www.cruisecritic.com is an excellent site for learning about cruises. Their message boards include one for Carnival, one for the Bahamas, one for family cruising, etc.

What ship and what is the route? That would help. We visited Nassau in Feb. once. It was pretty nice weather wise though the water was chilly.

Nassau has the straw market to visit. There will be plenty of private tour guides on the docks selling excursions and they will be much cheaper than any ships tour.

You can google tour Nassau or go to the port boards section on cruise critic and ask for recs.

This help you get started. Larry

Thanks for the reply. It is good to know that there are excursions offered at the deck thats not as expensice as the cruise excursions. Verl helpful!

We've taken 9 cruises and rarely used the ships excursions. They are notoriously expensive.

*expensive, *very...typos corrected!

"DO" have lots of fun. "DON'T" have a crappy time even when things didn't go your way. Roll with punches. Enjoy the "IN"sides of the ship and go "OUT" on a limp and take chances. You won't see any of your fellow passenegers ever again so relax, enjoy, take it easy, take chances that you don't normally take, and never ever feel embarassed. How's that for a start?

But seriously, be preapred, research the ports, and the various facilities of the ship, especially kid's program so that you two can ahve some private time. Find out the "extra" charge items and what are not included. With the 5 of you together, I can't imagine the whole family can cramped into one cabin. If you have ever go camping with an RV, your cabin would probably be half that size.

The cruise card that they give you is a "credit card". Impose limits on the kid's cards or you hold on to them. I knew of a 12 year old girl rang up over $200 in refreshemnts: ranging from smoothies, milkshakes, among other things. $30 to $40 a day (per kid!) plus 15% tip adds up real quick if you let them have their way. It's easy to show the card and exchange for a cold treat, especially on a hot day. Do that 3 to 4 times a day, you get the idea.

Is Nassau your only stop? And how long is the cruise?

Friends of ours took their grandkids on a Carnival cruise in the Caribbean in June. It was the first cruise for all of them. They had a great time. Grandmom did NOT allow the kids to possess their own cards. They bought a soda card for each grandchild, and bought them some gifts in port. At cruise end she said she heard more than one set of parents loudly upset when seeing their charges, and learning how much money the kids had spent on video arcade games.

Wait until you get the per person "suggested" tip for all personnel. That will hurt.

Watch the websites for better prices or deals (like prepaid gratuities) and if you see any, call your booking agent for a price adjustment. We've done that many times.

Did you get connecting cabins? That was the way for us to go last week. Open the doors and lock them so you can pass back and forth easily without being locked out. You can also get duplicate keys made to the kids' cabin. Go to guest services for that.

I agree with locking the kids out of using the credit card. You can do that when you go online to set up your boarding passes. There are kiosks on board so you can check you bill as you go if you want to keep track of it. I think you can also do that from the TV in your cabin but I didn't try that this past time.

There is unlimited Lemonade and iced tea available on board in the buffet at all times so you don't need to buy the unlimited soda mugs if you don't want to. We bought one for our kids to share our first cruise and saw that the mug looked bigger from the outside than it really was and our kids had to go to the bar constantly to have as much as they liked. We don't buy them anymore.

Find those ice cream machines! They had the best soft serve vanilla that we've ever had and you just help yourself whenever you want.

Wine is expensive on the ship. If you are wine drinkers, each adult may bring one bottle on board in your carry-on on Carnival (but if you are flying they need to be in your checked luggage during the flight. Transfer them to your carry-ons before giving your luggage to the porters at the dock. If you leave them in your checked luggage they will be removed from your suitcase and given back to you at the end of the cruise) There are wine glasses in the cabins, or you can ask your room attendant to leave some in there each day, and you can open the wine in your cabin yourself and take the glass to dinner with you. Don't feel weird doing that...if you bought a drink at a bar, you would take it in like that. No one cares if you walk into the dining room with a glass.

Don't be afraid to leave any or all of the kids in the Clubs for some alone time for you, either on or off the ship, if your ship has a kids club. When my daughter was younger, she always chose to stay at the club instead of going on excursions.

Another plug for cruisecritic.com. Read the reviews of each ship and each port. You will read reviews about official Carnival excursions and trips with private operators and be able to pick and choose. If there is something you really want to do, you might also be able to book it in advance, but don't be afraid to see what is offered once you get to Nassau. We walked off a ship in Nassau and booked parasailing once we arrived. We were also able to bargain on the price a little bit. See what excursions Carnival offers then google that activity before your trip and see who else offers the same activity.

Your kids will love to see the towel animals in the cabin each night. Most cruises have a session on how to make them. Take your kids to that and they can give it a try. My kids did that and had a lot of fun.

Does your ship have mini golf? That was fun in the wind!

I hope that gets you started...have a great trip!

When crusing was for the money-ed elite, there were all sorts of "rules" about how to behave, what to wear. These continue to lessen each year as crusing is now priced for everyone. In Nassau with kids, it is likely the beach that will be important - and there are all sorts of beach shuttles that will be much cheaper than "excursions".

When the ship is in port it will be much less crowded - so sometimes fun to swim and sun then. Also a good time for one of you to herd the kids about and the other to take a break.

One of the best things about cruising as a family is dinner - all of you actually sitting at a table, getting to make all sorts of food choices, and not having to run to soccer practice, dance lessons, etc. Even kids the age of yours may like it.

Try the chocolate melting cake dessert after dinner in the dining room. My kids had it for dessert every night!
You are allowed to order as much as you like from the menu each meal. If you want both soup and salad, for instance, just ask.

There is no need to purchase a soda card for each child. You can bring your own sodas on board. We brought two 2 liter bottles of sodas in a carry-on. I thought that was sufficient since I preferred that the kids drink lemonade or iced tea or water. Plus, they could usually get sodas in the MDR at dinner time without any additional charge. (Our rule was you can be in the kids club during the day, but dinner time was with the family. We also suggested trying “new” foods. I don’t know if Carnival has it, but tell them to try the “cold soup”.)
FYI. Bring at least some ginger ale to calm an upset stomach until everyone gets their sea legs. Ginger tablets (we used Altoids in ginger) work too if you don’t want to use meclizine.

I don’t know about Carnival, but on another cruise line, as kwren mentioned, you can ask them to mark your child’s sea pass card in a way that they are not allowed to purchase anything onboard and charge it to your cabin. That way you have control over any spending.

Check cruise critic. When we were in Nassau a few years ago, we learned that the “Dig” at the Atlantis resort is free after 6pm. It’s a gorgeous aquarium that is great for the entire family but costs about $30pp during the day.

They do have cold soups and most are delicious. The fruit is in a little round form in the dish when it is served and the soup is poured from a small pitcher around it. They also had hot mushroom soup served the same way. Very original and twice as much work for them in cleaning up!

Hi MommyLove! I know I'm new to this board but I've cruised with Carnival a couple of times, so maybe I can help ya out! Here's my input on the questions you posed:


What is the weather like in February on the cruise and in Nassau? Cold? **I'm assuming you're leaving from FL? It won't be crazy hot there, but things will warm up a bit by the time you make it to the Bahamas. Maybe travel in pants/jeans, but bring shorts along!

What are some things we can do that's not an excursion and still enjoy ourselves? **If you like shopping, when you dock in Nassau you'll be right by the straw market, a fun place to buy souvenirs and haggle. The vendors can be pushy though, don't let them walk all over you! If memory serves me there's also a Senor Frog's and a Margaritaville in that area.

Any must see places or events in Nassau? ***Atlantis is a great way to spend a day in Nassau. You can buy a day pass with access to the beaches and water park. It's really cool, if a bit crowded. They also have an aquarium on site. I recommend it, plenty to do for the whole family.

What is a must on the carnival cruise we should do as a family? **There are so many activities going on this is a hard one to answer lol. The "Hairy Chest" Contest is fun to watch, the shows are generally pretty good. Be sure to watch the last show of the cruise, it features cruise guests as celebrity impersonators-you can even audition yourself if you feel so inclined! Karaoke, Ice Sculpting...they even have a cooking demonstration in the Steak House (at least they did on our cruises) and you can sample the chef's work.

We are willing to spend some money but the excursion for all of us it kind of expensive. We want to have lots of fun and enjoy our family time together! **There will most definitely be excursions for sale on the dock when you hit port, but if you do this, choose wisely. Not that they're dangerous or anything, but if you're late getting back to the ship you're on your own. If you book an excursion through the cruise line, they will wait for you. It may cost more, but it's a heckuva lot cheaper than a flight back home!

Thank you for your help! **Welcome! Have a good time

Thanks Diggerjack 72. That was very helpful, you answered all my questions! And thanks to everyone else for tge insider tips for the cruise! I'm excited and can't wait!!!

Explore the idea of renting a car in Nassau and do your own tour. That's what we did in 1995 when we took a cruise with kids and grandparents and we had a great time.