amcjeep4life

I try and do it on every cruise. I have done it with a large group and enjoyed it. I have also taken my tablet with me, asked nicely to be seated alone at a small table, and enjoyed the experience VERY much. I love tea, and I have always found the music to be relaxing and perfectly suitable. I will admit that my first tea experience on the Triumph in 08 was the best, they actually had a trio playing, as opposed to just a pianist the last times. I have seen children of different ages come in. Some enjoy it, some not so much. It would depend on your daughter and how she feels about piano music and quiet chatting. I agree with everyone else, swimwear wouldn't be appropriate, but anything else is fine.

The Deal Closer was a marvelous after-dinner drink. And the Perfect Storm was also quite delicious. We did the Martini tasting, and everyone had their own, no sharing. We did get to try all of them, as we do everything "family style." We also had the Mixologist come up with something for us, and we ended up drinking this amazing ginger based drink most of the week. My alcohol consumption for the cruise with the Alchemy was twice my normal intake. And since there will be an Alchemy on the Conquest, we have all decided to purchase the Cheers program so we can indulge to our heart's content. I love the Alchemy Bar.

We booked thru Carnival, and were extremely happy. We left Panama almost 2 hours late because a fbunch of our tour-mates were held up in traffic and got in VERY late. The ship waited for them. Had that been a private tour, we would have been waving in the rear-view mirror.

We bought it for our cruise last year on the Breeze and loved it. My BIL calls it Faster to the Food. LOL. It was very nice to go to the rooms and dump all our crap in there, especially since they now want you to carry on your water or soda. People who were there earlier than us who didn't purchase it were on about half an hour after us, but we got there a good hour after them. I had some issues that required frequent visits to the Guest Services Desk, so I was super happy about having the benefit of a special line there. We haven't had to use the tender perk yet. I loved it enough to have already purchased it for my cruise NEXT YEAR. To each their own, your mileage may vary.

I did a PT cabin on the Imagination last year and loved it. We have a walkway IS booked on the Conquest for next year. I never mind the forward cabins.

I'm normally not much of a drinker. However, on vacation I do tend to indulge a bit more, knowing I don't have to work/ drive/ clean/ yadda yadda. I know we all (there are 8 of us cruising together) plan on purchasing the Cheers program for one reason: The Damn Alchemy Bar. I have never before spent more than $200 on alcohol until we cruised on the Liberty and that Damn Alchemy Bar was so awesome and amazing. For the first time ever, my alcohol purchases exceeded $275. The Cheers is the next logical purchase, especially since it includes soda. Means I don't have to lug a 12 pack on. I know our cruise is scheduled for 4 ports in 4 days, but one is only until 2 pm, and one is Grand Turk, which to me is basically a parked Sea Day. I'm pretty sure I can do 5 drinks a day with no problems.

Do you choose from one of each menu item, or is it a sampler of all of them? I have wanted to try chefs table, but have allergies that prevent me from eating a lot of foods that I used to love (seafood, raspberries). Thank you.

We did it on the Breeze last year, and had an amazing time. One member of our party is profoundly lactose intolerant, one eats no fish/ seafood, and I can't have shellfish. They did an awesome job of changing the dishes for us, and even the printed menus were different! Don't hesitate to enjoy it, even with food issues! We're all dying to book it for our next cruise, and are thrilled that the menu is changing.

I have a bit of a wait before I get my turn on the Conquest, but I know the damn Alchemy Bar is the reason the 8 of us cruising are buying Cheers. My bar tab on the Liberty was the highest it has ever been, all because of Alchemy! Dario, who is no longer with Carnival, made us this amazing ginger concoction that a few of us couldn't stop drinking!

Thanks for the responses and pics. Yes, Carnival defaults to booking you in a double cabin with a trundle bed. I do have a PVP that I have been dealing with since the very beginning of my cruising career, so it looks like I will have to call him and see about getting a room with real beds. There is no way I want a bed in the middle of the room that I know *I* will end up tripping on. I'm sure the almost 6 year old would be perfectly comfortable on it, but to me, it seems utterly ridiculous.

Thanks for looking. They would be 11 and almost 6. I don;t understand why they won't book into a quad so we had bunk beds. That damn trundle bed sounds like it is a pain. I worry about tripping over it in the middle of the night.

2 years ago on the Liberty we had a table for 14. Technically, we had 2 tables pushed together for all of us.

Thinking of doing a cruise on the Fantasy with my nephews. The rooms have a trundle bed. Anyone out there have a picture of what the room would look like with it out?

Momma Duck. Quit following me. LOL

They have been great in the past, we are just worried that he will have to move to a set time. There are 8 of us cruising together (so far), and 6 of us want YTD. BIL just wants to be able to eat all the time. He's hollow. LOL. I know we have generally avoided the buffet, because you just never know what might be in the food, but he loves Guy's and Blue Iguana too.

Plus you would save the tax portion of the price.

My BIL is lactose intolerant, and we have always done late dining when we cruise. He has very good luck with the assistant Maitre'd coming to the table the night before and discussing the next night's menu. They even made a few things specifically for him, by leaving cheese off the top, or that sort of thing. For our next cruise, we really want to try YTD, but he is worried that he will end up eating things he shouldn't. Has anyone with this kind of an issue done YTD and still had good meals that didn't kill them?

No fudge on the age.

 

They might let him move up but it's not likely in mid-April.

 

Since it's spring break season, there's likely to be lots of kids on the ship.

 

Doesn't hurt to ask though.

It is Spring Break. Here at least. I think he'd be fine if there were a bunch of other 4 and 5 year olds to play with. My biggest fear is him and 30 other kids all under 3. He'd go bonkers.

Obviously, I would list his actual birthdate on the cruise documents. I just don't remember showing any of that to CC when I used it back in '12. I guess I was thinking when I signed him up at CC I could just say he just turned 6. My fear is that he will HATE CC if we can't get him into an older group. I would not force him to go there, and I would feel terrible if he didn't have fun while his older brother was having a blast. Ugh. Silly rules.

I would be travelling with my 5 year old nephew, and wondered if any one has successfully "fudged" their child to be slightly older? Looking to cruise mid-April, he'd be 6 the beginning of June. I just worry that he'd be bored in with the babies. He has an older brother (11, so not looking to have them together), and he is used to "older kid" activities. He's done preK, and is in K now. Everything I have read sounds like they can be pretty strict about keeping kids in the right age groups, but what if I just told them he was 6?

This is the second cruise booked well more than a year away. It's a long wait, but sometimes life gets in the way.

Is there a company that does ATV tours without booking directly thru Carnival (in our case)? I hate being stuck in a big group of people who can't ride.

Anyone know if there are any private companies that offer these kinds of tours here? We aren't going until next year, but it's never too early to start looking. :p

The Liberty was my last cruise and we did the same itinerary, and I leave on the Breeze on the 12th. But we did your Breeze itinerary on the Miracle. I was also on the Glory just after you last year. Your reviews are AMAZING. I hope you make it to the Breeze before I leave for my Imagination precruise cruise on the 7th.

Gapearl

loved your review on the Valor we sailed a few weeks after you did, it was so fun to read. Hope you will do a review of the Breeze since we are sailing Oct 12 for 8 nights You have quite a following.

Pssstttt...you should check out the roll call here for your cruise. It is VERY active. We have a great bunch of people sailing!

Dude, GREAT REVIEW!!! Can't wait to read the rest!

HI EL!!!!

We sailed together on the Freedom in 09. I just did this Liberty itinerary in October! Did you get to meet Dario in the Alchemy Bar?

Just wanted to say hi, and now I'm off to actually read your review!