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[carpediemtravel]

Hi, I'm looking at going on a Carnival cruise to Cozumel and Grand Cayman in January. We were going to book through Carnival cruises but were having problems figuring out which level or section of the boat we should stay in. Any suggestions? I heard to stay away from cabins near the engines because of the noise. Also, any other tips or advice about cruises especially to these two destinations? Thanks!

[mmbcross]

If I were you I would book your cruise through a travel agent. They usually have the same prices, and on top of that can give you good advice.

Here's someone who went on a Carnival Cruise and has some advice on her blog:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entri...04380/tpod.html

[jacquesl]

My wife and I sailed on the Carnival Cruise lines and had a ball.....there is stuff going on 24 hours per day on the ship so you have to pick what you want to see carefully or you will be too tired do everything.

As far are where to stay, I would suggest that you be careful not to stay too low on the ship. We did and when the ship was at sea , at night, and we hit a storm, the movement of the ship was felt dramatically. When the ship went up it felt like our pillows went up with the ship and when it came ...crashing down....so did our heads along with the pillows.

So the next time we go on a cruise ..and we will.....I will not take a room in the bottom 5 levels.....we were on the 3rd from the bottom level.... We took one of the cheapest rooms on the advice of some friends who told us that we would not often be in our room ...and although they were right......it would have be nice to sleep better when we were in the room!

Enjoy your cruise!

[carpediemtravel]

Thanks for the link, it helped and had good advice!

If I were you I would book your cruise through a travel agent. They usually have the same prices, and on top of that can give you good advice.

Here's someone who went on a Carnival Cruise and has some advice on her blog:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entri...04380/tpod.html

[carpediemtravel]

Thanks for the cabin advice, we'll plan on staying higher on the ship. I didn't realize that the lower you are, the more movement you feel. I'll definitely need the sleep for all the activities we'll be doing!

My wife and I sailed on the Carnival Cruise lines and had a ball.....there is stuff going on 24 hours per day on the ship so you have to pick what you want to see carefully or you will be too tired do everything.

As far are where to stay, I would suggest that you be careful not to stay too low on the ship. We did and when the ship was at sea , at night, and we hit a storm, the movement of the ship was felt dramatically. When the ship went up it felt like our pillows went up with the ship and when it came ...crashing down....so did our heads along with the pillows.

So the next time we go on a cruise ..and we will.....I will not take a room in the bottom 5 levels.....we were on the 3rd from the bottom level.... We took one of the cheapest rooms on the advice of some friends who told us that we would not often be in our room ...and although they were right......it would have be nice to sleep better when we were in the room!

Enjoy your cruise!

[mmbcross]

As far as ship movement is concerned, also try to stay in the centre of the ship. Think of the ship as a fulcrum.

If the waves are coming from forward of the vessel, the ship goes through the wave bow first, the bow will move in a upwards direction and the stern will drop. The centre of gravity in the middle of the ship will move much less than the bow and stern. This is called the pitch.

When the waves come from the side, the ship moves side to side also. This is when you get more movement on the lower decks. This is rolling.

When the waves come at an angle, the ship will yaw. This is when it pitches and rolls at the same time. This is why the Captain's cabin is on a high deck in the centre of the ship.

In conclusion:
Pitch describes the motion of a ship about her transverse axis; this causes the forward and aft ends of the ship to rise and fall repeatedly.

Roll describes the motion of a ship about her longitudinal axis; this causes the ship to rock from side to side.

Yaw describes the motion of a ship about her vertical axis; this causes the forward and aft ends of the ship to swing from left to right repeatedly.

This being said, as long as you are not navigating through a hurricane, due to the size of today's vessels and the use of stabilizers (which help alleviate rolling), the ship's movement will generally not be noticeable.

[lar4290]

I've done multiple cruises with Carnival, staying near the bottom (i.e. 1st and 2nd decs) and I've been completely happy (then again I didn't want to pay twice as much, as you get charged more on Carnival for the higher decks), but I've never cruised through a bad storm (thankfully).

I'd say cabin selection depends on what you're looking for, as prices range from $500+ for interior cabins to $3000+ for balony suites on the same cruise. When I cruise, I'm hardly ever in my room, so I don't mind an interior cabin, whereas I have friends who shell out the extra $1000 because they wouldn't dream of cruising without having their own balcony.

To respond to your last question, Cozumel is a fun place to explore and you can easily grab a cab to a beach when you're at the port. The last time I was there, however, I had sun poisoning from laying out the day before in Belize, so I took it easy and walked around the markets in town and did a lot of shopping/drinking.

[carpediemtravel]

Thanks for the advice! We ended up getting a cabin in the middle of the ship. We definitely didn't want to pay the extra money for the balcony suite. Our cruise is less then a month away and we're very excited!

I've done multiple cruises with Carnival, staying near the bottom (i.e. 1st and 2nd decs) and I've been completely happy (then again I didn't want to pay twice as much, as you get charged more on Carnival for the higher decks), but I've never cruised through a bad storm (thankfully).

I'd say cabin selection depends on what you're looking for, as prices range from $500+ for interior cabins to $3000+ for balony suites on the same cruise. When I cruise, I'm hardly ever in my room, so I don't mind an interior cabin, whereas I have friends who shell out the extra $1000 because they wouldn't dream of cruising without having their own balcony.

To respond to your last question, Cozumel is a fun place to explore and you can easily grab a cab to a beach when you're at the port. The last time I was there, however, I had sun poisoning from laying out the day before in Belize, so I took it easy and walked around the markets in town and did a lot of shopping/drinking.

[carpediemtravel]

I just wanted to follow up on this post because I went on my cruise in January. It was our first time and it did exceed our expectations. I thought Carnival did a really nice job and I felt very spoiled by their staff. I felt like we were waited on hand and foot!
In Grand Cayman we did the butterfly and turtle farms and bought the excursion through Carnival. It was $55 per person which was pretty high but we really wanted to go to the turtle farm so we paid the mark-up.
In Cozumel we didn't buy a package through Carnival. We wanted to go horse-back riding and Carnival's horseback riding excursions were somewhere around $90 a person. In Cozumel, we walked through the initial tourist area and were able to find a local operator that charged us $30 per person to go horse back riding. We had to pay our own cab fare and haggle with the cab driver which I didn't care for but the excursion was nice and saved us some money.
Overall it was a very nice trip. Since we went in January, we didn't have the greatest weather so I would recommend for people to go during spring or fall. Summer can be a little too hot and winter can sometimes be warm and sometimes be on the cool-side. It was definitely better weather then we had in Chicago!

[mmbcross]

Cruise lines generally add 100% to a tour cost, so a tour sold at US$ 100.00 will have cost them US$ 50.00. That's why the horseback ride cost US$ 90.00. US$ 30.00 for the ride and US$ 15.00 for the transportation.

[loolie]

I've never sailed with Carnival but we've gone on 3 Princess cruises. I would recommend that you head on over to the Cruise Critic forums (http://boards.cruisecritic.com) as they have an entire forum dedicated to Carnival - you can get plenty of advice from experienced cruisers there! Have a great trip!!