aehusk

Hello,

My husband and our two young children (ages 4 & 3) will be traveling with Carnival in April. Our first stop will be in Nassau and I really want to do an Atlantis excursion, except I'm not keen on spending over $600 for the 4 of us to go for the day. I don't need to pay Carnival, we don't need the fancy shuttle to bring us there, etc. We just want to go for the day and get all the same things - waterpark, pools, beach, etc.

Have any of you ever done an Atlantis excursion on your own? Was the cost significantly less? What comes with the daily pass purchased directly through Atlantis?

Thank you!

I would only go on a cruise with children this young if I were SURE they would participate in the Camp Carnival. What are you going to do all day with a 2-year-old on a sea day if they aren't in Camp Carnival? They can't go in the pool because they aren't toilet trained and there are no playgrounds on board the ship. While HMC is a nice port for kids, Freeport isn't, so you won't want to get off the ship there. (Haven't been to Grand Turk, so I don't know).

 

For kids this young, I think a beach vacation is much preferable to a cruise.

We only had one day at sea and didn't use camp carnival. We had a great day. Obviously I would only want very few days at sea, but for the 1 day at sea (our youngest was still in diapers, so we couldn't use the main pool) it was everything I could have wanted.

We had a lazy morning, very different than our other days which we were up and ready to get off the ship. They started the day off with some cartoons and we hung out in our bed. We made our way down to breakfast. We explored the ship. We used the little kiddie pool to soak our feet in. I brought a couple blow up beach balls and they chased those around. We taught them how to play shuffleboard. Somewhere in the there we ate lunch. We rode up and down the elevators. We hung out in the room and colored in coloring books. Had our usual afternoon nap and quiet time watching cartoons. We had a ice cream cone. We went into the lobby where they were playing music and the kids danced for 45 minutes! Then we showered and got ready for dinner and finished the day off with a movie on the Lido deck. Was it an ideal day? No. But it was a perfect vacation day. We were lazy and laid back and really enjoyed not having the stresses of normal day life. The next day we were back to crazy, hectic "island life". :D

We began cruising with our oldest at the age of 6 months. He's now been on 7 cruises and not yet in grade school. It's a wonderful family vacation!

 

Cruise ship cabin doors are heavy, only once at the age of 3 did he get ours partially opened, but he closed it right away. Do your kids normally open hotel room doors and wander off? If this is standard, then this may be a problem. But if it's never happened, I can't imagine why it suddenly would.

I personally would just get 1 cabin with kids that age, but totally understand why you may want the extra space. We aren't in the cabin but for sleeping and showering, so the added cost of 2 cabins isn't worth it for us. We often try to get larger cabins such as premium balconies, aft wraps and mini suites to have a little extra room, but we've also sailed just fine in standard inside cabins too.

 

Just this summer we did a cruise that went to HMC and Grand Turk.

These are PERFECT ports for small children. Lots of sandy beach and calm blue water.

At HMC we rented a cabana which was a great spot to drop off our stuff, and also provided a cool shady space for nap time. There is also a playground on the island which was a big hit with the 2-8 year old crowd.

We brought along a bucket, shovel and Coast Guard approved Puddle Jumpers and our child had a blast all day long.

 

There is a restaurant called Jack's Shack in Grand Turk where the owner has a trained dog. All the children had a blast playing with him.

 

You're going to have a wonderful family vacation with memories to last a lifetime. Enjoy :)

We also brought along beach toys and the puddle jumpers. I would highly recommend them! Our kids were in their puddle jumpers at every beach and pool! Just pack a large beach tote to carry everything along with you and you'll be fine... It'll be just like carrying an oversize diaper bag. :rolleyes:

We are trying to decide if we want to bring our 2 year old and 4 year old on their first cruise next spring. It would be an Eastern Carribean Itinerary to Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Freeport.

 

I think it would be fun but at the same time I worry they may be too young.

 

Have any parents done this with similar aged children?

 

What type of cabin would you suggest? I liked the idea of connecting cabins and keeping the door open. But I am worried they might sneak out in the middle of the night so I think that option was ruled out.

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Bring them!! My husband and I went on our first cruise with our children this past April. They were 3 and 2 at the time. We are going on a second cruise in March, we loved it so much!

We booked a balcony room. I wanted the balcony, but I didn't think we needed so much space to have the need to purchase a suite. I enjoyed spending that money on fun activities while we were there instead. Having the balcony was perfect. Hubby and I could have a drink at night when the kids were sleeping, or just soak it all in during their afternoon nap.

We traveled on Carnival, so we had a king size bed and twin size bunk beds. Our 2 year old slept on the bottom, and our 3 year old slept on the top bunk. I was nervous about that, but our housekeeper gave us extra pillows to put on the side near the railing.

Tips I can think of off the top of my head - We got in line at 11am, the earliest you could start boarding for our ship. We went through security and registration, etc. They took our bags for the room and then we went and had lunch once we were on the ship. Then we got OFF the ship and went to a local CVS pharmacy that was within walking distance from the cruise port. You can bring on I believe 24 water bottles or juice boxes, so we bought both. You can also bring on as many sealed snacks and food as you can fit in your bag. THAT was so worth it. Having goldfish, granola bars, zip lock bags of cereal, fruit gummies, basically anything to keep my kids happy in between meals. It was great. We brought a large lunchbox with us (next time we'll bring ice packs, we were filling zip lock bags with ice cubes.... messy!) and we would pack those up to bring to the beach with us everyday. Having juice, water and snacks for the kids all day at the beach was a life saver. Then we'd get back to the ship around 1pm, have lunch (so we wouldn't have to pay off ship) and then we'd head back to the room so my youngest could nap and my 3 year old would watch an hour of TV. Then we'd go enjoy the ship before dinner at 6. We'd usually head back out to the Lido deck and watch a movie until 8:30 (our housekeeper didn't finish our room until then) and then we'd head in and put the kids to bed!

That 7 day cruise flew by, and believe me, we were busy. But we can't wait to do it again. Being cut off from the world (no phone, internet, etc) is SO nice sometimes. And even though I had people telling me that I shouldn't bother bringing my kids because they wouldn't remember..... It's been over 7 months since our last cruise and my daughter asks to go on another vacation all the time. She still talks about how much fun it was and remembers the specific things we did. My son (who was 2, now is 3) vaguely remembers, mostly the plane and the beach, but the point is he remembers. They really enjoyed it and I've converted my husband into a cruise addict. :D If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me, I don't mind answering! Enjoy!!

I know this is OLLLLDDDD, but what did you end up doing? We're going on a cruise from Miami this March and have a 4 y/o and a 3 y/o. Curious as to what you did! Thanks! :D

Hey Kim! I just enjoyed reading this review, I think I may have to read ALL of them at this point. That should help me get through the 3 months until my next cruise! :rolleyes: I know you mentioned that you purchased your beautiful dinner dresses at Express, but I was wondering where you buy all of the adorable sun dresses and swim suite cover up dresses that you wear throughout the day? Thanks!!

Hi Ashley! Yes, there were kids on the ship. I don't have any in my pictures because I don't have kids, traveled solo, and didn't really participate in any family type activities, so for the most part I wasn't around children at all. ;) Also I traveled in February, a time when there aren't many kids on the ship because it's right after Christmas and right before spring break. It looks like you're cruising in April. I'm sure there will be plenty of kids on your cruise. Thanks for reading and have fun when you sail! :)

Hey Kim,

Thanks for your response! I appreciate it. I understand you were solo/not around children, I had just peeked at some of the backgrounds of some of your pictures and never saw children, but I'm so glad to hear there were children! Right now there's only 19 members in my roll call, and none of them have children. It's a pretty lengthy cruise with a lot of stops, so I'm sure it's not a first choice for many families, but my children are well behaved and I want them to get the experience! We'll see how it goes :eek: Thanks again!

The good, the not so good, and other bits of randomness.

 

 

• This was definitely my favorite cruise ever. I had a ton of fun and got to see some beautiful places for the first time. I would love to go back to St. Lucia for a land trip. That was my favorite island from them all.
  
• The crew and the staff were FANTASTIC! I always noticed someone cleaning. The restrooms were well maintained. Tables were cleared immediately on lido and in Rosie’s. Everyone did a great job and service was awesome.
  
• The new sail and sign kiosks were very convenient for checking your balance, or if you want to add cash to your account without having to wait in the guest services line.
  
• Bar service from the bar waiters was incredibly sloooooooooow, including in the main dining room, the lido deck on the sea day, and in the Punchliner Comedy Club. It’s not the fault of the bar waiters. They were great and really worked their butts off! This is one area it was very obvious where the Valor has made a significant cut back. I didn’t do the cheers package, but the guys at my dinner table did. Your drink server or bartender has to wait 5 minutes before placing your next drink order. That’s something to keep in mind if you want to order two drinks at once.
  
• The singles meet and greet is pointless because it’s more or less nonexistent. On the first night, it was listed to be in the Eagles Lounge at 11 pm. When I got there at 11:10, there were about 20 people in the room- couples and families, NO singles- for karaoke and the legends auditions. Why put a “singles mingle” in the same room at the same time as karaoke? On night 2, the Fun Times had "singles welcome aboard" in the One Small Step club at 11:45 pm. I guess they figure many of the singles will be in there anyways. It circulates on this board all the time (mostly from non-single people that have never attended one of these) that there’s this awesome meet and greet for single folks as if it’s a nice, planned event. IT’S NOT. It’s really no different than when they say Friends of Dorothy, Friends of Bill, etc. be here at this time and chat amongst yourselves. When I sailed on the Navigator of the Seas last year, they had a day for the singles to meet for lunch in a certain area of the Windjammer (their lido buffet). It was on a port day so I didn’t attend, but I like the idea. I would love to see Carnival do something like this, like an official singles cocktail hour the first night or lunch the first sea day. Maybe someone from the entertainment staff could be present and offer some type of mixer game or whatever. Just a thought. Don't be surprised if you see this pop up on John Heald's page because I've considered writing him about it.
  
• I ordered a grilled cheese from room service almost every night after getting in from the nightclub. One night/morning, whatever you want to call it, I was on hold for 15 minutes waiting for someone to answer. I hung up, called right back and got an immediate answer. The lady said it would be an hour because they were preparing to start getting breakfast ready, so I passed. Every other night, it arrived within 10-15 minutes.
  
• The Caribbean duo is gone and yes, they were replaced with the dj’s on the lido deck. However, on the sea day, they played a good bit of reggae and Caribbean music. None of the rap so many people complain about.
  
• As far as the demographics of this cruise, if I were to guess, I'd say about 20% were locals from Puerto Rico, 40% American, 39% Canadian, with that last 1% being Europeans.
  
• The last night of the cruise when I started to pack, I noticed a very important piece of my suitcase was missing- the hook that allows me to attach a smaller bag to my big one.
  

 

 

 

• Somewhere between leaving my bag with the porter and it getting delivered to my cabin, it got detached. Now this isn’t a clip that will just fall off. You have to physically unhook it. I don’t understand why someone would take it off!!!!! :mad: I went to guest services to file a report. The lady was very nice, filled out a report, and gave me a claim number. However, she did say there might not be anything they can do because I didn’t report the problem until the last day. It would have been different if I had reported it on day one. That’s fair and I understand. I honestly didn’t notice it the first day though. I never even bothered to follow up with the claim, so oh well. I think for my next cruise, I’ll head to TJ Maxx and invest in a cruise suitcase and leave the crew bag at home.
  
• I can understand the hesitation of some people to try Carnival right about now after all that's happened in the last month. If I was not already a loyal customer, I too would be skeptical. Try not to be too worried though. Incidents can happen on any ship on any cruise line.
  
• And to those of you who think Carnival is nothing but a party ship with 3,000 drunk people falling down the stairs, that's a bigger myth than the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. Obviously, if you want a party like I do, you can find one at the appropriate venues at night. If you want a family friendly party, you can find those at the deck party and by the pool on sea days. But if you want a quiet spot, you can find plenty of those too.
  
• I have seen Carnival compared to Walmart, Motel 6, a Yugo, etc. on these boards. I mean give me a break. :rolleyes: Don't let your cousin or coworker that's only HEARD about how bad a Carnival cruise is prevent you from booking a good vacation. Seriously, if my reviews can't convince you that you will enjoy a Carnival cruise, well then you must be about as dull as a monk's match.com profile, as difficult as Kim and Kanye's relationship, as boring as a bullfight with no bull, as hard to please as....as....well I can't think of anything funny to put here, but you get my point! Don't be afraid to give it a try and to say later you actually enjoyed it! :)
  
• If you've been considering a solo cruise but scared to pull the trigger, don't overthink it! Take a hint from Nike and JUST DO IT! :D
  

Hi Kim! I just finished reading your review, excellent job! I am going on this cruise in April and I can't wait! My only question to you is, were there many children on the ship? I booked this trip with my husband and our two young children, I hope it will be ok. I read a lot of reviews from the family section and hear about people who successfully cruise with young children, but I just want to hear your perspective! I didn't see any children in your pictures. :confused: Let me know, thank you!