audcc77

... use my insurance.

Sorry to hear you were injured. Same thing happened to me. I ended up canceling as my doctor advised against going.

Please note that if you do end up filing a claim on your insurance, the insurance company will want to know if and when your doctor advised you against sailing. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the reason is b/c they don't want people to drag their feet on deciding, b/c this will affect your refundable amt, which is based on how many days out you are canceling. Carnival actually gave me back 25%, and the insurance company paid 75%.

29 to 15 days ---- Deposit or 75% of Total Fare, whichever is greater

14 days or less ----- 100% of Total Fare

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

OP, I had a similar situation last year.

For our 13-y/o DS we just put about $25 or so on his card to spend it at the arcade, smoothies, etc. We still bought him small gifts, a t-shirt, etc. He ended up putting an additional $35 of his own money on his S&S card and blew it at the arcade. He's sorry now b/c he still has not put that money back in the bank.

For our 22-y/o DS we did not put anything on his card but told him whatever he bought, then he'd pay for it. I never dreamed that he'd still go crazy with spending. We said we'd buy him drinks throughout the cruise if he were sitting with us when we bought our own. This happened many times. Throughout the cruise I monitored his S&S card and kept harping at him, even having DH haul him out of the casino once. At the end of the cruise, between the drinking and gambling, he had a $700 S&S card bill. :eek: For someone who is supposed to be helping pay for college while home during the summer, we were furious. These days he is also regretful b/c now that he is on the verge of graduating, he has almost no money at all.

Hopefully, learning this experience with small amounts of money is better than later on with larger amounts.

I think it may depend on how you arrive.

We arrived by taxi at 10:45-ish and the driver drove around the people waiting in line. I was afraid we'd be sitting in that line paying the cab driver for just sitting.

We had FTTF so we were able to get in the building quickly. We ended up standing in the wrong line for a bit though until we figured out that the right side was the FTTF line.

I thought Baltimore was pretty smooth in comparison to other ports.

I don't know the answer to your multi-city question, but Southwest Airlines is less expensive than Delta.

We flew Delta to SJU in Feb 2013 and even though we booked months in advance, it will really expensive, $800. Plus baggage fees.

Southwest flights come out in about 10 days - June 30 - supposedly.

First & 2nd bags fly free.

They fly from Cleveland and Akron.

We are going the first week in Feb so I'm waiting for June 30 to roll around.

Good luck in your search. :)

if your at the table give your card to the pitboss to be rated

LOL - Clearly I'm small potatoes.

I'm math-challenged, so I'm over at the slots, where it's nice & safe.

Free travel insurance? Is it the same that Carnival offers when you book that included medical emergencies? I was thinking of booking a cruise while on the cruise to get the OBC - if I applied for the card at the same time could I use the card then and there? Or would I have to wait until I actually got the card? Thanks in advance... :)

 

Editted to add - is the insurance included on any trip you use the card for? Or just Carnival cruises? For instance, if I booked a land trip with the card...

I don't know what Carnival offers in terms of medical emergencies on their card or if you book on the ship. My DH's insurance through his work gets us med-i-vac-ed if needed.

I know Carnival Mastercard gives you $50 OBC when you first get the card, but not a big pay off in my mind.

With regard to the insurance, it is on any trip not just cruises. You have to use that card to book the whole trip.

For instance, when I first got the Barclay Arrival card, it gave me $400 off if I spent $1000 in the first 3 months. I thought "no way". So I put $1K down on a family cruise. I then cashed in the travel points and my credit card bill when it showed up was only $600. So I immediately got my DH his own card. We then booked a 2nd cruise for the following year & paid $1K. His bill came & it was only $600.

That deal was last year & is no longer available. Now you have to spend $3K (not $1K) in 3 months (not just travel purchases, any purchases). You then will get the $400 off.

Now I have to be careful b/c when I make cruise reservations, the card that I pay the deposit with (my card) needs to be the same card I pay the final payment with (my card) in order for the insurance to work. It covers late luggage, lost luggage, cancelled trip, etc. Not sure about medical, but it is possible. I just never looked at that b/c we didn't need it. Some people on line are saying there is really tight fraud problems with this and they put a hold on the card when there is a foreign charge. I have never had this problem. It has been great for us.

hmmm...I have never been charged a yearly fee.:confused::confused:

You may not have the Arrival card. It does have an $89 annual fee, but is waived the first year. I've never paid an annual fee on any credit card in my life but this was too good to pass up.

If you gamble enough you have a chance at a "free" cruise :cool:

I do gamble enough. I'm in there ever single night. Unfortunately, probably not enough in the eyes of CCL.

Well - that's great to hear! :)

This gives me hope b/c I kind of just gave up, thinking I'd ever get tapped by the free cruise fairy b/c I have 2 already booked. I think these will be cruise # 11 & 12 on CCL so I also figured they'd never throw a free one my way if they already have me as a customer.

Yay :D for you!! Congrats!

Would you mind me asking whether you already had an existing cruise reservation?

I'm curious b/c I don't think I ever will get one b/c I book them too far out. I get off a cruise & book another one to get the early saver pricing.

You could also use the points for the yearly fee to cover the cost also from heresay. Not sure but others could relate to them better. Barclay Arrival also gives 10% points back if points used so you start earning for next trip or even add more to current trip depending on how many one has or acquired.

If you'd like, you can cancel the card right before the year is up, thus not incurring an $89 annual fee. I was going to do this. However, when it came close for my free year to end, I looked back at all the entries of $50, 100, 125 cash back over the past year, and I gladly paid the $89 for this year. This is really the card for people who travel. Also, it comes with free travel insurance if you pay for the entire trip on the one card. You simply cannot beat it.

Ugh. I don’t even buy my liquor until the last night so that I may take it with me & pack it.

Just forget it - too much of a pain.

Get the Barclay Arrival card. Much better return.

http://creditcardforum.com/blog/barclaycard-arrival-world-mastercard-review/

http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/

We'll be staying here before our cruise in July and were wondering good places to eat around the hotel or any other must sees near there. Thanks!

It depends on what kind of food/experience you are looking for. We didn't have a rental car so we just hung around the resort. We ate at the Pina Colada Club which is in the resort. If you like loud places, hard wood benches/tables, lousy service, expensive food, then this place is great.

The next day we just had Starbucks, again right on the property, and they have malorca sandwiches which were fabulous and prices were appropriate. There is a Subway close to the resort but based on TripAdvisor reviews, decided it was not very clean.

We love it at Caribe Hilton and will be going back next February. If you are looking for a place in Old San Juan, here is a real nice place w/ a great atmosphere with waaaay better prices than a lot of places:

cafeberlinpr dot com

This is easy to find on google maps, easy to walk to from the cruise pier & you can see their menu on line.

Hope you have as much fun as we did.

:)

The Arrival card always earns 2 points for every $ but the Carnival branded card only earns 1 point per $ unless you use the rewards boost section. The Arrival card is a superior card but comes with an annual fee while there is no annual fee with the Carnival card (both are issued by Barclaycard)

Ok. I see. I do not have a Carnival card. I agree with you that the Barclay Arrival card is superior. I was going to get a Carnival card until I saw the benefits of Barclay Arrival. I figured I'd cancel the card after the first free year, but even after paying the annual fee of $89 for each of our 2 cards, we still get a ridiculous amount of cash back. Not only that, but I discovered that we have FREE travel insurance with these cards.

Thanks both of you for clearing this up. :) I need to buy some Southwest airline tix in a few months, so this post peaked my interest. But it sounds like I will just use the Barclay Arrival.

Huh? I may want to take advantage of this b/c I have a couple Barclay Arrival cards, but I'm confused.

I have never bought gift cards on Barclaycard's website, and I don't get why buying a Southwest gift card is any better return than just using my Barclaycard to straight out buy the airline tickets directly with southwest & just get the travel points.

I must be missing something ... please explain again ... :o

Thanks.

My friend's DH ordered a cake for her on our "girls cruise". It was already there when we arrived. We were ready to eat it but it did not come with enough plates (2) or forks (2) and there were 4 of us. We decided to just eat it later. Well - we never got around to it b/c we were already full from eating all the time. A day or two later,:confused: it was dark in the cabin when I came back to the cabin and was a little shall we say - tipsy.

Having not being used to having a cake sitting on the dresser, combined with the darkness, I just plopped my purse into the side of it. :eek:

My advice to you is to eat it immediately & ask that enough plates/forks be provided or throw a few paper plates/forks in your carry-on, b/c getting stuff like that delivered in the chaos during boarding would be difficult.

So, if I am cruising with someone and they aren't platinum, I have to go alone? IMO each platinum should be allowed a guest and they should check invitations or seas passes at the door.

I agree. I'm Platinum next cruise and DH is not b/c I have cruised 1 or 2 more than he.

When I was gold and he was not, I went to the PGP w/o him and had a LOUSY time.

Won't do that again. No fun. I will wait a few years until he is Platinum but I will be honked off about it. :mad:

OP, I agree with the previous posters. Wait to hear what the doctor says.

I dealt with Travel Guard & they were great.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2042256

See post #19 to see my experience.

If you ultimately end up submitting the claim form, it specifically asks when you were told by the doctor not to travel.

Just make sure your papers are in order and you should have no problems getting reimbursed very soon.

Good luck.

Before going through the trouble & expense of purchasing insurance, make sure that the credit card with which you purchased your trip does not automatically have it. I bought trip insurance a few times before I realized that it was already covered on my Barclay Arrival Card. Just call your credit card company & ask.

I paid $77 to upgrade DH & I to an aft on the Valor about 3 weeks prior to sailing. We had no soot problems & it was very quiet back there.

It was mid-March and was only hot during mid day like from 12-2. I've had an interior to GS and this was the best cabin we've ever had.

I'd do it.

Does anyone have a fast and/or favorite ATD wait team on the Pride ?

 

Thanks :)

I'm back to answer my own question. We were fortunate to have 2 very wonderful waiters a few weeks ago.

2 names are "Elder" and "Stanimir" a/k/a Stan. Both did a great job. Food was hot and we had hardly any waiting at all. Our water glasses were filled without asking.

My absolute favorite was Elder b/c he was singing all the time & very happy.

Congrats on your pregnancy. There is a non-prescription product called Emetrol which we bring every time we cruise. It is safe for children and for morning sickness, but clear it with your doctor of course. You can use green apples to calm nausea as well. Sometimes these are hard to find on the buffet but room service should be able to help.

I have no clue how much money I spent in the casino but I ended up with a little over 1,000 points.

1) How do these points work? Surely that does not mean I spent $1K in the casino? My S&S card does not reflect this, but I was pulling money out of my wallet too.

2) I asked the bar server about "drinks on us" after 1000 points, and he stated you only get $5 casino cash. When do you get "drinks on us"?

Thanks :)