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Did Carnival ever tell you that you can't use any gift cards for this booking? Please come back and let us know if you have trouble using that AARP card on your booking, or for your shore excursion.

I just got off of the phone with Carnival. They confirmed that they were aware of the fraudulent gift card issues and that I will have no problem using my AARP gift cards for my upcoming cruise. They confirmed that they do not have a practice of banning people from using gift cards...I guess we'll see when I try to use my new gift cards... Thanks again, everyone, with your help resolving this issue!!

Did Carnival ever tell you that you can't use any gift cards for this booking? Please come back and let us know if you have trouble using that AARP card on your booking, or for your shore excursion.

No -- Carnival never told me anything -- not even that my shore excursion was cancelled! Ugh! In fact, I guess I will call them to make sure I don't run into any issues using my AARP gift cards (thanks for the idea)! :-)

I just received my refund from cardcash for the fraudulent gift cards... Thanks to the OP for bringing this to my attention, otherwise, I would have boarded the ship thinking we had purchased a $200 shore excursion, only to find out that they had not accepted my payment (and having exceeded the 45 day limit to request my refund from cardcash)... I was also successful in purchasing three new discounted (10% off) gift cards from AARP (the were available today)! Yeah! This Forum is awesome!!!

Yes, I just purchased three $100 cards! Yeah!!!

We will be on the Dream in two weeks...I'm having a difficult time focusing on work... ;-) Thanks for this real-time review! It has been informative and entertaining (and the pictures are great)!

Thank goodness you saw the post! Don't you find it funny that Carnival never reached out to you? How are you planning on paying for the shore excursion? Are you going to attempt another gift card, but one from a trusted site?

All good questions! Yes, I am REALLY surprised that Carnival never reach out to me! Ugh! I am keeping an eye on AARP to buy one from them. If I am unsuccessful, I will just go pay for the excursion using my credit card. I called card cash to file a claim (and I entered a claim on line as recommended in a previous post) and expect to be reimbursed within the next few days. If that doesn't work, I'll file a dispute with my credit card company... One thing for sure, I will be going to Dunns Falls one way or another! :-)

Take rain ponchos... :-) A rainy day on a Caribbean island is better than any good day in the office!

I used a gift card from this vendor to pay for a shore excursion. I received confirmation of my shore excursion purchase from Carnival. After seeing this thread, I went to check my cruise docs and found that my shore excursion was no longer listed as a purchase. Thanks to this thread, I was able to make a claim to get my money back before the 45-day restriction! I am waiting to get my refund before I re-purchase my shore excursion... Ugh! What a headache this has become!!!! Thanks to the OP for bringing this to issue to our attention!!!

Oh no!!!!! Let's hope it gets fixed quickly (we're sailing on her in September)! So sorry for those passengers who lost a couple of days of their vacations!!! That would make me very sad!!!

As I prepare my packing list for our upcoming cruise on the Dream, I am wondering if any recent cruisers on the Dream and tell me if they did, in fact, have an Electric White Night (discounted drinks for those wearing white)... I need to make sure we pack accordingly... :-)

Also fill up your car gas tank, if you're driving to the port. I always fill up, leaving Miami once we only found gas stations when we were almost out of Florida.

This is excellent advice!!! We are sailing out of New Orleans on September 3 and will be parking our car with a full tank of gas! We drove through New Orleans one week after Katrina and couldn't find an open gas station until well within the borders of Mississippi!

We are sailing on the Dream on September 3. When will the September Dive-In Movies be posted (and where)?

99% of the time you won't miss the ship, but it's certainly not guaranteed like a Carnival-sponsored excursion.

 

I'll admit, I've done both, and never missed the ship, but people *have* missed the ship when not on Carnival-sponsored excursions. It does happen, albeit, rarely.

 

Just want to be sure rookies understand there is no guarantee.

 

GP

I agree -- We usually book private excursions or go out on our own via public transportation. However, in the case of a long excursion (6 hours) and we're only in port for 7 hours, I always go with what the ship has to offer. I am not big on cutting it too close! :-)

Around midnight. I came across this file when researching this for a cruise back in 2015. I printed a hard copy to keep on hand the first night. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I found it or who wrote it so I can't give credit.

Jim

 

PS - Definitely second taking the Natchez cruise! It is an actual steamship (the other one is not)

Thanks for this PDF! I will be following it on September 3! :-)

Oh on no. 19 - Lebeau Plantaion burned to the ground several years back after a group of ghost hunter wanna-bes built a campfire inside the building. Brilliant!

Thanks for the update! I'll be following this "tour" on our way out to the gulf in September...and wondering which building is the Lebeau Plantation! lol

We were on a cruise out of Taiwan and missed all of our ports due to a typhoon hovering over Japan. LOL We had fun on the ship none the less! A day on a ship is better than any day in the office!!!

We took a shuttle the last time we went from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. There are many shuttle options, all of which are reasonably priced... Good luck!

I have one warning when having Guest Services apply your gift cards to your S&S account...make sure to check the receipt before you walk away, verifying that they applied the gift card to your cabin. I had an experience where we had two $100 gift cards...they applied one correctly and the other was applied to someone else's cabin. I realized this the next day as I checked our S&S account and only saw one $100 gift card applied. I went to Guest Services to inquire about that and they said I had to show them the receipts to prove that I had two $100 gift cards. Thank goodness I had placed the receipts in our safe. After showing them the receipts, it was apparent that they had transposed our cabin number on one of the transactions, giving our money to someone else. It took them several days to fix this problem, but they got it fixed none the less! So, moral of the story, always check your receipt to make sure it shows the correct amount and the correct cabin number (and keep your receipts)!

Roatan -- West Bay Beach for snorkeling (we went to a beach club (small admission fee) and snorkeled off the beach)...

Cozumel -- The Money Bar for snorkeling (free and off the beach)... Chankanaab Park is another option, however, there is an entrance fee, and getting in and out of the water can be pretty difficult (slippery steps made out of the rocks and waves constantly breaking over the steps).

Both of the above we have done numerous times on our own...both are snorkeling off of the beach. We always take a cab to and from the beach...

Belize -- We took an excursion to the barrier reef for snorkeling... I did not enjoy it at all. It was out in the open ocean, very windy, and very wavy. I spent most of my time watching the boat to make sure I was getting too far away and not able to make it back (I'm a very experienced snorkeler and swimmer)... It could have just been the weather that day, I'm not sure.

I bought the glasses through Groupon. We will be sitting on our dock in Lake Hartwell (South Carolina)... We will be enjoying the total solar eclipse without the need to travel anywhere (although I'd rather be on a ship enjoying it)! :-)

I found this in another post...at the bottom, it shows that it takes 7 to 8 hours to get to the Gulf... This is all pretty interesting! We are sailing on Dream on September 3 and will be following this "tour" as we sail along... ;-)

I will attempt to create a play by play tour of exactly what you will see as you embark on your journey down the mighty Mississippi, so here goes:

The French Quarter:

1. Ernest N. Morial Convention Center: This is the massive building you will see where the boat is docked. This is actually the original location of the 1984 Worlds Fair. You can still see the decorative waterfall staircase that was just adjacent to the Space Shuttle display during the Fair. The Convention Center is the 6th largest in the country.

2. Riverwalk: This mall was built for the words fair and has remained a great specialty shop and upper end type of mall. This is also the mall where in 1996 the MV Bright Field ship lost power and rammed into while thousands of tourists where still inside.

3. Harrah’s Casino: It is what it is…

4. Aquarium Of The Americas: Great place to spend a day.

5. Woldenberg Riverfront Park: Great park to see the river and possibly hear some musicians.

6. Jax Brewery: Formerly where Jax Beer was made, now it’s a shopping mall.

7. St. Louis Cathedral: One of the oldest cathedrals in the country, original structure was completed in 1793 on the location where the former Catholic Church was destroyed by the Great New Orleans fire in 1788. A Catholic Church has stood on that ground since 1718. It is still a working Cathedral and therefore receives no historic funding.

8. Jackson Square: Park in front of the Cathedral with large statue of Andrew Jackson on his horse. The statue is significant as it was the first statue of a horse and rider standing on its back legs, very difficult balancing problem.

9. The Moon Walk: This is the small riverfront boardwalk area in front of Jackson Square. You will always here a saxophone going in this area 

10. The French Market: Open air market with shops, flee market and produce stands.

11. The New Orleans Mint: In operation from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. It is now part of the Louisiana State Museum.

Leaving French Quarter to Bywater, Upper and Lower 9th Wards:

12. Old docks: Doesn’t seem significant unless you a fan of the group Journey!!! This is the location where they filmed the video for “Separate Ways”.

13. Bywater and Upper 9th ward: The neighborhoods you see in the background.

14. Industrial Canal: man made canal for shipping purposes. This is the canal where one of the major levy breaches took place during Katrina and Rita. You can’t see the location; it’s on the other side of the St. Claude Bridge, which you can see.

15. Lower 9th ward: heavily damaged during Katrina.

16. Holy Cross School for Boys: This is where I went to high school. The school was established in 1849. The original administration building, which is still standing and you should be able to see, was built in 1895. Katrina damaged the campus beyond repair and after over 150 yrs of being on this location, it was moved to a new location on the other side of town.

17. Fats Domino’s house: you can’t see it, but its there.

18. Jackson Barracks: Originally designed by Andrew Jackson and built in 1834-35. It now houses the Louisiana National Guard Headquarters. It also serves as the dividing line between Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes.

Entering St. Bernard Parish and Chalmette: This is where Katrina hit the worst, even more so than the lower 9th ward. Abandoned by its country, the first responders here where Canadian Mounties.

19. The Le Beau Plantation: It’s about 2 blocks in and hard to see so look real hard. It’s in bad shape and has not been restored, would be beautiful if it were restored.

20. Interview with a Vampier fire: This area is the location where they burned a bunch of old warehouses and whatnot for the movie.

21. Domino sugar: One of the oldest sugar refineries in the country dating back to 1909. It produces 6 million pounds of sugar per day and more than 2 billion pounds per year about 19% of the country’s sugar. Now that’s a lot of sugar!!!!!!

22. Cavaroc House: Located at Domino Sugar, looks like a small plantation but dwarfed by the massive Sugar refinery.

23. St. Bernard Port: It was once talked about to build the cruise terminal at this location.

24. Chalmette Battle Field (Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve): This is where the Battle of New Orleans was fought during the war of 1812 one of the greatest land victories of the war. You should be able to see the “monument”, which looks like a small version of the Washington monument in DC.

25. The Beauregard House: Built on this site in 1832.

26. Chalmette National Cemetery: Veteran cemetery established in 1864.

27. Kaiser Aluminum: This plant pretty much established the town of Chalmette. Its smoke stack has become a local landmark of years past. The plant was the largest Aluminum Smelter in the world until it closed down in 1983.

28. Chalmette Refining LLC: This used to be Mobil which used to be Tennecco etc. It is now a venture of ExxonMobil and the Venezuelan State Oil company. Some of the fuel you and others used to get to N.O. was refined at this very location. If your lucky you may catch them Flaring the Boom. If so you will see a massive fire ball which will light up the entire sky. This is all part of the refining process.

29. Chalmette Ferry Landing: This ferry landing is still used to get residents from one side of the river to the other. To go around is a twenty mile journey, but the time can be the same if you don’t catch the ferry right 

That pretty much sum’s up the first hour or so of your 7-8 hour cruise down the might Mississippi. The rest of the trip is still very interesting, but not too many landmarks. You will pass multiple oil and gas refineries such as BP and Chevron on your way down to the mouth.

River Pilot: The very last thing of interest is when you get to the mouth of the river. A pilot boat will meet up with the ship, the ship will slow to a crawl and you can watch as the river pilot (who has been navigating the river) will jump from an open bay door on the ship to a small pilot boat. This will happen late at night usually somewhere between 10-12 depending on departure.

Remember this phrase: “White over Red…Pilot Ahead”. The pilot boat will be a small vessel and at the very top of it, you will see 2 lights, a white light that sits above a red light. This is how you can identify the pilot boat ahead of time.

That’s it, you have officially finished you sailing of the river and are entering the Ocean Blue. Oh, don’t forget to watch for the more then 3000 oil rigs along the continental shelf. Have a great trip.

Hello,

 

I have ultimate 3 Card Texas Holdem, Blackjack and Slot Tourney entries for sale. I would also be open to transferring the entries to another cruiser who would like to split the proceeds of the entries.

 

If interested, please leave a message.

 

Thanks~

Which cruises are these tourneys scheduled for?

How can I get the schedule of events? Is it available before for planning or can I even get one after we set sail? I would like to plan ahead if I can!

Search these boards for recent Fun Times from your ship... You'd be surprised what you will find on these boards! :-)

We became good friends with the Casino Host during our last cruise. She continued to check up on us when she saw us in the casino. My husband ended up playing blackjack with her in a St. Marteen casino...they were having a wonderful time. It was funny to see a casino host playing blackjack in a casino! In the end, we received a bounceback letter, offering us a nicely discounted cruise, which we quickly reserved. I'm sure we received it due to the amount of gambling we were doing, not because we befriended the Casino Host...but, she certainly made sure we were enjoying ourselves!

Thanks for this awesome review! The Walmart comment made me laugh out loud! It is because of the Carnival prices that we can afford several cruises a year! We love Carnival -- the crew is always awesome, the customer service is always excellent, the ships are beautiful, and we ALWAYS have a wonderful time!!!! We sail in 38 or so days, and I CAN'T WAIT (especially after reading your review)!!!!!!!