Carnival Dream 9/11/2010 - I'm Dreaming of a Big Big Big Cats Cruise! The Sequel

Safely home here. We pulled in the driveway at about 5:30 after stopping at the firestation to pick up Greg's paystub. I've got 4 loads of laundry done and now I am beat....time to go to bed early and catch up on my sleep so I can finish up the laundry before the Browns game tomorrow morning!

Hope everyone had as good of a time as we did - thanks again for a great cruise again this year!
 
Good morning all,

Got home at midnight last night....flight delay (plane engine trouble) and shuttle delay made for a very long day. 105 degrees when we landed....I'm looking forward to retirement and moving out of this state. Lots to unpack and get done before going back to work on Wednesday, but hope to get in some football today.

Had a great time (Dream was a pleasant surprise) and hope we can do it again next year...but all depends on Arrielle. We are quite surprised as to how much Arrielle enjoyed this cruise, even though she really didn't make any friends this go around. She seems to be quite committed (well at least today) to cruising again next year...so we'll see. If we find a great deal, we can always book and cancel at a later date if her grades suffer. Surprisingly she was quite open as to how much she enjoys the Sept cruise and how disappointed she would be if she couldn't go next year. With that in mind, I would like to employ the help of all facebook users and keep on / encourage her about her school work and staying focused on the big prize for the school year. Please spread the word to Bubba, Bobbie, Sara...and even Calum about chatting up good grades and next years cruise...we could use all the help we can get.
 
Hi All,
Just wanted to warn everyone. I checked my bank statement today and had 2 charges from carnival one for $114.34 and another for $21.85. This is not on my Sail and Sign statement. I called my bank but they couldn`t tell me what they are for. I am calling Carnival in the morning to see what is up with this. My Carnival bill most of the time for the sail and sign don`t show up till around wednesday. I am wondering what carnival is up to now.
 
baby love Jim said:
Hi All,
Just wanted to warn everyone. I checked my bank statement today and had 2 charges from carnival one for $114.34 and another for $21.85. This is not on my Sail and Sign statement. I called my bank but they couldn`t tell me what they are for. I am calling Carnival in the morning to see what is up with this. My Carnival bill most of the time for the sail and sign don`t show up till around wednesday. I am wondering what carnival is up to now.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm....I will let Greg know to check his card. We didn't see the charge for the Next Cruise or whatever they call it. I don't know if you all knew or not, but he had a problem trying to use his bank card in St Martin. He was pretty preoccupied by it, and we couldn't get through to the bank or the credit card company while we were in St Martin, calling from Diamonds International's phone. He didn't know if it was a security measure of some type or if someone might have his information from using it in Florida or even to secure the sail and sign. When we were in St Thomas, he called our bank and got in touch with someone we've known who has worked there for quite sometime and she confirmed that everything was fine with his account but most likely was a security measure. Well, we were going through mail last night and he had a letter from the credit card company letting him know that they had tried to reach us several times and were unsuccessful, and his account had been frozen due to suspicious activity! We were glad they were looking out for him, but this has never happened before....and we felt like losers pulling out another credit card after our first one had been rejected!
 
StudMuffin said:
Good morning all,

Got home at midnight last night....flight delay (plane engine trouble) and shuttle delay made for a very long day. 105 degrees when we landed....I'm looking forward to retirement and moving out of this state. Lots to unpack and get done before going back to work on Wednesday, but hope to get in some football today.

Had a great time (Dream was a pleasant surprise) and hope we can do it again next year...but all depends on Arrielle. We are quite surprised as to how much Arrielle enjoyed this cruise, even though she really didn't make any friends this go around. She seems to be quite committed (well at least today) to cruising again next year...so we'll see. If we find a great deal, we can always book and cancel at a later date if her grades suffer. Surprisingly she was quite open as to how much she enjoys the Sept cruise and how disappointed she would be if she couldn't go next year. With that in mind, I would like to employ the help of all facebook users and keep on / encourage her about her school work and staying focused on the big prize for the school year. Please spread the word to Bubba, Bobbie, Sara...and even Calum about chatting up good grades and next years cruise...we could use all the help we can get.
Click to expand...

Glad she liked it George - she was telling us at dinner that she wanted to get home and get back to school to be with her friends. It's great that she enjoyed the cruise so much and also that she wants to go again next year. I hope she keeps her grades up - and I know it's a bit of a different game in High School than it was before - things do move so fast. I didn't ask this year - did they send homework with her so that she could keep up while on vacation?

Sorry you had such a late return home. Hopefully my text didn't jinx you! We got lucky on our flight....and not in the mile high sort of way :) ! When we landed and went to baggage claim, there were a lot of people still standing around after we had all of our bags. A woman came out and said that there were 12 pieces of luggage that were missed during the loading process and they would be arriving on the 7pm flight. We were so anxious to get home that it would've been painful to stay around the airport for 3 more hours!
 
baby love Jim said:
Hi All,
Just wanted to warn everyone. I checked my bank statement today and had 2 charges from carnival one for $114.34 and another for $21.85. This is not on my Sail and Sign statement. I called my bank but they couldn`t tell me what they are for. I am calling Carnival in the morning to see what is up with this. My Carnival bill most of the time for the sail and sign don`t show up till around wednesday. I am wondering what carnival is up to now.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up Jimmy. I'll be paying the bills first thing tomorrow and I'll check then. What were the dates on the charges...maybe something that took place prior to the cruise?
 
oriolesfan22 said:
Sorry you had such a late return home. Hopefully my text didn't jinx you! We got lucky on our flight....and not in the mile high sort of way :) ! When we landed and went to baggage claim, there were a lot of people still standing around after we had all of our bags. A woman came out and said that there were 12 pieces of luggage that were missed during the loading process and they would be arriving on the 7pm flight. We were so anxious to get home that it would've been painful to stay around the airport for 3 more hours!
Click to expand...

Interesting about the luggage...our garment bag went out on an earlier flight and then got locked in a cage in Phoenix. Needless to say we were not pleased after waiting until some time after all luggage was out to learn our bag had been placed elsewhere...just one more delay in the trip.
 
StudMuffin said:
Yes they did. Surprisingly she spent the weekend prior hunkered down and completed all of it prior to the trip...a first for her.
Click to expand...


Wow - good for her!!!

Also, I meant to comment on your comment about being pleasantly surprised about the Dream. I was, too! The only thing that I wish was a tiny bit better was the service. It was just ok, in my opinion. The food was near the top of all of our cruises. We really liked our cabin. Getting on and off the ship was super easy. I thought the cabin steward team that we had was just ok, and the same with our wait staff. I think our waiter's inexperience showed...not that he was bad, because he certainly wasn't, but there was nothing special about his service and sometimes it seemed like he was rushing to catch up. I did enjoy the food from the steakhouse, but the same thing about the service, it was just ok.

Good thing the company was spectacular!!!
 
According to the new Carnival newsletter, The Funville Times, the recipe for the chocolate melting cake is as follows:

•8 ounces of semisweet chocolate
•1 cup (2 sticks) of butter
•7 eggs, divided use
•6 tablespoons of sugar
•1/2 cup of flour
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Melt the chocolate and butter and cool for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix four eggs with sugar. Whisk. Then add flour and whisk. Add the remaining three eggs and add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture. Pour this entire mixture into individual ramekins. Bake until just done, about 15-20 minutes (interior will be melting). Serve with vanilla ice cream.
 
Hi All,
I called Carnival this morning about the charges on my bank account. I was told it was just a hold and the charges should go away in the next few days. We will see
 
Here is the e-mail from carnival....
Dear Mr. Baird,



Thanks for emailing us.



What you are seeing on your account is holds. As stated online, we advise our guests that there will be holds placed on their account as a deposit for any onboard purchases. Carnival automatically releases these holds once we receive payment for your Sail & Sign charges. However, it often takes banks up to 72 business hours to release the holds after debarkation. Some financial institutions require further contact from Carnival before releasing any monies. This is something we are not aware of until the cardholder or their financial institution advises us of the issue.



If you still have holds on your account on Thursday, please contact your bank to find out when they plan to release them since 72 business hours has passed. If they require further contact from Carnival, please reply to this e-mail with the last four digits of the credit card used for your on board Sail & Sign account along with your bank's name and customer service phone number. Once we get this information, we will be happy to request the release of the holds on your account.


Sincerely,
 
We had something similar happen on our debit cards, Jim. I would think that the bank would release the holds as soon as the charges clear, but apparently that does not happen. I remember being at Target and knowing that I had about $100 in my checking the weekend before payday. My card was declined for a small charge, like $30 or so. I paid with a regular charge card, then called my bank as soon as I got to my car. As it turns out, I had purchased something for nearly $100, and the charge had cleared, but the hold had not, so I didn't have the $30 available so my card was declined. I thought it was ridiculous....but apparently that was how the hold thing worked.
Of course, the next business day everything was ok.

Keep us posted....but I bet things will work out!
 

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