scrapperv

It took about 4 days before they emailed me and said it was approved and added. Juat make sure you follow all the instructions.

You need to follow the exact instructions it says on the app for getting the credit within 30 days of booking. But does not need to be used within 30 days. I booked mine months ago for my feb cruise.

Thanks!

HI, I was wondering can I use OBC for Johnny Rockets and Ben and Jerrys? Thanks

Thanks everyone!

Hi all,

Thanks ahead for the help. With the room service on the Independence of the Seas, it says a $7.95 service charge is that per person, per room or per item? Can you order as many items that you want? Thanks :D

I second everything KmomChicago just said. She gave you excellent advice.

 

If you want to try the speciality dining, when you get on board, usually around 11:00-11:30 am if you want, go to the restaurant you would like to try and ask if there is a reservation for the 1st night (boarding night) on the 50% off deal. In all probability, there will be space for you and you will have to pay only 50% of the normal price for that restaurant.

 

If you look at the Cruise Planner on line, there is a combination drink package (which can be purchased for only one of you if you choose) and internet package. The combination price makes the Internet practically free. We buy internet for only one device and then switch back and forth for which device we use it with--or else we "struggle on without a connection to the outside world," and, as KmomChicago said, that's not a bad option either. You'll be able to find free wifi in every port if you want to check in on the world without paying for it on ship. Purchasing drinks with a beverage package: two drinks cannot be ordered at the same time; the package is for one person. However, not all that much time has to go by before another can be ordered. A drink package is "not to be shared," but ....

 

Main Dining Room Times: if you aren't happy with the time you have been assigned, you can go to the dining room as soon as you get on board and ask to be switched (there is always a person standing by to deal with such requests on the first day, and the sooner you go, the better your chances will be). If it can't be done, switch to "My Time Dining." You can make a reservation for the time you want--same time every night if you want--and ask for the same table and same serving staff. It's possible you won't get the same table/staff, but you probably will if you want a table for just your group. If you want to be part of a larger table that "fills as people come in" each night, then you won't be at the same table with the same staff, but you'll get to meet new people and exchange cruise tips.

 

As KmomChicago said, you really don't have to opt for items over the basic fare (and tips) that you have already paid. You'll have a great time!

:)Are the specialty dining restaurants always 50% off the 1st night? THANKS. :confused:

Thanks all. I dont eat a lot so I take leftovers to eat later. I just dont want to be wasting that was my worry .but never thought no microwave

Thank you so much, ill check cruise planner again, iv been working my way around it.

Hi,I have tried to find the info , no luck so far so I need to ask. We will be sailing for the first time in Feb. We are going to be on the Independence of the Seas. I have OBC ,should I wait to use onboard or use online with the Cad exchange? Oh and can you use OBC for anything to do with the ship?With shore excursions that are shown online are there more on the ship or only which is shown on the web site? Do you prefer to book thru the ship or other online places for excursions? Iknow to eat at Johnny Rockets its a charge, do you tip extra at this place ? Has anyone ate at the MYstery dinners and knows the cost? I cant find a direct answer online on cost or if this ship has this dinner for sure? Also if eating at MDR can you take your leftovers to the room? Thanks so much for all your help. So excited 105 days to go. ps how do I make a countdown on here? :D

Hi. 1st time cruiser. Have many people got these vaccines? My hubby is saying we should get the trinrix for hep A and B to protect our selves then I read about dukoral for " travelers diarea" should we be considering them? We are taking a 5 day cruise from FLL with stops in Mexico. Thanks so much.

yay , worked for me. I had totally forgot that the game had the cruises on it, only used it in Vegas. So I now got $250 obc . Im so happy. Im sailing on Independence of The seas and Im Canadian. |Thanks for the idea.

113 days till our first cruise ever! So excited.

This was our first cruise so I really dont have a lot of information about other ships to compare with other than what I've read on here. I will just give a heads up as to our experience. it was GREAT!! First off if you are doing this on a budget and need to figure out transportation from MCO to the port/hotel.. I recommend Cocoa Beach Suites or 4 points Sheridan. They are sister hotels we stayed at CBS on the night after our cruise and they offered a free shuttle and parking for my rental car during the cruise. $84 for a King size suite that had the seperate bedroom, kitchenette , living room etc.. not the Ritz but it was nice for the price. on that same note Carnival charges $35 per person per trip for their shuttle, for us that would have been $140 and not letting us get to hotel etc. Rental car at Advantage was $85 + 14 in gas.. We drove down A1A , Kennedy Space Center , the mall, all at half the price almost of the shuttle..

 

OK NOW ON TO THE CRUISE AND SHIP ITSELF

 

This ship is a little smaller than the others we saw in port but make no mistake it is a monster of a ship still. Yes it is purple but you get used to it pretty quick. The counter was quick and easy - I honestly do NOT recommend First to the Fun. I wanted to get it but after getting there was glad my wife talked me out of it. We were curbside to poolside in 20 mins or so.. got there around 1145-1200... My room was ready by 1, luggage by 3. There was constantly workers cleaning the ship so no worries of garbage laying around.

 

THE FOOD:

 

The food was really good. My wife tried and LOVED Mongolian Wok.. I tried a few of the grill offerings, the ice cream machine was ehh.. pizza was good, didnt try the deli... Room Service - my wife liked the Reuben , the steakloin on french was ok.. but the Grilled cheese was great... MAIN DINING ROOM -ECSTASY When you arrive, check your table.. if you see a worker in there ask if your table is one that Ide Burgas will be taking care of, if not, ask to switch to his!!! I can not stress this enough . This guy is the highlight of the whole ship.. he has a charm and personality that is unmatchable. He joked with us, pranked us, kept our glasses and plates full ( I had multiple starters and/or entrees every night) . I will attempt to upload a video of him dancing on the last night and share a link here later... The food was good as I said , multiples each time.. Seaday Brunch, Eggs Benedict is the way to go.. like lil yolky egg Mcmuffins. if you order cheesy grits ask for it minus the jalapeno as it was SUPER hot.

 

STEWARD

 

short and sweet.. We had the Upper 1.. porthole at the very front of ship. our steward ( pronounced Again) was on top of his game. kept our room clean, had awesome towel animals every night, great for info, I even left my keys in the room once and he saw me in the hallway , I explained what happened , he said ' no worries Mr. Phillip, I'm here.'

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

I am 37 years old and married so didn't check out Kaleidoscope or any of the 'clubs'.. we went to the adult comedy shows and while cursing was plentiful, I've never seen my wife laugh so hard.. We watched Curves , which was a lil risque.. (guys sit up front or on the aisle on bottom floor lol ) We caught part of the love and marriage which was a newlywed type show with fellow cruisers, it was ok. Far From Over was pretty good , the purple rain segment was the best. Be sure to check out Tsurita in the main lobby ( also youtube rapping with Tsurita) . Music Degree is the bar band by the Casino. They are kind of in the hallway , but these guys are Impressive. they are all from the Philippines but sound just like Pink Floyd, Def Lepard , 3 Doors Down and many of the other rock bands they are covering.. Jason Jase Apps was our Director. HE IS AN IDIOT!! not that bad kind of idiot, like the outgoing , anything for a laugh, pretty funny guy idiot.. He is on the tv stations a lot and hosts the shows..

 

NASSAU / MELIA/ JITNEY #10

 

We got off the ship and I will tell you , nothing on this site can prepare you for the complete overload of Vendors that will approach you before Bay street.. offering taxi rides, hair braids, bracelets, water, etc.. it was a lil overwhelming.. to get the jitney just head into town, we went down the back street along the ships to go by the Harley shop, then at the Straw Market ( you will know it as it will have steps all around the building and tons of women yelling for you to come check their shops) . then turn right on bay street about 2 corners to George, buses are parked on the corner.. hop on tell the driver you destination (MELIA) and off you go. Rate is 1.25 , we paid 2 just to give a tip. He dropped us right in front of the Melia and we went to the Daq Shaq. Gotta say, we were disappointed. Good maybe just hyped too much on here. Took our drinks into Melia with no problems. bought our day passes. If you do this resort, on your way to the beach be sure to stop at the towel tent across from the bar as they have a waiver you have to sign before you can do any of the activities.. snorkeling is very fun.. I'm a novice swimmer, but you get a life vest from them and just float with it over their reefs. I swam over and photo'd a stingray on one of the reefs.. The Jitney back was a bit longer at 3 oclock with all the school kids etc.. shops were nice. We tried the conch fritters. and then waded thru the vendors again on the way back to ship..

 

EXPERIENCE

 

We had a good time. As soon as you get on the Lido deck , waiters will offer you drinks left and right..

On the first night they advertise the Fun Shops having Liquor sales.. this is a great price .. we got 4 bottles of flavored Bicardi rum/ Captain Morgan for $29. this gave us raffle tickets for a prize pack later that night. WE WON! got another Bicardi bottle, Crown Royal and Amarulla... Now what they dont tell you right off is that it is not delivered till 8-10 pm saturday night (last night of your cruise) so DO NOT PLAN TO DRINK IT ON SHIP... you also are not advised till last night of Customs form to claim any purchases in Nassau or onboard and the limits you have (one bottle of liquor per person). Luckily the customs guy didnt bat an eye when we told him about them and winning them.. BTW I have an awesome way that worked to take a case of bud light or whatever onboard ( I did Twisted Tea) I will share if you message me on it. dont want to put it right out there in case these boards are watched any.. The last day at sea was a lil rocky due to a storm coming in.

 

If you are going on this cruise and have questions feel free to ask I will help.

Thanks everyone.It gets so confusing sometimes , I'm going to look on the site more about rooms etc. I guess it's a little different then hotels bc of vibrations etc.

Would you go on the ship again? Did you eat anywhere else on the ship? Favorite part of your trip? Thanks.

HI its the Carnival sensation , 4 days to Bahamas from Port Canaveral , Feb 8th . The price I originally was looking at last week was $1170.80 total and now its $830.80 for the same thing for 4 of us . we are thinking of doing this to add to our trip to Florida . we are going to Florida feb 3 to the 14th.

Thanks. Do cruise prices drop dramatically really close to the time of the cruise? Thanks( oh and its our first cruise) 2 adults and 2 boys, age 11 and 13.

Hi, do you know how often Carnival has the 24 hour sale? Will I get a chance again? And How bad might our room be if they pick it? for example its $30 cheaper if they pick the room ( $119 pp) . Thanks

oh and will they go much cheaper closer to the date ( feb ) thanks

CRUISE DAY 2 - NASSAU

 

Nassau. Many people seem to take issue with this place. Mostly due to how frequent it's visited on cruises, I suppose. To be honest I could visit Nassau 10 times and still be happy. The place has a lot going on and I could find a new place to hang out every time I visit. If you have yet to visit Nassau, I hope you visit it with an open mind because it can be nice/fun place.

 

I woke up about 6:30. We'd be making port probably a little before our scheduled time of 8. I headed upstairs to get some breakfast on lido and had some coffee to make me a little less groggy. After breakfast, I grabbed my camera and headed out to the secret deck on deck 9. On Victory and Triumph, this is the secret deck where you can go out over the bridge wings. I watched as we pulled into port (we were first there), and couldn't help but notice we had company. There were a couple red funnels on the horizon.

 

 

As we tied our mooring lines to the pier I watched as Fantasy and then Sensation made their way into port. Disney Magic soon followed as well. I had no set times to be anywhere so I took my time watching them arrive. I stepped off Victory as Disney Magic was still being secured.

 

 

Looking back on Victory. The spot next to us would be taken later by Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas.

 

Hi All!

 

This review will be short for two reasons: #1 because it was only a 3 day cruise and #2 because I lost my camera so the pics I have are the ones in my phone.

 

This is my 1st time doing a review and also uploading photos so bear with me. I will start this today and hopefully finish tomorrow.

 

BACKSTORY

 

This cruise was booked in early May of 2014. It was a birthday cruise for my son Anthony who turned 7 on December 3rd. I also took along my youngest son Elijah age 4 who may or may not be referred to as E.J. throughout this review it just depends on which one comes out of my mouth 1st. My mother tagged along as well as my sister Charise & her 8 month old son Gabe and her friend Joy.

 

I decided to take my kids on this cruise because it was short and it was a close port to home which meant a short ride. I wanted to get their "feet wet" to see if they were in fact my kids and had inherited the cruise disease.

 

The price started out somewhat expensive but for an ocean view and after price drops before and after final payment I ended up paying around $600 for the 3 of us and we had $240.00 OBC. My mother, sister and nephew stayed together in an interior room. My mom had around $280.00 OBC. This cruise is starting off pretty good!

 

We left Tallahassee, Florida at 7 a.m. on Thursday, December 4 in a minivan headed to Port Canaveral. I was of course chosen to be the driver :mad:

 

 

We arrived in Port Canaveral at around 12:50 p.m. and we didn't head straight for the ship. My sister's friend wanted to find a Walmart to get some last minute items. This made me very upset because the plan was to head directly to the ship. Any organized cruise junky can feel me on this! We passed right by the ship to go 5-7 miles out of the way to go to a freakin' Walmart...I was super aggravated.

 

Any who, once we left Walmart I dropped my sister, nephew and her friend off to the port because it was raining and we didn't want baby Gabe to get unnecessarily wet. My mom and my kids and I headed back towards the Port Canaveral cheap parking alternative and paid 42.50 to be shuttled to the port. In hindsight, it was not worth the inconvenience. Next time, I'd rather pay to park right at the port. Their service was good for what it was and our car was safe parked behind the Radisson but I'm all about being efficient and that was NOT it.

 

Here we are waiting on the shuttle for it to fill up so we could go to the ship.

I love the last pic of the kids poking through to be in the pic

If you're looking to save money and trying to squeeze in a short extra lil' something like the OP described, I wouldn't bother with FTTF. Sensation doesn't tender anywhere and it's a short cruise. I'm a FTTF fan, but in this case I would skip it save that $50. Just my opinion. Carrying the sodas isn't that bad.

 

You can do Nassau and Freeport much cheaper than $100pp. Cut that in half and there are still a ton of options. Enjoy your vacation - all of it!

Thanks

HI we are going to Orlando for 11 days and was thinking of cutting the trip in half and take a cruise on the Carnival Sensation( our first cruise) in Feb for 4 days Bahamas (. Im trying to figure the budget if we can afford it so I have the cost of the cruise and taxes figured out I just dont know if I have the other costs right. This is what I have figured out if you can let me know if I have all the extra costs accounted for .

 

Shore excursions $300/$400 we are only going to do one excursion.( picking something cheap) At $100/pp, you can definitely do most of the excursions offered by the cruise line.

 

Alternate dining $100 I agree this can be skipped by just eating in the MDR. There are several options available and contrary to others who post on these forums, I've found most of my dinners to be quite good.

 

Tipping $200 We just pay this up front and consider it part of the cruise price. If someone really impresses us, we tip additionally at the end of the cruise.

 

pop/ alcohol $100 I drink lots of cokes, and by cokes I mean what you call soda. To me all carbonated beverages are cokes. For instance: "what would you like to drink?" "A coke." "What kind of coke?" "A Sprite." Anyway, if one drinks more than 3 per day, get the bottomless bubbles sticker.

 

Souvenirs $100 this depends on my mood, I guess. If you shop around and find some deals, you can do very well on shore.

 

Photo $20 I usually don't get the ones taken on the ship.

 

Did I miss anything? Don't plan on going to the casino or bingo etc.or buying Starbucks etc. The ship's coffee shop does have some really nice pastries and desserts, and most are in the $3 range.

 

Shore excursion question is can we go to the Beaches ourselves or do we have to book one of the excursions? I'm sure you can go by yourself. Research well on where to go and the best way to get there. Go thru the "port of call" sections here for ideas.

 

Back ground, family ( 2 parents and a 13 year old and 11 year old both boys) And this is our first Family Vacation.

Thanks for reading and giving your input.

V:p

good idea

You can put limits on what each kid can spend daily with their own sail and sign card. You can also make it so their cards cannot be used to charge anything. Some parents have been shocked by the bills a kid can run up with the arcade and the pop and smoothies. Giving them a tiny budget will encourage them to drink the free ice tea and lemonade instead of paying for drinks.

 

I'm sure you'll have a great time. I suspect that your days on the Sensation will be less expensive than most of your days in Orlando and that great fun will be had by all in both spots.

Thanks good idea

You will need transportation to port.

Thanks I forgot to add that to the equation