Just off my first Carnival Cruise- what surprised me

[TheLargeFamily]

I did a ton of research before our first Carnival cruise- the Jubilee. We had previously cruised on 2 RCI ships pre-covid. We stayed in the Family Harbor area on deck 4. We had 2 rooms- a suite and an interior. 

Here's what surprised us-

- No trash cans. You just put your garbage on a dirty table. You set your glasses or dishes wherever. Yet, they keep the ship absolutely spotless. I watched a crewmember vigorously yet meticulously polish the edge of the summer landing pool edge for at least 3 hours one day.

- Suite benefits we enjoyed included free laundry, priority embark (they allowed our interior cabin family to come in as well), robes (super handy), and my girls were surprised with embroidered pillows with their names on them! We had elemis products, but not conditioner. The tub was big enough for my teen daughter to enjoy- it was quite deep. There was something banging on the exterior of the ship all night for the first two nights. We still don't know what it was, but a crew member (a bartender lol) told us that was normal. They did a bag of laundry for us, but they folded 3 pairs of damp pants. 

- I got a wonderful deep tissue massage. I came to the spa an hour early to enjoy the thermospa. I had not realized it wasn't included. I asked if I could just use it for 30 minutes and they allowed it. Thank goodness I didn't pay for it. It was tiny and the crowd in there was LOUD. They also did a poor job of designing the women's locker room. It is completely visible into the women's locker room from the co-ed sauna. They jerry-rigged a plastic shower curtain to provide a tiny bit of privacy. I wonder if they'll build a wall. 

- All the doors to common areas and restrooms are opened by a wave of a hand. Some of the handicapped ones are confusing to lock and close. I walked in on a poor woman who did not understand how to lock them. Stop and read the sign!!

- We saw a "dive in" movie but there was no swimming.

- There are swirls ice cream machines all over the place!!

- Coastal slice is delicious... way better than Sorrentos. 

 

Ok, I am too tired to include more... part 2 tomorrow? Anyone into it?

[rrraydon]

Thanks for the review!

[DukeASUGirl]

32 minutes ago, TheLargeFamily said:

- Coastal slice is delicious... way better than Sorrentos. 

 

Well, that isn't hard to do. Sorrentos is terrible pizza.

 

And yes, please continue! I enjoy the comparisons.

[firefly333]

No trash cans where? Wow I dont remember this. Is it just family harbor? 

 

I thought suites got free bubbles on mardi gras. Assumed jubilee too. 

[mz-s]

It took me a cruise or two to adjust to the fact that yes, you can just leave your trash and dirty dishes behind and they'll clean up for you. In fact Carnival prefers this as they sort the refuse into recyclables, food waste, etc.

[Vinlin06]

Following to hear your thoughts.

[TheLargeFamily]

Part 2...

 

Thanks for reading! I enjoy hearing your responses. There's not much organization here, so thanks for bearing with me.

 

- One perk to Family Harbor was having a coffee machine a few steps away, and it made better coffee than in the Lido. It had options for lattes and whatnot, but I always got an Americano. I brought my own favorite creamer (nutpods) to put in the coffee, but I didn't even need it, it was so good. There was also a buffet every morning but I do not eat breakfast typically. This is great for families with kids under 6 or 7. I don't think we'll need this perk long in the future. I do wish we had kids old enough to qualify for the Havana area- that looked amazing! Our youngest need to be 12, however. FH did NOT include bottomless bubbles.That would have been great.

- Speaking of no trash cans, they seem to do well to prevent waste. The cups are all smaller than restaurants on land. The portions are normal (except in Bonsai Teppanyaki and Guys Burgers). They utilize cloth napkins even in casual dining. Candy straws are not my fave but the kids loved them. They come in three flavors- Chocolate, strawberry and Lemon Lime. I did bring a few straws from home but always seemed to leave them in the room. You really only require a straw for frozen beverages, which I rarely get anyway.

- The Hub app is good for planning your day, making reservations, and viewing your photos, but useless for staying in touch with other cruisers. I did not want to buy an internet plan for myself, but just bought it for 24 hours on two of the sea days for $25 or $35 a day. That said, I didn't really need it. Whenever I needed my husband and he wasn't already with me, I usually found him at a blackjack table talking to an old guy named Pops. He made lots of friends in there and lost $600 over the course of the cruise, but had a great time. Apparently there were a lot of elite gamblers on our ship and he liked hearing their stories.

- The hub app needs to add booking functionality! Do you think Carnival would cash in if their guests could plan another cruise while on a current one?

- I was hoping to play pickleball, but it was only offered one time at 9pm. CC please let me know what ships offer more pickleball? 

- You still pay a corkage fee even if you open your own bottle. It's only $15 and we weren't mad about it, but I see a lot of other cruisers recommend that you open your own bottle before taking it to a restaurant. We took a bottle to Cucina del Capitano on night 1. In Galveston, Cheers does not begin until day 2. 

- Here's where we ate each dinner:

---Night 1 at Cucina- great idea, very few people in there with us on night 1. Service was excellent and food was good. I have some picky eaters and they were all very happy here.

---Night 2 was elegant night. We went to the MDR and were seated by the kitchen. It was so loud in there, even away from the kitchen. It had a chaotic feel to have servers walk by our table constantly. Next time I will wait for a better table. The lack of table cloths probably don't help the noise situation. That said, I ordered off the Emeril's menu and it was delicious. The kids ordered the same pasta they got at Cucina. We never returned to the MDR after night 2. Long meals are less fun with kids hehe...

--- Night 3 we ate at Guys Pig and Anchor which turns to a sit down restaurant at night. You're given a little sheet where you mark your choices. We loved this place. Even as Texans who are used to good brisket, the brisket here is great! I loved the pork and all the sauce choices. The Mac N Cheese is excellent. The vibe is fun with live music. It's a few steps away from 2 foosball tables and whatever that game is where you slide disks back and forth (help me out??). The bathroom and Swirls is also close. 

--- Night 4 we had Bonsai Teppanyaki reservations which is absolutely delish! Our server/cook was so fun but I wish he tossed food into our mouths. The saketini was one of my favorite drinks on ship. Definitely get that if you like coconut and umami flavors. If you go with kids, ask them to split their entrees!!!! We wasted soooo much food b/c our kids filled up on the amazing fried rice. The server asked us if we wanted a box but (obvs I couldn't warm it up) I said no. I hate wasting that much food. The dessert choice bento box is fun but the desserts were hit or miss in there. Thankfully they were all bite-sized. 

--- Night 5 we had Pig and Anchor again

--- Night 6 we had ChiBang. Meh. They put corn and tomatoes in egg drop soup. That should be a crime. I did enjoy my son's kung pao chicken a lot, but my entree was the mole chicken which tasted like absolutely nothing. I had read/watched that they bring you chips when you sit down but they don't do this. I had to ask and they acted confused. 

--- Night 7 we ate all over the place... some in the Lido, some at Coastal Slice. I had a reservation for Rudi's but I ended up canceling it b/c everyone had so many last-minute things they wanted to do elsewhere. 

 

-We had the Dr Suess Thing 1 and 2 breakfast on day 7. It was adorably decorated but they did not offer many character sightings at all. We only saw the Cat in the Hat and Thing 2. The music was so LOUD you couldn't think. The food was so colorful it turned off most of my kids. I expected the color but didn't know my kids would hate that. Despite my criticisms, we really had fun together here. I just don't think we'd do it again.

- We dislike the QRcode menus. We asked for paper menus everywhere we went and some restaurants have them and others do not. Our kids do not have phones- we're old school about phones and kids. Often we'd go to a restaurant and have only 2 tiny phone menus to share with 8 people. 

- I wandered up to Loft 19 to see what we're missing one early morning and it's gorgeous and the views are fantastic. That said, we had a couple of days over 90 on the ship so I don't know if most people want to lounge in an expensive cabana on hot days like that. They do have a pool but the views are limited from there. 

- I am resigned to know that my kids just don't love kid club experiences, they prefer mom and dad, which is great, but can burn us out sometimes. We tried with the camp ocean, following all the recommendations which included to go there on day one and night one. But this was a spring break cruise and there seems to be no ratio limits at all. My 4yo twins did not like camp ocean. One of them cried a lot and I had no way of knowing. Night one on spring break had too many kids in there. We brought the twins back later in the cruise to do a craft and left them in there for almost an hour and they never got around to doing the craft that was in the hub app, so the twins were disappointed. The counselor gave us the supplies for them to do in our stateroom instead. My boys loved checking themselves in and out of the kids club for the first few days but suddenly stopped and aren't giving us details as to why. I don't think anything bad happened, but they are 9 and 11 and enjoy going all over the ship together. They also did the ropes course a gazillion times. My 7yo daughter went to camp ocean twice and wasn't super impressed. My 13yo daughter never got the nerve to try CircleC. Mom and dad did get some downtime b/c my 13yo doesn't mind watching a movie with the little girls in the room every now and then. Yes, we brought 6 kids. haha...

- One surprise was how much I loved the photo opps! We got tons of adorable photos and I bought the most expensive package! No regrets!

 

I think that's all I've got for now... LMK if you have any questions. I think we may try Carnival Breeze next. Wonder what that'll be like after all the bells and whistles on Jubilee

 

[mz-s]

If you just bring a glass of wine into the dining room, you won't be charged corkage. Bringing in a bottle is what triggered the corkage fee.

[LatinaInTexas]

The Breeze will have an amazing thermal suite area compared to the Jubilee. It will have the famous thelassotherapy pool and the heated loungers in separate rooms not all crammed into one tiny loud space. Other special rooms and special showers also spaced out nicely. I thought when I booked Celebration since it was a new ship it would have the extra nice thermal suite area like I had on the Dream so I booked a spa cabin to have free access. Was I ever surprised and totally underwhelmed when I saw the thermal suite area, we only used it twice. On the Dream we purchased the week long passes and used it at least twice a day.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

32 minutes ago, TheLargeFamily said:

I had read/watched that they bring you chips when you sit down but they don't do this

I think this is only during the lunch service.  We enjoy Chibang and usually eat both lunch and dinner multiple times. 

[Roscoe13]

13 minutes ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

I think this is only during the lunch service.  We enjoy Chibang and usually eat both lunch and dinner multiple times. 

Yes, we ate lunch there and we both were served bowls of a combo of tortilla chips and won tons.  Salsa and Asian dipping sauce too.

[TheLargeFamily]

25 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

The Breeze will have an amazing thermal suite area compared to the Jubilee. It will have the famous thelassotherapy pool and the heated loungers in separate rooms not all crammed into one tiny loud space. Other special rooms and special showers also spaced out nicely. I thought when I booked Celebration since it was a new ship it would have the extra nice thermal suite area like I had on the Dream so I booked a spa cabin to have free access. Was I ever surprised and totally underwhelmed when I saw the thermal suite area, we only used it twice. On the Dream we purchased the week long passes and used it at least twice a day.

I heard from a woman on the ship to try Dream's spa! I wouldn't hesitate to book dream if they had a ropes course because my kids enjoyed that dang ropes course so much.

[TheLargeFamily]

6 minutes ago, Roscoe13 said:

Yes, we ate lunch there and we both were served bowls of a combo of tortilla chips and won tons.  Salsa and Asian dipping sauce too.

I wonder why they only do this for lunch. I also wonder if I would have enjoyed my food there better had I gotten the lettuce wraps. Does anyone else think that it's weird to have corn and tomatoes in egg drop soup?

[TheLargeFamily]

39 minutes ago, mz-s said:

If you just bring a glass of wine into the dining room, you won't be charged corkage. Bringing in a bottle is what triggered the corkage fee.

I brought champagne and I was hoping that they would bring me a cold bucket for it. But they did not and it was late in the dinner before I remembered to ask for one. But I think I know that I will only bring glasses in the future to avoid that small fee

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, TheLargeFamily said:

I wonder why they only do this for lunch. I also wonder if I would have enjoyed my food there better had I gotten the lettuce wraps. Does anyone else think that it's weird to have corn and tomatoes in egg drop soup?

 

It's the chinese/mexican fusion concept. It's weird to me too. But it's the theme of the restaurant.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your comments.

[mz-s]

Just now, TheLargeFamily said:

I brought champagne and I was hoping that they would bring me a cold bucket for it. But they did not and it was late in the dinner before I remembered to ask for one. But I think I know that I will only bring glasses in the future to avoid that small fee

 

You can ask for a bucket of ice/champagne flutes from room service any time - no charge, but a gratuity for the delivery service is customary.

[Vinlin06]

As others have said, Breeze spa area is wonderful.  I was hoping for same or better on Jubilee, but there is so much to do on Jubilee, I probably won't have a lot of time to spend in the spa. Great review

[LatinaInTexas]

18 minutes ago, TheLargeFamily said:

I heard from a woman on the ship to try Dream's spa! I wouldn't hesitate to book dream if they had a ropes course because my kids enjoyed that dang ropes course so much.

Ah the wretched rope course. I about killed myself trying to complete it.

Take a course where the ropes are old and droopy not nice and tight, an old lady that is scared of heights and it wasn't pretty.

But, but I completed it! The bad thing was I had sustained another small injury first day so I had to walk around the ship all bruised and scraped up. People prob thought my husband was a monster☹️

 

[KKB]

4 hours ago, TheLargeFamily said:

 

- I was hoping to play pickleball, but it was only offered one time at 9pm. CC please let me know what ships offer more pickleball? 

 

- You still pay a corkage fee even if you open your own bottle. It's only $15 and we weren't mad about it, but I see a lot of other cruisers recommend that you open your own bottle before taking it to a restaurant. We took a bottle to Cucina del Capitano on night 1. In Galveston, Cheers does not begin until day 2. 

 

 

 

 

Curious--you couldn't play Pickleball anytime? 

 

Have sailed Princess & NCL out of Galveston--each time the drink package began as soon as we were in international water, an hour or 2 after departure.

Is Carnival different?

[Essiesmom]

Hmmm…I thought Dream class was the first to have the ropes course.  Must be getting old.  EM

[vwrestler171]

8 hours ago, firefly333 said:

No trash cans where? Wow I dont remember this. Is it just family harbor? 

 

I thought suites got free bubbles on mardi gras. Assumed jubilee too. 

I thought it was only the Excel Suites.

[firefly333]

Just now, vwrestler171 said:

I thought it was only the Excel Suites.

Ok thanks so only a certain class of suites. Thanks for clarifying. 

[vwrestler171]

4 hours ago, TheLargeFamily said:

 

- The hub app needs to add booking functionality! Do you think Carnival would cash in if their guests could plan another cruise while on a current one?

 

 

 

You can access Carnival.com for free while onboard, so it really doesn't need to be added to the app.

[vwrestler171]

2 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Ok thanks so only a certain class of suites. Thanks for clarifying. 

I could be wrong as well, thats just what I thought I saw.