Janet&Carl

Traffic in the centre of Athens moves slowly - it is very congested. The time needed would depend on where your hotel is located. The closer to the centre the longer it will take 🙂 But yes it is a short distance easily done in 15 - 20 minutes with no traffic jams.

We knew ours was non refundable because it stated it in the email small print when we booked the offer..... "OBC is NOT: refundable, transferable, redeemable for cash. " It also states this when you apply Stock OBC.... "This benefit is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash and, cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account" So I guess I knew by reading the fine print when I booked and when I applied for stock credit.

WE are the same as you and except for the Casino OBC we have the other 3 and non of those are refundable.

This picture shows you how close the ferries are to the cruise terminal - there was a shop front luggage storage last time I was there located at around the "g" in the word "Rydges sydney Harbour" on the map. You can see it when you come out of the terminal building. If you take the ferries you would walk to the green "F"s

If your cruise ends at Sydney Passenger Terminal and not "White Bay" there is luggage storage across the road from the port As for doing something - walk round to the ferries buy a ticket and ride 🙂 the zoo is a good option if you havent been there and you like that kind of thing. The ferries are often and cheap and usually run on time.

Hi MM - we travelled with friends - we had the top package they had the normal one - the wines that they were able to choose from was much more limited. I was able to choose anything on the list (including Champagne) except bottles - didnt need to open a bottle - I chose a glass of a particular wine and the bottle was opened for me 🙂 I havent cruised since the shut down but the menus (google Costa Cruise bar menus) were colour coded. You could easily see the difference of what was included and what was not. The premium plus had a brown dot - the premium yellow and the cheers ? was green. So if you look up menus you will see the difference in drinks

I have On Board Credit and will be travelling with my elderly mother. We will not be doing excursions because she is nearly blind and doesnt want to sit on a bus all day doing nothing. Are there any exclusions to what we can spend the credit on ? Can we use it for gratuities ? If we have to pay a cash deposit will the OBC be used first ?

Its different for different sailings - I received an email which stated (pasted and not altered) " All guests will be required to present acceptable proof of a negative COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) taken within three days prior to embarkation. Please note that a document of recovery is not applicable for this Transpacific cruise and ALL guests will be required to provide a negative test result. " So in order to be answered you need to check the Carnival Covid page and see what it states regarding your destination and length of cruise. Without the specific information of which ports you visit and length of cruise no one can answer your question. https://www.carnival.com.au/legal/covid-19-legal-notices

I have never been in the ship Casino before but I am taking my 92 year old mother on one next week. Is this easy to do ? Would you be able to tell me what are the steps to setting up an account ? Thanks 🙂

The current requirements don't say anything about providing proof of recovery. Just about all guests testing prior to cruising. Check the have fun be safe link https://www.carnival.com/legal/covid-19-legal-notices/covid-19-guest-protocols

I am amazed that the October 23 Spain Intensive destination evening has been decided and published but not the November 2022. We are sailing on the Pursuit on 19th November Spain Intensive and yet we have nothing to guide us yet. Why would that be ?

I've read on this board somewhere that some people take their favorite bottle of spirits onboard to suppplement the included drinks. ??? If this is correct and you are allowed to take liquor onboard are you allowed to drink it anywhere or is that restricted to your stateroom only ?

duplicate info

No ... I read it that if you are on a cruise longer than 16 days you are still to test. This has made it more difficult for me. It was that you could do an antigen test 3 days before sailing now its one day. This means I can no longer do this prior to catching my flight - its going to take me nearly two days to get there and I cant book in for a test in Seattle. So now I have to pay more for a PCR at the airport before I leave. ............" All new guidelines are effective for cruises departing on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 or later, and include: Vaccinated guests must continue to provide evidence of their vaccination status, either through VeriFLY or at embarkation. Pre cruise testing is no longer required, except for the following destination regulations: Canada: a PCR test can be taken 3 days before sailing or an antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Bermuda: a PCR test can be taken 4 days before sailing or an antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Greece: a PCR or antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Australia: a PCR test 3 days before sailing or a self-administered antigen test 1 day before sailing" And I must state here that it is not a destination regulation that requires this test as there are no such regulations in place here. It is purely a Carnival regulation.

we have found Italy one of the easiest countries in Europe to get around by train and have taken many DIY day trips from our Med cruises. The trains are delightful and easy. The ticket machines are multi lingual and you press the button for English and everything is simple.

you are not the only one confused they have changed my 3 day prior test to 1 day prior - as I am travelling for 2 days to get there I am going to find this very difficult as I can no longer test at the Airport prior to flying. Has anyone sought clarification on this ? Are we now allowed to take our own rapid antigen test without proctoring. This timeline now makes my testing 1. more expensive and 2. harder to get before travel given that it takes me two days to get to Seattle for my cruise. All new guidelines are effective for cruises departing on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 or later, and include: Vaccinated guests must continue to provide evidence of their vaccination status, either through VeriFLY or at embarkation. Pre cruise testing is no longer required, except for the following destination regulations: Canada: a PCR test can be taken 3 days before sailing or an antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Bermuda: a PCR test can be taken 4 days before sailing or an antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Greece: a PCR or antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Australia: a PCR test 3 days before sailing or a self-administered antigen test 1 day before sailing

sorry wrong forum this was supposed to go in the Carnival thread lol

actually Australia had NO ships at all for two years NOne, Nada, Zero. I don't know where Carnival Splendor was but it wasnt Australia. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-18/first-cruise-ship-for-two-years-docks-in-sydney/100996860

Splendor has not been in Australia recently at all - you are wrong there. We have not had any ships here at all since Covid close down until very recently and Splendor was not one of the ones that restarted.

Has anyone sought clarification on this ? Are we now allowed to take our own rapid antigen test without proctoring. This timeline now makes my testing 1. more expensive and 2. harder to get before travel given that it takes me two days to get to Seattle for my cruise. All new guidelines are effective for cruises departing on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 or later, and include: Vaccinated guests must continue to provide evidence of their vaccination status, either through VeriFLY or at embarkation. Pre cruise testing is no longer required, except for the following destination regulations: Canada: a PCR test can be taken 3 days before sailing or an antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Bermuda: a PCR test can be taken 4 days before sailing or an antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Greece: a PCR or antigen test can be taken 2 days before sailing Australia: a PCR test 3 days before sailing or a self-administered antigen test 1 day before sailing

We have done both several times. Like chalk and cheese. MSC Yacht club they cant do enough for you - the perfect cruise for us. Costa suites the first time we didn't even see our butler - not once. The second time we did but he was the laziest butler ever. Didn't do anything and referred us on every time. Couldn't serve us drinks from the bar couldn't show us how to use the unfamiliar coffee machine. Could not provide tea bags instead of coffee pods etc... All he did was bring us the provided pre dinner snack and the next days diary d'bordo. You do get on the first tender onshore and you may or may not get to eat in the Club restaurant, that depends on which ship you are on. And that is just about the only perk of being in a suite. The third Costa cruise coming up and we don't expect any different. Msc I came out of my suite to go to the bar for a pre dinner G&T and heard my butler say "no, no, no madame I will do it for you. We were escorted to dinner. We were boarded priority at every port, no queues. You will always get a special restaurant. You will always have access to the Top Sail Lounge. You will have access to the spa area and a seperate pool deck. And the staff will bend over backwards to make your holiday special.

I always book direct. I like to negotiate my own terms and not have someone do that for me. I find it easier to have the cruise I want that way than be told "it can't be done" by someone who may have never cruised with the line themselves.

Yes wine is included in the package. There are several "brands" of white, red, rose and sparkling such as prosecco or brut that you can choose from. The restaurants only serve soft drinks, wines and beers and do not have spirits which might explain why they mention that. All of the Costa ships we have been on so far have had a "Wine Bar" as one of their lounges. They also serve wine in other bars but may not have the whole selection.

We are Suva on a Saturday and Port Denarau on a Sunday

Not guests, staterooms. Its not in the planner. I do a dummy booking and add up all the empty cabins in each category then take it away from the total number of cabins on the ship (which I counted on the deck plan). I have been doing this every week. We did get to 110 staterooms booked but that dropped after final payment due day. Interestingly, it was the top end suites that seemed to become vacant.