Sabalon

Carnival is not subject to US corporate taxes.

Why not?

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BlueHerons - thanks for all the info. Miracle Mile looks like a good destination.

cruiseMJO - what we decided to do was to split the trip up. The night before, we'll leave Atlanta after work and go to Jacksonville for the night. That puts us halfway there, and takes the load off me having to do 10 hours in one day. I've done it, but I'm grumpy at the end! This will let us get in around lunch or so on Friday and have time go see a little of Miami. (I'm sure my daughter would love to track down a Giant African Land Snail as she thinks they're cute!)

We have a room at the Holiday Inn Coral Gables we got through ticketsatwork.com - a perk from work $81 before taxes, $95 with - cheaper than hotwire and not guesswork. A 10 mile/30 min drive to the port, and there is a M-Path station less than half a mile if we choose to go downtown. And 1.5m from Havana Harry's which sounds really good.

None of crew income is subject to any US income tax unless the crew members are US citizens.

Booze is not free to crew but sold at a reduced rate.

Yeah...forgot they do have a small charge for drinks - otherwise nothing would ever get done.

As for income, I mean Carnival as a corporate entity would possibly not have to report the gratuities as taxable income, not the crew.

Thanks all...that was super simple. Went to enroll for an account, yes, I've sailed before and then used the lookup vifp from right there. Little easier than the mock booking.

Thanks again!

Even though most of the tipped crew comes from all over, I'm wondering if there isn't some legal reason why they are gratuities and not part of the fare.

More I think of it, I'm sure that Carnival sails around (see what I did there) a bunch of legal issues. They are based out of Doral, FL, so they have US FLSA laws to deal with, but the ships are under a Panama flag of convenience which covers the on-board crew.

When I book my cruise I do it via their web site, but it could be that when you do the gratuities, they charge it on the ship, therefore it's not taxable US income or something like that.

Also, in the tip allotment, it must be said they get free room and board (quality wise could be debated), and from tales told, free booze and condoms.

I'm guessing that's why last cruise, the people working Lido in the morning don't seem all there :)

Taking the Glory as an example - just shy of 3,000 passengers, so I'm rounding up to 3000.

Stateroom Services - $11,700/day

Dining Services - $18,300/day

Alternative Services - $6,000/day

For a total of $36,000/day in gratuities (yes, rounding up slightly ($322), and that is assuming no one pulls them off)

There is a crew of 1,160. That comes out to $31/day per crew member. I'm sure some of them are non-tipped - no idea of the breakdown - so that number would probably go up some, but even if only 800 were paid from gratuities, that's $45/day or annualized, $16k - for some damn serious work.

Yeah...I'll leave my tips on my S&S and call it part of the overall cost.

Thanks. I'll go for the "Forgot my number" approach and then call Carnival...may be impossible having two teens find cards in their rooms!

I know I don't get credit for their sailings - however I want to make sure they get credits for their sailings, so if we start doing this more often they'll get closer to an advance status. Who knows - may help them down the line when they get out on their own or something noble like that :)

Odd question I think.

We're going on our third cruise (third for the wife and I, second for the kids) on Carnival.

I'm the one doing all the booking and have my VIFP number for checking rates, booking, etc.

However, my wife and kids don't have one. At least that I know of. Is Carnival tracking this behind the scenes based on name, address, DoB?

So are the accumulating points or just me? I'm gonna ask my wife if she can find her card from the last cruise, but that'll be a needle in a haystack!

Thanks

It's suggested you put your phones on airplane mode as soon as you get on board that way you won't incur any data fees when you are connected to the ships wifi or if your phone happens to connect to a tower when you get closer into land. Many people haven't taken that advice and have incurred massive charges when a ton of messages and emails suddenly downloaded to their phone when their phone decided to connect with a tower close by while porting. My phone have always been turned off or switched to airplane mode as soon as we started pulling out of port, not worth the risk.

 

This year I'm using a straight talk phone so it doesn't work internationally anyways but I'll still switch it to airplane mode just to stay in the habit.

This is a very good point. With wifi, you pretty much have to make a connection to do anything, but if it gets a cellular signal, the phone could decide it has data and do whatever background tasks it may want to do - check for app updates, get notifications, cache weather and news, etc. You may be somewhat protected if your phone isn't setup to work internationally, but that's not something I want to find out the hard way.

A good compromise is to put it into airplane mode, which will disable all the radios, and then just re-enable wifi. That way you can still connect to something (Carnival, hotspot in port, etc) but don't need to worry about fees from AT&T/Verizon/T-Mobile. Also, best to learn how to do that while at home and not when your very remote and hoping you get it right!

I think he would probably have to have the premium package to support a vpn connection, if that is what he needs to do. If he is just checking email, he might be able to get away with the mid-tier package, though.

From their site

Strongly suggest he do that - there are a number of VPN types and if that's what he indeed needs to use, he'll need to know options available. It could be webmail is all he needs. But if not, hopefully the IT area would be able to give some recommendations. Somethings that work great from home over broadband may be excruciating over the ship link. SSH tunneling may also be an option - too many variables to say for sure.

As far as Carnival saying VPN connections are not supported - that could mean one of two things

• Carnival isn't going to help you
  
• Carnival isn't going to allow it
  

Just searched the carnival boards for VPN and found people saying it worked for them, or that it was very slow and almost unusable. But it doens't sound like it's being outright blocked. And that goes along with their line of "we are not able to change your settings"

Lurk a little more - tons of threads with the same question answered. However there is soooo much that returns with a search, I can understand asking again :)

But as others have said, FTTF isn't just early boarding.

They clear the ship from prior sailing, do whatever turnover, and when they're ready to start boarding they're ready. They don't board the Diamond/Platinum/FTTF people and then make everyone else wait. So if they call all the early boarders and get done, then they will begin with the general boarding. So yes, you may get on 5 minutes before someone who has the cheapest ticket possible with no frills.

HOWEVER, you get to stay out of some of the general queues. So if you show up at 1pm and there are 500ppl lined up for check-in, you get to walk around them to the FTTF security and checkin line.

When you do get on board, your stateroom is ready for you. Drop off those carryon bags so you don't have to haul them around for 2-3 hours.

Your baggage delivery is expedited.

If you have lots of tendered ports on your cruise, you get priority on them.

Guest Service lines - same thing.

And disembarking - get off when you are ready to, which if you have travel home, you're good to go.

So yes, you may get on the boat right before someone without it. Miami in July - I'm looking forward to ditching everything I can so I can get food and get in the pool ASAP before it's full of kids. Also, it really helps me, because I usually end up carrying my wife and kids stuff as well !!!

Since you already have FTTF, then (from what I understand) the check-in times are meaningless to you. You can show up whenever. My check-in time is 10:30 and we'll probably get there right around then. My thinking is you never know when the ship will be ready, so I want to be ready when it is.

I get anxious in situations like this, so it means I get things out of the way - parking, checkin, baggage drop off, etc so at 10:45 or so instead of thinking "Did my birth certificate fall out of our folder? Did they cancel our reservation for some crazy unfounded reason?" I can instead just sit there, watch people and contently wait. The other reason for the earlier checkin time (before we got FTTF) is I don't know Miami. But it's a big city, and I prefer to be able to get there before most of the city wakes up and clogs the streets. It may be a non-issue, but again - see anxiety above :)

All that said - our first two were without FTTF, had no idea what we were doing, and had a blast :)

I am curious if the quality changes with the split from George Lopez?

I really doubt George Lopez had much to do with the selection of the comedians at all. Or am I just being cynical :)

The gators are well fenced in. I never even see any anymore. Kind of a sad drive. No gators or data connection...lol

 

Coconut Grove was my original thinking, seems nice. But, since I know I'll have packing anxiety and we'll arrive late, the Latin Cafe directly across the street and open til midnight won me over.

 

I could do without the gators. Can see them here, and on vacations have seen them in the wild - no worries, I'm faster than my wife ;) But can't go across the everglades without Spotify!

Coconut Grove does look very nice, but most of those hotels have additional fees for parking. So in addition to more for the room for one night, now parking.

We have changed our approach though, and will be leaving after work on Thursday, stopping in south Jacksonville that night and then finishing the drive on Friday to give us a little more time in Miami. Looking at places right around University of Miami in Coral Gables - can take the Metro Rail downtown from there, but I think at this point I've reached Analysis Paralysis.

Though Latin Cafe....mmmmm :)

Our first cruise was on the Fantasy out of Charleston in February.

Departure was cold...and windy...and cold! Once we got underway and a little south, it was very pleasant outside, though the funworks was chilly as was the pool. Nassau/Freeport were cool, but still warmer than Maine ocean water in the summer!

As for the crowd - there was one group that I kept seeing over and over which made me dub it the hillbilly cruise, but aside from that, it was a fair mix of people. Families with kids on winter break, couples, college kids, etc.

Great fun, and you're not sweltering the whole time.

I don't think this has been discussed yet, but when we went on the Legend last year we learned from the Facebook group that the first person in the Red Frog Pub gets a free beer(or something like that).

 

We had FTTF, but none of us drink. We mentioned this to the couple behind us while we waited to board. Later that day we ran into them again and they thanked us as they apparently were the first and took advantage of it.

I know that John Heald is regularly posting pics of the first people at Red Frog - so must be something to it.

Great suggestion!! I am up always by 5 and sit out on the balcony and take photos but I never thought about walking around the ship at the time. Love the quietness in the morning. So think I might try that the next cruise!

Our first cruise we just woke up in the ports. Our last one, even if my wife didn't want to get up, I was up on deck early watching us pull into port and dock. While catching the sunrise was nice, it was really neat watching them maneuver into port, the other boats darting around. I think I'm looking forward to that on this trip more than most things!

First time on something other than Fantasy class, and first time with FTTF, so plan is to go to room, ditch luggage, lock up valuables (ie travel docs), put on bathing suit, hit Guy's and the pool before it's crowded. We'll see how close to that we get.

Sorry, I'm using a new device and new app, so I'll just add on what I just found.

It looks like maybe we can park at this same location during our cruise for $5.50 a day, $10 shuttle to port. I found this site using google search: http://www.airportparkingreservations.com/lot_crowne_plaza_hotel_mia

 

Just looked at that. Sounds great - but one of the reviews specifically talked about the $10 shuttle to the port and a complete failure of it to work out. Given, that was just one review, but yikes!

I think myself, I'm just gonna go for the Coral Gables area. Just a few miles out, and a lower cost. Coconut Grove doesn't have any that offer free parking, at least listed on Hotwire. The more I think about it, we'll probably get in later than I want on Friday so it's going to be a crash and dash in the morning, so no need for anything nice.

We could stay at my parents in Venice, but that's a 200 mile drive, and I'd probably hit an alligator crossing the Everglades!

Thanks all...will do some looking at these suggestions. I guess the parking I saw was the valet parking are for the hotel that you then have to pay for.

Don't really want to stay an hour out - want to be close - and as we're parking at the port a cab is not an issue. Trying to keep it under $100, but starting to realize that isn't going to really be possible.

Blue Lagoon area looks promising.

Always hate getting hotels in areas I don't know. Have booked what sounded like a deal, check-in after dark and then the next morning in the light you wonder how you're alive! I usually go based by brand names and where they are located near home. Rodeway Inn's are the older hotels sold and renamed, usually in the more industrial areas. Baymont Inn is a more recent hotel sold off as Hampton or someone opens a newer one to replace their old property, etc.

They also have a plan that uses their Carnival Hub app (on some ships)

You pay $5 per device for it, but you use the messaging capability in the Carnival Hub app.

You'd have to read others opinions/reports

On the plus side, it's cheaper than full access and all the traffic should stay on the ship.

On the down side, from what I've read, it sometimes take a bit for the message to get through, and others have said there is no notification when you get a message.

May be an option for you.

On this - have read stories of the port people being very stringent about check-in times.

The "each port is different" makes me wonder how well versed they are.

ie. a 10:30 - 11 checkin time, but you show up at 11:15, or 10:15 with FTTF. From what I've read it could go either way.

Guess I'm of the mind that even though nothing will go wrong, I may as well spend the next 31 days worrying about it anyway! :confused:

 

I love these critters, but there's no insects to eat in the house.

 

Maybe there is a reason you don't have insects in the house to eat - he's doing a good job :)

Good luck helping him out.

Been reading through lots of posts.

Unlike a lot of them, we'll be driving down from Atlanta to Miami on Jul 1, staying overnight and then driving to the port and departing on July 2nd. Even with parking, gas, hotel and food, it's cheaper than 4 of us flying down. As long as we don't stay at the beach place which was $17k a night (Villazzo Contenta)

Am now trying to find someplace to sleep on the 1st. I'm trying to keep cost somewhat controlled as the rest of this trip is pricey, but I would like a few things like not sharing my bed with bugs, or whatever the last person left on it, for my car to be there in the morning, and for us to be relatively safe.

I also would like to get some good torta's that night and some Cuban pastries in the morning. We have a 10:30a check-in time, so I don't want to be too far away - paranoia about traffic.

That said - a couple questions:

Miami airport area? Read some other threads that seem to indicate it's not the best area, which airport areas usually aren't. Using Google Street view, the Sleep Inn for example doesn't look like that bad of an area. Looks like mostly hotel and airport industry.

Downtown? Looking on Hotwire, I can get a hotel downtown for a little more (in the grand scheme of this trip not much more than the airport area). My question about that is parking. Nothing shows up on Hotwire if you add free parking as an amenity, however, street view shows the Holiday Inn downtown has a fenced area that says "For guest use only (at your own risk)" How bad is parking downtown? Seems it'd be a fun location however, we're gonna be pushing it to get there in time for it to be worthwhile (623mile/10hr drive without rest breaks)

Coral Gables? Seems to be a tiny bit pricier than the airport, but more of a suburban style area.

So thanks in advance for any advice from someone not looking for shuttles! :)

Make sure they know Serenity is Adults Only for a good reason...

This right here is pure (potential) gold.

This thread has the listing

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2362155