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Carnival Vista - LIVE-Feb 24-Mar 3 - Gal to Montego, GC, Coz - Fun Times, Menus, etc.


Saint Greg
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I was reading this review because your Dream review was so awesome and we board that ship this Sunday with two adult kids. We are booked on March 1 Cozumel Bar Hop. I’m looking forward to meeting you. What a coincidence. : )

(We hopped in 2010 and had a great time.)

Edited by ohyes
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5 hours ago, ohyes said:

I was reading this review because your Dream review was so awesome and we board that ship this Sunday with two adult kids. We are booked on March 1 Cozumel Bar Hop. I’m looking forward to meeting you. What a coincidence. : )

(We hopped in 2010 and had a great time.)

 

Cool. Guess I’ll see you in about 10 days.

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7 hours ago, grantbob said:

Hey Greg-

 

Two years ago we did the Dunns River Falls and Bamboo Beach club from Montego Bay. It is a long day, and everyone goes to DRF, but I think it's definitely something you should do once.

 

Our guide was Tamara (Bamboo beach employee) and she made the day special with her info and hospitality. Once we got to the club she becomes the waitress/host and takes care of you. The food was traditional (chicken/rice/beans/plantains) and we really liked it. The beach area itself was really pretty. The rum punch was overly sweet but the local beer (Red Stripe) is good.

Bamboo Lunch.JPG

Bamboo beach.JPG

 

Sounds like the same meal I got on the ruins tour in Belize. Except potato salad and mix the rice and beans together....and tang instead of rum punch and beer.

Edited by Saint Greg
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1 minute ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Sounds like the same meal I got on the ruins tour in Belize. Except potato salad instead of rice...and tang instead of rum punch and beer.

 

Tang 😂😂😂

Havent heard or seen Tang in forever!

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22 hours ago, grantbob said:

Hey Greg-

 

Two years ago we did the Dunns River Falls and Bamboo Beach club from Montego Bay. It is a long day, and everyone goes to DRF, but I think it's definitely something you should do once.

 

Our guide was Tamara (Bamboo beach employee) and she made the day special with her info and hospitality. Once we got to the club she becomes the waitress/host and takes care of you. The food was traditional (chicken/rice/beans/plantains) and we really liked it. The beach area itself was really pretty. The rum punch was overly sweet but the local beer (Red Stripe) is good.

Bamboo Lunch.JPG

Bamboo beach.JPG

We did this excursion and also had Tamara in December 2017. It was the best excursion we've had in 6 cruises so far!

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I've been looking forward to this review since I recently stumbled across your Dream reviews. I'll be sailing to the same ports as you're visiting this time but from New Orleans on the Glory in November (which I believe is what you're doing in September? Can't wait for that review too!) so I've been waiting to see what you have to say about Grand Cayman and Montego Bay. Can't wait to read more. Enjoy your cruise in the meantime! 

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1 hour ago, Camberly_T said:

I've been looking forward to this review since I recently stumbled across your Dream reviews. I'll be sailing to the same ports as you're visiting this time but from New Orleans on the Glory in November (which I believe is what you're doing in September? Can't wait for that review too!) so I've been waiting to see what you have to say about Grand Cayman and Montego Bay. Can't wait to read more. Enjoy your cruise in the meantime! 

 

Yep I’m doing that 8/25

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On 2/16/2019 at 3:44 PM, Saint Greg said:

Booking

 

 

I booked this a year ago. The fare and gratuities were 100% paid for by the fun points earned on my Carnival MasterCard. I saved up 100,000 points and redeemed them for a $1,500 statement credit. I'm approaching 40,000 points now so I'm almost halfway to getting another free cruise. I'm sure there are people who have other cards they like better. Let's try keep that out of this thread. 

 

As usual I booked when they were offering $50 OBC. Since then I converted $72.40 in price drops into OBC. I'm also a stockholder x100 now so I get another $100 OBC for that giving me a total of $222.40 in OBC this cruise. The OBC is going to pay for specialty restuarants 5 of the 7 nights, my Montego Bay excursion, and a couple of drinks on embarkation day before cheers kicks in. There's no cheers day 1 out of Galveston. :classic_sad:

 

This cruise worked out perfect for me. I've been cruising the last week of Feb or the first week of March for the last four years. Last year I did an early March cruise on the Breeze and was there during the time change. I didn't like losing an hour of sleep so I will try to stick to the end of Feb from now on. This cruise allowed me to get the week I wanted, a ship I haven't been on, and two ports I haven't visited. 


 

I did the same thing for my March 2 Breeze cruise! I love my Carnival Mastercard! I used reward points to give me a $1200 statement credit, and cashed in enough reward points since then to give me $300 bar credits! I have read your other reviews and can’t wait for this one! Only 10 days until my cruise! 

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Okay. I have these two water excursions booked...and I need to be able to document it. I don’t do those big thick waterproof phone cases. I like big phones and small phone cases. So I decided to look for a waterproof pouch to use during the excursions. I found this one that’s supposed to be waterproof and float for like $10.

 

Universal Waterproof Case, IFCASE... 

 

404aa4804dc283664d1f26da53d7fc69.jpg

 

335506e011ffb574a2107072f66f8617.jpg

 

2cc1755a82e3d6c6da6bb946a8dd427d.jpg

Edited by Saint Greg
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Am I just going to put my $1000 phone in this case and throw it in the pool? Heck no! I’m going to test it with my old phone which already has some slight water damage..but that damage isn’t from a waterfall or the ocean. It’s from shaving. 

 

Anyway...here are the tests with my old phone. 

 

 

 

 

 

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16 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Am I just going to put my $1000 phone in this case and throw it in the pool? Heck no! I’m going to test it with my old phone which already has some slight water damage..but that damage isn’t from a waterfall or the ocean. It’s from shaving. 

 

Anyway...here are the tests with my old phone. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright. I don’t have the part where I put the old phone in the water. I uploaded the part I tried to trim off of that video. But that is the operation of be phone after being submerged in the water.

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I just added another night to my hotel stay in Webster. When I booked I could’ve booked Friday-Saturday but at the time I didn’t know if I’d be able to get there Friday. Now it looks like I can. I’ve been watching Hotwire for a couple days because they didn’t have a hotrate for my hotel on Friday night anymore. Hotrates will appear and disappear depending on how bookings are going. Booking it at regular price would’ve been like $111. I waited it out and the hotrate popped back up today so I got to for $78 after taxes for Friday. 

 

077e3eee9151eb4b688688a8baff60ea.jpg

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On 2/16/2019 at 2:45 PM, Saint Greg said:

Parking

 

Two years ago I parked at EZ cruise parking and last year I used lighthouse. There are people who swear by both. To me both are fine. Neither blew me away so I went in this year with an open mind. I wanted to find something better without paying double the price. When I did EZ they had a park n walk option that saved like $20 I want to say. I tried the park n walk option two years ago and didn't like it. Galveston has those big curbs and the sidewalk I took wasn't good for rolling luggage. It was also the week of their Mardi Gras (it will be again this year) so they had some streets blocked off and a bunch of people in the way who weren't cruisers. On top of that I couldn't remember if I locked my car so I had to walk all the way back to check. Now I can lock my car from my phone thankfully...but at the time I couldn't. I swore I would never do that again. Now maybe their shuttle service is good. I can't really say since I didn't try it.

 

Last year I went with lighthouse covered parking. It was fine. You park under those metal covers. When I returned my black car was yellow from pollen. I didn't like the fact that on the way back the shuttle stopped at the uncovered lot first. The covered people paid more and had to sit and wait while the lowly uncovered parkers got off and unloaded their luggage before going to our lot.

 

I waited until last week to book my parking this time. First I read all of the Galveston parking threads from the past year on the CC Gulf Coast Departures board. Then I searched for Galveston cruise parking and price checked all of the lots. I may have found a gem on on the Gulf Coast Departures board. Falstaff cruise parking. This is a new facility. It used to be a brewery. It opened as a parking facility a month after my last Galveston cruise. Indoor parking is $75 after taxes and fees. It seemed like Galveston indoor parking has always been $100+ at other places I've researched in the past. After checking this time the other indoor lots ranged from $97-127. Outdoor parking at the various lots ranged from $64-87. That Falstaff indoor parking looks great! Shuttle included. I booked there.

 

https://falstaffcruiseparking.com/


 

We have used Lighthouse every time we cruise. Over 10 years. We really like how quickly they get us to the ship after we park. And they quickly pick us up after the cruise. Will be interested in your shuttle experience at Falstaff. We might change where we park. 🤫

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42 minutes ago, mojavetex said:

We have used Lighthouse every time we cruise. Over 10 years. We really like how quickly they get us to the ship after we park. And they quickly pick us up after the cruise. Will be interested in your shuttle experience at Falstaff. We might change where we park. 🤫

 

This new one came out only $3 more than lighthouse even with the 15% code that lighthouse sends out. The indoor parking looks like a big upgrade over those metal covers. We’ll have to see about the shuttle but it looks good so far. 

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