RW20

You might want to check out this review. It is on the Magic Western Caribbean itinerary. It's very long but has lots of pictures.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2568508

You only need one per cabin and it applies to all occupants

Yea it has some great perks.....

So if 1 person in the cabin get it do everyone else get the same perks?

On my last cruise in January 2017 on the Sunshine it was a little flaky. There were times with our group chat that someone might randomly get disconnected and we needed to create a new group. But for the most part it worked great!

This information is great! I just got the TG5 for Christmas and I am looking forward to using it on my Western cruise on the Magic next month. I'll be sure to take note of these tips!

Hi Sandy. I use all Olympus Tough cameras. I have a 620, 803, and the TG4...which is my favorite. The TG4 is my favorite because they made it so you can add lens to it (like a DSLR camera). I have a fish eye. The fish eye seems to bring out the colors and make them a little deeper than without.

 

 

But, there are several types of settings on the camera that will make the pictures vivid, tilt shift, pop and so on. I am always playing around with them.

 

 

The other nice thing about the TG4 is it has several different underwater settings on it like a motion one that...if your subject is moving quickly, you'll be able to capture it without a blur. Also, it has a macro underwater feature, which is nice.

 

 

One thing I have learned after all these years using these cameras is that if you are in motion (either riding in a car and snapping pictures or walking and snapping) if you put the setting on the "sports" mode, you won't get the blur.

 

 

When I pick the pictures I want to share and put my name stamp on it, I do an "action" in PS that saves it for web, which sharpens it. When you save pictures and every time you do something and save it, it loses the sharpness quality of it. So by actually saving for web in PS, this brings it back and makes it crisper if that makes sense. Just a little trick my instructor taught me years ago when I took a photography class.

 

 

Other than that, I take A LOT of pictures hoping for that one "good" one. I may take 5 pictures of the same thing...all on a different setting until I get home and see which I like best. Or if the subject is moving, such as fish, I just keep snapping and hopefully I'll get a fishes full body in the picture or looking at me versus in reversing direction in the middle of my shot and all you see is a curved blob in the picture.

 

 

Framing is another way to make your pictures/subject look better. I have been known to get on my hands and knees or crawl under a bush to frame a beautiful ocean scene with a greenery around it. I did a review once (can't remember the ship we were on) that we went over to Pinel Island in St Maarten and I did just that...crawled in this unlikely place to take a picture and then I took a picture of what it looked like (where I crawled at) to show how I did things like that. Also, always try to remember the rule of thirds when taking pictures. Look it up and it will give you ideas on how to frame the perfect picture. These are all things I learned in photography class (and more of course) because I'm a photography junkie. The Olympus will also allow you to use the P and A setting, just like a DSLR. :D

Actually it was a perk. It started with the additional suite perks that were added a year ago. This was one of the specific perks that was listed for suite guests along with the others mentioned in my post. Now it appears to be gone.

The Priority luggage delivery was never a perk. For some reason the tags printed as such in error and it appears they have fixed that. The other things are listed as being a benefit so will still be there.

Thank you for posting your experience.

In December when I looked at my tags they said faster to the fun. This month when I went to print them they did not. They do not say priority either but the boarding pass does. We are booked in a suite on the magic next month. Last year as a suite guest we got priority luggage, 2 bottles of water and a bag of wash and fold laundry free. So I am not sure if these perks are gone too

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Do I buy insurance no. But I do have coverage. My work benefits covers travel insurance and I have a travel Visa card which also has travel medical and cancellation insurance.

I book through a TA specifically to book in Canadian dollars because of exchange rate fluctuations as I book far in advance. I get the option with a refundable deposit and whenever I see the Canadian dollar increase I check my price and email my TA to match.

One year I booked through my TA and got a price match twice saving over $500 CDN on the OS for the 4 of us. My friends on the same cruise booked direct with Carnival and the US$ price never decreased. However the CDN dollar dropped roughly $0.20 US from booking to final payment. They lost about $700CDN on the exchange. Basically booking in Canadian dollars with a TA is a good way to hedge your price if you book in advance.

John Heald said on Facebook today the February dive-in movies list will be coming out this week.

I have this tour booked on my Carnival cruise next month. They have placed the excursion on hold. I had already price matched with Native Choice so I saved 10% of the price difference.

The tour went on hold right after the bus crash. I assume the reason is the cruise lines are investigating the safety of the tour pending their investigation. I imaging the cruise insurance companies also want to ensure the safety of the tours.

I have the same thing.

Last year on the Sunshine my tags had the FTTF on them when I was in an OS and had not purchased FTTF.

For my next cruise I had checked the luggage tags a few months ago and it was there. Then Last weekend when I went to print documents for my February cruise it was gone. Looks like things have changed. I am wondering if we will still get the 2 bottles of water and the 1 bag of wash and fold laundry? However since yesterday, when I try to go into the cruise manager to look at my cruise details I get an error and can't access it. Luggage tags still don't show priority.

Can anyone tell me if children get to order from the regular menu or are they required to order from a kids menu? My sons are 10 and 12 and take offense to anyone trying to give them a kids menu. They also prefer to eat the adult choices.

This is what they emailed me:

Thank you for contacting the Shore Excursion Department. We value your business and appreciate this opportunity to be of assistance.

Here's the response I recieved from Carnival:

Prefix “h” means that tour is currently on hold.

Should the tour be reinstated before your sailing date, it will return back on the program. In case the tour would still be hold at the time of your sailing, you will receive full refund for the tickets and notification onboard.

If there is anything else we can do for you please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,

Tour Operations

Carnival Cruise Line

I would love to hear what they say. I don't think the issue is the excursion is sold out. If it was then wouldn't it just show as sold out like all the others.

What email did you use for shore excursions?

I noticed that as well on one of our shore excursions in Amber Cove on the Conquest this coming Spring. Conquest had it's itinerary shuffled on that particular sailing due to overbooking in HMC and we had booked that excursion prior to the reschedule. I had previously exchanged emails with Carnival shore excursions and was assured all previously booked excursions would be honored on the new dates but the "h_" indicator on the tour name concerned me so I have emailed Shore Excursions again about that. I will follow up with what they say (if I can believe their response :( ).

The aft dining room is much nicer. More open. I found the mid-ship one very tight and ceilings very low.

I think the location of the cabins sound great. We stayed on deck 7 near the atrium and it was loud every night. The aft will be much quieter.

On my last cruise on the Sunshine we got a free meal at Jiji's or Cucina for the 4 of us staying in the suite and then because it was may birthday I got another one for 2. So we went to Cucina as a family and really enjoyed it. Only my oldest son and husband were interested in Jiji's so they went with my birthday coupon. They loved Jiji's.

For my cruise the number of shore excursions seems to change frequently. Sometimes up and sometimes down.

So this time the number went down and now an excursion I am booked on is no longer listed. However in my billings section is still shows the excursion as booked but is now prefixed with an "h_". Has this happened to you and if so did the excursion go on or was it cancelled?

I haven't been on either ship but have done both itineraries.

My favourite was the 8 night going to St Maarten and St Kitts. I have 2 boys and they were 9 and 11 when we went. In St Maarten we went on a boogie boarding excursion that my kids absolutely loved! It was the highlight of the trip. In St Kitts we went to Carambola Beach Club and we snorkeled with our own gear right from the beach and saw lots of fish and a star fish. The other two ports are common to both. The one notable difference is the 8 night gives you a full day in Grand Turk (where they also have flow riders). The 7 night was only an afternoon and seemed too short.

As for the ports on the 7 night:

Amber cove does have a zip line and waterslide. My boys weren't keen on the waterslide as they found it uneven and the ones on the Carnival Sunshine were better. If you want a beach you will have to leave the port.

St Thomas I have been to twice and snorkeled both times from a catamaran. The water was a little choppy the day we were there.

My next cruise is a Western as we haven't done it before but I would definitely do the 8 night again and book the boogie boarding for sure! That excursion was the highlight of the trip. The group we were with was all families with boys.

Make sure you get a spot near the stage. Have them dress up and act silly and they will get picked. My son's both did it and they were wearing Star Wars shirts and screaming and waving their arms in the air.

Each participant gets a mini game and the winner got $150 for Hasbro games. My friend's son won and with his goofy "Bolt" pose he was the celebrity of the ship for the rest of the cruise!

We just use a rental vehicle because it is cheaper when you have 4 people. We've used Budget and Alamo/National/Enterprise and they shuttle you to the ships.

The Havana bar area has a small selection of Cuban food at the side of it during lunch. Mongolian Wok and the Italian are also here at lunch. At dinner this area becomes JiJi's and the Italian specialty restaurants.

Usually this area is much less crowded and if you are meeting people it makes it easy to find them. By default we would always eat there and it made it easy to find people in our group.

We are cruising in the coming week on Sunshine and I have a couple of questions:

Is guest services where you can sign up for excursions onboard?

Can you eat at the Havana Bar? I only see drinks on their menu online?

How far is the chocolate factory from the port?

She will love it!!! We have a 13 year old daughter and 10 year old son. We were skeptical at first because we have Busch Gardens and Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa - and both have avery's to feed birds. So I thought, how good is this really going to be lol. But we went ahead and glad we did! The birds are very tame and will sit on your hands, shoulders and head. The Macaw's are very gentle and eat out of your hand without biting. Plus, you walk across rope bridges between avery's which was really fun!! And you walk over the dolphin pools which was cool.

 

We also did the chocolate factory which was great - brought home a ton of it!

 

if you are adventurous and looking to do something fun, find the Jeep Willy tour booth. We rented the custom made jeep and went on a two hour drive through the jungle and along the coast. You will get muddy so wear swimsuits! But we did that first, got back, jumped in pool and hate lunch and then did the birds.

Hi Kim,

We are doing the same itinerary on the Magic in February. I was just wondering what the beaches are like that you have been to at these stops. Is it a powdery sand or more rocky? Do you think I would need to bring water shoes?

Rachel

I am loving the review. I am going on this cruise in February on the Magic. We even have the Rendezvous Caye booked! Great to hear you enjoyed it so much.

I think in Cozumel we will either do Mr Sanchos or Playa Mia. I saw your review when you were at Playa Mia and it looked good.

Can't wait for your next post!

I am cruising the Cozumel early next year and would love to hear the pros and cons of going to Mr Sanchos vs Playa Mia. My DH and I are travelling with our two boys who will be 12 and 10 years old. So we are looking for something fairly active. Also what would the approximate cab cost be to get there?