How noisy are common areas?

[wrightkj]

I will be cruising on Carnival Magic in January and since it's been over 20 years since my last cruise (Carnival Victory in 2001) I'm beyond excited! I do sometimes have anxiety issues when overstimulated and noise is a common trigger. In common areas like dining, pools, sail away party, etc, can any veteran cruisers give some insight on noise levels. For example, are you able to have a soft voiced conversation, need a firm voice to be heard, feel like you sometimes have to shout? I'm considering bringing earplugs to wear (I'm sailing solo so I don't have a partner I'll be ignoring) and wondering if anyone else  is sensitive to loud crowds. Thanks for any insight/feedback!

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

I would start by suggesting you post over on the Carnival board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/133-carnival-cruise-lines/

 

All the Carnival experts hang out there.

 

In general, I would say somewhat loud noises are possible in some of those locations at certain times, as you have identified. Conversely, you should ask over there where the quieter places are during some of those events. All ships have some quieter locations...they just aren't as commonly discussed.

 

[davekathy]

51 minutes ago, wrightkj said:

I will be cruising on Carnival Magic in January and since it's been over 20 years since my last cruise (Carnival Victory in 2001) I'm beyond excited! I do sometimes have anxiety issues when overstimulated and noise is a common trigger. In common areas like dining, pools, sail away party, etc, can any veteran cruisers give some insight on noise levels. For example, are you able to have a soft voiced conversation, need a firm voice to be heard, feel like you sometimes have to shout? I'm considering bringing earplugs to wear (I'm sailing solo so I don't have a partner I'll be ignoring) and wondering if anyone else  is sensitive to loud crowds. Thanks for any insight/feedback!

Depends on the venue, what's going on at that time, number of people, time of day/night and what you consider noisy.  No matter the cruise line or ship. Common areas ate just that. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by davekathy

[Essiesmom]

Depends on the ship, sailing, etc.  I find the theater is usually too loud.  One cruise it was much too loud in the MDR.  They had background music playing too loud, which meant everyone had to talk louder.  The maitre ‘d didn’t seem to care.  I would bring the earplugs.  EM

[256Contrast]

Plan on it being very noisy in common areas and be surprised when it's not.

[mom says]

51 minutes ago, 256Contrast said:

Plan on it being very noisy in common areas and be surprised when it's not.

This. Put ear plugs at the top of your packing list.  Preferably noise canceling  ear buds that can also be used for white noise or other soothing sounds you can play from a phone or other device.

[Meander Ingwa]

I agree, noise cancelling ear buds may be a good investment.  Also handy on planes and subways.  Agree and understand about the anxiety aspect.  I use Bose headphones (a blessing) but am going to try some earbuds to have a smaller packing footprint.  They also make a linking dongle that you can use on planes to link the audio system to your buds

[Elaine5715]

The only semi quiet areas are Serenity Area during the day.