Cruising allows you to have a relaxing vacation and see beautiful destinations at an affordable price. I’ve been on 4 Carnival Cruises (soon to be 5), 1 Norwegian, and 1 cruise on the Nile River in Egypt. One of the best things about going on a cruise is that you can make payments on your reservation throughout the year, so there is no pressure to have all your money up front. If you book far enough in advance, you can usually find a good deal that includes perks such as onboard credit and discounted deposits.
My family has had a really positive experience with Carnival Cruise Line. They are a family oriented cruise line with lots of options for entertainment and fun. In fact, they refer to their ships as “fun ships”. When I book with Carnival, I know I am guaranteed to have a lovely, hassle free vacation. In this guide, I tell you 13 tips to maximize your fun on your first Carnival Cruise.
Disclosure: I’m not sponsored or affiliated with Carnival Cruise Line in any way. I’m just a happy Carnival cruiser. Some of the links below are affiliate links. That means at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission from your purchase which will go toward bringing you more travel tips, tricks, and tidbits!
Book your trip with a cruise travel agent to score the best deals.
It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it can save you a ton of money in the long run. When you book your cruise through a Carnival Personal Vacation Planner, they research the best deals for you. They have toured and sailed on the ships and can therefore give you personal knowledge of what to expect on your cruise. After you book, if you or your agent notice a price drop or that their are new cruise benefits that you qualify for, your agent can arrange for that deal to be applied to your reservation!
The agent my family has been using for years is a sweet lady named Rageeni. She always makes sure we get the best deal and answers any questions we have leading up to a cruise. To get your own Personal Vacation Planner, call 1-800-819-3902. If you want to book with Rageeni too, her extension is 82445.
Download the Carnival Hub App.
I downloaded the app, doubtful I would ever use it, but it ended up being incredibly useful! Each day, the app is updated with a schedule of all the events happening on the ship. It lets you know what dining options are open and what shows will be taking place in the evening. You can message friends onboard, manage your internet plan, book shore excursions, arrange spa treatments, and more! One of the most important features in my opinion though, is that the Carnival Hub App always lets you know what time it is in “ship time” (see below).
What time is it? Ship time!
It can get confusing as to what time it is when you are having so much fun. When you’re in the middle of the ocean, are you in the same time zone of the place you are heading toward or coming from? Are you in a black hole where time doesn’t exist? The answer is you’re on ship time.
Ship time is almost always the same time as the port your cruise originally set sail from. My mom overslept nearly every morning on our last cruise, because she kept going off the time on her phone which was automatically switching to whatever time zone we were sailing through. Don’t be like my mom. Get a wake-up call to your room to avoid confusion. Unless notified by the captain to do otherwise, keep your watches set to the time zone of where your cruise set sail. The simplest thing to do though, is download the Carnival Hub App, because ship time is always displayed at the top of the screen.
Order as much food as you want at dinner.
Can’t decide between 2 entrees? Get both. Want to try the braised rabbit, but scared you might not like it? Order another appetizer just in case. You can order as much food as you want! It’s all included in the price you paid for the cruise. The only exceptions to this are the few premium items on the menu that cost extra.
If you’re a foodie, check out these posts:
The Top 10 Places to Eat in Hilton Head, South Carolina
Most of the room service menu is free.
I utilized room service for the first time on this last cruise I went on, and wish I had done so sooner! Each stateroom has a menu with all the free choices listed, as well as some options you have to pay for (like chocolate covered strawberries). You can call in your order the usual way, or if you want a pot of coffee or breakfast items delivered to your room, you can fill out a card and hang it out in the hallway the night before. Your cabin steward will make sure your order is delivered at the time you mark on the card. There’s nothing better than sipping on your room service coffee while watching the sun rise from your balcony. Find out more about Carnival’s room service and see their menus HERE.
Don’t pay the inflated prices for soft drinks onboard. Bring your own.
Tea, juices, and milk are free and unlimited onboard, but you have to pay extra for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. You can purchase a drink package, but if you don’t think you will drink enough to justify the price of the Bottomless Bubbles package ($8.50/day for adults), bring your own onboard. Carnival allows each guest to bring 12 cans on board, as long as it is no more than 12 oz. Carnival does not allow bottled beverages onboard though.
Bring a reusable water bottle.
The water on the ship is perfectly safe to drink. However, that might not be the case for some of the ports you visit. You don’t want to be on an ATV excursion on an exotic island and get hit with a bad case of the bubble gut because you drank the water somewhere you shouldn’t have. I suggest that you bring a reusable water bottle to fill up at one of the water stations by the buffet. You can also have room service deliver a case of water to you room for less than $5.00 if you happen to forget yours.
Need a break from the littles? Send them to Carnival’s onboard camp for kids.
Carnival makes it possible for parents to get some alone time during their vacation with the Camp Ocean Program. Aimed at children 2-11 years old, Camp Ocean is a place where kids get to interact with one another, make crafts, play games, and have fun. The children are divided into groups so that they are interacting with children their own age. Each of the counselors have education or childcare experience, so you can rest assured knowing that your kids will be in good hands. My niece had an absolute blast at Camp Ocean. She made a butterfly crown that she was quite proud of while we were at a show one evening. There are also places onboard for teens to hang out with each other too.
You can decorate your stateroom.
Maybe you’re celebrating a honeymoon, or maybe you’re just celebrating life. Whatever the case, add even more fun to your vacation by decorating your stateroom. This is especially a nice added touch t if you are going to be on a longer cruise. The walls of cruise ships are magnetic, making it easy for you to hang up streamers, signs, and other decorations. You may want to take a command hook or 2 for extra storage options too. You can also decorate your door, which makes it easy to spot in the seemingly never-ending hallway of cabin doors. Plus, it just adds to the fun of it all! People get pretty creative with their designs! You might want to take command strips or poster putty, just in case your ship’s cabin doors are not magnetic.
You can also rearrange your stateroom.
When you choose for your room to have 2 single beds instead of a king, Carnival loves to put them side by side, about 6 inches apart. You’re basically still in the same bed as the other person and there is zero space to move around. On my last cruise, my mother-in-law and I got creative. We turned my bed sideways and pushed it against the wall, which gave us so much more space!
Gratuity is automatically charged on the last day of your cruise, but you can adjust it beforehand.
Your cabin stewards, servers, and others who work onboard rely on gratuities as a supplement to their income. From my experience, they go above and beyond to provide excellent customer service and are well deserving of a tip at the end of the cruise. Many don’t realize that Carnival (and other cruise companies) charge $10-$12 per guest per cruise day to be divvied up among wait staff and your cabin steward. If you would like to adjust this amount, simply head to guest services where someone will be happy to help you. I usually keep the charges as they are and then give additional gratuity to the servers in the dining room and my cabin steward.
Formal Night is nothing to stress about.
You’ve probably heard that most cruises have a formal night. For shorter cruises, there is usually only one. For a cruise lasting a week or longer, you will likely have 2. The general rules are that there are no shorts, caps, tube tops, t-shirts or flip flops allowed in the dining room on formal night. Women usually wear dresses or pantsuits and men tend to wear suits or a sports coat. It’s an excellent night to get pictures professionally taken onboard. Photographers will be set up all over the ship with various backdrops to choose from. It’s also a good night to eat food that would normally cost extra. Filet mignon and lobster are frequently found on formal night menus in the dining room.
Get involved in the fun activities onboard!
Whether you’re a tiny tot, an old geezer, or somewhere in between, you will have no problems finding fun activities to fill your time. Be sure to read the schedules left in your room by your cabin steward each night to see what activities will be going on the following day. My personal favorites on Carnival cruises are the theater shows, the Love and Marriage Game Show, mini golf, themed late night singalongs, sea day brunch, and Bingo. When I want quiet time, I like to cozy up in a window seat with a book or recline in a deck chair in my swimsuit while looking out at the horizon.
Do you have any helpful tips or tricks for Carnival Cruises? Tell me in the comments below!
I had no idea that you can bring on 12 cans of soda! Good to know.
Thanks for the tips. HOping to take our first cruise this year
They are so much fun! Within a week of getting off my last one I’d booked another 😅 Hope you have a great first cruise!
Useful tips. Have my first cruise coming up and I’m open to advice as it’s a type of travel I know nothing at all about.
Bubble gut lol