NovCruisin
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Posts posted by NovCruisin
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3 minutes ago, JohninDC said:
Be aware that the tables for two are often very close together.
Agreed
you are basically sitting with the table next to you!!
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To everyone who has a flare for the dramatic - it didn't RUIN my vacation 🤦♀️ no where did I say I didn't have an ounce of enjoyment because of it. It most certainly put a hamper on an aspect of it though. Not only did that delicious bottle of wine go to waste for me, which is sad in and of itself, but I got to spend my vacation time at guest services, standing in line, speaking with multiple reps at the desk and in my room...doesn't exactly scream relaxation. Further, having been told the only persons that would have access to my room were my room stewards, I got to spend the next 6 days paranoid about something else being stolen or my room steward enacting petty justice for me reporting the issue (like scrubbing my toilet with my toothbrush or something). I had to lock EVERYTHING up, every day. Not exactly my idea of fun. Did it ruin my entire vacation, obviously not (see "the good" portion of my review) but it was an unnecessary hindrance.
With regards to why I marked it; I would say for the same reason I have security cameras outside my house and why I cover my PIN at the ATM or lock my wallet in the safe in my cabin. We all would like a rainbow world where people do right by each other, but the truth is you can't always expect the best behavior from everyone. A millisecond of my time, by marking my wine bottle, ensured that I wasn't spending my next glass of wine drinking someone else's backwash. For some people, ignorance is bliss...but that's not the case for me.
I appreciate everyone who could see the pros and cons and didn't immediately read it through rose colored glasses as though my mission in life was to "bash" Carnival. I really tried to make the best of the situation and not let it mess with my cruise too much. At the same time, I thought surely the people of Cruise Critic may be interested in a review....critiquing....a cruise....I guess not 😏
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Disclaimer: This is MY EXPERIENCE; YMMV.
The last time we took a Carnival cruise was on the Magic out of Galveston to Key West and the Bahamas. We have been on Royal, Celebrity, Holland and Carnival. Carnival was our least favorite but that was in 2014(?) and with the new Vista coming to Galveston, with the addition of the Havana it was too tempting to pass up!! We got (IMO) a steal of a deal! We booked in June 2017 for a January 2019 cruise in Havana aft balcony 7467 for....$2,300!! I was more excited that DH, but as the time drew nearer we were both excited to get away from the "cold" of Dallas 😉 This was our first cruise out of Galveston in January and I was very nervous about the infamous fog, but we had no issues whatsoever!
The GOOD:
* Check in was actually not too bad. We selected our check in time, arrived ON TIME, and got to "cut the line" for people checking in on time. There was a ridiculously long line for people arriving early and/or late and you could tell they were eyeballing our quick line 🙂
- SIDE NOTE: The bad within the check in process was the ancient woman checking us in who had no idea how to handle the electronic scanners for our passports. She kept swiping and swiping and ended up bending one of our passports. She was ready to send us "upstairs" to check in and initially refused to let us try a different person for check in (because she was claiming it was her machine that had "been acting up all day"...it seemed like user error to us). Eventually we basically forced her to let us check in at the neighboring kiosk and BEHOLD it worked! I am not counting this against Carnival because I don't know if it is the City of Galveston Port or Carnival that employs dinosaurs.
* The ship was designed nicely. I know some don't like the design but we did!
* The food!! This was the biggest shock to us, honestly! Of all the preconceived notions we had going into this cruise, the food being good was not one of them! Places we loved: Sea Day Brunch (those croissants are ridiculously good!); Guy's Burger; Bonsai; Cucina del Capitano; the Steakhouse. Places that were pretty good: Guy's Pig and Anchor, Blue Iguana. Places that were our least favorite: Main Dining for breakfast and dinner.
The BAD:
* The ship is TIRED. Basically the only reason I could convince DH to go on this cruise (he is more of a land vacationer) is because it was a NEWish ship. Man oh man! That ship is ready for dry dock.
* That leads into not only being worn down but the ship was DIRTY. I am sorry but there was a lot of Carnival employees standing around looking busy but not actually cleaning and you could tell. The first thing we noticed when we entered our cabin was it did not feel clean. There was dust everywhere. The balcony looked like it had never been cleaned and not once did they hose it down. Every cruise we have ever been on the crew cleaned the balconies by hosing them; not this one. Also, the Havana area was not clean either; especially the pool! The first day when we went out on the balcony we both looked at the pool, looked at each other and thought...WELP that was a waste of money for the "Havana" because there is no way I am swimming in that! 🤮
- SIDE NOTE: The Havana (inside) was always freezing! It had to have been in like the 50's every single day.
- SIDE NOTE: The staff at the Havana area were by far the least friendly of the ship. We went there 1 time during our 6 night cruise and ordered a drink and they seemed put out by having to serve us. Same goes for the towel area. The chick seemed angry that she had to come over there to see if we wanted to check out towels.
The UGLY:
* While we did our best to enjoy this vacation and remember that anything was better than working, there was a "situation" that got us out to a VERY bad start and I am not sure the vacation feeling ever fully recovered. When we first got on board we immediately wanted to get down to business in relaxation mode, we cracked open a bottle of wine and stood on the balcony watching the birds at port before getting the muster drill notice. The muster drill said not to bring any drinks with you (which when we got to our station, some did not listen). So we left our bottle of wine (opened - it was a screw top) and headed off to muster. Don't ask me why we thought of it but we marked our wine line on the bottle and left. When we came back, our luggage had arrived outside our room and our two welcome bottles of water had been delivered....but we were SHOCKED....SOMEONE SERIOUSLY DRANK OUT OF OUR WINE BOTTLE (see photo)!!! We immediately grabbed the bottle and went to guest services. Sadly the line was so long. As we stood there, two employees asked if they could help us (before we got to the front desk) and after explaining to each of them we got the same response - no way, our employees would never do that, they know that is very serious...basically they were insinuating we were lying! When we reached the front desk and explained again, we got the same responses and that the room service manager would come to our room to speak with us. We told them what happened, when it happened...it would be simple enough to figure out who went in our room during this narrow window of time. When the room service manager came to our room, she was even more dismissive. They did not apologize, they did not offer to replace the bottle (obviously we weren't going to drink it now...it looked like someone took a swig out of it), she simply said they will let us know. Two or three days later we got a message telling us that they would be giving us two free drink coupons. It was a fine trade of value, it was an $11 bottle of wine, it was the principal of the matter that NO ONE ever checked the cameras, NO ONE even believed us....why would I spend my vacation standing in line, talking to multiple people, and messing around with this stupid thing if it wasn't true. We were both so disgusted with the WAY Carnival handled it. Later (on either the last or second to last day) we spoke with some other manager and told her if they weren't going to investigate for their customer, they should at least investigate for their own liability. An employee who steals a guests alcohol...we could be talking about a one off or we could be talking about an employee who has an alcohol problem. Either way, it was disturbing that Carnival NEVER bothered to check the cameras...there was literally a camera right outside our room.
* The one and only time we ate in the Main Dining for dinner was the first formal night. After dealing with the headache I described above, we thought we were done dealing with an incompetent customer service desk...we were wrong. We tried to order a bottle of San Pellegrino with dinner...NOPE, our room card was declined and we had to go to guest services...AGAIN. After going there we were told that it was because our credit card wasn't linked to the account, which is a lie; I personally did the check in and I know I linked it to mine and my DH name. Plus we had been on board, charging for the last two days with no problem. So back up to the room to grab our credit card and then back to guest services to "link it".
I am sure there are things I left out, all in all it was an OKAY vacation, but when I am spending my hard earned money and vacation days....OKAY isn't good enough. I will never sail on Carnival again. All the good was far outweighed by the bad.
We ended up leaving the bottle of wine upon our disembarkation...I so wanted to leave a snarky note but we never found out who committed the act. Hope Carnival appreciates losing a customer over an $11 bottle of wine. 😔
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On 1/28/2019 at 5:47 PM, Tree_skier said:
The exemption certainly wasn't only for people who do not drink. When I called RCi's CS I asked if I could purchase the drink package for myself and the refreshment pkg for my wife. The CS rep said absolutely and promptly sold me one of each. At no time was there any question about why she didn't want it or was there any admonition about not purchasing alcohol on my wife's card. There was absolutely nothing dishonest about what we did.
Ditto. I just called this week and booked an alcohol package for one and a refreshment package for one and they did not ask why. I do actually drink but not much, maybe 1-2 drinks a day, whereas my traveling companion will get her monies worth out of the alcohol package 😂
So when I want alcohol, I'll just buy it at cost and I'm okay with that. Royal Caribbean seems okay with that too 😋
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3 hours ago, scomar said:
Technically the sinks in a public restroom have up to 20 times the bacteria that a toilet seat has. If I were you I would steer clear of all public places, because I hate to tell you this, but germs are EVERYWHERE!!
Sitting on a toilet seat does not spread Norovirus. You also probably think going out in the cold without a coat makes you sick.
Who said anything about sitting on toilets spreading Norovirus? 😕 You're conflating two separate statements.
Just because germs are everything (thank you Captain Obvious) doesn't mean you can't attempt to minimize your exposure; e.g. washing your hands, using paper seat covers on public toilets, using paper towels on sink knobs and to open doors.
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1 hour ago, scomar said:
I can't imagine what goes through your mind when you have to sit on a public toilet compared to using a shower someone has shaved their legs in.
Why does it not surprise me that you are the type of person who actually SITS on a public toilet 😒 they have sanitary seat covers in most public restrooms for a reason, if they don't, as someone else mentioned, you hover.
Some people are just so nasty...no wonder there was a recent outbreak where several hundred people got Norovirus on RCL Oasis of the Seas.
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On 11/11/2018 at 2:33 PM, crooooze said:
I take my Guys burger to the buffet salad bar to get other fresher toppings, such crispy unshredded lettuce. Also get a nice heap of that chunky potato salad on the side.
I also make my own chilled coffee drink, by scooping a tablespoon of powdered cocoa from the top of the hot chocolate dispenser, stirring it into hot coffee, then pouring over a yellow or green plastic cup of ice... Make sure the Lido staff don’t see you doing this 🙂
On 12/2/2018 at 10:09 AM, scomar said:My wife hates shaving her legs in those small cabin showers. She usually goes to the spa shower, she says it is so much easier with all the room in the spa shower.
Gross and Gross!! Self serving food that is not meant to have your nasty hands in it and shaving your legs in a public shower...What is wrong with people! I once saw (on Carnival) someone drop a serving spoon on the ground in the lido, pick it up and stick it back in the serving dish...I obviously immediately flagged down staff who took the whole tray and discarded it.
Can we not all just be civilized adults...🤮
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4 hours ago, Raxter54 said:
My wife and I are looking for ways to keep our items secure at the beach while swimming. We've heard about the KYSS bags, but we're wanting other people's ideas on the subject. We were looking at this "safe" on Amazon, anyone have an opiniob/advice?
$80! 🥺
We usually use a small TSA lock and lock the zipper of our backpack and bring a bike lock (the rubber rope like kind) to lock the bag to the chair. It has always worked great and we can utilize stuff we already own as opposed to buying something new!
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17 hours ago, JaniceB said:
Interesting and sounds like a fantastic memory.
This doesn't help on this cruise, I was not able to locate any tour operators on a quick Google search. Perhaps you could table that 'bucket list' item for a future cruise to the Bahamas? My Google search came across UNEXSO in Freeport that apparently offers open ocean dolphin swims. I can't speak to this company at all, I haven't used them and only came across their information while searching online but thought maybe it'd be helpful to you.
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Thank you both!
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I know Carnival allows you to bring a 12 pk of up to 12 oz cans/cartons per person, my question is do they have to be in 12 pks? The beverage I want to bring only comes in 8 pks; could me and my partner bring 3 - 8 pks for a total of 24 cans? Or does it have to be 2 - 12 pks for a total of 24 cans?
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51 minutes ago, JaniceB said:
I appreciate the comments. I will not swim with sting Ray's even before the one pierced the heart of the Australian guy. My sister experienced a sting ray tail and spent 10 days in the hospital.
Are there any open water swims in the ports I am going to?
Probably none that can guarantee it, since the dolphins would be free to come and go. We did an open water dolphin boat tour in New Zealand but ultimately didn't get to swim with them because we could not find the right type of pod (there are protected species, sizes, etc. that you can and cannot swim with). We did end up finding seals that we got to hop in with and that was still a treat!
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1 hour ago, JaniceB said:
I really need some help figuring out which port has the best dolphin swim/encounter so we can pick the rest of our shore excursions. We are going to Ochos Rio, Grand Caymen and Cozumel in May on the Horizon.
Please pick tours that only allow the dolphins to be in open water and come to you - not trapped in 'cages'!
Maybe do the stingray tour in GC since they are open ocean tours and the stingrays come to you VOLUNTARILY?
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I would GUESS tallnthensome is likely on the right path in his response. I am on the sailing before yours (1/13) and I believe that cruise is sold out. So likely the 1/19 sailing is at capacity already for the perks associated with FTTF.
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3 minutes ago, Lil2Angelic said:
No it's based on points earned from actual play. So for instance if I go and load $2000 on to my player bank and then play only $200 and cash out the balance that's not going to qualify me for the drinks on us card. You may however see if the casino host will comp you a drink. Hope this helps!
Gotcha! Thanks so much for the quick reply!
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Has anyone ever put all their money up front on a table to qualify immediately for comped drinks knowing that you might not necessarily use all that money?
For example: Say I get $2k in chips at roulette on day 1, that should qualify me for free drinks, but during that day I only gamble say $200 and take the other $1,800 in chips with me to use throughout the rest of the cruise. Would that work?
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1 hour ago, TYinPalmSprings said:
If it makes you feel good sidestepping others in line, getting priorities over others, or through other perks, you can just pay extra for FTTF, which was available to me when I booked. I could easily afford it, but do not feel it is right to walk in front of others waiting in a line, or delay their services because I am, well, "special". Some people get off on this though, and brag about it. Not very nice. I was standing in a line in guest services on this last Vista cruise, and behind me was a young guy and his family. They looked unhappy. While chatting with him, he explained that they had saved for a while for this first cruise, something special for them, but they were so disappointed as a result of what they considered lesser treatment, and that they would never sail again. I assured him that it is not always like this, and that it depends on the cruise line, and the port, and Galveston Carnival cruises are notorious for this high amount of advanced level cruisers which pushes everyone else's services back. Other around me chimed in. I then let him in front of me. BTW, they have me classified as "gold". I gave away the free two bottles of water, gave away the free alcoholic drink, and did not walk around with the pin. Jealousy? hardly.
Who said anything about someone getting their kicks at others not receiving perks? This is a benefit to the cruiser from the cruise line for their loyalty. Just like if I use a reward card to rack up Starbucks purchases and after the 9th drink, the 10th is free. That's a perk because of loyalty...not so I can sidestep others who have to pay for their coffee.
If you feel so slighted by cruise line perks, you can take a vacation somewhere else. No one forces you to cruise.
I have a feeling you are not getting this concept, so I'll leave it at that.
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On 12/26/2018 at 1:18 PM, TYinPalmSprings said:
You mentioned, too, that you are Platinum/ Diamond. Not the same experience for those not afforded the perks of your level, like special arrangements for embarkation, disembarking. priority dining, first on tenders, and jumping lines, reserved seats etc. That does not leave a good taste in the mouth of new or lesser level folks. It can be the cause of a lot of frustration and set off tempers from those who wait in long lines to see others walk up in front of them and get immediate service. It may also cost Carnival as those may seek other lines or travel through other ports. I cruise various lines, and not primarily, or exclusively. Carnival (although I had my first experience with Carnival back in the 70s) , so I do see it a different way. As far as the shows, I compare them to those from recent and previous cruises not only on Carnival, but on other lines.
Hey, but good for you.
You do realize that the OP became Platinum from cruising frequently with Carnival 🤨 You too can have these same 'perks' by sailing on Carnival and racking up points. The jealous tone of your post is really not warranted towards the OP.
BTW - I say this as a person who also cruises various lines and so I am only Red in Carnival's loyalty program and get virtually no perks (I think I get like 1 free bottle of water...that's it).
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32 minutes ago, fozzy1975 said:
Well...its finally going to happen. Out of all the cruises I have taken I have NEVER had a rainy day until NOW! We leave to celebrate my husbands 50th birthday on the Liberty for a quick 3 night out of Port Canaveral this Thursday to the Bahamas. I was hoping the forecast would change, but its only getting worse. I mean 100% chance of rain you cant get worse than that! Its suppose to rain in the Bahamas too! There is a cold front coming in bringing in all the rain. Being from Florida I know it can rain for 10 minutes and not rain again but I have a feeling looking at the hourly this is different! I am not able to see it the sea day on Sat will be rain, but at this rate I am sure it will lol!! We are not inside people! We love to lounge in the sun all day and was looking forward on doing that 😞 Not into cooking demos, bingo or activities like that. Looks like we will have good use of cheers lol! I am also concerned with the weather that they will delay boarding! Being such a short trip i want all the time i can get!! As you can see, I am a worry wort!! If you have had a rainy day on a cruise please let me know what you did!! I keep telling myself a rainy day on a cruise ship is better that a rainy day at work!!! Does not make me feel any better lol!!
The saying "life is what you make of it" is apropos. My husband and I took a cruise that went to the Bahamas and it was raining, it was the first and only time we've ever been to the Bahamas. Instead of letting it get us down, we strapped on our vibram shoes (water shoes basically), threw on rain parkas and took the local bus to a hotel beach and bought a day pass. All the while it was raining and we we're virtually alone on the beach. We had great fun and the rain ended up clearing up. Once it cleared up more and more people showed up but due to the travel time it took them because they waited for the rain to clear first, we had what felt like a private beach almost all day. That was in 2013 (approx) and it is one of our fondest memories.
Don't fret, have a blast! It's always better than sitting at home/work!! 😁
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Buffet redesign for Carnival staff to serve vs. self serve (the buffet was like that on a recent Holland America cruise we went on and it felt way more sanitary)
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12 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:
There is no future cruise desk on board any longer.
Wow! I am glad you let me know; thanks so much!
How do past cruisers get better deals then? Just logged in on the website so they can add your VIFP number?
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I am looking to book a cruise for next year (summer 2019); I have found usually that the earlier you book, the better deal you get but in this case I am cruising in January 2019 so I wonder if I should just wait and can get a better deal if I book a future cruise on board. What say you CC experts? ;)
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We liked Breezes By The Bay (we have been twice) and it is right near the tender area, so it's very convenient.
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Here's a picture of the coconut water from the Vista...
[ATTACH]428316[/ATTACH]
Sent from my Space Phone 9169.1
Thank you!!!! :D
you are basically sitting with the table next to you!!
Deluxe Beverage Package Exploration Project
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted
My two favorites are:
White Russians (Kahlúa, Vodka, and Cream)
French Martini (Chambord, Vodka, and Pineapple Juice)