Raven Days

I am 5'5" and no little bit of a thing. Those doors are hard for me to open. Not to mention there is the lock at the top that would be impossible for a 5 year old to reach. I was fearful of my grandkids being on my balcony. That's why I was always with them and holding onto them. I told them never to climb on the balcony furniture or the railings - they also knew to not even think of opening that door.

I don't understand how it's Carnivals fault that the airline went on strike and you missed your flight and had to catch up in Malta. Is it possible that the ship was late to arrive in Malta?

It sounds interesting to say the least. I don't think it will be that big of a deal. If it turns out it is, they will evaluate it and go from there. Remember this is a test of the process. It is not a full implementation of it. No need to go into panic mode.

I am booked on the Liberty for 1/9/17 and there is only ONE excursion listed and FTTF is also not listed. I called Carnival and no one has an explanation. I have booked way in advance before and never had an issue with it. I booked my Sept. 2016 cruise last Sept. and was able to see excursions right away and booked FTTF the same day. I am just mystified.

Has anyone else had the same thing happen? :confused:

The only time I use hand sanitzer is when I am not near soap and water. Old fashioned soap and water do more to clean hands than any brand of hand sanitizers out there.

The stuff drys out my hands and makes them itch. So again, I only use it when nothing else is available....so don't judge others by your perceptions.

Thank you for the informative review.

Did you purchase any ship pictures for formal night?

Or other nights. I am just wondering what the backdrops are this year' date='

if they have changed since last yr. I always hope they will come up with some new backdrops, etc for the photo booths.[/quote']

 

 

No. We didnt. I had trouble getting everyone together to do it. Its the one thing I regret. As for as the backdrops they looked the same as when I was on her last year. They had an all white one that I loved. I had bought the little girls, sailor dresses and the boys blue shorts and white polo's. And I think it would have been cute for that back drop.

Did you apologize in person to the adjacent cabins?

One of them, yes. The other I never saw. And to be clear, I was in the adjacent cabin to my daughter.

I will continue to buy FTTF each cruise as long as I feel the benefit outweighs the cost. And I give less then a rats booty who doesn't like it. For me the benefit is there.

I am able to get to my cabin as soon as I board and since I do get to the port rather early, I like getting on early and getting to my cabin and once my luggage arrives I unpack. I do have carry on's and sometimes I bring water - the bottled kind - I do not like nor do I drink tap water. The last cruise I brought on ginger ale and water. I do not drink soda by nature, so the Bubbles program someone mentioned that would be "cheaper" would not be for me. And considering the soda program is $25 pp and a case of Ginger Ale is $6 I think I come out much cheaper bringing it on. Not sure where that person buys their soda but if you are paying $25 for a weeks worth of soda....you might want to find another place to shop. If I drank $25 worth of soda in a week, I would have no kidney's left!

I also get to by pass the tender line and the guest services line. Who wants to stay up past midnight to avoid lines? If you do, more power to you. After the other cabins open, I go eat. That way I avoid fighting the frenzy and I can find a table rather easily and quickly. And the best part, I was able to get off the ship fast on Sunday to get my son to the airport for his early flight out of Hobby.

I have purchased it five times now and I have it for my cruise in September. I was not happy about the price increase. But I still feel its a good value and a good benefit for the cost. I am about 24 days away from being Platinum, so I still have a ways to go before I no longer would want to purchase FTTF.

Thank you very much for the great review. We are sailing out in 11 days on the Magic. I have talked to many that was on that same cruise you were on and it is always interesting to hear everyone's take on the same cruise. Everyone has different experiences... heard nothing but great things. Sorry that it was not the case with your experience. Hopefully the next one will go great for you and glad you were not hurt from that floor.

I had a wonderful time. This is the first time I had less then stellar comments about a cruise however. Thank you for the comments and I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

I was on the same cruise, I'll get around to doing a review eventually. (Spoiler alert: We had a great time);)

 

I was hoping to see a mention of the alert that happened on Friday or Saturday. Did you ever hear what that was about?

 

My husband mentioned the slippery floor, I hadn't noticed , but did after he said something. Glad you weren't injured!

According to someone else, it was a high fog alert that went off. And of course someone else said it was a fire in the engine room. I smelled a very faint scent of smoke but nothing major. I know the emergency lights along the hallways were turned on. I was not too worried as I knew that if it were something big, we would have been told quickly. The captain did sound a bit concerned on his first announcement, however.

Camp Ocean, Guest Services, The Spa, FTTF and The End.

I want to thank those people who work at Camp Ocean. They did an awesome job with my grandkids. They are truly wonderful people.

Guest Services.. Here again is another reason for complaint. As I noted I purchased the Seuss at Sea breakfast. I was given a receipt that showed the day and time and the location of the breakfast. I took it to my cabin and laid it on my night stand. From there I do not know where it went. I have no excuse and I know I am fully responsible for keeping up with it. I called guest services the day before the breakfast to ask what time the breakfast was scheduled. There were only two times. I knew that. I also knew that I had chosen the later time. The woman who answered the FTTF “special phone line” said that the ONLY time for the breakfast was at 8:30am. No. That is not correct. I knew that I had chosen a later time. I asked her, if she was certain and told her that I knew I had chosen a later time. Her response was that “Yes, I am certain” and “will that be all”. Ok. Lady. I see how this is going to play. So I said nope and hung up.

I called back 30 minutes later, after searching again for the receipt. I got the same lady. This time I was a bit more forceful in my assertion that I knew that there were two breakfast times. She put me on hold and came back and said its 9:30. “Are you sure?” Yes. Ok. I am not convinced. She was certain it was 8.30 when I called 30 minutes earlier. I let it go. That night I went down to guest services to get change for the laundry. The guy that was working the desk was the same one from the night I reported my near fall on the Lido. I figured what he hello. I would give it a whirl and see what time he tells me. To my surprise he asks for my cabin number and tells me the time is 9.45 which by the way is the correct time as verified later that night in the next day’s Fun Times. I asked him was that found in my cabin notes? He told me yes. OMG. So the lady I talked to earlier could have just pulled up my cabin number and knew what time I was booked for.

This seemed to be the pattern at guest services. Again, this is my third time on this ship and either I was in a daze on prior sailings and never realized how terrible their customer services skills were or this crew gave less than a rats behind. I am going with the latter.

The spa….On the first sea day, I, my daughter and my future daughter in law all went to the Lady’s Pamper Party. We liked what we saw and we were offered a great deal. Five services for $99. It included a neck, back and shoulder massage, a foot massage, a mini facial, full body exfoliation, and an eye treatment. Oh MY God. It was the best money I have ever spent. Now mind you I ended up buying some of the Elemis products so I spent a bit more, but I think it was still worth it. This was the first time I have ever been to the spa, but it won’t be my last!

FTTF…..I bought FTTF for all three cabins. All three were ready when we boarded. Our luggage was in our cabin before we set sail or directly afterwards. I used it several times to visit guest services. And I used it for disembarkation. Until I reach Platinum status I will continue to buy FTTF for my cruises.

Even though I had some disappointments and a couple of bumps, it was still a great cruise. I love Carnival and I can’t wait until September when I sail on the Freedom. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.

The Wreckage

Pompey Square

Conch and Puffer Fish

Back on the Ship

Whale Tale of the Pride

Christ Church Cathedral cont...

Pirates of Nassau Museum

Christ Church Cathedral

I visit every Hard Rock Cafe in every city/country I go to...

Getting Closer....

I took a lot of photo of Atlantis....

NCL Breakaway

And the Carnival Pride

The Magic

All Three.

Nassau

Beautiful Sunrise

Entering into Nassau Harbor

Area near the Casino....drop off/pick up for Taxis

Grand Lucayan Hotel and Resort

Freeport

An old Carnival ship renamed the Grand Celebration

Another cruise ship...I have never heard of this one before. Of course I had never heard of the one above either.

Port Lucaya Marketplace

More of Key West...

A panoramic view of Key West.

Pirates Matey Arrrr!

And the good guys!

Lots of air traffic in Key West...

More Key West....

Key West, Freeport and Nassau. ***Some negative but mostly the Sunshine and Flowers I promised...***

Easily my favorite port of this cruise was Key West. I would love to go there again, but sadly I probably will not on a cruise. Mostly because of Freeport. In Key West we purchased the City View trolley tour. They offer a military discount, its takes $1 off the price per person. It was a nice tour and I enjoyed getting see Key West.

In Freeport. I. Wished. I. Had. Stayed. On. The. Ship. I have NEVER in nine cruises ever felt that way about a port. I do now. We got a taxi to go to Port Lucaya MarketPlace for 5 of us. My son’s fiancé turned out to be the smart one and stayed on the ship and went to the spa and the three older kids stayed in Camp Ocean. We were quoted a price of $10 pp round trip. The baby was free. Getting there was no issue. Getting back however, turned out to be another story. When we got there, the driver told me that since the “lady” was busy with another van full of people, just to pay him $25 and we could pay the rest on the return trip. That was fine and I did it. Bad move.

The shops at Port Lucaya were rather expensive and I noticed that no one was willing to haggle. That was different for me. I am used to the vendor at least dropping a dollar or two off the price. But not here. My daughter had her hair braided. It was to have only been 8 braids and that was what was agreed on and at $3 per braid the price should have been $24. I walked away with my son to have a drink and when I got back, my daughter was visibly upset. The lady had put 15 braids in and was charging her $45. There was nothing to do but pay it. Another lesson learned.

I wanted to walk down to the beach and take photos. I did not want to spend time at the beach. I walked down to the Grand Lucyan Hotel and asked a porter if there was beach access to take some photos. He said, sure about 1 mile that way…pointing away from the hotel. Ok dude. Sure. Whatever. So I walked to the front door of the hotel, and proceeded to walk through the hotel and out the door leading to the beach. I walked around and took some photos and then back into the hotel and took more photos of the hotel. I used to manage hotels and love to see how different brands are designed. It’s like a hobby of mine. I have been in much more exclusive hotels than this one. I walked in that door like I belonged there and did want I set out to do and left. I was by myself and only spent about 20 minutes total there. It’s a very lovely hotel and I would love to stay there…but it’s located in Freeport and I have vowed never to return to Freeport. So I will not be staying there.

After meeting back up with my family we decided we wanted to return to the ship. We went to the Casino where we were dropped out and let them know we needed a return taxi. The “lady” turned out to be the manager of the taxi service in Freeport. She asked me for our tickets and I told her what had happened when we were dropped off. She told me that she was sorry but the driver did not work for her. Well he worked for her 2 hours before. So it’s funny that now since the price is higher, he suddenly no longer works for her and she will not honor his word. She wanted to charge $7pp to get back to the ship. NO. I was told $10 pp round trip. That is what I agreed on and that is what I am going to pay. I was very loud and told her in no uncertain terms that I felt it was a scam and that I did not believe a word she said. My son and my daughter both joined in and she finally agreed to the original terms. I had tried to pay the first driver $50 and get the tickets for my return trip, but he told me that it would be ok and to just let the “lady” know. I was not asking for anything other then what we agreed on in the beginning. Evidently I was not the only one not impressed by the “lady” and her company. There was a couple in a motorized scooter who had been told the same thing and now they were being charged more too. I will be honest, at one point I was willing to pay whatever that woman wanted as long as I got back to the ship. But thankfully my son and my daughter backed me up and we got back to the ship in one piece and for the agreed upon price.

On to Nassau. Here all I wanted to do was go to the Hard Rock Café and get my shot glass and return to the ship. After the day before I was afraid that Nassau would be more of the same. But I was wrong and I was happy with Nassau. After you get past all those guys wanting you to buy a tour, it’s actually pretty nice. Today it was just myself, my friend, my daughter, and her husband. We left all four kids on the ship. My son and his fiancé had a Carnival tour that morning. I had planned on doing a walking tour but after the State Departments safety announcement for Nassau, I changed my mind. We ended up walking down to HRC and from there we went to some of the shops and to the Pirate Museum and to Christ Church Cathedral. After that we walked back to the ship via Pompey Square and along the shore. I would go back to Nassau.

Sailboat in Key West...the water is so pretty!

The Carnival Ecstasy docked behind us in Key West.

The next few are just various places I saw on the Trolley Tour