kurukthemal

Yes it is. I am not concerned...kind of like adventure travel. Got my work done, so good to go in the morning. Thanks for the tips!

Thanks - do they shuttle from MCO or Cocoa Beach? I am staying at the MCO Hyatt. Since the ship doesn't leave until 4ish, worst case scenario is that I am the only dork using my laptop in the boarding area. :-)

I read that the MCO transfers begin about 10am and then are every 20-30 minutes based upon demand/capacity. My question is that I am flying in the night before and staying at the Hyatt. I have a bit of work to do in the morning and didn't want to leave for the port until around 12-1pm. My question is - will there still be a bus for me? How late do the buses run?

Thanks!!!!

Thanks for the review and I really like the end of the week show. We have three girls going in August, 9, 7, and 6. So, I am glad they will be together in the kids club. We did get the dining option for the adults, so it will be a foodie delight for us. We also splurged on a family suite, so I am looking forward to plenty of room service. I agree on DCL, but their prices have dramatically increased this past year.

Thanks again...great review!

On the Carnival site, if I check my upcoming cruise this Thursday it show nothing available. However, if I change it to two guests then it shows interior, ocean view and balconies available. Why is this? Why would I just be able to pay double and get a balcony if I wanted to?

I am sailing on Carnival this Thursday for a fun quick getaway. I also have been watching the Dream prices too. Right now, the Dream has interior cabins available, but they are $2k for the stateroom. So, clearly DCL is maintaining a policy of having occupancy and a certain price point. Can't wait for our trip in February, because I still believe they are the best! :D

So, is this an unreasonable request - I want to somehow contact my butler pre-cruise and give them the names of my daughters - ages 9, 7 and 6. I simply want the butler to "act" like a butler use their names upon arrival, etc. I am even willing to tip for this "performance."

I am reasonably sure that this will be my kids only ever life experience with a butler and I want it to be fun...and a bit playful.

Has anyone made a request like this?

Good luck and you will do well! I travel too with my girls and after the "where's Mom?" question...it goes well. :-) I would be interested to know how many single Mom's get asked the "where's Dad?" question. Just glad to see there are other dedicated fathers out there.

Here is the form we use when traveling with my daughter's BFF. I have it notorized just in case.

 

Tam

I read the document and noticed that it says "sole custody." Would this still be necessary if you have joint custody? Thanks!

Hmmm..we are in a family SC suite in August. I am cautiously optimistic about out butler. My kids don't know about it and I think it would totally wow them if the butler, actually acted like a butler. Oh well, I am very much looking forward to the cruise regardless.

For those that have stayed at the Country Inns, what is the return process like? How and when do they get you back to the hotel for your car? Thanks!!

Just bought the $200 and that came right away. However, it showed $0 until 24 later...today. This morning my $20 bonus just arrived. I just used both for pay for our upcoming excursions. No problems at all and these were the e-certificates. Good luck!

Thanks for your comments and I was unaware of the Early Saver booking and will look for that in the future. I understand that if you sell on cost you become a commodity, etc.

My experience comes from our trip last February on RCL Brilliance. On a whim, I called RCL about three weeks before the cruise date and asked if I could get an upgrade that I would have to pay for, perhaps at a reduced cost. My thought was it doesn't hurt to ask. So, I was dumbfounded when the TA came back and said we were upgraded to two balcony staterooms for free. I was like...holy crap that is soo cool. I went and told everyone I knew, posted it on Facebook. How great was RCL to give my little group a free balcony bump?!?! The ship was very good and the quality aspect of the cruise top notch.

So, now we are on Carnival and I have eight people across three staterooms going. I thought I would give it a try and gave them a call. I was surprised that there could be a free bump, but only if I was a past guest. Now its my impression that the best way to get a past guest is to make a first time guest pretty happy. I also realize that it was a Past Guest "rule" or whatever you would call it. However, a company can do whatever it wants...whenever it wants. Also, given the extensive price drops and that FTTF is still available, the ship must not be selling very well. So, why not make a decent group happy and give us the upgrade?

I am very much looking forward to this cruise and the blue waters of the Bahamas. By the end of the summer, I will be lucky enough to have tried DCL, RCL, Carnival and Norwegian. This will determine who gets my non-DCL business. DCL is without question the highest quality line I have sailed with so far, but their prices are crazy high and you have to not mind the mouse.

I also realize that I am one person, with one family and if we choose "x" cruise line, then I am quite sure the others will still survive. Happy Sunday!:)

I currently saw that our sailing on the Pride dropped again. So, I called the TA and he said Carnival would only offer us anything if we were a past guest. We aren't...this is our FIRST Carnival cruise.

Being in sales myself, I would think you would want to make the first cruise experience amazing, so people like me would come on to CC and extol the virtues of an incredible experience that included how accommodating they were with price drops.

So, that isn't the case and my experience is less than wonderful. We are still looking forward to the cruise and can't wait until we see the clear blue waters of the Bahamas again. But for Carnival...meh.

If you can afford it...Disney cruise hands down! Parks have become insanely crowded and 30-60 minute waits are now the norm. There is no better vacation spot than Castaway Cay! Good luck!

I know there is OBC if you own Royal Caribbean or Carnival stock. Does Disney offer such a benefit for DCL?

We were on the Dream last year and did not feel crowded at all. The DCL ships are amazing, the shows are incredible and the staff is superb. So, IMHO, anything you do after that will be a let down. I would save the cruise for last!

If you book SWA, you can at least get the price difference as future (1 year from original booking) credit. Have done this alot. However, if you book using SWA points, the point difference is put back into your account and no time factor involved on when you need to use them, like the dollars. Only problem with SWA is the schedules are usually only out for 7 months into the future.

I agree and try to fly Southwest as much as possible. No baggage fees nor change fees. I wind up doing the latter one a lot. So, if you book early and the price drops, they will credit you the difference which you have to use at least 12 months form the original purchase. Much better deal than the $100+ change fees on other carriers.

Ironically, the price for our OV rooms went up $20 with this new rate. Oh well, there is still hope.

Thank you!

We have two people named Christopher going on our upcoming cruise. I have noticed that on our Carnival check-in docs everything reads Christophe, apparently they can only hold ten characters. Will this be a problem on embarkation day as all their passports read Christopher? Thanks!

We are headed on Pride in July. I think we have agreed to cab it to Cocoa Beach in Port Canaveral. I wouldn't say we are a cheap group, perhaps more like frugal. What would you suggest as the must do, budget excursions for Freeport and Nassau? Let's say under $60/person. Thanks in advance!

We are also going on the Pride at the end of July. We are a group of eight with one octogenarian in our party. Most likely we are going to cab it to Cocoa Beach and spend a little time doing touristy stuff, e.g. salt water taffy and lunch.

We were in WDW last August in the middle of the week. I thought that August, middle of the week would be less crowded. It was packed. So, given the amount of money you would spend, I am not sure you would be able to get your bang for the buck. Just my opinion and good luck!

Great - thanks!