First Time Cruising - Carnival Cruise

[trixie belle]

The women in my family are cruising in May. Three of us have never cruised before. When it comes to formal nights on the ship, do we have to have gowns? (I remember my mother wearing one on her cruise.) My sister is handicapped and will have a motorized chair at the ship. I know they have a life boat drill early on. How do we get my sister on deck, I'm assuming the elevators will be shut down.

 

Our Ports of Call will be Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Tortola. Are the Islands relatively safe or do we need to be careful?

 

Any help would be appreciated.:cool:

[bamagirl1]

On formal nights, I do not wear a gown, I just wear a nice cocktail

dress:)

[adamsmom]

There's a huge variety of what people wear for formal night. You can wear a gown, a cocktail dress, or just something nice.

 

I don't remember the elevators being shut down, but it seems like since so many people have to get so many places at once, so I wouldn't think they would shut them down. As for your sister, the cruiselines and staff are accustomed to providing for people in wheelchairs or motorized scooters, so I am sure they will see that she can get where she needs to be.

 

Puerto Rico is nice, and relatively safe. We walked around town near the pier at night, and it wasn't a problem. St. Thomas is very nice--no problem there either. I've never been to Tortola.

 

Have fun--sounds like a great cruise!

[samtig]

Just a personal preference, but I've never worn a formal gown. Just dressy dress or pantsuit. They do shut down the elevators as they would in a real emergency. I have a knee problem and don't do stairs unless I absolutely have to. We find out when the boat drill is scheduled & make our way to that deck 20 - 30 minutes early while elevators are still running.

[caribbean dreams]

My Daughters usually wear a gown and i wear a Cocktail dress, but i just purchased my first gown to wear on my next cruise.

 

All the ports are safe, i have walked around them with my DD's at night and never felt uneasy.

 

Let some one know you DS will need to be using the elevator, they will take her before the elevators are shut down.

[celbercrz333]

Trixie,

When they have a drill they send you to a muster station. In many cases you might have to go up or down a level to be on the same level as your muster station. If you request ahead of time to be on the same level of the ship as your muster station, there should be no problem. You could probably call the cruise line and ask them about handicapped people and muster drills. Or e-mail them. As for formal nights, we've done both Celebrity Zenith and Carnival Fascination and you see everything from very formal to just about formal. You don't have to wear something floor length. You can even wear very dressy pants and a top, if the fabrics are fancy enough. You will see cocktail dresses, long gowns, and those fancy pantsuits. It's up to you how dressy you are. I don't think anyone would chastise you if you were less formal, but you'll feel better in something nice. Do a mix and match if you have more than one formal night. Fancy pants and a top one night same top with a long dark skirt for the next.