Thread: Advice for 4 night Carnival cruise (after having been spoiled on Royal Caribbean)

Received one of those "free 4 night Carnival cruises" (after having cruised with Royal Caribbean several times). We think we'll do standard Pt Canaveral-Nassua-Freeport. Wondering what to expect.

Question 1: What to expect on Carnival? (apart from younger crowd, average food).

Question 2: Is Freeport really as "bad" (tacky, touts) as I've heard - should I try to get to a good beach on my own?

Question 3: Any tips for independent SCUBA DIVE outfitters on Nassua (there's always an excursion organized by the ship...but)

THANKS!
=muddslide=

Hi and welcome to www.cruiselinefans.com

Sorry I can't answer your questions, but I am sure one of our members can

Just in answer to no. 1, The crowd is more mixed now, i'm 61 and cruise on carnival and the food is very good on carnival.

First, nothing is free. Usually, those giveaways are gimmicks and there's always something attached to receiving the cruise. We get them in the mail all the time and after checking them out thoroughly, they always end up in the trash.

Second, all of the 4-night cruises on Carnival doing the Bahamas is going to be on their smaller older ships (Fascination, Ecstasy, Sensation, Imagination). Don't know what RCCL ships you've been on, so it's tough to compare.

Food on Carnival is fine. And depending when you go would have an impact on the crowd. If you go when school is out, then yes, you'll end up with more kids onboard. If you go when school is in session, then there will be less kids onboard.

As for Freeport, you need to take a taxi to the beach, shopping, and resort area on the other side of the island from where the ship docks.

As for Nassau, do a search on scuba companies as there are several to choose from.

I'm not a big proponent of shore excursions offered by the cruise line, especially Carnival. There are always cheaper, easier, quicker, nicer, and less crowded ways to do an excursion than going through Carnival, that's for sure.

Pete

As Pete said above, I would make sure you didn't get one of those postcards from a "travel agency" that aren't really legit. I get them all time, but it goes right into the recycling bin. Certainly let us know what happens, just in case this was something else.

As for your questions, it's been about nine years since we've been on a Carnival cruise. Food is really subjective (I'm not a foodie -- I'm picky as far as selections, but not too knowledgeable about quality). I've heard though that people have said the quality has really increased.

I can't tell you about Freeport -- never been there. And when we were in Nassau, we just walked around.

Welcome to Cruise Line Fans.

Definitely find out who sent you that "free" cruise. Ans remember that once you do accept the offer and take the cruise -- you will have to pay taxes on the value of that "free" cruise.

On our last cruise we were talking to a couple who did one of those cruises. It was actually from a time share company. Once they were on the ship there was a letter in their cabin from this company explaining where they were to meet at one of the ports for a "tour". The tour turned out to be a trip to place far from the pier. Then the speech began with the talk about the time share. When they said that they weren't interested -- they discovered that they had to pay for taxi to get back to the ship.

SO -- beware!!

I would second what Pete says.
One big difference I have noticed between CCL and RCL - and I may just be more sensitive to this particular issue than most - is that the announncements and 'high energy moments' are a bit more frequent on Carnival. On their bigger ships, there is an adults only pool area that is nice and quiet, but I dont think you'll find that on a Bahamas cruise out of PC. As Pete said, those are on the smaller, older, ships.

Out of Port Canaveral, the Ecstasy does the 4 and 5 nighters, and the Sensation does the 3 and 4 night cruises. Both are Fantasy Class ships

It is difficult to compare any 4 night cruise to a 7 night. Carnival for the most part does have old crowds than they did in the 90's when they were really pushing the younger wilder cruises. That being said, 4 night cruises all by themselves draw a younger crowd, even on RCL.

Very true

Be very leery of those "free" cruises. If you research the companies you will find that the cabins are the lowest class ones (inside cabin, possibly bunk beds instead of side by side). You will also find that you have to send them $50 "in good faith" to secure your confirmation.

Then the fun starts. They send you a list of "available" dates that you can then chose from. You then mail them back your confirmation. Often they will respond back stating that the cruise you chose is filled up and have you select a new date from a new list of cruises. There are reports that they will repeat this process several times. At no time can you just tell them to "give you any date". They do not work that way.

We get these offers all the time. We toss them.