scoutfinch72

Another parent of teenagers chiming in to say if I found out those were MY kids acting like bratty hooligans all over the ship, you can be damn sure they would be paying me back for every single penny of their cruise fare and it would be the very last time they'd ever set foot on the deck of a cruise ship again with me.  Since their part time jobs now pay more than my first job out of grad school did in 1997, it wouldn't take them long.  😂

Seriously, though, I do not understand how parents can be so oblivious to their kids.  Maybe its's because my youngest is autistic and can be pretty disruptive sometimes, but I am hyper aware of when my kids are being annoying to those around them.  We are sailing on the Panorama in July with my 17, 14, and 10 year old and my daughter's 15 year old best friend.  My group will not be among those causing havoc!

On 3/10/2022 at 1:27 PM, nwcruiselover said:

In the past, the rule was “once early saver always early saver.”  A person could match any generally advertised price up to 2 days before sailing.  However, currently when a person accepts a Great Resident’s Rate, Carnival now switches them from early saver to the Great Resident’s Rate and then says they are not eligible for future price matches.  It’s a new thing and in my opinion it’s bait & switch.  When we sign up for early saver, we have the expectation that price matching goes to 2 days before sailing.

Huh, my PVP told me on Saturday while I was booking that I would still be eligible for price drops if I had her book one ES rate and then immediately change it to resident rate.  I didn't have her change it yet because I didn't want to fork over the increase of the deposit for that cabin.  She used the words "once an early saver always an early saver".  I will really have to double check this!

3 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Does anybody know if the Medically Proctored e-Med Binax tests can be done overseas in preparation for flying home to the U.S.?

Depending on the airline, yes.  When we were flying home from the Dominican Republic they were an option for American Airlines.  That was last summer and more airlines are now accepting them.

On 3/5/2020 at 9:34 PM, Saint Greg said:

The mr Rogers movie is on the big screen

 

 

That’s me and my husband and our friends wrapped in blankets in this picture. 😂

We are just sitting at the Hotel Current waiting for our shuttle. We checked in at 5pm last night and by then our only choices were 9am, which was going to be too early for my crew, or 11 and later. We chose 11 so I’m sure it will be a zoo over there by the time we get to the port!

I bought this stuff at Walmart, in store, for $3.14.  It's surprisingly good.  https://www.walmart.com/ip/Winona-Pure-Popcorn-Butter-5-Oz/34129432

We own a movie theatre popcorn machine and use Flavacol and Snappy popcorn colored coconut oil when we make ours at home. I bought the Winona spray because DH is on a diet and the movie popcorn is not on the diet!

I can only see the professional pictures and the last one you posted of the ship from the tender.  I'd say there is something going on with your Google photos.

No it doesn’t matter when you take the cruise. If you have separate card numbers and separate log ins you can it add to each card. You can always call and have them charge $500 to your Amex and refund the deposit. That’s what I did for my and my mom and sister’s cabin last cruise. We saved a whole bunch between all my Amex cards!

I didn’t think Carnival would do that. Trying to decide if I should call and ask. I made a $675 deposit on a Panorama cruise a few weeks ago and then added the offer. We just paid for season ski passes so I don’t really want to pay another $500 today for my 2020 cruise.

The only thing you really can do is try to sell them for a discount. This is one of the reasons I caution people about collecting gift cards to pay for vacation expenses. You will always be refunded in the same form of payment if you cancel so if you won’t be able to use the gift cards in the future then it’s not really worth the discount you got upfront.

ETA: my answer assumes you can’t book another cruise for some reason. That would obviously be the preferred way to go.

Pregnancy does not always go as planned. We were scheduled for our first cruise on the Sensation, preceded by a week at WDW, back in 2011 when I found out I was pregnant. I would have been 18 weeks at sailing, so totally allowable. I had bought insurance when we booked the cruise, mostly because I was worried that DH would have a work issue arise. I was scheduled to have my anatomy scan the day after we returned home from our trip but something made me ask to have it moved up to the day before our trip. During the ultrasound they discovered that I had complete placenta previa and placenta increta, the latter of which can cause potentially life threatening hemorrhage. My maternal fetal doctor told me that there was no way I was going on a cruise, or even leaving the city I live in, for the remainder of my pregnancy. We immediately went to work cancelling the trip and dealing with insurance. Because my condition wasn't a normal complication of pregnancy, it was covered and we received a refund. 18 weeks later, my youngest made his way into the world with no small amount of drama and after 17 days in the NICU we brought home a healthy baby.

My advice - buy insurance and make yourself aware of what it will or will not cover. Most of the time everything will be fine, but be prepared just in case.

Love your review so far! Now come back quick, I want to read the rest!!

As the previous posters mentioned, Uber and Lyft are not exempt from child passenger safety laws in the state of FL. Even if they were, the laws of physics apply in a vehicle crash regardless. You should either bring appropriate car seats from home with you, take a shuttle BUS (not a van) that doesn't require seats, or find a shuttle that provides appropriate child restraints. For a short drive a 5 year old would generally be fine in a backless booster seat that is easily transported from home. A 3 year old belongs in a 5 point harness.

I was just able to add it to my Skymiles Amex. However, we just booked 2 weeks ago with the reduced deposit sale and I don't really want to plunk down another $500 already. Hmmmm.

ETA: My deposit was made within the timeframe of the offer, I wonder if I'll get the credit anyway, even though I added it to my card after the fact.

BookFace, Sk-Hype, Viper, Instant-Gram.

How many of these things are around that distract people from getting away from their devices and just enjoy the moment and their vacation.

 

 

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:rolleyes: And then there are those of us who, like the OP, merely want to be able to check on our young kids a couple of times during the 8 days we are separated.

OP, we have T-Mobile and had no issues using our phones to call and FaceTime home in all 3 ports we visited (Costa Maya, Belize, and Cozumel). We checked in for a few minutes on our way to our excursions.

I have a kindergartener, a 4th grader, and a 7th grader. We've not taken them out of school to travel up to this point, but we just booked a family cruise for our 20th wedding anniversary in March 2020. My oldest will be in 9th grade at that point, so I'm sure we will have a few challenges making up the work, but my children attend the private school where my dh works and it's not uncommon for families there to take their kids out of school for travel - even at the high school level.

Someone upthread mentioned teachers getting 3 months off for the summer. That's laughable. My husband is a youth orchestra director and he works through a good chunk of the summer and when he's not working, I am working a month-long freelance gig that we all travel cross country for.

We are a family of 5, with a teenager the size of an adult. We contemplated a Family Harbor deluxe oceanview on the Panorama, but we ended up booking 2 connecting inside cabins. It was only $200 more to have privacy, extra space, and 2 full bathrooms. I considered a balcony and inside across from one another, but DH only wanted connecting cabins.

Our first cruise was in an ocean view cabin, which was nice but the location on the second deck was kind of a drag. Next cruise will be an inside in the Havana section on the Horizon. With the pool limited to Havana guests all day and right outside our door I don’t feel the need to book a balcony.

We sailed on the Valor, which is roughly a similar layout to the Liberty. Our cabin was an OV on Deck 2 aft, under the dining room. We never heard a single noise from above. There was some vibration when we docked at ports but we were up and about by then so it didn’t disturb our sleep.

Glad to see we aren't the only non-drinkers cruising [emoji4]. DH and I don't drink at all and took our first cruise in December. We loved it and I'm already planning to book another.

We had early seating for dinner and then we watched shows in the theatre, sat in the piano bar with a soda, went to a comedy show, and/or watched a movie on the deck under the stars.

I'd forgotten that I posted this and was about to ask this question again! Any opinions on this dilemma? I'm still mulling over possibilities. Also looking at a Walkway View forward on Deck 7.

I'm still mulling over possibilities for a surprise cruise for DH's 40th in 2018. We have very small windows of time in which to sail. I was originally trying for his birthday month, but the window then is too tight, so now I'm looking at June or August. He really wanted to see the ABC Islands and I really want to sail the Vista. There is a June 2018 sailing that matches up, but Havana Cabanas and even regular balconies are out of the budget. I'd really like to stay in the Havana area but I'm not sure about booking an interior. The other option would be a deluxe OV for just about the same price. We sailed in an OV on our first cruise on the Valor in December and liked having the window and the couch, but I'm wondering if outdoor spaces in Havana might be more appealing and make the interior worth it?

We were on the Valor December 17-23 and saw only 1 hot tub not working. It was the port side tub on Serenity. It may have reopened at some point after we saw it closed, but it was so windy up there most of the cruise that we spent most of our time at the aft pool.

I am also surprised that you weren't able to just cancel and rebook your cruise but I am still a relative newbie. Even if Carnival wouldn't give you a full refund, couldn't you have just cancelled and taken the early saver penalty of $50 per person and then rebooked the cruise you wanted with the balance of the deposit they give you in future cruise credit?

In any case, the Sensation is going in to dry dock next month and getting a whole bunch of upgrades:

Guy’s Burger Joint (replace food service, Off the Grill and Rotisserie)

BlueIguana Cantina (replace food service, Mongolian Wok)

RedFrog Rum Bar (replace pool bar)

BlueIguana Tequila Bar (replace pool bar)

Alchemy Bar (replace Polo Lounge)

Cherry On Top (replace Special Occasion)

Camp Ocean (replace Camp Carnival)

Crew area renovations

Also, food reviews are so insanely subjective. Before our cruise in December I read a zillion reviews of the Liberty, and then we got switched to the Valor and read a zillion more. Food reviews were ALL over the place. DH and I had no complaints about the food at all, except for the lack of tortilla chips at Blue Iguana (but that's a petty gripe!)

Yes, it was when we sailed in December. I spent most of my time back there since it was so windy on the Serenity deck and it was very quiet. The Pizzeria is back there so kids do wander back there to get pizza, but I never saw any kids in the pool or hot tubs.

The link you post above shows everything that will be done. This includes getting guys burger

They have not added any information under the dates for the Breeze dry dock yet. There is only information for Ecstasy, Dream, and Sensation.