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Family life is the sweet life, whether on land or at sea… and especially when in a Family Harbor Suite. Your whole crew will enjoy not only the stretch-out space, huge balcony and other perks a suite offers, but a nautical décor specially-designed for Family Harbor staterooms. And while you sail along, the kids and the adults can make use of exclusive access to the nearby Family Harbor Lounge, plus other exclusive perks around the ship. In-room, there’s a full bathroom… plus the convenience of a separate washroom. A private yacht it’s not… but leave the sailing to us — you’d rather be relaxing anyway.
Port Canaveral (Orlando)
Guy's Pig & Anchor Smokehouse Brewhouse, notably, has its very own in-house brewery you can see behind glass walls — something still relatively rare on cruise ships. It makes house beers including Parched Pig West Coast IPA and Parched Pig Toasted Amber which you'll find on many Carnival vessels in kegs and cans. Carnival is the only cruise line to keg and can its own beer.
Do I have to dress up on a Carnival cruise?
Carnival is the undisputed leader among North America-based cruise brands when it comes to affordability, which makes it popular with vacationers on a budget. The overarching idea for Carnival's ship deployments is that a large percentage of the U.S. population can reach one of the line's ships by car, saving the cost of flights. Carnival has just begun operating its first truly giant ships in years, the 181,808-ton, 5,282-passenger Mardi Gras and the 183,521-ton, 5,374-passenger Carnival Celebration. However, the line's next-biggest vessel, the 4,090-passenger Carnival Venezia, measures just 135,225 tons.
Carnival Legend
Carnival adds an automatic service gratuity of $16 to $18 per person, per day to final bills, depending on the cabin category (children under the age of 2 are exempt). If you are unhappy with the service you receive, you can adjust this amount at the Guest Services desk before disembarking. Also, an 18% gratuity is added to bar bills and the cover charge of the Chef's Table. In short, there's a ton to do up top on Carnival vessels — and it's almost all available to every passenger on board the vessels at no extra charge (the roller coaster is the only exception). Carnival Panorama also houses Carnival's first cooking classroom.
Onboard Communication
Dubbed Carnival Kitchen, it's located near the ship's main restaurants and is a seriously tricked-out venue complete with nine state-of-the-art, marbled granite cooking stations for two and a dedicated dining area. On one of Carnival's newest ships, Carnival Panorama, there's no RedFrog Pub, but the Smokehouse Brewhouse has a stage that's home to live music nightly and some of the ship's karaoke sessions. The latter venue was created in partnership with Food Network's Guy Fieri and serves a free lunch on embarkation and sea days, with all items smoked on board. In addition, every ship has at least one — and usually several — extra-charge eateries. The two venues have flat fees of $49 and $24 per person, respectively. Design-wise, Carnival's cabins and suites are fairly basic and comfortable, if not super stylish.
I tried Carnival's older cruise ships and never want to go back - Cruise Blog
I tried Carnival's older cruise ships and never want to go back.
Posted: Tue, 16 Apr 2024 12:39:44 GMT [source]
You’re about to discover just what awaits you on a Carnival cruise. Start by exploring the incredible ports we visit… and the fun things to do, both on the ship and ashore. “The bridge team onboard spotted the vessel and turned the ship around to rescue them,” Carnival said in a news release. “All were taken aboard, given food and were seen by the medical team.” The cruise line also notified the U.S. Carnival ships are all about fun, in a lively, let's-not-take-this-too-seriously sort of way. If you're sure Carnival is your line, look for a travel agent who specializes in trips with the brand.
Ocean View
With few exceptions, Carnival sails exclusively from North American homeports and offers some of the lowest pricing in the industry, particularly on short three- and four-night Carnival Caribbean cruises. Most onboard activities such as shows and deck-top attractions are included in the fare. On the entertainment side of things, Carnival Liberty features two of our best, live on stage. First there's Playlist Productions™, where pros sing and dance their hearts out, performing high-energy themed revues of tunes you know, backed by amazing visual effects.
Carnival Pride
You don't even need to be a critic to enjoy Dive-In Movies, where cinematic favorites are up on the big screen, poolside. Carnival Jubilee has the travel pros and press about as excited as cruise fans. Carnival Jubilee™ has its own Punchliner Comedy Club in the Grand Central zone, and up on stage you’ll find some real pros who know how to wedge a little laughter into anyone’s evening. Since some of them get up and say exactly what’s on their mind, we also schedule family-friendly performances… so the only red faces in the audience are from laughing a little too hard. On July 31, 2021, after numerous delays, the highly anticipated Mardi Gras entered service, sailing year round from Port Canaveral.
ONBOARD ACTIVITIES
The younger children in this age range (12-14) are grouped into what's known as Circle C and have their own dedicated lounge on ships. It's a place to get together to talk, watch movies, play video games and take part in other activities. Unlike some lines, Carnival has resisted the trend of big-ship operators carving out whole sections of deck-top areas for the exclusive use of passengers staying in suites or willing to pay hefty access fees. In fact, when it comes to waterslides on ships, Carnival is the cruise world's king. There's now at least one waterslide on all but one ship in the Carnival fleet (Carnival Luminosa) — something no other line can say. Also, there are always several music venues where you'll find live performers in the afternoons and evenings, including — on some ships — the Atrium Bar and a secondary hub area called Ocean Plaza.
During my recent sailing, I found all the Carnival classics, like the Alchemy Bar and Guy’s Burger Joint, a thrilling ropes course, dive-in movies, and plenty of themed deck parties. Rent cabanas or lounge in the ocean-view whirlpools at Loft 19, where attentive staff take care of everything, like delivering you fruit and chilled towels. My favorite spot to hang out was the aft Patio Pool because it wasn't ever super crowded, and the view of the ocean was unmatched. Carnival Jubilee is the newest Excel-class ship in the fleet, sailing from Galveston, Texas.
During the day, there is no specific dress code, and people dress casually. If it's a sea day in a warm-weather destination, and you're bound for the top deck, that means looking like you're going to the beach — T-shirts, shorts and bathing suits (with a cover-up to go inside) are just fine. Note that three of the line's newest ships — Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration and Carnival Venezia — do not have launderettes. Carnival fans are quite peeved about this, and you should be, too. The social and value plans cost $18 and $23 per day, respectively, when bought onboard a ship.
Despite being one of the industry's lowest-cost operators, Carnival manages to pull off one of the best steakhouses at sea in Fahrenheit 555, and even the no-extra-charge main restaurants get the basics right. Like other big-ship operators, Carnival packs a lot of dining options onto its vessels — some included in the price, some at an extra charge. Carnival vessels based on the East Coast and along the Gulf of Mexico mostly sail to the Caribbean and Bahamas. Some East Coast ships also head to Bermuda, New England and Canada. On the West Coast, sailings to Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska are the norm.
