Bookster99

4 hours ago, pyropoodle said:

I learned that people will randomly put their finished room service trays outside of your room and you will most likely never know the reason or figure out who is doing it.    WHY????????

 

edited to say, this is not a valuable lesson, but it did teach me that little things that I never know would bother me *could* in fact bother me, and the lesson is just to let it go and don't sweat the small things.  go with the flow . 

This has given me a great idea: I'm going to put our room service trays in front of random people's rooms so they can wonder, too!

I am going to cruise, for the most part, the most economical way possible. For some cruises to less exotic ports, that's a balcony. For more expensive cruises, it's an oceanview, or inside cabin. I do track my points: If they are offering perks, I want to take advantage of them. But I don't pick my cruises that way. We usually wind up with Carnival because they have the most economical cruises...usually.... Haven't had a bad cruise yet. Wait: Not entirely true: I did cruise on the most expensive cruise once that RC offered. This didn't apply to everyone, but some of the people on that cruise were not friendly at all. Vowed never again to cruise on the high-season, expensive booking! Less fun, more money.

It kind of depends when you book, and how often you call. I cruised in July to Cuba, and managed to get several credits after the cruise was paid for, that went towards OBC. Paid for quite a few drinks. Sometimes there is the risk of losing OBC, and sometimes, like the last time, i would have had to pay a much higher deposit. The higher deposit was a winner, though: It all counted towards to cruise!

I really liked the E-cards, and they did lose our order of $100 cards once. However, we stick to the $500 cards. Those are shipped differently, and come quickly and without problem. We had a remaining balance of $60 for the cruise, and it felt weird to just pay it and not wait for the physical cards to show up! 

Yes. They had USB outlets by the beds, and on the counter. I loved that ship!

I was booked on The Paradise this past summer, and there were several drops after our final payment. I called each time, and got shipboard credit. They do compare apples to apples: Sometimes it has to do with the amount of deposit you paid, or the shipboard credit you got when you signed up. Paid for quite a few bloody marys...

And basically everyone takes the lowest tag number available. We had a guy in our roll call who said he wanted to be last off the ship yet he took a low number. I was late learning about the new system and the lowest number when I got to it was 21.

Yeah, we were almost late getting our tags, too! But we had lots of flexibility, and food was available the entire time we had to wait. Chillaxin.

Hi, gang! Cruising over Christmas on the Carnival valor. We have a balcony cabin. I have heard through the grapevine that we can request a fan, and fans will be provided on a first come, first served basis. With a balcony, are we going to need a fan? I figure we can just enjoy the balmy island breeze. However, what has been your experiences?

Did the Paradise, and loved it. Plenty of ship to enjoy. Didn't miss being on a larger ship at all, and actually felt like it was a bit easier to get around. I will be on the Valor over Christmas, so I wouldn't say no to that ship either. I was on the similarly sized Conquest, and loved the ship. But it was a bit difficult at times negotiating around that huge block in the middle of the ship they carve out for the galley.

Sailing on Valor over Christmas. Looking forward to trying the new system. They also have a new disembarcation system: You pick up the tags yourself based on when you wish to leave the ship. We got to try that on our summer cruise.

I wanted to mention the free bottle of wine for a first night reservation. We are doing that on our Christmas cruise on the Valor. It did take a few days to get the confirmation email back.

We are so doing this!

We are doing a 4 day ----to Cuba and it is the week before Thanksgiving next year, so I am hoping it will not be too crazy. I mean we like to have a good time but we are very nice to the crew and other passengers. Thanks for the review!

I imagine Cuba will be a bit different: It's not the same sort of trip as a 4 day booze cruise out of Galveston: You really have to want to go to Cuba! We did a 5 day on the Paradise to Cuba, and the maturity level was pretty high.

I have been noticing this for a few days. I am hopeful that September 1st they will restock.

That's good! I got a gift card at Target using my Target card and got 5% off but 10% is even better.

I didn't know Target offered 5% off. That will be my back up plan.

Never had that experience.

Don't know if this is useful, but we did a 7 day on Carnival Conquest. My wife had an ankle injury, so she was in a wheelchair. It was easy enough getting her on the ship and around the ship. As long as you have someone to push, you should be OK with a wheelchair. Our challenge from that cruise was our departure port of New Orleans: NOT wheelchair friendly!

I would also like to know what cabin you were in! We have an oceanview room, and are sailing on the Paradise 7/2/18.

Cruising on her July 2nd. Reports are that all has been repaired with duct tape and WD-40. Looking forward to the sailing.

Thanks for the insights! We are sailing on her July 2nd.

Great review! Boarding her on July 2nd. Looking forward to the cruise!

How much of a price break? I wouldn't mind an obstructed view so much. Let us know what you think.

Not that it matters, but I wonder how that works on a 5 day cruise? I'll be on the Paradise starting 7/2/18. If they do one a night, that's a small portion of the list... Even a double feature wouldn't complete it.... Anyway, it doesn't matter: I don't cruise to watch movies. They could show anything and it would be fun to watch in a pool!

I must have pepper grinders, tablecloths, chocolate on my pillows. If not, the cruise is horrible and I want a full refund! ;')

Thank you for your comments on the ship. We are going in July. We already have Cuba excursions booked, so no worries their. Between the approved excursion and the Tropicana, and the Visa charges, this will be an expensive stop! I have heard they now have USB ports in the room convenient to the bed, so we can plug in our phones and still play with them before falling asleep. Is that true? I have also heard there is a market about a block away that you can get t-shirts, rum, coffee, cigars, magnets, etc...