cruisecraze96

 Bringing back Bourbon is my excuse to go on cruises 🙂 last cruise we purchased 2 bottles of Blantons on the ship plus a coupe of other Bourbons he wanted to try. 
 

We rent from National due to no one way fees and low rate. Our experience is to get to the rental car area early.  We dropped off in the morning and they put our names on the shuttle list. It took about 2 or 3 shuttles before we got on one to head to port, roughly 20 minutes.  
 

On the day we returned I picked up another car to head to Ft Lauderdale and that was pretty quick.  Didn’t have to wait long to get return shuttle and get our suv and run off.  

2 experiences with something similar. 
 

I broke my leg and tore the ligaments and tendons off. I had 2 surgeries with the 2nd one to remove the screws just days before a trip. I rented a scooter and was able to even walk some by that time.  So hoping your mom recovers quickly and can at least use a scooter, you can rent one at special needs at sea, and is able to enjoy being there with family. 
 

2nd one is this past Holiday my dad was in the hospital. They had a suite for a cruise in January so I called on options to not lose the room. Same thing, one person had to stay on room but we were going to move my brothers wife to the room and that way they could use it that week.  Luckily my dad recovered quickly and was able to go and had a great time.  
 

I normally buy insurance but just didn’t do it that trip. Needless to say the next cruises booked all have insurance purchased 🙂 

On 7/28/2019 at 8:48 PM, Stallion said:

Another thing I worry about is passengers should be warned that if they have outstanding arrest warrants they need to clear that up before leaving

Don’t forget If you travel through Canada. Many don’t realize if they have a DUI or other infraction and fly through there they can get detained.  Knew of someone cruising in Europe and had a connection in Canada and missed their trip because of it.  

3 minutes ago, Lshriver said:

Okay thank you, I will probably have to call. We were booking through Costco online and I thought we activated his account last night but when we put it in it wouldn’t let us book so we just used my number so we could book. Through his account though it says we have a cruise so I’m all confused.

I think it is online account vs VIFP number 🙂 don't worry after a few of these you will be a pro at it....or at least feel more comfortable.  You can also go onto CCLs website to the manage VIFP Club and search by birthdate/name and then it will show you his VIFP number so you can make sure to get that added.  Same with the kids if they have cruised...otherwise after the cruise they will have that as well.

I have a little spreadsheet I keep with everyone's numbers for all he different lines for booking to help me keep them straight too.

27 minutes ago, Lshriver said:

So why is my husband tier blue and I am red when we both cruised at the same time?? I haven’t even checked the kids yet...

Assuming that when you booked again your travel agent did not put your husband's VIFP number on the cruise.  We had this happen with my sister and just had to call to get the cruise(s) added afterwards or her number added before we left.  

Here they legalized gambling casinos and Hard Rock was on the list to put up a hotel and casino in the area.  Then they banned smoking in casinos in this area and shortly after that Hard Rock pulled out of their contract and a different group came in to put up the Casino, and they yet to have been profitable enough to put in the hotel.  To me that says that gambling and smoking does go hand and hand, I do not smoke and I do not gamble but my sister and mom both do and this last cruise both walked away with free cruises due to the amount of money spent/won in the casino that week.  When I book trips I stick with 3 lines due to the smoking and smoking in the casino polices for them to want to go.

We booked a balcony last minute across from a blank wall, sadly it was the storage area for our room steward and oh the noise. I felt really  bad for my BIL who booked in the room right next to it to be close to us.  Lots of banging of glasses, carts, etc.  They were super nice but I will never make that mistake again...unless I really want to go last minute and that is what is left 🙂

There is one posted here now, for this cruise the formal nights are on the 2nd Night (first sea day) and San Juan (Wednesday)

On 2/27/2019 at 1:31 PM, lelder1 said:

Where is the link to the fun times?  I don't see it.  Thanks!

2 hours ago, iloverags2 said:

I don't see them either.

Here is the link to the other post

If you want to get one wait until you get on the ship. Yes they are higher than land but for me it is the part of my vacation that I am willing to splurge on.  Normally they have specials on both sea and port days, and if they don't have one ask and many times they will make it work for you.

I normally get the head to toe special and if I remember right it is 75 min and I have paid as low as $109 for that one plus tip.

But, beware the upsell 😞 that can kill the experience and I always try to make sure they know I use their products, have tons of them, and don't need anything else 🙂 

10 minutes ago, Diane5583 said:

Ok, so that is what I did.  I did not put $50 on each card I set a limit of $50 on each card.  Thank you so much!  I must have just remembered it wrong.  I feel better now.  No expensive Cologne and new designer shoes will end up on my son.  My son sees stores selling high end designer brands and loses all sense of reason.

I have the sweet tooth 9 year old, that if she was with her sister and not me I am afraid of how much candy she would buy 🙂. 

When I checked in for our cruise coming up in a few weeks when setting up the account for kids it allowed you to set spending limits.  It was either no limit or you can enter in any dollar amount including $0.  I just tested it and it allowed me to save $0 to one of the kids if I wanted that amount.

12 hours ago, Aplmac said:

What I'd like to know is..

what was wrong or broken with the previous system

of handing them to you at check-in?

Can anyone explain why this change became necessary?

What were the flaws?

The first cruise I talked my husband into going with me on was a prime example of the old system being broken. We had FTTF to help speed the process faster for him since I wanted him to have a great time.  Well we check in and they could not find the keys, it took over and hour because she kept looking here and there and then back here. Finally I asked if they could just make new keys, after more looking she did.  Great we get up to the ship and yep.....dong keys didn’t work. So another 15 or so minutes for them to fill out paperwork.  

Get in on the ship, go to guest services and they can do nothing until later.  So no ordering drinks, going to room until close to sail away.  

So so for me the new process is much better. Yes that was the first time that had happened, it was my 4th cruise, but it did not help start the trip off in the best light for my DH who was a first time cruiser.  

You can always ask when you get onboard if they will move your youngest up into the Circle C program but depending on how close she is to her birthday, the number of kids on the ship, and the director of the kids camp they might say no.

We had a similar situation this last summer on NCL when cruising to Alaska with girls in both programs and they would not allow the youngest to move up to be with her cousins.  So the girls ended up just hanging out together and not participating in the teen program that trip.  

On Carnival they get a sticker on their keycard the first time they check in, so the youngest won't be able to go into the Circle C area or participate any the activities for them without that sticker.  

Hope they have a great time, sadly with the older one being 13 I doubt they will allow her to move down so just ask about the moving up when getting not he ship.  

3 hours ago, Cruisin Trkrs said:

Ok, so we finally got home. It was an amazing cruise, as usual. We were both sad to be getting off the Breeze, BUT much worse was waiting for us.  As soon as we turned our phones back on Saturday 2/16 when we got back to Port Canaveral, they both started blowing up & we didn't even know when the messages were from. Tim's Mom had a massive stroke Fri and his siblings were trying to get a hold of us to let us know. She'd already died early Sat morning before we even docked. 9 1/2 long hrs later, we got home, took care of some things here, repacked and left for TN where she was going to be laid to rest...Now we're back home, I haven't even unpacked our cruise luggage or anything yet. 

 

So, I just got on here, saw @cruisecraze96 post and am really glad that someone already posted the fun times for y'all. I don't see it anywhere, but my mind's a bit frazzled right now. IF they're still needed from 2/9-2/16 just let me know. I'll scan them into a PDF file and email. Or I think I can insert  the file here? Sorry I'm so late getting back on here. Certainly NOT the way I'd expected it to all go.

Have a Blessed day.

Oh no, that is a horrible way to end a week with that type of news and I had thought the ones that posted the other one online might have been your family 😞   

One of my fears is something happening while traveling and people not being able to get ahold of me.  You guys are in my thought and prayers and I hope Tim and you are able to get through these tough times.  Sorry to hear of your loss though, I can't imagine the pain your family is experiencing right now.

We had one of the Family Harbor suites on the Vista and the kids loved how their bed area had the curtain 🙂 and own TV to watch.  The breakfast was great since it did have a good variety and I loved the Cappuccino machine, our suite was just a few doors away from the entrance so it made it super easy to sneak in there to grab a coffee and some food.  And trust me, many at that time wore the robes during the morning 🙂.  

For afternoon they had some different finger sandwiches, I remember tuna and then turkey/ham plus they had some great deserts throughout the day.  The girls loved the ice-cream and then they had a fridge with milk, yogurts, etc which is great since my youngest likes chocolate milk with her medicine and so it was super easy to sneak down and grab some vs trying to get the dining room to find some or room service to bring.

We never felt it was crowded in there and saw kids playing the games and families playing board games several times.  I would not hesitate to book that category again.

This is the last one I have found, but it gives you an idea.  If they want to order off the adult menu then they will be charged full price.

Starters

• Mac ‘n Cheese – cherry tomato, chervil
• Shrimp Cocktail – cocktail sauce, lemon

Entrées

• Beef Sliders – parmesan fries, ketchup
• 4 oz Filet Mignon – mashed potato, broccoli, cherry tomato, green peas
• Fish ‘n Chips – batter fried, veggies, tartar sauce
• Chicken Fingers – crumbled fried, veggies, ketchup

Dessert

• Banana Split – vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, cream
• Chocolate & Nutella Pizza – white chocolate, raspberry, vanilla ice cream

Kids will only pay kids price if they eat off the kids menu.  We went one year and my niece was a very tiny 12 year old then and ordered off the kids menu and they only charged us for that meal and not full price, but we were informed that if they ordered off the full menu no matter the age they will pay full price.

For us, my now 9 year old prefers to go to the kids club  when we go to the steak house since she likes having dinner with the family but 2 hour dinners are more than she likes to handle.  Most other nights she goes to the MDR with us and loves the Italian restaurant.  But the kids club does do dinners for them and can do allergies, etc for the kids.  

The only ice breaker is for the teen program that starts around 7:30 normally, if your 12. year old wants to do that then he/she can always leave dinner early to head over there before dinner is over.  The Welcome aboard show is later in the evening that first night and then there usually is not any type of ice breaker for the younger kids normally since they will do tours way before that when you first board the ship.  

Hope you guys have fun, when you get on the ship you can always head over to the Steak House and see if they can move you to around 5:30 or 6pm so you can eat a little earlier.  They have always been pretty helpful and nice on our past cruises.

You need to waitlist to Early if possible, I honestly have never seen FTTF do anything for dining but supposedly it can help once they go through the waitlist.  The one time I needed it to kick in, it didn't and then I spent an hour to move one room of our group from Late to Anytime so we could all be together.  S

Great comparison review, I have only been on the NCL Pearl in Alaska and will need to try another ship and itinerary for NCL based on your comments.  The Pearl sadly was broring 🙂 but we still had fun. 

We we will be on the Breeze, same itinerary, in a few weeks. It will be my third time on that ship but I agree RCCL has better shows but my family prefer the food, kids program, and casino on Carnival (same reason as yours) 

21 hours ago, coevan said:

will airplane mode allow you to get AT&T? 

I have AT&T and I turn off only my data when we get on the ship in settings.  This allows me to receive calls and text for emergencies.  You won't get AT&T, you will get either Cellular at Sea or when on land the local carrier.  Before this plan I had the $10 international plan that allowed you to use your AT&T plan for 24 hours at $10 each 24 hour you used it.  This included calls, texts, and data but it honestly all looked like roaming.  It did not however include Cellular at Sea.  We will be traveling in a few weeks and because my husband is not going with us and he still likes to talk to the kids and I each day I am going to try the $50 plan since I won't be using any data.

In my experience they have allowed by oldest daughter to move up a level since she was within a few months of her birthday, but they told me if she was more than 6 mo away they would have said no.  They have also allowed my niece to move down a level to be with my youngest daughter when my niece was 12, but she is very small for her age and was a better fit for the younger group still.  

Then again, we were turned down once for a move because they had so many kids they were not able to do the moves.  Just go in and be friendly, and if they say no don't make a fuss. 

I have used insuremytrip and just did a what if insurance for our trip coming up (already purchased my plan) and Travelex had one that was not primary, you pay more but if you don't want one that is secondary this that could be a good one to look into.

THANK YOU!!!!  Hope you had a great trip