Grayce

I use a waterproof pouch for my cruise card/cash and my waterproof camera is strapped to my wrist. All that's left is my towel which I just leave in the beach. I don't bring much else.

I'm leaving day after tomorrow. Carnival Legend. 😄

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Our last few cruises were all balcony. On our last cruise we realized we spend way more time on the open decks than our balcony. We decided to start booking insides. We'll save money and be able to book more cruises.

I use an Olympus waterproof point and shoot. I usually don't take my phone on excursions.

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We've tried many different lines. We love Princess. I feel the food and service are just a bit better. The decor is beautiful. But probably the main reason is we enjoy longer cruises and are tired of the Caribbean. We've been doing more European and transatlantic cruises.

I always bring a couple of thin beach towels for taking off the ship. The carnival towels are big and heavy to carry around on excursions.

On the Infinity right now. The captain said we were doing some manoeuvres to calibrate the magnetic compass. He said they do it once a year.

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Tubs in the suites are great. In go the clothes, then a little detergent, and turn on the jets for 5 minutes, and it is time to rinse .

 

That's genius :D

I feel they are fairly similar and will happily travel on either. There are a few differences that stand out for me.

I think the décor on X is nicer. Found the MDR food fairly similar but preferred the buffet on X. Prefer the coffee bar on X.

A big difference for us is Princess had self serve laundry and we have done 2 long cruises on Princess (and have another booked). Sending out laundry on X is very expensive.

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Lol, glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks of these things. My upcoming cruise is my 13th. I pointed this out to my husband and said I hope it's not unlucky. He said we'll be fine because it's only his 11th :-)

I have done one of each, preferred the westbound because I did not have a transatlantic flight at the end of my cruise.

I do look at the itinerary as well. The east bound was very port intensive at the end of the cruise followed by a long transatlantic flight. The west bound cruise had our stops spread out because we had stops in Europe, then Iceland and then Eastern Canada. It was nice to only have a 3 hour flight home at the end of the cruise.

As I got out of the shower this morning I realized two things I would bring. My own larger towel

I've been known to use the beach towel in our room, for showers.:-)

On our Emerald cruise last year the mattress was horrible. Had a huge dip in the middle. The steward did put an egg crate mattress pad on it but it didn't help much. I mentioned it in my post cruise survey. Seems that I have heard multiple people complain about the mattresses on Princess.

None of the Carnival ships would compare!

I was going to say the same thing. I have taken multiple Carnival cruises And have not seen anything that compares to Princess. The decor on the Princess ships just feels so much more elegant. I just felt the whole Princess experience was very nice.

I must say that one area where Carnival is better is the cabins. The Carnival cabins seem larger than the Princess cabins.

Shared an inside with my sister and her husband once. Worked out well. I was able to find quiet places on the ship to read so didn't spend much time in the Cabin. You can use the showers at the fitness centre. Actually much nicer than the small showers in the room. It was cramped if we were all in the cabin at once trying to walk around, but that didn't happen too often. Usually I was in bed before they came in for the night and got up before them.

They booked it for us. We got a card in our room a few days into the cruise telling us when and where our reservation was.

We brought our tablets with books, TV shows and movies. This year I am also bringing a kindle because reading off a tablet is hard on the eyes. We brought a small baggie of laundry powder so we could do laundry on the ship.

One unusual thing we are bringing this year is a small container of maple syrup. The horrible syrup served by the cruise ship ruins pancakes and French toast for me. Not a big deal for a short cruise but really missed the good stuff on a long one. We searched around and found a small 250 ml plastic jug that we are bringing along. :-)

Celebrity offers a "three continent" transatlantic cruise that visits Morocco. There is one November 2015 and October 2016.

Carrie do you remember of c103 and C107 had connecting balcony doors and the normal furniture? We are traveling with friends and use our balcony quite a bit. I have read that they require to keep the doors locked while at sea? I believe I am overthinking this whole cabin choice, but thanks to all for your patience ;)

There are connections between that cabin's balcony and at least one of the neighbouring balconeies but I don't remember which side opened (it may have been both). My parents were in the balcony beside us. We didn't open the dividers but we were able to chat back and forth. We could see each other if we stood at the rail. The balcony was a regular side facing one. No restrictions on opening the door while underway. No restrictions on opening the drapes/lights at night. It was near the bridge overhang so we could see officers through the windows on the floor of the bridge.

For furniture we had 2 reclining chairs and a small table. The balcony is huge, there was lots of room leftover.

We had C107 on our Emerald cruise last year. It was a very quiet location.

Right when we first boarded they had a table set up where we were able to upgrade our drink packages.

It appears that there may be a cost advantage to pre-paying. The conversion rate they're using doesn't jive with, for example, today's rate.

 

Oh, bummer... if I pre-pay, I assume this would be a credit card charge now. Then I wouldn't be able to apply my OBC to the tips.:rolleyes:

We found we saved by prepaying tips. Our cruise is in September and we paid $202 CDN per person for a 16 day cruise. It would be $184 US. We only paid 10% exchange. A very good deal at today's rates. I have heard they are charging 20% exchange for cruises after September.

We are going to use our OBC for drinks and specialty dining. I'm hoping that we have a zero balance when we get of the ship.

What is the $ difference between guaranteed and selecting. Thank you.

I always choose my cabin. I think it depends on the cruise whether there is a big price difference. For our upcoming cruise there wasn't any cost savings for booking a garantee.

I just prepaid my tips for my September cruise (last week) and was only charged 10% exchange. We have obc that we hope will cover any other miscellaneous expenses while on board. Also have the Sear's Mastercard which has no foreign transaction fee.

I leave them in our room. I hate seeing dishes left in the hall.