ourcruiseyears

This is where the laundry rooms are on the Fascination and the Elation. Deck plans are identical to Ecstasy, so I'm going to assume they are in the same location.

Upper Deck 6 aft across from U154

Empress Deck 7 fwd across from E2

 

Cost

$3.75 per wash and $3.75 per dry

soap $1.50 and dryer sheet $1.50

 

If they don't take your key card, you can get quarters from either guest services or the casino.

Ecstasy has coin-operated machines.

Hi there! So exciting to hear you’re looking to book your first cruise! We started cruising as a family of 6 in 2005. Have been numerous times since then with less & less of the “kids” along as they’ve grown up.

We’ve learned that for us longer is always better in that we’re able to really unwind, relax & enjoy. On our last 5-day cruise (& we do have another 5-day coming up!), we were surprised how fast it went & were not ready to get off the ship at the end! (But are we ever?!)

We also always have a set budget & now realize we don’t need an excursion to have a great time. Some of our favorite memories have been via excursions (particularly catamaran/snorkeling ones), but we now look for things to do free or cheap on our own.

Carnival Elation is a smaller ship with less things to do. Our kids do/did find themselves bored on this ship (all Fantasy-class ships for that matter). Half Moon Cay has a free beach as well as free food & drink. You don’t have to spend a dime there to have a really gorgeous beach day! We have done Nassau on our own in times past but I encourage you to read about current Safety & Security warnings.

We have not been on Carnival Breeze but our kids loved Dream. Breeze is only better! Again, I encourage you to read about current Safety & Security warnings for Montego Bay. Cozumel is our kids all-time favorite, whether we’ve taken a taxi van to the beach or just stayed in Puerta Maya to walk around & shop. I think in either building 14 or 15, there is a drug store that the kids love to go in to buy all sorts of candies & snacks they’ve never seen before to try out. (This is where I always buy my huge bottles of Mexican vanilla for family & friends...& myself!) We have not been to Grand Cayman yet but I also hear that can be done on your own as well.

Once you go on your first cruise, it may be the first of many! Hope to hear what you choose & how your family enjoys it!

Hubby & I are the same way & hope it never changes! :) Hope you have a wonderful time on Magic!

Great vacation choice & great surprise for the kids! Happy Sails! :)

Can you get to the port in New Orleans, from West Georgia, without having to cross that 26 mile bridge, Lake Pontchetrain? If not, will not do a cruise out of there.

Go to Google Maps & check out your other route options. There are several. :)

Anyone had any trouble using the 40% discount parking voucher program at Port Canaveral? Was thinking about booking at one of the partner hotels in order to park at the port. We typically park with Park n Cruise.

Thank you for asking this question. I enjoyed reading everyone's replies since we've booked a hotel with the parking voucher rate for May. We've always used the Port Canaveral hotels with free parking & shuttles but last time we saw how convenient the parking garage is. Looking forward to trying something new!

I appreciate the information on Sprint International. I really, really, really do not want to be reachable so I was not looking at having service all week. Wednesday is the Port Canaveral Day and a perfect midweek point for me to check in on work emails and any reports that would be due before I return. I was planning on finding a spot on board to have coffee and danish and work between 6am and 9am then shutting back down until Sunday.

 

We were going to use the minimum Social Media Facebook package so my son can reach us through FB messenger and the person at work covering for me could reach me for a true emergency.

 

I need to disconnect and decompress and if my phone is on it will ring and text all day.

You are so welcome! I am sure you won't have any trouble with your plan for Port Canaveral. I can't wait to be sitting on Lido with my coffee & danish, so I envy you, even if there is work involved! haha I'll be honest, WE are wondering how it's going to work out with our phones in September because we usually remove the batteries & keep them in the safe. If we receive much after we threaten everyone, "Do NOT contact us unless it's an emergency!", either back in the safe they'll go, or at least in Airplane Mode, next time around! ;) Happy Sails to you!

Once your ship is within 12 nautical miles from shore, the ship's WMS network is turned off and your phone will pick up local service in which you will be charged the rate by your carrier. (link)

We spoke with Sprint about our best options to check in back home (house, children, pets, business) and learned a lot. The cheapest option for us is to use Sprint/Carnival Cruise Ship Roaming Rates (type in ship's name) and Sprint Global Roaming.

I'd take a 3-day Fantasy cruise next week! :D We've sailed her a number of times & have so many fond memories aboard. Have a great time!

We took a catamaran excursion in St. Thomas over to St. John that was the most beautiful place we've ever been to in our lives. We snorkeled all over Caneel Bay; swam with turtles & saw the most diverse marine life ever. Our 22yo adventurous daughter says it's the best place she's ever been & the best thing she's ever done so far.

In St. Maarten we took the water taxi to the center of town & walked leisurely back to the ship. Tried the Guavaberry place, toured the museum, then hit a grocery store & came away with local buys for cheap prices. We also walked past rocky hill cliffs that goats were climbing on.

Have not been yet to either St. Kitts or Amber Cove.

Please tell me why you would choose or not choose Carnival Ships over other lines. Is it the cabins, the food, the entertainment, the itineraries, or just the overall treatment on Carnival. I'm curious because I've never traveled on Carnival but they seem to have pretty good itineraries.

Right now we have gone with Carnival the majority of the time due to:

• Price
  
• Cabin size
  
• Laundry
  
• Driving distance to ports
  
• Itineraries

We will soon run out of different itineraries & are looking around at other options. It will be interesting to see what other cruiselines/ships have to offer (food, adult deck, etc.).

Me and my bro in law and sister and their daughter are in 8151 inside cabin on the sunshine and wondering if they can still push the twins together into a king and still have the two pull downs

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

This PDF says: "2 Twin Beds (convert to King) and 2 Upper Pullmans." You can request this setup on your reservation online. :)

 

Choices:

Splendor 7-day...St Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk and Amber Cove(instead of HMC)

Magic 7-day....same ports

Conquest 8-day.....Grand Turk and San Juan with St Maarten and St Kitts

Sunshine 8-day..... same as Conquest

We booked the Conquest & were disappointed to find it did not have a Serenity deck, namely the cushy lounge chairs! We really missed them during that cruise. Since we always go for the longest cruise possible, I'd pick Sunshine. :)

Started off with InsureMyTrip but always found that TravelSafe gave us the most bang for our buck considering our personal needs. We've been purchasing their Classic Plan directly from them for a number of years now. Haven't had to file a claim (yet, knock on wood!) but they are always very pleasant to deal with when we've called with questions.

From a fellow chocoholic... ;) Here is the JavaBlueCafe menu & here is the new room service menu. I had figured out all of the best chocolate things on the chocolate buffet but with the gap between our last cruise & our upcoming cruise, I hope my memory all comes back when I'm standing there making my choices! :D

Sounds like a perfect plan! Good to see that you are sailing Sunshine again! We will be on her for a 1st time in May of next year, Southern Caribbean itinerary. September 2017 we are planning the Eastern itinerary on Magic. Can't wait to see San Juan for a 1st time too. Love the idea of the late night sailaway. :) Enjoy your cruise!

I found this information that I believe supports your theory:

Casino Hours

Due to itineraries, the Casino hours may vary among the fleet:

• Sea Days: Slot Machines open at 9:00am; select tables open at 10:00am; the full casino is open 12:00pm-3:00am.
  
• Port Days: The casino is closed while in port and opens after the ship sails.
  
• For ships that overnight in Nassau, the casino is open during evening hours.
  
• For ships visiting the island of Bermuda, the casino is open 7:00pm-2:00am while the ship is docked.
  
• For ships visiting Half Moon Cay, the casino may be open at the discretion of ship management while the ship is anchored.

Where did you find that one?

This came up via a Google search. Hope it helps you! :)

PS - After I posted the link, I realized it is is not actually what you were looking for. My apologies!

5/23/2015 to 5/31/2015 is the most recent I see online.

Have not been on Carnival since 2001, how dressy are the elegant nights? Specifically on the Valor 4 night cruise. Could DH get away with dress shirt, tie, and dress pants? Or is suit a necessity?

From Carnival: What To Wear - Evenings

Hubby has taken to wearing black/charcoal gray slacks with a dressy button shirt & black loafers on Elegant Nights, no tie.

Thanks, all, for the info and advice. I just ordered four clear waterproof card holders with lanyard from Amazon for my family and me. We may not all use them all the time but I want to keep our options open.

That's a great idea! You may be like we have & "stash" a little cash or a map or something else in there. Will be so nice to have it waterproof & you'll be glad to have them!

We have 4 children & we've gradually collected several different lanyard styles. My favorite is a pretty beaded one that looks like a necklace. Hubby's is one that is clear on the front & has a little zip pocket on the top. We are ordering clear waterproof lanyards for our Samsung Notes for this next cruise so I wonder if our cards will just slide into that? We shall see!

Have a wonderful cruise! :)

:) Hello, my daughter and I will be cruising for the very

first time in Feb of 2017. I was wondering if anyone uses the

Shampoo and Body wash provided by Carnival. Just

wondering if we need to buy some before boarding...

we are flying in to Miami and are not checking bags

so we are very limited on size we can carry on.

Leaving for a while but will be checking on answers later.

Thanks in advance!!

Our family uses the shampoo & body wash provided by Carnival. Their supplier also supplies for numerous 5-star hotels. I'm a big fan of Paula Begoun (The Cosmetics Cop). You'd be surprised how many shampoos & body washes are basically all the same regardless of price. :) I do bring my own conditioner. Hope you & your daughter have an enjoyable first cruise! So exciting!

I have T-mobile and can use my phone in most international locations for free, so I normally turn my phone back on in ports so I can check in with family at home (solo cruiser). If you do that, just be careful because the time will automatically update to local time and it may cause a discrepancy between your phone and ship time.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this heads-up. We also will have free usage in our ports of call & I did not realize this. Adding more to my notes now! Thanks again!

I have found after nearly 30 years on the internet (when my son was in Jr High in the late 80s we set up and ran a Color64 BBS with 2 phone lines on his Commodore 64 with a 300baud modem.) that no matter what question you ask someone will be willing to come along and specifically not answer your question but tell you how wrong you are for asking it and let you know what you actually should be doing in their opinion.

 

Feel free to ignore them. ;)

Omg, the first thing I thought was, "You must be my age?!" :D (And you have my same philosophy on this matter! ;) ) As one original geek to another...one of my claims to fame is having used Google long before any of my family/friends discovered it! :D

Thanks so much for the review! :)