Carnival Cruise Line... HELP!!!?

Question

I'm looking into taking a cruise and the one I always hear about is Carnival. I was looking on their website to see what the ship ("holiday") looked like. (dining, pools, rooms, etc.) I noticed the room they give you an example of only has twin beds or bunk beds and in the description area it mentioned something about pushing the twin beds together to make a king.. are all of their rooms like this?? Do they really not have just a normal full/queen size bed in their rooms?? Also they looked very small. The example of the suite they had looked like an average size room, the others looked very small and enclosed. I've never been on a cruise ship before so any details would help! Also, its the Western Carribbean. Anyone ever been on it?? Any advise?

Answer 1

Yes I went to the Western Carribean with Carnival Cruiselines last May.  The name of the ship was different though.  I was on the Valor.  My best advice is to call them.  The number is 1-888-Carnival.  The customer service agent is very very friendly and very helpful.  I gave them specific information and they did as I asked.  I had a small room with 2 beds.  An inside cabin.  It was quite dark but for me it was good as I have a problem sleeping.  The room was small but considering how little time we spent in there it was fine.  One thing is to eat in the restaurant  instead of the buffet.  The restaurant has gourmet food and its outstanding and you can have double portions or try everything on prix fixe menu.  The found was to die for.  I would say pick a later dining hr.  I chose 6:30pm so after we got back to the ship from our day on the island we could relax and shower before going to dinner.  They will help you book different tours when you get to your days destination.  They tend to be a bit pricey but this was my first "big" vacation so we splurged a bit.  We went to the the Grand Cayman, then Roartan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize and finally to Costa Maya, Mexico.  We had a good time but it's alot to see in the hrs you are in port.  I loved Grand Cayman the best I think.  Dinner is a bit dressy but not bad.  The only night you have to be really dressed up is the Captains Ball.  Then everyone looks like they are meeting the Queen of England.  Bring comfy shoes cos girl you are going to walk your feet off!  I hope this helps. If you wish to contact me leave me a message on here with a way to reach you and I'll get back to you with any assistance I can give you.

Answer 2

Yes the rooms are all like this, but to be honest with you, the beds are SO comfortable that you will not tell a difference. Carnival recently launched a new bedding line, and it is so popular that they actually sell it to you on the boat!!!! You are honestly not in your room that much anyway, so the size won't matter. However, I have always stayed in an inside stateroom on the Carnival ships and always felt like I had adequate room to live in (that includes one trip on the Holiday with 4 to an inside room).

I actually cruised the Western Carribean on the Holiday in 2002. We had very rough seas, so the trip was not that enjoyable to tell you the truth. The ports (Playa Del Carmen and Cozumel) were a lot of fun, but the ship was a bit smaller. If you have never been on a cruise before, you won't notice much, but just note that the Holiday is Carnival smallest and oldest ship. Have you thought about sailing out of Galveston on the Ecstasy or any of the other Spirit class ships? They are a bit more bigger (70,000 tons compared to 40,000) and have a few more extras on the ship that the Holiday does not offer. The $$$ is about the same, might be a little more but is worth it for sure!

I would recommend going to cruisecritic.com and reading reviews on the specific ships that Carnival has in its fleet. The website is very helpful to first time cruisers, because in addition to the member reviews, it also has forums to post in regarding ports of call and/or specific questions regarding a ship. The people on the board are SUPER nice and very helpful in helping decide what is the best option for you during your vacation.

Answer 3

My 1st and ONLY cruise experience was 2 yrs ago on the Facination, Carnival Cruise line. The experience was NOT so good but the ship was gorgeous. The ppl on the ship were NOT. Before booking your cruise make sure you ask if there is a majority group booked for that particular cruise. Dont go if there is. Ours was an Indian Family Reunion. Out of 2650 ppl only 60 guest were NOT involved in that reunion. So the ship did NOT have much for us 60 ppl to do like they normally do. Our room was extremely small but I loved it. I am chlostaphobic & when I saw the room I freaked...then I calmed down and told myself "your only sleeping & showering there". It ended up being the BEST sleep I've ever gotten! I was on a 3 night 4 day cruise. For your first experience I'd recommend no less than 3 nights. I went to the Bahama's. Loved it. FYI, it's FREEZING inside the ship, but HOT on the decks. So pack some warm clothes for nights inside the ship. Good luck!

Answer 4

I went on the Carnival Celebration for Christmas and it was nice. It's the sister of the Holiday. It was an older ship, but had been renovated in 2003. We had a great time! You'll love cruising. If you're younger (18-35) then you'll want to spend lots of time in the disco, poolside, and at the casino. You can literately eat your way through the ship! Food is served 24 hrs a day!

Don't worry about your room! All the rooms look small online, but when you get there, they seem much bigger! I would suggest booking at least an Oceanview, because you get a window. It can get claustrophobic in those Inside Staterooms!

                    HAVE FUN!!!

Answer 5

Just looked up your ship, don;t get scared, but you might want to pick a newer ship.  Any ship with the word "Carnival" before the name is better.  I'm a little particular with that. Holiday was built in 1985 (its 22 years old..their OLDEST ship!!!!!).

  KEEP READING!!!

I've sailed Carnival twice. (On Cranival Pride and Carnival Miracle) both times we got a balcony room.  The extra money was worth it.  Spend it!!!!  These are the only rooms that have air flow.  The interior rooms are like small boxes, then i believe there are rooms with windows, but the windows DON"T OPEN!!! Then there are the balcony rooms.  Its so nice to prop open the door and go to sleep to the sound of the waves!!! We got room service almost every morning (free room service, but should tip the delivery person).  We would take our tea onto the patio and eat breakfast out there, it was so nice!!! I would never ever get anything other than a balcony room!!!  I believe on most, if you're worried about price, they have discount balconies that don't have full views.  My sister got one last time, and the only difference is that some of the glass under the railing is blocked by a life boat!  No big deal!

The bed question..yes they all push together, its not bad though, we didn't really even notice it!  I don't know about bunk beds though, Ive never heard of that.  I've only heard that you get either 2 twins or a king.  A tip on that also: if you're traveling with adults who don't want to share a bed (just friends), make sure that they know not to put the beds together!  My sister came with me on my last cruise and she stayed in the same room as a guy friend of mine (1st time they met was a day before the cruise).  We got to their room and the beds were put together!! They were embarassed, and didn't know what to do (1st time cruising), so I had to go up there and fix the situation, they hung out in my room for a while until their room was ready.  That was the only bump in the road as far as the rooms!

The last cruise we went on was Western Carribean..some good tips:

If you're going to Belize DO THE CAVE TUBING.  We were about to not do it because of the length (7 hours), but it was the best thing we did on that cruise!!!!  If you're going to Costa Maya (most beautiful of all) theres a private beach and jeep tour, my boyfriend went on that, came back with amazing pictures, there was even a little monkey running around!!!  I did the Dolphin Swim while in Costa Maya and that was awesome!!!  But if you want to relax, do the private beach and jeep tour!  If you go to the Cayman Islands, see the Turtle Farm, its cute and you get to pick up some baby turtles, so you come home with great pictures! If you take that tour they also take you to Stingray City and that was awesome too! A little scary at first, and a little crouded, but so cool!! Don't forget an underwater camera for that one!!!  We also went to Cozumel and did a hiking tour, that was probably the one I would replace.  It was fun but HOT HOT HOT, so it kind of made us miserable.  My sister did a canopy and tubing tour in Cozumel and said it was awesome, but I'm afraid of heights so I didn't go.  My mom and dad went on that one too, so it's for all ages!!

Another thing;  the 24 hour pizza bar is amazing!! and don't miss the midnight buffet.  The food is a little out there but the ice sculptures and food sculptures are way creative and ultra cool photo shots!!!  

Hope I left you some good tips!!

Answer 6

You get what you pay for. Most standard rooms are about the size of a medium size closet.

Answer 7

depends on how much you want to spend on a room. most rooms on all cruise ships are small about10x10 and the baths are tiny.   yes, the beds go together to make a a large full or a queen.  couzemel sucks since a hurricane hit them last year.  grand caymen is your best bet.   e-mail me at [e-mail].  I've been on about 7 cruises on 3 different cruise lines.  If you like to party go Carnival.  If you like a laid back cruise , go Royal Carribean, Celebrity or Norwegian...

Answer 8

The rooms are not as small as I had thought they were going to be. Maybe thats because there were only 2 of us in the room. The single beds can be pushed together into a king. That will be done before you get to your room. I went with my brother sister and my parents and the cabin steward but my sister and I in a room, the beds separate then in my parents room but the beds together and set up the couch for my brother. If for some reaosn the beds are apart when you get onboard, just let them know and they will make the change right away.

I haven't been to the Western Caribbean but did go to the Eastern. The Caribbean is awesome, hot and the ports are beautiful.

Happy Cruising!

Answer 9

check out the Princess line.  We went on a Carnival cruise and well....the Princess cruise was much better.

Answer 10

Standard Carnival rooms have twin beds that you put together to make a "queen sized" single. Some of the inside lower (the cheapest cabins) have bunk beds. The "bunk" beds are actually a single bed on the floor with a single that folds out from the wall. All the inside rooms on Carnival are 185 square feet. It's small, yes, but not tiny unless you are trying to put 3 of you in a room (the upper deck cabins have two singles with a fold out of the wall bed).

One thing to remember about a cruise cabin. You really aren't going to spend much time in the room except to sleep, shower and take short breaks. Other times you will be out on the deck, taken in the shows and entertainment, out at the ports, etc.

I haven't been on the Holiday, but have been on the sister ship to it, the Imagination of a Western Caribbean cruise. My advice to you is to take in all the fun and entertainment on the ship, relax on the deck in the sun, eat, eat, eat and have a blast enjoying the great beaches and clear, warm waters while in the ports and don't fret too much about how big your room is. It's just a place to spend the night and get a little privacy. Just remember, you are on a ship and not at a hotel so it's not exactly a hotel room. But then again, hotels don't feed you free, take you to great beaches and waters or give you free entertainment, so the trade off it well worth it (in my opinion).

Answer 11

The Holiday is a really small ship.  It's one of their first, if I'm not mistaken, so it's older and doesn't have much of the amenities that the newer ships have.

The beds on most Carnival ships are doubles/twins -- if you want a queen-size, they just shove two beds together.

Unless you get a suite on one of the newer ships, that's pretty much what you've got.

All the rooms are undersized.  Space is at a premium on a cruise ship, but they do make it seem like you have more room than the brochure lists.  Still, a standard room on a cruise ship isn't all that big.

However, having said all that, I do have to say my standard cruise-line remark:  If you're spending a lot of time in your room on a cruise ship, you're either doing something spectacularly wrong, or something spectacularly right (I'm talking honeymoon, etc -- not family outing).  There's more than enough to do on the ship that the only time you should be in your room is for changing clothes, sleeping, and extra-curricular activities.

I've been on 7 cruises so far, and 5 of them were Western Caribbean.  All the Western Caribbean cruises go thru Cozumel -- it's fun, and there's everything to do from partying to beach excursions.  I'd recommend Passion Island if you're on a romantic getaway, or the Chakkanab (spelling?) excursion or the beach excursion for a family.

Costa Maya/Calica/Progresso is a good place to visit the ruins, but when we went thru there the port had JUST opened, so none of the dockside activities were up and running.

Personally, I'd recommend a bigger ship (you'll feel less of the boat's movement), and a more varied itinerary, but I'm jaded.  Grand Cayman seriously rocks (that's where "Stingray City" is -- a must do), Jamaica is ok if you can beat back the panhandlers and the pimps/prostitutes/drug dealers.

Answer 12

i have heard a lot of bad things about carnival . if i were you i would spend a bit more and go with a better line royal caribbean is awesome  the cabins on ship are small but your just there to sleep and bathe change clothes . there is so much to do on the ship your never in your cabin. my first cruise we go a balcony it was great but not worth the extra moneys to me . so do a bit of home work and see what line is for you . carnival is Gerard for younger more rowdy crowds . so keep in mind . hope this is a bit of help and happy cruising.