pyropoodle

Just now, CruzCrazy said:

Wow, that's a ridiculous price, even for 4, especially since the 3rd and 4th are usually at a good rate.  Was it during the holidays or something? 

 

yeah. unfortunately, it's the only other time we can cruise (the New Years cruise..we currently have a cruise booked for August of 2020, so it might have been cheaper otherwise.  )

200 days.  will be so glad that it will be 199 tomorrow

2 hours ago, CruzCrazy said:

I have a premium balcony for less than $2500 for 2 people on hold with $200 OBC and half-off deposit.  Maybe there was a website glitch when you were looking (?)

yeah, there are 4 of us, so it was def $7,300 for a regular old balcony.  my pvp called just after I posted this and confirmed.  we are just as happy with our 2nd choice ship that ended up being $4,100 for the 4 of us. (that's after all the tips and insurance and everything), so all in all, I'm gonna be glad to be on any boat.    I will eventually try the Mardi Gras, and hopefully my kiddos will be old enough to really enjoy that roller coaster.  they are young young young, so after they get a few inches on their heights, they'd have a much better time.

i rec'd my email at 11:34pm eastern last night saying I could book. I was asleep at 11:34PM, so when I woke up at 1:00am, I tried putting an itinerary on hold and the website basically said "there is an issue, please call" and when I called, I got a random PVP that was also blocked from booking anything.  I could tell that several rooms were either already sold or blocked for TAs. there wasn't a lot of choice.  

I am now happy that I was unable to book or put anything on hold because it wasn't until my husband stumbled into the room and muttered "Hmm, $7,300 for just a balcony room, nothing extra? no suite? no extended balcony? that's the basic regular balcony price? "   

I hadn't even looked at it...because it was 1:00am and I was delirious, but WHAT?????  that is a heckuva lot of money for a balcony.(I'd still need to fly and get hotel, so it would be around $9,000 after all that)  I immediately got out of the screen and chose a different ship with the same dates, 4 ports instead of 3 (still a carrib itin) and half the price.    we were sailing those dates anyway, so might as well go on a different ship.    I really, really, really wanted to book the Mardi Gras, but I need to let these prices calm down a bit.  maybe Summer of 2021 when those are posted. for $7,000, I can have a B2B or a really nice Disney cruise for my kiddos, sooooo, at this time, I just don't think a big ship, with no family harbor area and a roller coaster that I might use once is worth the extra $3000.   oh carnival.

I just want to see a legitimate deck plan.  I don't trust the leaked ones.

10 minutes ago, Mommawo said:

I absolutely love getting dress up.  Hope others do as well on min.  I won’t be in an evening gown or anything but will be all spiffy 

we have 2 small children and we never go anywhere other than church and work (kids go to school) but other than that we are home bodies, so you bet your bottom area that I'm going to get as done up and as purty as I can possibly get on those elegant nights.  I love it!   

I love this question so much!  I don't have anything to add other than YOU DO YOU and don't worry about what anyone else thinks, but I do think that just because you felt you needed to ask this question, you are a person who genuinely doesn't want to offend or upset anyone.  that's pretty classy, so I commend you. Bravo

1 minute ago, jimbo5544 said:

Obviously we will not know "for sure" till the plans come out.  From my perspective, it really depends.  We have had aft wraps on a lot of ships and by looks, the Dream class might look undesirable, due tot he 5th floor walk around below you.  Found it to not an issue, just my 2 cents.

yeah, I'm trying to withhold my judgment until I see the actual plans to make a final decision, but I feel like the time I want to go (if it's even offered at the time) I'm gonna have to choose very quickly and I want to have a couple of back up plans....grumble, just wish they would release the actual plans before booking so I could have some idea.   uncertainty is so uncertain

I was really, really, really hoping to get an aft on this cruise (I've never had one) but from the pics, and the leaked plans (and without official plans) it appears the aft looks over a deck of some kind.  unless there are aft balconies below that, I'm gonna move on to plan b and hope they at least have the sail dates that I'm looking for.  

if you are looking for something a little more quiet than mr sanchos/ paradise beach, I highly recommend Nachi Cocom.  they only have a max of 100 people a day (sounds like a lot, but it isn't)  all the drinks you want, I think only 1 meal is provided off of the menu that is included, but it is plenty of food..and appetizer, meal and desert. you don't have to order it all at once. we ordered nachos, then an hour or so later, the plentiful lunch, then desert.  we were stuffed and enjoyed the relative quite of the beach.  there are virtually no kids there.  it's around $55 per person (or it was, not sure what it is now).  very relaxing. 

can you imagine scalping cruise tickets?

202--slowly getting there

1 hour ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 

  About half the threads on Cheers!, dress codes, and FTTF wouldn't exist of folks would just read what the website says.

Read?  why would I read the FAQs on carnival's website when I can come here, post a question that has definitely already been asked, receive multiple replies with conflicting answers, get internet yelled at for posting the question that has already been asked, have someone else come into the thread and tell me that I shouldn't even bother with Carnival any longer because of the cutbacks, and have another person tell me that I should contact John Heald directly to ask the question and also possibly beg for free stuff?  I would never be able to have this experience if I bothered reading  

i'm just hanging around until you guys all go on your B2Bs to let me know what your experiences were.  i still don't have one booked, but fingers crossed for the near future. 

...ignore the previous question. i see them sprinkled throughout on the other deck plan site. i reckon we'll see exactly what is what on the official plans

ok, so if you were a 'family harbor' area, what level might you be on those deck plans. asking for a friend...

17 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Itineraries will be open the 30th so I think it will be soon.

thanks for the info.  I want to pore over them and check out as much as I can because I am going to throw my money at this boat.  it will be my first ever new ship, so I'm pretty excited.  my hubs is like 'meh'.

now, we just need to see those pesky deck plans

I have a cruise booked for 2020 and it is going to "overnight" in cuba... and I guess that is technically correct, but it stops around 8 or 9 in the morning (iirc, I could be wrong) and then leaves around 2am the next morning. not sure I consider that to be "overnight' or not since it's not like i'll wake up in cuba at 6am, but I'm still excited to go.

just saying that to say if they 'overnighted' in Cozumel I don't know what that would look like specifically because you have to wind through that godawful port with the shops and duty free store.  they'd have to essentially keep it open for 24 hours and that's a lot of people to employ.  I know that would have to have something to do with the reason they don't do this.

24 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

So for all of those holding their breath, you need to hold it another 24 hours or so.  JH posted on his FB page that he is "99.999999979% certain" (exact quote) that he'll have news about the Mardi Gras tomorrow (25 Jan 2019).

 

Let's see.

lasjdflk;jsakljelkrjekljfklej;lfasdf.    I reckon we'll see

On ‎5‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 1:54 PM, shof515 said:

 You need port workers to tie the ship to the dock and remove the lines, security, etc

you also need an army of workers to work in the port stores that they force you to wind through on our way to/ from the ship.

56 minutes ago, Crazy4Camping said:

Yup I'm putting outfits in ziplocs with dryer sheets.  I like smelling like fresh laundry!!  Another thing I do is buy fancy soap, leave it in the package(cause you can still smell it)and throw it into the luggage.  Lemon verbena is my favorite!!

we have some fancy citrus soaps that we scored at our last hotel visit and we tossed them into the luggage without really thinking about it and even our dirty clothes smelled amazing when we got home!  I had totally forgotten.  thanks for the reminder.

not really cruise specific, buuttt...I usually toss a few dryer sheets into my luggage so when I open my suitcase, my clothes smell nice and fresh and not like they've spent hours in a suitcase. 

3 hours ago, Sarcastic Mama said:

Wow, didn't mean to start an international debate.  LOL!  

yes, i saw that this morning!  JH said to go for it, so there isn't a rule against it.  i say, go, have a good time and get some great dino pix. 

other random things that you can take on board in a carry on include 12 cans (not bottles, but cans) of soda per person and 1 bottle of wine per person.  if you drink the wine in your room, it costs nothing extra, if you bring the bottle of wine with you to dinner, they will charge you a corkage fee to open and pour it for you. ($15) 

it's nice to have the soda/ wine option 1. because we aren't big soda drinkers, so the bubble program would go to waste and 2, because my hubs isn't a big drinker, so we wouldn't get our money's worth out of the drink package.  just throwing that out there for you since you didn't ask about it at all.  (if you buy their alcohol package, every adult in the room has to buy it. you can't just buy for one person...)

welcome to cruising, you will love it.  

and, what a lucky woman your wife is to have a hubby to plan something like this for her.  that is awesome.