cruisecraze96

It seems the majority prefers the Breeze but after doing some research I'm starting to wonder about the winter weather in these two ports. It seems Galveston's weather is terrible in the winter and we wouldn't even be able to enjoy the pools, slides, etc for the sea days. Any thoughts on this? Maybe I need to look at changing dates although I was in New Orleans for New Years once and the weather was pretty decent.

But the sea days you will be out in the Caribbean not still in Texas :) we have gone in March several times and always get a nice sunburn even when the weather is nasty back in the states.

On our May 14 Conquest cruise the mini bar was fully stocked.

Ditto for our June cruise, and locked as well. We only had the water since I don't drink soda but it would have been a nice to have for some cooler water options.

How accurate is this info for today? Someone told me it's $250 a week for a pass for 7 days.

This sounds about right for the 7 and 8 night. For me it was also less expensive to book the spa room vs getting the pass on he Breeze. Plus I loved the location and the room more than I did on the next Breeze cruise when I got a room on a lower deck.

Maybe they meant the steakhouse, have not seen anyone say this and we just recently got off the conquest and I think my sister and my BIL both were trying to set a record on dishes ordered. And they did eat everything unless it was not very good to them.

I'm considering our family's first Carnival cruise... on Vista after many sailings with another line.

 

 

 

I personally did Carnival years ago, pre wife & kids. But looking to surprise them with something and Carnival is soooo much cheaper.

 

 

 

We usually stay in suites, and LOVE the suite lounge on our usual line, but heard Carnival doesn't have one, for their suites. Once I saw Family Harbor, I thought this was perfect, extra space for us and the kids and something similar to the suite lounge with concierge.

 

 

 

Some questions, everyone keeps saying the lounge breakfast is better than going to the lido deck. We usually do room service breakfast on our balcony. Just order up a few plates on bacon & eggs the night before to our cabin. Is this not an option on Carnival? Do you have to eat on the Lido deck for breakfast? Are speciality restaurants open for breakfast?

 

 

 

Also, I'm a little confused on the Family Harbor balconies being on deck 2, I've never seen balconies so low.

 

 

 

Is it floor to railing glass? Exterior photos of the ship doesn't appear to show low balconies.

 

 

 

Are you a little close to the water for that? Seems like a bad idea with kids.

 

 

 

Usually we're on decks 9 & 10 and aft if we can get it.

 

 

 

 

 

Sounds like noise is hit or miss.

 

 

 

Also what are your experiences with Camp Carnival? I've read on other threads people saying their kids didn't want to go for dinner, etc.

 

 

 

Usually my kids are begging us to leave them at the kids clubs, what were your experiences? Did I just find a few unusual apples?

 

 

 

 

 

Was the concierge super helpful with reservations, special requests etc??

 

 

 

I know not everything is "Family Harbor specific" but that's where we're looking right now and just had some questions related to the suite and the cruise line as a whole in regards to families with kids.

 

 

 

If we don't do the Family Harbor because of the low deck location what do you suggest for us?

 

 

 

Wife, myself and our 2 girls ages 2 and 7.

 

 

 

If any of you sail Royal Caribbean we're usually in a GS or JS with them.

I might like the SPA suite since you get access to the SPA special areas. Or both the Grand and Owner Suites are good too. Sometimes it is hard to find those that allow 4 but you might be able to get 2 connecting rooms for less as well.

I agree with your strategy, it is not cheers but I purchase the dining plan at Disney for the same reason. We would never go to some of those character meals and nicer places if we had to worry about the check at the end. I like to have everything prepaid for vacations. So far I never even come close to cheers so just buy some cruise cash to cover drinks but I really want to hang out at the Alchemy bar on the Vista next June so thinking that might be a good time to add it on.

If she's "active", then she probably won't need a scooter....does she use one at home? If not, she won't need it on the ship! Ask her! It doesn't sound necessary, but your description!

I would disagree, my dad is active and does not have one at home nor does he use one in everyday life. But when we are on vacation and happen to go to Disney, Universal or a cruise he tends to walk so much more than the average day. We started getting him a scooter when at Universal and staying at Portofino Bay. He was in so much pain he was miserable and could not make it to dinner one night. I went to the desk, back then they had them at the resort, and got him one. Talked him into it and he had the most amazing trip he said later, was able to even go to the park and see Harry Potter and that almost made me tear up :) Now we always get him one even though he might leave it in the room most the time since his back is doing much better.

V25 is the cabin smack behind this baby:

 

 

 

EM

Ouch, I would think about moving if possible. But I like to sit out on my balcony at night and read and watch the water.

We get one for my dad each trip because he has a bad back and it helps him to get around as well. I usually book my parents an OS so they never have the storage problem with it since they have more space. We use specialneedsatsea.com to rent ours and it is always there waiting for us in the room.

When we get to the Port for embarkation we find someone who can help us with a wheelchair to get on the ship and then park him in the lobby or go to lido for some people watching and drinks while we wait for the rooms to be ready.

He has taken them off the ship as well in a few PORTS to explore and then we have had wheelchair assistance in others to get down the pier to get on an excursion. Now he has only cruised on the Dream class ships and loves the Deck 5 wrap around. I think only during debarkation have we ever had an issue with elevators and trying to get down for assistance off the ship.

As well as the two aft hot tubs being adult only. While the pizza joint and the soft ice cream machine are in the same area and frequented by kids, the staff on my recent cruises have done a good job of not letting youngsters go into either pool or hot tubs.

Last cruise a few weeks ago we saw tons of small adults using the pool :) to me it is sad the parents think this is okay even when there are signs everywhere saying adults only. But I understand with the pizza and icecream being right there it is a draw. It never bothered my trip, but I didn't see much being done while I was walking around.

Also on the Port Days they do serve lunch so if you are in an excursion you don't have to pick them up at 2, they ask they you do pick up as soon as your back though.

I left my youngest in camp when in Nassau after going to the beach so I could go back shopping a little on the last trip.

Hours

Hours may vary due to cruise itineraries

Sea Days: Scheduled activities run from 10:00am-1:00pm, 2:00pm-5:00pm and 7:00pm-10:00pm. This service is complimentary.

Port Days: Supervised free play begins from port arrival until approximately 2:00pm; scheduled activities resume at 2:00pm until 10:00pm. This service is complimentary.

Here is a good site with info

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1074/~/camp-ocean-(2-5-years)-penguins%3A-things-to-know-and-activities

On our last cruise, it was pretty loosey-goosey for Club O2. My son is 14 but I would prefer he be with his sister on our next cruise. I think they check the first day, but don't after that. I don't plan on asking.

They do check and compare the name to the info they have from your check in. They then will put a sticker on the card to allow them into either club O2 or Circle C. We just were on the conquest a few weeks ago and there was a young girl about the same age and they did allow her to move to Club O2 and then next year my niece will be 12 but she is young for her age both physically and mentally (same size as my 6 year old) so we are going to ask and see if she could move down but if not oh well, my oldest daughter will be with her and that should help some.

We have been told it is all based on how many kids of each group they have. When oldest was 11 since she was 11.5 they said no to moving up but said usually if they are within a few months they would say yes, that was on the Dream several years ago during spring break.

There have also been reports if you have cheers they will not allow you to purchase bottles of alcohol from the fun shop to have in your room. I have not heard if this is still the case but it could be you could not even purchase to your room if you wanted to.

Ours was last June and the kids and I had a blast, truly something different. I don't remember how long the bus ride was to and from the farm, it was not super long but I would say around 30 minutes.

The tour was interesting and feeding them was an experience. We did not eat anything there but they are supposed to have some good food.

I didn't believe the guy either. He insisted. He said that the steward when and got his friend an ashtray. Someone asked what rumors, and just stating the specifics of one. Honestly, the idea really ticked me off if it were true. It's my understanding that fine was per occurrence and if it someone repeatedly violated they would be put off the ship. That idea that it actually happens gets a lot of laughs.

Sadly after the smoking ban inside the cabin my MIL and her roommate somehow threw enough of a fuss that they gave them an ashtray go smoke in an interior room. I wish it was not true but it is. It was an older ship but I felt bad for everyone around them that week.

This was many years ago went they went smoke free in the room but I would not be surprised that they did this especially if it was not that long after the ban.

If I remember correctly it is $5 for the duration of the cruise.

 

 

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Your thinking of the Hub App and chat feature. The social is $5 a day or $25 length of cruise.

We just got off the Conquest and snapchat would not work for my daughter on the Social plan but we tested it on mine on the next plan up and it did work. But there was no way I was going to pay extra for her to have snap chat when she ended up meeting tons of new friends on board.

Just off the Conquest and had FTTF, we arrived to the Port around 11am and parked the car and brought over the luggage. The nice porter kept our luggage to the side when we were dropping it off, no special area, so he could put some orange FTTF tape on it.

We went in the priority screening and it took maybe 5 minutes to get through security. We headed over to the FTTF line and my mom and sister headed over to priority (suite). There was only 2 people working the FTTF area and so it was a tad backed up so maybe 15 or 20 minutes until we go through. Right as we were getting our tags they were starting the boarding process and my mom and sister were then on the ship.

We were not far behind and I tell you as soon as they said FTTF it was like a mad dash to the line (not kidding) but we got through that little mess and up we went :) Got our picture taken and then were on the ship. I would say we were on well before noon, after hearing all the gripes about delayed boarding I was honestly surprised at how soon we got on.

We went straight to our room to drop off some items, then took the kids to get some lunch at guys burgers yummy :) Our luggage was at the room well before muster time and I had the room unpacked and done before the safety briefing. We even had time to go swimming too so I would say luggage was at room around 2-2:30.

Didn't really need the GS line but it was a nice to have if I did have an issue, and we had an early excursion in HMC so didn't need the early tender either. But again, if I did nice to have.

Best was debarkation, it was another hot mess but once we got through the mass of people who think waiting on deck 3 in the elevator area is a good idea we were able to get off the ship and through customs by 9am to head to the airport.

We had a great trip, 5 night with stops at HMC, Grand Turk and Nassau

We were in 2458 and I never actually walked any further down the hall. Well, I did poke my head in 2462 the morning we disembarked looking for our steward to give him some cash.

 

But, it's been my experience (this was Carnival #25 for me) that those white spaces are usually linen closets, so there could be some banging around. I'm typically up early so it isn't an issue for me, but for people who want to sleep in, it might.

 

We know it isn't the crew stairwell, because that's clearly marked on the deck plans, so I'd bet on the linen closet.

Thanks :) I didn't think about it until after this past trip. It wasn't that bad except that first night but that was the entire crew galley area and so lots of noise there. The white noise app on my phone worked great. But it also could have been that this was the worst ship I have been on for thin walls, we could hear everything. And when I say that I mean it, my sister got to hear a little to much from a cabin near her when going to her room one night :eek:

So just looking at where our room is located on the map and we are in a Deluxe Family Room 2474, but looking at the map there is a think strip of space next to it. Does anyone know what this is? We just got off the conquest and learned the hard way what all the blank gray space was in the middle :) luckily had my white noise with me but that first night lots of banging from the galley as they were getting stuff put away for the week. :eek:

Thank you, got it for my March Vista cruise.

In a manner of speaking yes. She should go with you the first time with your husband and ask that she be provided his usage. There should be no issue, as long as he doesn't ever use it.

My experience was no, I had a spa room and they would not let my sister use the 2nd person. They had a list of names and matched them to the card. You would have to have her switch rooms so her name is onthere

We went on the Allure this past March and are booked on the Vista next March. Both the zip line and the sky ride are included with your fare.

What is it you are wanting out of a ship? For me the shows on the Allure beat anything Carnival has, they were amazing. But I prefer the food on Carnival and the steak houses on the Breeze and Dream were far better and had a better price than Chops on the Allure.

The kids program, my youngest loved both but my oldest prefers the Carnival teen program. I liked the late night parties carnival had for the kids, nothing like that on the Allure but the different labs were very neat.

I did enjoy the different beverage program and wish carnival had a non alcoholic option. We really got out value from it.

I would not hesitate to take another Royal cruise and would like to try the Liberty or Freedom I think, but Harmony looks really cool. But I also enjoy the value we get from Carnival snd getting ready to board the Conquest in a few short days.

I noticed that too with our sailing. I went on today and was just looking around and it is not even showing sold out. Our cruise leaves on the 4th of June.

I was able to get it though for both our rooms though about a month ago when they opened up more for our sailing. Thought it was odd it wasn't even showing as sold out.