Anyone?

We are pulling together our big group from our Paradise NYE 08 cruise and doing it again....this time on the Spirit!

 Join in the fun!

My girlfriend and I are already booked. We're apparently trying to make our way through the Carnival fleet on New Year's Eve cruises... this will be our third. It's actually fairly inexpensive compared to the first two we took, and those were shorter.

~ MattInSoCal

Hi Matt!

We had our first NYE cruise recently on the Paradise and now a NYE is a must! A lady from our cruise critic group had done several NYE cruises.

I know what you mean about price....I had hearburn paying what I paid for the little ol' Paradise just for the 4 nights in an OV cabin. We booked 2 side by side balconies on the Spirit and per day cost average is less than on the Paradise.

 I am really excited about this itinerary!

We had a pretty roudy bunch and so far a few of us are already booked. We have a roll call on cruise critic too, but its been slow.

DBV:

Hi Matt!

We had our first NYE cruise recently on the Paradise and now a NYE is a must! A lady from our cruise critic group had done several NYE cruises.

I know what you mean about price....I had hearburn paying what I paid for the little ol' Paradise just for the 4 nights in an OV cabin. We booked 2 side by side balconies on the Spirit and per day cost average is less than on the Paradise.

I am really excited about this itinerary!

We had a pretty roudy bunch and so far a few of us are already booked. We have a roll call on cruise critic too, but its been slow.

My first cruise was an NYE outing on the Elation in 2006/7. I had an absolute blast and was immediately hooked. I wanted to do it again this past NYE but my GF insisted we take a different itinerary. The most reasonable-seeming price was on the Imagination out of Miami. Let's not discuss what it finally cost after airfare, transfers, and the extra night in a hotel... We had an OV on that one, which was a 4-day. We get a balcony on an 8-day for $700 more than the fare on the Imagination. I could not believe it was so reasonably priced, and I was really amazed to see the Early Saver fare being offered.

We are definitely looking forward to the cruise (not like I'm counting the days or anything...) and visiting some new ports. We like the party atmosphere, but we will be up on the Sports Deck looking down on the Lido insanity during the countdown while sucking down our bottle of champagne. 

~ MattInSoCal

We were amazed at the price too...especially when you break it down to the per day cost.  I was also surprised to see the Early Saver...typically zero discounts of any kind on these holiday period cruises.

I was down on the Lido insanity on the Paradise! We didnt buy a bottle, but we tipped the waiter bringing the free glasses and he kept coming back every 5 minutes and we had our fill. DH bought one of those wrestling masks in Ensenada and was running around with that on during all of the madness. Made for quite a show!

Hello DBV!

My husband & I will also be on the Spirit on New Years Eve!  Would love to meet your big group!  This is our second cruise (first was on the Elation in 2007) and we are really looking forward to it!  It is a bit of a long way out, but at least the anticipation gets you through the year!!  Any New Years tips for us rookies?

 Taz

Hi Taz!

Great to have you on board! So far here on Carnival Connections is me (with daughter and husband) and MattinSoCal with girlfriend I believe.

We've also got a roll call over on Cruisecritic.com so feel free to join in there too...I am calicruise74 over there. Its a bit far out so slowly but surely the list is growing and we can all finalize a meet-up place as the time grows near.

New Years tips...ahh yes, plan on staying up late, if you like to drink ( we do!) dont drink too much during the day and just have a blast. The BEST part of all, the designated driver

 You're from CA also?

Hey DBV!

Glad to hear from you!  Yes, we are from Southern California!  It has actually been cold and raining a lot here lately, so I am dreaming of warm weather in Mexico!  Hey, I have a question for you!  If my husband poops out and leaves me hanging by myself on New Years Eve, can I possibly tag along with your group! Ha Ha!  He is not much of a "stay up all night long" guy!  On the last cruise, I ended up doing Karoake by myself!  Not a problem for me though, since I will talk to ANYBODY!!!!   How old is your daughter? 

I will check out your Cruisecritic.com site!

Taz

The weather up here in Northern Cali has been bad too...I think all of CA was getting the same nasty stuff.

Of course you can hang with us! The cruise ships are about the only time we stay up really late. We were "asked" to finally leave the casino on NYE at 4:30am! We befriended some guy on day 1 who was pretty much sauced the entire cruise and ended up being "that one guy that everybody knows" and we've kept in touch. If he is able to make it this time around, it should be fun. He started a "dance off" with some of the other guys up on the Lido Deck right after midnight and it was hilarious!

My daughter is 17 and she will be 18 by the time the cruise rolls around, so she is super excited about going to the clubs and the casino. We're kind of young parents to have an older teen, both me and husband will be 37 later on this year.

Is this your first cruise with Carnival?

Thank you for being so nice, Deb!  I do not normally stay up super late either, but when I am in a "party scenario", I adapt quite well!  I am looking forward to meeting you all (especially your hilarious dancer-guy)!  I also had my kids young (I am 47, my kids are 30, 28, & 23 and I have a 1 1/2 year old granddaughter and a baby boy on the way!) so I can relate!  It is nice to have some semblance of youth left when you are done raising them!  I feel like a teenager until I have to see that darned, pesky mirror! :)  I am absolutely thrilled to be going on this cruise!  Oh yeah, this is our second Carnival cruise (actually our second cruise, period)!  Our first was the Elation in November of 2007.  It was a blast, but I am way more outgoing than my husband.  Don't get me wrong; he is very friendly, but just not a "joiner" like I am!  I was doing every activity (ping pong tournament, trivia contests, karaoke, gambling, etc.) and he usually ended up going back to our room and sleeping!  It was fine, but it would have been fun to have others to sort of enjoy things with.  I am in the current process of talking him into some shore excursions!  Let's hope that my evil plan works!

 Taz

Hi Taz,

My girlfriend and I are definitely looking forward to this, our third annual New Year's Eve cruise. We are the late night sorts, especially when it comes to the NYE party, though we like to hang out one deck up from the big party on the Lido deck - who knows, we might wander down there to hang out with the big group. If your DH is pooping out I'm sure we and Deb's group will be up for some late night roof (deck?) raising.

I'm in my 40's and my girlfriend is "of course" 29 (and holding)... But we rarely act our ages.

~ MattInSoCal

Hey there, Matt!

Thanks for the warm welcome!  I am really looking forward to meeting all of you!  It sounds like you are all a pretty fun group and know how to have a good time!  I see you were on the Splendor.......how was it?  We almost booked that one instead, but it was about $500.00 more each!  I have been looking at the shore excursions and am very hesitant on some of them after reading some of the reviews!  (Crocodiles on one! Yikes!)  I think we (of course, that means "I") have decided on the 7 hour beach resort excursion in Acupulco.  As far as the other ports, we will most likely just explore a bit on our own and get back on the ship for some private time!  We did that in Cabo and had the whole ship to ourselves!  It was awesome!  If you have any input on the excursions, I would love to have it! 

Taz

Hi Taz,

We're actually 91 days away from our trip on the Splendor; we've not yet been on her. My signature includes my upcoming cruises thus the confusion. I looked at the Splendor for NYE and like you saw the Spirit for cheaper, plus another day at sea! We decided to take the Splendor for my birthday in May.

On both cruises we are planning to SCUBA as much as possible, and if there's no opportunity ar a given port, either hang out on a beach weather permiting or at a club and have some drinks. We haven't yet looked through the list of excursions as the last time we checked, only three or four showed up. Since December is still a few days away we probably won't bother choosing and booking until October or so.

I hate these triple-digit countdowns... I sooo need to be on a ship right now!

~ MattInSoCal

Checked the Carnival site yesterday and found that the Early Saver fare for the category I booked has decreased $70 pp. Waiting for the results of the price guarantee claim... If you booked this one already you may want to double-check to see if you are eligible for a credit.

~ MattInSoCal