How to Survive a Carnival Cruise?
Cruising is many people’s idea of a nightmare holiday. Bunny understands them. While she has done a handful of cruises and very much enjoyed her trips, she can also see the other side of the coin.
Bunny recently embarked on her first ever Carnival cruise. Carnival doesn’t have the best reputation and it certainly wasn’t Bunny’s first choice but it was a family trip where everyone made some compromises in order to travel altogether. And if the choice is between taking a Carnival cruise or not traveling at all, Bunny will always choose the cruise!
So how did Bunny survive? She had no problems!
Go with an open mind but be prepared, Bunny says. It’s best you understand in advance that there will be crowds, there will be drunken people, there will be lots of unruly children, there may be fights, the corridors will be blocked by mobility scooters, people might use fishing rods on their balcony to try and catch some fish… Everything is possible on a Carnival cruise.
Read below Bunny’s 10 tips for surviving a Carnival Cruise to improve your experience onboard.
1. Be an Early Riser
Bunny’s number 1 piece of advice is this: Be an early riser. The Carnival crowd is generally not.
If you wake up early, you’ll get to enjoy a quiet, clean ship and a peaceful breakfast before the hordes embark on their day. You can wander around the cruise ship and really appreciate the design and venues that might be overcrowded during the day. It’s a great way to start your day whether you’re arriving in a new port or spending the day at sea. It’s also a perfect opportunity to snap some great photos, Bunny says.
2. Use the ‘Adults Only’ Areas
Bunny’s second tip is related to the first: Make good use of your ship’s adults only areas. They are there for a reason. Nobody wants to spend their precious vacation time with screaming sugar-hyped little brats running amok around you.
And if you happen to have one of these brats of our own, put them in the Kids Club, for god’s sake. They will be much happier there than hanging around boring adults. Plus, you will be much happier as a result, and your fellow passengers will appreciate your sensibility. Thank you for your cooperation.
3. Choose an Interesting Itinerary
This should be self-evident but let’s put it out there anyway: to properly enjoy your cruise you should pick an itinerary that really interests you. The point of cruising is to go to places, at least according to Bunny. So make sure your ship makes stops in places other than boring, artificial ports that are built specifically to cater for cruisers.
You will want to see real places and escape the ship and your fellow passengers when you’re in port, Bunny says.
4. Organise Your Own Shore Excursions
This tip is not related to Carnival only, but applies to all and any cruise ship companies: organise your own shore excursions.
Don’t be tempted by the tours offered by the cruise ship company. They are overpriced, overcrowded and generic, Bunny says.
You can tailor-make your own excursions, travel independently and escape the crowds quite easily even in the most popular cruise ship ports. And don’t be spooked by scaremongers who say that you’ll miss the ship if you explore on your own. Anyone with a hint of common sense and the ability to tell time is able to make it back to the ship in time for the departure.
5. Don’t Expect First Class Service or Luxury
Carnival cruises are not luxury experiences, so don’t expect first class service on your cruise, Bunny says.
Most Carnival staff come across friendly and helpful, but let’s face it, the majority of them probably don’t want to be there, catering to often obnoxious clients. So if you’re used to high class service (doubtful, really, if you’re on a Carnival cruise), relax your standards a bit and go with the flow. You’re on holiday, after all.
6. Indulge in the Fun
Carnival is known for being “the fun cruise line”, whatever that means.
So you should join in the fun. Ride the roller coaster at sea, try the ropes course, participate in the Family Feud game show onboard. Also take in the many colorful characters on-board. You will encounter a slew of cheesy people who are their own kind of entertainment.
And drink up! Everyone else on the cruise is properly sloshed, why shouldn’t you be? If you keep yourself well-hydrated at all times, it makes your Carnival cruise much better, Bunny says.
7. Don’t Be Vegetarian
Another helpful tip for anyone looking to enjoy their Carnival cruise: don’t be vegetarian.
Now Carnival might have recently introduced a new fully vegan menu (hurrah!) but it doesn’t mean it’s easy to order at the ship’s restaurants. And the many fast food restaurants onboard apparently missed the memo completely and continue to serve almost exclusively meat-based options. Even the Taco place doesn’t have veggie tacos on offer. Duh.
Bunny ventures to guess that vegetarians and vegans are not making up a significant portion of Carnival’s clientele so don’t expect the situation to change soon.
8. Enjoy the Salad Section of the Buffet
Speaking of veggies, here’s another Bunny tip for your Carnival cruise: enjoy the salad bars at Carnival’s buffet restaurants. Besides offering healthy, tasty food they are also blissfully uncrowded even at peak times.
On her cruise, Bunny overheard a small child and his father having the following conversation at the lunch buffet:
The child (enthusiastically approaching the salad bar): ..and what’s here?
The dad (dismissively): That’s the salad bar, you won’t want anything from there!
Right. Eat your spinach, Bunny says.
9. Use the Hot Tubs at Night
Bunny loves hot tubs. She prefers them uncrowded, clean and toddler-free. Good luck on Carnival cruises.
One of the only times Bunny was able to properly enjoy the hot tubs on her cruise, was just before they closed them at night. This is when you will have some nice, quiet time in the water on your own. At night, most people are having dinner, catching a show or gambling away, leaving the hot tubs gloriously empty and inviting.
10. Go See the Comedy Shows
Carnival reportedly has the best comedians at sea. Bunny saw a number of stand up comedians at the Punchliner Comedy Club during her cruise and they were all quite entertaining. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, Bunny found the adults-only comedy sets particularly funny. It’s good to laugh every now and then, particularly on your holiday.
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So there you have it, Bunny’s 10 tips to survive a Carnival cruise. It’s really not that bad at all.
