I would never have thought I’d be cruising in the middle of a pandemic, but when you find a deal for $25 per person (plus taxes and fees), you don’t just run, you JUMP at the chance.
Let me share my experience of taking a cruise now vs. pre-pandemic, along with what to expect while cruising during the pandemic.
My husband and I love cruising. We took our first cruise for our one-year dating anniversary in 2010. Then, instead of having a big wedding, we decided to put that money toward a honeymoon. Where did we honeymoon? Well, a cruise, of course! An 11-day Hawaiian cruise, which is as glorious as it sounds.
We planned on doing a babymoon cruise when we were pregnant with our son in 2016, but Zika was huge and my doctor recommended against it. Instead, we used the credit from that untaken cruise and went when our son was 17 months old. (Not the most fun to take a cruise with a completely dependent baby, but still fun, nonetheless.)
Cut to today: We just returned from a December 2021 cruise with our five-year-old, and it was AMAZING!!!!!
Before I begin, let me be clear that all our cruises have been with Carnival. If you’re a cruiser, you probably know Carnival is the “fun ship” and offers cruises at a good price. We would love to do a Royal Caribbean or Disney cruise, but while paying off debt, we opt for more bang-for-your-buck (i.e., Carnival). And we are never disappointed.
What to Expect: Before the Cruise
Who Can Cruise?
The facts of life are this: Cruising during a pandemic is different. You have to be vaccinated to cruise or fall within the purview of an exemption. Who can get an exemption?
- Children 12 and under
- Teens and adults with a medical condition who can provide written medical confirmation
They have a very small percentage—we were told 5% by a Carnival employee—of passengers who fall within the exemption. All others are vaccinated.
What Do You Do Before You Sail?
All passengers will need to be tested within a specific timeframe. Vaccinated guests need a test within 24–48 hours, and unvaccinated guests need a test 24–72 hours before sailing. These two categories of guests require different Covid tests. Be sure to read alllllll the information on it before you potentially take the wrong test. (We all got our tests done at Walgreens. Super easy and convenient!)
What Documents Do You Need to Sail?
Carnival highly recommends that guests travel with a passport. We all have one, our son included, so we opted to do just that. Please note: If your passport expires within 6-months, it is not considered valid.
For cruises that begin and end in a U.S. port, the following documents are acceptable:
- Passport
- Passport Card
- State-Issued Enhanced Driver’s License
- Certificate of U.S. Naturalization
- Native American Indian Card
Also acceptable for cruises that begin and end in a U.S. port: proof of U.S. citizenship (such as a birth certificate issued by a government agency) accompanied by government-issued photo identification.
Anything Else to Know?
If you plan to have your bags “checked” and delivered to your room, you will want to print off all your luggage tags. Staple them around the luggage handles or tape the ends together with clear packing tape. If you don’t mind carrying your luggage onto the ship and to your room, you can avoid having to part with your bags. We carried our own luggage aboard because by the time we got through check-in, it was after 1:30pm, meaning we could go straight to our room.
Also, don’t be like me, incorrectly marking the person in our party who needed a vaccine exemption. That caused about an hour delay, which was soooo aggravating! I was really mad at myself for doing that.
What to Expect: Embarkation
Arrive the Day Before or Day Of
We opted to drive to Galveston the night before our cruise departed. It made things a lot more stress-free. Our check-in time was 1:30pm, and we didn’t want to take any chances driving down from McKinney.
There are plenty of hotels in the area that you can stay at (and keep your car parked at the hotel while you are cruising!). Some of those hotels even have shuttles to the port. For the ones that don’t, a quick Uber or Lyft can do the trick.
We paid for parking through the Port of Galveston. It was super easy to park and take their shuttle to the check-in area. A few people chose to walk from the parking area to check-in—probably about a 5-minute walk.
Check-In
Since we were travelling with a kid, we went in one line, while all others went in another. Think of this line as similar to TSA. This is where we handed over our boarding passes and passports, one at a time. This is also where we got flagged for marking the wrong person with an exemption!
Had it not been for that one mistake, we would’ve been straight through with no issues, with one exception:
All unvaccinated guests, regardless of age or exemption approval are required to get a $150 rapid Covid test at embarkation.
What to Expect: On the Cruise Ship
Now to the fun stuff!
Best Things to Know
Here’s a list of good things to know while on the ship.
- The kids camps and fun zones have recently re-opened for all vaccinated guests.
- Unvaccinated guests can go on shore excursions, but only for “bubble tours.” You go straight from the ship to the excursion and back. No exceptions.
- If you’re a soda drinker, get the Bottomless Bubbles package. It’s about $40, and you get unlimited sodas.
- If you’re a drinker, get the Cheers package. Hands down the best deal. It’s about $52/day plus 18% gratuities. You get 15 drinks per day after your first day of cruising (in Texas, at least). If you drink 4–5 a day, it pays for itself. It’s fun to try the drink of the day, or even drinks you’d never order otherwise. Try it and don’t like it? Wait five minutes and order another.
- Download the Carnival Hub app to your phone. It’s the paperless way to stay connected. I balked at first, but then grew to like it. You can pay $5 for messaging and can message with anyone else on the ship. This includes people who came with you and any friends you make! Very fun! What else is the app for?
- Making dinner reservations.
- Checking the itinerary.
- Browsing all shore excursions.
What Should I Bring with Me?
- Your own hand soap.
- Binoculars. These will be clutch for looking at ships and arriving/leaving port. And more importantly, the runners who almost miss boarding the ship on port days!
- Cash for tips for your room stewards. We usually leave a tip at the end, but I’ve heard that leaving a small daily tip is a good practice.
- You can bring one bottle of wine.
- Door decorations. We’ve never actually done this, because we always forget, but for our cruise booked over spring break, we are doing it!
- Matching shirts. SOOOOOO many people had matching shirts. There were couples, sisters, friends, families, and so many others.
- Hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses for all the time out in the sun.
- A lanyard for your room key. But if you don’t bring one, I recommend buying one on the ship. They are about $5 on board.
- Dramamine if you are prone to getting seasick.
- An iPad/tablet for younger kiddos, with all their videos downloaded. And headphones. This will come in handy for those dinners that take a little longer.
- Formal night outfit if you plan to attend.
For a full list of Carnival FAQs, click here.
We have found, as a family, that we have the most fun going on a cruise. You can try all the food and drinks, meet so many different people, and can leave all your worries at the port.
We have also really enjoyed cruising with Carnival. They are such fun ships, and such a great price point. And their customer service is always so great! For instance, we booked a cruise in March for the three of us. Then found one a day earlier and a day shorter—for $1000 less. We now have $1000 onboard credit to use during that cruise!
And it’ll be a super fun experience. This year is their 50th anniversary, so they’re having a SAILabration where multiple ships will meet in the middle of the ocean to have a huge lido deck party. You can check out those cruises here!
Comment here and let me know if you’ve cruised before, with who, and any tips I left out (or that I might not know yet!). We are always looking to become more seasoned cruisers.
