Bahbert

Thanks so much for the live review; I just found it and have been catching up. I'm on the Mardi Gras in January and this is a great look at it all. I'm ticked they switched our itinerary from San Juan to Nassau; your pics of the town make me bummed I'll miss it. But I'll still be cruising, so no complaints!

Don't forget to check out the Havana bar.

Looks like this is happening across the board. Just commented in another thread about dates from 12/31/22 to 4/13/23 that were also moved from San Juan to Nassau. Bummer.

Anyone know why? I know a number of itineraries have been changed from San Juan this past year, and was worried this might happen to ours. But the email indicated cruises from12/31/22 - 4/13/23 were changed, which means the Mardi Gras won't be going there for a while. Mechanical issues with the dock? Politics? 

On 8/3/2022 at 6:59 PM, cruisinqt said:

4. If you want to try out different restaurants for dinner, don’t do assigned dining. Assigned dining guests can’t make reservations at them until after 7:45.

Great review, thanks! One question about the above: Does this apply to all assigned dining, regardless of time? We usually get late dining but one of the reasons I might want to make reservations for a specialty restaurant is to eat earlier in order to catch a show we might otherwise miss due to our dining time.

We recently renewed our passports. I mailed them in around the beginning of May and they marked them received on the 13th. We got them back on June 30, so that was within the stated timeframe. I assume new passports would be completed within a similar period, but I don't know that for certain.

Question about this room, specifically: Is the bed closer to the bathroom or the balcony?

I’m guessing there’s some difference in the docks. We’re still going to Cozumel. Maybe they can’t dock on one side?

Just got the following email about our 4/10/22 cruise:

Dear Carnival Glory Guest, 

The ship is experiencing an issue that is affecting its docking machinery and our team is working on the repairs.  The work will continue during the cruise and, as a result, it is necessary to replace our call on Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, with a visit to Progreso, Mexico, on Friday, April 15.  

Pre-purchased Carnival shore excursions for Mahogany Bay will be cancelled and automatically refunded to your onboard Sail & Sign® account.  For information on Progreso tours, please visit the Carnival HUB App or the Shore Excursions desk once on board. 

We apologize for this unexpected change of plans and thank you for your understanding.  We look forward to welcoming you aboard for a FUN and memorable cruise.

On 2/27/2022 at 2:56 PM, Illbcruzn4life said:

hoping we get one for our April cruise. We are booked in a Havana Cabana and 3 of the 4 suites in that area are still unsold.

 

So they put the upgrade offer in your cruise planner in the things to do list?

Yes, it's the top link in the list every day since I posted... but clicking it still just gets me a message saying I've missed the opportunity. *grumble*

I'm gonna keep checking every day though. We have a balcony already so I'm not going to be upset if an upgrade doesn't come our way, but I wouldn't mind a suite for a decent price.

A couple of days ago, I noticed a link in my To-Do List on Carnival's cruise manager page: "Exclusive stateroom upgrade offer available." Excitedly, I clicked it... only to get a message saying, "Sorry, this offer is no longer available."

Since then, the link persists but there's still no upgrade offer. Carnival, you tease!! 

Gripe over. Just wondered if anyone else can relate or sympathize. :D

Thanks all. I think we’ll wait and renew them when we get back. 

I understand that it’s each country’s rules that govern passport requirements. But if we’re just visiting for the day (Mexico, Belize, and Honduras), do we really need more than six months left on our passports?

Ours expire 5 months after we return, and I’m worried about not having time to get an expedited passport renewal back in time (early April). We can cruise with birth certificates but would prefer to use our passports… either our current ones with 5 months left on them or brand-new ones that I’m not sure about getting in time. 
 

Just trying to decide what to do. 

On 9/10/2021 at 9:13 PM, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

You can check every day for every ship and cruise line  *****.com Plus all the info on every ship and cruise line.

The site unfortunately masked the site name you entered. 

On 9/11/2021 at 11:58 AM, amypintx said:

I use the price alert tool in the Shipmate app. You can set it to alert you for changes to Inside, Oceanview, Balcony, and Suite categories. If I get an alert, then I go do a mock booking on Carnival to check for my specific room category.

This seems like the easiest way to be notified if there's a potential change. Thanks!

I used to use Cruise Fish to watch prices on my bookings and request credit on Early Saver bookings, but that site is no longer live. Can anyone recommend a similar service? If not that, what is your preferred method for checking for price drops on your particular Carnival cabin category?

Here are a couple more tips:

• If you have trouble sleeping when light comes through the window, consider bringing a few cheap clothespins to pin the two halves of the drapes together. They're useful for hanging clothes up to dry, too. 😋
• If you like taking photos, then a balcony's a great place for it. You never know what you're going to see out there. If you have a sports camera (like a GoPro) or one with a time-lapse feature, consider getting some kind of mount that you can use to hold the camera to the railing and get some great time-lapse shots of the water and clouds.
• As others have said, nothing beats the first cup of coffee on the balcony! I like to sit and read out there as well.

9 hours ago, EMc&DrS said:

We were there back in 2011 on a Carnival excursion--loved it-- and are thinking about going back in November.  Did you book through your cruise line, or an independent company?  Our cruise line doesn't offer an excursion there, but our online travel agency does, so I was curious if your visit was part of a cruise line excursion?

We booked through an external company; the excursion is called “Sun Kissed Goff’s Caye Snorkeling & Beach Excursion.” I’m sure you’ll find the company if you search for that online. They were very professional, helpful, and knowledgeable. There were plenty of people to assist everyone and they were conscientious about safety and time. 

Just wanted to provide an update in case others are interested in the topic later. Just got back from our cruise, and we were in Belize on Thursday 9/19/19. We did an excursion on Goff's Caye and saw no sargassum there at all. Apparently the reef helps keep it mostly clear, and when they do get some the excursion staff go out in the morning to clean it up. 

I highly recommend Goff's Caye to anyone who is interested in snorkeling and tiny tropical islands! 

Bumping.

Thanks for the quick review! My wife and I will be sailing her next week. 

Resurrecting this thread, as we're due to be in Roatan in a couple of weeks. Has anyone been recently that can comment on the seaweed situation? Thanks!

Wife and I did this in January 2018. It was held in an area of the kitchen that was mostly reserved for us (though there was activity in other areas of the kitchen). Our dinner was held on day 3 of the cruise (the night after the first elegant night).

I always bring a rolling bag (carry-on size) to hold two 12-packs and a few other things. Once we're on board we just find a table somewhere on Lido and stay there until the room is ready, taking turns going to get lunch or leaving for other reasons.

Without FTTF, I think you're pretty much stuck with carting them around or having someone watch them for you. 

Saw this post on Reddit about a couple that had a bad experience in Costa Maya and thought it would be good to point it out here. Note that the poster mentions in the comments that they were drinking at the swim-up bar in port. Other comments point out that they were likely served cheap/bogus liquor, rather than being drugged. Alarming information. Be sure you know where your booze comes from!

Thanks for your perspective! Good info. One thing though:

20 hours ago, raynvic said:

(I did miss my chocolate melting cake with peanut butter.)

I saw this and thought "WHAT?! This is a thing? How did I not know that?!" I'm sooooo doing this on my cruise next month! 🙂 Thanks!