fellesferie

What the OP described was my experience just booking a 2021 cruise on the Constellation. My family of 4 is traveling with my parents, and we couldn't get cabins next to each other because of this practice. It's more of a mild annoyance than anything else. In past cruises, we've always been able to get adjacent cabins. It's been nice to be able to remove the class, play cards on the deck, send the kids (teen/tween) over to visit, etc. 

My folks introduced us to Celebrity, and all our cruises have been multi-generational. My parents are 60s/70s, my husband and I are late 30s, and our kids were 5 and 11 on their first Celebrity cruise. 

The kids have always enjoyed Celebrity. They LOVE to cruise. But my oldest (15 now) has friends who have cruised on Royal Caribbean, and he thinks they have a better time and the ships are more oriented towards fun stuff for them. Mine have always managed to find a friend or two on the ship.

My husband and I aren't the type for bars/clubs/nightlife, so the entertainment and atmosphere on Celebrity is okay. We go to some shows and events, go to the martini bar for a drink, or talk a walk around the ship. We're fine playing a board game or watching Netflix back in the cabin if there is nothing interesting on the schedule. Sometimes it feels a little boring, but we travel for the ports more for the cruise anyway. That's just us, though. 

I had the same reaction since I've been researching. We haven't cruised with Celebrity since 2018 but it seems like there have been some changes. I also questioned sodas and coffee on the beverage packages and there was some language on the website about uncharges on certain perks (though I didn't notice any when doing mock bookings). Also, the 3rd/4th passengers no longer receive a non-alcoholic beverage package when 1st/2nd passengers book with a beverage package perk. 

We were recently able to change from select to traditional (early seating) for our May cruise. Originally everything was wait listed but about a week before final payment our TA was able to make the switch.

My 10 and 5 year old kids loved Celebrity, and they're beyond excited to sail again in May. They don't care about where we're going, only that they get to be on another Celebrity ship.

Respectfully, our kids' (10 and 5 at the time of our last Celebrity cruise) experience with Celebrity has been phenomenal. They loved the Fun Factory, and there were always multiple people looking after the kids any time we dropped off, picked up, or visited. Anyone I saw with the kids was friendly and engaged.

When we told the kids we had booked another cruise for this summer, all they cared about was returning to Celebrity and getting to play at the Fun Factory again. They have literally not even inquired about our ports of call.

In addition to Fun Factory staff, every single person we encountered on the Silhouette was wonderful to my kids. Many people greeted them by name seeing them around the ship. A QSine server brought them some chocolate covered strawberries one morning at breakfast. Some of their strongest and happiest memories of our 2015 cruise revolve around our sommelier and main dining room server.

I can completely respect that other people have different experiences. But I felt compelled to share our positive one.

Hi everyone!

What are your thoughts on the C2 cabins on Deck 12 (aft)? I saw a few reviews on the s-class spreadsheet that mention some noise from the Oceanview Cafe on 14. Does anyone have experience with either the concierge class or aqua class rooms there? Any opinions either way?

Thanks!

We just got off the Silhouette last month, and my two kids (ages 10 and 5) absolutely loved Celebrity. They loved the food, and had a great time at the Fun Factory. The ship was their favorite part of our trip.

So we just booked the March 25th 10-day Equinox cruise. We looked at RC (maybe the same cruise you referenced) and decided to just stick with Celebrity because we already know the kids love it and the lower cost per day.

Hi there! Many cities have travel medicine clinics, and the practitioners that run them will be happy to look at your immunization records and advise you.

I've been advised that if you have had the routine vaccines (including Hep A & B) and have recently had a tetanus booster, you're fine. You don't need anything special for the Baltic ports.

Does anyone know if there is a discount code for the Stockholm card valid for 2015? Every little bit helps!

I have been looking with no success yet. Please post if you find one, and I will do the same! :)

Having traveled both with kids and without, I don't understand the argument that it is more convenient to travel with them. It's more convenient for me to drag them somewhere? I have found the opposite to be true.

We are taking the kids on a Baltic cruise this summer. We would probably have a more relaxing time without them. But it's our job to parent them, teach them, and grow them into good adults... and to make sure that if they inconvenience anyone, it is only us.

I emailed Sixt last week about car rental on June 5. They replied yesterday saying all their cars are booked for that day.

Researching other options. :)

OP,

 

Most of the major lines not catering to adults only have kid's clubs and heated pools so you don't have to do Disney in the Baltics or the North Sea. In our experience, there might not be as many children as in other routes, but there will be a good number of kids on board. As to what to do ashore, I don't know which ports you are considering, but you can find places to spend a couple of hours here and there for kids to have some fun while you sit down with a coffee or beer to take a break and soak it in. The NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam is very close to the port. There is a water park in Tallin adjacent to the old town. There are noontime kayak trips in Alesund and a wonderful public library with a puppet theater and books in lots of languages. Plenty of horse riding opportunities in Iceland. Some St Peterburg private tour companies offer tours geared for kids which might be too much for a whole day but you can pick one of the activities to do for a couple of hours. The Olympic Stadium in Helsinki is close to downtown and you can climb the tower to see the whole city. There is a wonderful park in Stockholm of which the Vasa Museum is only a part of it. And there's my parents' method for getting everyone to behave during an intense church and museums full of old things day: a stop at a department store or stationery store for "only in Europe" school supplies. Lots of cool pens and funny erasers to show other kids on the ship and back home.

These are some wonderful suggestions. Thank you!

We will be taking our kids to several of these ports this summer. We're sailing with Celebrity.

We have been to Italy, though not on a cruise. We spent 5 days in Rome, and would love to go back and spend a month or more. 3 days in Tuscany, and I need at least several more weeks there, too. The best meals of my life were on that trip! :)

I think a cruise would be a great way to see a little bit and decide whether you might want to come back for more. Accept straight away that you will not see everything or even most things.

My only advice is that I think it would be better to really try and immerse yourselves in 1-2 things rather than get a superficial glance at 5-7 things.

Thank you for your replies!

DH and I along with our kids (DS 10 & DD 5) will be on a 12-night Scandinavian cruise in May. I'm still mulling over the formal nights and whether we will all go, just the adults, or none of us. The kids very much want to participate, so I feel the need to at least consider it.

So, my questions-

1) How cool is the MDR? Most of my daughter's fancier dresses are sleeveless. Will I need to bring a nice wrap or sweater for her?

2) My son doesn't have a suit, but he has black pants, black shoes, a button down shirt and tie. Should he have a jacket?

3) Is there any sense of an unspoken no kids at formal nights rule? My kids will be well behaved (or else!), but I do understand that we all occasionally like some kid free time.

Glad this thread is taking a more positive spin!!!

 

My kids do a smashbook. You can buy them at Michaels.

 

 

 

My son likes to write out his thoughts on journal pages. My daughter prefers to type them on her ipod. The keep various mementos of the trip and take photographs with their ipods. When they get back, they clip from the daily newseltters, print their photos and use other mementos to create their smash book. They always bring their smashbook, so they can plan out the pages. Sometimes, they will ask the waiters to sign it like an autograph book too.

 

Basically, it's a mini scrapbook, done on the fly.

That sounds fun! I think I'd like to combine your kids' ideas of asking waiters for autographs with villauk's idea of asking the waiters a few short questions.

We just got back from a week at Disney World, and we had some fantastic conversations with cast members. My kids really enjoyed that. And since my kids tend to be more charming with strangers than they do with me, I really enjoyed it, too. ;)

I pre-prepared a journal for our kids (and our friends' DS) to complete when we sailed the Baltics on Constellation a few years ago. Throughout the book, for each port and sea day, there were typed questions, space for photos etc. and they would complete the relevant pages whilst waiting for their dinner in the MDR each evening (kept them more than occupied). The front cover had a picture of the ship and the first couple of pages were probing questions about the ship (e.g. number of elevators), waiter (e.g. which nationality), assistant waiter (e.g. how many ships had they previously been on) etc.

 

I had posed questions which I knew they would be able to answer after a day exploring a certain port (prior to the cruise, as I was sourcing information for us as adults, places to visit and why etc, I used this knowledge to set questions for them e.g. Where in Copenhagen are gardens that you will you enjoy?). However, I also included personal questions such as: what had been their favourite ride of the day or which mocktail had been the best on this cruise? This then made it individual to them ;).

 

After the cruise they were able to print out their photographs and add them to the relevant pages.

 

As well as being a fantastic educational tool to see what they had actually learnt about each port, it was a also wonderful memento to keep as a memory of our voyage to this particular area of the world. They didn't see it as a chore to complete, more of a challenge to see which of them was the first to answer all the questions correctly. It became a high talking point of each evening, with the staff joining in the conversations :).

 

Additionally, they were able to take the journal into school for 'show and tell' and let the other children see some of the things they had experienced ;).

Those are wonderful ideas!! I copied & pasted this to my husband so that we can work on something like this for our kids.

Every trip we take, they each get a trip binder. It's divided by day, and there are worksheets, games, questions, and words of the day. The worksheets are age appropriate and take less than 10 minutes to complete. The words of the day are something related to what they'll see ("cow" or "windmill"). They get to exchange worksheets for nominal amounts of spending money.

But I would have never thought to turn each binder into a journal or scrapbook. I love this idea!

We are taking our kids (10 & 5) on the Baltic cruise next May. It's a port intensive itinerary, but I am not concerned about their behavior or enjoyment in the least. They'll have a wonderful time.

We have already had a few discussions about what they should expect and what we will expect from them!

We're booked for the Scandinavia & Russia cruise with our two kiddos (will be 10 & 5). We went back and forth a bit about whether it would be appropriate for our kids, but since it is port-heavy, I think it will be fine.

We're planning to take the 6 months prior to the cruise to learn about the different countries as a family--just learn a few words, make a dish from the area, talk about the sights, etc.