Needing help for Senior Trip Cruise

[scoobert2]

I hope I am posting in the correct area. This is my first post here and I wouldn't want to do anything wrong ... I was going to wait a while before I posted, but that annoying notice at the top of my page that says, "Pssst! Yes, we're talking to you! Everyone would like to meet you; why not give posting a try," talked me into going ahead with my post.

 

I am planning a cruise for my daughter and two of her friends for their senior trip. Each friend will be bringing their mother, so there will be a total of 6 of us going on the cruise. This is a first for all of us and I am freaking out since I am the planner!

 

I think I have narrowed it down to the Carnival Sensation leaving Port Canaveral on May 27, 2010. I have looked everywhere I can and read tons of stuff already. I guess I will just put down the questions I can think of in an easy to read format. If anyone has any input on my questions I greatly appreciate your advice.

 

1. When do I make our reservations? I saw the saver rate mentioned, but all the talk about the restrictions made me leary about it.

 

2. I was thinking about looking on the internet for the best deals and then booking straight through the cruiseline itself. Is that a good idea? We don't have many TA's around here and I didn't know if it would be much different working with a TA located who knows where and the cruiseline directly.

 

3. Did I even pick a good ship? We thought about the Caribbean, but was a little concerned with traveling into Mexico since there were alerts traveling down there. (Not sure the hubbies would go for it.)

 

4. How do we decide on which room to pick? How do you know which of the little blips on the screen (you know, when you are booking and they show you the rooms with flashing lights) will be the best room?

 

5. Do we pay extra money for an oceanview room? Our kids are having to raise the money themselves, so we don't have a lot extra.

 

6. How much money should they bring extra? I know about the tip/day/person but was wondering how much more than that? None of us will be drinking alcohol and will probably stay away from paid drinks (If I can bring along a few Pepsi's). We also will not be doing any onboard spa/gambling.

 

That is just a very few of the multitude of questions I have. I hope I haven't went on too long already. I have done lots of reading so far and you all seem so helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and any responses I get.

 

Thanks!!

Angela

[KenMo]

i hope i am posting in the correct area. This is my first post here and i wouldn't want to do anything wrong ... I was going to wait a while before i posted, but that annoying notice at the top of my page that says, "pssst! Yes, we're talking to you! Everyone would like to meet you; why not give posting a try," talked me into going ahead with my post.

 

I am planning a cruise for my daughter and two of her friends for their senior trip. Each friend will be bringing their mother, so there will be a total of 6 of us going on the cruise. This is a first for all of us and i am freaking out since i am the planner!

 

I think i have narrowed it down to the carnival sensation leaving port canaveral on may 27, 2010. I have looked everywhere i can and read tons of stuff already. I guess i will just put down the questions i can think of in an easy to read format. If anyone has any input on my questions i greatly appreciate your advice.

 

1. When do i make our reservations? I saw the saver rate mentioned, but all the talk about the restrictions made me leary about it. you make reservations whenever you have the money for the deposit.

 

2. I was thinking about looking on the internet for the best deals and then booking straight through the cruiseline itself. Is that a good idea? We don't have many ta's around here and i didn't know if it would be much different working with a ta located who knows where and the cruiseline directly. i've never used a ta. I've always booked through carnival. I check their website to get an idea of prices and call them.

 

3. Did i even pick a good ship? We thought about the caribbean, but was a little concerned with traveling into mexico since there were alerts traveling down there. (not sure the hubbies would go for it.) i've never sailed sensation, so i can't comment on the ship. I think the travel alerts are for the border towns? I don't know, for sure. Myself....i'm not concerned visiting the mexican ports that the cruise ships go to.

 

4. How do we decide on which room to pick? How do you know which of the little blips on the screen (you know, when you are booking and they show you the rooms with flashing lights) will be the best room? you decide which room you want on what you can afford, i guess. Generally, all insides are the same, no matter the deck. Same with ov's and balconies. There are exceptions, but you'll have to look at the deck plans to figure it out.

 

5. Do we pay extra money for an oceanview room? Our kids are having to raise the money themselves, so we don't have a lot extra. you'll pay more for an ov than you will for an inside.

 

6. How much money should they bring extra? I know about the tip/day/person but was wondering how much more than that? None of us will be drinking alcohol and will probably stay away from paid drinks (if i can bring along a few pepsi's). We also will not be doing any onboard spa/gambling. you can bring on soda and water. Things that will cost extra: Pictures, bingo, room service tips, purchases in the shops, whatever you're going to spend at each port.

 

that is just a very few of the multitude of questions i have. I hope i haven't went on too long already. I have done lots of reading so far and you all seem so helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and any responses i get.

 

Thanks!!

Angela

 

hth!!!

[jobster71]

Try the Carnival Dream out of Port Canaveral. More things to do for the young adult/ older teen. My kids was bored with Ecstasy which is the same size as the Sensation.

[welldone60]

Have not sailed on the Sensation so cannot comment on that.

 

We have always used online ta's. Some people will use no one except directly with Carnival. I think it is what you feel is best for you.

 

If you can stand to be in a small room with no windows, I would book an inside. As far as which deck, almost all inside rooms are the same. You just pay more for the higher decks. So stay on the lower decks for a better price. Plus there will be less motion on the lower decks, and less motion near midship. If you think you need a window, again book an OV on a lower deck for a better price.

 

As far as travel to Mexico, the problem areas are along the Border town's and near Mexico city. We were in Cozumel and Costa Maya in Feb. We did not feel the least bit unsafe.

 

You can pre-pay your tips and also pre-pay for tours. One thing I would suggest is to do Ship tours for this first cruise. Private tours are cheaper, but for a first cruise I would stay with the Ship tours.

 

You can bring on water and sodas. Ice chest cannot be any bigger then 12x12x12

 

You can purchase a soda card, I think it's about $7.50 per day per person.

 

Buy insurance... it is a wise investment in case something goes wrong.

 

Ask all the ?? you want. There are alot of very helpful people on this board.

 

When you decide on a Ship, check out the roll call for your ship's sail date. Also check out the ports of call boards for your cruise.

 

Good luck and many happy cruises in your future.

[samiam519]

The Sensation is a good ship for your first cruise. If you can afford an Ocean view, go for it. The "flashing" cabins you refer to are the available cabins in that category. If you don't like those, you have to go up a deck or category. Plan on spending money for the ports, even if you don't book excursions. Read the boards here and talk to people on the ship for ideas for port days. Ships excursions are usually a tad more expensive than an independent, but you may want to do the ship excursions for your first cruise. The early saver rates through Carnival are hard to beat and although your deposit is non-refundable, you can take advantage of any price breaks up to 2 days before sailing, that's why so many of us are taking advantage of these rates. Don't worry about Mexico, the ports Carnival goes to are very safe. Whatever you choose, you will have a great time. Eat some warm chocolate melting cake for me and relax and enjoy!

[tximprov]

All good advise above. If you drink alot of soda the drink card is a great deal, especially if you plan on being out of the room alot. Coffee, water, tea, and lemonaid are available on the lido deck 24hrs a day. You can also bring one bottle of wine per passenger with you. In case the adult ladies would like a glass of wine to go with the conversation. You will need tip money for porters also. Those bags can get heavy. If you plan to do anything in ports, cabs tours ect....tip money is always needed. Best to have small bills to carry, It is sometime funny that the larger the denomination you have the less change they have. There are alot of activities onboard to enjoy that are included in the cost. Take advantage of them. Do as much or as little as you want. Relax and have a great time.

[GAMOM4]

We took my daughter and 12 others on a senior cruise in 2007. We booked the cruise through Carnival in December - this gave everyone the time to pay their deposit - each person called and booked their own room. We ended up with 21 people all together - that was with the chaperones & kids. We went out of Jacksonville because that was alot closer drive for us. The day before we cruised we found out that the town right beside us had a group of seniors going also - they chartered a bus to take them down (or maybe they rented a large van) - anyway - we drove in about 5 cars - so that was 5 cars x the number of days we parked at the port. We had oceanview & interior rooms. The very hardest part of all for us was - each person didn't have a parent or chaperone going - it seemed like a logistical nightmare - with only 21 - so I now know why people use tour groups to do large tours. All of the kids were suppose to be in a room with an adult - but what our plans were to switch rooms when we got on the ship - we had no problem doing this. We didn't buy soda cards - we took our own. If you have any other questions let me know! I read these boards every single day when we were in the process of planning this. My daughter graduated on Friday night and we left and 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning heading to the port (didn't give them any time for a party or anything after graduation).

[deeceedub]

We have taken each of our kids on a graduation cruise, and we've had the most amazing trips.

 

Things to take into account:

 

We always put the kids in an inside room- they're either sleeping late or at the pool anyway, so they don't care if it's just a glorified closet. I have to have daylight, so we've always had at least an OV (our next cruise in June will be our first balcony).

 

Don't forget the cost of parking. We always sail from Galveston and parking is about $10/day, a little less if you make reservations and pay with a card online before- do some research for your port of embarkation to see what works for you.

 

If you aren't drinkers, you can actually enjoy your cruise and spend very little additional money on board. However, you will enjoy your cruise more and have a better overall experience if you make plans for tours of some kind at your port stops. In our experience, just getting off the ship and trying to wing it ourselves has not been wise. You can often book "Beach days" that are not very expensive that will get you entry into a nice private beach facility with bathrooms, food, beach toys, etc. We've finally learned to accept excursion costs as part of the cruise cost, and we have had some incredibly fun excursion days (white water rafting, wave runner rentals, snorkeling, etc)

 

Above all, have fun! It's good that you have an adult to be responsible for each of the girls- now you don't have to worry about any of them but your own! :)

[scoobert2]

What wonderful information! Thank you so much for replying and giving me some good stuff to work with. I'm going to do a little more research on the cozumel cruise. We had originally decided against it because of the safety alerts, but after reading here and talking to people I imagine it would be safe enough. After that I guess I will take the plunge and book either this cruise or that one. I'm super nervous! Thanks!!!

[tamcase]

What wonderful information! Thank you so much for replying and giving me some good stuff to work with. I'm going to do a little more research on the cozumel cruise. We had originally decided against it because of the safety alerts, but after reading here and talking to people I imagine it would be safe enough. After that I guess I will take the plunge and book either this cruise or that one. I'm super nervous! Thanks!!!

 

I took my daughter on a cruise for her senior trip last year. We were on the Inspiration and it was just me and her. You can read the review about our trip - the link is in my signature page.

 

It was the first time cruising for either one of us and I spent countless hours on here gathering information. There is so much to be found. Best of luck and I am sure you will have a blast-we sure did!

[PNFAM]

I hope I am posting in the correct area. This is my first post here and I wouldn't want to do anything wrong ... I was going to wait a while before I posted, but that annoying notice at the top of my page that says, "Pssst! Yes, we're talking to you! Everyone would like to meet you; why not give posting a try," talked me into going ahead with my post.

 

I am planning a cruise for my daughter and two of her friends for their senior trip. Each friend will be bringing their mother, so there will be a total of 6 of us going on the cruise. This is a first for all of us and I am freaking out since I am the planner!

 

I think I have narrowed it down to the Carnival Sensation leaving Port Canaveral on May 27, 2010. I have looked everywhere I can and read tons of stuff already. I guess I will just put down the questions I can think of in an easy to read format. If anyone has any input on my questions I greatly appreciate your advice.

 

1. When do I make our reservations? I saw the saver rate mentioned, but all the talk about the restrictions made me leary about it.

 

2. I was thinking about looking on the internet for the best deals and then booking straight through the cruiseline itself. Is that a good idea? We don't have many TA's around here and I didn't know if it would be much different working with a TA located who knows where and the cruiseline directly.

 

3. Did I even pick a good ship? We thought about the Caribbean, but was a little concerned with traveling into Mexico since there were alerts traveling down there. (Not sure the hubbies would go for it.)

 

4. How do we decide on which room to pick? How do you know which of the little blips on the screen (you know, when you are booking and they show you the rooms with flashing lights) will be the best room?

 

5. Do we pay extra money for an oceanview room? Our kids are having to raise the money themselves, so we don't have a lot extra.

 

6. How much money should they bring extra? I know about the tip/day/person but was wondering how much more than that? None of us will be drinking alcohol and will probably stay away from paid drinks (If I can bring along a few Pepsi's). We also will not be doing any onboard spa/gambling.

 

That is just a very few of the multitude of questions I have. I hope I haven't went on too long already. I have done lots of reading so far and you all seem so helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and any responses I get.

 

Thanks!!

Angela

We've planned a graduation cruise for our daughter and two of her friends for June 2009. All together there is nine of us with all the kids and adults going. The advise I would give you after planning a cruise like this is.

1) Do not make the bookings under your name. Several times I had to chase people down to get a payment for the cruise from the people going. I would recommend you get all the info together about the cruise then let them make there own reservation.

2)I would book with Carnival directly. If you book with a travel agent and later you need to change something on your reservation Carnival will not help you and travel agents are not always available to answer your questions or make changes to your reservation. Since booking our cruise I have had to change some of the names and never had a problem doing this with carnival. There are several post about this issue.

3) I would bring your own sodas and water. We've done on our last three cruises with no problems. And Carnival lets you do this anyways.

I know this does not answer all your questions but I just thought I would give some helpful advise

[GAMOM4]

I agree let everyone make their own reservations - this really became a hassle even with everyone making their own reservations - so I can't imagine if we were making them for everyone. The hardest part for our group was coordinating who would be in each room - we had it so that on paper there was an adult and a graduate in a room together - but then we switched around when we were on board - we had this "carefully" planned for several months...but then once we got on board...there were people that I guess changed their mind about where to stay...anyway that was the one part that made me say that I would never again be the one to plan anything for anyone other than me and my immediate family. I was so stressed about it before the cruise and then after all the paperwork was completed; everyone had proper documentation; cruise was paid for in full; and we thought we would just sail away - we get on the ship and the room situation caused more stress (strange thing is the ones causing the stress weren't stressed at all! and I'm not sure they ever even realized how it was making other people feel) I guess I just needed a DOD and a week of relaxation! It worked out in the end and we never really saw each other alot on the ship and we weren't on a huge one either. Most of the 13 seniors stayed together a good bit of the time - but other than dinner time most everyone went their own way. I will be glad to answer any questions at all..just ask!

[scuabacruiser]

That is just a very few of the multitude of questions I have. I hope I haven't went on too long already. I have done lots of reading so far and you all seem so helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and any responses I get.

 

Thanks!!

Angela

My wife and I, with the help of 4 more adults, chaperoned a senior cruise of 20+ students a few yrs back and had a blast. A couple more thing to consider.

If you are taking a western Caribbean/Mexico cruise, I would cruise out of Miami or Tampa. The Gulf tends to be a little smother than the Atlantic.

 

If you are driving down and need/want a motel, look for one with a "park and ride" package. The money you would spend to park at the pier would pay for a motel room.

 

If you are flying in, look for a motel with a shuttle service to the motel and the pier.

 

Review the "ports of call section" for the activities they offer to see what interests your group. It may influence what cruise you take.

 

If you can't find your answer, ask. By the time you finish asking ?? and researching, you will be an expert. :)