Information About Carnival Cruise Ships?

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Rated R Superstar

For kids they have Outdoor Fun, Board Games, Reading and Story time, Finger Painting, Kid's Dance parties, kids talent shows, music and movement activities, Game consoles, and sports.

Daytime activites you can do inside are
Meet & greet at the Atrium
Fun-filled Youth Program for kids
Meet friends in the lounges
Relax at Spa Carnival
Take a gamble at the casino
Shop at the Fun Shops
Enjoy lunch in the dining room
Tour the Art Gallery

These are some outdoor activites you can do
Take a Plunge Down Carnival's Twister Waterslide
Get Lost in a Book at the Adult-Only Serenity Retreat
Lunch on the Lido Deck
Shore Excursions
Relax by the Pool
Take a Swim
Play a Round of Mini Golf
Race Around the Ship-Top Jogging Track
Enjoy Live Outdoor Entertainment

If you want more information go to carnivalcruiselines.com

Sarah

I have been on 3 carnival cruises and 1 royal carribean. i can honestly say that your family will love carnival whereas i dont recomend royal carribean.
Carnival offers
*camp carnvial for kids up to 12
*circle c for kids up to 14
*02 for kids up to 17
(these are great places for kids to hang out and I loved 02 on my last cruise)
*carnival has great buffet lines and they offer a variety of juices and drinks with all meals
*the staff on carnival ships have again and again been voted most friendliest and most helpful
*room service is free but you may want to tip the delivery person like a dollar or two
*on some carnival ships there is water works which is basically a water park at sea i know for a fact that carnival inspiration has one
*towel animals (after dinner it is always great to see the animals on your bed)
* many different ports of call (they go everywhere)
*there are many different activities on the ship such as blackjack, casinos, bars, interactive games like name that tune and bingo, there are gameshows where members of the audience play and broadway shows after dinner.
*right now carnival is running a deal where you can book their cruises for very cheap

i highly recommend carnival cruises because my whole family loves them. when you get into the terminal you will be blown away by how big the ship is i hope you have fun on your cruise!!

MomSezNo

Since you've never cruised before, you're going to need to do some reading/research, unless you just want to hand over the decision-making to a travel agent. Go to your library or bookstore and get a book about cruising, which will give you a general idea of what the different lines and ships are like and also delineate the different options - there are MANY.

Some of the decisions you will need to make include: time of year, itinerary, type of cabin, which cruise line [and which ship within that line], desired activity level, "style" of cruise you would be most comfortable with, etc.

Carnival is not "the best" in all aspects of cruising and many people consider it to be the "WalMart" of cruising. It is a pretty good first cruise, however, depending on your age, etc. Their ships are very glitzy, which some people like and others abhor. The food is decent, the service is usually decent, they have a wide variety of itineraries. They bill themselves as the "fun ships" and they tend to appeal to the more "party hearty" types who want nearly 24/7 activity more than lots of peace and quiet.

In general, Norwegian, Carnival and Royal Caribbean are fairly equal in overall quality, although each line has its detractors and boosters. It depends on what you're looking for. Princess is a small step up in terms of service and food while still having a pretty active scene. Celebrity and Holland America are a bigger step up from Carnival etc, with much better food and service, but a quieter, more traditional ambiance. These are the "mass-market" lines. There are, of course, luxury lines that cost several times more than any of these and are much classier.

After you've done some reading, you may want to check out some helpful websites:

CruiseCritic.com has a wealth of info on every aspect of cruising. If you don't find the answer you're searching for, you can post a question and you'll get an answer from experienced cruisers. Click on "Boards" at the top of the page to find the boards covering different topics. I'd suggest you check "Carnival Cruise Lines", "First Time Cruisers", "Money Saving Tips", "Ports of Call" for starters. If you click on "Cruise Styles" at the top of the page, you'll find descriptions of the different cruise lines and ships and a generalization of which type of passengers they each appeal to. If you click on "Reviews" you'll find reviews from a pro and also "Member Reviews", which are especially helpful, for every ship out there.

VacationsToGo.com is an easy site to navigate for info about what cruises are out there and how much they cost. Whether or not you book with them [and I'd never suggest a first-timer book on-line], it's a good way to get an overview of what's available. Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Kayak also list the different cruises but aren't as easy to get a quick picture.

You can also check the websites of whichever line you're interested in. Prices aren't going to vary that much from one source to another, as the cruise lines do have some control over how much even the on-line agencies charge. In general, you should figure on $100/person/day for the first two passengers. When you cruise makes a big difference in price. Even though it is hurricane season, summer is one of the higher-priced times to cruise, as is any holiday [especially Christmas/New Year].

Once you've done some reading and research and narrowed down your options, a good travel agent, especially one who is experienced in booking cruises, is a good bet for a first-timer. However, there are some things to consider with a TA, who will most likely want to package everything for you [air fare, transfers, hotels, insurance, etc]. If you're willing to do some work on your own, or even just speak up for "breaking out" these extras, you may save some money.

You can almost always do better price-wise and convenience-wise if you book your flights separately from the cruise.

The flights that the cruise line arranges will not be most convenient for you and may not be cheaper. They also do not usually let you fly in the day before your cruise [always recommended, especially if you are coming from a long way or from a location with bad weather].

If you do need a hotel room before or after your cruise, you will always do better booking it separately and it's easy to do on-line. [Use TripAdvisor.com for finding comments from past guests at just about any hotel. CruiseCritic also has a board on departure cities and hotels in that area.]

You will do better making your own arrangements for transfer to/from the port. The cruise line transfer will be a bus that you must wait to fill up before it leaves. Instead, get a cab or a shuttle from your hotel to get to the port and tip a porter to get you a cab/shuttle from the port to the airport - it's well worth it.

Consider buying trip insurance. It sounds like a waste of money, but what if someone in your party

phantom_of_valkyrie

I personally am a big fan of Carnival. Like the other poster said read Cruisecritic for reviews.

I've been on several of them and personally my favorite is the smaller class. I've been on the Inspiration, the Destiny and the Glory. My favorite was the Inspiration and my least favorite was the Destiny. It has a bad layout. I think the smaller ships (which have been recently renovated) have a better crew and better entertainment. However the ships are older so they don't have modern cool features like a big screen outdoor movie theater or ice skating rinks. But I doubt I'd watch a movie and I'm definitely not waiting in line to do surfing or ice skating. But that's just me.

Accommodations are the difficult part and it really depends on you. Cruise ships have about 15 different categories and no one knows what they actually mean. To put it in layman's terms, you have interior rooms with no windows, ocean view rooms with a large picture window and balcony rooms. Then you have suites which I'm not even going to talk about b/c those are way out of my price range and I've never been in one. Interior is small. Many people get an interior b/c it is the cheapest. You don't spend much time in your cabin so it doesn't matter. I always go with ocean view. The ocean view window has a deep window sill and my husband and I both sit up in the window to look out over the water. I've stayed in a balcony sometimes too. We didn't use it any b/c we just weren't in the cabin enough so I didn't think it was worth it. Now all the categories come by their location on the ship. Ideally the middle of the ship is considered the best spot to be. You are closer to the elevators and the middle is the calmest. You feel more of the sway the closer to the top, as you do in skyscrapper buildings. The ends of the ship (bow and stern) have more movement but due to the size the middle of the ship doesn't have as much movement. I don't get seasick so it doesn't matter. It does cost more to designate where on the ship you want to be. With vacations to go, you are booking a guaranteed room. You get a balcony room but you don't get to call which one. It could be a huge luxury spa room. More than likely not but it could be. It could also be the one right next to the casino or the disco which is less desirable to someone who goes to bed early. I've never had a problem with noise but I'm not a light sleeper but some people complain about that if they are trying to go to bed early.

On a cruise you have so much that's included. To put it simply what is NOT included is alcohol (soda and bottled water), spa, shore excursions, tips, and the casino. What is included is all you can eat food from something like 10-20 restaurants on board usually including a sushi bar a deli and a pizzaria, all you can drink lemonade and juices, ice cream, the pool, the entertainment all the time from bingo to art auctions to organized games, and the cabin every night.

The ship gives you a newsletter each night called Carnival Capers. That will be about 3 pages of everything going on during the day. Art Auction 2, Bingo 3:15, Murder Mystery 3:30, Wine Tasting 4, and on and on and on. I recommend you read the list each night and pick which 2-3 activities appeal the most. To me I'm usually laying out by the pool. Then at night there are other things--Carnival has the Ninjas that do special games. One night it was a ring toss and if you tossed the ring on the champagne bottle you got the bottle of champagne.

Dinner at night is wonderful. I love the food and entertainment. Each night you'll have food like Beef Wellington and Lobster. It's a multiple course dinner including soup, salad, appetizer, entree, dessert and coffee. During the dessert the waiters sing or dance and do a performance.

After dinner there is a show that most people go to. It's kinda a Vegas style show and is usually not the best of entertainment but most of the time is enjoyable. A couple nights there will be a comedian. I like to go to the late night comedy show. It's a little more R rated and if they have 2 comedians, one is usually hilarious and one isn't.

As far as good prices, for an ocean view a 7 night cruise is often $100 a night. That's the usual. There are better deals at times and more expensive for other things but vacations to go and the Carnival website frequently has them at $100 a night. You'll have port fees and taxes added on to that which is something like $40. Price is written per person so if it says $599 for a cabin, that means $599 per person. If you want to put 3 or 4 into a room, that will be an extra charge.

Shore excursions are offered. You can take a ship shore excursion or not. Read the cruise critic reviews for that. Some are worth it and some are not. Beach breaks and shopping tours are never worth it. Some islands you can just wander around. Some places like Belize and Honduras, you'd have a mi

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