Drinks, airport transfers, food q's

[sungoddess28]

Hey there! This winter will be me and my family's first cruise. I am going to have all kinds of questions as the cruise gets closer so I hope all you veterans can help me out. My husband and I will be cruising with our two children ages 7 and 2. Everyone says I am crazy for taking the 2 year old but we can't leave him behind! From what I have read on Carnivals website, it seems the kids will be well occupied if my husband and I want some alone time! ;)

 

I am starting to search some flights and we have decided to fly in on Sunday and get a hotel and fly out after the cruise on Saturday. So far it is much less expensive to fly in and out of Fort Lauderdale. I see a flight that departs at 10:50 am on Saturday. Is that enough time to disembark and make our flight at the Fort Lauderdale airport? :rolleyes: Any advise on this matter or traveling with children? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

I was also wondering how much we can expect to pay for drinks, soda, alcoholic beverages beer and mixed drinks? How well do they search your bags when arriving on the ship? You can bring your own water, right?

 

If we choose not to do formal nights will we still have a variety of places to eat?

[firefly333]

Well, since I dont know which shp you are on, or which date its kinda hard to comment on your airlines connections. If you are flying in during the winter, people will tell you over and over again to fly in the night before. There can be a storm, the planes can be delayed etc, but cant tell when your cruise is or if you are planning on this or not. Just be aware if you miss your cruise its very expensive to fly to the first port of call and you have to be onboard 90 minutes before the cruise leaves.

 

Im guessing you are cruising on Carnival? They do have a good children's program, which hopefully your 2 year old can adapt to, sometimes at that age it works better than other times.

 

If you get a DOD (drink of the day), the souveneir glass costs extra, you can order it without the glass or refill the glass you buy the first day if you really want a glass to bring home. There will be drink specials in the morning and leaving the port from $3.75 to $4.75 plus the fancy drinks in those glasses they push so hard. You will get invited to a captain's party with free mixed drinks too.

 

There is always the buffet if you dont want to eat in the dining room. The buffet usually has much of the same foods the dining room has at night, plus there is a pizza place open 24/7 where you can also get ceasar salad and a grill and a deli. Maybe more choices, depending on which ship you are on.

 

Soda cards are pretty expensive, even the children's card. You would have to drink about 3 soda's a day for them to be worth it I figure. Soda is $1.75 a can (plus 15% tip just like mixed drinks, its added on when you order). We usually bring a can of soda for each day for my sister who drinks soda, we dont try and smuggle anything but the soda, too heavy. The ship's water is filtered. I wouldnt lug a bunch of bottled water myself.

[LuvTheGoodLife]

Flight Advice - Does your cruise depart/arrive back in Miami? If so, I would NOT recommend a flight before noon out of Ft Lauderdale as the airport is at least 45 min drive from Port of Miami, depending on traffic. You would be hard pressed to make a 10:50 am flight out of FLL airport if your ship arrives back at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, especially if you are travelling with 2 kids as this would make it hard to do self-disembark which requires you to hand carry off all luggage.

Many Carnival ships sail into/out of Port of Miami. If you make this more clear in a separate post and perhaps put it in the Cruise Air section, you will get more specific replies.

 

Carry-on Beverages - You can carry on reasonable amounts of bottled water in your checked baggage but it must be contained in luggage - you cannot check a case of water by putting a luggage tag on it and giving it to ther porters. Carnival also restricts checking or carrying on of all but small 12x12 inch coolers.

 

Carnival will thoroughly search your carry-on bags for alcohol but you may have some success in placing well-wrapped/well-padded alcohol in your checked luggage. Carnival does allow 1 bottle of wine per person to be carried on.

 

Dress Code - If you choose not to dress up for Elegant Night, I believe there are casual dining options such as the buffet. Carnival is not overly strict on their Elegant Night dress code so shirt and tie for men and dress/skirt/dressier pants for women would be fine.

 

Drink Prices - Not sure on drink prices as I have not sailed Carnival in several years. On Princess - $5 for beers, $5-8 for mixed drinks. $2 for soda. Soda cards can be bought to allow 1 person unlimited daily soda - I believe these are about $6/day on Carnival - must buy for all days of cruise.

 

Things to consider for the 2 year old - For your 2 year old, be aware that non-toilet trained children/children wearing diapers (even swim diapers) are not allowed in pools or hot tubs. Depending on your Carnival ship, there may be an infant's water zone area that allows wearing of swim diapers. The Family Cruising section of the board will have more details on this topic. Having seen the pools be closed for a day due to a 'Code Brown' after parents decided the diapers should come off to allow their non-toilet trained child in the pool is not a way to endear yourself to your fellow passengers on a hot day at sea!

 

The family section of the board will also advise you if your 2 year old can partake of Camp Carnival to allow you some adult/alone time if they are not toilet trained. I have no direct knowledge on this issue.

 

Good luck on your cruising adventure.

[sungoddess28]

Thanks so much for the feedback! We are cruising Dec 14th. We do plan on coming a day early but I was worried about making the 10:50 flight. I think I will find a flight leaving later in the day. Thanks Again!

[satxdiver]

The airline issue has been addressed. Schedule a flight for later in the day or return the next day if possible. It makes for a lot less tension.

 

Carnival has elegant nights as they did away with formal nights. For men nice pants, dress shirt and shoes are sufficient. Ties and coats can be added but not required. Ladies dress similar. With young children opt for the earlier dinner times.

 

If you do not eat in the main dining room (MDR) there is always the buffet. Dress in the buffet is casual to include shorts, tshirt, etc. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner in both the buffet and MDR. Another alternative is room service which is available 24 hours a day. Some ships have specialty restaurants for an additional cost ($15-30) but usually have an age requirement.

 

There will be other young children aboard so taking a 2 year old is not a big problem and (s)he will be welcome. They have age appropriate activities onboard. They do offer a baby sitting service in your stateroom for an additional fee.

 

Drink prices as pointed out are similar to upscale bars. Luggage is checked similar to the way it is done at the airports by electronic scanners. Your carryon luggage must fit into a scanner just like at the airport and you must pass through a metal detector. Your checked luggage will be scanned electronically in a similar manner. They generally do not open luggage. They have only a few hours to scan thousands of pieces of luggage so it is not that intensive.

 

One helpful hint is to mark your luggage so that you can recognize it at a glance. There will be 3000 or so passengers looking for their luggage when you arrive back into Miami (disembark). You will gather your luggage and go through customs and immigration before being allowed to leave the cruise terminal. There will be lines and delays. Plan ahead.