Son's birthday is on Embarkation Day - How to celebrate??

[CRYSTAL01]

Hi Everyone,  We are going on a cruise in February on the Freedom. My son will turn 4 years old on Embarkation Day.  We would love to celebrate his birthday on the first day/night, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do this.  In the online check-in, there is a place to check to celebrate birthday, but the drop down dates to select begin with the first sea day.  I am almost certain that I remember birthday celebrations on the first night in the dining room on our cruise in October, but there were so many every night, I could be wrong.....

 

Has anyone celebrated their birthday on the first day?   If so, how did you arrange this?   I was planning to order stateroom decorations, with a cake, online before we sail.  But, will this cake be in the Stateroom or in the dining room?   If we want a cake for the dining room (and waiters singing to him😊),  do we need to order it in advance?  If so, how and where?  Any other ideas?  The first day is always so crowded and busy everywhere, so I'd really like to schedule before hand if at all possible.

 

Thanks so much for any advice!

[Organized Chaos]

I'm not sure about the first part. If it won't let you choose the first night as the birthday, I wouldn't worry about it too much. When you get to the MDR that night, just tell your waiter it's his birthday. They bring out a very small, single-serve cake at dessert and sing. I would think they can do it on the first night since it really doesn't take long.

 

The cakes you order from the online FunShop will be delivered to your cabin. They're a normal sized cake, nothing huge. Probably 10-12 inch diameter, about that. I don't know if it'll let you choose the first night when you order it. They are so busy delivering luggage well into the evening and stewards are trying to get all their new guests settled that maybe they don't have time to set up cabin decorations on embarkation day. I'm not sure. If it won't let you choose the first day, you can call and ask. Otherwise you might have to substitute one of the other days.

[LoveFamily]

We sailed on our sons 5th birthday (embarkation day as well) a few years ago.  I ordered room decorations, which were set up in the room when we board, we actually still have some of the decorations use them for everyone's birthday (they weren't the paper decorations they have now, they were much better quality)  It wouldn't let us choose that day to celebrate when we booked, but I called up Carnival and they made a note of it on their side. We ended up getting the cake in the stateroom that afternoon and brought it to the MDR to celebrate. 

 

 

[grandmarnnurse]

13 hours ago, CRYSTAL01 said:

Hi Everyone,  We are going on a cruise in February on the Freedom. My son will turn 4 years old on Embarkation Day.  We would love to celebrate his birthday on the first day/night, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do this.  In the online check-in, there is a place to check to celebrate birthday, but the drop down dates to select begin with the first sea day.  I am almost certain that I remember birthday celebrations on the first night in the dining room on our cruise in October, but there were so many every night, I could be wrong.....

 

Has anyone celebrated their birthday on the first day?   If so, how did you arrange this?   I was planning to order stateroom decorations, with a cake, online before we sail.  But, will this cake be in the Stateroom or in the dining room?   If we want a cake for the dining room (and waiters singing to him😊),  do we need to order it in advance?  If so, how and where?  Any other ideas?  The first day is always so crowded and busy everywhere, so I'd really like to schedule before hand if at all possible.

 

Thanks so much for any advice!

I celebrated my anniversary on the first night in March on the Breeze. They brought us a little cake at our dinner table. I would call Carnival to set this up if the website won’t let you choose day one. I think it was what our daughter did when she ordered the cake.

[pe4all]

We used to be able to get a cake delivered to the cabin embark day.  It seems they may have discontinued this, so your best bet is (as others have said) to tell your waiter and they will bring a small cake/dessert and sing that night in the dining room.  We used to get our cabin decorated, but as they really upped the price of the room decorations, I now go to a dollar store and bring decorations (don't forget scotch tape) and decorate the room and door with signs, balloons, banners, etc.  My dh brings dd somewhere else on the ship while I go to the cabin and do the decorating before dd sees the cabin.  

[scliq]

I was surprised that they left a portrait holder for 2 8x10s and a $50 spa coupon for my daughters 27th birthday in our stateroom. Nice touch!

Edited January 10, 2020 by scliq
Typo

[Mutumbojimbo]

I got room decorations and a cake a few years ago, and they were already in place when we boarded. I am also embarking a cruise on my birthday this year and ran in to the same issue. I was planning on bringing up the dilemma to John Heald, if we were embarking on one of my family member's birthdays, I would definitely like Carnival to know and, as programming changes go, that should not be too major. I'm sure that of you mention the birthday to the wait staff, they will come up with something fun, but if you let John Heald know, I bet he'll supply something fun for your son.

[CRYSTAL01]

Thanks everyone for your very helpful ideas!  Looks like I'll be calling Carnival as it gets closer to our sailing date to see what we can do about celebrating on that first day.  I will also try contacting John Heald to let him know of this issue since others are also encountering the same.   Hopefully, they will be able to change the system to allow you to do this online in the future. 

[CRYSTAL01]

1 hour ago, pe4all said:

We used to be able to get a cake delivered to the cabin embark day.  It seems they may have discontinued this, so your best bet is (as others have said) to tell your waiter and they will bring a small cake/dessert and sing that night in the dining room.  We used to get our cabin decorated, but as they really upped the price of the room decorations, I now go to a dollar store and bring decorations (don't forget scotch tape) and decorate the room and door with signs, balloons, banners, etc.  My dh brings dd somewhere else on the ship while I go to the cabin and do the decorating before dd sees the cabin.  

Yes, the cabin decorations are really expensive!   And, it doesn't appear to include many decorations (just one hanging thing).  I was planning to order the Cat in the Hat decorations anyway (only for my son😉), and also bring balloons and door decorations, as well.  

[CRYSTAL01]

Just to update everyone, I contacted John Heald.  He said that this was a system glitch and should be fixed by Monday.  Then, I should be able to schedule the birthday celebrations for Embarkation Day!

[Organized Chaos]

37 minutes ago, CRYSTAL01 said:

Yes, the cabin decorations are really expensive!   And, it doesn't appear to include many decorations (just one hanging thing).  I was planning to order the Cat in the Hat decorations anyway (only for my son😉), and also bring balloons and door decorations, as well.  

 

I was shocked when I noticed how much the cabin decorations increased. We took our son's friend with us in the summer of 2018 and his birthday fell during the cruise. His mom ordered the birthday decor + cake for $30. And I'm assuming that was the 9 inch cake because I know it wasn't the 6 inch. A year & a half later, it's $53. Granted, they do now include a picture frame and beach towel, which wasn't included back then, so I guess that's how they justify the increase. I think they should offer a cheaper option without the trinkets because the decorations themselves ain't worth diddly.

 

Glad you got it resolved. Or will soon.

[rukkian]

17 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

I was shocked when I noticed how much the cabin decorations increased. We took our son's friend with us in the summer of 2018 and his birthday fell during the cruise. His mom ordered the birthday decor + cake for $30. And I'm assuming that was the 9 inch cake because I know it wasn't the 6 inch. A year & a half later, it's $53. Granted, they do now include a picture frame and beach towel, which wasn't included back then, so I guess that's how they justify the increase. I think they should offer a cheaper option without the trinkets because the decorations themselves ain't worth diddly.

 

Glad you got it resolved. Or will soon.

My guess is the extras, and that they room stewards are now doing more than in years past, so they may be trying to discourage this, since it does take time to do.

[Sagittarius traveler]

I have a 5 year old and she been cruising since the age allowed I believe either 6 or 9months and the things they like are :

 

1) ice cream!!!!

2) water!!!!!

3) arcade (even though she didn't know how to play hahaha).

4) the music in the atrium she be dancing to their live singing

 

 

this is all for her birthday Cruise I do for her...plus visiting the islands we do one beach day and the others trying to explore and eat food on land and find candy on land hahaha.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Sagittarius traveler