One of the best part of writing a cruise blog is that I have made so many amazing friends who share my love for everything naughty nautical.
 
Recently, gorgeous friends of mine took their totes adorbs kidlets on a trip of a lifetime – DISNEYLAND. As an added bonus, these superstar parents added a three-night cruise to the Bahamas. 

I caught up with Supermum Regina who shared her adventure with me. (Of course I’m totally jealous now and banning my kids from reading this.)

Cruise details: Cruiseline: Carnival Ship: Liberty Destination: Bahamas Port: Port Canaveral Length: 3 nights

Passengers: Will 39, Regina 39, Porscha, 9 and Roman 6. Cabin details: Deck 5, Quad


Why did you choose this cruise? It was the only one that fit our itinerary.

Have you cruised before? Yes. Pacific islands (P&O), Bahamas (Royal Caribbean), Caribbean (Royal Caribbean) 

 

What are the advantages/disadvantages of cruising in US? 
I love cruising in the US. Lots of destinations closely packed. You’re in one place one day, and another place on the next.

How would you rate value for money? 
We consider cruising to be among the most cost-effective ways to travel. Essentially, one price covers food, accommodation, transit and activities.

Was it more expensive due to exchange rate? 
Not that we noticed. Although in saying this the last time we cruised our Australian dollar was at parity with the US



Approximately how much did you pay per day? 
I don’t actually recall and neither do I want to delve into my bank account post-holiday because I might get a fright!

How does it compare with an Australian based cruise?
We’ve only been on one P&O cruise that went to Vanuatu/Fiji etc so a bit meh compared with destinations like Mexico and Jamaica. I would probably not take an Australian based one unless it was a really fancy ship, and probably not for any greater than 5 nights because we’d not know what to do with ourselves after that.
 
Would you recommend to family/ friends? Yes absolutely. The hardest part is getting to Orlando. It’s pretty friggin far!

Would you cruise again in the US?
Yes likely. Greek islands are still on our list and other parts of Eastern Europe. Perhaps even a Scandinavian one and the Antarctic, but need to leave that for when we are at retirement.

How would you rate a cruise holiday compared with a land-based one?
As a family of four that typically bring a lot of luggage (most of which we accrue in shopping over the course of the holiday), cruising is so easy because we don’t have to worry about transit. No shuttles to organise, flights to catch, cars to hire. We are quite active though so the cruise will need to give us that level of variety – both in ports and stuff to do onboard.
 

Best part? 
We can sleep and eat at any time we want.

Worst part? 
Free food 24/7 makes you fat.

Sea sickness?
None at all. Being at sea makes all four of us feel like babies in a rocking cradle.

Did you kids go to kids club?
Yes both kids did. Played online games, made friends, painted a souvenir shirt. It was lovely.

Did you take part in an Adult activities? Comedy, cocktail making watched a few comedy shows. Didn’t do much adult-exclusive stuff. Kids were always hanging off us.
 

Family fun?
Entertainment, tours movies on a big screen on Lido deck with popcorn. Big water slide. Dancing.


What were your dining options?
Buffet, main dining room, specialty food was great. Lots of stuff to choose from – everywhere – all the time. Main dining room was fun with the waiters dancing on the tables.

Did you do any shopping aboard?
Yes, but probably not enough shops aboard. Royal Caribbean are larger ships and are packed with more retail outlets.

How was embarkation/disembarkation?
Very very smooth and swift. All very orderly.

How would you rate the cleanliness? Guestrooms were very clean. Common areas had the odd plate or cup that some random guest would leave behind, but other than that, we saw staff constantly cleaning.

And the crew? 
Excellent. They always have been for all of the cruises we’ve been on.

Did you tip?
Yes, we just had it factored into our bill. I think it would have been nicer if we could hand it ourselves to the people who took care of us. i.e. Stateroom attendant, waiters, etc.


Final thoughts?
Royal Caribbean is still our preferred, but we’ve also been on smaller Royal Caribbean ships that haven’t been anywhere near as impressive as the larger parts of their fleet. We tend to choose our cruise on what the ship has onboard, but because we had to squash this into a larger itinerary, we had little option but to go with this particular carnival cruise. Was fab though. And the kids love love lurvved the cabin set up. One king bed and two single bunk beds hanging off both sides of the room. It was the perfect i-have-my-own-space-but-still-have-mum-nearby set up.