Carnival Cruise

[BananaAnna838]

While we are of course still planning our family Disney vacation (290 some more days!), my boyfriend and I are looking into taking a different vacation approach.

We are thinking about taking a cruise around mid-December to some part of the Carribean, but not sure which yet! It seems that the Carnival Cruises are the best bet for what we're able to spend, which is not a HUGE amount considering we're both still in college!

I have a couple questions for all of you that have traveled with Carnival before (I've only been on NCL once before). Is this a good choice for a college age couple? How was your experience? I loved the NCL so I'm a little nervous Carnival is geared more towards younger kids...
I was also wondering how much the "hidden fees" end up being, including tax, etc etc. I don't want all my researching good prices go to waste by realizing in the end it's going to be too much!

Thanks all for your help!:)

[MsMin]

I just booked a carnival cruise through magical journeys. Can't give you any feedback on it but I doubt there will be a lot of kids in mid-oct when we go.
The advertised price on many sites was 349 per person but the actual price was 280 and fuel surcharges, tax, and port charges brought it to 445 each. So as you can tell from the variety of numbers even from site to site you don't always know what it includes. I imagine the fuel surcharge can vary too.
We are taking a cruise out of New Orleans to Cozumel. I am going as part of my class reunion.
Good luck with your planning. Sometimes the earlier bookings get the better price. Don't forget travel to your port city too.

[TheDuckRocks]

You might want to go to the Cruise Critic website, they have tons of info over there. Be warned though, on the discussion boards they don't play very nice!!! Not like here on Intercot where we have rules and moderators that will not allow some of the mean spirited things you will see over there. There a many facts and reviews that you can read without going to the discussion boards.
I've also been told by my travel agent that the Carnival cruises to the Caribbean seem to cater to the college age group more than any other.

[TINKERBELL_82]

I agree with Cruise Critic. When you head over there check out my review- just look for me under the same screen name- tinkerbell_82. Theres lots and lots of info in there. :mickey:

[Tick-Tock]

Cruise Critic also has a "deals" section where you can see sales.

As you're looking at base fares, maybe throw in another $100-150 or so for taxes and port charges. (The total may be less or more, depending on number and location of port stops and applicable taxes, but I figured an estimate might help your planning.) As far as additional costs, two of the bigger ones are going to be (1) fuel surcharge (I think it's about $9-10 per person per day), and (2) gratuities (I think the recommended amount is about $10 per person per day).

[CPT Trips]

Definitely check out www dot cruisecritic dot com (with the above warnings LOL). Carnival does tend to attract more college ages (during Christmas and Spring Breaks) just because of the pricing. However, you will have a wide range of passengers going in mid-December, so this would be an ideal time to try Carnival. Another reason that Carnival is great for college age cruisers- other cruise lines have a much higher age requirement (only 21 on Carnival & NCL) (HAL is 25). (Unless you're traveling with a parent, obviously.)

Whoever you book through, verify the total price before committing (taxes, port fees, fuel surcharges, etc). After this, the next big expense will be the gratuities. And then the bar bill, bingo fees, shore excursions,etc LOL.

Have a great cruise!

[Dedivah]

My family and I are taking a Carnival Cruise early Oct.

This will be my 4th Carnival Cruise. There are all ages on the cruise. Being that Dec is christmas break you just may find some school aged children on the ship.

I would recommend including your gratuities in your fare, you don't want to have to worry about that when you get on the ship. Excursions you could always do at later date or even on the ship. Even that can be included in your fare if you choose.

Even though I would like to branch out to different cruise lines, Carnival always wins me over with their prices. We are paying $2076 for a party of three including all taxes, gratuities and transfers. We opted to pay for excursions separately. We can pay for them online inour own time.

Happy Sailing!!:sail:

[vicster]

We did a Western Caribbean cruise on a Carnival Fun Ship three years ago in November and it was awsome. November prices were very low and was totally worth the price. Don't forget that shore excursions are extra. Otherwise, it's a pretty good bang for your buck!

[RPHX2NC]

LOL I love cruise critic same user name there too. Carnival will be great for a young couple. Just watch your drinking and bar bill/excursions can add up quickly to $$$$. Cruise critic has some hints that may help with a bar bill. :beer:WDW and Cruising in college I did something wrong! We were lucky to go out on Friday.

[sisterdisco]

You can get a fabulous deal early to mid Dec on Carnival!!
I think it is perfect for younger people.
We did it the first week of Dec, and there were less than 100 kids on the boat.
Tips are about $10 pp per night.
Your biggest extra is alcohol. :marg:Then, casino, spa, and gift shop.
My parents went and their entire bill for the week was $110. I said "no wonder they don't send you the advertisements they send us---you don't spen enough--they don't want you back!!""
Moral of the story, you can spend little to nothing on board, or way more than you want to.

[EvilQueen2006]

I will be on Carnival Glory sailing out of Port Canaveral on Dec 13. Its a 7 day sailing with stops in Cozumel, Belize, Costa Maya and Nassau. For two people the price was $1400. This includes the price of the cruise, fuel surcharge, automatic tips, and cruise insurance. Some extras you will need to think about are
1.airfare if you can't drive,
2.hotel stay for the night before the cruise. You definately want to stay local the night before. If there is a flight delay, you don't want to miss the boat.
3.Transportation from the airport to the cruise terminal. If you drive yourself you will need to pay for parking.
4. Shore excursions- can run upward of $100 per person. If you book through independent vendors rather that Carnival you can get better deals, but Carnival will hold the boat if one of its own excursions is late. Not so if an independent company is late getting you back to the boat.
5. Food is included in the fare, but drinks are not. Coffee, tea, lemanade and some juices are free but soda, alcohol and specialty cofees are not. There is also a specialty restaurant on most carnival ships that costs extra. $30pp. Some say its worth the extra expense.
6. Also plan on spending money on clothing. There are formal nights on cruises and you will want to have a nice suit/dress for the occasion. You can skip dinner in the dining room and eat at the buffet if you don't want to dress up.
7. Souveniers and photos. They will want to take your picture and sell them to you eery chance they get. The photos are not cheap.

I agree with those who reccommend cruise critic .com. I haven't even cruised yet, but I have been able to get all the above information from that website.

[RPHX2NC]

6. Also plan on spending money on clothing. There are formal nights on cruises and you will want to have a nice suit/dress for the occasion. You can skip dinner in the dining room and eat at the buffet if you don't want to dress up.


The dress code has just been changed. No more Formal night. There are countless posts on Cruise critic about this. Don't post or ask questions about this they can be really mean. You can read about the change there or on Carnival. It is more relaxed and no need for a suit.

Also don't assume you will not be left while on a cruise partner excursion. That almost happened to us in Cayman on Celebrity and no one was waiting for us or cared to here about their sponsored excursion negligence.

We love to cruise, this is our 6th. PM me if you have any specific questions. Carnival is a lot of fun this is our 3rd, 2 celebrity, and 1 RCI.

[DisneyDear83]

My boyfriend and I just recently returned from a Carnival Cruise. We are both in our mid-twenties. I will begin by saying that we had a FANTASTIC time. The shows were great... they were much better than we ever expected! The onboard entertainmaint was fun with trivia games, bingo, and things like that. We enjoy spending time with others but we are not exactly thrilled to throw ourselves into wacky contests, but there is something about the ship and people that just causes you to be carefree and go with the flow. The food was great with a big selection. The room was nice, decent size and always very clean.

Now... a word of caution... DO NOT USE YOUR DEBIT CARD! I did and it was not a good idea at all. They neglected to release the holds on my card and caused my checking account to go into the negative, causing many many fees and problems. After trying to solve the issue and getting the run around, Carnival kept blaming it on my bank, I spoke with someone who is returning the money I paid in fees since it was their fault. However, I am still waiting for the check and it has been about 3 weeks now. I checked with the BBB after all of the issues and Carnival has an F rating with 569 complaints against them in the last 3 years. Which is sad because they are a fun line to cruise with! So if you do chose them, make sure to go with the cash only route and be sure of what your paying for.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

I've been on 6 cruises, 5 of them Carnival. Carnival used to be great but they have steady gone downhill. We have found the food to be just okay and the service for the most part to be below average. Not quite sure what happened but it's not the same cruise line it was 10 years ago. We complained about a few issues we had and no one cared. After that we decided to no longer cruise with Carnival. It's not worth money.

As far as costs, it really adds up. They now charge the tips for the server, buser and steward to your room. When you order anything from the bar the tip is already included. At some of the ports of call there is nothing to do unless you participate in a shore excursion. They cost $50 and up per person depending on what you choose.

Personally I would look into Royal Caribbean. They aren't much more and often run great specials. Recently they were offering a 4 night cruise for $186. I really enjoyed them.

Have fun on your cruise!

[jax86]

I agree with the last post. carnival has generally gone down hill. my travel agent told me not to take any carnival cruise that ends in a "tion" (sensation, fascination) she didn't elaborate, but we recently went on a royal carib. cruise and the night before stayed in a hotel with a large crowd that was boarding the sensation the next day and i certainly saw what my travel agent meant. I did hear that the carnival glory is very nice. good luck and have fun!!