agc291

You don't have to be with little ones to enjoy the character breakfast (but you do need to make reservations). Lots of fun.

 

Enjoy.

 

Kathy

I say do it—it's your cruise, too! There's not room to accommodate every passenger at every event, and not everyone gets to (or wants to) do everything. Why shouldn't you enjoy any event during your cruise that you can make a reservation for?

This is what my boyfriend said too. Do you make reservations the same way you would specialty restaurants online?

You don't have to be with little ones to enjoy the character breakfast (but you do need to make reservations). Lots of fun.

 

Enjoy.

 

Kathy

This is info I was looking for! My only reservation is that we would be taking a table that would be making a child happy. Is there plenty of seating? I FEEL TERRIBLE about this but i really want to do it.

Seriously one of the best reviews I have ever read about anything. I found myself CRACKING up non stop and got a ton of good info for my Oasis cruise. You also have quite inspired me to write similarly, love your style!

We've purchased the RCL day trip excursions to Atlantis (including water park). The excursion includes transportation to and from Atlantis. However, the RCL bus is scheduled to pick everyone up about 12:30 p.m. We want to stay into the afternoon, though, and are willing to pay for our own taxi back to the ship.

 

Has anyone out there ever done that? Does the RCL excursion require you to leave at 12:30 p.m.? We want more time! (First-time cruiser and I didn't notice the departure transportation time until after we booked and paid for the excursion online.)

 

For the record, our ship doesn't leave the Nassau port till midnight., so rushing back to the ship at lunchtime isn't the issue.

there will be plenty of taxis to take you back at $4pp! Have a blast, we were there in October and cant wait to go back

Does anyone know if you are allowed to take shells that you find on the beach?

 

I understand that shells need to be "critter-free" and clean before they can be brought back, but I wasn't sure if it is even allowed, or just frowned upon to take them from the beach?

I always bring back the small generic sea shells that I find on the beach. Have done so on all my cruises. However, anything that could have something in it I leave behind. You can purchase conch shells etc in the shops. I got a huge one that is absolutely gorgeous for $10.

We got a beautiful conch shell a couple of weeks ago.

you funny thing is that I never got to the turtle tank or that one with the two small sharks in it.

We had a room in the beach tower and they directed us that way as we were heading out to aquaventure, otherwise we too would have missed it.

I wish they would better advertise what they have on the grounds and how to get to it. We basically just walked around and asked employees to get here or there.

Just noticed you sail at the end of this week. I wish you better weather than we had and a fantastic trip!

did you get any pictures from the predators tank, that is where I saw the most problems with.

 

But in any case it looks like they cleaned up their act. Good for them :)

I wish I had a chance to even see it:( Unfortunately Sandy changed our 35 hrs in port to 7 so we tried to see as much as possible.

Nikki....first of all, condolences regarding your grandfather who gave you the cruise as an engagement gift. You are entitled to your opinion regarding the customer service that you received from Carnival. You did get home safely and you did receive a 50% voucher that I know you'll never use and if it was transferable I would buy it from you.

 

It is difficult to put ourselves in another person's shoes at times. We were not on your cruise and we can only empathize with what you were going through, just like you can only empathize what it was like to be a crew member on your cruise. They work like dogs, are stuck working long hours and live in the bowels of the ship and then on top of everything else, have to put up with disgruntled passengers who may have ended up withdrawing their gratuities which results in money coming right out of their pockets and they're working for practically nothing under hurricane conditions. So, looking at it from their perspective, can you understand why they might have been a little on edge?

I really felt for the employees on our cruise. The bartender at the martini bar explained to us their normal schedule and how little off time they really have. When a port day changes to a sea day they are required to work on a day that they originally had at least partial time off. Although they are able to sometimes get off when the ship is in port, a lot of the time they want to just catch up on sleep. Really made me realize how hard these people work. They also dont just work in one area. Youll notice staff in the dining room also working afterwards in the lounges, disco etc late into the night.

Ill be adding a huge amount of my photos to my travel blog this week if anyone is interested.

What you don't seem to understand is that there are many of us who had our trip cancelled who would have gladly traded places with you. We don't care which ports we visit, or if we visit no ports at all.

 

If I sound frustrated, it is because I am. You at least got to cruise; I didn't. I am jealous of you! You may not understand this, but, it is true.

This was in response to Nikki Bees post which more or less asked questions about how our cruise itin was changed, which is why i quoted her post in my reply.

The post is not about you or you not getting to cruise. Yes you didnt get to cruise and you dont care what ports you visit. That has didly to do with me or my post.

 

I'm sure we all had an unpleasant experience because of this hurricane, I'm not sure what it was like on the other 2 ships but I just feel like we got the short end of the 3 ships at topic.

 

Miracle was supposed to:

Leave NYC on at 5pm Sunday Oct 21,

2 days at sea Mon Oct 22 and Tues Oct 23,

San Juan Weds Oct 24,

St. Thomas Thurs Oct 25,

Fri Grand Turk Oct 26,

2 days at sea Sat Oct 27 and Sun Oct 28,

get back to NYC 9am on Mon Oct 29.

 

We did come back a day early and reached New York at 9am on Saturday and therefore could not spend the night in the port because 1. we didn't find out we were arriving a day early until 4pm Saturday night (less than a day before) and 2. because the ports were closing they pushed the Miracle cruise, departing the same day we were scheduled to come back (Monday October 29) up one day which subsequently added one day, which Carnival is paying for any parking and gratuities. So those passengers get a longer cruise, don't have to pay extra for anything and all they had done were port of call adjustments. They hurried us off the boat at 9am sharp and crew had already begun scrapping the salt residue off the balcony hand rails. So it was a giant slap in the face, it was like our cruise gave a whole day away to the other cruise.

It took us 2 days to get from New York City which much further north than Baltimore and Virginia, and we arrived in San Juan (which is much more south east than Grand Turk) on the third day at 3:00pm. There wasn't much to do, most of the excursions were in the late morning/early afternoon. We had 6 and a half hours in one place, perhaps that came into play. How long did the other 2 ships have to spend at sea before reaching their port, how much time did the others get to spend in their port of call and what time of day did they get there?

We also had (as far as I'm concerned) the stupidest captain ever. We found out that the tropical storm turned into a hurricane our first full day at sea. There was no talk to diverting our ship once during the cruise, they didn't even make an effort. Tuesday was our first indication that there was unsettled weather, the boat rolled and pitched most of the day but calmed down in the night as we moved east away from the storm. We were told at 930pm on Weds Oct 24 that we would have to turn around and go home, and we would be at sea for the next 5 days. The captain was going around the hurricane, way east to around Bermuda, he would then swing west in front of the hurricane to get us back to New York. Thurs Oct 25 was a bad day, high winds, over cast but we were going 25-30 knots, which made the ride bumpy but just a little worse than Tuesday. Thursday night all hell broke loose, the ship was pitched to the right most of the night and we had 20 foot waves and 10-15 foot swells. The wind was howling and it was impossible to open the door to my balcony. This is when we slowed to about 17-20 knots but there were points we were doing 25. Twice a day we would get an announcement from the captain about the weather, and our progress through it and how far we were from home. Not once did we ever get an answer as to when we would be getting to New York. By Friday we seemed to be out of the worst of it, but everyone had cabin fever and just wanted to get off the boat. We got an announcement at 9am Friday that we were 480 nautical miles from new york, we were going 17-20 knots and this is when I started to get really ticked. I did the math and given our speed and distance left to cover, as of Friday morning we should have been home in 27 hours, putting us in New York on Saturday morning. Even if we dropped to 15 knots we still would have made it by saturday night. But I just had this feeling from the second we found out it was going to take 5 days to get back home they were milking it. Trying to drag the time home out as much as they could so they wouldnt have to give us any actual refund. We spent 141 hours suck on a boat, thats about 6 days all together. 4 of those days were rain, wind, and crap. I was understanding until we couldn't seem to get answers to our questions. I told the cruise director my math equation and politely asked when we were getting home and if there was a factor preventing us from knowing, he then took out a picture of the hurricane and said "see this biiiiig hurricane? we have to go allllll the way around it" in the most condescending, patronizing voice, he spoke to me like I was a child asking him the same question for the 100th time. So thats about when I lost it, 2+2 doesnt equal 5 days at sea. We got a 50% off credit when, from what I've read others dont get anything for worse things happening, because their idiots! All we wanted were answers, all we got were twice daily announcements about how fast we were going, how far we were from getting there, our longitude and latitude, the depth of the ocean, the temp of the ocean (cus we were really going swimming in it or something) useless info which lead to anger, frustration, agitation and a bummer feeling all over the ship.

At the end of the day, I payed for 100% of a cruise and got 37% of it, because carnival doesnt seem to want to part with their money (i dont either and they have more of it than me...) I get to take another crummy cruise at half price. And we have no proof that we get 50% off, no discount code, didn't get an email, no phone call. So as far as I know until someone gets this discount in their hot little hands, dont put too much stock into it. Lets say of all 3 ships there were 3000 people who are pissed and wont sail carnival again. If they tell 2 people how much they hate it and dont recommend it, and they tell 2 people, and they tell 2 people, ect. Eventually some damage is going to be done. Dont sit around here wasting your time fighting with each other, talk to someone who can do something. We're the customer, and at the moment they may not think we're right, but in time they will see the hard way that we are.

Another thing our captain managed to talk to abc news live from the boat while sailing us through a hurricane. Yeah awesome priorities, you would think Carnival has a spoksperson for that.....

 

nikki bee

i understand your frustration but trust me you are wasting your breath on this thread. According to everyone on this thread that didnt go through this experience we are spoiled brats who are not the cruise type (stupidest thing I have ever heard). Being stuck on a ship which is rocking and rolling and full of people throwing up is wearing on you. Yes we booked during hurricane season, we were aware that storms can happen.

Our itin was 6 days with a sea day at each end, wed & thursday were full days in Nassau and friday was a day in freeport.

It was changed to

Monday -Norfolk

Tuesday -Sea day

Wednesday - 7 hrs in Nassau (we arrived late bc we had to return to norfolk for a med emergency on monday night)

Thursday- Sea day

Friday- Sea Day

Saturday- Norfolk at 11 am

It was also raining and windy for us the entire time and a lot of activities were cancelled.

We were in the dining room so the announcement that we would return a day early was made sometime after 6. After that announcement we were going 20 knots to make it back.

San Juan is a great departure port as someone mentioned earlier if you are interested. We did the Carnival itin out of there last year and it was fantastic. I am sorry you didnt enjoy your time in San Juan but there is a lot to do there in walking distance from the port.

As far as you not getting anything as proof for your discount... did you not receive a letter in your stateroom about your discount? We got ours delivered to your room and at the bottom there is a link for you to follow once you book another cruise. I am sure you can call the guest care dept and get the info from them. I checked out the site and it looks like you just enter your booking info from this cruise and the booking info for your next cruise.

"A spokesman for the line said: "Carnival Cruise Lines has made a number of itinerary modifications as a result of Hurricane Sandy, including altering routes, keeping ships at sea an extra day, delaying embarkation days and cancelling two voyages. In the case of the Carnival Miracle, the ship arrived in New York a day early and departed that same afternoon to stay ahead of the storm. " How was it possible for the Miracle to head out of New York a day earlier than scheduled without leaving more than half its passengers behind? I am just curious. Was the ship half full or did most people manage to get to the pier a day early somehow.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1729609

They are on the cruise right now and mentions in one post that a crew member said there were only about 1000 people on board.

Exactly. I am amazed you still don't get it. It doesn't matter if all three ships sailed side by side the entire cruise and docked at the same times. There are financial reasons why Carnival made the decisions they made whether you choose to recognize it or not. You claim to believe that Carnival doesn't owe you anything, yet you complain about unfairness. Say three people pay $1 for a scratch off lottery ticket, 1 wins $50 and two win $20 do you think those that won $20 should call the lottery commission to complain? Chock it up to luck if that sits better with you. You chose the wrong ship to win the big entitlement prize.

You are the one that does not get it. Buying lottery tickets is completely different.

You are saying that it was a financial decision with nothing to back it up except that you seem to think you are a genius.

It makes 0 sense that these people were all in the same situation and all given something different. The only difference is the # of days except according to you obviously those people on the Pride & Miracle paid more so they got more. With no knowledge whatsoever of the cost of any of these cruises and the rate at which the fares changed.

I don't see where a Florida cruise got 25? off, which ship was that?

 

I see where the Pride was canceled and they got 100% back and then 25% off another cruise.

I am on the phone with Carnival now and that is what I was told by the rep.

There were multiple ships in Florida that also had issues according to the storm.

The Pride cruise was cancelled and they were given a full refund and 25% off. The Glory cruise was cancelled and they were just given a full refund.

7-8 day cruises received 50% off

5-6 day cruises received 20% off

 

With out going back and looking at all the posts this is what it looked like to me.

 

Yes you were all in the same situation and it stinks that you booked during huricane season and there was actually a huricane, but all things were NOT equal on the different cruises.

So one day = 30%?

What about the 5 day cruises in Florida that received 25% ?

Again there is no logic to this.

People were given different amounts depending on the ship you were on.

Why should the cruise lines compensate anything for weather related changes? Especially during hurricane season, since these are priced as such because of the chance of bad weather.

I am not understanding why you and the rest of these posters do not understand it is not that we think we are owed this because we were in a storm. It is the fact that we were all in the SAME situation and were given different things. If they do decide to give something it should be across the board not you get this and you get that.

Please correct me if this is wrong: Original itinerary:

 

Miracle, from New York, was to be an 8 night cruise, 1)San Juan 2)St. Thomas 3)Grand Turk

 

Glory, from Norfolk, was to be a 6 night cruise, 1)Half Moon Cay 2)Freeport

 

Pride, from Baltimore, was to be a 7 day cruise, 1)Grand Turk 2)Half Moon Cay 3)Freeport

The Glory itinerary was 6 nights to Nassau for Wedneday at 11:30 am- 10 pm on Thursday. Freeport on Friday.

I thought that the Miracle & Pride were both doing the Port Canaveal, Nassau, Freeport itin but I could be wrong.

All 3 cruises only stopped 1 of the 3 original port days.

Both the Glory and the Miracle came back a day early. The Pride came back the night before but passengers were given the option to stay on board until morning.

The only difference is the length of the cruises.

Glory a 6 day, Pride a 7, Miracle an 8. if the logic was that they have more days in their cruise then why did the Miracle and the Pride receive the same compensation?

These three ships left from the same port, same itinerary, same amenities, and had the same cabin rates?

Obviously not but again you are missing the point.

Carnival Miracle from New York to Port Canaveral, Nassau, Freeport

Carnival Pride from Baltimore to Port Canaveral, Nassau, Freeport

Carnival Glory from Norfolk to Nassau (11:30 am Wed - 10 pm Thursday), Freeport

All 3 ships only made one stop and ours was shortened from 2 days to 7 hours.

The Glory & Miracle were brought home a day early, the Pride was brought home the night before but were given the option to stay on board until morning. I am unsure if the Miracle was given this option.

There are ships out of Florida that also only received 20% off and went through the same experience.

So you see, our point is

same week

same storm

same circumstances

different solutions

Another situation that has come up is that both the following sailings on the Glory & Pride were cancelled.

People on the Glory are receiving a full refund, people scheduled to be on the Pride are being given a full refund as well as 25% off a future cruise.

Although the Pride may be given that because some passengers were actually able to board the ship and then were made to debark as opposed to fully cancel the cruise the day before like the Glory.

The epic battle of entitlement. Joy! Carnival kept everyone safe through a natural disaster. They probably gave some people 20% and others 50% because of the rate you paid for your cruise. If you sailed on a budget sailing where the interiors are going for a few hundred bucks you probably got 20% and those that were six hundred plus probably got 50%. Either way they compensated you for something outside of their control so kudos to Carnival.

No.. everyone on our cruise received 20% off, the Pride and the Miracle received 50% off regardless of if you booked a suite or interior room.

Before I am asked "well how do you know the entire cruise got the same discount?" Feel free to check our roll call, also the letter that was left in all of our cabins was blown up to poster size and put in the area by the atrium elevators on deck 5.

Again, no one seems to be grasping that this is no about being entitled to a discount. It is that the ships were in the same storm and were given different things.

Just off a week of misery on the Fascination. To be fair, no the hurricane is not their fault, but the way Carnival handled it is. 20% off of a cruise most first timers will never take is a joke. We were off the coast of Jax and could see lights, but could we dock....no. If we docked a day early the rocking and puking would have stopped, but the casino would of had to close. They were not about to let that happen, so it was money over people, as usual.

I just think everyone should get the same thing. Yes we lost a day so we will be given that day refunded but that was announced the day after we were given the 20% off. If everyone got nothing or everyone got 20% that would be fair but there is a big difference between 20 & 50%.

Just off the Pride last night and we got $29.04 per person refunded for the 2 ports we missed. Supposed to have 3 stops, managed to get one of them in. And we also got 50% off of a future 2 to 7 night cruise. Our cruise wasn't shortened per say. We arrived back to Baltimore last night and were given the option to disembark completely or return to the ship and disembark in the morning. We chose to go ahead and disembark since we had driven to the port. No biggie for us. I thought the compensation was more than fair considering I know the ports are never a guarantee.

 

We still had a blast through all the rocking and rolling and like I said I think the fact that they offered any kind of future cruise discount was really above what they had to do to, especially half off! :D

50% off huh? Man we shouldve taken the Pride. No, Carnival doesnt owe us anything but it is quite unfair that we are given 20% and you are given 50%. We lost a day on our cruise and only got to visit 1/3 days like you did.

We were very unhappy with our cruise regarding the first couple of days. Service was so so, food was so so and nothing was as good as it was on our last cruise. They made us feel like they were doing us a favor by having us on board. The weather changes were something I was expecting so it didnt bother me much, we got to go to the Atlantis for the couple hours in port which was nice.

Ok I am a bit confused... what am I going to be opaying for the hotel Comfort suites? Is it $242.40 total or more, 2 adults and a 13 y/o. Please help:

 

ReservedName:SUSIE CONNERLength of Stay:1 NightNumber of Rooms:1Rate Program: Government/Military Rate - (An eligible party with identification must occupy the room to qualify for the Government/Military Rate.)Cancellation Deadline:If you need to change or cancel this reservation, you may do so up until Sunday, November 18, 2012, before 4pm local hotel time. The reservation cannot be cancelled through email.Estimated Total:$242.40 (US Dollar) including taxes of: 18.00%, 17.95 PER PERSON PER DAY Check In Time: 3:00 PMCheck Out Time: 11:00 AMSpecial Request:EARLY CHECK IN FROM A CRUISE SHIP IN PORTThis information will not be viewed by the hotel until your date of arrival. Special requests are subject to availability.Please note:Must have one adult 21 years or older in each room. Energy surcharge: 12.95 per person per night. Housekeeping gratuities: 5.00 per person per night These are additional charges not included in nightly estimated total and must be paid directly at the hotel. Persons 16 and older are charged as adults. 3rd/4th person charged 40.00 per night + tax and service charges.

We saw the same info when we were comparing booking directly with Atlantis vs. Comfort Suites. All of fees Comfort Suites has extra on the bottom is included in your total cost when you book through Atlantis.

Do a quick price compare totaling all those fees for CS vs the total at Atlantis. Our difference was about $5 so it made sense for us to book direct with Atlantis.

HOWEVER, I called and spoke to Atlantis regarding any extra fees etc, the assured me there was nothing else I would pay for except for extras like food, lockers, etc. When we checked in they informed me of a $150 per night hold on my card which wouldnt be released for 31 days. I am unsure of the policy or deposit for incidentals at CS but I would check. I read the terms & conditions for Atlantis and called twice and this was not mentioned so I made a small fuss and they decided they didnt need to charge me this. However anything I wanted like a locker or food needed to be charged direct to my card instead of using my room key.

Thank you so much! What did you think of the Glory?

To be honest, ignoring the itinerary changes from Hurricane Sandy, the rest of the cruise was pretty disappointing. Service was not as good, food was not as good. The ship was nice, very comparable to the Destiny & Victory which we enjoyed as far as the layout goes. We think the lack of effort was due to the ship going into dry dock next week but it was pretty bad. It just felt like they were doing us a favor by having us there. Very different atmosphere from our first two cruises. We have been wanting to try the Allure or Oasis so it was a nice push in that direction.