at the last minute...their time seems so much moe precious than the rest if us. We are all on vacation...can we be just a little bit nicer to each other?

Oh, and once for all....the crew member that cleans your room is a STEWARD and unless his name happens to be Stewart, please don't call him that.

I tried searching for this but couldn't find an answer. We will be on the Inspiration 4 day out of Long Beach. Is the MDR open for breakfast all days, not just sea brunch day? And more importantly, can I order a cappuccino from a waiter (I know there is a fee) or do I have to go to the specialty coffee shop myself on the way to the dining room? Also, could I order a cappuccino or a latte from room service? I'm asking because I assume Carnival standard coffee is as bad as they say....it's bad on every cruiseline, I'm not sure why :confused:

Thank you in advance.

A word of warning about Long Beach--

 

Embarkation can either be very smooth or a complete mess, never anything in between. Early Check in starts at 9:30 outside the Dome. Waiting is outside. If it rains, well, us natives don't do so well in the rain. Doors open around 11:30. We usually arrive around 11:30.

 

Are you arriving the day before? Many of the Long Beach hotels and tourist areas are on the free Passport bus route. The Aquarium of the Pacific is very good.

This is the one area that "concerns" me a little. We booked a very early morning flight, day of (on the off chance of flight delays as there are several morning flights to LAX). Our plan, if all goes well is to Uber to the port and should arrive around 10:30. I've been reading threads regarding Carnivals embarkation policies and I'm not a total noob to cruising, so if worse comes to worse, we will have to stand in line longer than I'd like...I guess that will make my first vacation cocktail taste all that much better :D

Again, you all have been very kind for the suggestions.

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. I hope to have a wonderful time.

My Mother always told me to not feed the trolls, so I am going to back away slowly from Loxley.

I had to go back and reread my post because I'm afraid I have given some the wrong impression. I booked this cruise because it is easy to fly to from Seattle. It is short and inexpensive and given it was a "last minute" decision that was important to both of us. One of my favorite things about a cruise vacation is that once you are onboard you can unpack your clothes and your brain...no decisions have to be made regarding travel, or parking, or reservations, or anything other than, what would you like to do next?

Since "the truth" is so important to some, I am trying to go in armed with some knowledge of things to do (and since the itinerary is short, perhaps some things to skip). I know this won't be like a Seabourn cruise, I don't expect it to be, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it.

I have been going through the board posts, but I was hoping for some first hand recommendations of what you think is the best Carnival has to offer.

You have already made it clear you are scraping the bottom of the barrel with carnival and then you are going to top it off with a for day booze cruise to just seal that in.

 

Entertainment sucks on carnival. I no long go or even plan to go. Since I am not a drinker, it is usually a movie in my room for me.

 

Frankly, you are going to get tons of people telling you about it is their favorite ship, the staffs is the greatest, etc, etc, but from what we all ready know about you. I would cancel.

 

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The only thing I was trying to "make clear" was I hoping for opinions regarding everyone's favorite onboard activities. What I don't understand from your comment is why you would go on a cruise at all if you are just going to squirrel yourself away in your cabin every night, but it's your vacation.

And trust me, you know nothing about me...but thank you for your quick stereotype of me just the same :rolleyes:

I consider myself a fairly experienced cruiser and have sailed on most of the mainline companies. My last few sailing have been on more upscale, smaller cruiselines (Windstar and Seabourn). A dear friend recently has been dealing with her Mother passing away and I suggested we do a short, cheap and cheerful girl's trip to take her mind somewhere else.

We have booked The Inspiration 4 day on April 11. I booked a few things I think we will both enjoy (chefs table and a private wine tasting excursion in Ensenada) Since I have never sailed on a Carnival cruise I am looking for some suggestions for fun things to do. Since most of my recent cruises have been on much smaller vessels that don't have a lot of activities onboard, which activities do you most enjoy? Are some shows better than others? Is bingo fun or a rip off? How about trivia? (Trust me, those Seabourn cruisers take their trivia games VERY seriously). Is the casino fun or just smoky? I see there are Texas holdem tournaments, are the players very serious or is it mostly for fun? How hard is it to get a quiet spot on deck? (serenity in particular) chair hogs are something you never have to worry about on a smal cruise line.

I'll admit I am a cruise snob and never thought I would be taking a Carnival cruise, but I am embracing the FUN and am hoping to go in with the right expectations (and a nightly seat at The Alchemy Bar) so any suggestions you veterans can suggest would be appreciated.

For those of you who tip "extra" at the end of the cruise for expectional service..do you know if the bartenders have to pool their individual tips? If I get great service from one bartender and recognize that, will they still have to share that reward with all of the others? What about servers, do they pool tips?

Just curious.

We are on the Legend starting 1/23. Really looking forward to this itinerary. I've been to the Caribbean many times and never had problems with high seas this time of year. Missing two stops would be very disappointing. Was there ANYTHING to do onboard to make up for it? I assume the sports platform would also,be inoperable at that time....anything? Trivia? Movies? That is the only thing I don't like about small ships....the lack of alternatives when things go south.

But yes, there is always the bar :D

If have not traveled to Tahiti YET (on my list), but if you have never used the prescribed patch before, be sure to take it for a "test drive" prior to sailing. Most people have no problems, but I had a severe reaction to scopolamine so it can happen.

Just a heads up. Enjoy your cruise.

I was about to post essentially, the same thing. I have used RTR many times and enjoyed the process, the ease of use, etc, but not for cruises or longer vacations because of the 8 day maximum rental period.

Also, I am currently a size 10 and although I would appreciate more of selection of "larger" sizes, I understand that they can only have so big of an inventory, and I too hate the "normal" size moniker. Twenty years ago I was a size 2/4 and believe me, I was just as "normal" then as I am now 😜

I use RTR all the time. I could afford to buy designer gowns but for a lot of these events you can only wear them once. I feel like this is more shrewd, convenient, and a smaller ecological footprint. You can also look up how someone of your size looks in that exact dress (people typically submit pics as part of the review). I've made some very different decisions based on those pics (or trying it on in one of their showrooms). That being said. I've never used them for a cruise because it counts as an 8 day rental instead of a 4 day rental which makes it more than I'd like to spend (plus removes much of the convenience).

 

 

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I don't know if they are secrets anymore (or if you can't find them in many other places) but my favorite products from the French Paharmacie are Klorane oatmeal dry shampoo, nuxe lip balm and bioderma water (it's a makeup remover, very popular).

I would suggest you go to City Pharma which is huge and has lots of experts to help,you pick things out, or really any street corner in Paris has a pharmacy which is NOTHING like CVS in the states....full of beauty products and beautiful packaging. Sigh....wish I was there now.

I honestly hope this tender issue gets sorted out sooner rather than later...it's not like they haven't known it's been a problem? And yes, I do own a boat and know stuff happens but no one is shelling out thousands to sail on her.

I have enjoyed my Windstar vacations very much, but I can get the small ship experience with IMO better service and an all around better value on a line like Seabourn. I chose this cruise because of its itinerary, which is something I think Windstar currently does better than anyone else. Yes, I am an experienced cruiser so I know ports get changed out all the time, but there is a difference in switching out because of weather or something that happened on our last WS cruise, the captain decided to switch to a smaller port because there were just too many large mega ships in the original port to make our time seem special. No one seemed to mind...as a matter of fact, that is one of the great things about these small cruise lines...but if they have a problem they could solve and it would add value to their customers why aren't they making it a priority?

Okay, I'm rambling but you get my point. My guess is most of you who chose this itinerary did so because of all the new ports not found on every other cruise out there. The Caribbean is all about the beaches, so it isn't just as simple as swapping one island out for another, especially when 5,000 of your "closest" friends just showed up at the same time.

Anyway, I hope they are doing their best to rectify the situation and all is smooth sailing for all of us.

Sounds like a great time...I do hope the tender situation gets resolved before our late January sailing...I would be "put out" to say the least if Culebra was swapped for St Thomas or anywhere else for that matter...it's one of the ports I am most looking forward to.

Also happy to hear the bar service was good...on our last Windstar cruise I would have reviewed as mediocre...but after a few rum drinks in the beautiful Caribbean, who really cares? :cool:

Really looking forward to your review as we will be doing this same itinerary in January. I know some of the ports (Cluebra & Montserrat in particular) are new to Windstar...how did you feel about them?

Anything else you can point out would be greatly appreciated. This is not our first Windstar but of course, the first for Star Legend (we did sail on her when she was owned by Seabourn)

Again, glad to hear you had wonderful cruise.

Kelly

It was a well crafted survey. I thought the focus was on two things, proposed itineraries and a step up spa or day spa expanded area. My opinion for what its worth was that after spending $15k or so for two bus class tickets to board the ship somewhere the last thing i want to see is a roped off area . Thats why peeps like SB ,once on board enjoy ,after we are all in the same boat.

I am very happy to see that most others here agree with what I said on my survey...that I would hate to see Seabourn turn into a tiered "class" ship.

Hopefully, they listen and won't "fix" what isn't broken.

Have you ever had a Seabourn hamburger (with fabulous french-fries, too) that was NOT delicious? I haven't!

I was going to same the same thing. As long as they don't change the fries, they can call the hamburger anything they'd like!

We just booked our San Juan and the Virgin Islands cruise for late January 2016 yesterday with this sale! Seems that some of the dates are showing up at this reduced price, where as some are under the "all inclusive" pricing umbrella. Both sales end soon, but I think we got a good price on the itinerary I wanted.

Does anyone know if David E Green will continue on with the larger ships or did Seabourn lose him after the demise of the little sisters?

Never care about a CD till we met him 😀

Okay,,we are not referring to the group from the eighties, "what I like about you" fame, correct?

Korina should not have been eliminated. Clearly, she showed poor sportsmanship, and is extremely unprofessional in her critique of the other designers, but her design WAS better than Chars (except for the 1 hour challenge, where she obviously gave up). With that aside, I think Emily and Char should have been eliminated this last week. For whatever reason, the judges (and Tim) see something in Char that escapes me. She seems like a really nice person and has some interesting ideas, but like Nina said, her craftsmanship needs improvement STAT! How is she going to sew a whole collection for fashion week?

I do think Amanda and Sean will have interesting collections (I seem to be the only fan here of both their dresses this last week)?

But none of this really matters because Kini will clearly be the winner :D

Virgin America is my favorite domestic airline. The planes are generally clean, decent legroom, and good entertainment options. Although coach is fine, if your flight is more than a few hours, I would suggest checking into a paid upgrade to Main Cabin Select or First (24 and 6 hours in advance, if available). The website will tell you how to go about doing this, the cost, and what is included with an upgrade.

In other words, don't worry, if the deal and routing is good, then go for it!

I shop everywhere from large dept stores, to small boutiques to target and marshalls for everyday clothing, but Nordstrom is the one store I can depend on when I need a dress for formal night cruising. They always have a large selection, and yes,,the pricing can be high, but they are well made and I wear them on more than one cruise.

The other thing I truly appreciate about Nordstrom is their customer service. They will make small alterations for free, they will hunt down your size and get it sent to you and they have a no questions asked return policy. In a time when retail stores have forsaken customer service for the lowest price, Norsdtrom is king!

I don't necessarily think the negative comments are due to her celebrity status. Yes, ladies give compliments here on something they wouldn't wear but they are speaking to someone who has posted here. It's different when you're not speaking "directly" to the person in question.;)

 

 

Im sorry ladies, but this is what I am referring to. Of course it's okay to have an "opinion", but I find it suspect with the hundreds of pictures of dresses that have been posted here, you have loved them all? Probably not, but the compliments come just the same. I guess it's okay to jump on Mrs Clooney's dress because you are talking behind her back?

 

I'm just saying, if "miss cruiser X" or I, for that matter, had posted a picture of this same dress saying I was going to wear it on my next cruise, someone (maybe even someone who had said they didn't like it on her) would have told me how awesome it was and I should "rock it".

 

There is nothing wrong with being nice to people on a message board,,but be consistent. Or better yet, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.