squierjosh

It was indeed a Carnival problem, not the CC.

That was my plan, but thanks for the snarky response.

Got a Carnival fun points Mastercard strictly to earn the free $250 on board credit. Thought I'd double up on the points and achieve the $500 spending minimum by booking my excursions with the new card, and also using a 20% off code sent by Carnival. All of a sudden, nothing is going through. Mind you, I already used this card on a small purchase on Carnival to make sure it works. This is a bad look.

OP here. I got the card. Just need to figure out how to use it and transfer the funpoints to my Carnival account when it's time.

Haha...Well I'm not going to use it for anything but buying the last few AARP gift cards I need for my upcoming cruise. Just enough to quality for the $250 on board credit. Then pay off and cancel the card.

Do you get a discount for cruise fare?

Every dollar counts these days. And every one of those dollars can be applied to something extra on vacation.

I got this email. I've heard overall the card isn't great. But, if I do this introductory offer and buy $600 worth of AARP Carnival cards, I get $250 on board credit. Seems like a sneaky way to save some $$ one time.

Thanks, I'll try that.

I'm thinking about booking the waterbike for Half Moon Cay. We are a family of 4 staying in two rooms. Do I need to book all 4 people? 2 people? Just one? I was assuming we could just share it between the four of us, but I want to make sure I reserve it the right way so this can happen.

That’s a good idea. Cover to future cruise funds!

Do you have to have a balance on your S&S account? Can't you just charge to your credit card? I get the idea of planning and setting a budget, but if you don't spend it, you lose it. Seems risky if you're not in a drinking mood or buying gifts on a certain cruise.

Thanks for the response. Right now I'm looking at a late Friday night flight for a Saturday cruise. So staying near LAX and heading down in the morning might be the best option. If I find a better flight for Friday, do any of the Long Beach hotels offer port shuttle service? Budget isn't a huge concern, but $$ add up quickly with 4 people. Are the residence inn and Maya really considered downtown? Looks like they are across the channel from downtown, surrounded by industrial stuff. Maybe it's a short walk across that bridge? I'd like to find a place for pop and snacks for the cruise.

When you say "into town," what part of the peninsula is the town? It's all built up.

Hi. I've been on a lot of cruise, but never out of Long Beach. I'm perfectly comfortable finding a hotel and pre/post cruise transportation in Miami. Takes me an afternoon of research and I'm done. Long Beach seems way more complicated, mostly due to the distance between LAX and the Long Beach cruise port. Two adults, two kids. Flying in late on Friday night. Should we stay near LAX and then find transportation to the port the next morning? Or, find a hotel in Long Beach and get there really late, but have a short commute in the morning? How far away from LAX can I expect to find free hotel transfers? I realize I'll also need transportation to the port Saturday morning, as the only hotels I see with free port shuttle are hundreds of dollars more per night, so not worth it. A nice balance between free airport to hotel shuttle and an Uber or whatever from hotel to port would be ideal. Getting back to the airport after the cruise...What can I expect an Uber to cost? Are they readily available? The Carnival shuttle is insane.