pinkmagnolia

Looking forward to your review! We have a Magic cruise planned this summer! I have 13-year old twin boys, so please provide lots of details about Circle C and the activities your daughter did.

We also stayed at the airport Fairfield last summer (before a Majesty cruise) and really liked it a lot as well! Super clean rooms and lovely breakfast. Our ship's boarding was delayed (until 5:00-ish), so we ended up going to see a movie within walking distance to the hotel.

There are 5 dates for this Double Dip cruise - 5 nights - least expensive room (inside, family of 4) is US $6200 :eek: It's just hard for me to justify that price. I know it would have been less expensive to book as soon as the dates were released, which is why I'm wondering if any other line offers this.

Back-to-back may be our only option. It's not exactly a "must do" for us - I'm just wondering as it would appeal to us. Our family visited Coco Cay last summer and REALLY enjoyed it.

Thanks for the replies

I've noticed that DCL offers a "Double Dip" Castaway Cay cruise where it makes two stops at their private island. I LOVE this itinerary, but the cost of these cruises is SUPER high.

I'm wondering if any of the other cruise lines offer something similar? I tried using the search feature on CC, but am unable to find anything like this.

I know several lines do a stop at their Private island in addition to Grand Turk - but I'm wondering if there are any (less expensive) lines that make two visits to their own Private Island.

This is for a rental from Port Canaveral to MCO - our flight is at 2:20, so I think we have plenty of time to rent and make it to the airport (ship arrives at 8:00 AM). This would be the first time we've rented a car - We used a Car Service before. It looks like the Alamo/Enterprise office is not far from the Port? (we are sailing Carnival)

We would like to rent a car from Port Canaveral to MCO - Wondering what a good price is for this rental? It would only be a few hours.

The cheapest I've seen for a long time is $69 (incl taxes) for Alamo through Costco. What is a "good" price for this rental? Wondering when I should book it.

Thanks so much for posting this review! We will be taking this same cruise in August 2017 (same ports, same ship) so I'm really enjoying it so far!

We will be traveling with twin boys the same age as your son (will be 13 when we cruise this summer), so please let us know what activities your son really enjoyed!

We are on this cruise and I have not gotten a phone call or email about delayed boarding. I called Royal Caribbean customer service last night and they did not know anything about it and told me last boarding was at 3PM. I guess I'll call again today and watch for emails:confused:

This is very odd. I received an e-mail directly from RC, then got an e-mail late last night from our travel agent. It's strange that Customer Service didn't know about this! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

Any ideas for options pre cruise. I was thinking matinee at Downtown Disney. Or maybe an Orlando beach near the port. Does anyone have any ideas? Something inexpensive with a nearby lunch and easy to catch an Uber. 😟 I'm not renting a car. Although it's more of an option now. I hate being in a strange city alone, just me and my daughter, with no place to go.

Are you at a Disney resort? You could lay by the pool and enjoy the activities at your resort, or take the bus or monorail to another resort to explore it. It's easy to leave your luggage with Bell Services for the day. If it were me, I'd take the bus to Downtown Disney for breakfast and shopping (or after your Chef Mickey's breakfast), then head back to the resort for a swim in the afternoon. Pick up your bags from Bell Services and take your UBER as planned. In 2014 we got beautiful silhouettes of our boys made at Disney Springs that were not expensive.

We will be hanging out at our "Perfectly fine for one night" airport hotel all day :rolleyes:. There is a movie theater within walking distance. NOT the day I've been looking forward to, but we will make the best of it. I looked at changing our plans - maybe renting a car and going to the Space Center, but this vacation is already costing us a lot of money and I don't want to spend extra $$$.

I'm wondering how they will handle dinner and muster drill, though. I doubt we will be settled by our 6:00 dining time, and I'm NOT missing that! :D

I'm also very annoyed. We'll be arriving the night before and staying at a MCO hotel. We will have to kill time all day. This is our 2nd cruise, and the 2nd time boarding has been delayed. On our first cruise it was chaos at the cruise terminal with everyone there.

I too was looking forward to a tasty lunch and enjoying our dinner. Now, it's going to be hurry up and wait. We also have 6:00 dining.

On the bright side, our rooms will be ready when we board - HA! :D

Thanks so much for the review - I JUST booked a cruise on her for Summer 2017 (SO far away!) but we are excited nonetheless.

Did you try the Indian restaurant? We loved it on the Breeze - wondering if you enjoyed it (if you're into that) on the Magic.

My boys (twins) will be 13 at the time of the cruise - Can you share your kids' experiences in Circle C? Staff, activities, etc..

Good Luck!

 

Just because you dock at 8:00, what if customs doesn't clear the ship right away.

 

Say you don't get off ,clear port customs, until 9:15. Maybe another 10-15 minutes to get transportation to MCO.

 

Now you are talking 10:30 arrival. Then clear security for a 11:30 flight.

 

Hope you manage your stress well.

I haven't booked anything - I'm asking what time you would suggest would be the earliest. That's why I'm asking .

What would be the earliest you'd be comfortable with a flight out of MCO?

The ship is scheduled to arrive at Port Canaveral at 8:00 AM. I'm thinking 11:30 - thoughts?

Thanks so much for your responses - I will do a bit of investigating as suggested above, and will do my best. I'm limited to rooms that can accommodate 4 guests, but I can probably figure it out.

I *know* it seems weird, but I truly do have a preference :D

I'm selecting our stateroom on the Carnival Magic, and could use some help in choosing the right one.

On my first-ever cruise (Carnival Breeze), I loved my bed and the way I was oriented when I was sleeping - it was just like my bed at home, and I slept SO, SO well.

I prefer sleeping with my head pointing forward, and my toes pointing aft. That, and when I'm laying down, the balcony window to my left. So, when you walk into the room, the sofa and headboard is on the left.

Does this make sense?

How can I make sure this is the orientation during my room selection? The room I'm looking at right now is 7387

Count us as another family that is disappointed with the changes to the refub plan.

We booked as well with the added kid-friendly features in mind. I find it annoying that RCL backpedaled like that.

I'm sure we'll have a great time - I just feel like a fool for getting them excited about the Majesty - then having to explain that the new things planned have been cancelled.

...

DH's work put us up in a apartment-type hotel for 6 weeks when my kids were 7. They occasionally wet the bed at this stage. I asked housekeeping for a mattress pad for their bed because I felt so bad and they seriously did not care at all. I really would not worry about it at all. Bring an overnight disposable if you think your child will be comfortable wearing it - but if they put up a fuss, just leave a note for your steward to change the sheets because they are soiled.

We went on our first-ever cruise last year - Carnival Breeze, and my boys (twins, 11 at the time) were in tears when we disembarked. We had the best time ever. Ropes course, mini-putt, basketball, waterslides, PG comedy shows, Hasbro Game Show, Seuss Breakfast. The food in the MDR was amazing. I was super skeptical before we tried cruising, but we all loved it. Our balcony room was beautiful. I slept like a log every night.

They didn't love the kids club - but I think it's because they were at the older age range, and they said that everyone there was younger than them. They also said there were a lot of video games in the kids club - which is fine - but they weren't keen to play video games on their vacation - they wanted mini putt! :)

I'd look at the Carnival Breeze or Vista. The newer NCL and RC ships look amazing as well.

My twin boys will be 12 when we cruise on the Majesty this summer. I don't really have a sense of what kind of programming is available for them aboard the Majesty.

Can you tell me about the space provided for them, and what kind of activities they do? Any tips that would make them enjoy it even more?

This will be our first RC cruise, and second cruise ever. We sailed on the Carnival Breeze last year, and although we had a blast, my boys didn't love the kids area (probably because at 11 Years Old, they were the oldest kids there)

We weren't planning any excursions in Ochos Rios, nut now DH has been reading about Miss T's Restaurant in Ochos Rios and would like to check it out. According to Google Maps, it's a 1.2 K, 17-minute walk.

There would be me and DH and our two kids (11-year old twins). Would you say it's a short, safe walk? Would we be better off taking a taxi?

This is our first cruise.

Thanks so much all of you for your responses -- I will consider all of them! With 2 growing, hungry boys having breakfast included makes the room rate a better value.

I am also planning on using SAS to get to POM, so I will be sure to confirm that they go to the hotel too.

I've been reading hotel reviews and my head is just spinning. Please help me with a short list of hotels to choose from, so I can keep my eye on prices. We are a family of 4 (with twin DS 11) sailing on Apr 19 out of MIA. I am looking for a pre-cruise hotel in FLL close to the airport. Our flight will be coming in the evening. I would like to spend <$200.

Our needs/preferences (in order of importance)

1. Safe, clean hotel close to FLL

2. Breakfast included

3. Shuttle from FLL (although I don't mind paying for a taxi either if it's super close)

4. Within walking distance to a store where Mama can get a bottle of wine! :)

5. Pool not that important as we realistically won't have time to enjoy it

OP here - thanks so much for all your super helpful replies!

I think we're going to go with MIA. There is a flight at 2:00 that will work (and is a bit less expensive). I'd much rather wait an extra hour at MIA than be stressed about making it on time.

I have two more questions.

1. If we take the later (2:00) flight out of MIA, we aren't really in a big rush anymore. What time do we need to be off the ship? Do they serve breakfast on debarkation day?

2. I'm looking at our flights to MIA now. Not forgetting I'm a worrier :D DH is trying to talk me into arriving at MIA in the morning (at 10:00 am) instead of the night before. What do most people do? I'd rather save a few dollars and not fly in the night before - do you think a 6-hour cushion is enough in case something (delays, etc..) happen? Our ship leaves at 4:00 pm. - the flight leaves YYZ at 6:30 am and arrives at 10:00 am. This is April, so no real weather worries either.

Thanks so much again - I really appreciate all of your input

Thanks - this helps a lot.

It's tough for me as I want to be conservative (I'm a worrier by nature...) but I don't want to spend too much time waiting around for our flight either.

A quick Google search says that the taxi fare is about $25 from POM to MIA, and it takes about 20 minutes. Is this still accurate? There would be 4 of us (2 adults, 2 children) in the cab.

We are on our first-ever cruise in April 2015 and am struggling with flight times that are convenient. Our ship (Carnival Breeze) is scheduled to debark at 8:00 am on a Saturday.

We don't have our flights yet, and have not decided which airport to fly to/from (although it will probably be FLL)

I am wondering the following:

1. What does debarkation look like? If it's at 8:00 am, what time would we realistically be off the ship?

2. What flight times should I be looking at for both FLL and MIA. What times would be convenient, yet conservative. There is a flight I'm looking at that departs at 11:25 from FLL - is this risky?

3. What is the smartest way to get back to the airport (FLL and MIA) from POM.

We still have a pretty long drive ahead of us once we land, so I'd like to make this a smart, efficient travel day ;)