raynvic

1 hour ago, Elaine5715 said:

Carnival gave a year notice and I put together two cruises 3/4 days B2Bs and got to Platinum with 57 days but then took me 9 nine years to reach Diamond.  It did leave me with a love of B2Bs!

Same here we got to Plat with the 10 cruises, but as a result it took 10 years to get to Diamond and that was with cruising every year on minimum of 7 days each cruise!

We booked also using a BCC offer my DH got.  We are lowly Pearl as well.  However we are Select Tier with Celebrity.  When I try to purchase Wifi through the website it does not give me my 25% discount.  I called the Loyalty line and they referred me to BCC.  After holding for an hour I gave up.  Does anyone have recommendations or experience with this?  Thanks.

We returned from our first Transatlantic and decided it was a one and done.  Cancelled the Jubilee TA next year and opted for the 15 day from New York on this lady.  Excited to try out one of the former Costa ships.  Hubby wanted to try the Luminosa but we have no desire to go to Australia, so this works perfectly.

We are Raymon and Vicky from Arizona.

Yep, got my BinaxNow tests on Sunday.  Ready for the Oct. 11th sailing

I "worked" with VPN on 3 cruises this year.  It is extremely slow and frustrating unless you pick less busy times.  I found late afternoon to work best.  I also found that the middle package was just as good as the premium.  That is just my experience.

P.S.  I am able to get e-mail on my phone and that worked lots better than my laptop.  Teams meetings were no problem.

I send my laundry out but not those items I want to hang dry.  Those I go to the laundry room and wash myself and then hang them in the shower.  It would be nice to ask to have clothes returned to hang dry, but I just don't see that happening.  Now ships like Mardi Gras does not even have laundry facilities.

Just my experience, the mid WiFi works as good as the more expensive WiFi.  I did zoom meetings and worked on 3 different cruises this year.  The first two I paid for the upgraded WiFi the last one I did not.  No difference.  Where you will encounter the most difficulty is on a sea day when everyone is on their phones.

Can someone post a picture of the B2B instructions when you get a chance?  Thanks!

3 hours ago, kidstwo2 said:

Did you do the Carnival excursion where they provided the transportation only and you were on your own or the one they tour you around?  Thank you.

We did the Carnival excursion.  They did tour us around and then at the end they dropped us near Notre Dame and we had free time.  I will tell you it was a good thing we did the Carnival excursion as most all of the Carnival buses we late returning to the ship.

My DH and I did this Carnival excursion a few years ago.  We knew we would likely never get to Paris again, just not high on the bucket list.  It was worth the long bus trip there and back.  We actually arrived back at the ship late, but it was a Carnival excursion.  We had an amazing experience at a small cafe across from the Notre Dame, we opted to view from outside versus standing in a long line to enter.  At this small cafe we met an America couple on vacation and staying in Paris and a family from Peru whom we were able to converse with in Spanish.  We did get to see the highlights and walk under the Eiffel Tower.  My vote is do it!

We have sailed 4 times this year (2022) while I was working.  The first two I paid for Premium wifi and it was pretty slow.  The last 2 times (April) I went with the value plan and it actually worked as good or better than Premium.  Both plans I was able to do Teams meetings without any problems.  Great way to mix travel with business.

We booked the Saint John day pass in Aug 2019.  I don't remember how much it cost, but the breakfast and lunch were both pretty amazing.  Lunch was ordered off a menu.  The resort is very pretty and the many pools awesome.  The beach was not very big nor easy to get to, but it was pretty.  If you are looking for a relaxing day then I would recommend this.

Nope!  On the MG ours arrived while we were at dinner and for no reason!  The Priority Diamond or Platinum tag means nothing. It is only a suggestion.

My experience on the Mardi Gras was like Vett Princess and not at all like Blerk.  The steak house was horrible.  One of my table mates ordered the cowboy steak and could not chew it.  He sent it back and had a filet instead.  Very disappointed.

We were on the Mardi Gras with 5000 other passengers.  The meet up was a disappointment.  We could only hear a few of the horns, on Horn Battle and could not hear the Mardi gras horn from our aft balcony.  The menu changed up a few things.  I would rather have had a regular cruise without the other 1,999 D&P passengers.  I will write my review of the Mardi gras in another post.  It is one and done for us and many others whose comments I heard onboard.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn Mary Brickell (a Hilton property) in August before our Horizon cruise.  Room was clean, they still served breakfast and it was easy to Uber to the port.  There is a sports bar type place next door that we like and they were open and serving, although there was no mask protocal and it was busy on a Friday night.  Still someplace I would stay again!

Cruise Control quoted me $80 for 2 people from MCO to  my hotel in Cocoa Beach.  No shared rides the day before the cruise.

When I did not receive the gift card (refund) in a couple of weeks.  They were able to see it was sent, but not used, so they sent a new one that arrived in about 5 business days.

My hubby has a small fan and he uses Large magnetic hooks to hang it from the ceiling.

If you can do Uxmal out of Costa Maya, then it was by far the best tour I have ever been on to a ruin and I have seen some of the greats. 

With that being said there are 3 that you can get to in Belize, Xunantunich, Altun Ha, and Lamanai.  My personal favorite there was Xunantunich.

Not too far from Costa Maya are Tulum and Chichen Itza.  Tulum is pretty leveled due to its location but Chichen Itza is fantastic.  We were there back when you could still climb.

Like one of the previous posters said, I am a bit of a Mayan culture nut and if there are ruins near where we port, I try to see them.  Hope you enjoy them whichever ones you choose.

If it is convenient to purchase before boarding, then we will bring on a bottle.  We always fly from the West coast, so it is not always easy to get.  We like to have a glass in the room while getting ready.  Galveston is one port where it really comes in handy!

I don't know that I would consider anything they sold on board as duty free.  They charge VAT on every purchase.  If the purchase is over $200 they will help you with the forms that you need to turn in at the airport.  I don't recall seeing any liquor or tobacco, but that does not mean it wasn't there.

Hi Flahagan, we were on the Jade with you and spent a good deal of time at the Martini Bar.  Antonio and Bojan were the best.  Like you the heat almost did us in and we are from AZ (it's a dry heat).  I agree with your assessment of the Jade, I did a comparison with Carnival and posted a few days ago.  I like the size ship and found the entertainment really good.   We had a lot of specialty dining so we only ate in the dining room one night.  I did find the buffet to be much better than those on most cruise lines.  Thanks for posting your review and glad you had as good a trip as we did.  Vicky

We were in Valetta last week.  I booked a tour with Amy Pace.  It was a good tour, but others are correct, you can do this on your own.  As were only in port for a half day, this is somewhere I would love to return to.

For those who asked, we sailed the Jade on Aug 1st.  Italy and Greece.  We have sailed all sizes of the Carnival ships.  My personal preference is a ship that holds less than 2800 passengers.  Not a big fan of the Big ships.

Like Linda the Book Lover says I find my spot to read and do not wander far.  Love the Carnival serenity area.  I stay away from the party areas of Carnival although we have been know to stay up late many nights.  I am in agreement that the past couple of years seems to be too many (in my opinion) Casino cruises which changes the dynamics of the people on board.

Those interested in Celebrity, I have not sailed her big ships but many of the small ships.  So far, the Silhouette has been my favorite, although I really liked the old Century.