We did the early saver, for an ocean view on the empress level and paid $339.00pp... now it's $329.00pp. I've noticed that they are giving free upgrades to the empress level... they must need to fill it. I hope it continues to drop, a bigger obc would be nice!

 My family and I are sailingon the 10th from Mobile, AL. Do you have children 8-10 age range that might like to meet my son to hang around with?

I have a 6 year old son, and 12 year old daughter going... I signed them up for camp carnival--hopefully they will meet kids the 1st night, in case they dont want to go back they will have already met other kids ;0)

 You will enjoy cruising. Make sure to bring motion sickness medicines or patches if you are prone to that. This will be our 4th cruise. We have been on 2 larger ships and this will make the 2nd smaller ship that we will cruise on. I am looking forward to going. I suggest take advantage of the Carnival Caper that is placed in your stateroom each night and plan your day around the events the ship offers. Sodas and Alcoholic beverages cost extra. Bring plenty of film or batteries for your digital camera because there are plenty of photo opps. Be prepared to have your photo taken a lot from the ships' photographers...they have various scenes to pose in front of. Allow the waitstaff in the formal dinners to pamper you; they are fabulous. Sample foods that you normally wouldn't try and don't be afraid to tell them if you don't like it.....you can order more than one entree if you want.  Purchase excursion tickets off ship if possible to save money and don't let the locals try to cheat you with taxi rides....because they will.  Enjoy the towel creations that the room stewards create every night and place on your bed. Take in the shows...they are usually worth seeing..... and above all else relax and make some special memories.

Hope to see you on board!

Rondo

 My son plans on trying Camp Carnival on this cruise. This will make our 4th  cruise and we told him he needed to try Camp Carnival this time because his older brother and sister are not going and he gets bored with us. Hopefully your children and my son will become friends on the cruise.

DarlingNikki:

We did the early saver, for an ocean view on the empress level and paid $339.00pp... now it's $329.00pp. I've noticed that they are giving free upgrades to the empress level... they must need to fill it. I hope it continues to drop, a bigger obc would be nice!

I can't remember the name of the rate, but I was really dumb about it.  All I saw was $199.  Which is probably what Carnival was aiming for.  I'll bet the oceanview was no more than $239.  I probably could have managed an extra $80.  Now I can't find anything for less than $299 and I refuse to cough up an extra $200. I can live without the window, I suppose.  I just don't want to.  But I will if I have to.

Rondo-- someone else had posted before, that was coming with a group and bringing kids.

We are near the front of the boat, riveria deck I believe, 3 rooms with bunk beds-- kinda nervous about that, but it was $149. a person plus tax--which was $177 total--cant really beat that!--Which is why I decided to bring my kids, mom, brother, and best friend lol

 We are on the empress deck and usually our older children come with us but one will be busy with college and the other one working.  I can't blame you about booking the less expensive route. We did that our first cruise...ours didn't have a window that time but you learn as you go. How old are your children?

Dixie

 I saw the ages in your previous post 12 and 6. This is my first day on this site so sorry for the redundant question.

 Rondo, I don't remember if it was this site of cruise critic, but there is one woman on here who is planning for a group of almost 50. I bet they have some kids with them. There might not be a lot of kids since its the school year, but I am sure there will be some and that just means they will make friends faster. :) 

 I am sad because I have planned, booked, planned, and planned some more and now I have nothing else to plan! I have looked for pictures and videos, I have read reviews. I feel like I already know the ship and I have never stepped foot on her. Sigh... and now I have to wait 44 days til we actually go! I have taken to starting to plan a second cruise in April just so I can have something to do.

I seriously think the countdown clock started moving slower. 

I plan my cruises at this time of year because the kids are in school not to say I don't like kids but I am glad for camp carnival because it makes for a quiter time only had on time that I was bothered it was on the Fantisy and had a set of tweens at the table next to me for dinner and they spent 5 nights running around the table screeming and making a fine dinning experance more of a nightmare with parants that just laghed and thought it was funny I don't want to complaine but respect the others on board too

Zarkarella:

 I am sad because I have planned, booked, planned, and planned some more and now I have nothing else to plan! I have looked for pictures and videos, I have read reviews. I feel like I already know the ship and I have never stepped foot on her. Sigh... and now I have to wait 44 days til we actually go! I have taken to starting to plan a second cruise in April just so I can have something to do.

 

I seriously think the countdown clock started moving slower. 

Word.

Seriously, I think you've just nailed it on why people get the cruise-blahs between the early excitement and the near packing stage frenzy.  There's nothing left to plan and all your questions have been answered.  At least, all the ones you can think of.  You'll probably come up with some more as you're getting ready to pack, but that's later...

I'm trying not to think about this one too much so I don't risk spilling the beans to DH.  It's going to be a fantastic surprise for him if I can just keep it from him all this time.

txkfonman:

I plan my cruises at this time of year because the kids are in school not to say I don't like kids but I am glad for camp carnival because it makes for a quiter time only had on time that I was bothered it was on the Fantisy and had a set of tweens at the table next to me for dinner and they spent 5 nights running around the table screeming and making a fine dinning experance more of a nightmare with parants that just laghed and thought it was funny I don't want to complaine but respect the others on board too

I'm totally with you on this one.  Kids are fine at home, but after a while, the constant running and noise really sets me on edge.  I like to go on vacation to relax.  This will be the first cruise I've been on that wasn't in December, so I'm a bit worried about the timing - but more for the party folks than the kiddoes.  The only kids I expect to see on board are the home schoolers and kids whose parents would take their kids out of school for a vacation anyway.  (Who ARE these parents?  I would have given my right arm to have parents like that when I was a kid.  I couldn't even get out of school for a doctor's appointment!)