Onessa

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Do you remember what time you were picked up at the hotel to be taken to the pier and at what time did you reach the ship as I too have booked a pre cruise hotel at the Crowne Plaza. Thanks

We were booked on the first bus which left around 10:45 - can't remember how long the trip was, but we got all of our last-minute paperwork done at the hotel and were able to walk right up to the check-in desk and were on the ship in minutes.

 

Another bonus was that they picked up our luggage from our room at about 6:00am and placed it on our bus. We just placed the suitcases just inside the door and they (very quietly) picked them up and we were happily reunited on-board never needing to touch them again.

 

Onessa - We did purchase the transfers separately and as Cathycruises stated, we have experienced in the past that the hotels through the cruise lines are grossly overpriced. Additionally, the Crowne is in a remote location from the center of the city. We made our own hotel reservations with breakfast included in the center of Rome during July for $175 a night. When we arrived at the Crowne we signed up for the next bus and I think we waited 20 minutes or so and off we went.

As I indicated we got a really good deal on our stay through the cruise line -- it may not be typical, but it worked for us -- $205US per night triple occupancy with breakfast and all transfers. Transfer from airport to hotel (they actually pulled our bag off of the carousel at the airport, loaded it to van, got us to the hotel. Hotel was wonderfully quiet and had a complementary shuttle into the center of historic Rome proper (drop off/pick up VERY convenient) scheduled multiple times per day. They handled our bags from the hotel room onto the bus for transfer to pier. Our hotel/transfer package also included from ship to airport on the back end of the trip.

 

Do they ALWAYS offer great deals, no. But I would not discount them out of hand.

We've taken multiple European cruises (med and baltic). And how we handle tours are on a port-by-port basis. I've had tour guides who have been great and others who have been worse than useless (bad information). Even on ship's tours the quality of the guide can vary greatly.

 

Large Cities close to port - we sometimes do local transportation (taxi, trains) and then decide on an attraction-basis whether we hire a local guide on-site. At the Acropolis in Athens, our tour was large and the guide was marginal, so we really got more info when we revisited a few years later by buying a souvenier book that had the transpancy sheets that allow you to see the "before" and "now" pictures and has a few paragraphs with basic background info. Done similar at Hurculeum and Pompeii over the years, adding an audio tour I downloaded to our MP3 type players.

 

In some places we have had successful days with organized tours and/or tour guides because they have gotten us into places more quickly. On other days we have felt like cattle listening to Ben Stein's character on Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

 

Research your ports on the Ports of Call site here to get some ideas (you seel patterns pretty quickly most folks use guided tours in St Petersburg, very few in Tallin). If you are thinking about a guided tour, evaluate the ship's tours and get recommendations and references when considering private tours.

We've done two cruises that have each started and ended in Venice. The port from which we sailed was very near Piazza Roma (we once walked from the ship to Piazza Roma post cruise when we did not want to wait for the bus).

 

In both of our cruise trips out of Venice, we flew into Venice and took local express bus to Piazza Roma and then walked to our hotel (fortunately only two bridges away :)). We stayed in Venice 2 to 3 full days pre-cruise. Then walked back to Piazza Roma and caught the ship's shuttle to the port. In on case we flew out (just to Amsterdam) the day we returned. On our second Venice cruise we stayed on the mainland after and took some day trips.

 

Particularly if you have been to Venice before, the logisitcs of a Venice cruise is really not all that difficult.

We've sailed Solstice a number of times, but Reflection only once. I think Reflection is a step (or at least a half of a step) backward. We have generally travelled European itineraries on X -- so VERY port intensive. I really enjoyed the Hot Glass shows on Solstice nice solid entertainment, outdoors, really perfect ("backs" on the benches would make it perfect :)). You can walk away for a few minutes to watch the ship sail through the Straights of Messina or something similar and go back to the show and not really "miss" anything.

 

The "Lawn Club" just doesn't do it for me. While having 8-10 Hot Glass Shows is unrealistic -- putting up yet another "for a fee" dining area and some bare grass really is not a whole lot of interesting. Eat there once, X makes a few bucks, and I ignore it the rest of the cruise.

 

Celebrity has marvolous itineraries. They have a lovely on-board experience. But if given a choice, choose one with a Hot Glass Show. And if Celebrity is listening, find something else to do with that area on your ships without HGS.

At 4 and 8YO what did the OP's kids DO on their RCCI cruises? If they liked the non-adventure ocean on-board activities (flow riders, ice skating, etc.) they may not like Celebrity as much as their RCCI cruises. If they like the kids club and spend a lot of time on-shore, they will likely be happy (or even happier) on X.

 

When my DD was younger she LOVED the kids clubs, but would get turned off if there were too many other kids on board. Thus she really enjoyed our "off season" Celebrity cruises, there were kids in the program but a relatively smallish number of kids.

 

With slightly older kids (11-14ish and above) X ships may not have some of the whiz-bang attractions that the RCCI megaships have. But not all teens are really looking for that stuff either!

 

(PS in my family's case, convincing ME to get onto a ship with fewer amenties is usually the problem. I am not the sitting-in-a-lounge-chair kind of person. But I find much to do on a X cruise!)

You may purchase the transfers separately or you may purchase them as part of a cruiseline sponsored hotel package. Whether they make more or less sense to your personal situation you will need to do the calculations.

 

We snagged a really good deal through X at the Crown Plaza pre-trip and it included the transfers (Crown Plaza to ship pre-cruise, Ship to airport post-cruise). The process was effortless for us and was very cost effective (there were three of us).

 

As a participant who purchased the xfers as part of the hotel package through the cruiseline, we got "preferencial" treatment and were able to book onto a very early bus for the transfer (per our preference). I know some of the transfer-only folks had no option and were forced to wait for a later bus. As others have noted the Crown Plaza is not really "convenient" to the sights in Rome, so those pax who were assigned to later busses had little choice but to sit and wait at the hotel.

. . . . I appreciate the OP's concern for pulling a child out of school because there is much more accountability for student achievement. Just save up a little more money and cruise during the 180+ days children are not mandated to be in school. . . .

. . . Predictable! There are several consecutive weeks in the summer for most schools, a break in Spring, & a break over the winter holidays. Some districts also get a break in late Fall or Winter. My point is...There are plenty of opportunities for families and educators to take cruises of various lengths.

Must be nice living in your world - but in my world between my job and my husband's job, our DD's school schedule, and other family committments we have; it is not the money but the time.

 

Even without my schedule having little or no "give" December through April, and my DH's issues throughout the summer (May through September) -- DD has manditory sessions during summer break for many of her classes, has band camp for a full week. These are part of the graded portion of her regular classes. While her school schedule generally has one "four day" weekend sometime in October and an extended Thanksgiving holiday, and we usually try to work around those - when it takes a day to a day-and-a-half to get to the port, missing some school is still going to happen. None of the other holidays correspond to times when DH and I can both get off and few of them are 8-12 consecutive days anyway!

 

My MIL is 93YO, living alone, and requires some assistance -- DH and his brothers share a schedule to check in and help her out. I have POA for my 89YO Aunt and need to make certain that there are folks able to support her when I am out of touch.

 

DD got a 32 on her first try on the ACT, and scores in the top 98 or 99% in all of the manditory "no child left behind" tests. She has a 4.205 GPA and has been accepted to several major universities for 2014-15 school year (as a full sophomore) so her school system seems to have been able to deal with the added stress of her having a few days out of school over her lifetime. She has not "pulled down" the school's accountability in any way, shape, manner, or form.

 

So before you imply that I must be "cheap" because I want to pull my kid from school for a few days -- realize that many, many, many of us live complicated lives that do not fit into all nice and tidy into your school system's buracratic schedule. As a school administrator you really should understand that your students come from diverse backgrounds. While my family has some pretty wild personal circumstances; we are not alone in having to juggle many, many responsiblities. Most of us are just doing the best we can.

We have always done the same with our son and he has never abused it either. . . Let them show they can be responsible. Check charges daily to make sure they aren't abusing it but also to make sure there aren't any errors on any of your charges. If they show they are abusing it, shut them down.

 

Mine still have no charging . . . So nope - she has never needed anything because if she wants it - she asks me.

Yup, it all depends upon the kid. My DD (now 18YO) has always been pretty responsible. Never put any restrictions on her seapass cards.

 

I got her a credit card when she was 13YO (and going off on a class trip for three days). When she was in 8th grade, one of her teachers was doing a unit on financial management and was polling the class on different things -- as a "throw in" question, he asked if anyone had a credit card; DD raised her hand -- he gave a long low whistle and said "boy they must really trust you" long pause before he added ". . . and if I were them, I would too!" :)

 

Part of it is your kid, part of it is how you've prepared him/her.

Mia has it right - go to the MDR upon check in and check your table assignment and make certain it is in a stroller friendly spot. If you are sharing a table with other pax, be certain to be there early on the first evening so that others are not there and already settled into spots leaving you a main aisleway -- (which you would then have toblock with the stroller! :) )

 

Happy cruising!

Have to agree with the peace of mind - in fact that is one of the selling points of ship's excursions. But it wasn't always that way!

I sailed on the Century maiden voyage back in 1995 before Celebrity had you key card off and on the ship - you could come and go at will while in port. We were in San Juan at Christmas and DH & I were on the top deck watching passengers running to make the ship. We left on time and in the middle of the night DH woke me up saying we arrived at our next port and were tendered. We didn't have any tenders on this cruise so I told him he was dreaming and go back to sleep. The next morning he looked out the window and told me that wasn't what he saw in the middle of the night and we were docked. After talking to several staff we found out what happened. Evidently one of the ship sponsored tour buses got caught in holiday traffic and missed the ship. The ship didn't know it as there wasn't a Celebrity staff on the bus and nobody knew that a whole busload of passengers didn't make it back to the ship as they didn't track goings and comings. So the captain had to turn around and head back to San Juan. He couldn't dock as Celebrity would have to pay another docking fee, so he tendered and they had to bring those stranded passengers out to the ship on the pilot boat. After they got those passengers, we still made it to our next port early.

Wow, that is a great story!

On the roll calls, everyone is running around trying to book tours and make plans.

 

Are there others that feel that they don't want to stress planning an excursion, you enjoy staying on an empty ship and a 90 min+ bus or van ride

to a tourist spot sounds like torture?

 

Like to hear your comments.

 

 

PS_ is ther a way to edit thread title? Should say Not getting off ship

some coworkers and I were just talking about this yesterday. I view the cruiseship primarily as a floating hotel and cruise because I do not have to "waste" time getting from point a to point b. A coworker cruises for the ship and the ship's features. Thus all of his cruises are on mega ships in the carribean (price and ship are his factors). My cruises have been AK, Canadian Maritime, Panama Canal, Med, Baltic, HI (price and itinerary are my factors)

 

I rather prefer the smaller ships (easier on/off in ports, fewer fellow pax in port). I am generally one of the first ones off and get back 1/2 hour before last call. I don't stay up late because I want to be up early to catch sail in. I'm happiest if I've walked 10 miles across Stockholm, or Athens, or some other port or hiked around Juneau and have spent all 11.5 of the 12 hours we've been docked off the ship.

 

Thats me (and fortunately my DH and DD are right there with me on this!)

. . .The Century the cruise was from Honolulu to Sydney. Half of the passengers were Australian, and the head chef was also Australian. During an elite galley tour he indicated that while they were not going to attempt a "traditional" American Thanksgiving meal . . . I spoke with one Aussie woman who was very disappointed because she wanted to at least see, if not consume, a traditional holiday meal from a different country. . . .

We have had a special pretty "traditional" American TGiving meal on all of our X and RCCI TGiving cruises. Carved turkey, some sort of crandberry, mashed potatoes, and something with sweet potatoes generally (sometimes part of the soup or incorporated in an appetizer). Appetizers have been a bit of a reach sometimes as have some of the dessert coures.

 

We have shared our Tgiving table with mainly non-US folks (Brits, S.Africans, Phillipenos (sp?), and even a couple from Central America). It makes for an interesting conversation as my DD, DH and I explain the US traditions (it doesn't hurt that we are from an NFL city as well) and if some of the folks haven't been "brave" enough to order the special Tgiving meal, we've had the waiter bring an extra plate of the entree for them to sample certain things.

 

Not a huge turkey fan myself, but I've never been disappointed by the quality of the meal I have received.

 

That's what I've been told that they have the processed turkey roll in the mdr. We all need to remember that the kitchen staff on these ships are mostly from countries other than the US and may not necessarily know exactly what to serve at an american thanksgiving dinner.

The menus are mostly planned at corporate and may be "tweeked" to accomodate availability of some ingredients. Some menus are also tweeked based upon itinerary.

 

We've had specially printed formal paper menus for the meal those evenings.

I've read that parents have moved the couch so that the open end is against the wall and had the bed made up that way. Hope this helps

 

yes we have done this many times.

 

Your room steward generally will help and will provide bedding and make up the "bed" like this.

 

If your sofa is a sleeper sofa, it will fold out to a double and you can use the seat cushions and request extra pillows if you choose to try to sofa as a bed. My DD was never a restless sleeper, so a standard double was fine for her (she was too long for the pack-and-plays by age 2 :))

They always offer a Florence on your own tour which is bus transportation. They used to have a shopping stop on the way but, thankfully, have eliminated that a few years ago. . . .

Verify before booking any of the on-board excursions that they are not going to waste your time at some stupid shopping stop. We had one cruise where we wasted an hour in a leather shop even AFTER asking about it. On our last Florence "on our own" the meeting point was a leather outlet, but then you could at least opt-out.

 

We have visited Florence on our own many times. It is easier to take a cab to the train station and take the train to Florence. . . . quote]We've visited Italy often enough to know that with train strikes, changing schedules, and the occassional breakdown that going with an "on you own" excursion does give some extra sense of security.

 

On one Italy cruise, we were without our tablemates one evening. Their "express" train from Rome made an unscheduled stop and they missed the ship. But on our Baltic cruise this summer, our cabin was directly above the ship entrance and we sat on our balconey while the departure was pushed back over 45minutes because a ship sponsored tour bus was caught up in a traffic jam.

 

Just some added piece of mind when the distance is as long as it is in Rome or Florence. We do local transportation most ports, but only when the trip back to the ship can be made by foot or easy taxi service.

We have traditionally cruised over American TGiving - X(2), RCCI(3), NCL(1).

 

RCCI and X both had moved formal night to Thursday, and had special menus. The turkey was mentioned on menu as "carved". It was not processed. Some of the side dishes were not like mom used to make (but since my mom was a terrible cook, in my case that was a good thing! :)) but was overall a good representation of a traditional meal. On X there was not pumpkin pie (some pumpkin mouse thing at least once).

 

In all of our RCCI and X cruises we were cruising European itineraries - and even though American TGiving is not a holiday there, the line did right by the holiday.

We always packed a pair of "special" PJs that we saved for the pajama party night. Made it all the more special!

 

If you search a bit on this thread, you may find some folks who posted copies of the kid's daily itineraries on-line. While they vary from ship-to-ship and itinerary-to-itinerary, you can still get a pretty good idea as to what to expect from reviewing a few!

Well- a follow up from me- since they were not together they both refused the kids clubs:(

They will be a full year older when we cruise next Easter so I am more comfortable letting them have some freedom. Unfortunately the 12 yr. old (now still 11) still will not be able to hang with the teens :(

NOTHING destroys a teen club faster or more completely than allowing a "little kid" to move up.

 

It sounds odd to us grown-ups but it is a really big thing to the kids. DD had just turned 12YO on one of our cruises a few years back -- she was 12YO but still in sixth grade (most of the other 12YO were in 7th). While the kids were all really nice, she said that she wasn't telling anyone that she was in 6th grade because one of the boys had introduced himself as a 6th grader and some of the other kids had given him a hard time about it. So she just introduced herself as 12YO.

 

The following year on an X cruise, the conselors allowed two "very mature" 11YOs (whose parents were superhigh status cruisers in a pair of very expensive suites) "age up" into the teen club -- as a result the two "very mature" 11YO had the teen club all to themselves as the 12-14YOs avoided it like a plague :).

 

While some kids will think of themselves as "too sophisticated" for their age groups or families or groups who think that it is vital that their kids stay together, the cruise lines are concerned with the good of the many. So even when it inconveniences one family or group, the affect that little kids in big kid's groups; or big kids in little kid's groups have on the group dynamics makes it understandable that lines are a bit leery about allowing deviations.

We are in Wisconsin. For now there is not a state-wide policy on taking your kids out of school, each district has its own policy.

 

When our DD was in elementary school, at her school we just had to talk to her teacher. In Middle school, she had a form that she needed to bring to each teacher to sign off on. They recorded the work that she would be required to do. Form had to be completed two weeks prior to vacation. Similar form in high school. No big deal.

 

Have to avoid test periods. That's about it.

Our school system's calendar is published through the 2015-16 school year. Doesn't mean things won't change, but they rarely do.

 

We tend to cruise American Thanksgiving week - DD's school always has 1/2 day on Tues, then Wed, Thur, and Friday off. Tack on a few days before and/or after and we are set.

 

Am Tgiving coincides with the state's "gun" deer hunting season, so about 30-35 percent of the kids will be off at least one of those days as well. State and local regulations allow for excused time off.

My oldest has traveled quite a bit. At 6.5 years old we let him leave dinner and go to the kids club, unescorted. I have considered that I should print shirts that say. "if my behavior is bothering you please leave a note on cabin door "XXX" Then make sure he understands, there better never be note!!!

While DD has always been a pretty good kid, she does know that she has inherited her very distinctive hair from me (ultra fine, curly, thick and dark red). She knows darn well that she would be quickly "ratted out" if she were misbehaving!

:eek: OMG. There...there...there! These kind of mistakes drive me NUTS...even more than cats with sciatica! Since no one else is allowed to point out my mistake, I thought I'd fall on the sword.

This made my day after wading through an overly long email thread that included three people (all native English speakers) who could not write a grammatically correct sentence if their life depended upon it! -- or should that have been ". . . emale thread which include 3 peeps (all whom speak English there hole lifes) . . ." There is a difference between those of us who are horrified to discover a typo or other "oops" and those who think that you can use any version of the word "to" whereever you want. If I get one more message today that misuses the word "myself" I may lose it (as in "please respond to Joe and myself. . . ") Thanks for taking one for the team BB! I really enjoyed your original post (wrong word and all)!

 

I love serious but non-confrontational threads and I used to have a Vic 20 and an Atari 400 once I got over my PET when our PM had the same initials...

about five or six years ago we went to an exhibit at the Smithsonon (sp?). It had historical equipment and stuff from the early years of the PC. Since DH and I met when we were both selling CPM-based PCs in the early '80s, the exhibit was a walk down memory lane for us. DD (who was 10YO or so at the time) - thought it looked "a lot like our basement" -- and so it did :D.

I've generally found my roll calls to be very useful. I have found other pax traveling with kids my kid's age. I put together or joined tours. I've gotten some really good info from people who had already traveled to some of the ports (and have shared my experiences when I've already traveled to some of the ports)

 

While I do not mind the high-level, getting to know people, "chit chat" some people do take it too far. I like to know where people are from, with whom they are traveling, what level of experience they might have.

 

I tend to hold back a bit until I get a lay of the land. Once we had one member pipe in that they were travelling as a same sex couple and things got nasty with two other posters who were intolerant. Similarly I've gotten "anti kid" vibes a few times and have puposely omittted the age of my DD (but now she is turning 18YO so she must magically be "ok" :)). There is always that chance that you will get someone overly opinionated on your board -- gotta work on keeping those folks in check or they will stiffle the exchange.

Your school has a liberal excuse policy. None of the schools I taught at ever considered a "family trip" a valid excuse.

A quick review of the folks with whom I work (9 school systems in two different states) indicates that the policy that prevails in each of their children's school have a similar policy toward time off as this poster had quoted.

 

I know many teacher's in my DD's school system and they can point to specific families who seem to take their kids out too often, and/or have kids who they advise should not be taken out and/or are very demanding when they pull their kids out. But they stress that these families are the minority.

Either way in regards to the work missed, its not always as simple as missed assignments. I don't know you, I don't know your children. What I do know is this - most of the children I saw either did not complete the assignments or couldn't complete them because they didn't understand them

In my case my DD completed ALL of her assignments and generally found herself "ahead" of the class because one or more assignments that the teacher expected to get through got held up.

Either the parents didn't want to help or more likely weren't able to help

She has NEVER had an issue where she did not understand something or needed help that her DH or I could not provide. Her teachers always provided excellent instructions.

. . . I doubt there is much else I can say to you as you have made it quite clear that you consider yourself above me and all teachers in general. You feel it's okay to disrupt my work, my time so that you can have your time your way.

My schedule and my DH's schedule are difficult to plan around. Also during much of my DD's school years, we had one or more relative with particular needs that we needed to help. I am happy my DD's school administrators and her teachers were compassionate and understood the value of a family vacation and the challenges that planning one might all entail.

I am saddened for your children, for if you can show no respect, compassion towards other people's jobs and life, what does that really teach them!

I submit my DD as evidence that my evil influence has not marred her -- My DD is a HS senior who has a 4.55GPA, will enter a major university next fall as a second semester sophomore, participates in three sports, participates in a world-recognized marching band, and still has managed to rack up nearly 300 hours of volunteer time over the past four months tutoring special needs kids in math and reading, volunteering at a youth soccer camp and at the local museum. And among her friends, her accomplishments are not considered at all extrodinary.

I'm planning on taking my son out of school for a few days around Thanksgiving. He will miss a total of 4 days for our 8 day cruise. I don't find this an issue as he can make up the work and that is usually a slow time at school.

We've done six cruises with DD from when she was in second grade through her freshman year (one year "off") . Our school district ALWAYS has an early release the Friday before T.giving and then has Wed, Thurs and Fri off - that gives us 10 days with her only missing 2.5 days of school.

 

It corralates to the Deer Gun Hunting season and since Wisconsin has a law that lets 10YO hunt :eek:, a lot of kids are missing school to go on their family's hunt. So DD is not the only one missing. DD gets "make up" work and usually finds that she is ahead of the classes when she gets back because the classes have not been able to keep on schedule (holiday stuff going on, lots of kids out, etc.)

 

Good planning can minimize any impact to your kid's education.

For parents of teenage boys, know that there are girls that will do whatever is necessary to get to your son. Little Susie ain't as sweet as she used to be. I saw the pics posted on Fb after our last cruise ship We need to redefine predators. I am a paranoid mom of a teenage son.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Forums mobile app

Yup, generalizing one way or the other is always dangerous.

 

DD and her friends (male and female) are all good kids. One of the boys (then a Sr) was "stalked" by a girl outside their group-- and against the group's advice, the boy asked the stalker to prom. The group had their own little post-prom party at one of their houses and 15 minutes after they got there, their friend showed up, alone. Stalker girl insisted they go to a party where EVERYONE knew there would be drinking -- so they reached a compromise, he dropped stalker girl home and he came stag to the group's post prom.

 

Stalker girl went to the drinking party without him. Party was busted and she sat out the remainder of the soccer season (among other things).

 

There are lots of great kids out there (male and female) who have been taught how to make good decisions. One of the best ways of teaching your kids is to give them opportunities to make decisions (opportunities that are appropropriate to your kid's age and maturity level)

 

There are lots of kids (and adults) who don't have good decision making skills. One way of raising that kind of a kid is to set them loose without any preparation.

 

One thing to teach your kid, is to think on his/her own and not just do something because someone else is.

 

I'm thinking we are all "preaching to the choir" here though -- most of us who care enough about parenting and about kids to post on this board are the kind of people who care enough to work on these skills with our kids.