First time Cruising with my wife,and 2 girls 11 and 9

[{newcruiser}22]

We are cruising for the first time on the Carnival Miracle on May 14. My wife and I and our 2 girls. Just were wondering if there are any "not to miss stuff" that we should do with the girls. Are there alot of children on the ship at that time of year. Plus can any one tell me about Camp Carnival ????:D

[Billzilla66]

We are cruising for the first time on the Carnival Miracle on May 14. My wife and I and our 2 girls. Just were wondering if there are any "not to miss stuff" that we should do with the girls. Are there alot of children on the ship at that time of year. Plus can any one tell me about Camp Carnival ????:D

 

I'm a newbie to cruising, so I can't tell you about these things, but if you use the search (top right hand side), and type in Camp Carnival, I'm sure you'll find tons of descriptions and reviews about this kids program.

 

Bon Voyage!!!:D

[G&TQ]

Check the family boards:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

 

My son has not been on Carnival yet but he did enjoy the kids club on RCI.

 

Watch for posts by crusinmama06 She has a library of Kids fun times for review.

 

Happy cruising!

[crusinpsychRN]

Sushi. I don't like sushi but I like what they serve.

[Cruzface]

Welcome to cruising! There is no turning back now. Our boys love it although they do not like Camp Carnival. We cruise with friends who have boys the same age, so they hang together. Your girls should go to the first night of Camp Carnival and make friends with other kids their age, then they can do what all teens and pre-teens do - roam the ship in packs.

[VickiD59]

Make sure you're top-side when sailing down the Hudson. The Statue of Liberty will be on your right, and the NYC skyline with the new Freedom Tower will by on your left. Get as far up as you can stand when going under the Verrazzano Bridge :eek: you'll feel like you're barely going to squeeze under it. We stood in the aft of the ship by the whale tale, it was great!

[lola61]

You will love it. Number 14 coming up for us soon. My grandkids loved Camp Carnival. We cruised with our kids and now the grandkids, its the only way to go.:)

[tiff123]

Our kids will be 9 & 11 soon (boys) and they have been cruising with us since they were 5. The boys loved Camp Carnival.

 

Things we love about cruising:

 

*Sitting on the Lido or Sun deck and listening to the music by the pool (with a drink of course).

*Someone bringing you a drink all the time (literally).

*The rocking of the ship (for a chronic long time insomniac, those are precious days on the ship where I sleep like a normal person... :))

*Being on deck (or balcony) when sailing into and out of ports

*Music everywhere, most of the time

*Making friends with the crew - most are interesting and super friendly - I always feel like I am leaving friends behind when I leave the ship, I have never felt that way with any of my land based vacations

*Sitting in a hot tub and watching a movie on a giant screen

*Seeing the kids get excited with anytime-they-want room service, pizza and ice cream

*The embarkation/sail away party on the lido deck first day

*The comedy shows

*Having coffee and (yummy, yummy) pastries on the balcony in the morning

*The buffet's french toast

*Reading a book by the pool

*Good food (don't expect you'll absolutely love everything, but expect that mostly everything is much better than your chain restaurants at home and some things will be memorable)

*The sunsets, the fresh air out on deck

 

and most importantly:

*The ports - even with rain and sometimes plans not working out, I have never had a bad day at port.

 

Things to expect so you aren't disappointed:

 

Camp Carnival: The only issue with Camp Carnival is that the camp closes for about 3 hours (2 hours for lunch, 1 hour for dinner) during the day which may mean you can't participate in something (I hardly do any of the activities but wouldn't you know the ones I wanted to do were when the camp was closed...).

 

Sales: Expect that people will be trying to sell you something at every turn - some people get upset by this but if you expect it and move on you can tune it out. These are very affordable vacations in general and the cruise ship has to do what it can to stay profitable.

 

Getting sick: I always, always get sick after a trip. I think it is the combo of the activity, time of year, so many people and too much food and alcohol. Of course this doesn't happen to everyone.

 

Shows: Don't expect you'll love all of the shows. Over the past three cruises I have learned not to try to hit them all, but instead find more time for relaxation and time out in the fresh air of the deck.

 

Drinks: I find them to be weak... The last Carnival cruise I ordered an extra shot of rum in all my drinks and you could still hardly taste the rum. The only exception is the past guest parties, they save the good stuff for those open bar parties!

 

Pool/deck chairs: If you like to sleep in (until like 9:30 am) and take a leisurely breakfast you are out of luck. One day on a cruise I could literally not find a single chair anywhere, even with a crew member trying to help me locate one. Another day my husband and I had to lounge separately in order to get one. Other times we have had no problem. But if this is important to you, plan on getting up early! I like sitting in a chair on deck so we have modified things so we don't stay up really late and get an earlier start on the morning.

 

Cruise withdrawal: Coming back to reality is so hard.

 

Bottom line is don't expect things will go perfect, don't expect to hit every show/activity, don't expect perfect health (I've also started a cruise sick and my kids have gotten ear infections, sea sickness, etc., during the cruise), don't expect to like everything and every port. If you go in with realistic expectations and plan for some unexpected things like rain and sickness you will feel like you had a good vacation! There are also great things that happen that you don't expect either. Obviously the good things have far, far outweighed the disappointments because we will be doing our fourth cruise this year. :D

 

Have a great time!

[gelo7]

Welcome to Cruise Critic and Cruising.