Sooner-Cruisers

I would say the 2 rooms without a doubt, but I hear a balcony is a must on Alaska cruises.

If you don't ever plan on cruising Alaska again, I'd probably get the balcony. If you think you'll make it back sometime, I'd probably go with the two rooms.

FYI, we've just came back from a cruise with an ocean view on deck 1, we had no issues at all. I would be slightly concerned about dining room noise. We had staterooms above us.

We cruised with our newly 2 year old. It was the last time she would use her stroller. She's pretty active so keep that in mind. On sea days we woke and got her ready, the grandparents took her and fed her breakfast. We tried camp carnival (it starts at 2) lo wouldn't go. We also found empty lounges and let her run around and climb on the couches. We didn't have any luck getting her to nap the whole 5 days. We packed some new activities to to entertain her during dinner each night. Just having other family members around helped.

We just got back with our now 3.5 yr old and it was night and day: loved the kids club, kids water slides, pool, and shows. It's amazing what a difference a year makes!

Whether or not it is a downgrade depends on whether you drink alcohol or not. :) I do not, so the water is much more useful to me.

I believe you could use the drink coupon and order it without alcohol, that's why I think it's a downgrade. :) I think the best way to make everyone happy is to let you choose, that way everyone wins!

What are their exact ages?

It was in our room when we boarded with a tag identifying it as our gift. It was room temperature. I would've preferred getting a voucher to get a cold one on the way off the ship at the port.

* definitely a downgrade from the free drink. Wish they would just let you choose which reward you prefer.

There was a storm the morning we arrived, not lot long after the sky cleared and it was sunny and 85. I think it's relatively common in Caribbean ports, just have a plan b in case of bad weather.

Here's my review:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2199649

Further down in the thread, I posted pics and the activity sheet.

When my lo was 2 she wouldn't go in the kids club. As a 3 year old she loved it and even sent us away because she was having so much fun.

I just got off the Magic, they don't have the new plan yet.

We were on the magic, the tables most common were for 2 or 4. There were a couple larger tables. Some tables could also be scooted together to make larger tables. This was in the anytime dining room.

Carnival Cruise Line

How do I contact a passenger directly on Carnival Cruise Line?

Carnival does not offer a Shore to Ship calling service.

In the event of a true emergency, loved ones may contact our call center at 1-800-227-6482 on a 24/7 basis. Carnival Cruise Line’s team will take down the caller’s name and contact information and pass it on to our Guest Services team onboard so they can extend the guest a complimentary phone call.**

I've been searching for copies of the Fun Times from the Magic in 2015. It looks like they changed from 2 Days at Sea -> Roatan -> Belize -> Cozumel - > 1 Day at Sea to the exact opposite for this years sailings. Any chance you'd be willing and able to post copies/photos of the Fun Times from your cruise?

 

I'm trying to figure out what night the "elegant" dining nights are.

 

Thanks so much!

We did a week long sun-sun cruise, it was eastern Caribbean. 1st formal was Monday and 2nd formal was Friday. I believe in the faq on Carnival's site it covers this.

Found it:

How many Cruise Elegant nights will be on my cruise? Which nights are they on?

Most evenings we have a Cruise Casual dress code, but there are those Cruise Elegant evenings one or two nights throughout the voyage. The length of the cruise determines the number of Cruise Elegant evenings in the Dining Room. The first Cruise Elegant evening is scheduled for the 2nd or 3rd day of the cruise; the second Cruise Elegant evening is scheduled for the 2nd or 3rd day prior to the end of the cruise, schedules permitting.

• 1-day cruise: none

• 2-day to 5-day cruise: one Cruise Elegant evening

• 6-day or longer cruise: two Cruise Elegant evenings

http://www.carnival.com/core/faq.aspx#q-1616265

According to someone else, it was a high fog alert that went off. And of course someone else said it was a fire in the engine room. I smelled a very faint scent of smoke but nothing major. I know the emergency lights along the hallways were turned on. I was not too worried as I knew that if it were something big, we would have been told quickly. The captain did sound a bit concerned on his first announcement, however.

Definitely some panicked sounding announcements. We were in the lido and two security officers raced by after the one calling for security. The original announcement called a response team to the sports deck, we originally thought someone got injured. I saw an ex-military man talking to a table of older women and he had ran back to his room and filled up his cargo shorts with all his important stuff and had his cell phone in a plastic bag, etc.

I saw a small boat not too far away and wondered if that was it and they determined it wasn't a concern. My husband thought it was too far to be a concern. Maybe more folks can chime in, it'd be interesting to hear what others found out.

I was on the same cruise, I'll get around to doing a review eventually. (Spoiler alert: We had a great time);)

I was hoping to see a mention of the alert that happened on Friday or Saturday. Did you ever hear what that was about?

My husband mentioned the slippery floor, I hadn't noticed , but did after he said something. Glad you weren't injured!

Nassau pic:

That's Atlantis in the distance.

The grounds:

The beach:

Hopefully, this will be some what legible. It may help to look on your phone or tablet where you can zoom in on the picture.

Welcome Aboard:

Mon & Tues:

Wed & Thurs:

Fri & Sat:

*Don't miss the Dr Seuss parade and story time. The kids had lots of fun. You march from one end of the ship to the big theater, the kids have signs, tambourines, bells, etc. Then the cruise director reads Cat in the Hat using lots of props, audience participation, and the characters even make an appearance.

That looks great. We will be on there in less than two weeks and bringing our 3.5 year old daughter. I know she will love Camp Ocean. Thank you very much for the quick review and pictures.

You're welcome! I have the schedule, it's in rough shape from being carried around in our pockets, I'll see if I can at least get a pic of a day or twos schedule.

They also give the lo's parents a cell phone. We told lo to tell a teacher if she wanted to leave and we'd be right there. We also told the teachers the same thing, so they wouldn't hesitate to call us. Have a great trip!

Camp Ocean 2-5 year olds bathroom:

Camp Ocean 2-5 year olds room:

We are home, everything was great!

I bought a really small and cheap potty chair and packed it in my carry on bag. It was no big deal and didn't raise any suspicion going through the bag scanner. The only person that knew we had it was our cabin steward. We had prepared her for the loud potty and she did fine and dandy using both potties.

There's some good info here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=118

We just got off the Magic. My little girl is 3 and a half, she typically won't go in the nursery at the gym and last year wouldn't do camp carnival on the Triumph. She's home with me, but is a social outgoing girl.

Penguins are the 2-5 age range in Camp Ocean.

We had no expectations one way or the other, but I'm pleased to report that she loved her time in the kids club as we called it. After boarding we took her to the club and looked around with her and met the director. She gave us the schedule for the week. The orientation that night was basically a repeat of what we learned earlier.

Each day had a schedule filled with new and different activities. They seemed to be doing what they said they'd be doing when we checked in, depending on how it was going things may end sooner than planned. Flexibility is key with kids that age, I'm sure. There were usually three lady teachers and one male. They all seemed friendly and good with the kids.

Before going to play each kid had to wash their hands. Another time we saw all the potty trained kids in line for a bathroom break. One of the female teachers supervised them, while the others watched after the other kids. The bathrooms were adorable and the fixtures were all kid sized.

We prepped her for the kids club in advance and talked it up, but we let her decide if she wanted to go. Several times she sent us away because it was so fun and she wasn't ready to leave yet!

Overall, I was really glad for the club since so often you have to ask them to be quiet and not disturb the neighbors, stay close, no running, etc. It was nice to have a place where they could enjoy themselves and not worry about others.

Sample of activities:

Silly songs and dancing

Play doh

Bean bag toss & bowling

Obstacle course

Truck races

Craft projects

Mini scooter races

Free play

Mr potato head

Story time and so much more.

*the waterworks area was so much fun, it had kid sized water slides and a splash pad type area. The kids need to be 36 inches tall to do the slides. This is separate from Camp Ocean, but I wanted to mention it since lo loved it so much!

I'll be glad to answer any questions.

We did anytime dining. We went between 5:45-6:30, we never had to wait other than in line to be seated. I prefer set dining, I missed the waiters knowing what you prefer (milk for lo, iced tea for us, cheese plate every night.) You could request the same waiter each night, which we did most nights, but I feel like the other dining option went faster and smoother. It wasn't bad by any means, just something to consider.

You can make requests for the size of table, there were lots of tables for four, so I don't think you'd have any issues.

Thanks, we went to the Grand Lucayan. That review is a couple posts away from this one. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad, but we had our 3 year old, so we wanted to be extra safe. She had a blast having the pool and water slides to herself, so at least that worked out. :)

We had been to Nassau before and did the digs at Atlantis, but I had forgotten how long the pier was. We were spoiled by key west and Freeport, neither had long walks at all.

We just got back from our cruise that stopped in Key West, Freeport, and Nassau.

Unfortunately, we got so much sun in Freeport that we didn't get off in Nassau. We tried to hang out under the beach umbrella and wore sunscreen. We should have reapplied more often and I wish I had bought a swim shirt (rash guard) the sun is brutal. A lot of people ended up in the same predicament. Many fellow cruisers just made it off to the shops at the pier to get souvenirs and their hair braided. They were too miserable to head to the beaches. The water is so beautiful, it felt criminal not to go to the beach!

I also wanted to mention the pier at Nassau is a really long one, so if you have mobility issues, it may be worth booking an excursion through the ship. At least some of the excursions were picked up at the ship in nice busses.

I really wanted to go to Blue lagoon, hopefully next time. :)

We just visited Freeport. We got off the ship and there were some tourist shops, a bar or two, locals offering excursions, and a taxi area. We had our 3 year old with us, so we also had her car seat. They acted a little put out by it, but all the vans had seat belts and it took no time at all to install. We paid full fare for her, $10 round trip each to get to Grand Lucayan.

It was a fairly long drive to the beach, 20 minutes, I'd guess. We entered the wrong side of the resort, so we missed the guard stand where you pay and get wristbands. It took a little time to get all that figured out. The hotel grounds seemed nice.

We spent most our time on the beach. There were basically three rows of seating, the furthest from the water was the seats under the umbrellas, the next row had some smaller palapa type umbrellas, and the closest was just loungers with no shade. Unfortunately, there was no shaded seating near the water and you could not move the umbrellas. There was also a lot of smoking everywhere, including on the beach.

The sand was white and really deep, the water was pretty. There was only 2-3 vendors with jewelry and they weren't pushy at all. They also had people offering water sports (parasailing, etc.) They had lifeguards, but they seemed more like workers that kind of kept an eye out. I saw them cleaning up trash, stacking loungers, etc.

If you have a kid between 30-50 pounds, I highly recommend the puddle jumper life jacket. They are great and the kids don't mind them at all.

We headed back to the taxi area, it was crowded and they seemed in no hurry at all. You could feel the nerves of passengers hoping we were going to make it back in time. There was no line of vans like most of us envisioned. We made it back, but definitely leave a time cushion.

On the taxi ride back, some expressed disappointment with the water. It was clear and pretty, but not picture perfect. There was some sea grass type stuff floating around, but it wasn't slimy seaweed. If you have realistic expectations, you won't be disappointed.

*a final note bring lots of sunscreen and reapply often! Even better get a swim shirt, the sun is brutal. I spent lots of time under the umbrella and had sunscreen on and still got a sunburn. We got so much sun, we stayed on board and missed Nassau the next day. It just hurt to be in the sun. :(