tafische

Can anyone who has actually been on the Sunshine confirm which if any rooms have a mini bar fridge?

I have searched all over the place and there is conflicting information everywhere...some sites list it in every cabin, some say only the new cabins, some say none....

I took the Elation tour with my 12 year old son...we had a great time. Hat, Lanyard, and two nice plates of deserts in the room when we got back. Also group pic with the Capt on the bridge.

It was a pretty laid back tour, never felt like I was being hurried at all. All of the staff was friendly and easy going. We spent time in the kitchen, engine control room, crew training area, crew lounge, the Highway, etc....

So I was on the Conquest a while back and saw the $95 one but didnt go....so what is so much better on these ships that it commands almost twice the price?

Thanks for all the insight you all! Good to know I am not crazy. Leaving on the Sunshine in exactly a week....I am expecting a much better experience!

The most important point in my opinion is not to let any one person or thing ruin your cruise experience.

Thanks all for the replies - glad my expectations are on.....bout to set sail again in just over a week so hopefully I will have a much better steward.

I am normally pretty vocal but I was just not going to allow him to ruin my trip by getting all hot about it. My wife and I did make snotty comments about it all week to each other in disbelief so that was not good - but we ended up making jokes about it. I normally love my cabin steward, but if he makes himself the center of attention that is a problem.

I will say it was offset by the fact we had a great waiter who even said to us - "Is everything on your cruise going well? Not just in the dining room but is there anything else anywhere I can help you with?" That really stuck with me and I made sure to recognize him as well.

As far as the stereotype - I am NOT PC and I am NOT going to stereotype all eastern block folks - but I do have a couple of Ukrainians friends and I do have to say most of them have very strong personalities which is one of the reasons I didnt bust his chops harder. I think he truly did think he was doing what he was supposed to do so I dont think there was no mal-intent on his part.

I do have to confess - and I know this is probably bad - but on the last two days we started making a game out of it. We started collecting the wine glasses from the cleaning carts as we walked buy and we had like 8-10 in the room at one time. Not sure if he got the message, but we sure laughed about it.

In my opinion .... "YOU" must write a letter to Carnival ..... explain what you just told us. This behavior will be corrected. If it had been me .... I would have gone to Guest Services. And if need be .... buck it all the way up to The Captain.

 

This behavior has No Place as a Cabin Steward

Well I did have a long cordial talk with the Hotel Manager (Officer in uniform) and he assured me he would take care of it. I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he took care of things. I did mark accordingly on my survey.

you have never seen it enforced because its a suggestion and not a rule. you cant enforce a suggestion

We stay on Lido and will let the kids (10 and 12) go once or twice late at night. They just think it is really cool to go get pizza and ice cream at midnight for some reason! If I was on Riveria I am not sure I would do the same thing.

We always give ours parameters - you can be at these places and must check in at this time.....and make it clear that if security brings them back to the room that is where they will stay the rest of the cruise. Works great for us and the kids have never gotten in trouble.....

We like to do breakfast this way too:)

That is exactly how we do it....a little coffee and a few items while we get ready and either go to breakfast or brunch in the MDR.

I always put the tip out the night before on the dresser so I can find it stumbling awake in the morning! On my last cruise they were within about 15 or 20 minutes. On the Elation it was like they were standing out on the room and waiting for the exact time to knock..lol...they were always 7am on the nose.

I probably wouldn't have made a big fuss while I was still on the ship for fear of repercussions

Yeah - that was my big concern as he still had access to our room every day.

Question - Has anyone every requested a different cabin steward? I know they all have assigned rooms, but wonder if that would have been a good course of action.

Oh I was absolutely polite and nice...never demeaning or rude to the guy at all.

So on my last cruise, I was not thrilled at all with our cabin steward. On every cruise I have been on, they have been great and tirelessly work behind the scenes to make things enjoyable.

What I want to know is if my expectations are unrealistic? Here is what transpired (sorry it is long) --

We met the guy right off. He was from the Ukraine, very tall - about 6" 5' and very friendly, but very loud (woke us up being "friendly" with guests almost every morning)

- First full day we leave the cabin. When we come back he tells us he did not clean our cabin because we did not put out the Crusin' sign and we must have it out for him to clean

- That night we had some wine from our carry on bottles and left the room with the glasses. He chastised us telling us that if we took them we would not get any more as he does not have replacements.

- Next day we go back to the room and there are only three pool towels (4 in the room). We ask for another and he tells us he only replaces towels in the evening and we will have to get one from the towel hut.

- We had no robes in the cabin. When we asked him about it he argued we did. We had no room service menu, when we asked about it he argued we did.

- When we asked about replacement breakfast menus, he told us it was our fault because we were hanging our robes on the hook where he leaves them and he could not tell we were out.

- Third day we come back from Dinner and have NO pool towels in the room. The hut is closed and the kids want to swim. Young daughter starts to cry and says "I dont like him at all!!"

So at this point I have had it and go talk to the service desk. They get me some towels and are a little dumbfounded by what is going on and say they will speak to him. The Hotel Manager also comes by and talks to us.

- Next day my wife is in the room and he knocks and comes in AND closes the door behind him. He proceeds to tell her how it is not his fault that he has rules and they are out of towels, etc - but she is VERY uncomfortable with this guy in the room with the door closed by herself!

- Later when I am there he comes in again and closes the door and tells me all the same thing. I am friendly, tell him I disagree, but shake his hand and tel him I appreciate him coming by (at this point I just wanted him to leave).

So - was I wrong in my expectations from any of this? I have always taken the glasses out of the room. I have always had replacement towels. I have always had plenty of menus. I have NEVER been 'reprimanded' by a cabin steward.

By the way - I didnt dock his tip. I know he has a hard job.

Hey fellow Carnival Owner ;)

I started using a PVP a few cruises ago and she is happy to take care of my Shareholder credit. I just emailed her a .pdf of my statement and she got it applied very quickly.

You are right that it does not show up on your summary page with other credits. You have to "print" your cruise documents to see it.

Between the dividends and the OBC I have to say I have been pretty pleased with the stock overall.

I have been on the Elation several times and just got off the Conquest. I think the Elation is a great boat even if it is a little older. I thought the service from the staff and food quality was much better than some of the other ships I have been on, especially the MDR deserts. Also the Dance Club was much more active on the Elation.

I very much enjoyed the Behind the Fun tour and would highly recommend it. Also the Mongolian Wok and Sushi Bar were very good.

The few things I did not like about the Elation which are minor - The desalination system has a hard time keeping up and the cold water will become luke warm into your cruise. Also some of the room furnishings are a little warn. Take a screwdriver and some toothpicks and you can fix them yourself ;) (remove the screw, insert a few toothpicks, then rescrew and it will tighten right up!).

Enjoy!

I got the $50 OBC fine for two different staterooms. In fact I only submitted the forms for the OBC offer alone as there had been no price drops for my cruise. I just explained in the notes section of the form that I wanted the $50 OBC as per the Fall Sale promotion and sure enough got confirmation it had been applied. Have you checked whether the OBC shows up on your 'Manage Your Cruise' info? There are other threads about this on this board over the last week or so - some people said they had problems having it applied but most got it without a problem.

Thanks...will try again...I got the $50 for reduced fair...but they did not give me the $50 for the fall sale.

Book and Early Saver and get $50 OBC ($12.50 per person x 4)

Well I guess the verdict is in...a $50 credit showed up today so I guess the OBC bonus is not included in the price guarantee.

What's the promotion with the OBC?

Book and Early Saver and get $50 OBC ($12.50 per person x 4)

Can someone clarify a point on the Early Saver guarantee?

The price of my cruise just dropped $50 AND they are offering a $50 OBC with booking.

I know I can get them to do the room rate adjustment, but can I also get them to throw in the additional OBC since it is now part of the booking for a total of $100 in credit?

Thanks all- I checked and I have "Expanded International Roaming" on my phone which says "Allows you to make and receive calls while traveling in more than 215 countries at pay-per-use rates." so it looks like I am good on that side. I dont care about a plan since I will only be make a few calls and I have no plans to send over 20 txt messages out (not any actually) so the global 50 is not worth it.

Good on the WiFi...I have a VOIP client and also use HeyTell on my phone already and if I can grab some wifi when on shore I will definitely do that.

I am a really tech savvy user, but they really make it hard to understand all the little details on charges....they always seem to surprise you.

I initially found this page and got those rates on TXT --

http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1578&MNC=CING

At the bottom it says

Send Text Message: $0.50 per message sent

 

Send Picture and Video Messages: $1.30 per message sent

 

Receive Text, Picture and Video Messages: Home pay-per-use or package rates apply to all text, picture or video messages received when roaming internationally. Please visit http://www.att.com for details.

That TXT message statement was a little vauge, which prompted my posting here. After I got that reply from you, I did a little more digging and found an ATT International support chat session button on their web site and this is what they said:

ATT: Incoming messages are deducted from your text messaging plan. If you exceed your text messaging plan or do not have one, each incoming message is billed at $0.20.

 

ATT: Outgoing text messages are billed at $0.50 each.

 

ME: ok - and to verify - I have a 1000 message txt plan - so if I am within my plan then no charge to receive and no surcharge from cellular at sea or the mexico provider when I am on land in Mexico?

 

ATT: Correct.

So it appears I will be in good shape. If someone has seen something different and can post the reference or has actually been billed differently, please reply.

Thanks!

Searched and could not find any current info on CC -- I have never taken my phone out of the county and want to avoid any huge bills, but have to have to touch base a couple of times as part of the deal with family watching the kids.

I researched the ATT site and this is how I understand it -- please help me confirm--

- I don't need data, so disable data/3g, set roam off, disable fetch and set to manual so I should have zero data on the trip

- Calls on board are $2.49 per minute to call the US

- Calls while in Mexico are $.99 per minute to call the US

- All outbound txt are $.50

- Keep my phone in airplane mode except when I need to make a call (so no inbound calls)

** Here is where I am concerned - inbound TXT messages which I have no control over.

- I have a 1000 txt plan and am well within my limits. As I read it there will be NO charge for incoming messages on this ship or in Mexico.

This part seemed suspect to me. Anyway - if someone could verify my assumptions are correct. If this is right and I make a two - two minute calls from the ship and two - two minute calls from Mexico, I should be looking at no more than $10 extra on my bill as I read it....

Any other caveats or problems with this that you experienced folks see?