Nero's Restaurant Beware

Nero's Restaurant is located at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. The atmosphere is not great, food is VERY overpriced and not that great of quality, rather poor, in fact! Service is just o.k. Not top notch. Go elsewhere if you want great service and great food! A price for 4 people is over 400 dollars. Ouch!!!

Snooze and Cruise Packages

If you drive to go on a cruise and stay at a hotel the night before look for snooze and cruise packages. A lot of hotels have packages that include one night stay, parking, and breakfast. Check with the hotels before you book.

Carnival's Past Guest Pins

Last March we received our past guest pins on the Carnival Spirit. We always enjoy getting our past guest pins. Then I started seeing posts regarding Carnival doing away with the pins. I thought maybe it was a mistake, until recently when we went on both Carnival Paradise and Carnival Valor. There were no pins for us. Someone said you have to be now Platinum to receive it. Why did they have to stop giving out the pins midstream. Why not get rid of the mint chocolates on the bed instead. I would rather have a pin which probably doesn't cost much to make. I talked with some staff onboard the Carnival Valor and said they miss the pins too. I told them I was going to write in it about it, and they asked to write that the staff misses them too. So those of you out there can write to Carnival and ask to bring the pins back not only for the past guest, but also for the staff. They like having them as mementos.

Please write to:
Carnival Cruise Lines
3655 NW 87th Avenue
Miami, FL 33178

American Airlines Now Offers Wireless Service on Some Flights

American Airlines has recently started wireless on some of their flights. I do not have a price as of yet, but the last time I flew, it was sponsored by Lexus and did not have to pay a dime to use the internet on my computer. It's a nice perk for business travelers.

Behind the Fun Tour Offered on Carnival

Carnival Cruise offers a Behind the Fun Tour on their ships. We have done the tour on the Carnival Paradise and on the Carnival Valor. The Carnival Paradise (around a three hour tour) cost $55 per person and the Carnival Valor (around a four hour tour) cost $95 per person. The Paradise tour is shorter than the Valor due to the size of the ship. With these tours it enables you to go on the BRIDGE, the Engine Control Room, below deck 0, and where the crew eats and relaxes. Most of these areas are off limits to guest and to most crew. Going on the Bridge is the best part of the tour. You also get a picture with the captain, backpacks, wrist bands, baseball caps, and other goodies depending on the ship. I highly recommend booking it at the Shore Excursion Desk immediately when you board the ship. The tours are done on the last sail day. This is limited to two tours of 16 each. It is worth the money.

RENTAL CAR BEWARE - DO NOT RENT FROM ADVANTAGE RENT A CAR

We recently rented a car from Advantage Rent A Car back on Sunday, November 15th. It was booked online for a total cost of $87.22 for four days. What we didn't realize they tacked on a LDW ((Optional Loss Damage Waiver) charge of $79.99 which was not accepted by us. When we called the Billing Department they said we needed to call the local number in Fort Lauderdale and speak to the manager. When we called the Fort Lauderdale number and asked for the manager, they said the manager wasn't there and that we needed to call the Billing Department. Called the Billing Department and said we needed to call the Fort Lauderdale number again. You get the run around.

They will try to SCAM you, so do not rent from them. Customer Service is not their number one priorty.

Carnival Splendor / Carnival Paradise Check In at the Queen Mary in Long Beach

Early Check In is at 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on the Queen Mary. The only drawback to early check in is you stand around with nothing to do. So, the best thing to do is stay overnight at the Queen Mary. Then go down and do the Carnival check in at the Queen Mary (Located Towards the Aft of the ship). If you need to directions just ask the front desk how to get there. Then when you are done with check in, you can walk back to your room on the Queen Mary and relax a bit if you like. Check out later at the Queen Mary and then walk to the Cruise Terminal Parking Garage and drop off your luggage. You don't have to stand in line all that time.

Luggage Questions: If you are taking a transfer bus, it will all be taken care of for you. If you are driving, pull up to curb and porters will unload. Tip about a buck a bag then go park your car. Of course have your pre printed luggage tags secured well. Next time you see your bags will be outside your room. Don't panick if your bags aren't by your room by sailaway. It takes awhile to get everyone's bags to their rooms.

While your waiting for your cabin to be ready go have lunch on Lido and enjoy.

Looking For Travel Savings

If you are looking for savings for hotels, airlines, cruises, etc. Check out hotels.com, travelocity, priceline, sidestep, and hotwire. We gotten great savings through hotels.com and travelocity.

People with Electric Wheel Chairs/Mobies on Cruise Ships

For those who don't know you can take an electric Wheel Chair/Mobie onboard the Carnival Cruise. No need to worry about how to get around without the use of a electric wheel chair. We saw them on a few of our cruises.

Recent Cruise on Carnival

We just got back from Carnival Cruise Valor that sailed on November 8th out Miami. There were good and bad things about this ship. One of good things about our cruise was our cabin #7440 had a huge balcony. It was enough to hold 16 people on it. Though the room is much smaller than most of the balcony rooms, there was alot more light. This room only sleeps two in the cabin, so it wouldn't be good for families. The ship's decor was patriotic, which made it nice for Veteran's Day. Of course the chocolate melting cake was good as usual. Now here is bad things about it, the dining room service was below average (forgot to give us some things and service was very slow), the activities seemed scarce, entertainment was just ok, (some nights boring), housekeeping was below average, and the ship seemed cramped more than the others we have sailed on. One morning, they forgot to deliver room service to us. The food on the last night in the dining room was very bad, rolls burnt and prime rib tough. These were issues that I left on my comment card to Carnival. Out of all the Carnival Cruise Ships we have traveled on, the best ones were Carnival Imagination, Carnival Pride, and Carnival Spirit. The Carnival Paradise was ok. The Carnival Elation and Carnival Valor were the two we had the most issues with. The best Cruise Directors on Carnival is John Heald, Chris Jefferson, and Chris Roberts. We did not care for Stewart Dunn. Big Tex was alright. But I do have to say, one of the best things that happened on the Carnival Valor, was that I won a free cruise for two. I guess we will be traveling on Carnival again next year, possibly the Carnival Splendor, or maybe the Carnival Dream.

If anyone needs information on any of these Cruises, I would be happy to respond to you.

Hotel Beware

We recently stayed at the River Park Hotel & Suites in Downtown Miami. This hotel is rundown. If you are looking for just a place to crash before a cruise, then it's ok, other than that I wouldn't recommend staying here. We booked this hotel through Hotels.com. It was paid for already, but the hotel still asks for a credit card so they can charge you for the safe that is in the room. We told them we didn't need to use the safe, but they still wanted to charge us for it. The charge for the safe is $2.00 and they added 14 cents sales tax. There are no restaurants onsite, so basically you are stuck ordering pizza. Do not order pizza from the advertisements you find under the door when you enter your room. Only order from a chain company such as Pizza Hut or Papa Johns. Continental Breakfast in the morning only consist of coffee, water, and a croissant. They also have orange juice, but they keep it in back so it's not advertised as being available. You have to ask for it. The beds are hard as rocks, and the furniture is old in the room. The only thing good about the room was that we had a view of the canal and could watch yachts go down it. This room ended up costing around $60.

There is other hotels in the area that are much nicer that I can recommend. Just ask me.

Excellent Shuttle Service Recommended for Cruise Travel Out of Port of Miami

I would like to highly recommend SAS Transportation in Fort Lauderdale/Miami Area. They have excellent rates, great service, they arrive on time, and they are friendly. We used SAS Transportation on Saturday, November 7th. They picked us up at the Fort Lauderdale Airport and drove us to our hotel in downtown Miami. They also picked us up at the Port of Miami on Sunday, November 15th. The rate they quoted us was $15 per person. To find out more information on SAS Transportation please contact Steven Sadowsky at SAS Transportation, 1-954-600-0240. The website is www.ridesas.com.