A Magic Vacation (8/19-8/26 2017; Eastern Caribbean)

[buddylover]

More starting tonight! This week has been harder to write the review than I thought. I will have more time once I am home again [emoji41]

 

 

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Thanks! Can't wait!!! ;)

[dctravel]

Ok, I am home again and now should be able to plow through a few days worth of my review. I left off after our first sea day (Sunday). On Monday (August 21) we were in Amber Cove. We didn't plan to do much here, as none of the excursions fit what we wanted to do, or the price we wanted to pay. From reading the forums, I thought the pool was right up our alley, and I was right. We had a great day.

 

We arrived into Amber Cove early (9 am), but before we got off the ship we went to the main dining room for the breakfast open seating. After the fiasco of breakfast yesterday, we had very good experience. Having a dedicated waiter and order the night before worked out really well. My son ordered eggs (no butter) and strawberries. He ate all of the strawberries, but almost none of the eggs. The eggs were tasty, so it wasn't that. Who knows!

 

After breakfast, we gathered our stuff, including Carnival's towels and the eclipse glasses that I had ordered online about 3 months before the cruise and headed ashore. Carnival Corporation has done a really nice job in building out Amber Cove. When you exit the Duty Free shop, you head to the right to the pool complex or left to the shopping area (more on that in a bit).

 

We headed to the right, and there were a TON of loungers available. We picked some by the kiddie play area (although we didn't really use that) because they were sort-of in the shade and then we jumped in the pool. It is really very large and it never felt too crowded. My kids enjoyed the water slide (wear shoes up there and carry them down, as the ground hurts your feet and gets really hot). Around 11:30, we were getting hungry, so we went to the pool restaurant CoCo Cana Lounge. We ordered Nachos, two virgin strawberry daiquiris, a beer, and a mixed drink (I can't remember what), and the total with tip was about $44. Not cheap, but it hit the spot. The staff was very friendly and the I liked ambiance. While we were eating, other staff by the pool was getting guests to do line dances. It was a fun vibe.

 

After eating, we played a little more (including giant chess) and the decided to go shopping. The shops here are really dissapointed. Regular stuff like Diamonds International (my daughter collects the free charms) and some clothing stores. Many empty store fronts. When we were done shopping, we headed back on the ship about 1:15 and headed to straight to the Lido deck to grab some real lunch and watch the eclipse. The kids had guys burgers and my wife and I had pizza (the line wasn't very long :)).

 

I wasn't sure what to expect from Carnival about the eclipse (hence why I bought my own eclipse glasses with us). Carnival had bought some glasses and where handing them out on the Lido deck and making annoucements not to look direclty at the sun (and that regular sun glasses were not enough). Demand for the glasses exceeded supply, so they started to limit glasses to one pair per family. It wasn't that big an issue, people where sharing with other guests and staff members. In fact, the guy monitoring the little kid water slides was hilarious. He was half watching the slides and half watching the eclipse. Even with the distraction, he was on top of the kids.

 

About half way through the eclipse, it started to get cloudy and we headed inside to rest before dinner. Dinner was good, and we then headed to watch Hasbro the Game Show. It was a ton of fun. My wife got picked to play Operation Skee Ball and she had a really good time. My son then wanted to go to bed, so my daughter and I watched the crew clean Lido in preparation for the Mega Deck Party and also watched the Polaris Trio play on Lido. There were a really good trio with a violin, an electric bass and an electric viola. We saw them many times over the week. At about 9:45, we headed to bed to get ready for St. Thomas the next day.

[dctravel]

Our second port stop was St. Thomas. I had been here on the Carnival Triumph in 2001, but not back since. I remember the island being beautiful, and my memory did not fail me. Since the ship didn't dock until noon, we woke up, had a first breakfast on Lido (cereal, yogurt, chocolate muffins for my daughter), played a round of mini-golf, woke up mom, and headed to the dining room for breakfast. Today, we ordered my son dairy free french toast, and it was delicious. Unfortunately, he is six and decided to only eat the strawberries and some watermelon. Oh well, it was an excellent effort by the chef!

 

After breakfast, we went to play Guess Who in Ocean Plaza. I really like the partnership with Hasbro. To me, these games (Yahtzee, Guess Who, Sorry) are way more fun than trivia. We might not have won any of the games we were playing, but we had a blast and laughs doing it. I wish I could remember the name of the Fun Squad member who was hosting the games (do you remember PH8), but he was a hoot. We really thought we were going to win Guess Who, but the red team stormed back and stole it from us!

 

As the ship was docking in St. Thomas, we decided to have lunch on Lido since our excurision--Fast Cat Turtle Bay Snorkel & Honeymoon Beach, didn't leave until 2:30. After lunch (I'm pretty sure we did pasta today), we went shopping in Havensight in the shops closest to the pier, then brought everything back to the ship before setting out on our tour. Again, my daughter visited Diamonds International for the charm, and we perused several shops where we bought some silver necklaces and a rock turtle for my son. I will note that I saw some very nice Inivicta watches in one of the shops. I didn't end up buying it, but I never saw a price as good for the rest of the cruise, including the onboard 75% off sale.

 

As I mentioned, we did the Fast Cat Turtle Bay Snorkel & Honeymoon Beach through Carnival. We chose it months ago and reserved it through the website. When we booked the tour, it left at 1:30, but the time was changed to 2:30 and we recived a letter in our cabin. No big deal for us, we met the tour right on the pier next to the gangway and off we went. The worst part of the trip was walking to the catamaran. The Magic was docked at the far end of the pier with the Glory between us and the end of the pier. We had to walk the length of both ships and then some to get to the catamaran, and it was HOT out. We survived the walk and had a great tour.

 

The catamaran (the Cruzan Breeze, I think) took us out to Turtle Bay, which is a protected area at Buck Island, about a 20 minute ride from the pier. The water was crystal clear and we were able to see sea turtles (full confession that I was the only one in my family who didn't see one) and all kinds of fish. The boat's crew gave a guided tour, and they provided everyone with life jackets (required), snorkels, and fins. After snorkeling for about an hour, we reboarded and headed to Honeymoon Beach. While on the way, rum punch was made and poured. My wife told me it was good, but unfortunatley, I couldn't drink it because I was allergic to the fruit juices they used (pineapple, papaya, and maybe guava). They also had Coke, Diet Coke, and plenty of water.

 

Honeymoon Beach was really nice. They pulled the boat within about 10 feet of the beach into about 4 feet of water. You could get off the boat and swim or walk to shore easily. They set up rum punch on the back of the boat if you wanted that, and there was a beach bar (Heidi's) that had beer, burgers, and other food for purchase. I had a few beers while talking to other folks in the water. It was a lot of fun.

 

Now for the funny part of the excursion. Since the trip was a 4 hour tour and we left at 2:30, we weren't due back until 6:30, which was also back on board time (7:00 pm departure). Of course, Carnival wasn't going to leave 45 people on one of their excursions behind (especially when the next port was San Juan, which is just around the figurative corner). When all was said and done, we walked back on the ship at 6:27. I can only imagine that some people on board thought we were pier runners!

 

Since we were so late back to the Magic, we quickly dropped our stuff, changed into dry clothes, and went to the MDR for dinner. I have no recollection of what I ate that night, as we were almost 45 minutes late, but Elbert and his team were ready for us and we were in and out of inner in plenty of time to see Country Roads. It was an enjoyable show, but IMHO the weakest of the four shows they did during the week.

 

After a long, but fun day, we went to sleep on the early side ready to explore the beach in San Juan the next day.

[PH8]

. I wish I could remember the name of the Fun Squad member who was hosting the games (do you remember PH8), but he was a hoot. .

Cando!.He was great........I made sure to mention him in the survey...

[heffy2]

Such a great review! Thank you!

[dctravel]

Such a great review! Thank you!

 

 

 

Thanks! More to come either tonight or tomorrow morning [emoji41]

 

 

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[dctravel]

On to port #3, San Juan. This was the first time I have been on a cruise ship somewhere I have also been by plane. I really like San Juan. It has the historic forts and Old Town San Juan in contrast to the more modern resort and business areas that stretch east to the airport. My initial instinct was to tour the forts and then walk down the hill to shop and eat in Old Town, but then I remember that my kids really don't like doing that stuff. Instead we went to the Marriott San Juan (on Condado) for the day to use their beach and pool. We booked through resortforaday dot com. The four day passes were $220, but included a $20 food and beverage credit per person. The website said it was $20 per adult, but they gave it to all four of us. They paid for most of lunch and drinks in the poolside restaurant.

 

We had a great time at the Marriott. They have a very nice beach (it was red flag when we were there, but we were still able to stick our feet in) and a really cool 2 tier pool with a water slide. My kids liked the pool more than the beach, which was fine with us. They also have a swim up bar, and two restaurants near the pool. We ate in the less formal restaurant, which switched from breakfast to lunch at noon. As I mentioned, the $80 in F&B credit covered most of our $120 bills (with tip), that included a kids burger, a kids chicken fingers, an adult burger, and adult salad entree, two beers, a mixed drink, and a virgin daiquiri. Not cheap, but perfect for us!

 

The Marriott is also right next to both a CVS and a Walgreens if you need to replenish any supplies or buy anything. I went to buy a few items and to purchase coffee. I really enjoy Puerto Rican coffee and they have two brands that you will see in many stores, one in a yellow bag (Yaucono) and one in a red bag (Cafe Rico). Last time I was in San Juan I saw the coffee for $10 to $15 a bag in the tourist shops, or $4 to $6 in CVS and Walgreens. I bought two of each to bring back home (and I'm drinking some now as I type my review:)).

 

 

Since the ship docked at 8 am and back on board was 3:30, we waited through the rush and left the ship at about 9 am. It was easy to grab a cab to Condado ($14 for all four of us) and we were at the hotel in about 15 minutes. Since we wanted to shop before heading back onto the ship, we left the Marriott around 1:30 and had the cab driver drop us off in Plaza de Colon, which allowed us to avoid the craziness of the streets around the port. There were four ships in (Carnival Glory, MSC Divina, Allure of the Seas, and the Carnival Magic), so it was pretty busy. Rumor was that a fourth NCL ship was supposed to be in port, but that they had been diverted for weather reasons. No clue about that as we had beautiful weather all week.

 

After shopping for a little while, including our obligatory stop at Diamonds International for the charm, buying t-shirts at Parana Joe's, and a couple of other suveniers, we headed back on board. San Juan had affored us the opportunity to check email and voice mail, since we had a Verizon LTE signal the whole time. While the family headed to the room to cool down (man was it hot that day), I returned a few phone calls that couldn't wait while taking a stroll around the outdoor promonade on deck 5. Then, just about sail away time, I went back to our room and went with my daughter on the waterslides. It was really awesome to watch the ship sail away while riding the slides. Great views and great fun!

 

Tonight, was the second elegant night. We got dressed up a bit and headed to our early dinner slot. Tonight was grilled shrimp and filet and short ribs. The shrimp and the short ribs were really good, the filet was okay. Completely edible, but not memorable. After dessert, we headed to the theater to see 88 Keys. It was really well done. The piano bar player warmed up the crowed, and everyone was singing along throughout the show. The cast kept up high energy and I really enjoyed it.

 

After the show, my son headed to sleep and my wife took my daughter for a walk around the ship. It has been a really fun day at the pool and beach and we were all set for Grand Turk the following day.

[dctravel]

It was really amazing how quickly the cruise was moving. Four ports in a row was intense, but because they were staggered when we arrived at each island (in the morning v. early afternoon), it made for a relaxing back and forth. Our last port was Grand Truk and I did not know what to really expect, even with doing a bunch of CC reading. We decided to take it easy and go to the pool at Margaritaville and the beach near the ship. Since we were arriving at noon and were the second ship in port (Carnival Sunshine was there first and left at 2 pm), we were in no rush to get off the ship.

 

We started our day in pretty much the same manner as we had all week. My son and I got up and headed to the Lido for a breakfast snack and then to play mini-golf. At some point my daughter would join us, and then we would take coffee back to the room to wake up Mom. We would then all head to breakfast in the main dining room. At this point, our waiter Roy had figured out to bring strawberries, watermelon, and dry wheat toast for my son. The rest of us varied our order a little bit more :).

 

After breakfast, we went to Ocean Plaza to play Sorry! Once again Cando was hilarious. This time he had Lloyd helping him, and it was clear that neither of them had really played Sorry! before. Needless to say, we didn't win even though we had the first person home, but we had a blast doing it. While my son and I were playing Sorry!, my wife and daughter did the ropes course. They had a blast, even though they both thought parts were very challenging.

 

Once we docked in Grand Turk, we headed to Guy's Pig and Anchor for lunch, figuring we would eat first and then get off the ship. This turned out to be a good decision, as the food at Margaritaville didn't really appeal to us and it was expensive. The ship board BBQ was pretty good, considering it is on a ship and cannot be cooked over an open flame all night, like most land based BBQ places do. I thought the brisket was fairly moist and the mac and cheese really excellent. What was really lacking were the sauces (the one place you would expect it to be really good). They were generally lacking flavor.

 

Once we got off the ship, we headed straight to the pool. After the awesome pool in Amber Cove, I thought the Margaritaville pool was underwhelming, over-crowded, and quite frankly a little dirty. We did get drinks at the bar above the pool. My son loved the virgin daiquiri, I enjoyed the local micro brew (Turk's Head), and my wife had a tasty mixed drink. After spending some time a the pool, we headed to the beach after the Carnival Sunshine left (they clear the water when a ship is going to depart, since the ships are literatly right next to the beach).

 

The beach had crystal clear water and you could see fish swimming everywhere. My daughter and I walked the beach bewteen the pier and the end of the Carnival port area looking for sea glass (which you rarely see on the mid-Atlantic beaches anymore). We took a bunch home that we are hoping to do a little picture frame project with! In hindsight, I would have loved to walk up to Jack's Shack, as many people reported even clearer water and cleaner beach, but I still had a good time.

 

After some time on the beach, we went shopping and to visit the John Glenn exhibit. Shopping in Grand Turk was way better than Amber Cove, but not as good as in St. Thomas (the clear winner) and San Juan. We still found a few things to buy, including a sea glass pendent for my wife and a braclet for my daughter before heading back on the ship. Sail away wasn't until about 6 pm, so while cleaning up, we found the "secret" door on the Lido deck to look back at Grand Truk.

 

Tonight was the one night with really nothing going on that was guaranteed to be family friendly. It was the nigth of the gender showdown and the marriage show, neither of which I was completly sure of (I know the marriage show is a no for my kids, but was unsure of the gender showdown) and the movie on Lido was Kong: Skull Island. Not great when you have kid who can get scared easily. We ended up playing Bingo, which wasn't inexpesive, and went really, really fast. There were winners in all three games within almost the minimum number of balls. After Bingo, we walked around the ship and then headed to bed to get ready for our last sea day.

[Clarasgrandma]

We will be on this sme ship and itinerary in Jan! Thanks for sharing!

[dctravel]

It is hard to believe how quickly our week away was going. It was already the last sea day! I was so not ready for vacation to be over. Our last sea day started slowly, nobody woke up before 8 am! That must be a family record for us :). Since we woke up so late, and my daughter wanted to go to the towel animal folding class, we split up for breakfast. My son and I headed to the main dining room and my wife and daugher hit up Lido and then headed to Ocean Plaza for towel folding fun. Breakfast in the main dining room was the Sea Day brunch, and it was very good. My son had dry toast (his new favorite) and I had scrambled eggs, bacon (they were not stingy), and hash browns (for some reason Carnival's hashbrowns are addictive). When we were talking with our waiter Roy about how sad we were to have to get off the ship the next day, he told us that the dining room is now open for breakfast on debarkation day. This was news to us and made us really happy! No having to wait in a crowd on Lido for breakfast!

 

After breakfast, my son and I walked down to deck 5 and played foosball and shuffleboard in the Red Frog Pub while my daughter finished up with the towel animals. We then took the kids to the kids clubs for a few hours and my wife and I went to the Serenity deck. I know that there were a ton of people on the ship (~4,700), but there were a ton of seats available on Serenity. It was exactly the opposite experience of the Carnival Dream in April 2016. After a little bit, we picked up the kids for lunch (pasta bar and pizza!) and then headed to the water slides.

 

For my kids, the water slides and the water area was one of the best things on the ship. As I mentioned earlier, they have already identified the next ship they want to sail on (the Carnival Sunshine) because of its water slides. We spend a long time on the slides. They had a blast. I also love being up so high and watching the ship move in the water while waiting for the slide. I am not sure if they are supposed to, but they did not ask me to remove my hat or my glasses to ride. That made taking in the view even easier!

 

After sliding for a while, my wife and daughter decided to go back to the ropes course (it wasn't too windy!), and my son and I did the slides and the water play stuff some more before heading to the sports square to see if he was tall enough for the ropes course. Unfortunately, he was not (you must be 48 inches, and it is enforced), so we headed back to the room to start packing and chill before dinner.

 

On past cruises, I recall having to have bags in the hallway by 6 pm. On this cruise, it was 11 pm. Those extra few hours were really great. It meant that we could pack leisurely, go to dinner, then come back and change and still get our dinner closes in the suitcase before pickup. I thought this was a great thing. Before dinner, we did our traditional stop at the Red Frog Pub for drinks and then headed to the MDR.

 

After dinner, my wife took the kids to the theater to get seats to the America Rocks show and I swung by the Red Frog to pick up drinks and to buy a souvenier Thirsty Frog pint glass ($4 extra). Anthony had been taking care of us all week, and we really appreciated his friendly service and ability to make drinks. At the show, Dr. E was great warming up the crowd and the show was very good. It incorporated more than just the cast from the first three shows, and included some folks with just incredible voices. I am not 100% sure I would call of the songs they did Rock, but it was enjoyable.

 

After the show, there was a "Magic" moment balloon drop in the atrium. All day they had been having people write memories on balloons and putting them in a big net on the Lido deck. At 9:30, Dr. E led the crown for a big baloon drop from deck 10 to deck 3. It was really cool to watch, even though (as Dr. E put it) some stinker put a water balloon in the net. In the video I took (not sure how to upload it), you can see the water balloon drop like a rock.

 

After the balloon drop, my son and I went back to the room (he was exhausted) and my daughter and wife went to Lido to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. My son helped me get the luggage in the hallway, and then he went to sleep. While it was a late night, it was a great last night of the cruise.

 

Debarkation and some general thoughts are next!

[LNNLNNLNN]

Thanks so much for this...we are sailing this itinerary on May 5....

[dctravel]

Thanks so much for this...we are sailing this itinerary on May 5....

 

 

 

It is a solid itinerary! Happy to answer any questions you have now or closer to your leaving.

 

 

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[lvetocruise2012]

What a great review! How did your kids enjoy Camp Ocean? Did they go there after dinner?

 

 

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[dctravel]

What a great review! How did your kids enjoy Camp Ocean? Did they go there after dinner?

 

 

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My kids liked Camp Ocean, but they only went on the sea days for a few hours. Since my son has food allergies, we did not want him eating in Camp Ocean. We dropped them off around 10 and picked up around 1.

 

What they were there for, they really enjoyed. The staff had a variety of activities for them. What they actually liked least was when they had free time, but my kids are regular camp attendees (day camp and sleep away), so they live programming. [emoji41]

 

 

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[dctravel]

Debarkation is the opposite emotion of embarkation. Instead of feeling wonder at exploring the ship and excitement about starting your vacation, debarkation is a rush with sadness that you are leaving your home for the last week. This debarkation felt less rushed than when we sailed on the Dream. First, we did not have to be out of our cabins until 8:30. Since we were not doing self-debark, and our flight home wasn't until 2:45 (and I didn't book a shuttle pickup until 10:30), we were in no rush to depart.

 

After we woke up around 7:30, I took the medical cooler back to guest services (and they promptly refunded me my $75 deposit) and retrieved ice packs that I had dropped of to be refrozen the night before. It was a seamless process. Having FTTF in this case was a HUGE time saver as there was only 3 people in the FTTF/diamond/platinum line and about a bazillion people in the "regular" line. I will say that I was stunned by some of the issues people were having on the last day, including being surprised that credit cards were being charged for Sign and Sail purchases, and one cabin with four adults that all of a sudden decided they needed the charges put on four different credit cards. I guess I am too much of a planner to have those issues on debarkation day.

 

After getting the ice packs, I walked up 7 flights of stairs back to the Lido deck to do the final packing of our room. With everything in a carry on and backpacks, we headed to the main dining room for one last breakfast with Roy. The main dining room closed at 9 (I think), but we had a leisurely breakfast and then went to play foosball in the Red Frog Pub until about 10, when we decided it was probably time to get off the ship. We were in zone 2, which Dr. E called around 9:40, but we finally got off when he called zone 8-10.

 

When we got of the ship (tear), we grabbed our bags (last one left in zone 2!), and got in line for customs. The line was long, but moved really quickly. After a cursory glance at our passports (no customs forms necessary if you have nothing to declare, at least at Port Canaveral), we were out the door and looking for Cortans shuttle service. We easily found them (in the median as you walk to the parking garage) and once we checked in, they had us wait in the shade at the parking garage. The shuttle finally came about 10:45 (they have you pay right as the shuttle is arriving) and we were on our way to the airport. Note that if you have to use the restroom while you are waiting, you can go back into the arrival terminal. There is a set of bathrooms outside of security that the staff will direct you too.

 

After that, we had an easy flight home.

[HolySpearit]

Thank you for this review! I'm also team November 4th on this itinerary (seems like there's a lot of us!) and we're taking kind of a laid back let's see what happens approach vs booking excursions in port so I'm happy to read some seemingly easy ideas for Grand Turk and Amber Cove!

[dctravel]

Now that my review is basically done, I wanted to reflect on a few things about the cruise more generally. As I hope came across, we really had a great time. Carnival really are the fun ships, with a million things going on. I guess that might not be for everyone, but as a family we have now enjoyed our selves twice. My kids are also ready to sign up for a third cruise in 2019 (they want to go to Disney World next year).

 

Other observations (in no particular order):

 

- Cruise directors might not break a cruise, but they can sure enhance it. In my three Carnival cruises, I have sailed with John Heald (2001), Brandon K, and Dr. E. John and Dr. E brought something special to the cruises that Brandon did not. We liked Brandon, but he did not blow us away.

 

- Allergies are a serious business. As a family with food allergies, we already know this, but we were glad to see Carnival's management (both in Miami and on the ship) take it seriously too. While our incident at breakfast the first morning was regrettable and preventable, they responded well and fixed the problem for the rest of the cruise.

 

- The Red Frog Pub and other 2.0 enhances are really great. We had sailed on the Dream before its refurbishment, and the additions of Guys Burgers, the Blue Iguana Taco Bar, and Guy's Pig and Anchor are better than their counterparts on our previous sailing.

 

- Hasbro the Game Show is a ton of fun and a great addition to the 4 stages shows we saw. That said, we did kinda miss the name that tune and other games that the previous entertainment package had.

 

- Overall, I was really impressed with the live music. We particularly liked the steel drum player and the Polaris Trio. The Polaris Trio was really neat, playing rock songs on electronic classical instruments.

 

- Even with 4,700 passengers on board, the Magic never really felt crowded (except in San Juan, when there were 19,000 people in port and getting back on board while sharing the same pier as the Carnival Glory made for long lines to get in the building. We had the opposite feeling on the Dream, which is odd, since they are basically the same ship.

[dctravel]

I just thought of one other observation:

 

- We really liked the HUB app. While we did not purchase an internet plan or pay for the messaging feature in the app, getting on the ship's wifi to connect to the app was easy and we found ourselves using it alot for the Funtimes. Since we carried our phone with us to use as camera's the HUB app was an easy way to check the schedule and to check our Sail & Sign balances. It was great to be able to see how much money we were spending in real time.

 

Still working on trying to figure out how to post the Funtimes (which were requested on the first page). Hopefully, I will figure that out shortly.

[ohioblue52]

very interesting. nice review

[PrincessMinion]

How did you let them know before the cruise that you had allergies? I'm cruising with my mom in March and she has allergies to dairy and soy. I would love to get on this allergy protocol for her ahead of time because that's her biggest worry when traveling.

[dctravel]

How did you let them know before the cruise that you had allergies? I'm cruising with my mom in March and she has allergies to dairy and soy. I would love to get on this allergy protocol for her ahead of time because that's her biggest worry when traveling.

 

 

 

We have a connection to the corporate office, so we talked directly with the chef for Carnival. We were told that you should contact the special needs department to register your allergy. Then, on embarkation day, go to the Northern Lights dining room to talk with the Maitre d staff. They have a list from the shore side staff and you can explain those issues in more detail.

 

I have a soy flour allergy (soy oil and soy lecithin are ok for me) and had asked about the pizza dough (fine for me), bread in the dinning room (the French bread was fine for me and also dairy free) and a few other things. My son is allergic to dairy (cooked and raw). He could also eat the pizza dough (although he did not) and the French bread (he loved it). For other stuff, they made it from scratch (fish sticks, chicken nuggets, French toast). The only thing he wanted that they absolutely could not do was waffles, bc they buy them frozen and then warm them up.

 

I hope this helps! Happy to answer more questions. If you have them. Feel free to DM me if that is easier.

 

 

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[PrincessMinion]

 

I hope this helps! Happy to answer more questions. If you have them. Feel free to DM me if that is easier.

 

 

 

Thanks for the help! We will be on the Carnival Imagination, so I'll make sure the correct dining room is aware and call or email to let them know soon. She can't have any dairy at all. Even the slightest amount will make her sick. Thankfully it's not a life-threatening reaction, but would ruin the rest of the day for her. Soy is less of a problem, but still not great for her to have. Soy sauce is usually ok, but anything else seems to be problematic.

 

To bring it back on topic, I did really enjoy your review and love learning about all the different ships.

[erewhon]

Thank you for taking time to review your cruise.

[dctravel]

She can't have any dairy at all. Even the slightest amount will make her sick. Thankfully it's not a life-threatening reaction, but would ruin the rest of the day for her. Soy is less of a problem, but still not great for her to have. Soy sauce is usually ok, but anything else seems to be problematic.

 

 

 

To bring it back on topic, I did really enjoy your review and love learning about all the different ships.

 

 

Thanks! I'm glad you have found it useful. We found that it took a little explaining and vigilance, but the dining room staff and chefs bend over backwards to help us out. Your key will be the assistant maitre d's. Just be explicit with what you want. For example, my soy (and legume) allergy is such that I just can't eat it, but if string beans are served on the side, I just don't eat them. The kitchen's default was to not give me them (or the sauce, etc) at all. Once I explained, we had smooth sailing (pun intended)!

 

My son also cannot have dairy at all. Is there a steakhouse on the Imagination? If so, they have non-dairy sorbet in the steakhouse. We were able to ask for that to be served for his dessert in the main dining room. Over the week, he had lemon, raspberry, and mango. They may have had other flavors, but mango is his favorite :).

 

Also, you will likely be told to avoid eating on Lido for the most part. Since cross-contamination is not an issue for my son, he loved Guys Burgers, the pasta bar (which may not be on Imagination) with no butter (we ordered noodles plain, which also meant no oil), and all of the fruit from Lido. At breakfast, we would also take several boxes of cereal for snacks during the day.

 

One other note, if you have time/transportation before the cruise (or pack it in your luggage), we went to the grocery store to get snack food. One thing Carnival doesn't seem to have are chips/pretzels. We bought some Pringles, individual bags of skinny pop (for movies on lido), and pretzels for cabin and shore snacks.

 

 

 

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[dctravel]

I would love to get on this allergy protocol for her ahead of time because that's her biggest worry when traveling.

 

 

I should also note that being on the allergy protocol can cause dinner to take a little longer. This isn't necessarily bad, but something you should know.

 

 

 

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