belkin

Miami and reasonable rates do not always go hand in hand, it all depends on what time of year. I like the Hampton Inn/Brickell. http://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/florida/hampton-inn-and-suites-miami-brickell-downtown-MIABVHX/index.html

#1 on Trip Advisor and gets 4 1/2 stars.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)

 

My husband and I are going to be flying into Miami the day before our cruise, where are some great places to stay? We are hoping to find somewhere that has a shuttle to and from the airport and the cruise port. Also at a reasonable price! Thanks for the help!:D

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carnival Ecstasy 2012

I have stayed at the InterContinental, but we drove so I cant address the shuttles.

You may find this forum helpful. It is the Florida departures one right here on Cruise Critic. Use the search this forum link in the upper right corner to help narrow your search down.

Love the Glory she is one of our favorite ships!

Personally I feel sorry for her. I am the type of person who has the mindset that if you are not early then you are late. I simply cannot tolerate tardiness. I am never ever ever late, and I normally have zero tolerance for people who are late.

 

Something about this made me sad though. She seemed like maybe she was older and in not great shape physically, kind of waddling a bit. But the heckling from the people on the ship is to me uncalled for. Whatever happened to having some empathy for your fellow man? Was it all her own fault? Probably so, but still no need to heckle the poor woman. It looked like maybe she was crying or getting very upset as she was fanning her face (what it looked like to me). What satisfaction did these people derive from heckling her??? It's ok to snicker to yourself inside your own head, or to your mate standing next to you but to holler down to the poor woman??? Completely uncivilized.

moongal you words are exactly how I feel about this situation. I seen some pretty sad comments on Facebook in regards to this situation as well. Sure made me feel sad.

Dramamine has a Natural Formula that is 1000mg of Ginger.

what side is port side

All the even number cabins are port side on the left side.

An easy way to remember is left = port and both have 4 letters.

:)Hundred and Five Hundred are up for sale. Don't wait:D

Thanks for the heads up. I thought about buying a couple last night and checked and they weren't there. Was surprised to se this post this morning. Must have been reading my mind. :D

This post is from 2015. Tapi's ship has probably sailed.

Does anyone know when they might announce the 2018 itineraries for the Vista sister ship?

I booked the Vista the day the first day the itineraries were released which was January 22nd of 2015. So like vwrestler171 says it will probably be about the same time frame.

We are anxiously waiting too!

Nope you won't get off the ship in Glacier Bay. They only do the small boat tours in Tracy Arm.

Thanks Eaglecw. Was really looking forward to it....we did it back in 2012. Carnival changed our itinerary a couple of weeks ago from Tracy Arm to Glacier Bay. Guess that will save us some $$$.

We booked Carnival to Glacier Bay next August. Do they do the small boat tour...or is it just Tracy Arm?

I reserved tickets for all my traveling companions (4 of us total) for next weeks Carnival Tracy Arm small boat excursion. I have emailed repeatedly to ask how the sail and sign accounts are billed when separate booking numbers are involved, but no one has responded:confused:

so I was hoping someone here might have similar situation and can help me out. Since I reserved the tickets, will all 4 be charged to my account or will they we spread out among both booking numbers? I gave them both booking numbers when I sent initial email.

TIA!

When we went to Alaska in 2012 they did not charge the tour ahead of time. It was after we got on the boat. We communicate through IMC Shore excursions.

I wonder what enhanced turn down service is?

A mint on your pillow :D

Just got this email

April 29, 2016

Dear Carnival Guest,

We'd like to take this opportunity to provide you some important information regarding a change to our gratuity guidelines.

Our gratuity guidelines will be increasing from $12.00 to $12.95 per person per day for guests sailing in standard staterooms and $13.95 per person per day for guests booked in suites with cruises departing September 1, 2016 and onward. In tandem with this change, in addition to priority embarkation and debarkation in all ports and confirmed main dining room preference, suite guests will now receive priority tender service, complimentary in-suite bottled water and one complimentary bag of laundry per voyage, as well as an enhanced turndown service. Guests who have pre-paid their gratuities as of May 9 will not be affected by the increase.

While gratuities are automatically added to your onboard Sail & Sign account as a convenience, tipping is always at your discretion. Please feel free to adjust, up or down, as you deem appropriate, by visiting Guest Services after the gratuities have been posted to your account.

Our shipboard team members work hard to provide exceptional service so we hope you will agree that this slight increase is well deserved.

We thank you for your understanding and we look forward to welcoming you aboard for a fun and memorable cruise!

Sincerely,

Arlene Marichal

Sr. Director, Guest Services - Contact Centers

Nope, not allowed under he PVSA. However, you can go on different cruise lines. Is there another line going to Alaska close to the dates and back before the Carnival cruise leaves for Hawaii? Even if you had to stay in Vancouver a couple of days before the Hawaii cruise, it would be worth it. Vancouver is beautiful.

I guess I could consider another line for Alaska or maybe just drop it all together. We did go there in 2012 just thought it would be nice to combine the two.

One of the reasons I wanted to do this Hawaiian cruise was because it left from Vancouver and we have never been there.

Thanks for the advice.

I would like to book the last Alaska cruise on the Legend for 2017 and then the Hawaii cruise that immediately follows it.

After reading this post it doesn't look like I can. Chengkp75 can you confirm this for me?

9/5/17 Alaska cruise starts in Seattle and ends in Vancouver.

9/12/17 Hawaii cruise starts in Vancouver and ends in Hawaii.

Looks like a no because it starts in one us port and ends in another without calling on a distant foreign port??

Yes you can go and get checked in.... have some lunch and get back off the ship. Just be sure to double check what time you have to be back on board.

Looks like a great cruise!

I enjoyed the Legend.

My wife and I just booked the Legend on a 17 day cruise from Honolulu to Sydney. We are very excited and starting to think how to spend a week or so in Australia or possible New Zealand. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We are 56 and in good health. We enjoy water sports but also natural beauty. This will be our first visit to the area.

Did you have to book that through Carnival Australia?

I also just had a problem with a Carnival Gift card and guest service associated who did not understand what I had asked him to do. I had a 44.00 balance on my sail and sign account, I asked guest service associate to apply part of my gift card-350.00-to my account. Associate applied the full amount of the card to my account. I asked why he would have put 350.00 on an account that only had a 44.00 balance? This was the last night of the cruise. He stated I would receive a gift card in the mail for the balance. Normally this would be okay, but I was on a B2B and this was the first leg. I explained this and he would check with corp. and get back to me. Associate was not trained properly and was rather rude. I get a call at 7 am the next morning(mind you I was sleeping) to come to guest services- I did receive a partial cash refund that covered most of the balance of the card-had to go back to the cabin to get my husbands card for a further refund-was met by a different guest service associate that was extremely rude stating I could not receive a refund but ending up giving me a partial. Carnival still owes me about 36.00-I hope I receive a gift card in the mail as stated but I am not holding my breath.

 

It is very important when using a gift card the has more money on it then your sail and sign balance that you state over and over again you only want to have the amount of the sail and sign account removed from the gift card or they will apply the whole amount to the card.

 

The year before, I used gift cards to pay off S & S account=there was more on the card then the balance and the associate only applied the balance to the account. Again this was done the last night of each cruise. I guess it all depends on who you get at the counter-just like home-some associates know there jobs others may just still be learning or just don't care.

 

The only time I have ever had issues with Carnival Associates being rude is at Guest Services. I have been a Customer Service Manager for several years and if one of my associates treated our customers the way I was treated in Guest Services, I would have definitely had a performance conversation on paper with them.

The kiosk is your friend. You can apply your gift cards by simply putting in the card number. The amount you have on the card is shown on the screen and it then asks you how much of that amount do you want to apply to your card. Once I apply the desired amount I immediately go back to the main screen so that I can see the credit. I ask for a receipt and I print out my entire sign and sail right then.

I also created a spreadsheet at home with all my card numbers on it or you could easily send yourself an email with them and then I update it as they are used.

We are on the Glory and a few days ago they closed one side of the gift shops. They kept the side that had the jewelry open.

They had stuff on tables in the jewelry shop from the other side on Clearance. They were selling things at 25% discount.

Today the jewelry side closed and is supposed to be for the rest of the cruise. No mention when they will reopen.

A higher floor is not really better. To me it all just depends on what you want to be near.

If I have a choice I stay away from the decks under Lido (9 on the magic) and the deck above the Promenade (deck 6 on Magic). I would hate to get stuck over a night club.

If you want a basic balcony cabin I would go for one on deck 7 or 8. If you are worried at all about ship movement mid ship is best.

You may want to consider a Lido deck cabin. We have had these many times and they are one of our favorites. We actually have one booked on the Magic.

cruise deck plans dot com is a good website to look at cabins.

It's essentially just like getting money out of the ATM at home except it's a different type of currency. Use all the same cautions you would use at home and you'll be fine v

I am sure it will be ok it is just a little fear of the unknown but it sure sounds like it should be fairly easy.

I was a complete novice on this when we went to EU this summer past

 

I got Florins in the airport ATM in Budapest

 

and EUROs several times in ATMs between Hungary, Austria and Germany.

 

I never had a problem .... never really had a concern

 

altho once I had to sell EUROs to fellow cruiser who HAD over thought!!!!!

 

Don't sweat it (unless you bank really SUCKS on this sort of thing!!!)

 

OH .... I bank USAA . . . .

Yeah this is our first trip to Europe and I guess I am a little nervous about trying to get money out of the ATMs if I go with none.

Keep in mind that all banks have ATM daily withdrawal limits. These are set by your own bank ($500 per day in the USA is very common) but can also be set at a lower level by the bank operating the ATM. If you try to withdraw more then your max amount the entire transaction will be refused. If you keep trying with the same ATM there is a chance that the ATM will "eat" your card. So we never try more than twice at a single ATM/bank. Know your daily limit (ask your bank if you are not sure) and convert that to Euros. Then we suggest staying somewhat under the max to allow for variation in exchange rates and fees.

 

Hank

Our bank limit is $500 and they did tell me I could increase it. Seems like I would be safe asking for $400 unless that is over the limit of the ATM.

I will remember not to try an ATM more than twice as well just be be safe.

Thanks

Mary

To start with, you can usually select an English language option -- usually indicated with either a British or American flag.

 

You will be selecting your withdrawal amount in euros, not dollars. So if you select 200 -- that is what you'll get, in euros. You do not see the exchange rate, but in all my years of using ATMs, the rate is closer to the official exchange rate than you can get anywhere else.

 

It will be up to you you know whether your bank also charges other fees for withdrawal -- they are not generally charged by the European banks but by your own home bank (e.g., a $5.00 withdrawal fee, a conversion fee).

That makes sense. We bank at 5th 3rd and they charge 3%. We have been considering joining a credit union and this may just be the incentive to finally do it. Since we cruise in September I have time to decide.

So far I have found a couple of great links listing banks in France and Greece. Now I just need to find Spain and Italy and I will be all set.

Thanks again you have been really helpful.