MistyRo76

Looking at a cruise next fall with my 9 year old daughter. It would stop in Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. It's been many years since I've been to Grand Cayman. I've seen and done most of the well-known points of interests there. But my kiddo hasn't been here yet. We usually have a larger group cruising with us, so this could grow to 10+ people. Are there any companies that would be good to reach out to about a private custom tour if we do have a larger group? Thinking that doing an Island Tour/Stingray City combo tour would be good for the kiddo. She swam with the ray in Half Moon Cay this year and while she was a little nervous at first, she was really getting comfortable by the end. So I think she would really enjoy doing it again and getting the full experience. I also think she would love the turtle bar and stop at the beach. Anything else that we should look into at GC that a 9 year old may enjoy? Thanks!

My hubby is a dedicated tobacco pipe smoker! We just returned from the Sunshine a couple weeks ago and the hubby enjoyed many a pipe on our cruise without any issue. He usually went to the designated area on Deck 3 as it wasn’t as crowded or loud. Much more peaceful!

Just got this from my PVP! I know this was asked about recently so wanted to pass it along. 2023 Holiday Decoration Schedule Have you ever dreamed of celebrating Christmas at sea? You should — And it’s no wonder — every ship is decked out, bow-to-stern, with wreaths, lights, Christmas trees… and ooh, mistletoe! • November 24th: Carnival Conquest and Carnival Radiance • November 25th: Carnival Breeze, Carnival Horizon, Mardi Gras, Carnival Miracle and Carnival Spirit • November 26th: Carnival Celebration, Carnival Dream, Carnival Glory, Carnival Panorama and Carnival Vista • November 27th: Carnival Elation, Carnival Liberty, Carnival Sunrise and Carnival Valor • November 30th: Carnival Venezia • December 2nd: Carnival Magic and Carnival Paradise • December 3rd: Carnival Legend, Carnival Luminosa and Carnival Pride • December 4th: Carnival Freedom, Carnival Splendor and Carnival Sunshine Happy Holidays!

There seems to be an overall push for more cruises to Bahamas. While I love Half Moon Cay, I have zero desire to return to Nassau and would likely stay on the ship if on a cruise to there again. Everything there is just SO dang expensive! We paid over $100 for a day at the "free" beach. $40 for 2 chairs and an umbrella and another $70 for a pretty basic lunch. I would much prefer more itineraries going to Cozumel or Costa Maya where I can book an all-inclusive beach day for $50-75 dollars pp. (all you can eat and drink plus chairs, umbrellas, wi-fi, use of some water equipment, pools, etc.). I've noticed this especially on shorter cruises. I understand that ports further north like Mobile and Charleston are limited based on range for shorter cruises. But even out of Miami, the shorter cruises are very Bahamas heavy! I sorely miss the shorter Key West/Cozumel cruises. Such a fun and easy short getaway!

Were there many kids on this cruise? I'm assuming not with the length of the cruise. How well attended was the Build-A-Bear workshop on this cruise? It was insane on our Sunshine cruise over fall break with all the kids being out of school. We got there 30 minutes early and were still 24th in line. I saw at one point, they were up to number 110+ being handed out to the line that was still forming outside of the lounge! Crazy!

When I was young (and poor!), we would book the cheapest room available - usually a guarantee and we got what we got! But since I've started cruising with my husband and family, we have only booked balcony cabins. We usually like to be on Deck 7 - either aft or forward. It's an easy two decks up to get to Lido, bars, food and fun and two decks down to the Promenade. I don't usually take the elevators, so being in the middle of all the activity makes it easy to take the stairs. Next cruise though, I am looking at the Interior w/ Picture Window at the front of the ship (4J). I think it'll be just me and my kiddo this time. Great value since it's priced more like an interior, but still get the light from the window. And the "secret deck" is only steps away if we want to get outside to enjoy the view and snap some pics!

I'm sorry that you had less than stellar service from Edy. One area I've always felt Carnival was really strong in was their cabin attendants! We've never encountered any issues with ours in 20 cruises! This last cruise, we didn't have any issues. Our last cruise, I was a little worried that we should have requested new pool towels before we left the ship in Nassau, knowing that ours would be wet when we got back to the ship and she would have already serviced our cabin. I didn't know if she would leave fresh towels before removing the current towels from our cabin - which were at that time with us off the ship! We had an early port call the next day and knew we'd want dry towels for it. Much to our delight, when we got back on the ship in Nassau, we already had clean dry towels waiting for us!

I would like to stay in $200-250 range for the night (or lower).

To piggy pack off Saint Greg - We did the pasta bar (aft Lido deck) when we boarded the sunshine 3 weeks ago and it was great! We actually did the pasta bar several times for lunch on our five day cruise. Also, if you’re getting on the ship early, it may be a good idea to grab a Guy’s Burger for that first lunch before lines get long. We found that Guy’s always had the longest lines the rest of the week for lunch. But when we first boarded the ship, lines were very short! We did have priority boarding so we were among the first on the ship which helped!

Did Ji Ji’s on the Sunshine recently and it was amazing! Definitely worth it! One of the best meals we had all week! Pics are below of what we had. The duck and pork belly apps are outstanding! we also got the pig shank and Singapore shrimp entrees, spicy fried potato fingers and wide noodle sides and rose crème brûlée and fried wonton desserts! Only thing I didn’t love was the fried wontons. Most a texture thing…expected the shells to be crispy but they weren’t. But flavor was great! highly recommend!

Thanks! Never been on deck 6 before. So wasn’t sure how it would be with where the cabins are in relation to the theater. Appreciate the insight!

I was so disappointed that we missed the new menus on the Sunshine by 1 week! We got on the ship on the 9th! But we enjoyed the food we had! I had the penne mariscos on our cruise from the old menu and thought it was great as well! There were really no desserts on the old menus that struck my fancy so I got the melting cake every night. But I’m excited to have the key lime pie and cheesecake back on the new menus! Thanks for your feedback and pics of the new menu items!

We had a $1000 winner on our recent cruise too! It was so exciting! But she had $1000 and $350 left on the board. So, she was guaranteed at least $350. It made total sense for her to keep going and not take the offer. But Donald had a lot more to lose! Brave guy to keep on going! I’m not sure I could have done that! lol

Planning to book a category 4J on the Sunrise - these are the the interior cabins with the picture window at the front of the ship. I usually prefer deck 7 with cabins above and below. But only 7201 is left which is one of the middle cabins. On Deck 6, we could book one of the corner cabins, 6206. It’s just my kiddo and I, so no need to be able to push beds together to make a king. Any pros or cons to either? The theater is below the cabin I think but the very forward part of backstage I believe. Thanks!

Your reviews and photos certainly makes me want to do one of these sailings! Especially this time of year! But I think our next non-Caribbean (i.e. warm weather) cruise is going to be Alaska! Have you and Patti done Alaska before? I can’t recall seeing a review, but if you’ve been I’d love to read about it!

That would be amazing! We will probably be looking to go in early June, but I'll have to keep that in mind just in case we change dates.

Hello fellow cruisers! I have started doing research on a potential family cruise to Alaska. I am looking at 2025 since this would be a bigger trip for us. I want to have plenty of time to research, plan, budget, etc. I have done some initial research on the Alaska Port of Call board here on CC and from that it sounds like Princess is the best option for our cruiseline for this trip. I am an experienced cruiser.....when it comes to Carnival and the Caribbean! So this is out of my element a bit! The initial feedback I got also pointed me in the direction of considering a one-way cruise going Vancouver to Whittier (or the reverse). Right now I am looking closely at the early June sailings on the Caribbean Princess with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway and also cruising thru Glacier Bay and College Fjord. This cruise would be myself, my husband and our (then) almost 11 year old daughter. My in-laws may join as well. And once we are booked, I always through it out to the rest of my family and cruising friends and welcome anyone else to join us. So who knows what this could grow into! 🙂 My initial questions are this (and I'll probably have a lot more as we get further into the planning): We usually like to book balconies anyway, but would for sure want one for an Alaska cruise. Is there one side of the ship vs. the other that would be more beneficial for seeing the sights on a Northward one-way cruise? I would assume starboard side (right if your facing forward on the ship). Is that correct? Or would we benefit more by booking an aft balcony? How do the Princess Plus/Premier packages work as it relates to children booked as the 3rd guest in the cabin? Hubby isn't a drinker and our days in port are longer ones. So not sure if the value of the package is there for the two of us or not. I assume Princess has the option to book airfare through them like other cruiselines offer. How does this work and is there any benefit to using this service? Anything else I should know as I get started with my research?? Thanks!

We’ve cruised once from Long Beach and had a red eye home. We had arranged for the hotels we stayed at pre-cruise to hold our bags after the cruise. So we took a taxi back to the hotel and store our bags and then walked around until we found a nice little sports bar. We ended up settling in for a day of eating, a little drinking and watching a lot of football! Lol it ended up being a great afternoon. We around LB a bit more in the early evening before heading back to the hotel, grabbing out bags and getting a car to take us to LAX. It was a long day, but we enjoyed it!

Not all ships have the digital photos only. I just came off the Sunshine two weeks ago and all the photos were printed out. The one ship I did sail on where everything was digital and done by facial recognition, it was hit or miss. Many of our photos never showed up in my hub app. And we had pics of other people show up. We also had a large group cruising together. So group pics would show up in some people’s hub app and not others. It felt very clunky! I also wish Carnival would put some better photo packages out. The prices are high and discounts for buying more aren’t great. Packages to get all of your digital prints would be great!

We did Cozumel and Costa Maya last year in Costa Maya, we did Jamie’s at Blue Reef. It was $52 for an all-inclusive day pass. They only allow 35 guests per day and the day we were there, it couldn’t have been more than 20! We had chairs under palapas for some nice shade. Our waitress was fantastic! And the food was awesome! The chef catches everything locally. The ceviche was so fresh and flavorful! Even the drinks are made with syrups that the bartender makes from scratch! I will definitely go back! In Cozumel, try Nachi Cocom. Like Jamie’s they limit capacity. Usually 85 max. When we went it was $59/ per person all inclusive. Includes a 4 course meal and all drinks as well as chairs under a palapa. There is also a large pool with a swim up bar. it’s been years since I’ve been to Belize. We did cave tubing there once and zip lining another time. Would like to check out the beaches next time I’m there.

Sitka is high on my list of places I want to see...so I'll be keeping an eye out for itineraries that include a stop there!

That's the direction I'm leaning toward after all of the helpful info I've gotten on this post! Thank you for your feedback!

Thank you so much for all of the insightful information! Cost is always a consideration for us, but certainly not the only consideration! And the more I think about it, the more certain I am that it will be 2025 before we do Alaska. Since this will be a bigger trip for us, I want to give us plenty of time to research, budget, etc. I don't mind spending a bit more for a better experience! 🙂 I am definitely leaning toward cruising from (or to or both) Vancouver. One way or R/T still TBD. My in-laws will likely be joining us and this will probably be their only trip to Alaska so we want to do it right to see as much as we can! Thanks also for the Alaska Airlines tip! I will definitely keep that one in mind as we get closer to booking airfare!

Good to know about NCL!

Thank you! it definitely sounds like a one-way is the way to go...and I've moved Princess up to the top of our list!