I just want to say I hope you enjoy the Triumph as much as my friend and I did. We booked through an agent an inside cabin, as they were cheaper than the rest, as we knew we wouldn't be in the room that much. I'm not saying this will happen to you, but we were upgraded to a wonderful room with a window, and plenty of closet/drawer space. We were just speechless when we seen our room.
This was my first cruise on Carnival, and my 6th cruise. It was one of the best cruises I have every been on. If a person wants to nit pic, then you can find things wrong, but there was much more "positive's" to talk about in regard to the Triumph.
Make sure if you walk the Dunns River Falls which is beautiful, you know what you are doing. Two ladies at our table went seperate times, one came back with a broken finger, the other that has been "doctoring" her big toe for over 3 months.
Thanks for all of the wonderful tips. I have paid half of my cruise off so far for the both us, so that is exciting. Then I need to save for tips, excursions, and fun stuff.....I have gotten mixed results about the excursions..getting off of the ship in time to do the excursions scares me, and then some people say to do your own thing, but is it worth more money to ensure the ship knows where i am at, and will they leave without me if i am on excursion that I booked through them?
jroth, as you are concerned about the ship leaving without you, I do suggest booking your shore excursions through the ship. We've been on a couple of dozen cruises, and still take shore excursions offered through the cruise line when traveling somewhere for the first time. We consider the difference in fees a form of insurance.
As far as being on time for tours -- if you are on a ship's excursion, you will either meet in a designated area on the ship and leave in a group, or you might meet on the pier alongside the ship. The method to be used will be posted in the daily newsletter that is delivered to your cabin every day. In any case, they ask you to meet about 1/2 hour to 15 minutes in advance. Also, for ports like Grand Cayman, where the ship cannot dock so passengers are shuttled to shore on smaller boats, those with early shore excursions booked through the cruise line are often given priority for leaving the ship.
I would agree with Lisa P on booking the ship's excursions. Doing independent excursions can save you money, but if the stress of missing boat (or something going wrong) is going to hinder the experience...it is better to pay a little more and be comfortable.
There are some ports that we still do ship excursions on. Jamaica is one of them. I have just never felt safe there.
Grand Cayman is safe and easy to get around.
So is Cozumel. Taxis are every where.
But only you know your comfort level. We are all there at one time!! Have a wonderful cruise.
We just returend and on the shore excursions meeting at the pier they wait for you. Or at least they did on our excursions, putting us just a few minutes late. They know how many are coming and they waited for late-comers.
__________________
Carnival Fascination November 2006
Pacific Princess December 2007
Monarch of the Seas - April 2008
Sapphire Princess September 2008
Most all the excursions or tour guides know what time the ships leave port when you take these tours. You still must make sure you are back in time to leave on the ship, as they will leave without you. Most people once they are through with their tours/excursions, they want to shop, etc. and forget about the time they "have to" be back on this ship, this you "cannot" do.
LisaP gave some good recommendations in regard to your touring or excursions. I will say you will probably find it a little cheaper, if you brook your tours, etc. through websites, instead of the ship. We did this and had no problem, making it back to the port/ship on time. Our tour guides have always known if they were running late on time, and if they were, they would cut out something that may have been extra that they were going to show you, but decided not to, because of the time.
Yes, that is true. They have a count of how many are coming on the tour, although sometimes they wind up with more than the original count.
They try to make sure that everyone that signed up for the tour is there, and when they they get ready to return back to the port, they wait a few minutes on the ones who are slower.
Linear Mode
