AT SEA

5 night Riviera Maya (Ensenada & Cabos San Lucas)
May 2024

Overall:

Our girls were 1 & 3, I’d wait to do another cruise until they are both 3 so we can take advantage of the kids club. I’d also probably not go on Carnival again. You get what you pay for and overall, it was okay and good for a first go, but I think others would provide a better overall experience.

Carnival Fierenze Ship:

Newly renovated a month before our sailing, the ship itself was very nice and well-kept. The main spaces especially felt modern and elegant. There were two VERY small pools, some water slides and a splash pad. The first day at see we got the girls dressed, went up there, and the pools were so crowded with adults, we just went to the splash pad. However, we were told our baby couldn’t go in there (even in a swim diaper with leak cover). I went back and looked at all the fine print and did not see that anywhere, however they still refused to let her in the pools or splash pad. It was really a bummer. The only other things for little kids was a playground that we visited a couple of times, but it was 55 and windy the two days at sea, so they didn’t really want to be outside. Indoors, the kids club required kids to be 3 and up (we had a 1 and 3 year old), so our littlest couldn’t go (which we knew) but the babysitting was only offered 8-10 am or 6pm-1am, so we had her all day. The theater on the ship was very nice, however it only did one kids program (Dr. Seuss at Sea) the first day (which was amazing) but after that, programming for little kids was limited. Even the night time entertainment was mostly game show style which didn’t entertain our girls.

Dining:

We found the dining to be great. Awesome options for everyone, great variety and we thought it was pretty good quality overall. The service was good and we were able to be seated quickly. Staff was quick to serve our girls and were extra friendly. The ship had an Italian theme so the main dining was around a Michelangelo statue, which led to a lot of groups of women taking photos and our daughters announcing the statues anatomy.

Stateroom:

Our balcony room was basic, small and cramped, however my issue was it was also dirty. Found multiple hair ties and hair all over our carpet and our balcony had old straws, dirt and trash. It felt like they did not fully clean the space, and even the daily cleaning didn’t address that. With littles who touch everything, it was a little icky. I wiped things down as best I could, but it still felt dirty. The bed was as hard as a rock. Our older daughter slept on the couch and the other in a folding crib so we had no space to move. The doors on the ship are super heavy and slam shut which had me constantly worrying about crunched fingers. We used foam door cuffs for the bathroom and locked the closet doors to help with this, but I hadn’t anticipated having to worry about that. Our balcony was small and the rail wasn’t as tall as I thought it would be and when the girls were on the chairs (standing to see) I was nervous about them tipping. I’d probably just do an ocean view instead of the balcony next time. We thought we could sit on it at night, but the wind was so strong as we sailed and it was so cold we never did and just ended up sitting in the bedroom anyway.

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