Carnival Cruises expands its cruises from Charleston, SC

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Ok, we have never been on a cruise before, and the family voted to do something other than Disney next year (for the record, I voted for Disney). We have always talked about doing a cruise but Carnival only offered 2 cruises a year, one in May and one in Oct or Nov. It's never worked out before because of the school year. But this year, our county shortened the school year and lengthened the school day. So the girls are out of school on May 21 and the May cruise was May 24. So I went ahead and booked it.
I go out online today and I was shocked to see they have added about 62 more dates! Starts in May and goes all the way thru Dec. So we can actually cruise cheaper if I change our date to August, plus will give me more time to pay off the trip. I know Carnival isn't the best cruise line, but we are only 5 hours from Charleston and this played heavily in our decision to go on our first cruise. I'm thrilled to see they have more dates so I can pick a better time!

 

[thinkerbell]

We were really excited about this too!! We have never been on a cruise either but are thinking about doing a short one with Carnival that doesn't require a passport. We have no desire to travel outside of the US so if we don't like cruising, a passport would be an expensive waste. This is our chance to try out a cruise. We also both work in the school system and spring break or summer is the only time we have to go. We only live 3 hours from Charleston so it would save us a good bit since we wouldn't have to pay for air flight.

 

[crz4mm2]

Aren't you getting the FANTASY???????????
LOVE that ship and the staff.
We had the BEST time ever in May leaving from NOLA.
I wish we were only 5 hours away!

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

We were really excited about this too!! We have never been on a cruise either but are thinking about doing a short one with Carnival that doesn't require a passport. We have no desire to travel outside of the US so if we don't like cruising, a passport would be an expensive waste. This is our chance to try out a cruise. We also both work in the school system and spring break or summer is the only time we have to go. We only live 3 hours from Charleston so it would save us a good bit since we wouldn't have to pay for air flight.

We are going to the Bahamas, so unfortunately we will have to have passports. But our trip will be under $2000 if i change it to August (thats for the 4 of us, sharing an ocean view cabin). So it really will be quite a bit cheaper than Disney and we always stay at Pop and eat at CS with one or two TS meals. I guess i'm excited to do this, but honestly, I just want to please the rest of the family so that I can plan another Disney trip

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Aren't you getting the FANTASY???????????
LOVE that ship and the staff.
We had the BEST time ever in May leaving from NOLA.
I wish we were only 5 hours away!

Yes, we are getting the Fantasy! Thanks for the great review, we really don't know what to expect from Carnival..I've heard good and bad. My DH is very sensitive to motion sickness, and I don't know how he will react. I guess it would be nice to have the cruise option every year, as it is cheaper and closer to us. I hope we love it! Now I just have to figure out exactly when to rebook, as they charge $50 pp to rebook.

 

[crz4mm2]

Yes, we are getting the Fantasy! Thanks for the great review, we really don't know what to expect from Carnival..I've heard good and bad. My DH is very sensitive to motion sickness, and I don't know how he will react. I guess it would be nice to have the cruise option every year, as it is cheaper and closer to us. I hope we love it! Now I just have to figure out exactly when to rebook, as they charge $50 pp to rebook.

I had heard bad things about Carnival too. Sent my DS and DDIL on a cruise for their honeymoon a couple of years ago. They had never cruised before and LOVED their cruise. The following year, I took DD on a cruise for her 21st b-day. We loved it too!
Soooooo I booked a cruise for our 30th anniversary. There were 8 of us traveling together and we had the BEST time. I really could not have asked for any better. Don't let the "bad reviews" scare you. And go to Cruisecritic.com. There is a Carnival thread and lots of other stuff there to help you!

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I had heard bad things about Carnival too. Sent my DS and DDIL on a cruise for their honeymoon a couple of years ago. They had never cruised before and LOVED their cruise. The following year, I took DD on a cruise for her 21st b-day. We loved it too!
Soooooo I booked a cruise for our 30th anniversary. There were 8 of us traveling together and we had the BEST time. I really could not have asked for any better. Don't let the "bad reviews" scare you. And go to Cruisecritic.com. There is a Carnival thread and lots of other stuff there to help you!

Thank you!!

 

[izzy]

I love cruising just about as much as I love Disney World! I've been on almost all of the major lines, and I've always had a good time on Carnival.

I don't know where you live in North Carolina, but have you considered cruising out of Norfolk? Here is the 2010 schedule for Norfolk:

http://www.norfolkvisitor.com/cruisesfromnorfolkva.html

 

[mrsmom]

Dh and I took our four of my kids on carnival cruise for thanksgiving last year and they had a blast! we are going on another one in June for our 25th and taking them with us. It's a great vacation.
Kim

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I love cruising just about as much as I love Disney World! I've been on almost all of the major lines, and I've always had a good time on Carnival.

I don't know where you live in North Carolina, but have you considered cruising out of Norfolk? Here is the 2010 schedule for Norfolk:

http://www.norfolkvisitor.com/cruisesfromnorfolkva.html

We live in Western NC. I Mapquested to both Charleston and Norfolk and there is only about a 30 min difference. The reason we settled on Charleston is that I have always wanted to visit Charleston and one of my relatives has a time share there. We are planning on driving down and spending 2days and nights there touring the city and then going on the cruise. I lived in Chesapeake when I was little, my dad was in the Coast Guard. I have never been to Charleston, so this just adds a little more excitement.

 

[izzy]

We live in Western NC. I Mapquested to both Charleston and Norfolk and there is only about a 30 min difference. The reason we settled on Charleston is that I have always wanted to visit Charleston and one of my relatives has a time share there. We are planning on driving down and spending 2days and nights there touring the city and then going on the cruise. I lived in Chesapeake when I was little, my dad was in the Coast Guard. I have never been to Charleston, so this just adds a little more excitement.

I love Charleston! It's great when you can essentially get two vacations out of one!

 

[NCRedding]

I've sailed DCL 6 times, NCL 2 times, RCCL 1 time and Carnival 1 time. I didn't expect to like Carnival at all, but we really enjoyed our cruise on the Liberty. The entertainment was non-stop, and the food was pretty awesome!

I enjoy sailing from Charleston. The terminal is not fancy, but I love Charleston.

 

[PatsGirl]

I have also cruised Disney, Norwegian, Princess and Carnival and must say that all things considered Carnival was my favorite. Disney was too much $$, Norwegian had subpar service, Princess was a little high scale for my party, but Carnival was the right $$ for the right destinations Fantasy is an older ship but great for a first-timer. It's a bit harder to start out with a newer ship and go back same with starting with a balcony and going to an inside room so OV was another great choice. I think you will have a fantastic time! And definately check out cruisecritic.com

 

[Angelhalo]

DH and I LOVE LOVE cruising but we both hated Carnival and would probably never do another Carnival cruise. But, lots of people enjoy Carnival so OP I hope your family is in that category!

 

[DrCavin]

We are going to the Bahamas, so unfortunately we will have to have passports.

If you are doing a "closed loop" cruise, meaning your cruise starts & ends in the same US port, you do not need passports.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

Ooh...great to hear they added more to Charleston. We are big cruise fans, and have done 2 DCL, 1 Carnival, and 1 RCCL.

I'll have to say I like DCL better with small kids, but Carnival was really nice as well. We were on the Triumph when it was new...so it was really nice.

We are in TN, so Charleston (or Norfolk) would shorten our drive by 4-5 hrs. It is really a long drive driving 12 hrs to Port Canaveral.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm a frequent cruiser and have cruised Carnival, Royal Carribean, Princess and Celebrity. I've never had a bad cruise on Carnival (or any other line). I will say that I don't understand the hype about Celebrity because I didn't think it was any better than any of our Carnival cruises.

Have a great time!

 

[Micca]

Hey Cali--tell your DH to get some Bonine for motion sickness. It's OTC, not expensive, and works for a lot of people. Also it doesn't result in side effects like fatique that some other meds do.

Have fun on the cruise. We've done one Carnival cruise and it was great fun.

 

[luvavacation]

We have done 4 Carnival, 5 Disney, and some other lines.

We really did not like our first 2 Carnival cruises, the third was Spirit to Alaska and that one was not bad, but also more expensive than the regular Caribbean Carnival cruises, but they had a naturalist on board, which really made it a great cruise through Alaska.

Our last Carnival was the Fantasy from NOLA this summer. By far it was our favorite Carnival cruise! The crew is the friendliest we have ever had on Carnival, and for my family, a good crew can make or break a cruise. I heard somewhere, maybe from the cruise director, that the Fantasy and Ecstasy were in the running for friendliest Carnival ships?

After 4 Carnival cruises, we have learned that there are some things on Carnival that we will never like as much as what is on Disney, and for us, Disney crew is still the best we have ever experienced, but the Fantasy was a close second. We even tipped extra to all our servers and room attendants, and even the bar attendants, they were that wonderful, and we wanted to let them know how much we appreciated them. I would love to cruise the Fantasy again, and I hope you enjoy your time on that ship as much as we did!

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

If you are doing a "closed loop" cruise, meaning your cruise starts & ends in the same US port, you do not need passports.

OMG, are you serious???? That is terrific news!!!!