Carnival Fun Times: Your Daily Cruise Schedule Explained

Byjerry@saesllc.com

Carnival Fun Times: Your Daily Schedule, Explained

If there’s one piece of paper worth holding onto every day of your cruise, it’s the Fun Times. This is Carnival’s daily newsletter, and it covers everything happening on the ship that day, from what time the comedy club opens to when the Mongolian Wok is serving lunch.

What’s actually in it

The Fun Times comes as a tall, tri-fold, double-sided newsletter. The cover shows the date, your current port or sea day status, sunrise and sunset times, and the recommended evening dress code: Cruise Casual or Cruise Elegant. Inside, you’ll find opening and closing times for key venues, the full schedule of shows and activities with times and locations, dining hours for every restaurant on the ship, and a page of fun facts along with port-specific information like emergency contact numbers when you’re docked somewhere.

It covers music schedules, what’s playing at the Seaside Theater, casino hours and specials, shopping hours, drink and bar information, kids and teens activities, and spa hours. Basically, if it’s happening on the ship that day, it’s in the Fun Times.

The Fun Times vs. the Hub app

Carnival actually tried to phase out the printed version back in 2021, moving everything to the Hub app to reduce paper waste. The backlash was real. After enough guests missed having a physical copy, Carnival’s brand ambassador, John Heald, announced in 2023 that printed Fun Times were coming back for good.

Both versions exist now, and they have different strengths. The Hub app lets you tap an event to get more details, set a reminder, and add it to your personal planner, and it works without a Wi-Fi connection because it runs on the ship’s local network. The printed Fun Times, on the other hand, is genuinely easier to skim at a glance, fits in a pocket, and doesn’t require pulling out your phone every time you want to check what’s next. A lot of cruisers use both: the app for reminders, the paper copy for quick reference.

How to get one

The Fun Times is delivered to your stateroom each evening for the following day, and if you don’t see one, just ask your stateroom steward to bring one daily. It’s still completely free.

A simple way to use it well

Some cruisers bring highlighters and mark up the Fun Times each night before bed, picking out what they want to do the next day. If you’re traveling with family, giving each person their own color makes it easy to see at a glance what everyone wants to do and where the overlaps are. It’s a small habit, but it turns a long list of activities into an actual plan for the next morning.

Keep in mind the schedule is set by your ship’s individual Cruise Director, so it varies from ship to ship and sailing to sailing. Don’t assume your friend’s cruise on a different ship ran the exact same activities you’ll get on yours.

Questions about what to expect on your specific sailing? Reach out anytime.

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