Carnival Cruise Lines® is the world's largest cruise line, with a fleet of colorful an exciting "FunShips®". From starting out cruising the Caribbean with three old ocean liners in the 1970's and 80's, the cruise line has kept building new, big ships especially designed for the Carnival way of cruising. The growth to a fleet of 23 cruise ships proves just how much the cruising public loves Carnival.
While in the beginning Carnival might have been known as the cruise line to party around the clock on, it has today become the undisputed leader in family cruising. As recently as 2000, for instance, Carnival Cruise Lines was projecting 250,000 participants in its kids program. Today, that number will approach 600,000.
Fleetwide, Carnival’s ships get big points for their roomy and well laid out cabins, which all have equally roomy bathrooms. In the public areas, you can expect some pretty over-the-top decor — especially on the line’s older ships, which sport things like oyster shell wallpaper, furry barstools, wacky chandeliers, neon-bright dining rooms, and fanciful spaces themed on ancient Greece and Rome. Ships built over the past decade have toned things down a bit, but they’re still bright, busy, and playful. Almost everywhere you look, you’ll get an eyeful of wildly collaged textures, shapes, and images.
Carnival ships have all been are designed around a couple of very important recurring concepts, the most important ones being its pool area and the indoor promenade concept. Lots of fun is featured around the pool area, with a resort style pool, various kinds of giant waterslides, and on many of the new Carnival ships even the outdoor Seaside Theatre - a giant 12 ft by 22 ft jumbo LCD screen for movies, concerts, sports events, and more. The Carnival indoor promenade runs the length of the ships and has a number of the bars and lounges integrated into the design. This makes for a feeling of constant activity and of something always happening. If one takes a seat in a chair along the promenade, it seems every other person on the ship will sooner or later pass by.
Carnival ships are buzzing with entertainment options, from flamboyant song-and-dance revues in giant theaters to large glitzy casinos, live bands and hilarious late-night stand-up comedy shows offered fleetwide on every cruise. The pool decks rock, pumping out loud Caribbean-style favorites throughout the day.
You won’t find much in the way of classes and seminars, but there are plenty of audience participation games and contests. You can also head to the huge gyms and spas, take a dance class, watch a movie on a giant outdoor screen, surf the web in the Internet center, whack some golf balls into a driving net, play laser tag (for a $5 fee), or head to the adults-only sunbathing deck that most of the ship offer for some quiet time. Kids get big children’s centers with high-energy counselors and activities, plus great water slides and water parks.
The Caribbean Experts
Carnival Cruise Lines is the leader in Caribbean cruising, with more Caribbean cruise ships departing from more U. S. home ports than any other cruise line. The advantage of this is that many Carnival passengers have the convenience of driving to the cruise ship, instead of having the added cost and time of flying to the port of departure. Carnival also, by far, has the most cruise ships on year-round Caribbean cruises. No matter the time of year, it is easy to find a Carnival cruise.
Entertainment
Carnival Cruise Lines' spectacular showlounge productions feature Las Vegas style shows with talented singers and dancers. In addition to a different main show each evening, you can enjoy the rhytm of the night with live music in Carnival's many colorful and exciting bars and lounges.
Cabins and Suites on Carnival Cruise Ships
Cabins and Suites on Carnival Cruise Lines feature a spacious design, with all the extras a modern cruise ship has to offer. On a weeklong Caribbean cruise balcony cabins and suites are especially comfortable for private relaxation on your private balcony during lazy days at sea.
Family Cruising
Carnival is the clear cruise line winner for family vacations. Kids obviously love the "Fun Ships", judging from the more than half a million who cruise with Carnival each year, and it’s easy to understand why. Carnival’s ships are equipped with enough toys, games, excursions and shipboard programs to keep the fussiest tots or the most cynical teens happy, and Carnival is a consistently excellent value for families.
Camp Carnival® is Carnival's year-round activities program for children between the ages of 2 and 11, with activities divided into age groups of 2-5, 6-8, and 9-11 years old. There is also supervised "free play" and babysitting service.
For teenagers, there is Circle C® for 12 to 14 year olds, and Club O2® for 15 to 17 year olds.
Dining on Carnival Cruise Ships
In the dining department, Carnival’s food quality and presentation are much better than a lot of people expect on a mainstream cruise. The low-fat, low-calorie, low-salt Spa Carnival fare is also surprisingly tasty. At dinner, guests can go traditional or casual in the main restaurants, either choosing a fixed early or late seating or just dropping in whenever they like between about 5:45 and 9:30. Dress codes are flexible too, and even on formal nights nobody will get upset if you show up in jeans and a polo shirt. If you want to go super-casual, you can dine buffet-style for every meal, choosing among everything from burgers and fries to burritos, pasta, fried rice and Indian food. You can get pizza 24 hours a day, too, plus sushi, deli sandwiches, and more. For a special night out, about half the line’s ships offer extra-cost specialty restaurants with superior service and cuisine.
Dining on Carnival Cruise Lines is known as "Your Choice Dining". This means that Carnival provides a choice of three different dinner seating options in their main restaurants. There are the traditional 1st and 2nd seatings at assigned tables, plus the "Your Time" open seating option. The preferred type of dining is selected at time of booking, subject to availability. Lunch and dinner are also available buffet style on the Lido Deck.
Traditional dining in the main restaurants with 1st and 2nd seatings at assigned tables means that one dines at the same time and the same table every night. The benefit of this is that one meets other passengers and can make new friends. The 1st seating starts at 6:00 p. m. and 2nd seating at 8:15 p. m. (and dinner service begins promptly at those times).
"Your Time" Open Seating dining is available on all Carnival ships. It should be emphasized that it is important to select this type of dining at time of booking, because if one has selected the traditional dining it is not possible to change to "Your Time" once onboard the ship. Passengers on "Your Time" open seating may dine any time in the main dining room between 5:45 p. m. and 9:30 p. m. and can request any table size or waiter. Seating is on a first come, first served basis depending on the size of the party. Like at many restaurants ashore, pagers are provided in case a short wait time is required. In most cases seating can be accomodated within 20 minutes, which gives just the right amount of time for a pre-dinner drink.
The open seating option is definitely on its way to becoming the most popular dining option, and not only on Carnival Cruise Lines. For larger parties traveling together, and for families with small children the traditional 1st and 2nd seating is still the best option. For everyone else it depends on personal preferences. Just remember that on Carnival Cruise Lines "Your Time" dining cannot be selected once onboard the ship. It has to be selected at time of booking.
Dream, Conquest, and Spirit "class" ships also offer an exclusive steakhouse for special evenings. Reservations are recommended, and a nominal fee applies.
Carnival Cruise Lines Cruise Ship Reviews
Carnival Cruise Ships
Carnival Cruise Lines' cruise ships come in five different "classes". New cruise ships are usually ordered from shipyards as a series of cruise ships of similar design. This helps keep the cost of construction down. Cruise ship "classes" are used to describe such series of similarly designed ships.
The "Dream" class has Carnival Cruise Lines' newest and largest ships. These 128,000 ton giant ships are the Carnival Dream. the Carnival Magic. and the Carnival Breeze.
The ships of the "Spirit" class at 88,500 tons have almost 700 cabins and suites with balconies. These ships include the Carnival Legend. Carnival Miracle. Carnival Pride. and Carnival Spirit.
The 101,000 ton "Destiny/Victory" class includes the Carnival Destiny. Carnival Triumph. and Carnival Victory. At the time of its delivery, the Carnival Destiny was the world's largest cruise ship.