Sabalon

Our first cruise, my youngest was 13 (at the start, 14 at the end). She did some stacking competition that the Circle C(?) club had. We went to get her for dinner and she was determined she had to win the competition first. She made three or four friends from there that she wanted to spend the whole time with, and even kept up with some after the cruise. One guy actually lives like 10 miles away...once her Scout troop found out about that, there was no mercy. It's neat to see how fast they take to these activities and groups.

WOW! Guess that reduces lines...hmm...how to break this to my wife. Oh well, Blue Iguana just as good! Good to know about the BBQ as well. Means I have three chances! 🙂

Thanks for writing this. We'll be on her the first week in April. Good to know that the BBQ place is semi-unknown...I'll keep them busy! Sounds like a very streamlined arrival for you. Glad it didn't feel too crowded. I was amazed the first time we were on a larger ship (than Fantasy class) and how it didn't feel full. I know they have more space to handle more people, but still. Though breakfast is always a pain....I want my custom omelet, but so do 2700 other people! The secret is to get up early....but I don't do that well!!!! Bummer about the Amber Cover switch. We didn't leave the port area when we were there - that is when they had a few tourists die of odd reasons so we cancelled our excursion and just stayed in the big pool. Coolest part about it was pulling in - it looked like Isla Sorna from Jurassic Park! I've been to Nassau enough, but I suppose I could find something new to do - the distillery is neat...very good Pina Coladas as others said. Glad you and the family had a great time. I think next time we go with our girls (22 and 25) we will get them their own room. Have done enough of the packing them in...can't imagine 5 in one room

That is a very good point - Even though the data is off, you can't really separate out SMS and calls. So that spam call about your car warranty can and probably will incur a charge even without answering!!! I think in the past we'd turn airplane off long enough to see if there were any text messages, and then right back on.

Whoa. Didn't know that. I thought it odd that Verizon did $5 for US/CA instead of $10, but I guess AT&T one upped them. Nice...2/3 of my stops in a couple weeks are in Mexico. Wife will love it - she can play Connections.

At least last time, they had a "social" aspect to the app, in that people could upload photos during the cruise. It was curated, but still was neat to see others experiences perhaps on an excursion or something.

Hmm...I noticed where it now states you basically get a special line during your arrival time. In the past, we did the above - showed up, got checked in and on board pretty fast, and started grazing, or in the pool with a mojito early on. I guess worst case we sit around outside the terminal in Miami for an hour or so. Can always claim ignorance and "that's how it always worked in the past for me." 🙂

I was just looking at the two myself. The AT&T gives you unlimited talk and text and 1G of data for $100. Assuming you were on a 5 day cruise, Carnival would run you $105 for the same duration for the Premium plan, but then they don't list any data caps. The social plan would be $75 for a 5 day cruise, and with it you can use facebook messenger and whatsapp for messaging (not sure about audio/video calls over those) If you have FaceTime, zoom or something like that, you could do "calls" over the premium wifi. Can do Facetime audio - less bandwidth than video calls. If you all are on iPhones and use iMessage (guess Android has something similar) then you can text over that. Also, keep in mind that if you are using something that normally goes over WiFi (such as iMessage) that will eat into whatever the limit is on the AT&T Cruise data has - so be careful about that. May be best to turn cellular data off - don't need your phone deciding to download a huge upgrade while you sleep!!! The disclaimers state that the social media plan does not support iMessage, however... the Carnival app uses push notifications to let you know things, and those use the same servers that iMessage uses. And since those notifications are encrypted between Apple and your phone, there is no way for Carnival to filter out to allow only theirs. Last cruise, with no onboard wifi plan, we could do iMessage texting (until my phone decided to sign me out), I would get notifications when the garage door was opened and closed, gmail notifications, and oh yes, my favorite, notifications from work of issues at unholy hours. I would not however rely on this! It was hit or miss as to when they would get through, even the table notifications - my wife would get one and I'd get mine about halfway through dinner.

AT&T has a "plan" (International Day Pass) that is $10 for each day that you use it internationally. Verizon has a similar one (Travel Plus). Check your provider information before you go - at one time you had to sign up for it, I think now AT&T just automatically signs you up in eligible countries upon first usage. Not sure about other providers (T-mobile, sprint, etc) In the countries that they support, you just use it like you do at home. Also, at least for AT&T, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are considered domestic and just like being at home. What I usually do is try WiFi first, and it I can't find a good signal someplace, then I will turn cellular on if I need it. Keep in mind if you use WiFi that your data should be encrypted from your phone to the other end before putting any passwords etc in (VPN, HTTPS and so on) Another thing you can do is turn Cellular Data off. It's been a while, but from what I recall, incoming text messages don't cost - that is because you basically can't control that. I know in the past, with cellular data off and on Cellular at Sea, we could receive SMS text messages. But playing with fire if you're not careful.

So I remembered that I could do my checkin at around 12:15am on the 17th, and have an 11am-11:30 arrival time. We also have FTTF (reasons). In the past with FttF, we got to the port and went to the priority line, and then got on after all the Diamond, Platinum, etc... I think then, the arrival times didn't really matter, the FttF was more of a bypass sticker - it was more of a show up and be one of the first on the ship. Drop bags, mojito time. Looking at it now, it seems that it isn't so much that anymore as it is bypass lines - so out of the 11-11:30 arrival people, be one of the first of those. (Which in the past, 11 is about when boarding starts anyway.) It calls "during your arrival appointment" in the text now...looking at a 2022 version of the page it just said "all guests must select an arrival appointment". Guess it just means more time for a good breakfast in Miami!

On the crowds... Perhaps FttF may help - get isolated out of the main cattle call to get on board, get on board early and start getting acclimated to the ship before it's full of people. Learn different routes to get from A to B. I find that if I'm in the aft and my cabin is more fore, I'll take the elevator down to my deck and walk through the hallway rather than try to traverse Lido or the other "activity" decks. Find the out of the way areas - there is usually a few seating areas that aren't as heavily populated as others...nice place to hang out. At least for breakfast, wake up early, beat the crowds and lines. While I'm not bothered by crowds (I got to DragonCon with 80000 people), what does get to me is the miscellaneous noise - multiple conversations going on that you can just pick up on makes my brain go nuts trying to hear it all. My airpods help somewhat with that...and just avoiding those areas if possible helps too.

We're on her in April. I'm trying to think positive...like in Miami they'll hopefully dock with the port side to the dock to hid the damage, which means they'll need pull up into the bay area to do a 180 instead of just shoving off and heading out!.

Me over here proud of my 28! lol. Wish we had started cruising when we got married, but were very concerned about sea sickness. We'd probably be Platinum or more by now.

If the Blue Iguana served their breakfast burritos all day I'd have three meals easily picked out 🙂 We like to look at the menu ahead of time to decide if it's worth it. Last cruise we only ate their a couple of times - I got some bad motion sickness from the Nassau tour and food became less than desirable! I think we mainly go for the appetizers and the dessert.

We prefer the Anytime dining option. It gives us more flexibility as to what we may do during the day - no rush for early or no show conflicts with late. The only thing I liked about set time dining was the same staff. Though last time we had set dining, after the third night we were really tired of the table near us, so I see the randomness as a bonus. We use the app, and very rarely have had to wait more than 10-15 minutes for a table. The pro is obviously being able to go to dinner at a time that suits your day...and each day may be different depending on activities. The con is the may be a short wait, and you may have different serving staff each night (though I guess that could also be a pro depending on how it goes!)

Ah...I see now. They were testing out the new pier runner deterrent methods - can run to the ship late if there is no pier! Yikes!!!!

Thanks all. Not much of a casino player but good to know there is a smoke free option. Love the forward decks, especially for leaving ports...wonderful views and the wind sometimes helps with the temperatures. Good to know about the lanai hot tubs. I love them for winding down. Hadn't hear of Magic having issues - will have to look that up. They have a couple months to fix whatever it is!

At first it was going to be going to Europe for our anniversary, then Aruba, and now we're going to take an early cruise. We'll be on Magic Mar 31-Apr 6, going to Cozumel, Belize and (new for us) Costa Maya. In the past, the Glory (and Conquest) have been the biggest ships we've been on and this one looks to be a good bit larger - at least passenger capacity wise. Don't think the extra 53ft in length will matter too much 🙂 We have a balcony so at least there is that. Hopefully I don't get sick like our last trip! I know when we stepped up from Fantasy to Conquest - we didn't notice that increase of people that much. Hopefully this will be similar. But anyway... Was looking for any tips or good-to-know items about this ship or its sisters. We're not crazy party people or very social, but we do like to get out of the room and sit someplace and read. She likes the trivia, I like music and shows. I think the Lanai sounds interesting. I may need that half mile since they have the Pig and Anchor on that deck!!! What are some good places to chill out on the ship? Out of way areas? I'm assuming since I didn't put a towel out in 2008 when the keel was laid down that I have no chance of a spot in Serenity 🙂 Thanks...looking forward to this. Hopefully no cocodrilo pequeño at Cozumel this time.

From our recent Nassau trip with an excursion... when you get off the ship, they have all the excursionites (trademarking that word) meet in a covered area on the pier right off the ship, grouped by excursion. You wait as a group, walk towards the transport as a group, etc... in other words, if you're doing an excursion there you won't be alone in Nassau itself. That excursion itself is on another (small) island away from New Providence and Paradise Island, so you're going to be around other tourists the whole time. Don't know how social you are, but if you're not like me and actually talk to people, you may make an excursion buddy or two as well.

iMessage, like many other things, uses the apple push service. Most notifications on your phone use that, like my garage door, and like the Carnival Hub app. And since that whole stream is encrypted between your device and Apple, Carnival can't distinguish between an iMessage or their hub app letting you know your table is ready. That's why it works (sometimes). Now...why sending works, I'm not sure, but there is two way communication on the notifications to acknowledge receipt, register for receiving, etc... so perhaps that is how it sends. Our last cruise (March, Elation) it worked pretty well between my wife and I onboard (airplane mode, wifi only for the hub app, nothing paid) Nothing like being out at a sea and knowing when your garage door opens and closes, or when a network switch at work goes haywire...always 2am. Pictures would not send or be received, so we had to wait til we were in port with cellular or find free wifi. I did have an issue on the last day where my phone decided to sign me out of iMessage for some reason so it all stopped working. Also, as CruiserLucas said - I wouldn't rely to heavily on it. Sometimes I'd get it way later. But we had the same issue with the hub app where my wife got notified our table was ready, but we were halfway through eating when I got the notification.

Wow...dating yourself there...but I guess I shouldn't talk - I get the reference 🙂

Have only been to Belize...and that was a whirlwind. We did the Xunatunich Mayan Ruin tour. Your are on the first tender off the ship (about a 25 minute ride if I remember). You get to the port and they put you on a bus and you spend the next two hours on the bus, time at the ruins, and head back, with a stop for a great lunch. The ruins were amazing as was the food. And the ride out was packed full of info about the area. By the time we got back, in addition to being tired, it was time to head back to the ship anyway. The one thing that stood out - when you hear Belize you think of huts on the water and the great blue hole. Well, the tender takes you to the "tourism" village. If you look at it on Google maps, it's dumping you into Belize City, and it isn't a "walk 100yards to a nice beach" place. Not that I wouldn't mind the chance to see more of the area, but I'd think if you want beach and relaxing, you'd probably need an excursion or local knowledge.

Are 17ft waves/swells that bad? Last cruise we were on, I thought they said something about 5meter swells, but perhaps it was 5ft since 5m would be closer to 15ft. I'm sure it's not fun (my wussy stomach was ill at the 5ft ones), but I've seen 50ft long sailboats go through 12ft waves - yeah, not fun for them but am thinking a 900ft ship would handle it. But I've got nothing to base it on and would prefer to keep it that way!

Was wondering about that. I looked at the deck plans first and didn't see it - the area is massage Room and aerobic room, but they still had it there in the photos for the Glory. Well, disregard that folks!

Been years since I've been on Glory (or Conquest), but the area is a little calmer by the back pool. It should be adults only, but that is hit-or-miss. It seems to come and go if they enforce it. On sea days it's a little fuller than usually parts of the day...usually groups standing around by the walls talking and drinking. Somewhere I have a pic of me alone in that pool doing a backfloat with my mojito in hand. Below is a sea day. The hot tubs stayed pretty full and loungers could get full up. The Glory also has this "pool" in the Spa area with a separate hot tub. Water was a bit warmer and the whole area is full of condensation, but is a neat place to find.