r/CarnivalCruiseFans

Me and my girlfriend are considering going on a cruise. I am currently 20 and she is 18. We were either planning to go before I turn 21 and my cousin that is 26 go to meet the greater than 25 requirement, or wait till I’m 21. But would either of those work since my cousin isn’t related to her could she even count as the greater than 25 person? Or if we wait till I’m 21 that wouldn’t work either since I wouldn’t be 25 to count for her. Or am I misinterpreting this?

Has anyone in this sub ever had any luck getting an earlier arrival window after completing online check-in?

I got confused about the date and checked in later than I had planned, so my assigned arrival window is later than I'd like. My main concern is that the parking garage is undersized and fills up quickly. I'd like to avoid using the overflow lot, so I'm basically looking at having to arrive at the garage 2.5 hours before my assigned arrival window just to have a decent shot at getting a space.

Has anyone been able to switch to an earlier window after initially checking in, or am I pretty much stuck with what I got?

Thanks for any advice!

Hello. I've never taken a vacation as an adult and I just got laid off from my job so now I have some free time and I pulled the trigger on this. It's Oct. 31-7th to Roatan/Belize/Cozumel and back. I've booked an excursion that includes a meal for all three port days. That seemed like a smart thing to do? Anything else? Is the unlimited soda for $12/day a good idea? I'm not a big alcohol drinker so that one isn't necessary but I will want some pop!

Please, any tips/advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you! The ship is Carnival Dream. I assume there will be people to show you where things are? I def wanna see a comedy show and other entertainment options.

Anyone else going on this trip? I'll be all by myself! D:

I bought fttf for an upcoming cruise for the first time and apparently your luggage is suppose to get to the room faster. How exactly does luggage work for fttf? Do we drop bags with the regular porters or bypass them and take it to the fttf line and they take it from there? With MSC yacht club you take it to the yacht club tent and that’s how they keep it separate from everyone else, but if I’m giving my bags to regular porters how are they going to get bags up faster if they’re mingled with all the other bags? I know there’s a little badge on the luggage tags but I’m sure they aren’t going to be keeping up with that.

I’ve looked and I can’t seem to find an answer for this. Sorry if it’s already been asked.

Hi all. I sailed on the Horizon out of port of Miami recently and we left from terminal F. I parked on garage G. When we returned, we were at a different terminal. Took awhile to walk to the garage. And the bus line was long. Is that normal? Does Celebration disembark and return to the same terminal? Just planning ahead to see if I need to park in G again or elsewhere. Thank you for any advice.

We’re a family of 4 from Raleigh, NC looking at taking our first-ever cruise for Thanksgiving 2026.

We have: 2 adults, 14-year-old daughter, 5-year-old child

We’re currently considering Carnival Celebration or Mardi Gras, both 7-night sailings. We found balcony cabins for around $3,300–$3,350 for all 4 of us, which seems like a pretty good deal. With airfare, gratuities, hotel, transportation, etc., we’re expecting the trip to be around $5K-ish.

We’re debating whether 7 nights is too long for a first cruise or whether that’s actually a good length.

A few things we’re wondering about:
Is Carnival a good choice for a family with a 5-year-old and 14-year-old?

Is 7 nights too long for first-timers, or would you recommend 5 nights instead?

Is Carnival really as “party/older crowd” as some people make it sound? We’re looking for a fun family vacation, not a party atmosphere.

How much does the ship move on a 7-night Caribbean cruise? We’re somewhat concerned about seasickness.

For those who have cruised during Thanksgiving, is the ship extremely crowded?

Sun/UV is a concern for me because of a medical condition, so I may need to limit prolonged direct sun. Is it realistic to enjoy a Caribbean cruise without spending hours in the sun?

Would you choose Celebration or Mardi Gras if the price is basically the same?

Anything you wish you had known before your first Carnival cruise?

Are there any hidden costs we should budget for beyond cruise fare, gratuities, airfare, hotel and transportation?

We don’t need a luxury experience we’re mostly looking for a fun, relaxing family vacation with good food, things for both kids to do, and enough downtime.
Would love to hear from experienced Carnival cruisers, especially families who have done a 7-night cruise as their first cruise.

Thanks in advance!

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My wife won a cruise on Carnival Conquest. She has been on a couple of cruises with her parents as a kid, this is my first cruise. We have a day at sea, a day at Relax away and a day at Celebration Key. We're in our mid 40s. I know at night we'll have dinner, go to a show and check out the piano bar. My wife will happily sit in a chair by the pool, tan and read all day. I will do that for maybe an hour. I dont tan, I burn. When we go to the beach I play with my kids. I looked at the excursions. The trail ride is just plodding trail ponies and I can ride at home. I tbought the jet skis sounded interesting until I read the reviews ans saw you stay in a single file line and putter along. I plan to bring my mask and snorkel to try to check out the sea life at Relaxaway.

Ill get up in the morning, grab a run and eat breakfast, but what do you do all day?

We cruised out of Miami in January 2026, I know the port can suck with traffic. We did the earliest arrival and it was pretty easy.

Has anyone done a later arrival, such as noon or 1:00 pm recently in Miami? What was your experience?

We are parking in a parking at Safe Cruise Parking in 2nd street and using their shuttle service.

Thanks for your feedback!

I actually sleep better in an interior cruise cabin than almost anywhere else.

No windows, no sunlight, no distractions, just complete darkness. I regularly get some of my best sleep on cruises, so I actively look for interior rooms and will often book them specifically because I can get an amazing deal.

Balcony rooms are overrated. Give me my tiny pitch-black cave at sea. 😂

For those of you who regularly get the targeted casino offers from Carnival, I'm curious what the minimum activity seems to be.

How much are you typically putting through the casino, and how long are you actually playing?

For example, if someone only plays slots for an hour or two and puts a few hundred dollars through, is that enough to start getting casino offers, or are we talking several thousand dollars in coin-in?

I'm not asking what Carnival's published rules are, since I know there isn't really a simple formula. I'm more interested in people's actual experience.

If you've gotten offers, what did your casino play look like on the cruise before you started receiving them?

Bonus points if you can share:

- Approximate coin-in / amount wagered

- Hours played per day

- Slots vs. table games

- Number of cruises before receiving offers

- What kind of offer you started getting

Trying to figure out where the apparent sweet spot is without donating my entire bank account to the casino 😂

I’m going on a cruise in January, and this itinerary doesn’t include a certified dive excursion for Cozumel. I’d rather book directly with a local dive shop than rely on the ship’s offering. Has anyone done that? If so, which shops would you recommend, and which ones would you avoid? I’m mainly looking for a solid boat, small groups, and operators who actually stick to the plan they advertise.

Sorry if this breaks any rules! I looked through and didn’t see anything, but feel free to remove if it does.

I'm trying to get logged in to my carnival hub app, but I am getting redirected to a page that just says "page not found". I get the same page when I try to get into my carnival rewards. Is this happening for anyone else?

Considering going on Carnival Valor in 2027 for my birthday. Any thoughts and/or suggestions. Age ranges in y’all’s experiences?

It seems like the reviews on cruises longer than 3 days are mixed. I want my group to have a fun time and enjoy themselves. My group is will be in their early to mid twenties. But we’ve all for the most part agreed we don’t want to be on the ship for only 2-3 days.

I have never gambled in cruise ship casinos. I would maybe play some slots or blackjack machines. Do I feed the machine cash? Do I somehow scan my cruise card so it tracks my activity? We are going on another Carnival cruise Oct 26 & I am hoping to have a better idea of how to do this and even if I want to do it.

We have a bunch of Carnival Gift cards that we want to use in the ship. What’s the best way to go about it? Can we just load them all onto our account on day one and then gamble with it? Should we just use them to pay down our balance at the end?

We’re planning to buy the Zero Proof package (we loved it last time) and do some gambling, and a couple of cocktails a day.

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Sailing on Carnival Conquest SEA cruise Feb 1-6 2027. Two ports of call, Ocho Rios and Grand Caymen. Neither of the ports pages list the Conquest as being in port that day. Should I be worried about cancellation?

Long time cruiser, and I have always had an issue as a solo with two twins working the way apart and ended up in the abyss in the middle of the night. But I’ve heard that a mattress topper works well to prevent this. Anybody got any firsthand knowledge of this?