Sinjan

If you know the exact cruise you want to book along with cabin or cabin category, then yes you can. The way it was explained to us is that most don't know all that so they are encouraged to book as Past Guest to avoid change fees. Also, the earlier in the cruise you can get with the rep the better. Toward the end they are bombarded by people waiting till the last minute and don't have the time to spend with you one on one.

I've used the Military rate on CCL several times. Sometimes it's less, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it isn't available on a sailing at all. But it does not automatically include OBC.

Usually in May and November there will be some kind of special Military promotion. I think last time they did gave OBC with the rate as part of the promotion. But that's the first time I've seen it. (Not that I've been around forever and seen everything. lol)

I won one of the raffle prizes on embarkation day. It was good for 50% off any service so I decided to splurge and get the hot stone massage. It was still a little pricey compared to what I could get at home but not outrageously so like it would have been full price.

Anyway, I really liked the massage. Very relaxing and she was good about really digging in deep in some problem areas I have. No sales pitch during, but as others have said after I was dressed she really laid it on thick. I tried the "No thank you" approach and she just kept going. And going. I finally had to tell her flat out that I was not going to buy anything today period. She seemed surprised by this and asked why. So I told her I was only there because of having won the raffle prize and that I felt the products were over priced. She was not happy about this and left out of the room in a huff.

Things happen. If there are extenuating circumstances that explain the issue, who cares? Anyone who has had to work with the public knows that sometimes there are things beyond your control that affect your ability to appropriately provide all services in a timely and/or quality fashion. So yes, some people DO care what happens to others...although after lurking for a few months, I've noticed many CC members are not among them. Being empathetic is easy. If your boss said "Do just as much work in half the time," then reprimanded you because a customer complained that you made a (correctable) error...how would you feel? It's amazing to me that so few people care about anyone but themselves. It has nothing to do with cruises or Carnival, just common courtesy, IMO.

 

Plus, that example doesn't really work... FTTF is a multi-part service, unlike mail delievery. If the priority tendering etc are provided, then only a partial refund would be in order. Sorta like going out to dinner and your dessert is bad....they wouldn't comp you & your date's entire meal, would they? :rolleyes:

I see your point and actually agree with you on the partial refund. And maybe my package delivery example wasn't the best, just the best I could think of. :p

But I think having empathy for a fellow human being is one thing, getting what you pay for is another. I can empathize with the guy on the truck who blew a tire and spent 2 hours waiting for the companies approved provider to get there and get him back on the road. I empathize with him having to work harder the rest of the day to get the job done. I feel bad for the guy and hold no ill will toward him. But it doesn't change the fact the "company" didn't provide the service I paid for.

I'm curious. How would you feel if this didn't involve cruising or CCL or room stewards? If this whole situation were about some other service industry. If you paid a premium for a service and the business failed to provide the service, would you (the collective you) still feel the same? Would you care where the failure originated? Or how the company handled it's internal employee relations?

For example I think most can relate to. You send a package overnight and delivery time is promised by noon. The package does not arrive until 5pm. Do you shrug it off? After all it did get there the next day. Or do you ask for a refund because you paid to have it there by noon and it didn't get there till 5? Would you care why it didn't get there on time? Or if an employee was or was not disciplined as a result?

We used FTTF on Paradise last month out of Tampa. They started boarding at 11:30 and we were on board by 11:40.

We sat next to a couple one night and the lady was vegan. So while I don't have any personal experience I can tell you what I learned from her.

She preordered her meals a day or so in advance. One of the servers had a paper he kept referring to verifying her choices.

The night we sat with her she had ordered the strawberry bisque and eggplant parm. She only took a bite or two out of each. They had used soy milk for the bisque and it did not turn out well. She said that almond milk would have probably been fine. Not sure what was up with the eggplant parm, but it wasn't good either.

After that night we ran into her several more times (both smokers so we tend to cluster in the same areas). Over all, she said she had a hard time finding enough to eat on board. Not because there weren't options or that Carnival didn't try to accomodate her, but because it wasn't palatable. She said she was pretty much relying on pizza as she had finally gotten the guy back there to understand "no cheese".

Anyone know how much DOD's are going for these days? Still in that 7.95 range?

 

Also, what time does Cheers start and end each day? Is it midnight to midnight?

They're either 7.95 or 8.95. But I may be thinking Classic Cocktails at 8.95.

Either way, the times are 6am to 6am.

And yes, you can get #15 at 5:45 and order the next day's #1 at 6am. Saw it done on Paradise last week. :rolleyes:

It was a 5 day cruise.

We did not purchase on embarkation day so only had to pay for 4 days.

I hate to ask another cheers program question but am unable to get an answer when I do a search. Can you purchase the cheers program before you sail. We are sailing in March 2014. Any info would be great. Again sorry for another Cheers Program question.

You can purchase it as soon as you board. Any of the bars that are open on embarkation should have the sign up info and can take care of it for you right there.

We used the Cheers program on our Paradise cruise last week.

Purchased on the morning of the day after embarkation and it was $459 and change for the two of us.

We really enjoyed it and felt we got our monies worth.

Just back this past Thursday.

We had the Elation Dining room and Anytime Dining. We were told that the center section was for early and late dining and the outer tables were for anytime.

Table #172 has a booth seat and a chair. It is right by the server station but has more room between it and the next table over. So it feels more like an actual table for 2. Also Mihaela was the server in that section and she is wonderful.

There was a long line as well as people waiting in the Library each night when the dining room doors opened. If you're in the front of the line, a table for 2 is no problem. If you wait till it clears out some, you'll have about an hours wait. But they give you a buzzer that works anywhere on the ship except the Casino and your stateroom.

As for Steak House items being available in the dining room, never heard of that and didn't see it on Paradise.

After reading the initial post in this thread I asked my sister about it. She was also on this cruise and hadn't mentioned it when I spoke with her this morning. She says it was for about an hour and no big deal. But she's also really laid back and takes most things in stride so it would take a lot to phase her. lol

Just back from the Paradise on Thursday.

She's a great little ship IMO. Still in good shape and kept well maintained. She's set up a little differently and still has the slide at the main Lido pool instead of the waterworks like others in her class. People seemed to really like this as the slide was busy all day and I saw all ages using it.

There are two hot tubs on Lido as well. The front one is adults only and that rule was strictly enforced while we were on board. The one under the slide is fair game tho from what I saw.

There is also an area one deck up toward the aft with another full size pool, a clearly marked kiddie pool and a hot tub. I didn't see many people using the pools or hot tub, but the loungers were popular for sunning since this deck is completely open with zero shade.

Passengers on this sailing were mostly 50+ but I did see a good number of young adults as well. Could have been the time of year accounting for that. But we saw few children at all and the ones we did see were preschool age.

That's all I can think of that would be helpful. Any questions just ask. :)

You would have still gotten on. Don't know why some check in people want to see it and others don't. No way it could be a hard and fast rule. If it was, all would be checked.

Never heard of anyone being denied boarding because they didn't have it

How do you know? Were you asked for yours and then allowed to board without it?

Not trying to be snarky here, just don't see how you could know that with 100% accuracy.

My DM and I both had to show ours in New Orleans. Luckily I had read on here that it could be needed so I've always carried it and had made sure she had hers.

Don't know what the rhyme or reason is on why or when they want to see it, but it does happen.

Had to show mine and my mothers when we sailed out of New Orleans. Haven't had to show it at any other port but always have it just in case.

I purchased the day I booked back in October. Said there were only 4 slots open then. But someone on my roll call posted that they just purchased theirs.

So I'd keep looking, especially right around final payment time.

St. Augustine. There's something for everyone there. Catch a trolley and do the hop on hop off for the day. See the fort, tour the winery, go to the light house, Ripley's etc.

When I joined in 2010 one of the common pieces of advice handed out to new cruisers was to go early for a tender ticket if you had an excursion. If not, you could wait till the crowds died down and get on without a ticket. There was also something about platinum and those with Carnival excursions getting priority or something, but I didn't pay enough attention to that part to remember it.

I just know that based on that advice, when we sailed the Dream we had a tender port and went to the designated area half an hour early and got tender 1 or 2, but when we sailed Conquest we purposely went later after the initial rush and didn't need a ticket.

They may have done a galley tour before or after the meal. What I saw was the actual meal service going on in the library.

I have to say, Sensation was my least favorite ship so far. It's been the only ship I was ready to get off of and the only time I've experienced bad service and gotten attitude from crew members. It was only our 4th cruise but the whole experience was so markedly different from what we had come to expect from Carnival, I told DH that if that had been our first, there would not have been a second.

We SAW Chef's table on Sensation because they served everyone in the Library which was right outside the MDR. Everyone lined up waiting for their table was watching the show with great interest. Couple of servers even had to shuffle thru the crowd to get in and out of the room.

Quite honestly I wouldn't have been happy paying $75 to be gawked at in a fishbowl like that. The setup on Dream was much better.

Our first cruise was a cove on the Dream and our second was a 4J on Conquest. The rest, including our upcoming Paradise cruise, have all been interiors.

If you're the type to hang out in your cabin a lot then you probably won't like it as well. If you're like us and only use your cabin for sleeping and showering, then you'll probably be fine with it.

Does the 12" cube apply to soft, fold-up ones or just hard side?

 

Guess we will be drinking our wine all at once rather than saving it for later ;)

 

~Bob~

The size restriction is so they will fit thru the security scanners at check in. I've got a round collapsible one that is closer to 24" tall by 18" diameter. I pack it folded up in my checked luggage and no one cares.

I take mine and put it in my carry on. It was questioned at one port. They saw something with a motor and wanted to look. I popped open the case, told them what it was and I was good to go.

No RX needed. ;)