What to Wear on your Carnival Cruise

Everyone needs a little escape now and then, don’t you think? I know y’all have been eager for the details so today I’m sharing all the who, what , where and what I wore from our recent cruise. This past cruise was my 6th and 5th with carnival so while I’m not a diamond level pro cruiser I’m no novice to cruising and I’ve certainly learned a thing or two on what to pack and what to leave at home.

 

Over the past few years I have cruised on the Splendor, Dream and Magic and while there are slight changes and differences each of these ships has the same layout so after cruising on the Splendor in 2015 I’ve been able to walk aboard and know my way around. Currently, Magic sails out of Port Canaveral Florida and we drove the entire way from Memphis. On the way there our goal the first day was to make it into Florida and then we’d just stop when we got tired; we wound up stopping for the night two hours from the port and felt like we could have made it the entire way (just an FYI in case you’d consider driving from Memphis or a location with a similar distance). Because our car trip was pretty much from when we woke up to bed time I decided to dress super comfortable and wore a pair of linen blend pants and a tee (more on these pants later in this post).

 

Saturday morning we woke up and headed towards the port and actually got in town before our scheduled boarding time so we had lunch, parked off-site and took a shuttle over to the cruise terminal. Because we weren’t going to be in the car all day and I wanted to look nice for the picture they take when you board the ship I decided to have a slight nautical nod in my outfit and wore a navy and white stripped top with a paper bag skirt. When packing for trips I try to keep most of my outfits within the same color family so I can only bring a few shoes and for this trip I decided my navy gingham wedges would be my shoe of choice. I also recently purchased a bamboo bag because I thought it would be perfect for the trip and give some fun tropical vibes.

Most people on boarding day will check out their cabin, drop their stuff off have lunch and start exploring the ship and that’s exactly what we did minus lunch. Before the ship sails there’s a mandatory safety briefing and I’m not kidding y’all, don’t be the jerk who tries to not attend – you will hold it up for everyone. The Ship will typically set sail around 4pm and there’s a party on the lido deck – this is when you’ll see the cruise director and their staff for the first time and get an idea of the fun in store for the week – let me tell you our cruise director Cookie did not disappoint.

 

The first full day on board was a day at sea and there’s always lots of fun activities planned on those days – trivia, games, dance competitions, activities by the pool, seminars at the spa, casino tournaments and more – of course you can always do your own thing. We had spa passes so I spent some time this day chilling there in the hot tub and thermal suites but also did some activities- each night the agenda for the next day is left in your cabin along with a fun towel animal of course so you always have a head’s up of what is going on around the ship. I decided to keep it  casual but cute with a gingham top and yellow skirt during the day. At night it was the formal night, or cruise elegant and I decided to go with a sequin skirt , off the shoulder top, along with sparkly jewelry and neutral accessories. On this night there are backdrops set up around the ship to have professional photos taken but we just took some with my camera in the atrium.

    

 

 Sequin Skirt is Society+

 

      Day 2 was our first port of call at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. I’ve learned from prior cruise experiences that it’s a little more comfortable to wear regular clothes and change into a swimsuit at the beach so I started off in my white linen blend pants and palm leaf top and then changed into my palm leaf swimsuit at the beach. For this port of call we had a beach getaway at a nearby resort with drinks and lunch included. Now this is my bad here BUT I have since discovered that the Dominican Republic is one of those countries where Americans should not drink the water, this isn’t a bad reflection on the country it’s just that we’re used to more treatment of our water and we do not have the same organisms living within our water. I should have done research on my own but to be honest I took the fact that carnival offered an excursion that included beverage to be an endorsement that it was safe for consumption. I wouldn’t refuse to cruise to the Dominican Republic again -it is beautiful and they can certainly use the tourism dollars but I would only drink bottled water in the future. But at the time ignorance was bliss and we had a really nice time.

 

Day 3 was St Thomas – another beautiful tropical island. Although there’s a lot of rebuilding from last year’s terrible hurricanes there’s just so much natural beauty that you don’t need to go anywhere fancy to appreciate it. We took a beach getaway to Magen’s Beach which is one of the most beaches in the world – it was easy to see why when we arrived. For this stop Shaun was in charge of packing the bag and my swimsuit got left behind so I did something very out of character -I decided to not be fussy and swam in my underwear and a tshirt. Super classy I know but hey, I wasn’t about to be at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and sit on the sidelines- plus it was too hot to care too much. After the beach we also took a skyride to an overlook and it was so beautiful and peaceful. For my dry outfit I changed up from what I had planned to wear this day because I had purchased a cute tunic on board with a pom trim so I wore linen pants and a tee underneath for a seamless look that allowed the poms to stand out.  

Day 4 brought the ship to Puerto Rico – remember that water in the Dominican Republic I mentioned? Well, this is when the effects hit. So needless to say I spent this day in the cabin in my PJs. Day 5 we stopped in Grand Turk and while the rest of the family was feeling fine to go on with the scheduled excursion I was still feeling queasy and opted to stay on board and detox at the spa. I was able to join everyone for dinner and the night time entertainment but if I’ve being perfectly honest I didn’t care at all what I looked like and just wore my yoga pants and a tee.

By Day 6 I had made a full recovery and decided to wear something fun and cute for the last day at sea. Sea Days offer brunch and tea time in the dining room in addition to all the activities on board so we slept in, enjoyed a leisurely brunch and time on the deck in a comfy lounge chair enjoying the sea breeze.

 

***This is not a sponsored post. Our trip was a family Christmas present from my dad so while he sponsored the trip he really doesn’t care if I blog about it 😉 All outfits are items purchased with my own money with the exception of the Brahmin clutch which I was gifted during a blogger event. If the exact item I’m wearing is sold out I have tried to find the most comparable item at a price point for what I spent with my own money***

 

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