cjnwildfire

We bring a French Press and make our own. I think the MDR coffee is ok, but room service and lido coffee, not so much. And sometimes I could swear it might be decaf!

So we bring our own!

 

OK! I admit it, I am a coffee snob too!:D

[quote name='ShakyBeef']Yeah, my DH doesn't see it as a particularly bad thing, either. Over the long run, it may still be more expensive than the ghillie suit, nightvision goggles, and tracking devices he was planning on buying when she becomes a teen, but it is at least an easier method of attaining the same goal.:rolleyes:[/quote]

I was just planning on cleaning my guns at the kitchen table while her father gives them "talk", but this could work pretty good too!:D

Did you get it through the Early Saver Price Protection form before you changed rooms? If so, I think the Price Protection form says its a non-refundable OBC. .but someone did mention something about a casino trick.. and I can't remember what it was now? but some way that you can put money into a machine, then tell them you don't want to gamble with it, and I think it goes back on your S&S as cash OBC ... I think.. not sure?

 

You go to the casino, put the remainder on a slot machine, play one hand then cash out.

It will convert it to casino winnings and they will refund the remainder!

This amused me!! Thanks for the chuckle!

 

DH just said we will now encourage our daughters to do this more!:eek:

You may also want to try NCL, They have a couple of different options, one ocean view family suit and one in the haven.

Had I known about that option we would have been going NCL for this cruise. The price for the 2 balconies on CCL was only a little less than the price on NCL in the haven!

Warning: If you allow (or, Heaven forbid, encourage) your young daughter to order off the adult menu on cruises, she might get a taste for lobster, filet mignon, "fancy" soups, escargot, duck, and ahi tuna. Then she might want to order those things at land restaurants all the time. Then, someday in the not-so-distant future, she might become a very expensive date for some unsuspecting boy. Don't ask me how I know this. I'll just say we don't see a lot of second dates in our daughter's future.:p

 

My 5 now 6 year old, can't wait to go on our up coming cruise. Last cruise she and her brother and sister tried every "Didja". She can't wait to see what they have this time...or what new thing she can try.

We have a rule with our kids they have to try a food.

This is why we have kids who eat brussell sprouts and spinach....Mussels, oysters, and frog legs!

They also can't wait to eat in the MDR!

not in this case-- its a connecting balcony and the parents are in the connecting room.

 

I have a connecting door into the next room (balcony), INSIDE my 2 rooms and they told me that we HAD to have someone over 18 in the other room. They would NOT let me book a balcony for my kids, even tho my oldest is 13.

Wow. Lots of great replies.

 

"Spirited" means I doubt the 3yo will last through a 90 minute "good manners" seating without making himself known to the world :)

 

right now we're set for the early 6pm seating but had considered changing to YTD.

 

Camp carnival may be a cool option for us as well. We're really interested in the mdr experience but want to be kind to the kiddos and other cruisers.

 

Try it at least once with him. I think he can do it!:D

no age restrictions for booking a balcony. Balcony doors are very heavy plus there is a lock at the top

But with balcony doors you gotta be careful of little fingers-- if the cabin door is opened while the balcony door is-- a wind tunnel happens and that door slams. When we were out there when out little one was a toddler-- we kept a towel over the to to keep it from slamming.

 

There is an age restriction on balconies.

 

You must have someone in the room that is over 18 and traveling with someone over 21.

Going on first cruise in nearly 20 years soon, on the Breeze. This time I have 3 children in tow. The youngest age 3 and 6 and are every bit spirited. I have been recommended the Breeze as a fun ship with lots to offer for my children.

 

What is the general approach to small children in the main dining room? Is there a minimum age, are booster seats an option, do you get seated in a section with other young families? Any thoughts on what I can expect?

 

Might I suggest "your time dining". We do this with our kids and it makes it easy to feed them when they are hungry and they don't turn into grimmlins...LOL

Thank you all - link is helpful to... sorry I guess I should have mentioned Caribbean cruise, I think I would not have posted a sweater question if I was going to Alaska :D

 

Thanks again!

 

Here is a tip I don't think is in there.

 

Pack early, don't wait until the last minute, even if it means your guest room looks like a tornado went thru it.

Unpack and take a good look at what you are taking in each suit case.

 

I usually end up repacking about half!

 

Remember it is a cruise and nobody is going to notice if you wear a pair of pants 2x's.

 

I usually only pack 2 pairs of pants (for the MDR) for a 7 day. You may want to pack more if you plan on wearing them all day. I only wear them for a couple of hours at dinner, then I am back into something more cumfy!

 

Hope this helps!

This is a very helpful thread, you won't need all of it!

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=986205&page=33

I always bring a light jacket, sweater or at least a hoodie.

I make my kids bring them too. It can get cold INSIDE the ship after you have been out in the sun or even in the shade on deck.

 

The dinning room often gets cold for me and the kids!

I asked my dive shop- They go down alot...Here are 4 for you to try:

 

Cozumel Marine World

 

Deep Exposure

 

Scuba Du- should pick you up from the dock!

 

Dive Paradise

 

Please let me know if you need some help.

You can email me and I will do my best to find something for you.

I am also trying to find the guy that I used down there...he was great...very patient!

 

jlcruse@live.com

Thanks!!...So if you were standing on Lido and facing towards the buffet area, that would be facing forward right??!!...I think. Lol

No, the bridge is always forward.

The starboard (right side) is the smoking side!

 

Hope this helps.

60 degrees? Not here. It's beautiful warm and clean

 

Oh and no midday thunderstorms

 

The folks on the beach are definitely not smokers. Haven't smelled it. Private beach and the homeowners association does not allow smoking on the grounds

 

Go figure

 

 

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WOW, you live in a place where they tell you what you can do on your own property!?

LEAVEITALLBEHIND, how are you able to take advantage of the price drops?

There is a thread after mine, a copy of a blog that is negative toward booking in advance.

We have sailed 10x, so we aren't new to cruising.

Thank you.

If you have an upcoming cruise, I will be happy to help you. Just email me.

 

jlcruse@live.com

I am unable to convince DH that it is not necessarily a negative thing to book a cruise far in advance, i.e. 10 months approx. He doesn't think there are deals by doing so.

Convince me as to why we should consider booking in advance.

 

I was thinking room choice, but that is not a big issue with us. I love the balcony, but inside works for me. We are retired and are flexible with our travel plans.

 

Secondly, have you ever received a price drop when you book so far in advance?

 

Thank you.

The first cruise we took was a gift. I didn't know about price drops and such.

I have booked anywhere from 2 months out to 1 yr out ever since. I have always gotten a good amount of OBC ($200-$500).

Booking later, doesn't always mean a better deal. But neither does booking early!

You have to work for it!

So I want to try scuba and I would like to do it on the cruise coming up in Oct. I wanted to go to Nachi Cohem in Cozumel but was wondering which Island would be better to do a intro to Scuba.

 

 

Also some questions=

Is there weight limits?

Do you have to wear a suit or can you just in your bathing suit?

For the first time, would I be able to take my camera?

 

Thanks!!

I would suggest Cozumel. Cayman has some pretty strict rules (you can't even wear gloves or you get a fine), they are protective of their underwater world, so if you make a mistake and hit something with a fin....well you know.

I did my discovery dive in Cozumel and am now certified. To answer your questions...

Weight limit...not really, I weighed 260lbs at the time.

But remember this is a sport and you WILL get a workout! (the only sport I have ever really loved...I am losing weight so I can love it more)

 

Swimsuits are fine...just remember you burn 2x's as fast underwater and my first time I got sun poison. You can get a long sleeve rash guard on amazon for about $20.

 

There is no way I would have been able to take any pictures...I was too mesmerized! But you could if you want to.

 

Hope that helps!

For those of you who keep talking about sectioning off a block of rooms for smoking balconies, I received this email today in response to an email I sent yesterday regarding that topic:

 

Thank you for your email.

We did look at a range of possibilities when making the recent changes to our smoking policy as we always try to address the needs of all of our guests. However, there is a level of complexity when trying to designate certain stateroom balconies as smoking, as we may not always have someone who smokes in that room or the surrounding rooms. Therefore, we opted to keep the policy straight-forward. We understand this is not popular with everyone, but we do have designated smoking areas in various locations on each ship.

We appreciate you expressing your concerns. We hope you will continue to sail with us.

If I can assist you in any other way, please let me know.

Best Regards,

AnneMarie

AnneMarie Mathews | Vice President, Public Relations

I've never purchased 3rd party travel insurance only through cruise line or last TA didn't offer it and then when we called to add it were told it as too late. As Murphy works that cruise my daughter had to be removed from the ship and was seen in 2 different hospitals. Thankfully other than some billing mix ups Tricare is covering her medical expenses but we lost the cruise and the week of an unexpected vacation in Orlando before she was cleared to travel home. I am now paranoid about having travel insurance. How does third party insurance such as usaa work? When /how do I purchase it?

 

 

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We too use USAA for our insurance when we travel. It is cheaper, covers EVERYTHING, not just the cruise and can be easily be accessed through your USAA account.

My experience has been that it drops right at the pay off date. However I continually check at the end of each sale. This sale cycle ends Aug 10. I will check again Aug 11.

At the 4 weeks out mark. For me it will be Aug 26, I will check every day! up until Sept 24.

You have to work for it if you really want it!

 

Hope this helps!!!!

 

PS. I generally get back $200-$500.

You go girl....I am not even a smoker and I agree with you. Some if us non smokers are such whiner they make me sick!

 

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You give me hope that all people have not become self centered YayYays!

[quote name='Out to sea!']Let's get one thing straight. I did not ask to smoke in the non-smoking area. I went to the smoking area (and had been there for a while when the cleaning crew arrived and I was asked to smoke in the nonsmoking until they were finished. They even brought me a clean ashtray to use and apologized for asking me to move.

As I have stated in both my posts (the one that survived and the one that didn't survive), if the crew need to temporarily change the location of the smoking area for whatever reason, that new area IS the smoking area and will be used as such until the permanent smoking area is return to the smokers as per those with the authority to do so. If a non-smoker has a problem with that then they can go complain to whoever they wish.

Again, if you have a problem with how NCL runs their ships, I suggest you take it up with them as you have no authority to make rules on board their ships.

Please, I wish a non-smoker would report it that a smoker was smoking in the temporary smoking area. I would just LOVE to see that. It would be such a hoot.

The only thing I have proven is that I will obey the rules of those with the authority to make rules. It's a shame that is a problem for you.[/quote]

You do realize this is a never ending battle, right?

I hate to say this but some people just can't get a life and leave ours alone. And they will not be satisfied until we are forced to be just like them. Of course, what they do not realize is, it will back fire on them at some point.

RCI is indeed more money and that's what has kept me away. I'm not living on canned tuna and bartering shells and trinkets in my "real life" but it's hard when you go to an online TA and click "compare cruises" and see RC consistently coming in hundreds and hundreds more per sailing. And then when you compare a top CCL ship to a low level RCI ship and still come out with RCI costing more.... I don't know. I'm really torn for a number of reasons. My next cruise may very well be Allure or Oasis. Honestly if CCL had more loyalty perqs it would settle the argument!

I hate to say this, but the straw that broke my camel's back was when one of our group was strong armed to move cabins.

It was because he was in a room that sleeps 4 and he is cruising alone.

We book 3 adjoining balcony cabins, 2 with an interior adjoining door and 1 just on the other side.

I called CCL and asked them (nicely the first time) to put him back in his previous room. I explained that this was his first cruise and we wanted him next to us so that we could help him around and kind of help him through his cruise.

I was told that they couldn't do that. I was also told that they could put him in an interior room if they wanted. I asked how they could do that without our permission and she told me to read the contract.

Finally I told her to put him back in the room he was in (not so nicely this time) or I would cancel all 3 rooms and would take my business elsewhere.

We did get him back in his room, but they lost my business. While we will be taking this cruise because I have already paid for airfare and hotels. I WILL be finding another line to go with.

The thought of them just being able to change a room, because they can, just sickens me.

There is a reasonable expectation of service, when you pay for a product, us have a right to expect what you pay for. I can no longer trust that CCL will do that.