ARcruisin2

re: Germs

I use the hand sanitize both before and after going through the buffet line.

Regardless of cruise line staffing... I don't trust that everyone will wash their hands or use sanitizer.

So I circle back after filling my plate and use the hand sanitizer again.

My husband used to pick on me for being a germ-a-phobe ...but i had him think about everything he touches between the room and dinner...then watch other folks a little...now he does the same.

Better safe that sick on my vacation.

Who knows what you will think of you next cruise experience, whether it's Princess, Carnival or any other company. It's your perspective of the service you receive. Go with an open mind and you should enjoy yourself, but there are never any guarantees.

So true.

Out of my 8 cruises, I have sailed Princess twice. One was the best experience in service, food and entertainment of all my cruises. And the second was the worst for these.

Unless your booked cruise is consistently getting bad reviews on multiple sites. Just go with a positive attitude and make the best of it...you can't predict if the staff might be disgruntled about something or whatever can cause issues.

The best bang for your buck is to use points to pay for items on your bill. (several other threads break it down for you).

I was thinking that as of the past few years, the points do not expire, but the eligibility of the items on your billing list expires after so many days from purchase date.

If you do need to spend them, there are other options for spending them on the Carnival/Barclay site.

When we were there a couple of years ago, we did a 1/2 day snorkel, where they picked us up at the ship. Then when we returned, we caught the tender to port and walked around their small shopping area for the afternoon. You might see if there is something like that.

A few years ago we took the Altun Ha Mayan site and River Wallace tour.

1. There was a bus ride to the ruins.
   
2. The ruins were fairly easy to walk around, mowed and pretty level.
   
3. Then the bus took us to a place for lunch.
   
4. After lunch we took a boat down the river and saw quite a bit of wildlife(like shown in the boat tour slide show for the other ruin in this discussion)
   

If you are not planning to climb the ruins, this would be a good tour to see quite a bit of the beautiful Belize countryside and ruins...without much exertion.

I would recommended that since the ruins are so far away and things can happen with transportation, that you book through your cruiseline. Not only the distance impacts you, but also Belize is a tender port, where the ships drop anchor a long way out from the port area....when the last tender leaves...that's it.

Since the ships dock - it's not a tender port, meeting on the pier should not be hard. If they wait until the initial rush subsides, the friend should be able to roll her right off.

good luck & enjoy

OP & 4104ever - congrats!

We took a similar deal for an aft wrap on our last cruise...but our call was the day before, as we were leaving the house.

One word to the wise - make sure they remove the previous guests from the room if they are still on it, when you check-in. We had mix-ups the whole time - key cards had to be changed out like 4 times...locked out of room...their computer systems don't talk to each other...it was a pain...

But that huge wrap-around balcony was SO worth it!

Like others have warned... I can't see ever settling for an inside again :p

enjoy!

Hwy 124/87 @ Winnie down the peninsula to the ferry is a 2 lane highway but I thought it was in pretty decent shape and would take it again. It seems like everyone from Arkansas thinks the only route to Galveston is to go to Texarkana and down Hwy 59 to I-69 and through Houston but I do not like that route at all. This last time, leaving Galveston, we took the ferry, across the peninsula, onto I-10, then East of Lake Charles we took Hwy 165 north to Alexandria and continued north to Ruston, LA, El Dorado, AR and then home to Camden. It is 4 lane all the way and a much less stressful route (in my opinion).

 

When we go to Galveston next May, either coming or going, I'm going to try taking Hwy 146 south (off of I-10 just east of Houston), which runs into I-45 South of Houston and not too far north of Galveston. It's a 4 lane (some places more according to Google maps) that goes through suburban, residential and industrial areas. We have not gone that way before, but anything that avoids Houston is worth it to me even if it takes a little more time !! :eek:

Thanks CruzieSue, we will have to try that route. I've looked at the ferry, but worried about timing coming in the morning of the cruise... reading this was a DUH! moment for me... take it on the way back :)

just an idea - if you are fairly certain that your Mom is not going to be able to go....and you could live with a 3rd person in the room, if she does go....

Then would it be better money wise to go ahead and add the 3rd person in the room at what is usually a lesser rate? and then even though you lose your Mom's base fare...the person joining you might pay less.... might be worth calling to ask the price to add a 3rd person.

So i called and it is an upgrade to a Deck 7 Balcony Suite. Equipped with a whirlpool master bathroom deluxe size balcony all for an additional $500. Total. Not per person. No additional taxes or fees.

 

What to do...?

We got an offer via phone from the upgrade fairy literally 15min before we were going to leave the house to drive to Galveston, the day prior to the cruise.

We went from a 4G Interior (room 9209 on the Lido), to 9C Premium Vista Balcony on the Verandah deck - for $292 total - for the coveted huge aft-wrap balcony. That was totally worth it for us, but I would probably pass on the suite offer...

Obviously it will come down to if a suite is worth it to you.

Some of the cruise lines used to have an option to sign up for pack & go offers(different lines call it by different names).

You might check into that.

I assume someone on here has tried that.... and might know if they still do...and where to sign up...

I asked John Heald and this was his reply: "You are correct. We will accept the CCL gift card for Cheers pre purchases, we will allow guest to buy on ship Cheers with the CCL gift card at the pre purchase price"

Cool! thanks

This is what I'm thinking. But hoping U.S. denominations good enough for Cozumel, Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. :confused:

YES! No problem mon' (channeling Jamaica)

yes - we had an aft wrap cabin below the lido deck, last year.

Only one evening did we get chair scooting noise, as folks moved chairs under the cover in the back corner by the bar when it started raining. It wasn't even loud enough that it would have awakened us had we been asleep.

Great location!

 

Interesting interview with Mr Donald about getting more money from cruisers.

 

http://skift.com/2015/12/23/heres-how-carnival-ceo-arnold-donald-plans-to-get-more-money-from-cruisers/

This was an interview discussing their earnings report - targeted at investors - of course it was talking about making money. The purpose was to get people to buy/ have confidence in their stock...which is the same for any earnings call for any publicly traded company.

(I'm not a stock trader...nor did i stay at a Holiday Inn express last night...but i do work for a Fortune 500 company that does these quarterly ;) )

We had this happen on our Freedom cruise in May.

Upgrade...aka Upsell fairy called us literally 15min before we were going to leave the house to drive to Galveston, the day prior to the cruise.

We went from a 4G Interior (room 9209 on the Lido), to 9C Premium Vista Balcony on the Verandah deck - for $292 total for the room upgrade.

YES- that's right folks - the coveted huge wrap-around balcony room!

We loved the room & balcony, but boy what a headache that change was!

At check-in, they didn't have keys for us, asked us about the other people in our party, had to get other people to help...finally made temp cards for us to get on the ship...to go to the service desk to get official cards, then back to the kiosk to check off/on with the new cards.

The second night we were locked out of our room for almost 3hrs, back and forth between service desk and room, cards not working...back and forth. They called the head of hotel services to let us in room and maintenance guy to check door lock....it wasn't the lock. Finally the lady from guest services came up with yet another set of key cards...but those would not be good to get us back on the ship the next day...so we had to go to guest services the next morning before we could get off for yet more cards. It never was completely straightened out. The final bills showed the other 2 people in the room but no charges.

I think they have separate computer systems for everything....and none of them talk to each other...and no one seemed to know how to straighten it out. Crazy!

Would i do it again? For that balcony - heck yeah!

Thanks for the replies. When I've flown to London our passports are always stamped. We're going to Cozumel, Belize and Honduras guess we'll see if they can be stamped. I would only get them stamped by official custom agents

Roatan - At the top of the hill(far end of the port area from ship) there is a booth to get your stamp. I think it's the first booth in the big pavilion you walk through to get a taxi.

I did not use it, personally... but wish i had taken my passport off ship to get stamped...will try to remember next time :-)

We need a thread: "wildest things you saw on a CCL cruise".

would you settle for:

what is the wildest,craziest thing you've ever seen on a cruise?

...still going after all these years.... some really funny stuff :D

Hey cheer up, you are going on a cruise!

I just can't fathom giving up 1/2 the cost of a cruise.

Like a few others have said, call Carnival and ask to speak to a supervisor, explain that your TA is unresponsive and get switched to an OV or balcony room, for which you are willing to pay the difference. It probably goes without saying, but stay calm, speak nicely, but be insistent. You may have to keep asking to talk to someone farther up the until you get someone that can help you.

Also, I just want to say that I would not bash styxfire for not doing research - some people use a travel agent because either they do not have the time, patience or web skills to do it themselves. They are hiring someone to answer their questions and do the research for them. styxfire got a bad one. I would get out of my deal with them for the Europe trip first thing Monday morning.

In Belize, we have heard a few too many bad reviews so we are going to hangout in the tourist village for a few hours and them head back to the boat to relax without the crowds, ;)

re Belize - yes there is no walk-to beach, the tourist area is small and they don't recommend you walk out on your own. But if you book something with Carnival in Belize it's safe, the guides are friendly and proud of their country..sharing history while you are on the bus rides. There is such beauty to be seen at the ruins or reef. We have taken multiple tours and with the long tender boat rides and the bus rides to get to ruins or cave tubing...we book with the cruiseline to ensure we didn't get left.

The Mayan ruins & river Wallace tour - the ruins were amazing and seeing wildlife along the river instead of a long bus ride back was cool.

In June this year we did the 1/2 day Snorkeling at the reef I saw a lot of interesting fish, coral and an eagle ray! Then we walked around the tourist area and ate good hot off the grill chicken at the little place on the far end of the walkway. Don't miss the chocolate factory - their chocolate is delicious!

We have also done the cave tubing....the water is clear and slow moving... not super exciting, but something different floating through the caves.(lots of people rave about it)

We sailed out of Houston in December.

The best embarkment port experience in our 7 cruises - Seriously! From the porter that took our luggage day one, to the Customs person on the way out - everyone was friendly.

Fastest check-in and boarding EVER! From the time we turned into the port at the T in the road and got into the traffic line where we could see the ship, until we were in our cabin was less than an hour. (it could have been less, but it took hubby 15min to park after dropping me & luggage at curb)

The line moved so fast people were having trouble keeping up.

Workers were saying - "This way, the faster you get through, the faster your vacation starts."

Wayyyy back on one of our first cruises we got tooth flossers, they were a long stick with disposable floss things. Loved em!! could not find the replaceable floss ends anywhere in Canada until a few years ago when they came out with smaller disposable ones

THIS!

It's by Reach....and I have been buying the refills and using it since like 2004.

Because it makes flossing easier... I actually do it....not just for the week before going to the dentist :p

Thank you so much! I lost 50lbs for that cruise, (and to get healthy) and I was really feeling great!

Congratulations!

That's quite an accomplishment :D

We have definitely saved money by booking Early Saver and watching for price drops. OBC paid for the majority of our Sing&Sail charges one time.

Also, you might find good info on what to expect on the cost of cruising with kids on family forum http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49