Cruises...Why? Pics! Tips and Tricks.

Having a family of 6 is costly. Taking a week long family vacation is even more costly:) This is why we chose Cruising for our family.

Ryan and I have been on two cruises before. Our Honeymoon was our first one. The Second was when the kids were all at their other parents house for Christmas. We didn't want to stay at home and mope without the kids. We went this Christmas. I felt so bad even though I was having fun that we booked a cruise for the whole family to go around Spring Break time. Mothers guilt works to their advantage a lot. So Back to Cabo we go!!

I used to think Cruising was soooooooooooo and I mean soooooooooo expensive and out of our league. When I heard people went on a cruise I thought to myself...WOW I wish we could go on a cruise. I started to research it and for what you get its so much less expensive than taking our family on a 7 day vacation to an ocean somewhere with hotel and food. Feeding 4 teenagers on a road trip is expensive enough ha! I don't know where the food goes. I swear they have hollow legs.

You can make cruising even less expensive than we do. You pay one price for your room, all your meals, snacks, room service, entertainment and transportation from ship to port.  We have been saving to go but there are some upgrades that we as a family chose to take because it suits us better. One is having a Balcony instead of an inside room without windows or a room with no balcony that has a window. To us that extra expense is worth it. One of Ryan and I favorite thing to do is get room service breakfast (we always get the same thing... Bagels with lox, fruit, coffee and orange juice) and we sit on our Balcony in the sun watching the waves go by. It saves us from getting dressed and we really do feel like we are vacationing.

Towel Animals on your Bed Each nigh

To be on a Cruise is like being on a Floating City. You are never going to get bored. They have activities going on all day and all night. Some days we even had scheduling conflicts of what we wanted to do because there was so much going on. I am going to sneak a tip in right now even though Ryan is going to do tips at the end of this for you all. Bring a highlighter. Every night you get your schedule for the next day of activities that are going around the ship. We highlight what we really want to do so its easier to see. With teens on the cruise this time we will also get their activities sheet to know what they want to do to. There are a lot of activities for young children....but also for ages 12-14 and 15-17 they have scheduled activities that are fun for them. This way they aren't always with their parents and can have age appropriate fun and meet some friends.

Shows every night

Family Comedy and Adult Comedy

On Ship like I said there are a lot of activities for all ages. They also have pools, Jacuzzis, Basketball Courts, Fitness Centers, Track, Putt-Putt Golf, Water Slide, Comedy clubs that have Family Comedy and then Adult Comedy, Movies on the deck with popcorn and a huge screen, Dancing, Amazing Nightly Shows, Legends Shows, Life Size Chess, Dance Classes etc. Mind you this is just some of the stuff that is always there it doesn't even include what's on the daily schedule of activities.
Some of our favorite scheduled activities to go to is the "Newlywed Game" because its hilarious or "Hairy Chest Contest" because that's funny too. They have drink competitions to make a new drink and Bingo. This is just naming a few.

The Teens even have their own spot they can go to. Its called the O2 club. They even have their own dances with a juice bar. Lots of stuff for them to do with new friends and activities. Our plan is they can sleep in unless we are at port of course. They have to be there for dinner as a family and go to the Show of the night with us. The rest of the time they can choose to be with the O2 club and staff or with us. At ports though of course they are with us those whole 3 days.

Teens Chilling Area

Speaking of food. You cant go hungry on a cruise. They have dining in the ballroom for every meal. We chose to just go for dinner. They have 24 hour room service, small bistros around the ship, and buffet. They also serve pizza, hamburgers, soft serve etc 24 hours a day in case you want a midnight snack or two. The only food you pay for is if you decide to get reservations at their famous Steakhouse. Even then its only 35 dollars a person for HUGE, amazing steak that makes Outback look small. You always get tea, coffee, lemonade, water, ice tea for free anywhere on the ship. Soda and Alcohol drinks are extra. You can get an unlimited Soda Card though for 35 dollars for the week and have all the soda you want. Alcohol drinks is where the price can go way up for your cruise so we choose to not drink or maybe have one at the show. We aren't big drinkers anyways so this doesn't bother us at all. Here is a menu of the Ballroom for one of the days. You have EVERYDAY which they always have on the Menu and then the other side which changes daily. I have never heard of someone going hungry on a cruise. I think that's why they have so many activities because you probably gain weight lol. Did you know that you can order two dinners if you cant decide and no one will look at you sideways. On Steak and Lobster night we order two lobsters. It doesn't cost anymore. Its all included. Once my husband got three desserts because he wanted to try them all. HA!

For Dinners they do have scheduled dinner times. I believe its 6 and 8 o'clock. You are at the same table and have the same waiters each night which is pretty cool. Sometimes they even do dance routines (the waiters). This cruise since we are going as a family we chose the 6 o clock dinner time. So we can all eat together and go to a early show. (The shows are twice a night). When we didn't have kids with us we did Anytime Seating. So you can go whenever you want during the 6-9 period. Just know that dinner will always be at least an hour long. You don't notice it but it is. Appetizers, then the main course, then dessert each night. The food is good. They make it to order too so you don't have to worry about the masses.

Dining Hall

One of the Dinners

Melting Choc Dessert!

I want to go back to the Cabins. The staff around Carnival Cruising are amazing. The staff that attends to your room or your waiters etc will remember your name. You feel very special. They will remember your kids names, what drinks you want or allergies you have etc. You have housekeeping each morning or afternoon and turn down service at night where they make a towel animal. I always get excited to see what is coming that night. I know I am a dork. Although your tips are 12 dollars a day per person as apart of the cruise, we always tip extra to our waiters or stewards. They work 14 hours a day sometimes with no days off and are away from their family. We always tip them nicely the first night too because its just something we don't mind spending extra money on. We already told our kids too they don't have to keep their room perfect but picked up because its the nice thing to do. Just be happy I am not making them make their bed every morning. ha! Here are the rooms that we upgraded too. We have adjoining rooms so even though you see two separate rooms here we are able to see and hear everything. We have adjoining balconies too:) Ryan and I have cruised before so we actually got an upgrade from the Balcony rooms we paid for to Ocean Suite Balconies. Let me tell you how happy we were to have 100 extra sq feet in each room with extra storage, longer balcony and actually have a tub instead of just a shower. Pretty excited!

We have an extra bed in case someone gets sea sick.

Kids room Its a bit bigger than this. Attached to our room

So as you can see there is a lot to do, to eat and places to relax. This is just on the ship! In our 7 day cruise to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta we have 3 days on land. You can choose to save money and not get excursions but since this is our family vacation we decided to get an excursion each day that we are on port. It helps us to get off the ship faster, we get to learn more about the port with locals and have activities that we would enjoy with lunches etc. One of the ones we want to do as a family is Swim with the Dolphins. We also have plenty of time to go and do what we want too. Its really exciting!

Cruising can be affordable. More so than you think. You can make it as inexpensive as possible or expensive if you want. We are kind of in the middle. The one thing I know though is Cruising is FAMILY FRIENDLY. Lots of onboard activities, tons of amazing people and lots of FUN! Lets be real too......where else can you see multiple destinations and only have to unpack once?

Handing it over now to my hubby Ryan for some Cruising tips and Tips to save money. P.S. He didn't know he was doing this till just now! Thank you HUBBY! If you don't see tips below he said no ha!

Well I didn't get to say no.......

There are some things that people just don't know about taking a cruise, I am no expert, but am willing to share what I have learned.

 

Tips and Tricks:

1.First, yes it was mentioned earlier in this blog, you can order more then one dinner. If you see something you really like, order 2, or if there's more then 1 thing for dinner you can order different things, same with dessert, or as I call it "DESSERTS" you want ice cream and pie, go for it. You already paid for your meals, its not going to cost extra if you order more. It's not like you would get money back if you skipped a meal so make it worth it !!!

2.If you drink soda, you can bring a six pack per person, treat it as luggage, or just put it into your luggage. Bottled water is a good thing to bring if your going to Mexico, bring it off ship when your visiting a place that you shouldn't drink the water. If you purchase bottled water make sure the seal is still on the cap. Better safe the sorry. Also if you go out to eat, be careful what you order, a drink with ice, where do you think that ice came from? I have yet to meet anyone that makes ice cubes from bottled water? Think about your salad's, when the lettuce is rinsed off, the water comes from a tap that we shouldn't be drinking from. I'm not sure its enough to make you sick, but why risk it? Don't want to ruin the rest of your vacation.

3.There is an all you can drink juice, lemonade, and cranberry juice. Bring your own large re-usable water bottle, the cups on the ship are pretty small. Also all the coffee or tea you want. Bring your own large coffee cup. A Starbucks tumbler works great for keeping things warm or cold.

4.Yes we order room service, lots of room service. We would order breakfast each day. On the days we would be off ship we would order breakfast and lunch. Bring some collapsible Tupperware to put an extra sandwich in to bring off the ship for a snack. We would bring the lunch with us to the beach or where ever we went. It helped save on costs and sometimes we didn't know where we would be to grab a snack.  Remember to have a few extra bucks so you can tip the room service.

5. Most places you can find a restaurant at or near your port of call that has free WIFI. This saves on paying crazy cell phone rates when making calls from abroad. Plus its more fun to Skype or Face time family or friends back home. Check with your phone company about rates when travelling, also ask about texting, it may cost extra. Maybe purchase pre paid calling cards. If you don't use the card you can give it as a tip to pretty much anyone that works on the ship. They all have families and a home to, they are also traveling.

6. Go to the steakhouse on the first night. Why the first night? Because you don't miss Steak and Lobster night in the main dining area. (Order at least 2 dinners that night). Also the first night you get a free bottle of wine in the Steak House. Make reservations, and dress nice, its not a T shirt and sandals kind of restaurant.

7.Carnival offers a "Faster to the Fun".   You and your cabin mates get express boarding, luggage delivery, etc.  This is so worth it and you get on and off ship first to the ports. You don't have to wait in the long line on day 1 when the hordes of people are all trying to get on board at the same time. Its only $49.95 per room. Only 1 person per room has to pay this fee, then everyone in that room gets the same treatment. Be sure to let the guys know when you check your luggage, then you skip the lines and they handle the rest.

8. MARK your bags as fragile and they will show up to your room quicker because they put it on the top of the pile, so its the first off the pile and shuffled in.  Also bring a carry on with a change of cloths just in case your bag does show up late. Be sure to put any medication you need in your carry on.

9. Don't get a massage on the ship, its 130 dollars.  You can get a 1 hour massage on the beach in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta for 20-40 bucks. There is always a bar near by, so while she has a massage you can get a few Cerveza's for pretty cheap (When in Rome do as the Romans do).

10. On formal nights walk the ship, the ship will have photographers all over offering to pictures of you, take all the pictures you can, it cost nothing to have pictures taken, the only time you pay is if you decide to buy one.  You will find at least one you want.

11. Wait to the last day to buy anything from specialty shops they will be 50 percent off.
If your going to buy a watch or jewelry, ask when they will be on sale, there is always a day that things are on sale.


Okay now for the room

1. If you have a balcony bring a bungee cord, you can hold the door open all day or night so you can hear the ocean and have fresh air.

2. Bring a power strip. There are very few plugs in the room. Most rooms should have a plug under or near the bed, so bring a power strip that has a long cord.

3. Push your luggage under the bed to save room.

4. Flip through the Bible in your room, previous cruiser that didn't use a free drink or free photo ticket will put them there for the next lucky person.

5. You can bring an oversized beach towel, or use the towels supplied by the Ship, but its not as big.

6. Bring extra hangers. Can't bring an iron on board, so if you need something pressed have the ship take care of it.

7. Bring post it notes so if you are in or out of the room you can leave a note for your roommates.
Most rooms have metal walls, get souvenir magnets to hold the note on the wall. If you have your balcony door propped open things will blow out if the main door is open at the same time.

8. The best thing we brought with us was a blue tooth speaker, so you can play music in your room.

9. Bring a hanging shoe organizer to put on the bathroom door to hold all your little things like sunscreens, lotions, watches, razors, etc.....saves a lot of room.

10. Call into the morning show to say hello....they will leave you a surprise in your room


MOST IMPORTANT:

RELAX!

HAVE FUN!

IT'S YOUR VACATION!

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE SO MAKE THE BEST OF THE TIME WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN!

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