Qchell

Hi! Since it appears you have been, I am hoping you can answer something for me. I keep seeing descriptions of 88 stairs "down", but nothing about getting back up. Do you go back up the stairs, or is there another exit? TYIA!

John Heald is employed by Carnival as Carnival Cruise's Brand Ambassador. Any information he relays is official. Any actual opinions he relays are his (as he gets some of the most outrageous questions and comments) and not Carnival's - but the actual information is directly from 'the Beards' as he calls them. You can follow him on his Facebook Page there are numerous posts daily. Our sailing out of Baltimore is not until October, so we are hopeful. Anyone sailing from Baltimore before an official reopen date - should ensure they book hotel rooms that are fully refundable. Hotels are getting pricey - and often if you pay in full upfront it is less expensive - but often you cannot cancel and they are not refundable. Watch that fine print.

Generally, in my experience, private excursions are PARANOID about ensuring you are back to the ship on time because of what you just asked. We all talk to each other on various boards and social media. If they cause one group to miss the ship, everyone is going to know almost immediately, and their company is going to be finished. No one will book with them again. I am finding it very odd that we don't know yet which tour company it was. Something is just weird all the way around on this one.

Forgive me if this question has been asked and answered, but there are a lot of posts on this thread. 🙂 Has anyone seen any explanation as to why they were late to the ship other than "issues with the tour"? Thx!

There may be some validity to this (and someone may have pointed this out already) as there is no bar service in the main theatre on Mardi Gras during the shows like you usually find on board. It actually surprised me the first show that I attended because I didn't grab a drink on the way as I expected there to be waiters taking drink orders in the theatre. I was not Platinum yet on my Mardi Gras cruise, so I can't speak to the Platinum party then. On Magic in April, there were waiters with trays of drinks during the Platinum party.

I was actually wondering what the current gifts were this morning. We are sailing again in a few weeks and I was hoping the gifts had changed since our last cruise. Thanks for the update!

The dogs are a fairly new addition. When we sailed last October out of Port Canaveral (and every cruise we have been on since 2011) - there were no dogs in the terminal. This spring when we sailed out of Port Canaveral, they were having you line up and place your bags down on the ground and stand next to them while a dog was brought around to inspect every bag as part of the check-in process. I can only assume our checked luggage was put through a similar routine. I've also seen footage recently of drug dogs on the ship during the cruise. In one security was responding to something in a stateroom and a dog was brought in.. the best thing to do at this point is just leave anything questionable at home.

For many of the dining venues onboard if you go to Carnival's website, and pull up the venue, there is a link to a menu for that venue on the right-hand side of the screen below the main picture. This is a direct link to the Blue Iguana Cantina page: https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/blueiguana-cantina

You can find all the fine print about the Cheers! package under FAQs on Carnival's website. https://www.carnival.com/help?topicid=1106

I wouldn't really be using it for phone calls, texts, etc. Just for posting to FB while onboard. On another FB group they reminded me of all the other things on the phone that use data... staying in airplane mode and paying for the social media package is probably my best bet. Thanks!

AT&T has started a cruise package so you can use your phone while cruising without incurring all the roaming fees, etc. I was just pricing it, and it is cheaper than the social media package on Carnival. Has anyone used the AT&T package yet? How did it work for you?

Our last few cruises since they have gone paperless and fully in-app online, you don't get the daily specials any more. What I have found is if you go to the various spa demonstrations (pamper parties, haircare, etc.) and stay to the end, they will then give you a paper with various specials that you can go ahead and book right then. They are actually pretty good specials and I've taken advantage. They also have drawings for free treatments at times. At one demonstration, only myself and one other lady showed up and I won!

I called the hotels directly that were listed as having port transfers. They no longer offer snooze & cruise packages and told me that they had not offered those packages in years. I actually Googled a few articles before posting and they were not from 2023, so I figured I'd check here to see if anyone had managed to book one this year.

Thanks everyone! Just have to keep checking.

I know I have booked snooze & cruise out of Jacksonville before. I have checked a number of listings and called the hotels as I cannot find the package online, only to find out they no longer offer that package. Has anyone booked a package in 2023? Which hotel? (I know this is Carnival - but as Carnival is the only cruiseline to sail out of Jax, figured I would get a quicker answer here.) Thanks for any help you can provide!

Thank you! Will definitely check that out!

That is a link to what 'can' be offered, but not what is being offered right now. The sailing is the December 10, 2023 sailing. There are some excursions being offered for some of the ports for this particular cruise, but many of the ports don't have any listed yet, the message that comes up is: There are no excursions for this port at the moment. Please check back later. (when going through the booking and looking at the main website in general). I'm asking people who have cruised on Princess through the Canal before how long before the cruise that excursions for their cruise began being posted.

I have a cruise booked on Princess going through the Panama Canal in December. There are few excursions listed and many ports don't have any. Have any of you cruised through the canal on Princess before? Do you recall how long before the cruise excursions started being posted? Thanks in advance!

The chat feature was hit and miss for us on the Mardi Gras in October. Sometimes the messages would come later and other times not at all. Most of them did go through and as we were sailing with another couple, it was a nice feature. When it's just DH and I, we don't bother with the chat feature and just keep up with each other the old fashioned way.

No, just log into the website, and go to the section where you can redeem your points. The OBC (cruise cash) is paid for with your points, not with money.

I've done a few times - that is pretty much it. Just bear in mind any OBC you purchase will NOT show on your booking on Carnival. Just keep documentation of the purchase and it should show up in your S&S account once onboard.

We have sailed exclusively in the Caribbean and are now booked on our first cruise to NE/Canada next October. Does anyone have a suggestions on what to pack clothing wise? Any tips or tricks they have discovered made a difference in enjoying their cruise or the excursions? I hoping to start getting ideas in order to hit all the winter clearances in January. 😉 Thanks in advance!

You still have to show proof of vaccination. The Verifly app makes that insanely easy, as they review your vaccination cards and when approved (ours was just a few minutes later), a green frame shows around your pic. When you get to the vaccination verification station when boarding, hold up your pic with the green boarder and off you go. I don't think my DH and I were at the station for more than 30 seconds when boarding earlier this year. If you just bring your vaccination card, someone is going to have to review it to ensure you are good to go. We sail on Saturday and are most definitely using it again even though testing is no longer required. (I still recommend having your proof on hand just in case, but the app made check-in that much easier as everything was verified prior to our arrival.)

I actually won the :red carpet" treatment on Sunshine in June and highly recommend it!! If my stylist friend was not sailing with us next week, I would be doing it again! Book your reservations early.

When we were sailing with BC's I also ensured we had original state issued BC's. The last thing I would want to happen is get to the port and not be able to board. If you don't have one, they are very easy to get, just contact vital records for the state where you were born and you should be able to order them right online. The last time I ordered one from FL, it arrived within two weeks. You should be able to order multiple ones as well. If you were born in Puerto Rico and are sailing with a BC make sure it is an updated one. Depending upon when you were born, they may not be acceptable under current laws. Also be warned it takes a month or two for them to arrive. We applied for our passports and ordered new birth certificates for my husband the same day (as they take your original BC with the application), our passports arrived before his birth certificates..