Ya'll are stressing me out!

[SpaceLady77]

finally convinced my husband to book a cruise for our family. I remember cruising on Carnival with my family (damn if I can remember the ship, it was when I was 12- but stil the best family vacation ever!)

 

You guys have so much to complain about. My husband is not a fan of travel or even experiences he is not familiar with.

 

Someone give me positive words about how me, my husband, my 9 and 6 year old are going to have a great trip!!!!

 

 

Specifically info about embarkation in Galveston. If I can get us through that process (and muster, I know my kids will hate that) I think we can have a smooth vacation.

Edited April 12, 2017 by SpaceLady77
to add detail

[ilovethesparkles]

I sailed with my husband out of Galveston in 2014. Embarking was not difficult at all! I hear it is better now too with the specific times you have to embark. So it is probably even better now!

[sararebekahquinn]

Not sure about Galveston, but my boys loved Camp Carnival so much. They were 8 and 4 when we went two years ago and they still talk about it. We have been on 6 cruises, 5 with Carnival, and I loved them. Next Carnival cruise is August.

[SpaceLady77]

Thanks, I know my 9 year old will love the kids stuff... But my 6 year old is a different story. He may just want to hang with us, which is ok.

[bury me at sea]

I park at Galveston Park N Cruise directly across the street from the terminal. Book ahead on their website.

 

Arrive within the range of your staggered check-in time or better yet buy FTTF if available.

 

Don't try to do everything. Downtime on the ship is good for everyone.

 

Try various included options for lunch.

 

Relax, find what fits your family's rhythm, and enjoy.

[CruisinMama2003]

We have sailed out of Galveston 3x now (4th coming up next month) and we have never had any problems at all. Muster is also fairly quick and painless. Which ship are y'all sailing on? Which itinerary?

[woodman]

;p Don't stress the stress until you feel stressed (LOL). Really don't make a problem some one else had yours. You know what cruising is all about so prepare you children for what to expect. Don't down play the boat drill just do it. After that you have it made. It's like a long road trip (are we there yet?). If you enjoy your cruise half as much as we enjoy all ours you all will have a ball. Don't listen to all the complaining on this board it's you experience that counts. Have a great cruise.

[sararebekahquinn]

My youngest did not want to go to Camp Carnival at first. We forced him at first. Once he was there, he loved it and did not want to leave.

[lennythenose]

Our next cruise will be my boys 6th cruise in 8 years. They were about the ages of yours on their first one. And they LOVED it. Our oldest is more social so we never see much of him except at dinner. Younger son has varied. Sometimes he clicks with the kids in his age group. Other times not so much but he still has a ball. His favorite thing to do is hang out in the cabin watching cartoons and order room service!! He's my odd chikd. Now that they are both teens they have kept in touch with friends made in previous cruises through social media.

Is everything always perfect or exactly MY preferred way? Of course not but there are enough options for all of my family!

[happy cruzer]

You can't make someone have a good time. Relax. It will be what it will be. Most complainers don't know what they want, they just complain. Don't let the posters here or your family stress you out. They own their happiness, you can't do it for them.

[Kevin308]

Ignore the complainers. We did our first cruise this last summer. It took me 20 years to talk my wife into going. She loved it. She enjoyed getting to just relax on the ship and not have to worry about anything. We enjoyed the shows we went to. We didn't take the kids but everyone I have talked too said there kids loved the kids area.

 

My wife enjoyed the food. We were impressed with the service. Really impressed.

 

We also enjoyed the ports.

 

Galveston is friendly. Just remember they enforce check in times so if you show up before your scheduled check in they will not let you in.

[lennythenose]

Make sure both boys go to the club meet and greet the first night. Even if you don't think they will go back we always insist on this. Get the schedule and let them hilight anything they might be interested in going to.

[amystarfish]

Cruising is my favorite vacation! It's the fun atmosphere, the food, the sun! You guys will have a great time. Your kids will make friends and they'll never want to leave the ship. You can do as much or as little as you want. There's always something going on or you can just relax.

 

 

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[coevan]

"My husband is not a fan of travel or even experiences he is not familiar with."

 

 

and you married him? (LOL), come on you were all thinking it

[Organized Chaos]

A couple members of my wife's family (frequent cruisers) had tried to get us to go on one with them for a couple years, but we kept turning them down. We finally gave in and agreed. Well, more accurately, my wife agreed. :p Going on a cruise wasn't really a vacation I was interested in. It just wasn't something that I thought I'd enjoy. But I agreed to it because my wife & son were excited. When it was all said and done, I'm glad we did it because we loved it and have recently booked our 2nd one. And we'll be going out longer this time. To be honest, it took me about a day to get over the fact that it wasn't really a trip I wanted, but once I let it go, I really started enjoying it. You don't have to cook, you don't have to clean, none of the downers from everyday life at home. All you have to do is have fun and there's plenty of ways to do it.

 

As far as complainers...there's just as many people who complain about the complainers, so guess what? That makes them complainers too. ;p There's nothing wrong with voicing ones disapproval of something as long as you don't get carried away. It's one of the reasons forums like this exist. It's up to you to decide whether or not what someone's complaining about matters to you.

 

So tell your husband he's not the only guy who thought it wasn't for him. Hopefully he'll be pleasantly surprised like I was. If not, at least you'll know for the future. But if y'all enjoy it, you will have discovered a great vacation for years to come.

[SCAnthony]

We have been on 2 cruises(1 RC and 1 carnival) and have another planned for this October on the Carnival Elation. If you can't have fun on a cruise you're not gonna have fun anywhere. I asked my kids, 10 and soon to be 7, if they'd rather go back to Disney World or do another cruise and they both picked the cruise without even thinking about it.

 

 

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[Saint Greg]

I wasn't a fan of the Galveston embarkation. But all I have to compare it to is New Orleans. In New Orleans the shuttle drops you off and a porter is right there to get your bags...and you walk in the port.

 

In Galveston I did the walk across the street thing. There were no porters nearby. You had to walk...I'm going to say 50 yards to the right to where they were. Then there was only one porter who was interested in taking bags. The others were just standing around or walking by with empty carts. Finally a guy inside these bay doors called me in and told me just to put the bags by a corresponding number.

 

Then you have to walk all the way back down to where you were when you crossed the street. The embarkation line was long and extended outside. Then once you get in and through security and go upstairs, there was another long line to check in.

 

If I do it again, I'll try to drop the bags off before parking..but even without that it would be longer than any embarkation I've had in New Orleans...I'm going to say twice as long as before they started staggered check in. Since they started staggered I have pretty much no wait in New Orleans.

[LizaMM]

My first cruise I was a single mom with 4 kids in tow - ranging in age from 5 to 12 - and it was the best vacation I ever had! I was totally hooked on cruising! We ALL had a fabulous time ....we shared family time and I even was able to have time out alone as an adult!

 

I can tell you that the moment I boarded the Triumph - after an exhausting morning of travelling alone with 4 kids and waiting in line to board - and looked around the Atrium I was in awe, as were my kids, and I knew I would I love cruising!....When we made it to the Lido deck and took in the positive energy of those around us it was wonderful!

 

As far as muster drill....I tend to look at this with a positive spin....this is something you only get to do on a cruise vacation and to me it represents the real start of vacation!....back on my first cruise you actually had to wear your life vests...it's better now that you do not. If you can take the negatives about a cruise and turn them into the special things that make a cruise vacation different from any other experience I think it helps :)

 

Sorry....I can't speak to Galveston as I have sailed out of several Florida ports and NYC

 

Ignore the negatives and go ahead and enjoy yourselves!!

[moongal]

Your husband sounds a lot like me. I am not one to try new things, or new places. My first cruise was a present so I had to go. I was such a wreck of nerves about it. To be honest while in line to embark at Galveston I felt like I was going to be sick I was so nervous and apprehensive.

 

I actually started to cry as the ship was leaving because I felt trapped on this giant boat, but then something magical happened and I started to enjoy it. Everyone around me was sooo nice! It was like everyone was this big giant family! I still am in amazement at how friendly everyone becomes. I am a classic textbook case of an introvert but I actually had a great time talking to people on the ship.

 

It was literally the most fun experience I ever had in my life. We enjoyed everything, the shows, the food, the ship, the ports, everything. After I returned home I actually suffered depression because I wanted to go back so badly!!

 

I went on another cruise the next year and am going again this summer. If I could I would just live on the ship!!!

 

My husband said we could go anywhere this summer and there was not a single place I could think of that would be as much fun as Carnival cruise! (Maybe other lines are just as fun)

 

As for Galveston port I never had any problems. Porters were always just right there, we did self assist last trip and had no problem hauling our stuff either. Granted that was just a quick 4 day so not as much luggage. Even though Galveston is the only port I have experience with, I never had any problems there. Had faster to the fun last trip and just bought it for this trip coming up. If you can get it, I think it is worth it! But if not get a later check in time. Then you can just walk on!

 

Enjoy and try not to worry.

 

 

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[riclop]

Just go and enjoy.

[cruisemom67]

We have cruised a lot with our kids. We live 45 minutes from the Galveston cruise terminal, so it is easy. Galveston is very easy now with staggered embarkation.

My kids started cruising when they were 7, 5 and 2. They are now 21, 19 and 16. They have been on 12-13 cruises, and we have 2 more booked this year. When they were younger, we insisted they go to camp carnival the first night to at least make a few friends. After that, they couldn't wait to go back. My 19 and 21 y.o. Both wish they could still do the kids club, and the reason we have 2 booked this year is that my youngest wants to do the kids club as much as she can before turning 18 in 13 months.

 

We didn't take our kids to Disney World until they were 17 , 15 and 13.....while we were at Disney, all three mentioned they would rather be on a cruise.

 

Cruising IMHO is the best family vacation there is. Plenty of family time and plenty of time for everyone to find their own thing to do.

 

Relax and have a fantastic time!