Hi everyone, my family and I just booked a 4-day Bahama cruise aboard Fantasy for Dec 19. We will be traveling to Florida the day before and spending the night in a hotel so we won't be totally exhausted the first day on board. This is our first cruise. Besides myself, my husband, 13 year old son, 5 year old daughter and recently widowed mother will be going. We are all very excited but I do have a few questions. I hope some of you more experienced travelers will help me out.

1. We paid our deposit with the travel agent and will pay the remaining balance by a specific date. At that time, she will give us all the boarding/room information. When do we book the shore excursions? Are they very expensive? My daughter wants to do the "swim with dolphins" while my son would like to "swim with stingrays". . Hubby and I will do our own thing later on.

2. Hubby is not a formal guy and only owns one suit. What would be appropriate for the formal dinner on Day 2? Can we rent a tux on board or should we purchase/rent a suit before hand? Would a tux be over the top anyway?

3. Is Camp Carnival as great as it's made out to be? I don't anticipate the 5 yr old being there a lot but I'm sure she'll be there some.. ..just so hubby and I can get away for a while. Will it be loads of fun for her or is it basically a day care center?

4. Should we come prepared to spend thousands of dollars? What a silly question I know but this is our first real vacation EVER!!! and we want to make it great for all 5 of us. I plan on doing some light shopping in the Bahamas. Are things reasonably priced or do they "see a tourist" coming and jack up the prices? Can you haggle or are prices firm?

5. Does the swimming pool stay to crowded to enjoy? My 5 yr old daughter and I plan on spending a LOT of time lounging by the pool and enjoying the water. Should we get there early?

6. I was told that we will leave a "deposit" with the ship office to cover expenses incurred while on board. If we go over, do they stop all charges or will they just bill the difference upon debarkation? Would it be easier to leave too much with them than not enough? My 13 yr old will pretty much have free run of the ship and will shop/eat/drink whenever he wants so I certainly want enough in the "account" to cover his incidentals. My mother will also be running out the same account. Would $1000 cover it? Am I even close?

Thank you all so much in advance for offering up help and advise to an overworked small business owner that really needs a break!
Christine in NC

Hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise. Just remember to go with an open mind and a good attitude.

1) If you're booking your shore tours through the cruise line you can book as soon as you board the ship. Carnival lists all the shore tours on it's website with an estimate of how expensive they are. I've been told that Carnival will begin letting you reserve shore tours on the website before the cruise but I haven't seen this on the site yet. If you booking independent tours you can book online or via phone. Shoretours.com has a lot of info and actual prices but all the available tours for a particular destination are not listed there. I did the dolphion swim in Hawaii and it was very expensive.

2) You can rent tuxes onboard or a dark suit for your husband will do just fine.

3) Camp Carnival is more than just day care. The counselors plan many activities to keep the children occupied. Every night they bring a plate of goodies to the cabin for the kids.

4) Shopping is an experience, if you know your prices you can come away with some great deals. Some shop keepers are flexible on prices and some are not. Come prepared to spend what you can afford to spend, it's all relative. I've been on cruises where i shopped like a fiend and on some where I barely shopped at all. My next cruise there will be little time to shop since I've planned a excursions in each port.

5) The pools are most crowded mid-day during sea days. If you don't mind not being right at the pool, it won't be a problem. If you insist on being right by the pool you better get there early.. ..right after breakfast. The pools are emptied every night and they are salt water pools.

6) The "sign & sail" accounts are set up with either cash, debit card or credit card. If the deposit is made in cash, I think it's about $250 fer person, the purser will let you know when you balance is running low and will request additional funds. At the end of the cruise andy cash left on the sign & sail account will be refunded to you in a check on the last night. If by credit card or debit, hold is put on your account for the amount of the deposit. Should you go over your limit they will ask for additional or another credit card to cover the balance otherwise charge privileges for the account will be stopped. Just keep in mind that onboard the ship is a cashless society, everything is charged to your sign & Sail account. Tips are automatically charged to your sign & sail (about $70 for 7day and $80 for 8 day cruise per person, including children). . You can leave them on or go to the pursers desk to adjust them or have them taken off the account completely. It's your choice, I leave them on I find it much simpler that way. Of course if the service in a particular area is exceptional, I like to personally thank the attendant with a little something extra.

Thanks so much, you answered all of the questions I had. We are looking forward to our trip so much. I'm sure that we will all have a great time!