First time cruise over Christmas 2015

I have never been on a cruise and I will be sailing on the carnival fantasy to the bahamas over Christmas this year. I'm going with my 10 and 7 year old daughter's and my parents. I'm just curious what should we take, expect, things to do, food expectancies, alcohol expectancies, boarding, how much cash to take, etc. Anything or ideas would be very helpful. Thanks in advance

These are good questions for the Carnival board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=215

As to weather in the Bahamas, it is similar to southern Florida. Bring wind breakers for the ship's outside and a cardigan for the probably 'over air conditioned' inside. These are also good in case a cold front reaches down into the Bahamas. If you are from a cold weather state, you'll probably arrive with those clothes anyway.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

So far a Roll Call has not been started for your cruise, but you can start one at this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=341

Read through these boards & the Carnival FAQ section. All of your Qs will be answered. Also search You Tube for video of your cruise.

I have never sailed Carnival so my answers are not specific to your ship.

Quickly: there is an abundance of food on cruise ships-- buffets, BBQs by the pool, room service, main dining facilities & specialty restaurants, which carry additional fees. The dining rooms tend to be elegant places with multiple forks etc. but aren't pretentious. Although Carnival tends to be casual, check with them for specifics about dress codes. While food is subjective, cruise food is prepared on a massive scale; think food at a "good" wedding but it's not spectacular (by spectacular I'm thinking about restaurants where I have paid more for one meal then I have pp for a cabin on cheap cruises)

Alcohol is extra. Cost is about the same as a moderately priced restaurant in a big city. You can bring one bottle of wine pp on Carnival & pay a corkage fee but no other outside alcohol. They will add a gratuity to your bill automatically. They have a Cheers program where you can pay one price or unlimited alcohol throughout your trip. That has certain restrictions. Read the rules carefully about what is included & what's not.

You can usually get to the port to board around 11. You will have filled out various forms on line & printed your tickets in advance. You set up a sign & sail account at the pier either with cash (see Carnival for the minimum deposit required) or by tying your account to a credit card. You may want to restrict what your kids can charge or they may treat every kid in the arcade to games on you. :eek:

We use a credit card to board so we bring about $200 in cash in small bills for tipping. If you gamble or are going to set up your on board account with cash, you will need more.

@ marie

You did a perfect job starting your Roll Call! This is a fine place to ask general questions, ask on the Carnival board for ship-specific Qs and on the Bahamas Port-of-Call forum for those questions.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=58

Duplicate-sorta post. I couldn't edit the one above!

@ marie

You did a perfect job starting your Roll Call! (It won't so up in the Roll Call "tool" search for a day or two.)

This is a fine place to ask general questions, try making more specific requests, or just search for threads on 'what to pack', or 'how is tipping done'. Ask on the Carnival board for line- or ship-specific Qs, like kids' programs, and on the Bahamas Port-of-Call forum for questions about weather or beaches.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=58

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Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Are you sailing from Charleston? We sailed the Fantasy from there a couple of years ago and had a great time. Your kids will love the Kids Club

Welcome to Cruise Critic.<br />

<br />

Are you sailing from Charleston? We sailed the Fantasy from there a couple of years ago and had a great time. Your kids will love the Kids Club<br/>

Yes we are they are so excited

I have never been on a cruise and I will be sailing on the carnival fantasy to the bahamas over Christmas this year. I'm going with my 10 and 7 year old daughter's and my parents. I'm just curious what should we take, expect, things to do, food expectancies, alcohol expectancies, boarding, how much cash to take, etc. Anything or ideas would be very helpful. Thanks in advance

Don't forget to leave a forwarding address for Santa. :)

Definitely read up on Carnival and your ship on the Carnival website. There's a FAQ section that will answer many of your questions, including about what to bring and what to leave home. You can clarify any of the info on the Carnival area of Cruise Critic too. You can check out a guide book for your ports at your local library. If I find a guide book I like, I'll try to buy the latest edition (Amazon or any still existing book store) so I can bring with. Also google each port and you'll find plenty of tourism sites. Involve the kids and your parents in what to do in port.

I strongly recommend getting to your embarkation city a day ahead (we live an hour's drive from the Port of Los Angeles and will leave around 9 or 10am, but for any other port, we go a day ahead so we can shop for supplies -- soda or anything left behind and also to relax).

Bring your kids to the kids' area the first day (there should be info in your cabin when you first get there about the kids' program or look in the daily newsletter) so they can meet the other kids and you can fill out the paperwork. There will be a schedule of the day by day activities for them they can participate in. There's also ones that your family can do together too. So don't worry about planning out your on board time ahead of time.

We took our two grand daughters on a Christmas Cruise. We packed a small 18 inch high Christmas Tree with decorations on it .

On Christmas Day we had the Grand Kids and their parents over to our cabin and opened presents that we had packed for everyone.:D

That was a big surprise for everyone. Also a lot of fun because they did not expect this on a Cruise.

Just and idea.

Bob