ugagal07

We sailed on the Pride for NYE to ring in 2023.  There was a countdown in the atrium and on deck.  On deck was packed with people and it was a great vibe.  Free champagne at midnight, lots of great music.  Party hats were left in the rooms earlier in the day for everyone and more given out all night.  Loooong horn sound at midnight, so if you are asleep wake up! 🙂  It was a blast and would do it again if the schedules worked out.

We enjoy both ports, just know what you're planning in advance. 

Costa Maya has lots of options at the port, we enjoy going to Maya Chan for the day.  But as someone else said, beaches have been rough with sargassum.  We have been twice, last time in December.  They said the sargassum is getting worse for more of the year now. But the included transportation, private palapa area, great drinks, amazing lunch, etc all make it worth it. 🙂

Belize is a tender port, so know you may not make it if seas are rough.  There isn't much near the port, so plan ahead what you want to do.  We've gone cave tubing several times.  The port has become more commercialized, believe it or not, in the past 10 years or so, but it isn't as shiny and clean as Costa Maya.  Worst part about Belize is waiting for a tender back to the ship.

2 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

They were. Looks like the gift cards went up in price.

 

$500 gift cards were $450, now $455

$100 gift cards were $90, now $91.

That may be why I can't check out.  Yesterday they were the old prices and I had issues.  Today they are the new prices and I still have issues.  I'll give it a few days to calm down and try again.

3 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

I think that comes up when shipping address and billing addresses don't match. Is that the case with your order?

Nope.  Same address. It also shows 9% off.  In my mind, I thought they were previously 10% off. 

I keep getting this error code:

Please call customer service to proceed with your order. Message Code: SS001

Aside from calling, anyone know how to get around it or what it means?

Read the fine print on the lower fare code before you decide to sit on hold.  The casino offer we booked now says "New bookings only" and we can't get a lower rate.  Some of the other rate codes say the same.  Unless you booked Early Saver, you can't price match a rate code that says "New bookings only".

Depends on the ship and where we board.  It's either:

A. Grab a Funship Special (it's made and ready to go typically), drop luggage, head to muster, register for Camp Ocean, grab lunch and explore

B. Grab a Funship Special , head to muster, drop luggage, register for Camp Ocean, grab lunch and explore

Sometimes we are very close to the muster station and swing by before we drop our luggage off.

Hi GeorgiaMomof4.  We'll be on this sailing too.  Pre-covid we did a NYE and it was champagne at embarkation and sail away.  We had formal/cruise elegant night on NYE with noise makers and such on the tables.  There was a party that started in the lobby and moved to the lido for midnight.  It was a lot of fun.

Bonus is the Christmas decorations were still up and the ships are always decorated very nicely for Christmas.  There were no Christmas shows or activities though, and the decorations came down during the cruise.

Only thing I'm dreading is Grand Cayman the next morning with early excursions. 

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

So these are casino rates with price drops?

Yes.  But upon further research, all the rate codes listed under my DH and my VIFP numbers now say "new bookings only" except Early Saver so no more price drops.  The Casino rep said this was a new Carnival thing.  We were booked Early Saver originally, then swapped to a lower Casino Offer on a price drop - lesson learned.

1 hour ago, Elaine5715 said:

Terms and conditions are different for different offers.  This is where having a experienced PVP pays off.  

I understand that.  My question is what if the T&C for the same rate code are different depending on where on the website you find it.  My TA called twice and brought me on a 3-way call to try and figure it out.  My TA is great.

12 minutes ago, wemjam said:

Carnival is a bit notorious for having different info in different places. I would call and if you find it is going to be a long wait, just submit the price reduction form online.  Worth a try to get the price difference back, even if they say no.

I did. Denied twice. Took a phone call and then being walked through to show me where it's different. Frustrating as it's $200 and these terms & conditions were not limited to new bookings originally. 
 

Was hoping someone else had luck with it. 
 

Anyone every had the terms and conditions listed differently in different parts of the website? Major difference is now it says new bookings only, in one place.

I was advised to check the terms and conditions in 3 areas before calling about a price drop. Anyone ever get the price drop when this happens?

I know it's a case of bad IT/website, but it's frustrating to sit on hold and then be told no and talked down to when you question it. 

Last year we had a deck party, costume contest, and trick or treating across the ship for the kids.  There were decorations and Halloween drink specials, both adult and child friendly.  It was a lot of fun.

You can get any drink on the menu!

Flavor shot, included.  Double shot, included.

But, if it is a boozy coffee it will count towards 1 of your 15 for the day.  No booze in it and you can have as many as your caffeine laden body can handle.

As a side note, they usually have coconut water, vitamin water, rock stars, sparkling waters, powerade, etc here.  Those are also ALL included with Cheers.  They are nice to have for port days to stay hydrated.  We throw them in the room fridge and then carry off unopened in port. 

I've read the information on the Bahamas website.  It says masks required outside when you are not at least 3 feet from people in your household and all the time indoors. 

What does that look like at say Fort Fincastle or walking down the sidewalk?  Are indoor dining options sip & cover or are you allowed to take it off to eat?

I see the $250 fine for first offense statement and don't care to find out if the Bahamian police are joking or not... 

We are in Nassau next month and debating the option of getting off or staying on the maskless ship.  

5 hours ago, Abr155 said:

May have just answered my own question: the Baltimore cruise is in October which means…it’s a frightfully fun Halloween cruise wij decorations, costumes, and trick-or-treating: SOLD haha

Halloween is fun on the ships! You can go trick or treating one day. Don’t miss the pumpkin carving either. 

Laundry for Platinum is still here!  

From the VIFP Perks:
Complimentary Wash & Fold Laundry Service
(2 bags on 3-6 day cruises, 3 bags on 7-12, 5 bags on 12+ day cruises).

I believe it is per person, so if you are both Platinum, you can do lots of laundry!

Another thing to consider is naps.  They are both necessary and awful at the same time. We started cruising in a balcony cabins so we could have a space to be while the kids napped or went to bed earlier than we wanted.  It was awesome. I know that throws your bathroom plans out of whack though.  

We sailed on both Magic and Legend, both have their pros and cons. The Magic has more 'stuff' to do, but your daughter will be too little.  The Legend is really easy to navigate.  I'd pick the easier port for you to get to, less time in the car.

As far as the shower/bath tub.  You can get an inflatable bath tub and use the hand held wand in the shower to fill it up.  We did it once, then the kids started liking the "special bath" on cruises.  Others gave the advice of taking it on deck to make a mini pool, but we never did. 

Some of it depends on travel. We swapped a Panorama cruise for an East Coast trip due to the cost of airfare.  It was waaay more than the cruise. 

Pride has some huge balconies to relax on, if that is important to you.  I would pick Pride or Horizon because 8 days is better than 7 and both of those sets of ports are a change of pace from the usual Western Carib route. 

Bump.  I'm curious also.  Sailed Royal over Thanksgiving and they didn't have the same schedule we were used to.  It was just 3 hour blocks of time.  Kids missed the parties and activities.

4 hours ago, Philob said:

Call your state's Dept of Insurance consumer line. If it's within their jurisdiction they should get things moving.

 

Forgot: Did you buy this direct or through an Agent? If Agent, they should be contacted to help you out before going to the Dept of Ins. 

Thanks for the suggestion.  I bought it myself.  I understand staffing issues and other delays, but zero communication is my issue. 

I know Nationwide has removed the change of itinerary coverage, but it was in our policy we bought pre-covid mess so I'd like the benefit we paid for.  We sailed Thanksgiving with a changed itinerary, so I requested to file a claim on November 30th.  Nationwide responded on December 7th with the form and required documentation.  I submitted everything that day.  I've sent 4 follow-up emails asking for a status check, but they go unanswered save for the form "high volume expect delays" auto-reply 2 days later. Calling does no good since it is leave a message and we'll call you back. 

Does anyone have any experience on the time it takes them to review, approve, pay a claim these days?  It's $2000, so it's worth it to me to keep pursuing it. 🙂

On 1/24/2022 at 4:52 PM, spooky981 said:

 

A few questions:

 

* If I forced you to estimate a success rate for people without reservations being able to drop their kids off, did it feel high or low?

 

* Did your kids enjoy the Kids Club or did the new restrictions make it feel like a prison for them?

 

* Any advice on which of the three daily time slots were in the highest demand?

 

* What was the kids club situation on port days?

1. Extremely low.  There were parents who had reservations that Adventure Ocean lost. I wouldn't bank on getting in without a reservation.  That said, it looks like reservations may have passed, but if sailing during a busy kid week that could be rough. 

2. They were ok with it.  They didn't ask to go back, but they didn't ask not to go.

3. They were all in equal demand.  Parents were taking anything they could get.

4. Port days had openings for longer, but still filled up each day.  This is what we were told.  Since kids had to take RCL excursions, more parents were leaving their kids on board to do independent excursions, supposedly.  We shelled out for the overpriced options and all 4 of us went ashore.

*I will add we were the first "full of kids" sailing.  If I remember correctly, Harmony was at about 80% double occupancy capacity that week and it was rough all over the ship.  Reservations for shows the kids could go to filled up before we left port. Force kids into early dining and then schedule family shows during early dining and cruise director just said tough decide if it's more important to eat or watch the show. There weren't enough dining reservations for people who bought packages. Flowrider only opened 1 at a time and for a few hours, not the amount of time pre-covid. Ice skating time slots required getting in line an hour before it opened to get a ticket. It was bad.  Pool limited to 10 people, hot tubs to 5 or 7.  Limit on kids in the kids' splash area. Overall, it was the worst cruise we've taken simply because of the protocols, they weren't reasonable with that many people on board so we didn't do much of anything.

Hopefully RCL learned from that disaster, but I'd say take a big can of patience with you - and some card games/board games/things to do if you can't get into what you want to do if sailing during a "peak week".  I don't know what is considered "peak" for the spring break season. 

Someone on our sailing organized a cabin door exchange. That was a huge highlight of my kids' trip.  Seeing what surprises were dropped off each day and then delivering our own. 🙂

We sailed over Thanksgiving, so things could have shifted since then.  Here was our experience:
1. There is no Compass.  There are not scheduled activities, it's all set up in 3 hour blocks of time. No sharing of materials. They played soccer, but couldn't touch the ball or it had to go out to be sanitized. They colored, but only with their crayons. They did a water relay with pipettes, but only touched their pipette.

2. You need to go to Adventure Ocean when you board to register them. You can sign up for a limited number of 3 hour blocks for the first few days.  After that, they will open up to add more slots.  Slots are limited.  We could register for 2 and then add another on day 3.  We were never able to get that extra slot.

3. The times were 9-12, 2-5, 7-10.  No late drop offs.  People without reservations would be allowed to take unclaimed reservations 15 minutes after the slot opened. 

4. Be there early to drop off. They didn't start drop offs until the time frame opened.  We had to be there 20-25 minutes early so we could get through the drop off line before that 15 minutes hit and they took people without reservations.  All in all, it took a good 40-45 minutes to drop off.

5. They don't serve or allow any food, meaning no dinner service anymore.  My kids loved it too.

6. In the past, they had the family events like movies, science experiments, etc.  Those aren't happening right now. 

We couldn't get an evening block of time and dinner reservations, so our kids went to Wonderland with us. Overall, it was not Adventure Ocean of the past - not even close.  They 2 times they were there, they seemed to have fun, but weren't sad they didn't get to go back.  It wasn't like the pre-covid days. 

We are booked in a Family Harbor stateroom on the Panorama.  It says that kids get free specialty dining in select restaurants.  Anyone know which restaurants are included/excluded.  I'm assuming Chef's Table is excluded for sure, but was curious about experiences with others.