Hesitant Cruiser - help! Ecstasy

[5cruizin]

My kids (16, 15, 5) and I are all very excited about our cruise in 16 days but my DH is not "excited/looking forward to" the cruise. I cruised 11 years ago, once, but this is the first time for everyone else. We went with a short 5 day cruise to the Bahamas on Carnival Ecstasy. DH has agreed to "be open minded" and give it a chance 😅. He's a drinker so I bought the drink pkg. Any other suggestions to help make it a great time? I want us to go on more so this is a make it or break it cruise! 😳

[elainmir]

Before you know it your hubby will be so immersed in what's going on and having so much fun that you'll be booking your next cruise in no time!

[cruisemom67]

Why isn't he looking forward to it? After our honeymoon 25 years ago, I talked my parents into cruising with us. My dad hated the idea, but he absolutely loved it! Now they have cruised more than we have!

It is such a wonderful, relaxing trip for families. Be sure to do as much as possible, especially since it is such a short one....we always say, "we can sleep when we get home!" Unless he just wants to relax! I would emphasize what a great family trip it is. Time for the two of you, the kids will love camp Carnival, and then you will also have family time. Everyone gets to have a great time. We leave in 3 weeks for our 16th cruise, and this will be my daughters' 11th cruise. They are 21, 19 and 17. We went to Disney several years ago, and everyone said they would have rather cruised (it would have been cheaper, too!). Good luck! But it is really up to him to have a great time.

[cruiserking]

Make sure you fly in a day before departure. The less stress the better.

 

Get to the pier around 10 am beat the rush. Once you're on board head up to the Lido - deck 10 for lunch.

 

Explore the ship, stop by your cabin. Your husband will have a blast. There is so much to do, great bars, lounges, restaurants. You will all have a blast.

 

Happy Cruising.

 

Jonathan

 

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[Melissalcsw]

It's a small but mighty ship. Find a great bar, and stick with it. We loved the Alchemy bar, however it doesn't open until 5. The water works is really fun, even adults can use the slides. We did a 5 day, with three newbie cruisers and we loved it. Familiarize yourself with the ship, download the HUB app to follow activities. Lots to eat, shows to see and places to sit! Enjoy!

[Barsnikel]

Be sure to check out the shows, and also the Karaoke bar and the piano bar. Both of those can be a lot of fun.

 

Take an e-reader or book and chill out in the Serenity (Adults Only) deck. Very relaxing.

 

Ecstasy is a small ship, and an older ship, but in many ways that's good. You will find it less crowded, Large ships can be overwhelming, sometimes. I actually prefer Ecstasy to many of the other ships.

 

Be sure to take him to the Sea Day brunch. The steak and eggs are wonderful. And be sure to spend some "alone" time with just him (without the kids). :D

[A&Jfamily]

It would be helpful to know why he isn't excited. Does he not like the idea of being confined to the ship? Does he think he will be bored? What does he like to do?

 

I hope you invested in 2 rooms...1 bathroom for 5 is a nightmare. If by chance you have 5 in one room then I would suggest several people use the spa for showering to lighten the load.

 

 

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[gottaluvcruises12]

I am in the same situation as you. We are going as a late anniversary with just us and not the kids. But I'm so nervous and hope he had a great time. We are going on Splendor for 4 days. Update and let us know how he likes it.

[Melissalcsw]

 

I hope you invested in 2 rooms...1 bathroom for 5 is a nightmare. If by chance you have 5 in one room then I would suggest several people use the spa for showering to lighten the load.

 

 

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Good point. We had 4 in our OV. Never again. Too many people.

 

 

 

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[bury me at sea]

Don't over plan. Read the Fun Times each evening. If he doesn't see anything that interests him scheduled for the following day just relax at any one of very many different places.

 

Trying to do everything is a lot of work. Go with the flow,

[candigirl41]

My husband was excited when he took his first cruise. After that not so much. He doesn't like being stuck on the ship. He did go 3 more times. 3 of the cruises were 7 days and 1 was 8 days. He hated the 8 day. He's not much for sea days and there were a lot on that one. It depends upon his personality. My husband made it fun, but after the last one in 2006 he just decided it's not for him. I am lucky I have a friend I cruise with. I have been on 23 and have 3 more booked. I hope your husband becomes addicted so you can go on many more together. Good luck and have a great time.

 

Candi

[Hoosierpop]

1) dont baby sit the kids all cruise. Let them have fun and you two have fun

2) take full advantage of the drink package. Try lots of different drinks

3) eat multiple things at dinner. A great time to try things he wouldn't normally.

4) go to the shows, especially comedy.

5) do not sweat little things. Like, there's only one outlet in the room. Oh no. What will we do?

6) if it's the trip I'll be on the ecstasy in a couple of weeks, don't worry if you don't think Nassau isnt that great so don't be afraid to hang on the ship. But enjoy half moon cay.

 

The first time I went on a cruise, I wasn't too excited. Now, it my favorite type of vacation.

 

 

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[happy cruzer]

Well, everyone gave you excellent suggestions. But generally you can not make someone have a good time and you may actually enable him if you try to do too much for him. You and the kids have a good time and then he probably will decide to join in. Else it's just not his thing.

[uprivermama]

I think it's helpful to know where some quiet areas are on the ship--somewhere you can go to get away from the crowds for awhile and have some peace and quiet with the ocean gliding by. A balcony is perfect for this, but if that's not possible there's always a quiet deck with chairs. I just think some people ( like me) are introverts, and really need the option to opt out of evrything now and then. Maybe your DH may be that way too.

[cntrydncr1]

Do lots of the activities and maybe an excursion in Nassau. The more you do the more fun you will have!

[Razor_Poke]

The older kids assuming they get along can go off and do their own thing within reason or join the youth program. The little one absolutely needs to go to camp carnival. My DD liked it much better when she was younger. But the main point is to make time for yourselves alone

[5cruizin]

Make sure you fly in a day before departure. The less stress the better.

 

Get to the pier around 10 am beat the rush. Once you're on board head up to the Lido - deck 10 for lunch.

 

Explore the ship, stop by your cabin. Your husband will have a blast. There is so much to do, great bars, lounges, restaurants. You will all have a blast.

 

Happy Cruising.

 

Jonathan

 

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We are fortunate that we are about 5 hours from the port, Charleston, SC so we are able to drive down without flying. We are actually going down 2 days early so the kids can see Charleston and so we will not be rushed the morning of the cruise. I'm hoping all these things will help decrease the stress level!

[5cruizin]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Unfortunately, we only booked 1 room, but we are not planning on being in there much. We've already discussed rotating down for showers, dressing, etc. We have booked a room at Comfort Inn for our day in Nassau so we have access to Atlantis for the day! He is looking forward to that and at Half Moon Cay, we are chillin on the beach, nothing else! The plan is to look at the daily schedule and see if anything looks interesting, if so, do it, if not, do our own thing; NOT planning anything except Atlantis trip. I want this to be a vacation for all! The older kiddos get along great and will be stuck to each other the entire time, not with us. The younger, we hope, will LOVE Camp Carnival so that we can spend the sea days "alone." We are also celebrating our anniversary while on this trip so alone time is a must!! I think he is hesitant because he thinks it is expensive but doesn't yet understand what all we get for the $$. We've talked about it a little more today while shopping and it sounds like he is a "little" more excited! Needless to say, the rest of us are going to have a blast and hope he joins in!! Thanks for all the suggestions. We'll be looking for "our bar" and hopefully attending a show or 2!

[Melissalcsw]

Sounds like you're prepared. Have a fabulous time.

 

 

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[easyboy]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Unfortunately, we only booked 1 room, but we are not planning on being in there much. We've already discussed rotating down for showers, dressing, etc. We have booked a room at Comfort Inn for our day in Nassau so we have access to Atlantis for the day! He is looking forward to that and at Half Moon Cay, we are chillin on the beach, nothing else! The plan is to look at the daily schedule and see if anything looks interesting, if so, do it, if not, do our own thing; NOT planning anything except Atlantis trip. I want this to be a vacation for all! The older kiddos get along great and will be stuck to each other the entire time, not with us. The younger, we hope, will LOVE Camp Carnival so that we can spend the sea days "alone." We are also celebrating our anniversary while on this trip so alone time is a must!! I think he is hesitant because he thinks it is expensive but doesn't yet understand what all we get for the $$. We've talked about it a little more today while shopping and it sounds like he is a "little" more excited! Needless to say, the rest of us are going to have a blast and hope he joins in!! Thanks for all the suggestions. We'll be looking for "our bar" and hopefully attending a show or 2!

You can consider in your planning the use of the Men's and Women's shower area near the gym and Spa check-in. It can lighten up your rotation schedule for shower and dressing.

[5cruizin]

You can consider in your planning the use of the Men's and Women's shower area near the gym and Spa check-in. It can lighten up your rotation schedule for shower and dressing.

 

I didn't realize this was an option until reading the responses. Great idea! We will probably use this option!!

[uhswim]

My husband was not excited about going on our first cruise (but I told him I would go with him or with my friends for my 40th bday - luckily he picked correctly!). He ended up having a great time and we are planning our 5th cruise in September for his 50th bday. When I asked him what he liked about it, he said all the things you can do in a day. Look at the Fun Times and go try some things (that you might not usually do)- be sure to try a trivia contest or two, go to a comedy show, go down the waterslides, sing karaoke, play ping pong, try some new foods (order 2 appetizers instead of a main dish, etc - why not?). I loved that he unplugged for 4 days straight and couldn't spend all his time working! We go on cruises to relax and try new things! We even got my 72 year old mom to zipline last summer! With 5 in the room, I definitely recommend using the showers in the gym/spa area. I'm the one who usually goes because they are bigger showers - you have to haul your stuff, but not a big deal! There are more plugs for hairdryers and curling irons there as well. I just go back to the room to change. Have a great time!

[Organized Chaos]

Forgive me, this is a little long winded, but wanted to show that even someone who's a bit of a grump leading up to a cruise can result in a new fan of the cruise vacation.

 

A couple members of my wife's family (frequent cruisers) kept asking us to go with them for a couple of years, but we kept turning them down. We didn't think we could afford it, but mainly it just wasn't a vacation we'd ever thought of. Finally we relented in 2015 and agreed to go with them last year. I still wasn't looking forward to it, though. There were plenty of places in the States I wanted to see and had never thought twice about a tropical cruise. It wasn't even on my radar. But I agreed to give it a try since my wife & our son were excited. I spent the year leading up to the cruise doing what I do with all of our vacations...I researched the ever living daylights out of it. Spent hours reading the Carnival FAQ's and hanging out in the old Carnival Funville forums. It began to spark my interest, but I wouldn't say I was excited yet at that point. We planned to go down a couple of days early to visit Everglades Natl. Park. Shoot, I was looking forward to that more than the cruise. I even told my wife that was my vacation, the cruise was theirs. Once we got to the port and could look up at the ship, I started to become amazed by the newness of it all and my walls began to crack. But it still took me a while to find my rhythm. For the first hour or two, I kept running into a lot of discourteous people who had very little respect for others and that kind of thing really gets to me, so it put me in a bad mood. I thought to myself, I knew this was a bad idea. Finally, when we went to our first show on the second night (Epic Rock) I had an awesome time and it broke my walls down. From then on it was smooth sailing, so to speak. We loved it and booked our second cruise a few months ago. The only bad part is, it's not until next June. This time we're taking one of my wife's siblings and their three kids for their first cruise. Our son had a hard go of it on our first one because he's not very social, so he didn't want to hang out with other kids in his age group. He spent a lot of time in the room or arcade by himself or hanging out with us. This time he'll have his cousins. They get along great so we think he'll have a lot more fun. We're just hoping their whole family enjoys it as much as we do. My wife and I talk about it almost every day, a much different version of me than last year. I'm still learning about things I didn't the first time and enjoy passing on what I find to her. One of the things I was looking forward to was talking about it with the ones we're taking with us and teaching them what we know, but they aren't really the type who want to talk about it ahead of time. Maybe as the date gets closer, they'll start showing a little more excitement. I think their kids are looking forward to it.

 

If your husband likes to drink, he already has a leg up because there's plenty of drinking to be had on board. Me personally, I was a big drinker years & years ago, so nowadays I don't drink much. Once in a while. Since we'll have another adult couple with us this time, we'll probably indulge a bit more. I've never been a fan of bars. I prefer to hang out with family or friends and tip a few back. But if your husband likes the bar scene, at least he'll have that to fall back on if he finds that cruising isn't for him. But I'm sure there will be a few things he finds to enjoy himself. I hope you all have a great time, and here's to more in the future. :)

[Kanyon71]

I know a lot of people who never want to go on a cruise, it's too confining, I'll be bored, I can't stand being trapped on a ship, so on and so on. Now after getting most of them to go I have yet to have one of them not have a great time. Yes overall it does LOOK expensive you are looking at that hit up front and saying I can do this or that or this and that cheaper. To be honest that's rarely the case unless you are being super frugal on any specific trip, the hotels, food, entertainment, snacks, drinks, gas all add up pretty quickly.

 

Now my number one suggestion for the trip is don't over plan, don't make it so that every second you HAVE to be somewhere or be doing SOMETHING. The best part of the cruise is it's YOUR time, the people running the ship will make sure you get to the ports, the people will cook the food, the entertainers will entertain. Your job is just to relax and enjoy. The more you relax the more you will enjoy in my eyes. We are doing a group cruise next year and some of them going are the same way with the same reasons that they won't enjoy it. Now once we get back if they don't enjoy it and want to go again it will be the first time it's happened with us while taking someone on a cruise with us. Heck most of the people we get to go with us are the ones now asking when we are going again lol.

 

Like the song tells us to do. Don't Worry Be Happy

[5cruizin]

Uhswim, Organized Chaos andKanyon71

Thank you for the encouragement and positive thought/suggestions. The more we talk the more he is starting to "warm up" to the idea. 10 days and counting! Everyone on here has made me feel more comfortable. My plan is to go and enjoy myself and help the kiddos have a great time. I think he will as well once we get there! Thanks again