BullDawg91

No! At least not with our particular policy. But they do also sell long term single trip policies that cover trips up to 180 days. These policies are pretty decent because they offer various options including medical coverage of up to $1 Million. So I just took a look at what a 6 month policy for $1 million would cost a 67 year old man and the online quote is just under $1300! For this you get 1 million of coverage with zero deductible. And this is their Cadillac type plan with no requirement of other primary insurance and a whole bunch of other coverage. There are less costly policies (with lesser coverage).

 

 

 

Hank

I don't think $1300 sounds too bad if I can afford a trip that long! [emoji6]

We cruised the Breeze this May 22nd. I heard it was full (no empty cabins, maybe not max capacity though). It never felt too crowded, but we didn't try to hang out around the pools much. This was the day after school got out for us, but I'm sure there were lots of schools still in session. I was surprised at the proportion of adults to kids after two DCL cruises.

Actually, I just did a search and found the answer. Where do I look to see if there are any GT rates being offered?

GT rates are usually not offered until close to sailing and they will fluctuate daily in price and availability.

You can't choose your location with GT reservations though which would be a problem with kids in one cabin.

I'd jump all over the transatlantic if the dates worked. Of course, you may be spoiled forever for cruising if you start with it!

Also, avoid bumping up against any school holiday when you're looking for a cruise. Since you homeschool, you could pick a date in early November when schools are between fall breaks and Thanksgiving. That's if you are interested in a Caribbean cruise, of course. Since that's where the ships will be in November. Just buy travel insurance in case of weather issues.

FYI, I've read you should not bring a surge protector which seems counterintuitive.

I find the people I talk to who don't like cruising either:

Haven't cruised before, but just KNOW they won't like it,

Or

Cruised on a cheap short cruise on an old ship where their room was a broom closet.

I haven't met any who have tried more than one and still didn't like it.

We play trivia, read on the balcony and then nap before late dinner.

The 10 1/2 year old can be given the ability to sign herself in and out.

I'm not sure about her bringing the 2 1/2 year old.

I'm not sure what that $16 option is.

I think the tickets are a crowd control measure. No cost.

Thanks for the info. I really thought the characters would be all over the ship, wasn't sure about days in port.

 

 

 

Does anyone know what are the ages for the children's program? And what is the time frame of the program? Did your children enjoy it? Anything you can tell me about it would be appreciated.

 

 

 

Any particular ship you would recommend over another?

You'll find the entire experience is more classy and elegant than you might expect with Disney and characters and the focus on kids. All of the ships are beautiful and very much early 20th century style. It's definitely not a theme park, cartoony experience.

Believe or not, characters aren't all over the place. There are scheduled meet and greets for the day and sometimes you just get lucky and run into a character who takes a moment to give a hug and make a picture.

Balcony fan.

I haven't felt a hard court press to buy on my cruises regardless of the line.

I do wonder if the pressure is proportional to the price you pay for the cruise as in less sales pitch on higher priced lines compared to more sales pitch on the cheaper lines.

Maybe someone with experience with a variety of lines can say.

Don't worry about the Wonder's age. Disney also maintains their ships like no one else. We loved the Wonder. We found a lot of crew we talked to have been with Disney a long time and choose to stay on the Wonder.

With your kids' ages, choose Disney while they hopefully appreciate the magic and do something else later.

I love Disney but I'm not a die hard. We found the CCL Breeze to be more fun overall, BUT I would be much less comfortable with my kids as young as yours on the Breeze doing things without me compared to the Wonder - because of ship size and clientele (not bad, just WAY more adults).

Concierge doors have a wood veneer that won't work with magnets.

We loved the Breeze after cruising Disney. We thought there were plenty of food options and they were good. I'm not interested in paying extra onboard for food and we were pleased.

We were prepared to be disappointed in the shows on the Breeze after all I'd read, but we enjoyed them.

You purchase and log in by folio. You can use it on only one device at a time. If you and your fiancé want to be on at the same time, you each have to purchase a plan.

We had a ninja and a cowboy with ladies dressed straight out of the 80s for formal night on our cruise.

I like the suggestion of making it fun.

MCO has always been busy when I've been through there - always a wait for security. There are always vacationers leaving. It's not like an airport with mostly business travel. That might be a problem too.

I read a lot about trip insurance on here. The general consensus is that you'll get better coverage for a better price elsewhere. There are two popular websites - thetripinsurancestore and insuremytrip that are commonly recommended.

Just to confirm, some were able to text on the $5 plan via imessage? If so that will work great for our 12 year old going to camp, better than walkie talkies

You can text via iMessage with the plan that is $5 per day/$25 per length of cruise. However, if you are wanting to text someone else on the ship, you would have to purchase 2 of those plans- one per device (using different folio numbers). Only one device can be logged in to the plan at a time.

I say excursion snorkel. There are likely to be other first timers. You always wear a vest that you can inflate or deflate to your desired support. They also may have pool noodles for extra support. You can hang near the boat if you don't feel too comfortable swimming away.

I wouldn't go off by myself from a beach. On our last trip, we got instructions of don't touch this or that, they're poisonous. I wouldn't want to skip the expert advice.

Do what you want. It's not your family's wedding. You have a household so you don't need gifts. If you want to take the cruise with the parents, go. Just don't expect anyone else to spend thousands to go with you.

There were lots of things at my wedding that I wanted to be different but I let people tell me what I HAD to have or HAD to do. Do what you want. I'm encouraging my kids to take the money I'll offer and run!

We had it on the Breeze and were able to text other iPhones (back home) via iMessage. It was great. Facebook and Snapchat worked for us too.

I heard some people with other platform phones (not iphones) had some trouble.

The rate is flat from port to airport and the reverse. We took 4 people in a cab for $30. No problem getting a cab in either place. No waiting.