lettienets

On Carnival cruises I often book nonrefundable (Early Saver they call it). It gets you a lower price for booking early and sometimes OBC as incentive to book early. Also, if price drops up to 2 business days before trip, you get OBC for the amt of drop. You can cancel the cruise up to final payment and Carnival holds your deposit to place on another cruise minus $50 rebooking fee. It works pretty good.

Probably Hal is working toward this kind of arrangement. One thing I don't like yhat only Carnival does is if you book as a single, you have to pay 2 deposits. Sometimes they have a promotion and waive that.

Ihad to cancel a cruise after final payment and insurance gave me deposits and cost of trip back.

I think Hal is trying to get people to book earlier. So is NCL. Best prices are when itinerary dates are first out or last min.

There are snacks up in the Lido on other nights at 11:30pm. Hotdogs, salad, fruit, cookies...And the pizza station is open.

I cancelled my 13 day Koningsdam Christening cruise this week. It was about $5000 US for my category as a single person paying double. I did not think it was worth $2000 Cdn more with the ex rate, plus credit card fees. Had not yet included excursions, service charges, pay extra dining, hotel etc...

The Cdn $ is expected to continue to fall in 2016. Have a b2b Med 10 days/TA 13 days on new Carnival Vista in Oct 2016. Those ones are worth keeping to me no matter what the ex. rate.

Cauliflower imported from US this week was $8.99. I will eat Ontario carrots.

That's how I see this issue.

I think it is downright creepy.

Speaking of creepy robots, I saw a news clip where they showed a robot in an old folks home. I was so stunned I don't remember what they were programming it to do there. Very creepy.

Cuts down on the extra tipping I suppose.

 

Other than that, what will the robot do for me? Can he open my door and put the door stop in place when I return to the cabin? Then the reverse when I leave?

Can he fetch a lounge pad and a couple of blankets when I'm sitting on the promenade? Oh, and a towel for my back?

Will he carry my plates of food in the Lido?

Will he make me laugh? And engage with me?

 

Didn't think so. :rolleyes:

The auto wine dispensers in the library on new Carnival ships still add 15% service when you put your key card in and select your choice of wine.

Crepes for dessert every night in Garden buffet. Yum.

Is HAL considering doing away with the set seating dinner option?

 

Right now early seating is typically 5:45 p.m with main seating at 8 p.m.

 

We are scheduled on the Koningsdam next year, and were told our only option right now is open seating.

 

So I asked HAL last week and the reservationist said they were considering only having As You Wish open dining, and were considering just trying this out on Koningsdam next year before rolling it out across the fleet, but of course that could change.

 

Has anyone booked on Koningsdam in 2016 been given either early or main seating in the MDR?

 

We like the set 8:00pm dining because we always have a table waiting for us, but confess to doing open seating on all other cruise lines.

I am booked on Christening cruise May 9, 2016 and got late dining, requested sitting at large table of 8

Hi here :)

What can you actually use the obc for ? i was thinking aktivites on the ship maybe??

Specialty restaurants, gift shops, shore excursions, spa, drinks, buy internet package...

When people first started cruising, a cruise was a really special event. Now, a lot of people cruise frequently. Maybe they just don't feel like dressing up so much. They just want to get going again somewhere new. Or just being on a ship enjoying the amenities.

You should check out Southwest, they have fares in November Houston to Buffalo for $135. Easy enough to get a shuttle home if you do not have a ride. Travel wise it is not much further than traveling to TO.

 

Have a great cruise. :)

 

 

Rochelle

I usually travel alone and meet my friends on ship. Driving over border to Buffalo by myself doesn't appeal to me, nor staying &parking at hotel/airport etc. Infrequent shuttle from there is hassle. Prefer TO. At least I got airmile flight for the expensive leg!

When I do Galveston I take ship transfer, cheaper if travelling alone than shuttle/taxi, long trip. This time it is $45US Galveston to Houston airport. Because of high costs I would not normally do this port unless part of a TA or repo.

Well for us from Toronto it's over a 3hr flight then at least an hour drive to the cruise pier.

Plus the cost of flights are not cheap from Toronto.

 

Would never do a cruise out of Houston.

You're not kidding about flights from Canada being expensive. In Nov. I am on Carnival Triumph from San Juan to Galveston. It is cheaper by far to fly one way to San Juan ($269 CDN, change in Philly) than home from Houston ($499 CDN direct) to Toronto.

I agree, tipping in Europe is not much expected especially the amounts Americans tip which is usually a lot or generous. Locals round up the bill in restaurants or taxi. I noticed on my Norway Northcape shore excursions not many people tipped the guides. The excursions were really expensive on that cruise.

On my Rome transfer to Civi we tipped far too much. The ladies I was with, I really think went overboard with tipping.

For those that did private transfer or shared transfer, do you tip on top of the prices?

When I have done private transfer we tip.

Hello, We are on the Epic on Aug 19th out of Civitevecchia. We researched this as well and booked the fast train from Termini to Civitevecchia. We are a family of 5 and it cost us 69 Euro for 1st class. A bit more than the regular trains but a lot less than a private transfer plus you get your own (upgraded) seat and you can get your e-ticket via e-mail. :)

Sounds like you got tickets on the train I just mentioned.

One thing I am not sure of now is getting the bus to the ship. It seems that is a little different when I was last here. Do you know that part?

If you take the FrecciaBianca train that goes to Milan, the first stop is Civitavecchia. This is not the crowded regional train. It is an intercity train and the track for it is not as far away to walk to as the regional. Goes every couple of hours from Termini. You can buy ticket online at trenitalia website. Same price as crowded train but you get a seat #. If you book early you may get a first class seat for same price as second. In first class area you can put your luggage between the seats and not in the general area.

One thing, in Civi there's about 15 stairs you go down and up to get up from under track to other side.

When I was on Star in June the coffee machines in the buffet looked new. I did not see any with beans in the hopper.

With the baby boom aging population and people with diabilities and people living longer and wanting to travel with their limitations it is in cruise companies best interest to accommodate all these customers. Good for all.

I also got credit for a 20 year ago cruise. Had the old Latitude card with an old number. They had no record of it. I also had date of cruise, name of ship and invoice from a travel agency in travel file. They gave me credit and did not ask me to send anything. It took a couple of months or so.

I am booked in CQ 10003 on Koningsdam Christening cruise next May 9. Usually don't spend that much, esp as songle payying double but heck, new ship, have a treat with spa cabin. The Hal personal cruise planner suggested it and said is really really large. Looking forward. Have had spa pass before but not spa cabin.

For people who don't like Carnival party cruises try taking their 9, 10, 12 day ones, repositioning ones or Europe cruises every time a new ship comes out, (they do Europe all summer and then a transatlantic). New ship 2016, Carnival Vista, new 2018 unnamed. Totally different crowd and vibe on any of these. Older clientele. Few kids, usually toddlers, homeschooled or a few pulled out of school for a trip. You would not know you are on Carnival.

Avoid school holidays, Easter, Thanksgiving and 4 day types.

Thanks Pamster, nice to know there is O'Sheehans. I get on Star on the 8th. Not too thrilled hearing there are not many comfortable seating areas. The last NCL ships I was on, Jade and Epic had some nice armchairs or seating. Never noticed there wasn"t any comfortable seating.

Is there an O'Sheehan's on Star? If not does the 24hr place have food like O'Ss? remember the menu at Blue Lagoon on Jade was really limited. Wondered about Star.

I'm sure they could pack the main show lounge every night for the comedy shows.

I agree. Have the comedy shows in the main theater. No more lineups at comedy club or having to get there early.

Super idea.

I only asked one day, not because I wanted a coffee and/or pastry but just to check. I was told that the only coffee served there was Lavazza and therefore incurred a charge. In the past I have seen pound cake available at the coffee bars but not this trip on the Jade. There was minimal pastries available and I did not see anything worthy of an up-charge plus gratuity. I should point out though that the Atrium coffee bar on the Jade is directly below the Blue Lagoon and coffee and pastries are available there. Something new since I was on in 2013 was the continental breakfast set up in the Blue Lagoon, juice, pastries fruit and cereal, certainly efficient. You would still have to order coffee.

 

 

Rochelle

In Blue Lagoon was this continental breakfast on the menu or a little buffet? Is regular coffee there not free?

Isn't this place going to become an O'Sheehan's?

Kevin Sheehan left the company really fast. I wonder if he was given a big payout to leave and keep quiet. No word on where he is now?

It is not new but good luck finding it. I am just off the Jade, the coffee bar is located in the atrium. The only coffee or pastries available there was for a fee.

Would be nice if the website reflected this fact.

 

 

Rochelle

Rochelle, wasn't there regular coffee and pastry there in the morning that was free. Then later in day you had to pay.