SoloCroozer

Good morning friend! Do you know for sure where you will gather to meet to depart for your tour? Is it an independent tour or a ships tour? Roatan is beautiful, very lush and tropical.

Alice

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It was on the TA. Dont know about the other Vista cruises. Actually we had several of them I went to. One was food from JiJis, it was in the Limelight lounge, the other was Steakhouse foods, it was held in the Steakhouse. Lots of fun with samples served to all, but go early or you wont get a seat!

Alice

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Book the cruise if your health allows, we have done 5 TP cruises and 3 TAs and I have another one booked for 2017 and will book the China repo in 2018. Im 64 and a widow.

We have sailed the Baltics before. Would really recommend them. St Petersburg is so close, why not throw in Russia too?

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Good to hear all these stories. 25 years of cruising, 50+ cruises, have never needed the medical team so I learned a lot!

Thanks....alice

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Sorry quick, thats above my pay grade LOL.....call your PVP or the Diamond desk, they will know. If you are married, you each get either a free upgrade or free third guest. I would think you can do both but best to find out from CCL.

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Jamman, on some ships you arent allowed to bring a guest to the Diamond reception, social or luncheon. Call and ask once your wife makes Diamond before you book and dont assume you will be able to attend. Yes it has happened many times before on different ships. Its crazy, right? Youre on the same ship in the same cabin! It happened on the Imagination and the Breeze, then we did a B2B on the Triumph earlier this year and we could bring a guest both segments.

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I am Diamond also. You need to book only an OV to get the free upgrade to a balcony and yes if your fare goes down on the OV your final payment will reflect the reduced OV fare....you need to notify your PVP and tell them if the fare goes down. Welcome to Diamond, the perks are wonderful!

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Loved your review, thanks!

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Stephanie, there is no airport in Galveston so I'm thinking you are flying into HOU Hobby? The airport is an hour away from the Galveston terminal. The info above is correct as far as the cost of hotels on the Island. Your best bet is to get a hotel near HOU then go back to the airport and take the Carnival transport to the terminal the day of your cruise. We sail out of and into the Island frequently since we live in Texas and we usually stay on the Island a few days precruise...one more tip, no hotels on the Island have a free shuttle to the cruise terminal, but it's only a $20. Taxi fare from most hotels to the terminal. Good luck! Alice

Hi Yall!

we are older cruisers and we have had all these things on previous cruises, not just with Carnival, but with NCL and Princess as well....I am so happy they are bringing some of these things back for us.

The reason you will only see them offered on certain cruises is because they will only be on the new longer cruises 10+ days and repo cruises, since they are just now starting to offer the longer cruises again they want to offer folks an incentive to book them! They don't need to motivate me, LOL....the best news is we have already booked a B2B cruise, Galveston to SanJuan back to the Island in Jan 2016 and it will have these new (old) things offered to us....good deal!

Alice

Hi, most hotels have the stay sleep go package and do not have secured parking for those guests. We have done that many times with no problems with our car, Thursday we have a reservation at the Hampton Inn on the Island, we will fly to FLL take two cruises coming back to the Island on the Freedom repo. We will be gone for three weeks, one week is included then the other two weeks you pay $45. per week. Compare that to $100.+ per week at the airport.

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To those who complain about Carnival food: What the heck do you eat at home?

My thoughts exactly! many times I've wondered the same thing LOL....

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Hi yall!

The eggs on the breakfast buffet are NOT powdered eggs, so sorry to disagree with everyone who knows they are, do they still give galley tours? If they do, ask the Chef doing the tour, he will tell you those are fresh eggs not powdered eggs on the morning buffet....or look at the food products down on the dock before they are loaded on the ship, pallets of fresh eggs!

We started cruising with Carnival 20+ years ago and we cruise at least twice every year, years ago they did use liquid egg product and they tasted fine to me....

Love all your food thoughts!

Alice

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Oh gosh thank yall so much for the info! We live in Texas but next Jan we have two days in FLL between two Carnival cruises. We are Platinum with Princess ( and yes I am spoiled) 😄. The Regal will be in port Feb 1st and we want to do the BVE on her. Bad news is when I called Princess this am, they don't have that date available yet, they are only selling the day passes thru the end of Dec. so we will need to wait a month or so I guess to be able to book it. But that was a deal breaker for me, if we had to wait to board with 3000 other pax I really didn't want to do that! Hey it's not my fault Princess has spoiled me! Carnival has also, we are Diamond level with them! Thanks again friends!

Alice

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I'm looking at our reservation confirmation form, and it's the same street address as the one where we have stayed at two times before: 2500 Stirling Road......maybe I'm wrong......

Alice

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Ksushaq.....I know there is a restaurant/pub right behind this hotel, we saw it from our windows of our hotel room [emoji1]....a group of friends from cruise critic met there for a pre cruise M&G the night before one of our cruises, we were too pooped from our flight so we didn't go, but the place was there then....you can call the Hampton Inn and ask the desk, their number is: 954-922-0011.....but it's a very easy walk from the hotel, like I said we could see it from our window....

Laters....alice

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Hi, yes we have stayed at this HI a few times before and have another room there this coming January, we will sail on the Breeze out of MIA, two days at this HI then board the Freedom for a repo cruise to Galveston island....as poster above stated, very nice hotel, there is a restaurant - pub right behind the hotel easy walking...you will be happy with your choice...there is a shuttle to the cruise terminal, you register for it when you check into your room, but there is always a long line waiting for the shuttle with all their dozens of suitcases LOL....so since it is very close we usually ask the hotel to call a taxi for us.....

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Yep, also keep in mind that hotels booked thru your cruise line are way overpriced, we've paid up to $400. Per night for a room at the ships recommended hotel, you can get a taxi to the pier terminal much cheaper LOL.....but it depends on if it's a domestic or international port too, and your comfort level in your port city.....here's a nightmare story:

We know this couple, very nice folks who booked a HAL cruise Rome round trip to see the Normandy Beaches, she was worried that no one would speak English in Rome so she changed her flight from Texas to Rome to arrive the day they boarded the ship, while they were sitting in their plane on the Tarmac in Chicago with engine trouble their cruise ship departed Rome....so they had to stay in Rome for two days waiting to fly to their ships first port LOL.....moral to the story, be brave, go outside your comfort zone safely and see the whole world!

Alice

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I'll be diamond one day. Already planning a 7 day for next year [emoji572]️

 

 

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Qianabb....yep 7 days at a time will get you to Diamond level past pax LOL....hopefully you will get there faster than us, it took us 20 years of cruising to get there but during that 20 years we also made Platinum level with Princess and NCL so....took us 10 years to go from Platinum to Diamond level LOL...we don't cruise for the perks and benefits we cruise because we love to cruise!

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Luvto...which port dear?

Alice

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Hi, we are Diamond level past pax with Carnival and Platinum with NCL.....you might guess that we love both cruise lines and you would be right, many things are similar some things different, but we enjoy and appreciate all the things that both of them offer....good luck and Bon Voyage!

Alice

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Hi, the best thing to do is go to John Healds Facebook page, click on "ask John" and he will tell you what to do ...good luck!

Alice

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Hi, DH and I sailed on the Imagination Panama Canal cruise this past January, the Captain held two receptions for Diamond past pax and caviar was served at both of them! Enjoy! Bon Voyage!!

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This is really funny....you do know that there are many many places in the world where you can't get a signal don't you? For instance we sailed from Alaska to China, no internet satellite for 7 days. Same for the Tasman sea and most cruises thru the Baltics....I guess if all you do is sail Caribbean cruises you can find a signal, but.....

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