HeidiHo

According to the brochure, all the 7 night cruises back then had a flat, $25.00 fee for port charges. No mention of taxes, just the port charges and they were not included in the prices listed. Gratuities were not included either. As someone already mentioned, you paid them in cash to the individuals back then.

4 minutes ago, HeidiHo said:

These prices are for a 7 night cruise on the Holiday. They include air but according to the brochure you would deduct $200.00 pp for cruise only prices.

The pricing for the cabins back then was actually mostly higher than it is now, for the most part. I think now though, Carnival does more nickel and dining than it did back then. 

I have always wished that I had saved an old Carnival brochure from the time I started cruising in the mid 80's. Today I was going through some old boxes and found my wedding planner. We did a cruise for our honeymoon and in there I found 2 Carnival brochures. One from 1986 and the other 1986/1987. I was so excited. LOL. My first cruise was one the Festivale in 1985 with my girlfriends and then our honeymoon on the Holiday in 1987.

I have never done a dolphin excursion but have been to both La Romana and Curacao. It depends on what you want to do but you definitely want to do an excursion of some sort in La Romana. There is nothing at the pier at all. In Curaçao you don't have to do an excursion. You can walk off the ship and walk around town. So if you only want to do one excursion on the entire cruise, I suggest La Romana. I just can't vouch for the dolphin experience there.

I usually cruise with a group and would miss the main dining room experience because that is when we are all together. That being said,  I would sail on a ship without a main dining room, depending on who I was sailing with. I don't think the main dining room experience on Carnival today is as nice and special as it used to be. In 2015 my husband and I sailed by ourselves on an NCL ship and one of the booking "perks" was free specialty dining every night and we loved it. We only ate in the main dining room one night. I don't know that I would want to pay to eat in a specialty restaurant every night though. If I were just sailing with one or two other people and there were plenty of other "free" options, I would sail on ship with no main dining room. 

I  was on the Dream 1st cruise out of dry dock. There was still work being done in some areas. Very little of it impacted my experience but I could see how some people would be upset. Hot tubs didn't open until mid cruise. I generally don't go in the hot tubs so this didn't bother me but I know it would bother others. I don't think the water slides were open the first couple of days either. Not sure about that because again, I usually don't do the slides so I wasn't paying that much attention. I'm sure people with kids were upset but at least the pools were all open. There was still work being done in the Serenity area but they just closed off small sections at a time so the entire deck wasn't off limits.

We knew when we booked this cruise that it was the 1st one after dry dock and were aware that there would probably still be work going on. I will probably avoid booking cruises right after dry dock in the future but we still had a great time. We did not get any kind of compensation for the inconveniences so don't count on that. That might just depend on how much work is being done on each cruise. On our cruise it didn't seem to be that much.

My husband and I had our honeymoon on the Holiday.

If it's Nola, there is a place right at the pier to check luggage. You can then go explore. They will offer you a choice of coming back to the pier to pick up your luggage or, for an extra cost, they will deliver it to the airport. You do have to pick it up at the airport though. It doesn't get checked for you. At least, this is what they were doing in Nola 2 years ago when we did it. Things may have changed.

I actually prefer to use my ship card for the lights because then I always know where it is. Otherwise I have a bad habit of setting it down somewhere in the cabin and then can't remember where.

If you decide to stay put, keep checking Carnivals website regularly. Cancellations happen all the time. You might just see another inside cabin in a better location open up.

I have it on my phone. Used it in Australia in November. Once it's on your phone it will only activate when you make or receive a call. That's when your 24 hours start. I used it on 2 consecutive days but only got charged for one day because the calls I made on day 2 were just shy of the 24 hours.

I don't think it's offered on new ships for the first few months either.

jsglow is correct that if you move you do run the risk of being "bumped" but I want to add Carnival doesn't always allow people to book cabins that hold more people than are being booked. It just depends on the sailing. I have seen cruises where early on they wouldn't allow these bookings but as the sailing date became closer, they opened up cabins that hold 3-4 to people who wanted to book fewer than the cabin would hold. You can either call Carnival and ask or just do a mock booking on line and if you are putting in 3 passengers and cabins that hold 4 are coming up as options, then it is allowed for your sailing.

So sorry for your loss. I know it's difficult but hopefully she will change her mind. I want to share my experience. I went on a cruise with my adult daughter 8 months after my husband passed away. We actually booked it after he passed but I had other friends going on it so I knew I'd like to go. Then 4 months before the cruise, a friend of mine also lost her husband so I invited her along too. She found a friend to go along and room with her and we had a really great cruise. Sure, there were times when we were sad but honestly, it was great to get away and be with friends and enjoy ourselves for a change.

A year later I went on another cruise with many of the same people although this time I didn't have a room mate and honestly, I really liked that. I liked that I could have alone time whenever I felt like it but also be with my friends when ever I wanted. I spent a lot of time reading on my balcony on that cruise. It was probably the most relaxing cruise I have ever been on. Sure, I had to pay the double rate but I figured I was paying the same as we were paying when I cruised with my husband so that didn't bother me. It is what it is.

I know it's different for everybody and she has to do what's right for her so it's a good idea to know what your/her options are ahead of time. I hope everything works out for the best.

I'm pretty sure that in order to file an insurance claim that your friend will have to cancel not just be a "no show". You should verify that prior to deciding what to do. Normally people mention to be a " no show" because the person didn't purchase insurance.

Good advice. I have seen policies that had it spelled out that in order to make a claim, a cancellation has to be made. I have also seen policies that do not say this. Best to check with your insurance carrier.

I was a TA for 5 years as a part time independent contractor. I left the business in January. I sold quite a bit of Carnival and never once was I contacted about an upgrade or upsell for any of my clients. I never heard from any of my clients that Carnival had contacted them directly about an upgrade or upsell either. I would get these offers from other cruise lines but never Carnival.

Pretty sure the bus I took from Galveston had a bathroom. It probably depends on the port. It's not like Carnival owns the busses. Probably just depends on the bus company they contract with.

If you want to do Mr Sanchos, be sure to book in advance. It isn't always necessary to have a reservation but if there are a lot of ships in port they do fill up and will stop letting people without reservations in. With your ship arriving that late they very possibly will be full by noon. I have been there twice in the last couple of years and both times they were full. We had booked in advance though. They only require a $5.00 per person deposit and then you pay the rest when you arrive so it's no big deal if you end up changing your mind and don't go there.

I too was once able to snag FTTF at around midnight for myself but it was gone by 8:00 AM or so because I checked for my friends in another cabin. Guess I should have called them at midnight and woke them up. LOL

Try again. I just priced that cruise out for 4 ppl and am not seeing what you are. I priced a variety of categories and it was only on the insides that I saw a 3rd person rate that was higher than 1 & 2. 4th Person was still lower. Then in Ocean views and Balconies, 3rd an 4th were all lower than 1 & 2. I did see some pretty high 3rd person rates though (almost as high as 1&2) I did not check EVERY category however and don't have any idea what category you are looking at. Prices can change frequently so maybe they have gone down.

Here is Carnival's booking transfer policy.

FIT Direct Booking – Travel Agency Takeover

Guests booked with our Inbound/Outbound Consumer Sales Department may decide to work with a travel agent; at the direct guest’s request, a travel agency may takeover the booking with the following policy in place:

A Travel Agency may take over a direct booking made through any FIT direct channel as long as the transaction happens no later than 90 days after the booking is made or prior to the penalty period (whichever occurs first). If the booking is made within penalty period, the agency has 24 hours from the time the booking is made to call in and take over the reservation.

• The travel agent will need to provide Service with all the pertinent booking information which includes: Booking number / Guest's name / Stateroom number / Sail date.
  
• The travel agent must be able to provide the PIN Number - this was provided by the direct at the time of booking; bookings made on carnival.com will not have a PIN number to provide. If there is no PIN Number or the agent cannot provide one, the Service agent will contact the direct guest to verify that the booking takeover is acceptable.
  

Do you need a key card for lights on the Breeze?

 

 

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Yes, you need a card on the Breeze. I sailed on the Breeze in January. It was the first time that I didn't have a room mate so I actually liked using my S & S card for the lights because then I never misplaced it. I tend to be a bit scatter brained and am always misplacing hotel key cards, ship cards, etc. Since I didn't have a room mate there was never an issue with someone leaving another person in the dark either.

As for the safety issue:

People aren't going to climb over the balcony railing to go exploring. Were people doing this on the 4k? It's very possible people were' date=' or Carnival just got afraid dumb people could, and then sue Carnival when they got hurt.[/quote']

 

I know someone who was traveling with some teen girls on a Spirit class ship in the French door rooms several years ago. One of the parents with them told me that the girls had climbed over the railing to go from room to room rather than going through the hallway.

 

I can understand why Carnival wants to replace those doors with windows but I do agree that anyone who had booked those cabins before they decided to change them should be notified. They are not getting what they booked.