amandajean06

Elementary principal here and following along for the fun! I have 650 kids in grades 2-5 in my building...and our Spring Break doesn't begin until the 24th...some days feel reeeeeaaaaally long. 🙃

Love your reading list! Penisvana is on my "to visit" list. lol

Hello friends!

My husband and two boys are huge golfers, including mini golf. I just assumed that there was some type of Mini Golf course on the Wish (sailing in October) but now I don't see it listed anywhere. Is there a mini golf course or no?

Thank you!

4 hours ago, palmettopa0206 said:

I just called and talked with a carnival fun shops rep and this is what they told me to do, only select the adults. Let me know if you had any luck with this and what restaurants it works for! Thanks!

Awesome, thank you! I will let you know what we find out. 

We have loaded gift cards to our account at Guest Services several times with no issues. The kiosks never seemed to work well for us. We purchased gift cards at our local grocery that was offering a promotional coupon for $5 for every $50 purchased, and then we used our Chase card to purchase those, which was running a 5% cash back promo. A win-win! 

My husband transfers OBC to his Sail and Sign card on a slot machine and then plays with some of it, then cashes out in traditional fashion. You do have to play some, I think...you can't just move it all over and then directly cash it out. 

Hope that helps!

Very excited and feeling blessed about this one, but we had to work for it!!! 

We are sailing in 3 weeks on Mardi Gras, and our family has two cabins booked. One is an inside on an Early Saver rate that our PVP helped us match to a resident rate, which was $60 pp cheaper. So, that stateroom (my parents) got $120 in OBC since we are past final payment. 

The second room, a Family Harbor OV for me, my husband, and our two kids, was a little tougher to deal with, but our awesome PVP made it happen! We are booked under the OWV casino rate, which dropped a whopping $400 total this week. I was on hold for an hour for two days and didn't get anywhere with the casino dept., as we were told the only way to get that price would be to cancel and re-book, which we could not do without penalty since it was past the Feb. 15 deadline for changing without penalty. I reached out to our PVP for help, and after two days of trying, he was able to get an exemption and we now have the $400 price difference in the form of OBC! Bless his heart!

Booked Rudi's and the Steakhouse as a celebration, since we usually never do Specialty Dining. We've heard great things about both on Mardi Gras.

Moral of the story is...I want to kiss our PVP!!! And also, if you see a price drop or a new deal, don't give up! Someone, somewhere, should be able to help you.

23 Days!!!

4 hours ago, csj092809 said:

I would say book the adults online and add the kids to rez once onboard.

That's a good idea. I was afraid that they might not have a table for 4 available for us (instead of 2) if I did it that way. Thanks!

Friends,

We are cruising in March on the Mardi Gras in a Family Harbor Oceanview (YAY! cue the happy tears  😭 ) along with our two sons. I am trying to use some of our OBC to pre-book specialty dining. I know that one of the "perks" of our Family Harbor room is that kids eat free in specialty restaurants. However, each time I try to select a date and time and add to cart, at checkout, it charges me the $12 per child rate. I have tried different restaurants with the same result. Does anyone have any experience with this? Maybe I have to book onboard to get the kids free promotion?

Thanks for any help or advice! 

27 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Two sailings of freedom showing on another site. I tried and agent was unable to book either one of them. They dont say sold out but he says carnival doesnt allow him to book them. He tried. 

 

Maybe at midnight will update or I'll try again tomorrow. No 6 or 7 day shows on carnival site. 

I noticed that, too.  We have a 7 day booked on 10/18 as of today.  I still see the 4/5 day itineraries out of NOLA but that's it. 

Wonder why there would still be shorter cruises listed but nothing 5+ days?

 
Could be the case.  I checked our three upcoming cruises beginning in September and none of them even show it as an option.  It usually shows up and says "sold out" if it is not available.  It is not even showing up.  Just has airport transfers listed.

I don’t have anything like this, nor have I ever seen one, but what a great resource! I will be following to see if one turns up! We have a late October cruise booked and we hope/believe we will cruise by then as well! Safe travels to you and best wishes for health for you and your family.


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Hi friends! Just thought I would share my experience incase anyone else is wondering about this.  I often find that lots of us have the same questions on CC!

We booked a 7 day out of NOLA on the Glory for Fall Break for myself, husband, and two boys (4 and 6) about two weeks ago. My husband had a casino rate that wasn't nearly as great as some of what I have seen mentioned on here, but it was good enough for us! $200 OBC, free drinks in the casino, and reduced fares for a total of $1496 in an inside cabin on Lido.  Booked using rate code OWV with our PVP.

Today when I looked, I saw that our rate had dropped to $1098! I couldn't believe it! I had read on here that some folks had issues price adjusting with a casino rate, and had to contact the casino department directly or were told no.  I also thought about filling out the price protection form.

I thought I would just try and see what happened, so I emailed our PVP, told him what I saw, and in less than 30 minutes, he responded with a nice message and an updated confirmation showing our new total- almost $400 less than the original booking! I was so excited!

Now, hoping we can sail and sail safely. 😃

Be well, friends!

I hope you're coming back, Swodog! I have really enjoyed reading your review. =)

"For any who might be wondering, the arcade is a bit hidden! It is at the VERY front of the ship, past the Taj Mahal theatre, down a secret hallway."

 

 

 

Great review! This is my favorite part of the ship. I have been on the Pride twice already. This is my favorite ship. I am going on her again in Jan 2018 and Sept 2018.

Thank you very much! Enjoy your two upcoming trips on this wonderful ship.:)

Very much enjoyed the review and excellent photos.:)

Thank you so much, Bob!

Thank You Amanda for this wonderful review!! It brought back great memories of when we first cruised with our two boys, though they were a little older at 3 & 5 at the time. Looking forward to your final thoughts. GREAT job!!! :D

Thank you so much, Jeff! I appreciate your positive comments. I am sure those were some special memories with your precious boys. =)

Final Thoughts

We had a simply wonderful time on our cruise. I really cannot think of anything that was a major enough issue that would cause us to not cruise Carnival, or the Pride, again. If we had one complaint, I guess it would be the dining room: i.e., slow service, incorrect orders, sub-par food and menus. Again, we are not picky and did not let this ruin our time nor did we complain about it! This is just an observation. I do agree with the other millions of folks who love the Pride and Spirit-class ships. The ship seemed to be the perfect size and well laid out, except one thing. We are not smokers, and my mom has severe asthma. I do wish we could have enjoyed a walk across deck 2 from the Taj Mahal to the Atrium without having to go through the casino. Yes, I know you can go up and over and then back down, but for convenience sake, it would have been nice. Otherwise, the ship was great. Our room had just a couple of spots that showed wear, but again, nothing to complain or get worked up about. I have already mentioned that I loved the fact that Baltimore was an easy drive for us, so for that reason alone, I seethe Pride in our future, and I hope it’s soon!

Thank you to those who have patiently kept up with my long-winded ramblings. I look forward to cruising with you all in the future!

Happy Sails!

Wow, thanks everyone! These are some great suggestions.

We will more than likely drive down, so a rental car wouldn't be an issue.

I think I'm hearing that for the most part, the majority opinion is to try to cruise after WDW? Makes sense to me, as long as it will line up with our Spring Break. I also never thought about 3-4 days at WDW being just as expensive as a week. I'm not sure I could do Disney for a week, and still cruise. That's a long trip for us.

Thanks again so much!

Hi folks!

We are looking ahead at planning our first Disney World trip (me, hubs, 2 boys: 2 and 4) and would love to combine it with a cruise (duh! lol)

We typically cruise Carnival but of course I thought this would be a great time for the entire Disney experience, so why not book WDW for three or four days and then a five day Disney cruise?

The "why not" became quickly apparent: the cost! Yikes! So, my question is, does anyone regularly do or has anyone planned a combo WDW/Carnival cruise? Looking at the end of March for reference. What are your tips and tricks?

Thanks!

-Amanda

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Loved re-living this thread with all the rest of you. To the OP and family- have a wonderful cruise! I know Julie will love it! So happy for you.

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Here is my family in our cheesy shirts for my 30th birthday on the Pride last month! To each their own! [emoji4]

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I hope this isn't a repeat thread, but this video popped up on my YouTube homepage today. Wow- so interesting! Perhaps some of you have heard of this cancelled Carnival concept, but it was new and enthralling to me!

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Day Nine: Sunday, June 4: Debarkation and Heading Home

As mentioned previously, we had FTTF and wanted to get off the ship and head home ASAP, due to the death in our family. The best option for that of course is self-assist, which is quite a pain in the ASS-ist. This was our choice, though, so we would have to buck up and deal. The problem was, my parents and brother didn’t have FTTF, so we were concerned about us getting off awhile before them (even if the y did self-assist) and then having issues with the shuttle timing to get back to our cars at the hotel. So, my brother, who is quite charming and not at all shy, decided to pull Saffie, the CD, aside after the previous night’sHeart of Soul show and explain our predicament to her. She was so kind, and reassured us that it would be no problem to stay together and allow my family to exit with us. Yay! Now, on to the next challenge: luggage,strollers, toddlers, and elevators-yippie!

We arrived back to Baltimore right on schedule. We were eating breakfast at Blue Iguana/Mermaid Grille a little before 8, as our assigned meeting time was 9:15 outside the RedFrog Pub for self-assist guests with FTTF. I do not ever recall on any of my previous cruises seeing that many people doing self-assist! The hallways, stairwells, and elevator lines were just packed. It was a real shock to us!Is that just a port of Baltimore thing? Or are more folks trying to carry off their own luggage these days? Wow, it was nuts. Since the elevators were out of the question,the men in our group decided they would take ALL the luggage (which was a lot-7people’s worth) and mom and I would just be responsible for the kids. We all hoofed it down the 5 flights of stairs from our cabins on 7 down to 2 and made it to Red Frog sweaty, hot, and grumpy just in time to form a line to head out! I wish I would have had a spare hand to take photos of the people literally EVERYWHERE! I was a little busy pushing two strollers and pulling a suitcase though, hahahahahahaha! I cannot complain about anything on Carnival’s part, though. The debarkation was right on time, seamless, and fast. We walked right through the line, off the ship, through customs, and out to the parking lot in maybe 10-15 minutes.

As soon as we were outside, we called the hotel to request a shuttle. We gave them our name and they said “it would be awhile.” Well, my husband wasn’t a fan of that response and was eager to get home, so he called them back and said we need someone here STAT. That worked! Our van arrived within 10 minutes. A bunch of other people attempted to bum-rush the van and climb on, but the driver called out our name and the name of another family, and we were the only ones allowed to board. I am not sure what the other folks were doing, or if that was even the correct shuttle. Maybe they were just as crazed about heading home as we were! Lol! Once we were all loaded up, we enjoyed the short ride back to the hotel and had a friendly chat with our driver. Once back, we reloaded our cars, took a potty break, and hit the road. It was about 10:30, which we thought was amazing! I estimated that we would make it to the interstate by noon if we were lucky. Both kids were soon asleep and we made some good mileage. Everyone was in need of some lunch at about 2, in West Virginia. We stopped at a Taco Bell that had the nicest, most courteous and friendly employees I have ever encountered anywhere!They were amazing. They even gave my boys some free cinnamon twists, which was a win-win for me! We stopped once more to stretch, potty, and snack in Columbus, OH (yes, those were the same two places we stopped on the trip to Baltimore!) and made it home to Indiana at about 8:30. Not bad at all! We all agreed that driving to and sailing from Baltimore was SO easy and convenient for us that we would love to do it again. I do wish there was some variety in the itinerary, though. We have just about grown tired of the Bahamas runs.

Up next: Final Thoughts

Great review, this is the first time I've been on a cruise where someone reviewed it. I was going to do it but my notes were terrible so I really appreciate you being a lot more organized than I was! As a side note - that black eye looks pretty painful, hope the little guy is ok and impressing the ladies with that thing!

Thanks, Steve! Yes, I thought you said your partner would be doing a review. I've been watching for it! I hope next time to be able to comment more on the cruise itself in an objective way, rather than just tell my story. Ha ha.

Little man bounced right back and loved to tell the story of his mini golf injury to all the ladies onboard. [emoji8]

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Really enjoying the review/report!

Glad to have you along! [emoji4]

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