Hawaiifrank

I disagree that you need a Travel Agent (TA). If you are willing to spend a few hours on the Internet, at some of those hours here reading Cruise Critic messages, you can learn enough to allow you to book a fun, cost-effective cruise vacation on your own. Use the search feature to find answers to most of your questions and ask specific questions in the appropriate sub-topics. CC members are very helpful and represent a vast knowledge base.

If I were exploring a cruise vacation for the first time, I might read a couple of CC member reviews for ships different lines. Check out the web pages of the 3 mainstream lines, Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Look over some pictures and features of different ships.

Next, decide where and when you'd like to travel. Seven days is about right for a first cruise. You'll have 3 or 4 ports, a couple of sea days and time to find your way around. You didn't say if your son is in school. Cruises during school vacations are usually priced higher by 30% to 50%. Cruises over major holidays like Christmas and New Years Thanksgiving and Easter can be double the non-holiday prpr more expensive.

With the BOGO sale #1 paid the full, inflated fare and #2 and #3 paid 50% of that amount.

If you each contributed one-third of the total fare for the cabin, then the remaining 2 will have to work out what they owe person 3 since that individual paid 1/3 and will only get 1/4 credit. Let's say the room total was $1000 and you each paid $333.33. The actual fare was calculated as $500 + $250 +$250. Passenger 3 gets only $250 credit when moving to the new cabin.

If you each paid what the invoice indicated for that person's fare then only the person changing has to pay more. The fare for the original 2 shouldn't need to be changed.

My FIL was booked with us as a 3rd person a couple of years ago and he became too ill to travel. When he canceled after final payment, his fare was refunded and Royal told us that only passengers 1 and 2 were penalized for cancelling. We had insurance through Royal Caribbean but it never came into play. I was surprised that was how it worked and I wondered if it was because we had the insurance, but the agent told us it didn't matter.

If you're asking if the bed is near the closet or the balcony door. It looks to me like 8313 is the only one that has the "preferred" configuration with the bed near the balcony.

Here is how I understood the way to tell the configuration:

The cabins are built in pairs, at least the Boardwalk balcony cabins are built that way. The "right" cabin (bed near balcony) is the right cabin of the pair.

So, look at the deck plan. Starting at the back 8329 and 8327 are a pair. The next 2 are an ajoining pair. Count forward by cabin pairs till you get to your ajoining cabins.

Pretend you're standing facing the doors of your cabin pair. The one on the right 8313 has the bed by the balcony.

Up on deck 14 do the same thing, 14309 and 14307 are a pair and 09 is the right one. The fact that 14307 ajoins 14303 must be an exception because 303 is a handicapped room. Excuse me, accessible room.

My best guess, no guarantees. :D

When we had an offer of an upsell for $30 to this type of cabin from a standard inside, we took it. The cabin was somewhat larger because of the odd shape and the sloping walls as we were on the corner. The door to the outside walkway around the front of the ship was 3 steps from my door.

It's like a private balcony just outside your door. Great in port and during sail away, but next to worthless underway unless the wind conditions are perfect--from astern. Any other wind direction, when added to the 20 mph speed of the ship makes the wind bothersome. If you're heading directly into the wind, you might not even be able to open the outside door.

We have the Breeze booked for a November 2016 b2b and we were able to grab one of these 4J cabins, 10205. I've never gotten seasick, knock wood, so I'm not too worried for a Caribbean cruise after hurricane season.

Not always consecutive.

 

2517 - 2 FREE DAYS of internet usage or $79.90 off any internet purchase ((Valid for ONE device and two individual 24 consecutive hour sessions)

 

FWIW, I could only log on with one device during each session. This was on Freedom last week.

John, please clarify on the "one device" part of this. I realize it is supposed to be one device at a time, but if you log out with your phone then attempt to log into the same account with a tablet, does it not let you in?

We are Diamond and going on the Oasis for a b2b next February. I was hoping to combine and share our days with my brother & SIL, also Diamond. We were hoping to alternate our use periods during the 24-hour periods so we could all check email or post to CC or other sites intermittently throughout our combined 8 days over the 2 weeks.

Does the system actually remember the device identifier and only allow a single, unique device to login during the 24 - hour day?

I'm not on the Breeze for 16 months yet, but this is the first I've heard of new elevators. What did you hear?

I just noticed that we are talking about a 3 day cruise. The deposit is less than $250. It says the Early Saver deposit is 50% of the usual deposit. I've never been on a 3 day so I have no idea what the deposit is for that short cruise, but even if it was $250 the 50% off deposit means it $125 or less.

If your talking about the Imagination I see they have a "Sea Yourself Save" fare that is only a few dollars more per person than Early Saver, like $7 more. That fare would be fully refundable until final payment date, I believe. You don't get price reductions if it goes down, but, come on, you're only paying $165 a piece for an inside. How much could it drop?

A cabin for 3 may or may not fit 4 so adding her later may not be an option. There may not be a 4 person cabin open to move you to if your original cabin only holds 3. Mention it when you book. It is possible they might give you a 4 berth cabin for 3 people. It depends on how full the ship is.

If you book 4 people and someone cancels, they will charge that person $50 of the $250 deposit (for a 7 day cruise, my 12 day was $400 deposit) AND the remaining $200 is held to be applied to a future cruise.

Now, the $200 they hold is held in the name of the person who paid it. If your uncertain friend is never planning to cruise again, she will lose the rest of the deposit if she pays it. If you, or someone who will cruise again within 24 months, pays the deposit on their credit card (reimbursed by Miss Uncertain), the deposit can be used by that person when they book their next cruise. It is called a Future Cruise Credit (FCC).

After final payment date, around 3 months before the cruise, the amount you lose goes up, eventually to the full cruise fare.

You can book other fares that are fully refundable, until final payment anyway. The catch is they are higher.

I had a FCC from a cancelled ES booking. Booked on the Breeze. Ship was re-deployed and substituted with Sensation. Will CCL ever refund vs. just give a FCC again? I truly would rather get a refund.

I was told that my $800 deposit for our canceled Breeze repo cruise would be applied to my credit card. That was last Friday. I checked earlier in the week and it wasn't there yet. I need to check again soon.

It sounds like you may have a little different situation if your deposit was a FCC from a previous cruise that was transferred to the Breeze then is now canceled on that ship. Mine was a straight deposit on my credit card for my canceled Breeze cruise.

My email said the deposit would be credited to the original form of payment. In your case that would be a FCC.

I did book directly with Carnival and that may very well make a difference.

I am pretty sure that even though you paid for the cruise, the future cruise credit will go to the person that cancels. I read about this happening to someone just a week or so ago. They were pretty upset.

The credit goes to the person who paid. I used my credit card for the deposit for 3 cabins. One of my daughters and BF canceled before final payment. Carnival kept $100 ($50 pp) and I was able to apply the remaining $400 to a future cruise that I booked after the cancelation. I did have to pay the initial $500 deposit on the new cruise, then the $400 credit was applied, all but paying off the cruise. No additional charge to move people around in the remaining 2 cabins.

One small difficulty I did have. I tried to submit the automated form for the credit twice. Neither time worked because the form is not set up to claim the credit for someone you paid for.

Finally I called and explained my situation and the agent took care of it. You need the original and the new booking numbers.

You cannot use the credit for the people who are still going on the same cruise. It must be a new cruise booked after the cancelation.

Also, about the people in another post, I believe it turned out that those folks in the other post were after final payment date. I did read about an ES complaint this week if it was the one you referred to.

Due to the change in ship, my ES deposit is now a future cruise credit and I'd rather have a refund. Anyone know how to request a policy exception?

I had a similar situation. When I received the cancelation email, I immediately stared looking for a replacement cruise. I was originally on the Breeze repo cruise on November 27, 2016 so our cruise was canceled outright instead of being switched to another ship.

I found cruises for the Breeze on Nov 27 and Dec 4, 2016 listed on the Carnival website available for booking, exactly the same dates I had for the repo cruise except 2 days longer. I booked the same cabin for the b2b on the phone with an agent at Carnival.

Since this was June16th, the same day the email came out, the booking agent was not able to apply my $50 OBC pp ($100 total) at that time. When I called back on Friday they applied my OBC with no problems and even said an additional $50 because I stayed on the same ship.

The deposit from the canceled repo cruise wasn't able to transfer for some reason so they said that it would be credited to my credit card (original form of payment). I had already made another 2 x $500 deposits when booked the replacement cruises.

Didn't you get an email saying that you could cancel with a full refund if your ship was changed?

Maybe I am misremembering, but I thought the announcement was that onboard it was slightly more expensive.

You're correct. $2.99 pre-cruise and $4.99 while onboard.

Or you could just bring a cup or water bottle. Ship's water is fine to drink, filtered and sanitized just like bottled water. Sometimes it is warm from the cold tap so ask for some ice if you need it cold.

I'm pretty sure all ships would have one in the fitness center. I usually weigh the first day and the last day and check the suitcases if I feel they might be too heavy.

If not in the fitness center, then certainly the medical clinic would have one. All the ones I've seen are hospital type, balance beam scales. You can check the accuracy by setting it to zero and seeing it balance. Also by using the dumbbells as another poster mentioned.

Before this devolved into "who gave the best advice", I was going to say:

When and how did Carnival change from counting "cruises" to counting "nights"? When RCCL did that a few years ago, there were people that were "grandfathered" into a higher level than they would have had based on the number of nights. These people had many short cruises and made upper loyalty ranks with relatively few nights.

By keeping points and nights separate, they could add enough points to adjust the loyalty level while still keeping an accurate count of nights to advance to the next level. Maybe this is too complicated.

One thing is a given, you'll probably get as many different answers from Carnival as you got from everyone here.

OP-- You did have one person cancel, correct? That costs $50 of your deposit. The remaining $200 is held for up to 2 yrs. to be used as a deposit on a new cruise.

The person who paid the deposit gets the credit. In other words, if you booked and paid the deposit on a credit card in your name for the person who canceled, you can use the remaining $200 for a future cruise. If the other person booked their own cabin, the credit is theirs.

It's not $300. It's only $50 that is lost forever. The $200 comes back to someone if they cruise within 2 years.

There were other fares you could have bought that allow a full refund. I'll bet the nasty airlines won't refund the money paid for the economy, non-refundable air ticket either. Is that different? They too offer fully refundable tickets if you want to pay for them.

About paying the single supplement, is there not a 3- or 4-person cabin in your group? One of those people could be booked as a second person in the solo cabin. I don't think you'll have to pay another change fee, though you better ask. You would save the fare for that 3rd or 4th person.

Instead they would pay the 2nd person fare in the solo room. That fare will be somewhat more, but person 1 in that room can help since they won't have to pay the single supplement.

How does this work after final payment?, Do you get on board credit?

Yes. OBC too if you're paid off before final.

Our first cruise was an ordinary inside with two 18 yr old girls in the upper berths, youngest DD and BFF. You couldn't see the floor for the cast off clothes and shoes. Good memories though and I wouldn't trade them for a suite.

We have an inside booked for November on a Carnival cruise. My wife just reminded me today that we haven't had a standard inside catagory since that very first cruise. We've had handicapped insides, porthole on the walkway inside. Prominade insides, an OV or 2 and some balconies, including a wrap-around corner balcony and, once, an Owner's Suite. Hmmmm, now wondering if I made a mistake?

No, I think it'll be OK. Kind of a "back to our roots" cruise. :rolleyes: Just us 2 this time an it's still not too late to upgrade, but I think it'll be fine. All the ports are ho-hum regulars so port days will be sleep in days. Inside = no light = good sleeping.

The foods the same, the drinks are the same, etcetera, etcetera--whether you're in a suite or a deck 1 dungeon. They have curtains on the back wall just like it was a window with the curtains closed. Just pretend and don't open the curtains!

So they let you use that credit towards your gratuity for the current cruise?

Yes. Or drinks or whatever. I'm not sure if it's refundable though if you don't use it up.

I haven't personally done this yet, but I do always book a cruise when I'm onboard. I've read a few posts about this here on CC and they say you are supposed to have an option to apply the credit towards the current cruise or the one you are booking. If you select the current cruise for the OBC, the deposit becomes non-refundable. If you apply the OBC to the future cruise, then you can still get a refund if you cancel. The OBC amount is the same as the deposit amount.

Early in the new policy, I read that some LAs on some ships were forcing pax to choose current cruise credit. They all seem to know the correct policy now, as I haven't read any recent complaints about not getting a choice.

I would certainly think that would be the very minimum. I thought at one time they changed the sheets every day. Maybe they did once upon a time. I suspect that they change sheets at least a couple of times during a 7 day cruise.

We were on a B2B in February on the Triumph and went to get a bottle for the second leg late on the last night when they usually let you take it back to your cabin. There was a man in front of us at the counter and we heard the clerk tell him that he couldn't do that because he was on the next cruise. We left.

Hmmmm. Bummer. I have 4 b2b scheduled in the next 21 months.

I read that a full refund will be provided if you choose to cancel completely. If I booked the ES rate (that is normally only a future cruise credit if cancelled), do you know if they will actually refund $ deposit to credit card? I don't want a future cruise credit.:p

I'm in a slightly different situation, but you can maybe get some idea of what they'll do.

I was on the Breeze for the now defunct 12 day repo cruise, Nov 27, 2016. That cruise was canceled outright, no alternative ship offered. In my letter they said the deposit would be credited to the "original form of payment". Maybe your voluntary cancellation will be treated the same.

I rebooked on the Breeze for the same dates. Now it's a 7-day so I booked 2 weeks, an eastern and a western Caribbean. :D

Now I get to argue with them that this is NOT an existing cruise when I demand my $50 pp OBC. I booked it the day I got my cancelation email. Those 2 weeks were not held back because the passengers (me, for one) for that cruise were canceled, not switched around. The ship was wide open and I got my favorite cabin.

I don't have time to order online for my upcoming trip. Does anyone know if I can buy something like this at a common retail location (Target, Bed Bath Beyond, etc)?

Order the tags now for next time. Meanwhile, toss in a small roll of clear plastic tape, like Scotch brand tape or similar. You can probably find it at the Dollar Store or Walmart. I like the 2" wide clear package tape and you can also use it to cover the printed tags after you fold them.

When you arrive at the port, whip out your roll of tape and wrap it several times around the ends of the tags after you loop it through the bag handle.

As mentioned above, alternatively, can borrow a stapler from the hotel. Walk of shame indeed! :D

I have my tag holders from the Cruise Critic Store ready for my next cruise.

I'm not sure about adding a 4th & splitting into 2 rooms, but I have had friends that did the opposite. When 1 person backed out, they consolidated to 1 room. Even under Early Saver, they were not charged a penalty for those that were still going. It was explained by the Carnival rep that as long as the people are still going on that sailing, they can be shifted around to different rooms for no penalty. I had always wondered about that, whether Carnival bent the rules for my friends. Even if they did, it has been done before, which means it's possible for it to be done again. You may just need to talk to the right Carnival rep.

 

I'm sorry I can't help with the military OBC question. I don't know how that would be handled.

A very similar thing happened to me with the same outcome. I had booked 3 cabins for 8 family members, including myself and wife as Early Saver fare. Two people backed out just before final payment, one each in 2 different cabins.

I was able to drop 1 cabin, cancel 2 bookings in different cabins and move 2 pax around to fill the spots of the ones that canceled. Confusing, no?

Anyway, Carnival kept $50 each for the 2 that canceled and I was able to apply the remaining $400 deposit (that I paid) to another cruise.

The ones who moved were still one of the first 2 in the cabin so their fare didn't change. No additional deposit was required.

The one difference I see in your case is that you will be going from 3 to 2 in one cabin. You won't get 1/3 of the cost of the 3 person cabin back. Even though they show the price as the same for all 3, in actuality it's probably closer to 40%-40%-20%.

As a first or second person, the guy (or gal) moving will also have to pay a bit more as well. The good news is, I think you will be able to keep the same fare for the original cabin (for person 1 and 2) and the military OBC as long as that's not the person moving.

So, in summary, your cost for the original cabin will not go down by 1/3 as you'd expect, more likely by 20-25% and the formerly person #3, now person 1 or 2, in the new cabin will pay some additional amount maybe 30% or so of the current fare in addition to what he's already paid.

BTW, the folks still in the original cabin should come up with $omething for the person moving since since s/he will be getting less than they paid as credit for the new cabin.

Pax 1, 2 and 3 each pay $700 for cabin A = $2100 cabin. Person 3 moves to cabin B. Now the price for cabin A goes down only to $1700 and pax #3 takes only $400 credit to cabin B. If #3 paid 1/3, they should get the difference from #1 and 2. The numbers are not exact but it should be somewhat like this.

Conquest x 3 and Triumph X1 was going to book a b2b on the Breeze for late July of 2016. Not now:(

Why not? The Breeze will be in Galveston after May of 2016. You won't have as far to go. The sail dates are not up yet, but they soon will be. I'm sorry we will miss the great ports in the original repositioning cruise in Nov of 2016, but I've already booked the Breeze for the same dates as the repo cruise...except I don't have to travel to Miami. It's right nearby in Galveston.