Fantasy from New Orleans..help

[KyleesMom]

Hi. We are considering taking our first cruise in May on the Fantasy (carnival) and I have a couple of questions for those who have taken this ship. How much is parking in the garage outside of port a day? We are taking our 2 year old and I was wondering if any parents had some input on camp carnival and if there child seemed to enjoy it. The price is really high right now for the week we want, does the price usually drop the closer it gets to sailing time? Should I call carnival and book through them or will a travel agent give me a better rate? Does anyone know what time we are allowed to board the ship? (departs at 4pm). I am really excited about taking this cruise and any input would be great! I look forward to talking with yall!

Tiffany

[BrendaB1]

I just returned from Fantasy 2 weeks ago & it was great. Ship was clean & well maintained. Food was good & staff were friendly & effecient.

 

I flew in & took a cab to the terminal but I think parking was either $12 or $14 a day. If you are arriving a day early, some hotels are now offering free parking with your hotel stay.

 

No kids so can't answer Camp Carnival questions.

 

May is usually a pretty expensive time to cruise. Schools start letting out & summer vacation (peak time) begins.

 

We arrived about 10:45 & were allowed to board starting at 11:00am.

 

Good luck. Hope you have a wonderful cruise if you decide on this one.

[LHP]

We were just on the Fantasy last month and had a great time.

 

Parking is $14 a day right there at the terminal (literally on top of the terminal). It was pouring down rain and we unloaded our car, parked and checked in....all without one drop of rain getting on us. Very nice!!!

 

Camp Carnival is always done an excellent job caring for our 2 boys. They are now older (15 and 18) but Allison heads up Camp Carnival on the Fantasy at this time and she is amazing. Our youngest son is a special needs child and she went out of her way to get me "Freddie's" schedule (our son has panic attacks around mascots) so that we could avoid him. The youngest son has been on 14 different Carnival ships and we have never had a bad experience with Camp Carnival.

 

If you will email me at musicalcruiser@hotmail.com .... I will be glad to give you some tips to saving money that we are not allowed to discuss on these boards.

[crazycruzer68]

We were just on the Fantasy last month and had a great time.

 

Parking is $14 a day right there at the terminal (literally on top of the terminal). It was pouring down rain and we unloaded our car, parked and checked in....all without one drop of rain getting on us. Very nice!!!

 

Camp Carnival is always done an excellent job caring for our 2 boys. They are now older (15 and 18) but Allison heads up Camp Carnival on the Fantasy at this time and she is amazing. Our youngest son is a special needs child and she went out of her way to get me "Freddie's" schedule (our son has panic attacks around mascots) so that we could avoid him. The youngest son has been on 14 different Carnival ships and we have never had a bad experience with Camp Carnival.

 

If you will email me at musicalcruiser@hotmail.com .... I will be glad to give you some tips to saving money that we are not allowed to discuss on these boards.

 

 

 

 

Do you mind if I e-mail as well, I am planning a group cruise for our family in Oct. and would love to pass on some money saving tips!

[jandjfun]

We were just on the Fantasy last month and had a great time.

 

Parking is $14 a day right there at the terminal (literally on top of the terminal). It was pouring down rain and we unloaded our car, parked and checked in....all without one drop of rain getting on us. Very nice!!!

 

Camp Carnival is always done an excellent job caring for our 2 boys. They are now older (15 and 18) but Allison heads up Camp Carnival on the Fantasy at this time and she is amazing. Our youngest son is a special needs child and she went out of her way to get me "Freddie's" schedule (our son has panic attacks around mascots) so that we could avoid him. The youngest son has been on 14 different Carnival ships and we have never had a bad experience with Camp Carnival.

 

If you will email me at musicalcruiser@hotmail.com .... I will be glad to give you some tips to saving money that we are not allowed to discuss on these boards.

What the heck? What kinds of money saving tips can we not discuss?/:(

[LHP]

[/b]

What the heck? What kinds of money saving tips can we not discuss?/:(

 

 

Discussing ways to save money once you are on board is definately allowed. However, the OP asked about booking and there are some things (sites) that can not be discussed on here.

 

Things that can be discussed is:

To save money when booking a cruise, examine all discounts available.

Military, 55+ Years old (senior discount), Interline discounts (for airline employees or FAA employees) and Resident discounts.

[socal cruzin]

do any of you now how much it was to cab from the airport to the cruise terminal??

[sea_u_onboard]

The price is really high right now for the week we want, does the price usually drop the closer it gets to sailing time? Should I call carnival and book through them or will a travel agent give me a better rate?

You can wait and see if prices drop - BUT - if the week is popular it is unlikely that the price will drop. On SOME ships cabins for 3 or 4 are limited - so they could book up and then you will be out of luck. If you book now and the price does come down you can call and request the new rate or OBC - not a guarantee but they do tend to offer one of the other.

 

Also I deal directly with Carnival. I used to use an agent but find that even with the discounts SOME agents offfer I like to deal directly with the cruiseline. If there are issues or concerns I can just call the source. If you have problems with the booking and can't get results from your agent then you are stuck - Carnival won't talk to you. Some agents that offer those GREAT DEALS also have cancellation or change fees. If the price goes down you may not be able to take advantage if your agent charges you for taking the discount (change). Be sure to read their policy on changes and cancellations.

[LRene]

Hi Tiffany - we'll be on Fantasy the week of 5/19 and also next month. There is a HUGE difference in the rates we're paying for the same cruise but as was mentioned, once schools start getting out and the weather gets warmer the rates go up. We also book with Carnival, stay in touch with our PVP and watch for rate drops on a regular basis.

 

We'll have a 5 yr. old and a 2 yr. old (granddaughters) on this cruise. (AM I CRAAAAZY???:eek: ) so we'll be doing the Camp Carnival thing and keeping our fingers crossed that they'll participate.

 

LHP is correct on the parking @ $14 per day at the port. Get there early because if it fills, they send you to an open overflow lot that's not very secure. You should be able to board by 11-11:30am.

 

(And WELCOME to Cruise Critic!)

[BrendaB1]

do any of you now how much it was to cab from the airport to the cruise terminal??

 

$28 flat fee for 1 or two people plus a $1 surcharge. There is also shuttle service available in the airport that may save you a few dollars. It takes about 30 minutes from airport to terminal.....depending on traffic.

[LHP]

do any of you now how much it was to cab from the airport to the cruise terminal??

 

Don't quote me, but for some reason $28.00 one way is coming to mind.

[KyleesMom]

I just wanted to thank everyone for responding. This is a great group or knowledgable people!

Tiffany

[KyleesMom]

lol..of knowledgeable people..long day

Cheers!

Tiffany

[TanyaH321]

Hey there! We just returned from that ship on Saturday and it was great. For the five night cruise, the parking price was $75 and you paid when you got there. The whole embarkation process went very smoothly.

 

We had our 3 yr old son with us and he LOVED Camp Carnival! We could not tear him away. He wanted to stay there all day and we insisted we needed to see him a little bit. LOL They had so many activities and almost every minute of the day was taken up with something. They had exercise time and craft time and movie time and story time. They had a welcome aboard party and a farewell party. They had ice cream eating contests and t-shirt decorating. The last day they had a talent show. He had so much fun. Jacob loved seeing Funship Freddy. He thought he was the coolest. I hope this has helped you some. If you have any more questions about Camp Carnival, feel free to email me at tennsthrngal@yahoo.com I can email you the list of activities that my son had and that might help you decide if it's something that your child will like.