Fydlstyx

I did a search for that cruise and it looks like there were other performers and shows. Did you go to their shows? Have a nice cabin to sleep in? All your meals? All of the ports that were included in the 7 day trip?

 

Since you only missed out on one performers shows I think that the offer of tickets to a concert, etc. was pretty nice.

Yes, we enjoyed a lot of the cruise, and that is why I don't feel entitled to a FULL refund. It wasn't just a show that was missed by Trace leaving the ship. The artists actually spent a fair amount of time mingling with passengers, and there was a photo meet and greet, so I feel like I missed out on that entire experience, you know?

Should the travel agency simply keep the money refunded by Trace Adkins as profit? It had to cost a small fortune to book him to be on the ship the entire week.

I agree that the offer of a ticket to a future show (provided by Trace Adkins) is a nice gesture, and I appreciate it.

While I enjoyed many of the other musical guests, I would never have even considered booking the cruise had Trace not been a part of it. The cruisers seem to be split into two camps, with one group being satisfied with the ticket offer, and one group believing we deserve some monetary compensation.

Thanks for responding. :)

We used Scotch removable clear poster adhesive strips and mounting squares. Our door was completely covered on the last cruise, and when I took the decorations down, it was as if they had never been there.

I was on board the NCL Pearl during the Country Cruise. As compensation for Trace leaving the ship, his representatives have offered everyone on board a ticket to a future concert and a meet and greet opportunity. This is great. However, I believe that the travel agency will be reimbursed by Trace's camp, and that the money refunded to the agency should also be shared with the passengers who paid a great deal of money to be on the cruise.

There are some who believe the concert ticket should be enough. I feel justified in asking for a partial refund.

What are your thoughts?

Ive never tipped the room steward before (just went with the auto tipping on sail and sign). Question for the people who DO tip more- how much do u give them and do u do it at the beginning or the end of the week. Ive always had good service in the past but I feel I want to give them something more on my upcoming Dream cruise.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

I am a daily tipper. I just leave a couple of dollars and some sort of small gift on the bed when I go to dinner or go ashore each day.

of course you will pay the full rate. plus take a spot away from someone who wants to snorkel.

 

can she instead snorkel from land at one of the stops? even if on her own or through a private excursion?

Why should his wife have to snorkel from land at one of the stops rather than take an excursion she wants to take? What an awful comment. Good grief, he isn't "taking a spot" away from anyone. As others have said, he will be charged full fee and will be accompanying his wife on an excursion on which he has as much right to be as anyone else.

Honestly, every single time I come to these boards, I am surprised at how downright rude people can be.

 

here's the photo, what do you think?

 

I think, since John Heald is all about hearing from cruisers and likes to help them out, etc., he also ought to be privy to THIS kind of stuff. I would post this sucker to his FB page if I were you, and tell him the name of the guy in the pic. I also would send a copy to the corporate office.

 

What a jerk.

I have to say we were extremely disappointed in our cruise on the Magic this past May. Please forgive me but this ship had some real rednecks and the class of people just did not measure up to past cruises. We had drunks that would get in fights at 3 am and the ship was so hot. We had one redneck that threw his glass of beer at my daughter, because she was cheering for the Memphis Grizzles.... and they were loosing. I have never experienced such horrible behavior in any of our previous cruises. I agree with the person that Carnival lowering their prices to such low rates people that would not cruise are not cruising on Carnival. With Carnival's response to my complaints I think I am going to look for another cruise line.

That behavior is classless and unacceptable, of course, but am I the only person who thinks it is ironic that so many people, in an attempt to show their disgust and to demonstrate how much better they are than those they consider lower forms, feel compelled to throw out denigrating names like "redneck" and "breeder"?

Heya guys, how are you?

 

Gambee sent me a text a little bit ago to ask everyone to please not post in this thread your vote for which cruise he liked better.

 

Since he is at work, he asked me to start a new thread/poll in the NCL boards for him. Please vote here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1858625

 

Thanks guys!

That is much appreciated by more than just Gambee, I bet. :) Awesome review, pics, and videos. I thank you, Gambee, for taking the time!

Our trip would entail 16-days in total starting on our actual anniversary (May 1st) and ending on our return on the 16th. So I took a large sheet of paper that would fill the inside of the box, drew a circle with 16-slices that denoted each and every day of our journey. On the outside of the box I taped a paper plate onto the cover with a picture of a heart-shaped pizza with a question: I know a place where we can get some really good pizza; interested?

That did it. Thanks for making me cry at work. :) What a wonderful surprise. She must have been so happy! I can't wait to read the whole review.

Sherry

The view from the James Island Connector:

 

An anti-cruise flag hanging from a house downtown:

(please note these people are in the minority here)

 

Wow. I have never seen that before. I did not know there were anti-cruise people! I am looking forward to reading your review. Thanks for sharing it and your pics!

Sherry

Thanks for checking out my review. I'm glad you liked it. I will be on the Ecstasy 5 weeks from today and on the Sensation 6 weeks from today. This will be our first back-to-back. I will definitely be doing a picture review for both of those cruises.

My dad is my best friend. There is no person that I would rather cruise with. We are like 2 peas in a pod.

I, too, was really happy to see a new review from you. I love your pics and descriptions of everything. I wish it had been a longer cruise so I could keep reading (I bet you wish that, too....lol).

Sherry

So for those that argue you don't need a passport for a closed loop cruise, how do you answer this poster from another thread?

Don't fly on the same day you plan to cruise?

Yes, it is about risk vs reward. But be reminded that the birth certificate you need in place of a passport is an official government document with the raised seal, not the form the hospital hands out. The risk here is losing it for some reason. My experience has been that it is much more difficult to replace a government issued birth certificate than a government issued passport. Of the two, I would rather lose my passport, which I can get replaced in a matter of days, if not hours, than the birth certificate, which will take months.

 

Like you said - it's all about how much risk is a person willing to take. For me, I take enough risks going about my daily life than to deliberately subject myself to even more of it while on vacation. It's a personal choice, so do whatever you feel is worth the risk to you. I prefer to travel with as low a risk quotient as possible.

In Pennsylvania, if you or either of your parents have ever served in the military, it is free to obtain copies of your government issued birth certificate. A notary public with a messenger license that makes regular trips to the capitol city can get a copy for you in a day or two.

I have several copies of all of our birth certificates because my mom happens to be a notary and my spouse happens to have been in the military. She picked up copies for all of my family when we were unable to unearth one of my daughters' birth certs. Had we lost her passport, I believe it would have taken much more time to get a replacement, and I am sure it would not have been free. :)

I am not arguing with your choice - I just thought it might be good info for people to have regarding obtaining official copies of their birth certs. If PA provides them free for anyone who has served in the military (and for their immediate family members), I bet other states do, as well.

On this thread, I see so many questions about people asking about the need for a passport when cruising to various destinations.

 

My question is in this day in age, why doesn't everybody have a passport? I mean the US requires foreign visitors to have one when coming to the US, so why is it so hard to understand that US citizens should have one when traveling abroad? And why do people chance it in going to a foreign country without a passport?

 

Opinions?

Why do other people care so much? It has absolutely no effect on anyone else whether your fellow passengers do or do not have a passport, so I am baffled by the endless discussion about others getting or not getting a passport. It is a personal decision, just like choosing to fly in on the day of departure. Some people are willing to chance it.

Hi awesome cruise enthusiatists and bendable buddy fans!

 

Ben the Bendy Man is back! For the past week, our intrepid adventurer has left The Big Apple, crossing the Atlantic, and been having a fantastic journey trekking across Europe to join the new Norwegian Breakaway on her maiden voyage back home to the Breakaway's new home port of New York City!

 

I missed something. How did Ben the Bendy Man get recovered from his unfortunate zip-lining incident?

With or without that review, if your family wants to sail on Oasis or Allure, go for it! The difference between a cruise on the Breeze and one of the Oasis twins will be like night and day. It's absolutely amazing. We sailed on the Dream (Breeze's sister) and the Allure the same year, and the Dream was a nice cruise, while the Allure was a "Wow! This is amazing! Once in a lifetime" kind of cruise.

 

Is that your dog or just a pic that you liked? Every time I see it, it makes me laugh.

...can this person be making a mountain out of a mole hill? Our travel group of friends and family area anxiously awaiting September 2014 itineraries. We range between 30 and 72 years of age. With all of the recent turn of events lately, there is a good percentage of our group who don't want to cruise on Carnival again. It is going to be a sell when the time comes to say yay or nay and the bad reviews are making me nervous. . They want to sail the Oasis or the Allure, but I am confident (I think :confused:) that we'd all enjoy the Breeze.

 

My concern is reviews like the link attached. DH and I are easy going people. Give us good food, decent service and the serenity deck, and we are on our kind of cruise. We take mishaps with a grain of salt with the understanding that ship happens and the crew are humans who can have an off day. I noticed the cutbacks on my Freedom cruise, but has it really gotten worst?

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=217555

Hi!

I have not read through all the responses yet, so I will apologize ahead of time for duplicating some things that others might point out. Here's what I see wrong with this review:

Carnival is "cutting corners to save money" by making the beds and sofas harder? Hmmm. How would they go about that, and how would it save them money? I wonder, how does the reviewer think they have accomplished this. Did they put boards under the formerly soft furniture? Did they throw out all the "good" furniture and buy new stuff? But...that costs money, so surely they haven't done that, because they are "cutting corners", right?

One of the shows was a hypothesis. Wow. That is a very new and different idea for a show. Did the CD just go up and write the hypothesis out on a whiteboard and then let the audience peruse it and come to conclusions or was there a game where everyone got to participate in proving or disproving the hypothesis? :rolleyes:

The dining room menu was limited. Huh. Odd. Did they just up and throw out the "Always Available" section solely for this cruise? Because that, coupled with the numerous app and entree choices on every menu every night of every cruise makes for a pretty varied selection. What sort of menu was the reviewer hoping for? And those crazy cruise crews. Serving lunch at noon. What are they thinking?!

There was no evening entertainment. Oh, but that band played every night. But the reviewer didn't like the area that they played, so that means the entertainment did not exist. Oh yeah, and those nights that had no entertainment had ships singers and dancers. They don't count either, apparently.

Clearly, since they do not give you a towel when you get back on the ship, Carnival does not care about you. I mean, that is a clear and logical conclusion to come to based on the lack of a wet towel, right?

Did you notice that this reviewer had not one nice thing to say about the cruise other than that there was a lot for the kids to do? A person who wants to review their cruise fairly and accurately is bound to have some positives. A person who is a chronic Wendy Whiner with an entitlement complex is going to write a review b*tching about every single thing, including that there were no comment cards so he could b*tch on them, too. (I am sure the guest service desk attendant would have given the reviewer a card had he or she asked for one).

If you embark on your cruise with the expectation that you are going to have a wonderful time, chances are very, very good that you will. If you get on the ship looking for all the negatives you see in reviews, you will be missing out on all the really incredible stuff, and may set yourself up for a less than stellar time.

Your vacation will probably not be perfect. It's rare that anything turns out perfectly, right? But it will probably be awesome. :) I have read a lot of reviews (I read the dreadful ones for entertainment value) and have seen that many times people are on the exact same cruise and have completely opposite opinions reflected in their reviews. Too, many, many more people who have a negative experience will take the time to write a review than those who had a fantastic time.

Have a fantastic cruise, and come back and do a photo review so I can get a food porn fix, will ya?

I just wanted to pop in and say that I am getting our pictures uploaded and organized on photobucket. This will be my 5th Photo Review. I know how much I enjoy reading the photo reviews of other cruisers so I make it a point to take notes and lots of pictures while I am on vacation.

 

We (my dad and I) were on the Carnival Freedom out of Fort Lauderdale for the 6-day itinerary that went to Key West, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios. We also spent 3 addititonal days after our cruise in the Orlando area.

 

While I continue to wait for my pictures to load feel free to ask any questions about the Freedom or anything else. :)

YAY! Good reading to keep me busy at work this morning! Thanks for sharing. I love your reviews.

EVERGLADES CONTINUED:

 

Notice the Ospry on the left carrying a fish:

 

 

 

 

To be continued...

Your pics are terrific. I can't wait to read the rest of this....thanks for sharing!

Sherry

I've asked this many times, but I'm still paranoid....I have my Certified birth certificate. That is acceptable form right? Has anyone else traveled with just their birth certificate...Have they experienced any issues at debarkation??? :confused:

Yes, on our first cruise, my husband and I traveled with just our birth certificates. The only small snag I experienced was that my bc has my maiden name on it, obviously, and my driver's license has only my married name. There was a small discussion about that, and then I was okay'd to board.

I have since gotten a passport because I don't want to be limited to closed loop Caribbean cruises, and because I need it to go to Canada. If you have only your married name on your photo ID, it would be a good idea to take a copy of your marriage certificate, probably, just to avoid the "your name doesn't match" discussion that could come up when you try to board.

Cabs were waiting out side the NOLA station and it was a quick ride to the Prytania Park Hotel in the Garden district.

Wheres mom in all of this???? Well she winters in Arizona so she flew in that Saturday and was really enjoying a late NOLA lunch by the time I got there.

Prytania Park Hotel is a lovely place. Its made up of some older homes and some new construction. Outside entrances with beautiful walk ways connecting everything. We had a traditional NOLA galerie right on Prytania street with a huge tree that reached from the other side of the road! Never mind just let me post some pics here and you can see for yourself. Yes I would recommend this hotel if youre looking for a reasonably priced , off Burbon street, not your big box hotel with tons of charm! Not to mention the St Charles street car was a block away.

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I have bookmarked the hotel website because that is exactly the kind of hotel my mother and I enjoy when we travel together. Someday we will get to NOLA.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

Sherry

Comprehension vs perception. I understand what you are saying, but I perceive it as being properly served with cheese.

 

I'll enjoy my pom poms. Thank you for mentioning them.

 

 

 

Fire,

 

I last read the terms several years ago; as I recall there was wording in the letter about the $25 being an estimate of what the port taxes would have been? It wasn't called an estimate, but something similar and there was wording about how it was something other than what we were entitled to.

My contact lenses are bothering me. I honestly thought the first line of your message said, "I'll enjoy my porn. Thank you..."

I love carnival but one thing I think is wrong is that some ship only get half there money back.If there is a problem with the ship and they still sailed to some ports they should get full refund.I went on Royal Caribbean left out of Baltimore 1 day late because of mechanical issues and sailed to Freeport and had to dock because it continued to have issues .I had a suite with 4 paying adults and got a full refund option was full refund or future cruise.Carnival needs to own up to there problems and understand people take a vacation to get away from problems and spend lots of money for cruising so they should offer something good so people will continue to cruise carnival again.

Why, if you have been taken to some of the promised ports, eaten your meals, enjoyed on board entertainment, and slept in your cabin, should you be entitled to a full refund? Your vacation is not ruined, it is partially impacted. Disappointing, for sure! I would be very bummed out. But in no way do I think anyone deserves a full refund if they miss a port.

Carnival has been very generous with passengers on recently affected ships. They are "owning up" and taking responsibility. They are handling the problems very well, in my opinion.

I am not a Carnival Cheerleader, just so you know. I actually prefer Norwegian. But when I see a company doing something right, I like to say so.

I wondered the same thing... lol

Once I continued reading, I saw that she took the pics on disembarking day, so maybe there is bleach in the water to help clean the whirlpool tub jets? Someone on another thread said they never use the whirlpool tub in suites b/c of the potential for the jets not being cleaned. I wonder if they run the tub at the end of each cruise.

Did you go take pics before everyone got on the ship? I wondered why there is water in the tub already?

Thank you for another great review. I really enjoy your pics and commentary.

Sherry