Carnival Cruise to Bahamas / Turks and Caicos (June 2024) – Days 2 and 3

Since traveling from Baltimore to the Caribbean meant a long stretch of boat time, we were trapped on a moving hotel for the first two and half days at sea. And no matter how gilded it might be, a prison is still a prison – there’s only so many places to go and so many things to do. We quickly developed a routine over those days – get up, clean up, eat, do something, eat lunch, do something else, eat dinner, enjoy some down time before bed (remember, nightlife options become much more limited with a kid).1

Waking up that morning was our first look at the open sea, the coast now an out-of-sight distant memory and not even a ghost of a cell signal. Despite the warnings we came across in our research, the wifi was surprisingly reliable and a godsend during down time. I bought a wifi package for each of us, but its one restriction was each of us could only use one device at a time. In other words, I could use my phone, tablet, or laptop, but none of them at the same time. While out of the room, I kept my phone plugged into the wifi, but in the room I switched back forth between phone and tablet, depending on which device’s charge was best. Michelle rotated between her phone, tablet or laptop since she needed to complete some school assignments, and Farrah’s only device was her tablet. While still not too far away from the coast, I’d test the cell signal and occasionally get a bar or two and check for any text messages or missed calls; otherwise, people needed wifi-dependent apps to reach us.

And of course, if we were in a place without access to wifi or it went down, the awful isolation of being disconnected was even more acute than normal. Back on my Bourdeaux trip, that was the first being out of the country in a long time, and I decided not to jump through the hoops of setting up an international plan, relying on any wifi hotspots to keep in touch. As a sign of the times, many mobile carriers now offer daily access to international cell signals at fairly reasonable rates. In this case, I discovered in my own travel research that Verizon’s Travel Pass was available in the islands, and at just $10 per day.

Two days at sea provided some interesting experiences and insights.

People…People Everywhere

Now that the previous day’s excitement of beginning a voyage was long gone, most people we saw in matching “family vacation” t-shirts were wearing whatever they wanted. A cruise trip is a microcosm of a society, and we lived in a genuine mixing bowl of all types. Suburban families similar to ours, prowling singles with maxed out drink packages, couples on their first or fiftieth vacations, and every shape, size, and color from all corners of the planet. I developed a personal game of spotting and counting how many people were drinking at breakfast time, begun the first morning when I saw a couple in matching Harley Davidson tank tops walking around with omelets and cans of Bud Lite. Because everyone seemed to develop their own routines, it wasn’t unusual to run across familiar faces, whether at breakfast, the pool, or wherever we were and doing. As we wandered around the ship throughout the trip, one thing that caught my attention was the near constant amount of glasses, cups, and other food-and-drink related trash left sitting on any hallway counter, lounge table or outside on the decks.

Ship Grindage

So, let’s address the big item – the food.

The top deck was home to the common Dining Room buffet where everyone ate their usual meals. There were specific stations that served mostly the same breakfast items (except for the ever-popular omelet bar with the never-ending long line), but more specialized for lunch and dinner. Breakfast included all the usual suspects of western hospitality – cereals, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and waffles, continental fair (muffins and breads), fruit and yogurt. Lunch and dinner stations included pizza, sandwiches, carvery (meats, hot meal items), salad bar, seafood, and dessert. Almost all of it was mass-made food, so I wasn’t counting on Micheline star level munchables, but even with tempered expectations, the quality varied from “okay” to “surprisingly not bad.” Farrah was tickled pink with easy access to most things kids would want (pizza, hot dogs, etc.), and given it was a vacation, we let her indulge herself. Not being a big fan of buffets, I paced myself, but couldn’t help notice how many others went for seconds and thirds with near reckless abandon.

To be blunt honest, I’m just happy none of us ended up racing to the bathroom or nearest deck railing.

Admittedly, I tend to enjoy variety with what I eat, so I tried mixing it up as much as possible at each meal, trying to avoid the same thing every day. That being said, by day four or five, I wasn’t the only one making long stares about what to eat – a weird combination of travel fatigue and lack of interest for whatever was on the collective menu.

The ship includes a collection of restaurants, varying from being complimentary to costing extra depending on your mood and budget. Not being particularly impressed with the Normandie restaurant, we didn’t go back to it the rest of the cruise. We considered trying the onboard Bonsai Sushi restaurant, but they didn’t offer much that Farrah liked, so it wasn’t a real option. When we were finally able to enjoy the pools, we made good use of the poolside Guy’s Burger Joint and Blue Iguana Cantina eateries – mostly for lunch. Of course, it was impossible to avoid the ice cream machines parked in every corner of the pool areas.

On one of our last evenings, we ate at the Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, nestled at the top of the ship, framing the bright red exhaust. This was the only “fine dining” on board and we even brought nicer clothes in anticipation of “going somewhere nice” for one night on the cruise. Of course, once we got there, some showed up looking like they came directly from a long day of swimming, but most were in cruise ship casual attire. I opted for a tuna tartar appetizer that was amazingly good, lamb chops that I thoroughly enjoyed, and an apple tart for dessert that was okay. Michelle went for so-so oysters, a surf and turf, and chocolate dessert that I agreed all left a little to be desired of. Farrah’s meal of mac and cheese, beef sliders, and a banana split got a big thumbs up from her.

Occupying the Little Ones

As I mentioned earlier, there are only so many places to go and see on a ship, so keeping kids entertained is an exercise in thinking ahead, creativity, and poring over the ship’s itinerary. This was especially tough the first day and a half, keeping Farrah away from the pools until her meds kicked in. Farrah loves the water and swimming, so the look of disappointment on her face every time we passed by the pool area was hard to ignore. We made plenty of laps around the ship, generally exploring and even sneaking into a few places we probably shouldn’t be (e.g., wandering into the Taj Mahal Main Show Lounge while dancers were rehearsing). Farrah also enjoyed herself when we discovered a “sweet spot” on the rear end of the ship where one side was nearly calm, but the other felt like sitting low in a tornado. We took turns trying to see who would last longest standing against the wind howling through a passage way as she yelled “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” This was funny to me since she’d never seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies (I’m assuming she picked it up from some YouTube video).

Farrah was particularly fond of the Renaissance Atrium whenever there was live music, especially a violin band playing rock and contemporary music that was fun to hear and clap along with. A few guests even sang and danced depending on the tune (The Devil Went Down to Georgia being a popular hit).

By Day 3, Farrah’s fever was gone and congestion a shadow of what it used to be, so we finally let her loose on the pools. We mainly stayed at the rear pool since the larger one was the party area and the smaller one was a little more family friendly. Farrah took to the water just fine, and ended up spending more time in the adjoining hot tub. Whatever the case, the pool kept her busy (i.e., tiring her out) and social with the other kids. The ship sported two waterslides at the very top, but between the high winds while sailing long (i.e., closed off) and their height, none of us felt particularly brave about trying them.

We took a chance the first day and dropped Farrah off at the Ocean Camp, sort of an onboard daycare for parents to go do what they want and/or kids can socialize with each other. With plenty of games and art and crafts, the place was full of kids and we let Farrah loose on them. Probably the both alarming and amusing aspect of dropping her off there was the small circle of children sitting in front of a TV watching movies. They all looked pale as ghosts, each wrapped in a blanket, blank stares of exhaustion on their faces, and barely clinging onto seasick bags. Only one day at sea and they looked like they were done. I felt enormously guilty for my amusement at the site, but was also beyond thankful that Farrah wasn’t one of them.

Naturally, we couldn’t spend every minute of every day at the pool, especially with the occasional rain shower passing through. The ship provided dozens of things to check out and do. We made a few trips to the onboard arcade where we indulged on a number of games (Farrah’s fond of racing games that simulate being in a car or on a motorcycle). The only down side being that on any given day, at least several of the games weren’t working and/or more obnoxious older kids and teens dominated the place. The minigolf course at the top of the ship also made for a fun diversion and excuse to be outside if not in a pool. Probably the most manic and stress inducing, while triggering anyone’s sensory inputs was the Build-a-Bear Workshop held in the Taj Mahal Main Show Lounge. It involved dozens of kids and their parents waiting in various lines to pick a bear, stuff it, dress it, and eventually pay for it (the proceeds went to St. Jude’s). Finally, on quieter afternoons and evenings (especially after dinner and we weren’t ready to settle in our stateroom), a large screen was lowered in the main pool area and guests could sit and watch a movie (we caught the tail end of Wish, Trolls Band Together, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom).

The Need to Spend

Of course, you can’t walk through a cruise ship without being bombarded with opportunities to shop – in this case, the “main drag” was the Via Veneto Upper Promenade. While I wasn’t all that interested in what the shops’ wares, admittedly, I was taken with a Bulova watch that I eventually caved and bought. Michelle wound up buying a pair of sunglasses that she took back because they were cracked. One morning when we wandered through there, the luxuries store was handing out mimosas left and right, which I thought was a nice touch (even if they didn’t get us drunk enough to buy anything). And at any time when passing through the shopping or common areas, there were tables everywhere offering deals on jewelry, watches, and gold and silver chains on giant rolls to buy by the foot. Of course, any shopping was done through your cruise card, to be settled once the ship returned to port in Baltimore.

1 Many cruises offer drop-off evening entertainment for kids so parents can go do more adult things, but Michelle has a hard time trusting anyone with our daughter and I was never a big on the nightclub scene.