jcearth

The are many configurations connecting 2+3 for Oceanview and Balcony rooms, but not for Inside rooms on the Conquest class ships. Were you looking to book inside cabins? If that was the case, then they do not have connecting configurations. Otherwise, you are fine.

If you want to be close to the "action", get a lower numbered cabana.

 

If you want a quieter area, get a higher numbered cabana.

 

Numbers 8, 9 and 10 are close to the restrooms and the path to the food pavilion.

 

We've had numbers 14 and 15 (the last two). Not many people down that way.

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Sometimes they will let you price match, but you have to be willing to give up your cabin and go with a guarantee cabin. So if you like your cabin, don't do this. I did this one time, when I had the lowest category cabin available, and I was reassigned to the same cabin. So sometimes it can work out for you. And other times they may not even give you this option.

The best way to book connecting rooms is to call them - a lot of times they do not release connecting rooms to the booking engine online, and will hold them. So here is what you do: go to a website like cruisedeckplans, and go through each deck and find the configurations that you like - make a list of your top 3 or 4 choices, and then call Carnival directly to book (or go through a PVP if you wish). I have done this a few times and it works pretty flawlessly.

Just remember that the doctors on the ship do not take your health insurance, and are not cheap, and neither is the medicine. Also, they are not pediatricians (so their bedside manner with little one may not be the best), and their office hours will be limited - think maybe 3 hours a day. A few years ago, our then 11 month old had an ear infection, and we went to the doctor onboard. He is allergic to penicillin, so we lucky that they had non-penicillin based antibiotics onboard. All told, with the exam and medicine, the bill came close to $200.

I don't have any crazy combinations, but here are a few that I like:

1) At the Grill, ask for a double cheeseburger, especially if they are just coming off the grill.

2) I love cheese, but they just don't put enough in the omelets - so I head to the salad bar area at breakfast, and put the slices of cheese over my finished omelet. It melts in about a minute, and presto chango, melty cheesy omelet! Combine with croissants and excessive bacon (Tip - just keep asking the bacon police for more or tell them how many pieces you wish - and yes, i do wish 12!), and you have a breakfast fit for a king!

3) At the Deli, you are only limited by your imagination - they will make you anything there, as long as they have the ingredients -- grilled cheese for the kids on the press, and anything on ciabatta for me, or a rueben subbing mayo for thousand island dressing are some of my favorites.

4) And for dessert, ice cream cookie sandwiches (the soft serve doesn't tend to be cold enough to make this work as much as it does in my mind, but it tastes good just the same). Take two chocolate chip cookies, add soft serve in between them, and there you go!

I've attended quite a few "adult" comedy shows and I've found most of them funny. I've practically peed myself watching people like Ron White or Whitney Cummings. I don't care about f-bombs or other adult references. But I don't think they are inherently hilarious on their own. They don't fix a lame joke. The freedom to use more realistic language and explore more adult topics can definitely enhance the performance and make the conversation and interaction with the audience more real.

 

I don't think anyone is complaining about the adult content of the shows. The base routine still needs to be good quality whether or not you're allowed to curse. The performer shouldn't go into an "adult" show with no material besides f-bombs and jokes about anatomy and sex and that's how it seemed sometimes on our cruise. If you're going to pick on the Asian audience members, have something besides "Oh, your Asian! That's so funny" with a few f-bombs sprinkled in.

I understand what you are saying - that just hasn't been my experience onboard with the comedy shows. Luckily, on the week long cruises, you get a choice of 4 different comedians, so if you don't like one, you have 3 others to see. I also understand that comedy is a very subjective art form. Case in point, since he has already been discussed, the Cowboy comedian, John Wesley Austin. My wife and I both really liked him, so much so that we watched two of his shows. However, I thought his first one was amazing and his second just good, and she thought the reverse. Overall, I do believe that the comedians on Carnival are very good and a great alternative to the showroom.

Is the part about 45-60 days before the cruise your observation? Just curious. I would like to know the difference in the amount of OBC between ships. For example, is one more likely to get OBC on a smaller, older Fantasy Class ship versus a Dream Class ship? We are still 137 days from cruising on the Dream, so it seems that if you're correct, we still have a while to wait. [emoji13]

 

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I would think that most drops are going to occur after final payment date, so that only the Early Savers would be eligible for price drops. Last year was a bit different, as they slashed prices due to the negative press coming from the Triumph loss of power cruise. This year prices haven't budged for the fall yet (they took a nose dive in April last year), but I keep hearing people getting great drops on summer cruises (they are selling for less than fall cruises, which is crazy, so those of us on fall cruises will remain patient.

I have a question for all those offended by the "Adult" shows: Are you aware that there are multiple "family-friendly" shows each night? I ask this because we have cruised with my mother-in-law a few times, and she has no desire to hear any cursing or crude subject matter while attending the shows. She absolutely loved the family-friendly shows. I have attended both styles of shows, and both are enjoyable, but honestly, they do run a disclaimer at the beginning of the adult shows "If you are under 18 or easily offended, please get out now (or words to that effect)". Is it that you don't believe that you are easily offended, but discovered that you are? I am curious, because every time I see a thread like this, I ask myself "Did these people not read the Fun Times, or listen to the disclaimers?".

As far as the quality of comedians, they do vary, but are on par with or better than what you will find in your local major metropolitan comedy club. The other thing to keep in mind is that some comedians are more comfortable in an adult setting, and some in a family friendly setting, and also the comedians do multiple different shows. My own hypothesis is that the first show is the more standard style of comedy (the comedians' established set), and the later shows are more freestyle, with some experimenting and playing with the audience. The great thing about the 7 day cruises is, even if there is one comedian you do not enjoy, there are still 3 other comedians that you can see at some point that week. JMO

OP, I think that you will be pleasantly surprised about the pools on the Triumph compared to Disney. One of the biggest issues we had on our Disney cruise was how packed and dangerous the pools can be - we inadvertently started a cannonball contest at the Donald family pool and my 7 year old ended up getting kicked in the head while he was underwater - had I not been right there, it could have been a huge problem (I believe that since then Disney has instituted lifeguards on their ships) -- way too may people in one space. The Triumph will have an area with a waterslide, pool, and hot tub that is great for kids (watch the depth of the pool though - may be a little deep for an almost 6 year old if he is not a strong swimmer) in additional to the main pool with the movie screen. Also, the soft serve ice cream in never-ending (they will have ice cream and frozen yogurt, and switch between chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry). Disney has the absolute best shows at sea, so avoid the main theater if you didn't like them. Caveat - Carnival's shows are more PG-13 Las Vegas style show, so if you want a more adult brand of show without a real storyline, then you might want to check it out. The kids club will not be as expansive as Disney, but will also not be as crazy either.

42 inches for the racers (and yes they are occasionally strict about it), same as the Twister and Drainpipe -- for those under 42 inches, there are the mini-slides

My kids loved the 18 hole course on the Dream, expecially later in the day when it was a little windy and not so hot. The Waterworks on the Dream has the mini slides for the young ones, and a few sprayers, but it doesn't have the dump bucket like the Breeze has (it has a open air racing slides instead) You have to be 42 inches to ride the bigger slides, or they will call security on you.

Meat pies from the lunch buffet (I think that they are on French day) - absolutely delicious and the only thing I will eat from a lunch or dinner buffet.

Breakfast: Omelet, croissants, and BACON!!!

Lunch: Anything on ciabatta bread from the deli, or a double burger fresh from the grill (haven't tried Guy's burgers yet - first thing I am getting on our next cruise)

Dinner: Nothing stands out, so I'll say Pumpkin soup

I did a group booking two years ago, and it became a big headache, especially when it came to price drops and amenities. You have to call and check each fare to see if they support amenities or not (it always seemed random to me whether they did or did not), and ask to buy up the amenity points if the corresponding fare did not support. As for the specific amenities, each cruise is assigned a certain amount of points. From there, you as the group leader would choose what to spend the points on (OBC, wine, photo credit, chocolates, etc.) I believe that you have until a certain time to select the amenites, and can change them, but in your group contract there should be a chart listing all the amenities and the point cost for each. Check your contract to see how many points you have and confirm what choices you made -- keep in mind that some amenities have a minimum amount of people required for that specific amenity.

If you don't want to fool with the slots, just ask the cashier at the casino cage for chips and charge it to your sign and sail card - you can cash them out whenever you wish. However, there is a 3% surcharge if you do it this way (for $1200, that would be $36)

Pride is scheduled to depart at 6PM

He posted a question to gauge interest in an app that would let you text and call people on the ship using the ship's wifi free of charge - I sampled the responses, and it seemed to be about 10 to 1 in favor of such an idea, and most of the people who said no did not quite understand the concept (a lot of the no's thought that they would be receiving incoming calls and texts and getting huge charges from their carrier). I would urge people to respond to the questions that he asks if you are interested in them, as it seems they are using his facebook page as a focus group of sorts.

Good location - we stayed midship by the elevators on Riviera - the Dream doesn't seem to be plagued with the same elevator issues that some of the older ships have. Elevators were quick, and it didn't take long to get to any one place on the ship.

That would be great! We love to laugh as much as the next person, but we won't sit through a string of four-lettered words intended to be the joke, in lieu of having actual funny material. Nothing x-rated for us, either. I have seen some HILARIOUSLY FUNNY clean comedians, but I know that's hoping for too much on a cruise ship! :D

It's actually not too much too ask -- in fact there are multiple family friendly shows on every sailing. Just be sure to refer to your Funtimes to catch the showtimes -- these shows will generally be earlier in the evening (7-8:30 pm). My mother-in-law is not a fan of the more "adult" shows, so she attended a few family-friendly shows and had a great time! It will be the same comedians, but they just do a different type of set for these shows.

Ok - I did a little digging a found out some interesting information. July cruises (typically the most expensive time of the year outside of NYE or Christmas) on the Conquest are selling for LESS than my mid-September (typically the cheapest time to sell out side of maybe January) cruise. That's insane! That tells me that right now the prices are not being capacity controlled and they are inflating the fall prices in order to fill the summer cruises. So the price drops are coming - just be patient. Or the ships will be empty - no lines would be awesome.

The prices haven't moved on anything I was looking at for September, including the one I booked (Conquest). So, either all fall sailings are selling extremely well, or there will be a mad dash to fill the fall bookings soon. Last year, the prices dropped a lot earlier (in April) due to all of the bad publicity at the time. Stay tuned.

You can also mix and match in your bucket (2 Fosters & 2 Coors Light, for example) and still get a $.50 discount per beer.

As far as soda goes, I do not combine alcohol and food, so I am the guy that brings my soda to dinner with me.

A bucket of Foster's equals roughly eight and a half 12 ounce beers, so that is quite a bucket if you get one.

Cozumel is very big and very spread out - it can absorb a lot of passengers.

Either the Fall Cruises are selling very well, or they are holding out hope that they will sell well. Not sure about either.

Definitely do the one that has Grand Turk in the itinerary.