Vyhanek

You could have your dh pack a few things from the ship's buffet to bring along for his lunch.

My child has a life threatening allergy. We don't expect anyone to make anything special. We figure it out. Would you really trust any food in Mexico? Non English speaking people (who might not understand the food issue) and sanitary conditions that might be a little dirty? Pack your own food for him from the ship!

Here on the NCL board we say that the food is........."subjective".

That's what you say when the food is BAD! As in sucks! NCL's reputation for the worst food at sea is earned. Carnival has better food all the way around. (As does RCCL and Princess and Celebrity....IMHO) The food on NCL is definitely the weak point. As well as the general running of the dining rooms. You can sit at dinner for 2.5 hours and still have to get up and leave before dessert because you want to make it to a show. In 15 plus NCL cruises, it's happened to me more times than I can count and you see posts about it on these boards all the time! Sucky food and extremely long waits for tables and extremely long dinners are hardly subjective. But, that's what we say on this board. "Subjective".

I keep coming back to NCL for one reason and that's the suites and the suite perks. It makes cruising on NCL worth it!

Also, I think you'll find the entertainment better than Carnival. The Jean Ann Ryan type shows and the professional shows like Blue Man Group and Second City are really great! I also like the decor on the newer NCL ships. It's younger, hipper, more funky. Carnival still sports the neon lights and the mirrored walls and the fake statue type decor.

On NCL you'll find less kids. NCL attracts more elderly people but less kids which is just fine with me. All the cruise lines have things they do a little better than the others and things that need definite work. if you can live without good food you'll be fine on NCL.

$10 pp per day is not the average suite tip! Not anywhere close.

Perhaps if the guy is bringing you breakfast everyday, and you require a lot of his attention then perhaps I could see it. But if you are more of an average suite passenger or you have 4 people staying in the suite, there is no way $10 per person, per day for the one employee is anywhere near appropriate.

Plus, they are salaried employees!! Not like the waiters and room stewards who all share in the standard $12 per person per day and are completely dependent on their tips.

For our family of 4 we generally tip the concierge $50 for the entire week! We have him book a couple dinner reservations, maybe book a spa treatment and maybe one lunch in the courtyard.

A few years ago I was on an NCL sponsored excursion, on an air conditioned tour bus waiting for other passengers to board at Dunes River Falls. A guy walked onto our tour bus and went thru the aisles "asking" people for money. The bus driver snuck off and got a police officer right away and he was escorted off without much trouble. It was really scary. No one was robbed but it could have turned very badly.

Don't believe anyone that tells you they feel safe. All you have to do is look around. You will see people eying your bags, once you get back on the ship after your day in port you will hear other similar stories I bet. On the same day as my experience ^^, I met a girl who had her Oakley sunglasses stolen. They were ripped right off her neck....they were attached with a cord. Be on guard. Don't believe anyone that tells you it's perfectly safe. It doesn't compare to May-bury or even a scary part of Detroit. It's much worse. My advice, take an organized tour....not Dunes river! and stay away from the port area as much as possible.

OP, I think you will find that the concierge will work with you. I only cruise in suites on NCL....It's the only reason I choose NCL because I think the food sucks....the suites are awesome but NCL food sucks!

So, I've been in your situation before, we have one suite for me and dh and then one inside cabin for our minor children. This is not all that uncommon. And, some of the pop are incorrect when they say you get suite perks only if you pay for it. They are a bit flexible when the issue comes to minor children. The concierge will help you were they can. Early boarding...no problem AT ALL! Priority disembarkation....No problem at all! Priority theater seating...no problem. Allowing the kids into the courtyard....no problem. Making dinner reservations for you....no problem. The only place it might be a problem is dining in Cagneys for breakfast/lunch because the staff in Cagney's isn't associated with the Concierge and they carefully check the boarding cards of everyone eligible guest. But even then, if it is your family....i.e. your minor children, they will still try to work with you if they can.

A family with minor children is viewed differently than another adult couple who are traveling together.

Your gig will be up long before you get to your stateroom.

First of all, your luggage tags will say VIP!!

Then when you get to the port, there will be attendants in the Latitudes Line that will see you have a suite number stateroom and will try to direct you to the suite check in. It won't happen once.

I think it's pretty well understood that kids in Chops is discouraged, not forbidden.

I've taken my kids after about the age of 10 or so in to Chops. Each time we are charged full price $30. per kid. Then, they aren't going to run all over the ship for special kids menu's and special things from the dining room. Treat Chops like it's own restaurant.

They will attempt to make accommodations with things they have on their menu and ingredients they have in Chops but they don't run all over the ship for a kid to get chicken nuggets and then have the parent think they aren't going to pay the $30 cover charge......because it's just chicken nuggets or something.

I like the way Chops works. My well behaved kids have no problem in there and I like that it keeps out a lot of kids. Charging each kid $30 and no kids menu is a great way to discourage it.

Actually NCL hasn't accepted 2 year olds for that long. I know when my girls were 2 (this is like 8 -10 years ago) NCL accepted kids only at age 3 and above. So they tried with the 2 year olds and clearly for some reason it didn't work.

As far as closing during the day, NCL has always done that.

if you are looking for better Kids Club policies with more CUSTOMER flexibility then you need to try another line. Just from my experience. Here are examples:

* On PORT days, NCL does not offer regular Kids Club programing during the day. You can pay for "babysitting" but the regular kids club with planned and structured activities does not run. For some reason, NCL doesn't think this is important. However, you go to Carnival, RCCL, Princess - they run Kids Club on port days just as any other day. Regular structured activities and certainly there is no expectation for parents to pay more $$ for babysitting for care during this time!!

* NCL absolutely will not be flexible with you trying to get your child into a different age group. Say your 11 year old is turning 12 in 3 weeks and wants to be in the older group. Say her cousins are in the older group, say they live cross country from each other. They come on vacation to be together and now NCL forces your almost 12 year old to not be with her cousins in this group. This scenario happens all the time on NCL. They absolutely will not be flexible, even if your kid misses the cut off by one week.....So much for Freestyle?!? They are not customer focused. But if you go to Carnival, RCCL, they will work with you. They will TRY to work with you I have learned. If they can work it so the girl above can be in the same group with her cousins who live cross country they will try. They are customer driven. NCL Kids Club is not.

* Another blaring big difference is feeding kids meals. Dinner specifically. NCL offers on one night the opportunity to sign up for dinner with Kids Club. They take about 20 kids and if you weren't one of the first 20 to sign up then too bad. Some cruises have 600 kids! Imagine how many people want this service!! But you go over to RCCL or Carnival and every single night if your kid wants to eat with the kids at Kids Club they can. You just show up, they go to the Buffett and eat together. it's no big deal. Certainly no freakin sign up sheet for 20 kids! Again, it's customer focused. Its not about parents wanting to drop their kids off every single night for dinner, it's about having the option on any given night to do that. After several sit down meals, kids themselves don't want to be put thru that. The kids themselves want a quick meal at the buffet so they can go play. Again, CUSTOMER FOCUSED is the key piece missing here.

I don't know what to tell you about a 2 year old. I think 2 year olds are a bit on the young side for the activities of the Kids Club. I think starting it at 3 is probably a good idea.

There is an issue that none of these above posters have considered!

You want all six of you in a suite. If you don't then some of you will have Cagney privileges and other VIP privileges and others won't. You most definitely wouldn't want to travel with 6 people and have 2 in a regular balcony cabin for example. They won't be able to come up to Cagney's for breakfast and lunch, technically they aren't allowed to hang in the Haven with you (I'm sure you could probably ask nicely and they could come visit the Haven and hang around a little, but we are talking technically and if another passenger caught on and had a problem with that, it could be a problem.

Consider this^^^ I think it depends on how close the 6 passengers are. If 4 are related I think you put the unrelated other 2 in the small bedroom and the related 4 have the big master bedroom and sofa bed in the living room. I think the couple in the master needs to pay significantly more. I think even the couple in the 2 bedroom pay more than the 2 on the sofa.

A pp is right. With the haven 3 steps from your suite, you won't feel as confined as you think. We used the haven a lot, we had 5 related people but we sort of rotated who went in and it was easy with the Haven right there.

I've been in 8077. You are going to love this suite!

The only issue is that it is right directly about the theatre. Which normally wouldn't be a big deal except the speakers are mounted on the ceiling directly under this cabin. When there's a show in the theatre it's unbelievably loud!

My kids were very young then and we were trying to put them exhausted to bed around 8pm. The noise from below was so loud the room shook. Not great for very small kids trying to sleep. Between the hours of 8pm - 11pm it can get so loud the room shakes.

Maybe your kids are night owls and will be at kids club all evening. If that's the case, you probably won't even be in your cabin and shouldn't worry about it. It's just that my kids were like 3 and 4. We were turning in early, had exhausted kids and now couldn't sleep with all the shaking and noise.

Now that my kids are a bit older and love kids club and we're out and about until 10:30 or 11 it would be absolutely no issue at all. Just for those trying to sleep early it's not great.

That wrap around deck is to die for! You will love, love, love it!

NCL will not make any accomodation for you at all. You can ask and they will tell you NO.

Carnival will be flexible. Royal has been flexible with us before. But never NCL.

The only time I was able to work it on NCL when I wanted my younger daughter to be in the same group as my older dd and her cousins she never gets to see (imagine they WANT to spend their vacation with their cousins they never get to see and be grouped together?!") The only way I could work it is to play way ahead. When I booked the cruise I lied about her age I made her one year older than she was. So if her birthday was 7/10/99 I lied when I booked the cruise and told them her birthday was 7/10/00. Then when we checked in at the port they don't even look at the birth certificate at all. I was holding my breath at that point but they didn't so much as check with the lines out the door and wrapping around the building they didn't give a birth certificate AGE a second look. I was all prepared if we got caught at the pier........I would have been "mistaken.....sorry". It worked out great. My dd got to enjoy kids club with her sister and cousins and no one was the wiser. I've had several friends who've done the same thing with no issue either. I think if you have a well behaved kid that isn't going to cause them any suspicion It will work.

It certainly would be nice if they could have some flexibility with this as their competitors do though! When a kid comes on vacation with their cousins who live across the country they want to spend time together, not be seperated. It's a customer service issue!

I seriously doubt the porters at the Port of Miami are going to be grabbing your luggage and weighing it. That's the only place they could weigh luggage and police the whole process. It's not like you check in with your luggage. I doubt this rule will ever be enforced.

We had 8077 on the Sun about a year and a half ago. You are correct in that these cabins are directly over the main theatre and it gets really loud because the speakers are mounted on the ceiling right underneath your room.

We loved being Aft though! You are going to have wind issues being forward and honestly I would perfer the noise.

The noise is ONLY during the main shows in that theatre. For the rest of the cruise it is as quiet as can be. We had a big problem because we were trying to put our young children to sleep in the early evenings. But, if you are AT the show or out and about the ship in the evenings you won't have a problem at all. The shows don't go on until all hours of the night.

I would choose this cabin again if it were only adults because I love being aft. The AC suites are really nice!

This goes way back to the early 90's and I was on one of the first voyages of the Dream. The ship had some severe stabilizer issues and it was just tremendously rough. We were in the main lounge area waiting for the evening show to begin and the ship was bouncing all over the place. An older woman in a dressy evening gown fell right over while sitting in her chair. These are the lounge type chairs on the rollers and I would think normally very hard to tip over. As she fell, her dress flew up and me and my family got a peep show - seeing her underwear, slip, everything.