pjhootch

People are just really looking for things to get indignant about. There are always groups of people playing games on the Lido deck during non-busy hours. Sometimes they sit there playing through lunch time or dinner time too. What's the big deal? That is no more rude than 1 or 2 people sitting at a table for 6 and that happens all the time. Lighten up and just enjoy your cruises. Even at the busiest time on Lido, there is a place to sit somewhere if you wander around long enough. Why are people frothing at the mouth about HYPOTHETICAL situations where someone with a "reserved" sign could potentially stand near their reserved table and wait or start a confrontation? Do you guys these threads just to look for something imaginary that hasn't happened- just to raise your blood pressure?

I wasn't suggesting the doors are different widths. It was more just a warning that getting the scootaround rentals through the cabin door is a challenge- but it fits. I mean it is a challenge for someone who is not ON the scooter. So a single person without assistance may struggle to get the scooter in the cabin- but the scootaround rentals do go through the doors. Was thinking about how easily we were able to get around inside our balcony cabin on Magic, and it did occur to me that if I had tried park that scooter in a regular balcony cabin on Mardi Gras or Celebration, we would have been climbing over the scooter to get to the beds or balcony. Those balcony rooms are narrow.

Just got off the Magic on Saturday. I made a last minute decision and rented a scooter from scootaround at port of Miami (for my travelmate). I had toyed with the idea of a scooter rental ahead of time but my friend thought she would be fine just getting a wheelchair assist at the port for boarding. She saw the size of the ship and we got her a scooter. Definitely did not have an accessible cabin but we did have a standard balcony room. No one even blinked at us rolling up on a scooter for a regular room. Going through the doorway was a challenge the first couple of times. I learned to back her into the cabin and then guide her out. It would have been miserably tight for an inside cabin but an ocean view or balcony is manageable.

Dinner AND a show!

I understand that, which is why I differentiated between the two things for OP. The thread title said "OBC- Casino Offer". The casino offers usually include a small OBC. Generally, the amount of the required deposit for booking a cruise. Most casino offers that mention an amount as large as $1000 are offering it as "Fun Play" and not as an OBC. However, anything is possible and I have no idea what OP's offer actually said. So I mentioned both. OP needs to read the offer carefully to see if the offer is for $1000 OBC or Fun Play.

Hi Beagle guy. Sorry- I didn't see this sooner. I am not in these forums too often. I was with Captain Marvin in April- he is busy, active, and still giving a good tour. I had a friend with me who was absolutely terrified of the rays, and she managed to get into the ocean and stand there and watch them for a few minutes before getting back on the boat. And his little office is still just kitty corner from the Tender port. Super easy to get there and wait for your bus.

I started this thread a year and a half ago and I am still hoping a dive bar pops up somewhere to replace Calico Jacks. In the meantime, we have been to "Public Beach" many times and it is a lovely way to spend a day. It can be crowded, but that is the nature of going on a cruise ship. It is a cheap/safe group cab ride from the cruise tender port. There are always plentiful cabs picking up at the beach to go back to the port. There is always someone there to sell beer. It used to be a guy with a cooler. Now it is a bit more permanent. If cruises are in port, there will be drinks available. I will be back in GC in a couple of weeks am going to try Coral Beach for the first time. But all the cab drivers know where to take you if you say "public beach".

If it is a casino offer w/"fun play" it is a credit you get in the casino for use there. That is different than the OBC that is attached to your account and can be used to purchase anything that can be paid for with your room card. Some ships pay their "fun play" with cash at the casino cage. Others, it is just a credit attached to your casino account that you access by putting your card in a machine or using it to purchase casino chips. There are ways to convert fun play to usable cash, but they all involve playing in the casino. If you are on a ship that gives fun play as casino credit, you cannot just straight cash it out or transfer it to OBC. Obviously, if you are handed cash - you will be able to make purchases as if it were OBC.

You can do this at guest services. I have done it right after boarding. It was quick and easy. The CS person made a call (I presume to casino host) and typed in something and it was activated within 5 minutes of our request.

It is a shame if the beach at Nachi was not clean- that would be a first for me. The food has always been a bit lame- but it did the trick when we got hungry. We were more beer drinkers than mixed drinks, in years past. A bottle of Sol is pretty standard everywhere. I have had a pina colada or two there and yeah- kind of typical AI weak drinks- but tasty enough. Like so many others, Nachi has been in our rotation. The last time we were there I felt it was getting a bit expensive. We have done AI at other beaches and also a la carte. It depends on our mood and when we had our teens with us they liked the floats and stuff in the ocean at other more kid friendly resorts. Sea weed in the water can always happen in Cozumel, but all the AI's have cleaned the beaches ASAP in my experience. The thing Nachi did well, and sometimes is worth the extra money and cab time- is limit the number of people per day. There are times when I really just don't want to be surrounded by a ton of people on the beach again. When I am in that mood, Nachi is worth it. I have to say I would have been thrilled to see the snake, to be honest. Cozumel doesn't have much dangerous wildlife outside of the ocean. That includes snakes. There are coral snakes there, but they are shy and are not going to be out on a beach full of people. Coral snakes are also pretty easy to spot as a venomous snake if you encounter one.

We are going to be there the first week in February and I just bought a day pass for Coral Beach that day. Will give it a try and see how it goes. We were big fans of going to Calico Jack's for many years, and post covid have been going mostly to the public beach area where CJ's used to be. But I am apparently pretty easy to please since Caybrew is fine with me. ROFL. We drink the local stuff instead of imported as often as possible.

I just share the repeat gift duplicates. We have been cruising a lot since start up post covid- so have many can koozies and now we have multiple fanny packs. 🙂 My family and friends that cruise but are not yet platinum, get a kick out of receiving these little items as a reminder of their cruise with us. I remember when people were complaining about receiving multiple insulated coffee cups and drink bottles and the like. Sheesh. I remember complaints when people didn't like the beach bag/ cooler bags or the little blue tooth speakers. I think those may have been gifts from casino cruises, but there was still a bunch of griping about it. I have a cupboard that consists of water bottles, insulated bottles, beer koozies and amazing small insulated cups and larger coffee mugs. I just don't understand the energy people expend worrying about these things. I confess I did forget to pick up pins or koozies once or twice once that started, and I have eaten so much on a cruise or two that we skipped the strawberries entirely. I just enjoy it all as it comes.

Not sure how this is relevant or meaningful in a Carnival forum- but okay. More rooms for the rest of us that enjoy Carnival. OP- it is a shame your cruise seems to have been more stressful than enjoyable. We were cruising for a couple of weeks around Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful and relaxing. But on a 15 day cruise we didn't have a lot of teenagers so it was a more sedate crowd. We have cruised at Christmas and it is always packed to the gills and full of kids of all ages. Teens roving in groups is not new, nor is their tendency to block up doorways or stairwells. Pre-teens seem to be increasingly given free reign to roam on cruises, and they are LOUD, but harmless. There is simply no excuse for teens wearing ski masks and threatening people. I wouldn't be afraid of them, but I would be mad and make a scene. I agree the Main dining room can be particularly slow and unorganized at times. Not always- sometimes they are super efficient. But on elegant nights and Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners- things can bog down. I like the food in the main dining room but I certainly believe you when you say you had items at meals you thought were awful. I have always found the wait staff to be very helpful about getting something else in those circumstances. 99% of the staff work very hard to make us happy- but they definitely are spread a lot thinner in the dining room than they were pre-covid. I have absolutely witnessed a fight here and there on Carnival over the years. In my personal experience it has been drunk old dudes causing trouble. I saw this pre-covid and I've seen it post covid. Security staff is more inclined to try to sweet talk them than strong arm them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I have witnessed a couple of middle aged women carrying on at each other on the Lido deck, but it didn't come to blows. I agree with Jimbo that for a multitude of reasons there has been an increase in bad public behavior by people (all different kinds of people) in recent years. I do not feel unsafe on Carnival. There is weed- yeah. It happens. There is weed everywhere these days. I don't care for the strong smell, but I am getting older and there are a lot of smells I don't like much anymore. 🙂 But really- the drug dogs missing or catching a bag of gummies isn't making a difference to my cruise. I guess it gives people something to complain about other than rum runners or booze bladders.

I bring Bonine or the generic. It is the non-drowsy Dramamine. I took some as soon as we left port in Long Beach, and kept it up a couple of times a day for the first night and couple of sea days. After that, I didn't feel the need for it again, even when we were rocking quite a bit. I always have the heavy duty Dramamine with me, just in case. The trick with motion sickness is to treat it before you feel queasy. The slightest unease with the waves- and I chew up a couple of tablets right away. We noticed there were barf bags located in convenient places near the elevators and a few other locations on this trip.

We just returned a couple of weeks ago from this cruise. Definitely less of a formal vibe overall in the main dining room. We dressed in slacks and plain long sleeve shirts (dress shirt for my husband but no tie) and did not stand out on elegant night. If you haven't sailed out in the Pacific before, make sure you bring something for motion sickness. We had calm seas and no big storms, but swells are consistently bigger than you will have in the Caribbean (except for in a big storm).