Folsom

You could try CruiseTT.com

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All,

Although we have been on a number of cruises, we have always gone with ATD, so that we can enjoy the day's events on our schedule. But since our next sailing (Conquest - Southern Caribbean) departs earlier than other voyages, we have decided to GET CRAZY and do traditional 6:00 seating. That being said, these may seem like dumb questions, but I appreciate your assistance.

1. With a 6:00 (I think) seating, what time do people arrive. Do you have to be in your seat at 6:00? Do most get there earlier >10min. and how late is acceptable if at all.

2. What if we decide to skip the MDR (Steak house, Lido) for the day. Do you have to let them know?

3. Anything else we need to know about the traditional dining experience?

For us, yes! The line at GS is enough for us. But if you have a port with tender it's valuable too. I do believe that with the staggered checkin now being implemented at the ports, more people will opt for FTTF. Unless they are lucky enough to get an early check in time.

Just curious, what about Guest Services is so important? 6 Or 7 cruises in and I have gone one time to get a deck of playing cards. What service do they perform that is that vital?

Thanks

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To the OP's point, we still have not seen any wines that are above the $11-$12 a glass price point.

I too am interested in what new selections are available now that the price point is $50 a drink.

Cheers

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Looking for advice on finding the FTTF lines at Port Everglades.

The only other time we did FTTF was out of Tampa and we waited in line for about 20 minutes until someone saw our tags and showed us were to go. It was very busy and we had no idea where to go. I am hoping to avoid that on this trip.

Thanks

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If they would only "enhance" the package to do a "staggered" liquor package like they've done in the ports with check-ins, I would consider cheers. I don't drink heavily enough to make the package as it is worth it. Set a $20 package with 5 alcoholic drinks a day... or better yet a total of 5 per day times the number of days you are on your cruise.

 

Example: $20 per day for a 5 day cruise would give you a total of 25 drinks to consume for the cruise... only 3 drinks on a port day? Have 7 on a sea day! Have all 25 drinks your first three days? Pay for the rest of the drinks you want the last two days... Almost too simple to make sense, right?

No. My wife would insist on me getting one of those "baby packages". Not worth the fight.

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Any guesses to how long an extension cord to bring? On Royal Caribbean, they provided me with one (and distilled water) for no extra charge.

For me, I have an reservoir that I keep an use for these types of trips, where distilled water is not always available. I also bring old nasal pillows and hoses that I can get rid of, so I don't have to pack it back.

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I always thought those cabins were the same size, they just had access panels that prevented the couch from being available, but I could be wrong.

Now I know for a fact that the center aft extended cabins on deck 6 - 6458 / 6489 are about 18 inches narrower than a standard cabin. In fact it is very tight getting by the foot of the bed.

We booked that room on our first Carnival cruise on Carnival Freedom. I thought wow, CCL are way smaller than Royal or Princess. Later we went on The Legend and we had a regular size room. Nowhere does Carnival mention that those (and probably more) rooms are smaller.

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I have done Super Savers a few times and do not remember ever seeing a price drop. I think they are (at least close) to a pretty good deal.

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Do you know how the bartenders are tipped with the Cheers program. If you pay approximately $50 for it and they are tipped 15%, that amounts to $7.50. But who gets what portion of that $7.50. If I order 15 drinks throughout the day, does the $7.50 get divided by the 15 drinks and go to each bartender that served them?

You (almost) beat me to my point. Cheers is $49.95 per day with an 18% tip so it equals just under $9 a day. If you drink the 15 drinks then you are actually tipping $.60 per drink.

Now this is just my opinion, but... I actually don't mind throwing an extra buck to most bartenders, especially those that I frequent or show good service. I am on vacation and the extra $75 or so in tips is more than made up by my savings from the cheers program. Sometimes you will get the benefit of your drink being made and given to you ahead of those in line, or they may track down a particular spirit if their bar is out of it. So to me it's worth it, but that is just me.

Now if we are going to talk about tips that I disagree with, it is the Maitre 'd. They get the lions share of the gratuities and I have never seen one do anything a high school door greater couldn't do.

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Port Everglades posts the pier assignments a week in advance. Sometimes it depends on who is in port the same day. EM

 

https://pevvesseltraffic.broward.org/webclient/public/publicmovements.aspx

Thanks, that is what I was looking for.

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Is there anyway to know what pier a ship will be departing from such as The Conquest?

I can't seem to find a specific list anywhere. Do they change from time to time?

Thanks

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There was someone named Tommy G at the piano bar and unfortunately, he was not engaging or fun. This was our opinion only, and maybe other people thought differently. However, we did notice open stools right at the piano bar on a couple of different occasions. Usually not a good indication.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

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Beverages excluded from the program are:

 

• Beverages promoted and sold in souvenir glasses
  
• Bottles of liquor
  
• Beverages offered at the gangway
  
• Beverages offered through room service, mini bars and/or other in-stateroom beverage programs
  
• Sharing cocktails, floaters, pitchers, tubes and buckets
  
• Beverages offered through enomatic wine machines and self-serve beer stations
  
• All other beverage-related programs including merchandise, cigars and cigarettes
  
• Food items
  

 

 

The way I read that is: 5 different types of items listed as not included:

 

 

 

• sharing cocktails
  
• floaters
  
• pitchers
  
• tubes
  
• buckets
  

I think they are using the term "sharing cocktails" to refer to those big "drinks for 2", like the huge-flaming-volcano-in-a-bowl-with-two-straws that you can get at some Chinese restaurants.:) "Sharing" would be a descriptor in this case, not a verb. Am I making sense? I know what I mean, but I don't know if I'm wording it well.:o

Sorry, I meant to quote ShakyBeef not myself.

New Cheers program question. ..

 

I do not see where it excludes tubes, pitchers or buckets, anymore, but the following statement is listed:

 

"Sharing cocktails, floaters, pitchers, tubes and buckets" is not allowed.

 

This leads one to believe that tubes, pitchers and buckets are allowed to be purchased but not shared. If so I would guess that those would count multiples towards your 15 drink limit.

 

Hmmm....

 

Thoughts?

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Well when you point it out like that it makes perfect sense. Must be the mind reads, what the mind wants.

Thanks for the clarification

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I would be interested in your extrusions as well, since we have the same intenerary in April. Also any thoughts on the piano bar?

Thanks

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New Cheers program question. ..

I do not see where it excludes tubes, pitchers or buckets, anymore, but the following statement is listed:

"Sharing cocktails, floaters, pitchers, tubes and buckets" is not allowed.

This leads one to believe that tubes, pitchers and buckets are allowed to be purchased but not shared. If so I would guess that those would count multiples towards your 15 drink limit.

Hmmm....

Thoughts?

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Like everyone says. Keep trying. After a month of checking 5x a day mine finally came up as Limited Availability. Good luck.

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After searching 5 times a day for a month it changed from Sold Out to Limited Availability today. Good luck to those who want to book it.

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Thanks for the heads up about Debarkation.

 

Do you remember who your Hotel Director was??? (on the front of your Fun Times.)

Hi, I have a real question...

I see people ask this type of question, "Who was the Hotel Director, or Maitre'd or Casino host". I can never quite understand how this matters, has one of those positions ever made or broke a cruise?

I can see people how have favorite Cruise Directors (although I have only met one and he was quite rude), but I don't quite get the ones listed above. Please shed some light.

Thanks

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Here is the Fun Times from a post by John.

Also on the Freedom (I assume all Conquest ships) the center aft cabins right above the comedy club are about a foot more narrow than other balcony cabins. It is very tight getting around the foot of the bed.

Cheers

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I think I saw a copy of The Fun Times that mentioned a white party. We saw one on RC, but seeing as we did not pack a lot of white stuff, we did not go.

Does anyone know if this is something that Carnival and especially The Conquest, does a White Party and if so, any details?

Cheers

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I believe that to plug this loophole in the system, you need to have made your original reservations with the 2 guys in the same cabin and then the 2 guys purchase the program as soon as you get on board. After purchasing, duplicate keys can be obtained or switching can occur. I don't know the exact details because it does not apply to me.

 

If you have already made your reservations for your cruise with spouses and husbands in their proper cabins, I believe you're SOL regarding having only the guys get the program. If you're before final payment, maybe names can be changed, but I guess it depends upon what rate your reservation was made at.

 

Good luck. It's worth it. Just got off the Freedom and I enjoyed about 50 drinks at the Alchemy bar, while my GF had about 30. Everything else we had at all of the other bars on board was gravy since the Alchemy Drinks were 9.95 and 80 of them over 8 days covered the cost of the program. I have not sat down and done an exact dollar count, but I believe we saved around 250 or so with the program.

You are my kind of drinker and I will infer from your post that the drinks at Alchemy are all covered by the program. That being said, I know some drinks are listed at $10.50, where those covered or not?

Also a topic I have not seen covered is the BlueIguana or Red Frog... Are there drinks served in those pubs that exceed the $10 limit (I know buckets and tubes are excluded) such as high end rums or tequilas.

Thanks

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No, you get a 25% discount on the bottle but it doesn't count towards the 15 drink limit!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, that answers one question that I had.

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