SpaceCowboy9

@Cruising Caribbean soft serve: yes (as of our last carnival cruise in May) Not a fan - I eat other junk to compensate.

What port(s) & activities are you looking at ? You may get some recommendations. I like booking outside the cruise line, because I like saving money. Trip advisor, google, etc. will give you a good indication of whether or not to book. Another thing to look at is the length of time in port. If you have a 12 hour window, stuff can go sideways & you have a lot of time to grab a cab. Bring spare cash with you - enough for cab fare from anywhere back to the ship.

@Cruising Caribbean it's an aft balcony cabin on the Carnival Sunshine. For my 95 year old mother-in-law, it's also a handicap accessible cabin. It is a little wider & has a large bathroom. The tablecloth idea sounds interesting. If you had some strong magnets, you could secure it at the top. As long as the door closes, I wouldn't see it as a problem.

I sailed the Vista in 2017. Great ship! It has a lot of passengers, but I felt as though they built the ship compartmentalized so there wasn't a feel like there were a lot of people. Our favorite place - the Havana Bar. Loved listening to the live music.

We decorated our door in May this year on carnival. @3Sisters even though carnival says not to use tape, we use tape. They are worried about the door being damaged. We are extra careful & have never had an issue. Here's my wife & mother-in-law, nothing too fancy.

I just like being on the ship. To me, it doesn't matter where. If it's a special occasion, we'll get a balcony & did an aft balcony a couple of times. As far as price, the higher you go, the more expensive it gets. On one deck, the middle is usually more than the ends. Lastly, I try to pick a cabin that is surrounded on all sides by other cabins. You are less likely to have some odd noises from something like a janitor's closet early in the morning or a dance floor late at night.

I agree that key west will be ok. There are a number of islands in the Caribbean that don't take a lot of cruise ships & are doing fine. Anecdotally, I've been to key west once & it was not on a cruise. I'd return for the food & you don't do more food while cruising (at least I don't )

I have not tried it, but they have a 3rd party app that will process it for them. I've heard there are a couple different ways to give them your info. (upload a picture or even give them access to your account (I'm not doing that)). at some point, CCL will no longer take email or fax submission

Carnival & princess you can decorate your door - we put up stars so we can easily find our room - our neighbors say it's easier for them to find their room because theirs is the one next to the stars

What I've seen for veterans' benefits is a discounted cruise- it's not a lot $10/$20 per person off the cruise fare The shareholder benefit is usually in the form of an onboard credit Carnival is changing the process for applying for the shareholder benefit, not the benefit itself.

cruisemapper.com from a laptop worked for me yesterday - maybe we're talking apples & oranges?

@Jim Lamb I don't use it often, but I do see what you are saying - i haven't tried, maybe use a laptop or desktop?

@FJB I'm with FJB on this. The cruise lines already run a rather clean operation. Throwing more money at it will just make cruising less affordable for little benefit.

I have a hard time seeing the benefit - maybe I'm not thinking straight. Why not tender in - seems like you could tender anywhere. The same with supplies, a ship could bring them to you where ever you were. How would the island hold up to storm while at sea? Interesting idea, but a lot of questions.

@Kendall James-Vargas we think her cruising days are over. Her last cruise, this past April, was a challenge. The happiest she was during the whole trip was when we were in the car heading home. I think she could finally relax. She was so afraid to fall, even though she was either in bed or a wheelchair 95% of the time. She has a lot of great cruises to look back on.

If my health stays good & I had the money - yes, I would live on a cruise ship, but it would be hard to visit the kids

We got a cheap upgrade to a suite on a cruise with my mother-in-law. She was 88 at the time & thought it may be her last cruise so why not. I think she's been on 5 cruises since and is now 95. When you have multiple cabins, making one a suite can be a good idea. It gives you a place meet. On another cruise with my parents, we would meet for drinks in a regular balcony cabin before dinner - 10 people was cramped.

I wouldn't book something before noon/1:00. Any number of things can delay your ship getting to port. It was a couple months back when the port of miami closed due to a collision ... https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article276734551.html

@3Sisters The Windstar is a 7-night out of St Maarten - looking forward to checking out some ports we've never been to: Antigua, Anguilla, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, Tortola, St Barts -- (in fact, we have never been to any of them except for St Maarten) @FJB It's 30 years of marriage -- actually 29 years and 10 months, the itinerary we wanted was not offered on "the date" & fun pictures - thanks for sharing @Cruising Caribbean We have been on 13 cruises

Embedded SIM (eSIM) is a SIM card that’s built into your smartphone and can’t be removed. It performs the same function as a traditional SIM, except that it’s programmable and physically connected to your smartphone’s motherboard. The reason I ask is it allows you to get a temporary data plan overseas while you are traveling. You don't have to go through hassle of getting a SIM card and swapping it into your phone. Also, the supported phones are $500+ & I don't want to spend that much on a phone. Just want to see if an actual human has had any luck. I'm looking into for our cruise out of St Martin next spring, so I have some time to research. Thanks!

In Charleston, any disabled person (with a disabled placard) gets free parking - we were just hoping to get a spot close to the check-in building when we were with my 95 year-old mother-in-law - they just waved us through. It was nice saving ~$100 even before getting on the ship!

@3Sisters never cruised Windstar before & we'll be celebrating #30. Ready to go tomorrow, but have to wait until spring!

@Cruising Caribbean - exactly -- that why I left the other board

We should get marshmallow suits or large hamster balls... People do not fall off of cruise ships. They are either doing something stupid, jumping by choice, or pushed.

I too like the smaller ships - I like the Fantasy class ships of Carnival, roughly 2,000 guests. My wife and I are trying a Windstar next year for our anniversary, 310 passengers & we get to go to some smaller ports in the Caribbean. Looking forward to Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke