Latest news with #CarnivalMardiGras
Scottish Sun
4 days ago
- Scottish Sun
I took my daughter on a Caribbean cruise for just £150 — the bargain holiday secret all parents need to know
BECOMING a mum wasn't going to stop me seeing the world. However, after having my daughter in 2022, I realised I needed to make small but clever changes - and this is my best money-saving travel hack yet. 6 Lynn, her husband James and daughter Mia on board the Carnival Mardi Gras for their Caribbean cruise Credit: Lynn Carratt 6 Lynn stopped at three Caribbean ports Credit: Getty 6 It was Lynn's first time in the Dominican Republic, and she got to take her daughter for £150, including food Credit: Getty Travel has been in my bones from a very young age, which was probably down to my parents taking me...
The Irish Sun
4 days ago
- The Irish Sun
I took my daughter on a Caribbean cruise for just £150 — the bargain holiday secret all parents need to know
Mum Lynn Carrett tells Sun Club readers how she's able to travel the world with her little one - all while making huge savings NOT KIDDING I took my daughter on a Caribbean cruise for just £150 — the bargain holiday secret all parents need to know BECOMING a mum wasn't going to stop me seeing the world. However, after having my daughter in 2022, I realised I needed to make small but clever changes - and this is my best money-saving travel hack yet. 6 Lynn, her husband James and daughter Mia on board the Carnival Mardi Gras for their Caribbean cruise Credit: Lynn Carratt 6 Lynn stopped at three Caribbean ports Credit: Getty 6 It was Lynn's first time in the Dominican Republic, and she got to take her daughter for £150, including food Credit: Getty Travel has been in my bones from a very young age, which was probably down to my parents taking me across Europe on coach trips as a child. Globe-trotting has afforded me some of the best experiences in life, from horse riding through Petra to walking a snowy Great Wall of China in an uncharacteristic cold snap. I want my daughter, Mia, to have the same experiences, but in this climate and economy, I knew I would need to travel smarter and cheaper. On a rainy day, I was browsing holiday ideas online and I stumbled across some pictures of a cruise. We had never been on one before, but I suddenly had visions of cocktails on the deck - all for less than the cost of a wet weekend in Wales. After scouring forums and cruise blogs for the best family-friendly cruises, I landed a deal that would make even Martin Lewis jealous — a seven-night Caribbean cruise. And the cost to take Mia on this holiday of a lifetime? Just £150. The cruise, in October 2024, was on Carnival Mardi Gras and the bargain price was due to her being the third person in our cabin. For the two of us, we paid £850 each for a seven nights sailing in a balcony cabin, bringing the total to £1,850 — plus £250 in pre-paid gratuities, which are expected on cruise ships. It would have been cheaper still if we had opted for the interior cabin, costing just £1400. I went on my first Disney cruise with classy champagne bars, watercoasters and West End-style shows These prices included all-inclusive meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's also worth noting that the cruise price stays the same in school holidays, so parents with school-aged kids can also snap up a great deal. The ship set sail from Florida's Port Canaveral and hit the island hotspots of the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Turks and Caicos — sun-soaked destinations that have always been on my bucket list. Getting to Florida on a budget We flew with budget airline Norse from Gatwick and it cost just £900 for all three of us, plus £172 for luggage. As with all low-cost airlines, pre-booking seats and food is chargeable. We saved on seat bookings (Norse follow the Civil Aviation Authority's advice that children should ideally be seated next to their accompanying adults), so that saved us £138. For food, we brought our own snacks on board. As a mum on a budget, I wasn't paying £37 each for plane meals. To aid our recovery from jet lag before setting sail, we opted for a three-night hotel stay in Port Canaveral at the Radisson Resort, which set us back £400. We spent the day before the cruise at Kennedy Space Center. It was £49 per adult and kids under three go free, even though there is so much for them to do - including a massive soft play. Mia now insists she's "been to the moon" and tells all her friends. Why a cruise is ideal for families with young kids The Carnival Mardi Gras is the company's biggest cruise ship, and it definitely had the wow factor as we walked over the bridge to embark. James and I were handed a cocktail before we'd even found our cabin. Now that's service! 6 Lynn enjoying a swim on a Caribbean beach while the Carnival Mardi Gras was docked in Turks and Caicos Credit: Lynn Carratt 6 Mia loved the kids club and wanted to stay all day, meaning parents James and Lynn enjoyed some child-free dinners Credit: Lynn Carratt 6 Holidaymakers can swim alongside pigs in the sea in the Bahamas Credit: Getty I was also really impressed with the family entertainment and childcare included. The kids club - Camp Ocean's Penguin Club - was fab, with lots of arts, crafts, and dancing. At first, we were a bit nervous leaving Mia but we were given a mobile phone so staff could reach us at any time. Not that they needed to - Mia adored it. Our two-year-old daughter was living her best life while we watched live comedy, ate child-free dinners, and actually had adult conversations. I'll admit, I'd had reservations before we boarded and wasn't sure how much we would enjoy being 'stuck' on a cruise. But, it turns out cruise holidays are an absolute game-changer for parents. As well as the kids' club during the day, the ship also offered a Night Owls service, where Mia could boogie away at the kids' disco, much to her delight. It's included in the price, although you can pay a £5 charge if you want your child to stay after 11pm. There was also a water park, a Build-A-Bear workshop, and even a Dr Seuss character show - plenty to keep Mia entertained. At the same time, James and I got to see parts of the world we hadn't seen before. We swam with pigs in the Bahamas and saw sharks and dolphins in the Dominican Republic. Turks and Caicos was an unforgettable experience, enjoying the beach and having a cocktail at Margaritaville (the largest in the Caribbean). It was unlike any family holiday we've ever had — and it cost less than a UK break in half term. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Mia or us, but we all loved it so much that we're doing it all again this year for two weeks. This time, we'll be departing from New York and cruising around the British Virgin Islands. Mia is one year older but we can still take advantage of the brilliant deal. It's still just £150 a week for her - and so much fun as a family. I'd recommend it to anyone.
The Sun
4 days ago
- The Sun
I took my daughter on a Caribbean cruise for just £150 — the bargain holiday secret all parents need to know
BECOMING a mum wasn't going to stop me seeing the world. However, after having my daughter in 2022, I realised I needed to make small but clever changes - and this is my best money-saving travel hack yet. 6 Travel has been in my bones from a very young age, which was probably down to my parents taking me across Europe on coach trips as a child. Globe-trotting has afforded me some of the best experiences in life, from horse riding through Petra to walking a snowy Great Wall of China in an uncharacteristic cold snap. I want my daughter, Mia, to have the same experiences, but in this climate and economy, I knew I would need to travel smarter and cheaper. On a rainy day, I was browsing holiday ideas online and I stumbled across some pictures of a cruise. We had never been on one before, but I suddenly had visions of cocktails on the deck - all for less than the cost of a wet weekend in Wales. After scouring forums and cruise blogs for the best family-friendly cruises, I landed a deal that would make even Martin Lewis jealous — a seven-night Caribbean cruise. And the cost to take Mia on this holiday of a lifetime? Just £150. The cruise, in October 2024, was on Carnival Mardi Gras and the bargain price was due to her being the third person in our cabin. For the two of us, we paid £850 each for a seven nights sailing in a balcony cabin, bringing the total to £1,850 — plus £250 in pre-paid gratuities, which are expected on cruise ships. It would have been cheaper still if we had opted for the interior cabin, costing just £1400. I went on my first Disney cruise with classy champagne bars, watercoasters and West End-style shows These prices included all-inclusive meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's also worth noting that the cruise price stays the same in school holidays, so parents with school-aged kids can also snap up a great deal. The ship set sail from Florida's Port Canaveral and hit the island hotspots of the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Turks and Caicos — sun-soaked destinations that have always been on my bucket list. Getting to Florida on a budget We flew with budget airline Norse from Gatwick and it cost just £900 for all three of us, plus £172 for luggage. As with all low-cost airlines, pre-booking seats and food is chargeable. We saved on seat bookings (Norse follow the Civil Aviation Authority's advice that children should ideally be seated next to their accompanying adults), so that saved us £138. For food, we brought our own snacks on board. As a mum on a budget, I wasn't paying £37 each for plane meals. To aid our recovery from jet lag before setting sail, we opted for a three-night hotel stay in Port Canaveral at the Radisson Resort, which set us back £400. We spent the day before the cruise at Kennedy Space Center. It was £49 per adult and kids under three go free, even though there is so much for them to do - including a massive soft play. Mia now insists she's "been to the moon" and tells all her friends. Why a cruise is ideal for families with young kids The Carnival Mardi Gras is the company's biggest cruise ship, and it definitely had the wow factor as we walked over the bridge to embark. James and I were handed a cocktail before we'd even found our cabin. Now that's service! 6 I was also really impressed with the family entertainment and childcare included. The kids club - Camp Ocean's Penguin Club - was fab, with lots of arts, crafts, and dancing. At first, we were a bit nervous leaving Mia but we were given a mobile phone so staff could reach us at any time. Not that they needed to - Mia adored it. Our two-year-old daughter was living her best life while we watched live comedy, ate child-free dinners, and actually had adult conversations. I'll admit, I'd had reservations before we boarded and wasn't sure how much we would enjoy being 'stuck' on a cruise. But, it turns out cruise holidays are an absolute game-changer for parents. As well as the kids' club during the day, the ship also offered a Night Owls service, where Mia could boogie away at the kids' disco, much to her delight. It's included in the price, although you can pay a £5 charge if you want your child to stay after 11pm. There was also a water park, a Build-A-Bear workshop, and even a Dr Seuss character show - plenty to keep Mia entertained. At the same time, James and I got to see parts of the world we hadn't seen before. We swam with pigs in the Bahamas and saw sharks and dolphins in the Dominican Republic. Turks and Caicos was an unforgettable experience, enjoying the beach and having a cocktail at Margaritaville (the largest in the Caribbean). It was unlike any family holiday we've ever had — and it cost less than a UK break in half term. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Mia or us, but we all loved it so much that we're doing it all again this year for two weeks. This time, we'll be departing from New York and cruising around the British Virgin Islands. Mia is one year older but we can still take advantage of the brilliant deal. It's still just £150 a week for her - and so much fun as a family. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Travel Weekly
18-06-2025
- Travel Weekly
Laurence Pinckney's message
Arnie Weissmann Not many acceptance speeches begin with a thank you to a cardiologist, but when Laurence Pinckney was being inducted into KHM Travel's Hall of Fame this past March, that's where he began. His voice breaking with emotion, he recounted how, the previous week, his doctor had told him he needed a catheter put into his heart. Her initial scheduling would have required that he miss his induction ceremony, but when she realized how important it was for him to attend, she rearranged a few things to make sure he could have the intervention completed soon enough to be able to fly to Orlando for the festivities. This was not the first time, incidentally, that she had moved a procedure up for him; earlier, she gave him priority so that he could attend the Carnival Mardi Gras inaugural sailing (though she first had to get through her incredulity that he was willing to put off an important health concern for ..."A cruise?") In his speech, Pinckney drew an indirect parallel between how his doctor understood the value of the evening to him and how travel advisors understand that every trip is significant to every client. "What we do is important," he said. "And it's going to be more and more important for us to be in front of people's dreams and hopes to be able to travel safely anywhere in the world. Whether you have $100,000 in sales or a million dollars in sales, the client you help will never, ever forget you." Advisors play an important role not only in helping clients better understand the world, he said, but in promoting understanding between people. "We have so much division in the world right now, with people telling us who we should like," Pinckney said. "But when [clients] interact with that family in Africa or that family in Germany ... that's why we do this." And importantly, he focused on the need for travel advisors to support one another. He recounted a time when he took a group on a transatlantic sailing and one of the group, a friend of his, died en route. Fortunately, another KHM advisor was onboard, "and she stood with me, took care of me while I tried to manage losing a friend and moving the group forward," Pinckney said. Looking out at the assembled KHM advisors, he closed by saying, "When you walk into this room and when you walk out of this room, you will meet someone that you will come to love." This honor was not the first for Pinckney. He had been recognized as Agent of the Year for Carnival Cruise Line and thrice was agent of the year for Norwegian Cruise Line. And a prerequisite for being inducted into the host agency's Hall of Fame is that the candidate "show willingness to invest their time, their talent and resources" to "provide guidance that benefits KHM Travel Group and the travel agent community as a whole." Indeed, when KHM CEO Rick Zimmerman introduced Pinckney, he feted him as "an amazing man" and noted how much he had given back to the organization, serving as a regional director, as a member on the host agency's advisory board and on the diversity, equity and inclusion committee. "Beyond his achievements in selling travel, Laurence has made an impact in the industry through his dedication to moving the travel agent community forward through his leadership and passion for helping others," Zimmerman said. Travel Weekly writes often about the exceptional lengths that advisors go to help clients as well as how far suppliers go to help advisors. But what struck me most about Pinckney's message was his focus on what advisors do for advisors. And while he could have dwelled on the contributions he's made for others, he focused instead on how even a veteran advisor like him sometimes needs a shoulder to lean on. I've seen what he was talking about in action -- leisure travel advisors helping leisure advisors -- at conferences, on fams, over social media. In other industries, and even among corporate travel agencies, this type of peer-to-peer support among competitors is not common. I've seen industries where salespeople eye peers as one might view competing participants in an endless game of musical chairs, never wanting to give an advantage to someone who might get a seat while they're being shut out. Perhaps part of why travel advisors are so collegial is that the need for travel advising is so great that there's simply enough business for everyone. And the evolution away from strip mall agencies that competed locally for business has also helped lower competitive heat. But I think that's only part of it. I think leisure travel sales attract people who are naturally service-oriented and relate easily to others, even erstwhile competitors. Laurence Pinckney's message was delivered to KHM advisors. Happily, we're in an industry where it has the universal ring of truth.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Yahoo
Carnival Cruise Line drops popular port from multiple sailings
Cruise itinerary changes can happen for a number of reasons — from poor weather conditions and safety concerns to port scheduling conflicts and construction work. But no matter what the reason, itinerary changes are usually disappointing news for passengers, especially for those who book a certain cruise specifically for the ports the ship will a cruise port is removed from an itinerary without any explanation, it can also lead to unfounded rumors and speculations about the port's safety for travelers. Carnival Cruise Line just caused this kind of stir among cruisers when it removed one sought-after Caribbean destination from multiple cruise itineraries without providing a reason for the change. The impacted cruises include several sailings between now and June aboard three ships — Carnival Vista, Carnival Venezia, and Carnival Mardi Gras. On each of the cruises, Carnival has replaced Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos with Amber Cove, Carnival's private destination located on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic near Puerto decision to divert these ships from Grand Turk to Amber Cove was made for operational reasons, according to Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald, who received a number of questions about the port cancellations on his popular Facebook page. 'I really don't want people to think there is anything that they should be concerned about,' Heald replied to one passenger who wrote to him about the change. 'It's just operational, but [what] I can definitely say is the [fun is] waiting for you, the crew will give you the best of times and Amber Cove really is a fabulous place.'One thing that does concern some travelers about visiting Grand Turk is the U.S. State Department's recently updated Level 2 travel advisory for Turks and Caicos, which alerts travelers to exercise increased caution in the popular Caribbean islands. Turks and Caicos strictly enforces its firearm regulations, which outlaw firearms and ammunition, including single bullets brought by mistake in carry-on bags through cruise port security checkpoints. Last year, one Royal Caribbean passenger was detained for weeks for unknowingly bringing ammunition to Grand Turk. To be clear, Carnival is not canceling all stops at Grand Turk, only certain calls due to operational reasons that are unrelated to the country's travel some Carnival cruisers consider how losing a visit to Grand Turk will change their vacation experiences, they have questions about Amber Cove. One passenger wrote to the cruise line's brand ambassador with concerns that popular excursions in Amber Cove might already be booked for the soon-approaching date of their visit. 'Hi John, we are cruising on the Venezia on May 11. I know that Grand Turk is changed to Amber Cove. I'm wondering if any excursions will become available,' Linda Martin-Ellinwood wrote. 'We are extremely disappointed because we had reserved a cabana by the pool and now with Mardi Gras already scheduled for Amber Cove for months, I am assuming excursions like cabanas are not available.' More Carnival cruise news:Heald assured the concerned cruiser that Amber Cove add-on activities would soon be available for passengers to book. 'Thank you, they will become available very soon, so starting early next week, please check and you should see them there,' Heald replied. 'Thank you, I do understand your disappointment. I really do. However, Amber Cove is beautiful. I'm sure you're going to love it and I'm absolutely positive you are going to have a wonderful cruise.' Carnival Cruise Line is providing passengers booked on the impacted cruises with an onboard credit for $50 per stateroom in appreciation for their understanding about the unexpected changes. (The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.) , or email Amy Post at or call or text her at 386-383-2472.
