katiedidthat

We will be sailing on the Carnival Pride with our two boys in December and I was wondering if anyone knew how to get seated at a bigger table with another family. On our last cruise, our family of 3 was seated alone at a 4 person table and we really missed out on the connection you can make with your dinner tablemates. I think the boys would do much better with other kids to interact with too, since they are used to meals with their cousins. Any suggestions for what we can do ahead of time or do we just have to wait until the first night and see where we are?

If it's a line-sponsored excursion they have to wait, but not for people who go off on their own. On our last cruise, we stopped at Canaveral and had booked the Disney excursion through Carnival. We were back on the bus in plenty of time but one guy with another group was running really late. The tour guide told his party he had 5 minutes to be on the bus or we were leaving without him. He caught the bus exactly 1/2 an hour late, putting us 1/2 hour off schedule. We pulled back into the terminal and my family was the last passengers off the bus (had a toddler and a stroller that the bus driver was in no hurry to unload). I have never seen the port staff and carnival staff in such a hurry. They literally folded up the gangway as we crossed it and were sailing away before we'd even made it to the elevators. That cemented my choice to NEVER chance being late to the ship on our own.

We will be on the Pride in December with our two boys (3 and almost 2 at time of sailing). We took our oldest to Camp Carnival for the under 2 play time a lot on our last cruise and we are curious to see if Camp Carnival has changed with the 2.0 upgrades. Does anyone have any photos or any recent experience with the littlest kid rooms? It was looking pretty worn when we were there and we're really hopeful they got some of the upgrades. We'd also like to start showing him pictures of where he'll be playing so he can adjust quicker.

Also, we're interested in info on the new waterworks. I've seen some stock photos, but no cruiser photos. Oldest is already toilet trained and we're hoping the youngest will be too, so we imagine we'll be spending a lot of time here.. Anyone?

Thanks in advance

We treat cruises and vacation the same with our boys, so even though we haven't cruised with both yet---- Our oldest is an easy sleeper and will bed down anywhere, so we just let him crash wherever we are and he sleeps in his stroller or at kids camp. The little one is a bit more difficult, but we don't enforce a bedtime even at home and he's always just slept his usual hours. When we went on our last trip with them (about 2 months ago), we found that an adjusted schedule of 11p-8a instead of 9p-6a was pretty restful for both kids and got us adult time at night.

When we cruised with our oldest, the motion of the ship kept him asleep longer in the morning than he did at home. An afternoon full-family nap can do wonders too!

We took our 13 month old on the Pride. I recommend visiting the family cruising board for a lot of tips, but this is what I can suggest-

- Get a balcony cabin. You will be glad for it during nap time. Otherwise you will be spending a lot of time sitting in the dark while your baby sleeps.

- Take a small, but not umbrella, stroller. This will also save you for naps and just all around getting around on the ship. You want something that reclines and has a bit of storage, but isn't huge since the hallways can be tight.

-Make sure you take some kind of diaper disposal bags since trash will only be emptied twice a day. There aren't any changing facilities on the ship, so you'll be going back to your cabin for all the diaper changes you need to do.

- By 9 months, baby should be sitting up pretty well, so request a high chair with a tray at dinner. The wait staff is usually great with interacting with your baby and will be able to bring you mashed potatoes or soft food if you want to feed them table food.

- The biggest thing we ran into was the lack of things to do with kids under 2. For 2 hours in the morning (8a-10a) we were able to take him to camp carnival and play with him, or pay $6.75 (plus 15% gratuity) per hour for them to watch him. We took him to the night owls (10p-2a) program a few times, but usually only an hour or so to catch a comedy act, also $6.75 per hour plus gratuity. Those were the only times we could have him in camp carnival. We took him to a dance party one day so he could listen to the music but everything else was for older kids only.

-Take a few small, but new, toys. Introduce one new toy a day.

- We were lucky and our son slept a good schedule (10p-9a), so we still caught the evening shows and he would often fall asleep in his stroller while we watched from the balcony.

-If you don't already own and use one, get a good soft carrier (ring sling, wrap, pouch). It will be handy to wear the baby during muster, boarding, getting on and off the ship during port times, etc. Having a stroller means you will be taking up space in the handicap lines, so if you are wearing your baby, you will have 2 free hands but be able to use the regular lines. Also- my son would often fall asleep in the carrier, allowing us to walk around the ship and shop, look around, etc, while he napped.

Only "restrictions" I can think of are no diapered kids in the pools or water works, no kids at the late night comedy, no kids in the steakhouse and no kids in the casino. Other than that, your baby will be welcome to tag along pretty much everywhere on the ship.

Thank you for your responses, we are doing anytime dining, early dining was open when we booked and I was just looking and appears to be closed now :( but its okay, I am sure we will figure it out. I guess we will see how they do on the first day and go from there. They are a little older now so maybe we should revisit restaurants in general and take them to a few before hand and practice.

Yes! Practice, practice, practice! We took our 13 month old to dinner every night on the Pride and we spent probably 4-5 months preparing him with dinners at family friendly places, working up to fancier places. Take them out with reasonable expectations (no food on the floor, use silverware, inside voices, play quietly or talk to mom and dad) and praise every good behavior you see- "I love how you're using your fork! I'm so happy you sat and waited patiently for your meal today!"

Once they can make it through a buffet with no issues, move on to places like Denny's or Bob Evan's. Somewhere where a little mess or fuss isn't a big deal, but where they can be expected to wait a little while for food and be neater. Eventually you want to work up to Olive Garden or a mainstream steakhouse. In my experience, if they can get through a meal at Olive Garden- they'll be just fine for cruise dining.

You want them to think that getting to eat in the dining room is a huge privilege, especially your oldest, make a big deal of how "grown up" they will get to be. Then, go into it with loose expectations and send them to camp carnival if it absolutely won't work. But really, don't stress over it. The waitstaff is great with kids. Plus, we were all kids once, just enjoy your vacation with your family.

We used a Graco Literider with our 13 month old on the Carnival Pride. I wouldn't take a stroller that doesn't recline as those naps will be your saving grace. We took our stroller almost everywhere and our son was able to nap during the day while we walked around the ship and ports, and he slept in it at night so we could still go to the shows. We would find an out of the way place to sit with him and we could still enjoy everything. I still don't like my 27 month old in an umbrella stroller because it doesn't recline!

We did this in Baltimore with our 13 month old. The hotel shuttle was a van that they packed way too full of people. I'm talking 5 adults in a space meant for 2. I was practically sitting on my husbands lap with our toddler. Our carseat never would have fit. I would never do it again, however, as the shuttle driver was FLYING on the highway and swerving in and out of lanes, made three illegal uturns and we spent almost an hour waiting at the port when we got back for the shuttle, as everyone else who stayed at that hotel had also gotten off the ship at the same time and the shuttle only had space for a few people at a time. Four trips at 15-20 minutes each and you're looking at a long and potentially cold wait if its not summer. IMO its just not worth saving $$$.

We've never done Mexico, but our 13 month old went with us to the Bahamas. We took him on three different excursions. One was a tour bus- no way to install a car seat and he slept in our arms. Second was a smaller bus. Again- no way to install a car seat. I wore him in a wrap. The third was on a boat and again, would have had no way to install a car seat. He sat in his stroller the whole time.

Basically- if you are booking an excursion and not a car service- there will likely be no way to use a car seat. Your best bet is to just ask and be prepared to either forgo the seat or forgo the excursion.

I think it will make for cute memories. I think as long as she can take care of the extra luggage herself, that you should let her take it. I know when I was that age my parents had a "if you want it and its not a necessity- you carry it" rule.

My oldest went on his first cruise at 13 months on the Carnival Pride to the Bahamas and we would do it again in a heartbeat (in fact, we are!- only with a 37 month old and 22 month old this time on the same itinerary). We went just the two of us and our son, so having two extra sets of hands would be helpful. My best tip for the parents is to just remember it is vacation for the baby too. If naps slide some, don't stress it. If they only eat french fries all week- the world won't end. We ate all our meals in the MDR and it was nice because the staff knew to have his meal ready when we ordered and would come over and play little games with him on their down time between courses.

Also- the open decks are great for putting a toddler to sleep. I would just walk with our son and the wind and quiet would knock him out within minutes!

Carnival's cribs are metal and about the size of a minicrib. Our steward had it set up during dinner the first night and kept it made up every day with clean sheets.

When we took our 13 month old on the Pride we didn't take a blow up pool of any kind, he really got his fill of swimming in ports and I didn't see a good place we could have put a blow up pool for the short amount of time most kids would sit in it. As for bathing- a good tip we got was to take a tub plug (plastic circular disk basically) to lay over the drain. Then we were able to put 2-3 inches of water in the shower basin and wash our son that way. He loved it and it saved us the hassle of blowing up a tub every night!

Don't know if you've gone yet- but we had a crib in our balcony cabin on the Pride last December for our 13 month old. We tried co-sleeping with him, as that's how we slept at home, but with the dip in between the mattresses, I just didn't feel safe. It wasn't that crowded at all, he still had plenty of room to play and we were so seldom in the room.

How did it go? Leaving soon on Carnival Liberty with 1-year old. Do they have toy lending like RC? Did you try the supervised free-play?

It went amazingly well! DS did great. They didn't specifically advertise toy lending, but there were less than a dozen kids 2 and under on our cruise and we found out the last night that two of the other little ones were able to borrow a few toys so I figure it depends on the staff each week. We did go to the free-play. It was nice to have somewhere he could get down and play freely. There was one staff member there each day to check us in and out but no other kids ever seemed to come to it. I am working on my review now, hoping to post it this week if you're interested.

I thought it was definitely worth it. We got them for each of us on our cruise last week and it was nice to just order sodas and not worry about the cost. For $48 for the week I had a glass with lunch, one or two throughout the afternoon, then one at dinner and one during the show. If I got a glass of soda and didn't finish it before the ice melted- I didn't feel guilty about having wasted it. As for the person who said they don't give you a whole can- they don't give you a whole can without the program either, so then you're paying $1.95 plus gratuity for a partial can of soda. Not worth it without the sticker, IMO.

Do either of you have scans of your fun times schedules? Several of us on the 12/1 cruise have been searching for them.

Thanks!

I have them in my bag ready to scan as soon as we're home, I can email or post them.

I too am surprised that a cruiseline would give out the #'s & ages of minor children passengers expected to be onboard :confused:...Thought this was a demographics/privacy issue...So I guess not.

I don't see why this would be an issue. We asked and were told there were currently 215 children booked on our sailing, and only 7 age 2 and under. They didn't give us the exact ages and said they could only tell us the age groupings (16 between 5-12, etc) not how many 6 year olds there would be. I would see it as an issue if you could call and find out what rooms held children. As a heads up for any parents concerned about it however- the name tags for camp carnival (which hang in the doorway of cc in public view and are worn when the kids are out and about on the ship) have both the child's first name and room number on them, as well as being grouped by the child's age.

About us:

Family of 3. Married couple in our mid 20s with a 13 month old baby boy.

Our room: 7291- extended balcony on starboard side aft.

Our itinerary: Canaveral, Nassau, and Freeport

We are considering a day-pass to the Grand Lucayan while in Freeport. Is it easy to get a taxi back to the cruise port from the hotel? If so, how long is the ride (I want to make sure I plan enough time to return).

 

Also, if you have visited this hotel before, please feel free to offer your comments. I'm especially interested in the infinity pool and beach area.

 

Thanks for your help.

We were just there on Friday and for $15 pp, the passes were definitely worth it. Just an FYI- you must pay cash for the pass, no cards, so make sure you have extra on hand. We took the taxi vans from the port for $10 pp round trip and it was 1/2 a block from where the taxi stopped to the resort. The beach was beautiful, very clean and not at all crowded. Chairs were plentiful and the only vendors we encountered were a few women selling jewelry but they left us alone if we said no thanks. The pools were nice but cold (November) and the bathroom/changing rooms were well stocked and clean.

It took about 20 minutes to drive from the port to the resort but the vans only leave once every half hour, so you have to plan to be back there a little early in case the van fills up. We got to the resort about 9am and left at 12.

I guess food quality and service are based upon expectations and past experiences. Unlike any other cruises we have been on we never looked forward to any meals on the Pride. We did not care for the buffet setup at all. The food was bland and selections limited. The Pizza was usually soggy. Not once in the week did we find the Hamburger Grill station open. Salad bar was okay. Dessert selections and quality were terrible. On several days every single coffee dispenser was empty and often there was no ice available. One evening we were in the MDR for 2 1/2 hours from time sitting to competing our meal due to poor service and even there the food was just okay. Again, just our opinion.

This really, really surprises me as we are waiting to get off the pride now and not once were ANY of those things a problem. We were on the Pride for our last cruise as well and this cruise was just as great. We were able to find good food every day in the buffet and at the MDR, our traditional dining seating took about 1 1/2 hours, which was just right, and the food was just as good as I remembered. Maybe you just went on a very off week, but that wasn't the case for us.

I don't know anything about the menu, but there was something new on the Breeze this week. There is no longer a bar server that comes in to take drink orders in the MDR. If you want anything from the bar, including soft drinks, you are supposed to let your head waiter know. He/she supposedly enters that on the computer, and then the bar server will bring you your drink. As someone who always gets the Bottomless Bubbles card, I felt like I was being a pain when I asked for a Coke. Guess we'll see how it works out!

This wasn't active on the Pride this week at least. We had a bar waiter who came around the first night, and our sodas were on the table when we came in every night. He would visit all the tables around us to bring other drinks and would check in to ask if we wanted another. The only drinks our main waitstaff brought were the after dinner coffees and hot chocolates.

We're getting off from our first cruise with our 13 month old and it went surprisingly well.

We were seated alone at early seating and after the first night- the wait staff would bring DS's food with our starter and were always stopping by to play with him. We were both able to sit and enjoy each meal. I do recommend trying to "meal train" your toddler beforehand though. We would go out to dinner at somewhere family friendly (Denny's, Red Lobster, Bob Evans, etc) and ask the server to take their time. This gave us a chance to get DS used to sitting in a high chair and being quiet for long meals and helped us develop ways to keep him from making a mess.

We went to all the big shows, the only things we couldn't do with him were the comedians because he would get bored and make noise. He actually fell asleep in each show and would wake up after to go to the night babysitting for a few hours, giving us time for adults only stuff.

We had a balcony room and spent more time in the room this cruise than in the past since we went there to let DS down to play. We brought a back pack full of little cars and balls but found out that we could have borrowed a few toys from Camp Carnival. There were only 7 kids under 2 on our sailing, which meant the morning play time was almost always empty. We did say that in the future we will stick to a RCI ship though for the babies and tots program since carnival was aimed more to older kids.

We're on the pride now and haven't seen a high chair with a tray all week. They are grey rubber maid style that pull up to the table in both the buffet and MDR. I'll get a picture tonight. We brought plastic placemats so our son can eat off the table.

On our way to Baltimore to catch the Pride with our 13 month old DS. If anyone has any questions I'll be glad to find them out for you! Also, we'll post tips and such when we get back.

Sorry for the daft question, what is the 6 mth rule ? We have booked to take our 5mth old on a Disney cruise in January and am now a little anxious having just read about these rules.

On many lines a baby has to be 6 months to cruise. Disney is 12 weeks, don't worry.