My husband and I drove overnight to Port Canaveral in order to save money by not getting a hotel room and then parked at the Port Park lot offered by Radisson Hotel and Resort since it was cheaper than parking at the port ($60 at port for a 4 night cruise, $47 at the private lot which had security that patrolled 24 hours per day, free shuttle service for up to 7 people per vehicle to and from the port). We were travelling with 3 of our 4 children (having left the two year old with her grandparents). Our oldest has Autism, so I had inquired with Carnival ahead of time about accommodations that could be made as far as muster drill, dining table location, faster check in and boarding, etc.

I made my inquiries about accommodations for my son with Autism only 3 days before we left for the cruise because I had not realized that this was a possibility until I read a post on this forum about it. The very next day I received a phone call from a gentleman with the cruise line. He went over everything they offered and we discussed it, before finally settling on the items that I felt were most needed or would be most helpful for my son, who is overall high functioning and mostly mainstreamed at school. These included priority check in and boarding. We were able to skip the long waiting lines for check in and get right to the counter. Then we were in Zone/Section 1 for boarding, which meant we got on board very quickly once they started letting folks on the ship. I was able to stay in the stateroom with my son during muster drill, and the stateroom steward demonstrated the proper use of the life vest during the instructions that were broadcast over the intercom system. We were offered our choice of tables in the dining room, which I declined. They did seat us at a table with no other families or individuals to lessen any potential stress, but just not at a specific area of the dining room. We were offered a quiet corner or a window table if I thought that would be more restful for my son. He was given the option of being able to transfer between the youth/children activities to a different age group if he didn't feel comfortable in the one that his age would have him with. Since he did not participate in any of the youth activities anyway we had no need for this option either. Compared to the response I have received from RCCL to a similar inquiry for a cruise we are booked on through them in a few months, this was AWESOME and way more than I had hoped for.

They did offer many opportunities for activities for Camp Carnival that were all supervised. My younger daughter took part in a few of these activities and had fun every time she went. Her favorite activity though was the Build A Bear. They call this the Beary Cuddly Workshop. The animals that she had to choose from ranged in price from $15-$24 and came with a Carnival tshirt. There were additional outfits available for a cost of $8-$12 each. The children choose a bear or animal and are given a box with stuffing inside. You go to a table or cloth on the floor, your choice, to do the stuffing. If you want more stuffing, they happily provide it to you. The pouch that the stuffing goes in is closed with a zipper when the child is done and then the animal is closed with really strong Velcro, so much less high tech than the stores in the malls. Other activities included movie night (Madagascar 3), a fair with games that she helped with, gaming times (Wii and computer) and free play time. Read more