latitude918

I wouldn't put too much stock in the reviews of other people on here, since all experiences are very subjective, and can greatly vary from person to person. IE: you may hate the food in the MDR and I may think it is the best thing ever.

I use the reviews to just get a general idea of the ship, look at and see pictures of the cabins and ports and just use it as a tool for forming my own general opinion.

Remember that all experiences can change trip to trip and person to person.

TL;DR -- Take all of the reviews on here with a grain of salt, and don't worry too much of some people complain. All experiences vary person to person.

Last year when I cruised out of Miami with FTTF, there was a sign that said "Diamond/Platinum/FTTF that I followed to get though everything.

Naked hot wings (I mean real spicy)

Hot pretzels with jalapeno cheese dip

Onion rings

Jalapeno poppers

Zesty curly fries

Kettle or jello popcorn (it would have to be made and eaten right away)

 

with a side of heart burn

Wings that are breaded aren't real wings.

Being from Western NY I'm a wing snob.

Sorry, not sorry.

What food would you like to see Carnival offer, like a bar food or snack food?

 

Personally I would love hot wings or teriyaki wings.

Hailing from Western New York, I just cringed when I saw you use the term "Teriyaki wings"

*Shudders*

:D :p

My wife and I dress up on formal night, because we enjoy it and it is fun for us.

Unless the people next to me are coming in wearing swim attire, I could 100% care less what other people are wearing.

Enjoy your vacation your own way, as long as it is within reason.

Any progress CruiseGal? Update or acknowledgement would be nice.:(

Your screen name in relation to this thread makes me chuckle :)

No balcony. We try to follow the rules. I can't see how/why they "advertise" the area as a smoking venue, then close it.

I appreciate it. As a non-smoker I try to stay on my side of the ship. *Rule followers high five*

My favorite length is an 8 day but 6 days are what we choose now. We need to get childcare for our kids (1 and 3) and with traveling from Indiana to Florida, we usually spend the night. 7 days is all I would feel comfortable with asking for help with the kids and dog. When we are retired I will be the B2B queen! hehe

That is another factor I never thought of: getting someone to watch our dog. Guess I'll just have to include that in the planning :)

If you're not keen on port days the 7 day Southern Caribbean is definitely for you!! it leaves from San Juan and only has one port day. We're doing that itinerary on the Liberty in September. I expect to have to do a vacation from my vacation (LOL)!!!

 

When I started cruising I only did 7 day cruises along with some 8 day trips. I loved them. This year we're doing a 3 day for our wedding anniversary. I know it won't be long enough but at least I won't be at home!!!

 

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

Thanks. I am pretty excited about it :)

I was eyeing up that cruise, but, the logistics and price of a flight to San Juan, compared to a flight to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami is having us give the edge to the Florida embarkation ports.

I cruised Victory in January 2014, and had an amazing experience.

My room steward was very, very helpful. My fiancee took note that he remembered both of our names. I thought this was really neat as he has a lot of people to look after. Just a nice personal touch :)

The dining staff was excellent as well. Even though it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles the other ships have, I really enjoyed the ship.

I've booked online a couple of times and I log into the website regularly but no phone calls and I still have yet to receive any emails from Carnival even though they have my email address. Nothing in the spam folder either.

Same with me. I have my VIFP filled out with my email and phone number, and have booked 3 cruises online myself. I have never had an email, snail mail or phone call from Carnival, pvp or otherwise.

Along the same lines as what Budget Queen said is the demographics. Our first cruise was a 5 day cruise. I'm going to be nice or I'll make people mad, but there is definitely a different clientele. 5 day cruises can be dirt cheap so think of the riff-raff that may be able to afford it.... Again, I'm not saying that everyone on-board is like that, but there will be people who want a quick, cheap vacation to party hard... Since then, we've only done 7+ day cruises, and a few of those were back to back. Our next cruise is 14 days. I heard that the passengers may be much older, but I don't care. I'd prefer a quieter atmosphere anyway! And like some others said, the shorter cruises often go on the older boats. I prefer to go to more exotic islands and you can't get to the Southern Caribbean on a short cruise.

Good to know. The 4 cay we were on had some groups of 20 somethings that were getting pretty rowdy.

We are in our early 30s and like to get at it every-so-often, but not like we used to.

What I have heard about longer cruises is there are less kids, which if true, would be nice.

I've done a 5 night (way too short), with my DH I've done several 7's, and eight night (heaven, pure heaven to Aruba) and we've got an 11 night coming up in 124 days!

 

The 11 night is gonna be very port intensive and I'm trying to figure out just which islands I'm gonna have to chill on versus those I want to get out and go go go!

Aruba sounds pretty great from what I hear. Longer cruises sound fun but I'll definitely have to ease into them. I don't know if I could do 14 days on the ship. Props to those who can.

For us, it isn't about the number of days, but the number of ports.

 

I'd rather do a 5 day cruise with 2 ports, than an 8 day cruise with 3 for instance. (3 ports = 7 days, max)

 

The 8 day cruise we did (with 3 ports) felt boring.

The 5 day cruise with 2, was super fun, as was the 7 day cruise with 5 ports.

That is my view towards cruising. I can't stand sea days, so port intensive itinerary is definitely something I'd look for.

We did our first cruise on the Fascination and it was a 5 day. We really enjoyed it and did not get any type of "booze cruise" feel from it. Two years ago we did a 7 day out of New Orleans on the Conquest. We loved the two extra days (who would have thought 2 days could feel much longer) and it seemed to us that the demographics were about the same.

 

This year we are doing an 8 day out of Ft. Lauderdale again on the Conquest. We actually leave on a Saturday and return on a Sunday, so work days off we are only taking one extra day to come in on Friday. We have 3 sea days and 4 ports on this cruise. I will be interested to see how it compares to the other two.

An 8 day on the conquest out of Ft. Lauderdale is actually what we're looking at. I'll keep an eye out for your review ;)

Perk for a 7 or 8 day cruise booked onboard is $100 OBC. You'd also receive 2Family & Friend Vouchers when someone who booked same cruise within 60 days of date on voucher will also receive the same OBC.

 

We've never booked anything less than 6 days since we have to fly to port and it doesn't seem worth it to book a shorter cruise. The two 6-day cruises we've been on have been combined with an 8-day cruise to make a total of 14 days at sea. We now only do B2B cruises.

Kudos to you! That sounds fun. I don't think my supervisor would let me miss that much work at one time :p

Good to know about the friends and family perk. My brother and his wife like to cruise. It'd be fun to have them tag along.

Hi there Cruisers,

My wife-to-be and I are doing a 5 night cruise for our honeymoon. This will be my third and her second. (She is really excited to get the red card. Ha)

We were talking the other night about booking our next cruise while on the ship, because I remember you get perks, though I can't remember what they are.

We were looking at itineraries, and a lot of the 8 day itineraries stuck out at us. However, we've normally just done 4 and 5 night sailings. So, I was curious, what are some of the differences I can expect between the two?

Also, what is the current perk for booking a cruise while you're on your cruise?

Yes I get entirely to paternal, must remember "not my circus not my monkeys" If worst comes to worst she and her Mom may get put off ship. I will not feel guilty leaving them behind...I worked hard for this trip, and did not come to baby sit.

I honestly wouldn't sweat it too much. Even if some random guys buy her drinks on the ship, it's not like she'll be the only drunk person there.

Being 19 and partying regularly, she will probably hold her booze better than a lot of the drunk adults you find on the ship :p :D

She is 19 years old and like to party. Sounds pretty typical for the age. I remember sneaking into bars and trying to get served when I was that age.

Her mother should just tell her to save her partying for port.

In your shoes, I'd just step away from the situation and enjoy my vacation. Let her mom deal with the headache.

Tell the kid to turn the phone off, make some friends and relax...he is on vacation!

Plus, then you don't have to worry about the roaming charges ;)

I was 25 minutes late to dinner once. The wife-to-be had a wardrobe malfunction on the way to dinner and had to skedaddle back to the room to fix it.

I hate being late, and even more, I hate inconveniencing other people. I made up for it by apologizing to the waiters and buying my table a round.

OP, if it was an accident, I wouldn't sweat it too much, but since you already know ahead of time you'll be pushing lateness, just plan on eating at the Lido that night. No harm, no foul :)

I have a suite booked for my next cruise, which is my honeymoon cruise, in October.

To be honest, if it wasn't our honeymoon, I would have just booked a balcony. But at the time, it was only about a minimal difference between a fancy balcony and a suite, so the wife-to-be talked me into it; the whole "when-are-we-ever-going-to-do-this-again" thing.

But, as always, it is your cruise, not mine, so ymmv

One of these days I need to get around to getting a PVP. I usually just book online myself.

http://www.weather.com

keyword search: Grand Turk

They have hourly, weekend, 5, 10, monthly and a drop down with more forecasts.

100 times on the same ship? Wow. I want that couple's bank account.

I'm a firm believer in "whatever floats your boat" (no pun intended) but 100 times on the same ship would get old for me.

Plus, they said they don't ever get off the ship. The ports are a good part of the fun for me. I don't see the point in not getting off the ship.

But again...different strokes for different folks.