euroguy

@Kendall James-Vargas yeah I always see the people that show up very early but that only worked in the old days when they would assign your boarding letter or number as you arrived, now days its very different and makes no sense to arrive too early. The other thing i am seeing is people will have early boarding time and show up 1-2 hours late and are allowed to just walk in v. Having to wait in any lines. Typically I don't have to wait in line, with that said, March I had to wait for my time along with other vip and non vip guests. When our time came vips went one way and non vip went another. We vips got checked in right away and on the otherwise of the room the non vips had to line up and go through all kinds of stuff and was backed up. Literally took me 5 minutes to check in the went to vip room, v. Everyone else went to a large waiting area and of course vips boarded in advance to others. Now Sept out of Seattle was very different, I handed the porter my bags a CCL person asked to see my boarding g pass and was directed to walk right in for check in... once again took less than 5 minutes. I never realized how nice it was to have the early room access until I got it. Not having to lug around anything is nice and if I want to change into shorts and tshirt can do it in my cabin. My normal routine when 1st getting g on is usually get quick bite as I'm hungry about that time, Guy's burgers, BBQ pig and anchor or something..lines are short and quick still. Then I start exploring g the ship so I can get a lay of the land (ships never been on) this way I know what areas interest me and how things are layed out before to many people are on, then head up to lido for the going away party with drink in hand..now the vacation starts. Never been to big on the pools and for the first time finally did the jacuzzi last March. Yep true story, something about going into a jacuzzi with a bunch of strangers didn't appeal to me, but in March I stayed on ship for one port and went to serenity area (adults only) which was at the top of ship and enjoyed sitting in the jacuzzi looking out the glass wall over the city. Now if I'm going to do jacuzzi I will try and go when something major is happening were everyone will want to go to, like a stage show or dinner or early morning that way less people thinking about it Of course on my ship exploration I always stop at the casino to get an idea on its layout and games available... go figure 😆 I'm always happy to contribute for others so glad I have more moments than I realized.

@Kendall James-Vargas oh my... you soumd traumatized and certainly need you upcoming cruise and maybe a spa massage while on the ship 😇 Rwgarding the passport card, i ordered mine at same time I applied for passport. I believe you can order it separately. I agree i would never leave the ship without either my passport or passport card as it's the one and only real proof of citizenship in the event of an emergency while off ship, but never ever fear about getting back on ship without it.

@Kendall James-Vargas im so jealous lucky you for getting on before me, I'm so ready already... we are only a week apart how funny is that. It will be nice to have the extra space, my CCL personal assistant set it up for me and best part was the price...FREE!!! 🤣 I don't remember which post it is on but one of the very recent ones people were showing their CCL offers and I decided to post 4 of my most recent ones, however I have 22 offers to select from...sigh You must be getting so excited with so few days left before you are on the ship.

@Cruising Caribbean 😆... it's seems you and few others think I should do a blog... hmmm not really sure how to set that up nor if i would have enough info... so maybe this board will be a good stage Regarding the soft side cooler i know ive seen them at walmart and probably on amazon. Thwy are just right size to carry a six pack of sodas so not to large also they have a internal gel inside of the sides so you can fold it up and put in the freezer then it will be frozen and keep things cold longer. It would be great for your kids while waiting outside in line. Well tomorrow puts me one week out and off i go to Mardi Gras P.S I just looked and amazon has a variety of choices for less than $20 Hope my suggestions make the kiddos happy

@Woody14 the nice thing about the offers, is you can use each of them 3X 😝 currently I have 22 different offers/promotions just pulled these few to show... Few bucks in the casino can pay dividens ...go get your new offers

@Kendall James-Vargas yes last Friday was the 9th and well since im vip i get to check in before other non vip. Ive got 1st boarding of 11 a.m. another perk is getting to drop my back pack off in cabin so don't have to lug it around and have hands free travel for few hours before sail away. Yeah I have those genius moments every once in the while. Never did a back to back before but was talking to someone on my Alaska trip and she was telling me how it works. Basically you get to stay on the ship the whole time. Some times in the cabin and other times out of the cabin, seemed to be different on each ship with no rhym or reason.

@3Sisters @KeithG @Woody14Since we are sharing here are a few offers I've received recently. You can read all the perks for each ... wondering when the free suite offers start 🤔 3 of the offers are for free balcony, free drinks everywhere on ship plus casino cash #1 extended sailings 37 different cruises from 10 to 22 days #2 over 200 sailings of 7 to 10 days #3 hundreds of sailings $1500 on board ship credit #4 premier cruise

I don't recall exact.location but I do recall that light bluish tint glass letting sun light in was above it. I'm relatively certain I will see it on the Firenze

Bring umbrellas for each person, I know just one more thing to think k about but would make it so much better and maybe a small soft sided cooler that you can freeze before hand and fill with frozen goodies to munch on, like frozen fruit. That way its healthy tasty hydrating and cold Just an idea....

@Cruising Caribbean 😆 out of the mouths of babes. She is so smart and her little brain is certainly working. Geeesh why didn't I think about practicing in advance lol maybe I need to turn my heat up to 100 in the house to practice lmao

@3Sisters of course someone will complain can not make everyone 100% happy, such as life and i think CCL realizes this as well, but i really do think its 100% fitting to have the david statue on the firenze and i so look forward to seei g it again as it was on my 2nd cruise, which was on the Pride (many years ago) that I saw it and thought to myself that it was spectacular to have that on a ship. Honestly it was a positive impression for me as it wasn't something I would have thought to see on a cruise ship and really set the stage.

I bet you're getting excited about your up coming trip.... I know I am

@3Sisters I'm so happy that you found the STEP process easy and worth while. I'm really glad that I could share something new and of value to yourself and others. regardless of advisory level i recommed to file your itinerary for every foriegn trip. Its just another layer of protection and we never knkw when things might change and they will send alerts directly to you if something changes and provides valuable info if you need help. Best part is it's 100% FREE.

@Kendall James-Vargas you should get the passport card, it's about the size of a driver's license and also hard plastic. This way you can leave your passport on ship and carry the card or vise versa I keep hearing people saying they are concerned about getting g back on the ship without their passport in hand... I've never been asked for anything other than my sign n sail card which the ship scans and shows your picture. Im really confussed by this fear... have you had to show your passport to get back on ship???? i fully understand the stress of getting g a passport... couple years ago I didn't realize my passport had expired and booked a cruise and was 4 weeks out ...no appointments for several weeks and then the processing time... so had to camp out all night at a post office to be a walk in, then hired a expedited service that would walk my application in and process my application same day. I received my passport in 5 days. Yep never will I let it expire again lol.

@Kendall James-Vargas 10 days 22 hours and 50 minutes 😴 😪 that's actual time to sail away, however I'm flying out the day before and I get VIP boarding which means I will be on ship around 11ish and sail away is 4pm No I didnt get a suite, but its a larger balcony cabin for the same super duper discounted rate. I love the new cabin colors as well, a super nice change to the normal CCL orange and the new lighting designs a pretty cool as well. OMG I'm getting so excited!!!! I already started going through clothes and picking out what to take...this weekend start the packing... very unusual and bit premature for me. Yeah you can have all the girly stuff...that why you're a girl 😆

@FJB wow nice trip congrats you should enjoy that a lot. Have you been on that ship or ports before?

@Kendall James-Vargas I think you heard from someone else that mega ships aren't for them. The Mardi Gras will be the 1st real "Mega" ship for me. i think the Panorama was the largest ive been on but i will need to look in my ship history and see. Im kinda thinking im gonna really like the Firenze, simply because its so different from the normal ccl ships and it looks more up scale. But we will see, rwgardless if it turns out to be my favorite ship or not i know i will enjoy being on it regardless as i can always find the positives.

@FJB 5 days put very cool. What ship? What stops?

@Kendall James-Vargas well yeah the goal could be somewhat difficult to sail every CCL and being majority of the ship are in Florida so after I retire in few years I would probably ly fly to Florida sail for 1 week the try and book another cruise that departs day or two later so that way get the biggest bang for the air flight. But when I retire I'll have more time and so would be able to do a lot of back to backs if I keep getting the amazing prices like I am currently. Like you I'm looking at the calendar and starting g to feel the time crunch, making sure all my documents are printed, Tux to cleaners thinking I need more shorts and summer shirts etc... because you know I only had 6 months to get everything together 😆 why be in a hurry and do it months ago. FRIDAY THE 9TH I check in online...oh boy it's getting close !!!!

@Kendall James-Vargas so cool your trip is getting g close same as mine 17 days 2 hours and 17 minutes and my cabin is waiting 😍 Yeah all that smelly stuff is for girls I don't do that lol not sure how many guys do that as well. We are simple give us a pair of shorts, tshirt ball cap and spray on some sun screen and we are out the door lolol. I'm sure you will be loving the feeling of warm sand in-between the toes.

Here is the artical about the David Statue returning on the Firenze. https://www.cruisehive.com/iconic-statue-returning-to-a-new-carnival-cruise-ship/117593

The Firenza is officially in dry dock in Spain. The artical I read mentioned some of the food changes they will be doing and changing the funnel and paint to CCL but didn't mention anything about the David Statue. I'm still hopeful that they will put it on and announce it later or not say anything and just do it. Previously I watched a video of the CCL president which she was standing in an area of the Firenza and talking about how ccl acquired the firenza and hinted how a familiar face and item would be placed right behind where she was standing. I can't remember exact wordi g but you certainly could connect the dots.

@Kendall James-Vargas I think that I've been on 10-12 different ships but have been on more cruises than that as ive been on the some of the same ships multiple times. Yeah CCL is on a mission with new ships and currently at 27... yikes!!! Perhaps I might get to most but not sure about all. Certainly ly would be a blast trying.

@Kendall James-Vargas hmmm i thought CCL did loyalty matching. But I've been wrong before .... once in 1984 🤣 14.day voyage across the pond to Spain sounds amazing. You would have a lot of sea days to recharge, which is one thing I had on my cruises. Typically 2 sea days on front end and 1 sea day on back end. Wish had it reversed as after running around like a mad man for 3 ports back to back it would be nice to have 2 sea days before coming home to fully unwind and chill before debarkation vs. 1 sea day. What part of Spain is your family from? I have family in Germany , Brussels, and Sweden unfortunately cruise ships don't reach those areas 😕. I've looked at some of the cruises that travel to Spain, Italy and few other countries and they all look so wondwrful but I know I would be sad as they have so many great things to visit and see and I wouldn't be able to see everything I would want to. taking a 14 day cruise on CCL would be a huge step for your loyalty points as you get 1 point for each day. No matter which line you go on I'm certain you will have a wonderful.trip I have really been eyeing some of the repositioning cruises that go from east to west or west to east through the Panama canal ... that trip has some really great stops and also get several sea days and get to go through the locks which would be cool. Have you ever done a repositioning cruise?

@Kendall James-Vargas I would say somewhere between 10-12 different ships but I've sailed more than that as I've been on some of the same ships multiple times. Yeah 27 ships is a lot to try and get to as like you said CCL is constantly expanding. But hey you never know what Mike happen. 22 days 2 hours and 37 minutes 🤣 Next Friday I get to check in on line....yep okay its official, im getting excited!!!!