Help!! Have questions for experienced Carnival Cruisers!

[San Diego Cruizer]

We are a group of 60 going on the Carnival Splendor on 1/13 and we have some questions! Any feedback will be appreciated!

 

*Is a coffee card available to buy the fresh and gourmet specialty coffees at the coffee stand?

 

* Can the moms in our group stop by the buffet before shore excursions to pick up some fruit etc for fussy children while in port or is taking a small amount of food off the ship a no no?

 

* Are walkie talkies/2 way radios available for rental on the ship.....if so where?

 

* If shore excursions are " sold out" what are the chances additional offerings will be available once onboard?

 

* Are galley tours available, and is so, is there a charge ( like there is for the Chefs table)

 

 

* Is the cigar bar open every evening or just specifis times?

 

Thanks so much everyone!

[SadieN]

We are a group of 60 going on the Carnival Splendor on 1/13 and we have some questions! Any feedback will be appreciated!

 

*Is a coffee card available to buy the fresh and gourmet specialty coffees at the coffee stand?

There used to be some sort of coffee card, don't remember if there is one currently offered.

 

* Can the moms in our group stop by the buffet before shore excursions to pick up some fruit etc for fussy children while in port or is taking a small amount of food off the ship a no no?

NO FRESH FOOD OFF THE SHIP!*** We bring commercially prepackaged food from home and cereal boxes off the ship.

 

* Are walkie talkies/2 way radios available for rental on the ship.....if so where?

Bring your own.

 

* If shore excursions are " sold out" what are the chances additional offerings will be available once onboard?

There might or might not be room. There will be vendors onshore that you can negotiate with.

 

* Are galley tours available, and is so, is there a charge ( like there is for the Chefs table)

Was no galley tour on the Splendor in November.

 

 

* Is the cigar bar open every evening or just specifis times?

Should be open all the time. The FunTimes will have specific details.

 

Thanks so much everyone!

 

Answers in brick above.

 

***Fresh food off the ship is a pet peeve of mine. Living in California during the Med Fruit Fly invasion of the late 80's I have have become more sensitive to the issue.

ETA- Notice you live in San Diego. Remember the Avocado problems a few years ago in San Diego from an imported pest? The port of San Diego is especially viligiant. The Ag Dog there actually alerted on my LemonHeads.:)

 

We bring cereal bars, gummies, hard candies from home. From the ship we take some Frosted Flakes and FrootLoops. There are also Cheerios.

 

 

[jdyer09]

*Is a coffee card available to buy the fresh and gourmet specialty coffees at the coffee stand? Nope, not anymore.

 

* Can the moms in our group stop by the buffet before shore excursions to pick up some fruit etc for fussy children while in port or is taking a small amount of food off the ship a no no? Fresh fruit and buffet foods absolutley not, its a customs thing. However, I order some of those small ceareal boxes from room service and as long as they are closed they can be taken off the ship. They are the dry cereals, like cheerios, etc, that are common in continental breakfasts.

 

* Are walkie talkies/2 way radios available for rental on the ship.....if so where? Nope, not available to rent, but can be purchased. Id recommend bringing them as they are super expensive.

 

* If shore excursions are " sold out" what are the chances additional offerings will be available once onboard? I havent had any experince with this, sorry. I would assume sold out was sold out. You might check local operators for the same activity.

 

* Are galley tours available, and is so, is there a charge ( like there is for the Chefs table) Yep, Its called Behind the Fun and I think its about $80 or so per person

 

* Is the cigar bar open every evening or just specifis times? No idea on that one, you might check the Fun Times for references, understanding that it could change.

 

Thanks so much everyone!

[Pauser]

Behind the Fun Tour (galley tour) is $95 per person. If there is a cigar bar, it should be open every night. You can check the Fun Times for more info.

 

Re: shore excursions. Sometimes tours sold out online can be purchased on board. It depends on the excursion. If you have a large group that wants to do specific activities, you might do a little research and reserve with an independent tour operator before you go. It's usually cheaper and is more flexible.

 

Good luck! Hope you have fun.

[richstowe]

* Are walkie talkies/2 way radios available for rental on the ship.....if so where?

First cruise we brought inexpensive ones that worked well for us on shore. They didn't work very well on board.

Perhaps high end ones would work better but there is a lot of signal interference on a ship.

I have not seen then for sale or rent on board

 

* If shore excursions are " sold out" what are the chances additional offerings will be available once onboard?

They can add extra spaces (another bus worth) but you can't count on this.

In addition they will cancel tours for various reasons including lack of interest.

 

Thanks so much everyone!

Enjoy your cruise.:)

[cruzinlisa]

* Can the moms in our group stop by the buffet before shore excursions to pick up some fruit etc for fussy children while in port or is taking a small amount of food off the ship a no no?

 

 

Thanks so much everyone!

 

As most everyone else has said, no no on the fruit. But you can take Cheerios or boxed cereal. Or for really little ones you may just want to bring a couple of prepackaged things from home. We brought cheeze-its and nutrigrain bars for our DD who was 15 months old as I did not intend to give her any local foods (allergy, illness and little tummy sensitivity concerns ;)). We probably would have been good with the cheerios

[WendyJo]

We are a group of 60 going on the Carnival Splendor on 1/13 and we have some questions! Any feedback will be appreciated!

 

*Is a coffee card available to buy the fresh and gourmet specialty coffees at the coffee stand?

 

* Can the moms in our group stop by the buffet before shore excursions to pick up some fruit etc for fussy children while in port or is taking a small amount of food off the ship a no no?

 

* Are walkie talkies/2 way radios available for rental on the ship.....if so where?

 

* If shore excursions are " sold out" what are the chances additional offerings will be available once onboard?

 

* Are galley tours available, and is so, is there a charge ( like there is for the Chefs table)

 

 

* Is the cigar bar open every evening or just specifis times?

 

Thanks so much everyone!

 

Often, just a galley tour is offered with no additional charge but you have to get there early because once it's full, it's full. Watch for it in the daily newsletter.

[onthehighseas606]

You can purchase walkie talkies fairly cheap at Radio Shack. IIRC we purchased ours at Costco several years ago. We drove to the Splendor and had 2 vehicles. They came in handy for pit stops.

[deborahjo]

We did a Galley Tour our last sea day on the Valor. It was listed in the fun times at no cost. You got to tour the kitchens of both dining rooms. This was January of 2012. Did not see this on the Splendor on 12/9 sailing