momof3cruisers

Well, my very first cruise was on a line that no longer exists. For our senior spring break, my roommate and I decided to go on a cruise. Neither of us had ever done anything for spring break. That got me hooked. For Carnival, one of my favorite memories it was the first cruise we took our kids on and was an experiment to see how the middle one handled it. He was what we called a “quirky” kid and had some sensory struggles amongst other things. He was also highly anxious. I had contacted the special needs department but we got side tracked on my health needs as I needed a sharps container at the time etc. And I felt unsettled about if I was clear in what he needed. At the time, John Heald still had a blog and you were able to email him, so I did that. I asked about check in and if there was a quieter place we could wait as crowds made DS anxious as well as if we had any options for muster that would be less stressful for him. He told me to go to the priority line when we checked in and tell them my name and that he said to go in that line. They were SO unbelievably kind! Whisked us right through everything and directly on to the ship to guest services. They had a letter from John with instructions. They helped us with perfect accommodations for DS. It was incredible. And part way through the cruise, we received a ship on a stick for each kid, two plates of chocolate covered strawberries and a commemorative picture of the ship with a note from the cruise director thanking us for sailing Carnival. They won my loyalty that cruise! A few cruises later, we had my time dining but had found a team we loved so we requested them every night. They were great and always flagged us down on lido etc. That was an 8 night cruise and the second formal night, only our daughter and I wanted to get dressed up and go to the dining room. When we got there, the wait team was dismayed that we were the only ones and asked about that “not even the little guy” wanted to join us. It was not until the next day when the three kids and I were getting Guy’s burgers and the assistant asked “where’s the little guy?” That we realized he was referring to my husband. 😂😂😂 At the time, our boys while only 13 and 14, were both just over six feet tall and my husband is maybe 5’10” on a good day. We still laugh about that to this day. The boys are now 21 and 23 and are both around 6’5”.

Sleep well!

When we cruised with our kids when they were younger, we always drove to FL from MN in the winter. That’s an extra five or six days. So, I had a pop up hamper in their cabin for their dirty clothes because on the last sea day I always did a load of laundry for socks, underwear, jammies and tshirts and the one load of the warm clothes we would need on the way home. So, two packets of laundry detergent used to also be on my list.

That is really smart. One of those things that once you hear it, you go—why didn’t I think of that? Thanks!

I’ve been reading, reading, reading to get caught up but had to reply to this. I live in MN, but was at this restaurant two months ago. I thought the menu looked familiar. It’s really close to my sister’s house.

Ahh. I had seen that the Luminosa as painted red, white, and blue so I assumed that’s what they were doing with this one too.

The bottled water thing is huge for me. I know they say the water has no salt etc, but I can eat whatever but if I don’t drink bottled water, I have problems.

I’d probably have given the one who helped with your reservations and the special orders an extra tip and then filled out a comment card mentioning the extra care the other specific team members gave you. FYI, people on here will tell you it isn’t true, but to help with the water retention, try drinking only bottled water. I was sailing with two of my sisters. One was drinking only bottled water, the other two of us weren’t. We commented about having swollen feet. She said it was the water. Very soon after we switched we both saw a huge improvement.

As I recall, they had three bottles. And you definitely never know if they are going to care or not.

It does, thank you!

Not this thread, I agree. I also agree that tipping is a personal choice. Trust me, I paid for a lot of college by waiting tables, I believe in tipping and tipping well. Some people don’t and that’s okay too.

This has been truly incredible so far. Thank you so much for taking us with you. So what’s with the Costa painted smokestack? They didn’t have time or they aren’t changing it?

To me I think it’s kind of funny that on this forum people act like you are committing a crime if you don’t tip extra when you have Cheers and yet Carnival advertises it as including the tips.

So have we. They didn’t take my bottle of Coke that I had forgotten that I’d shoved into my beach bag while doing some shopping. The people they did take it from were two ahead of us in the security scanner.

I have done that cruise twice. It’s a great trip! Have fun!

That is a good time of year for prices as long as you don’t book over a holiday. Also, most kids will be in school so it may be quieter and not as crowded. There is a special needs cruising forum here on Cruise Critic that might be helpful to you. My son has changed a lot in the last 8-10 years but was always fairly high functioning. We found Carnival to be much more accommodating and flexible than Royal. Several crew members (a waiter, bar tender and someone at one of the shows monitoring the entrances for reservations) treated him like they clearly thought he was weird. Whereas on Carnival they always went out of their way to be accommodating. Muster drill is a beautiful thing these days as on most cruise lines, you just check in at your muster station, they give a little schpiel about what to do in an emergency, show you how to put on a life jacket and off you go. I think that one or two of them have gone back to the old school way of having everyone gather (until all the late people get there) in one big place and it takes forever. Avoid that. As for cabin choice, for us, an inside with no window was not an option. His first cruise, he was very worried about getting seasick. So we booked an ocean view down low and in the middle. His next cruise, we booked a balcony and that was a huge improvement as he could get fresh air whenever he needed to without having to deal with people.

Do you get better flight prices if you are a member and are logged in? I’m not seeing any difference in prices between AARP and Expedia, but I’m not a member. Thanks.

If the private company has a guarantee they will provide accommodation and transportation too. Just be careful and read lots of reviews. If there are a few with similar complaints and different dates, avoid that company. (Ask me how I learned that. 😉) But the general assumption is that only like one in 100 people with a positive experience will even write a review. So if there are lots of them, it’s in all likelihood going to be fine. I totally get being nervous. I was the first time I booked outside the cruise line too. Now, I rarely do an excursion through the cruise. Except for Grand Cayman. Last two times I have been there, time in port was rather short and I wanted to be certain of an early tender and not getting stuck in traffic.

I feel like if one expects others to justify their financial choices, they should be prepared to provide an exact monthly expenditure of what they purchase. I am also pretty sure that the OP spends money on things others think are wasteful. A friend of mine loves camping and would never pay for a cruise at all, let alone more than one but she bought a pretty snazzy camper that I would get very little use out of. OP, is this really a sincere question or…? Because if you look at the questions on drink packages esp the “is it worth it” types on just about any cruise line board, people frequently explain to those wondering if it’s worth it, why it is worth it for them.

He must have been leaning very far. My boys are both 6’5” and we’ve checked, with normal behavior they couldn’t “fall” over. Very sad for the fiancé and the rest of those who care about him.

I’ve never heard that rule. On a three day cruise, I brought six cans of Coke in a small bag in my carry on. Wasn’t a problem.

That’s my feeling as well. But this is a group cruise so I might need to bow to peer pressure. I forgot about the internet but I’ve never used internet on a cruise other than the one on which my son got Covid and they gave it to us. I used it to change his flights.

Wondering about the value for the rest of the cruise. Sailing on Voyager. The first day perks sound great, but since it’s a per day cost, I’m not sure about the value. Not planning on the Waverider or rock climbing wall. Other than preferred times for those there isn’t much as far as I can see. Is the preferred seating at shows that big of a deal?

That’s not a great idea. If for some odd reason your luggage disappears or is really late (rare, but it can happen) you won’t have your medication. If you are flying to the port, same thing. Always keep your medication, your passport/ID and any valuables like electronics with you. I carry quite a bit of medication and they have never taken it out of my bag anywhere. The most likely thing they will look at is liquids so keep those together and you can quickly show them.

Holy cow! Are you going to be gone for a month? LOL. That’s a lot of luggage!