CanadianDee

They are the same cups you see at WDW. Basically "standard" size if there really is such a thing.

Unfortunately, we're from Western Canada and only make it to WDW every five years or so. Can't recall the cup size there.

Looking around at java jackets, I see they basically come in two sizes - jackets that fit a 12 - 20 oz cup, and jackets that fit an 8 oz cup.

So. Would you say the coffee cups are 8 oz, or more?

Thanks again.

Good morning everyone,

We do our first Disney cruise in a few months and I'm planning on making cup cosies (or cardigans) for the adults in our Fish Extender group.

Before I get started, can anyone tell me what the disposable coffee cups look like onboard? Are they a standard cup size ... say a Starbuck's Grande or Venti?

Many thanks for any help!

Celebrity is an awesome choice for families!

We were on the Reflection this past January with our five year-old granddaughter and had a blast. While there weren't many kids onboard, our granddaughter was fortunate to meet kids from pretty much around the world. She recognized her new friends readily in the pool* and everywhere onboard.

She dressed up every night for dinner and the tables around us - and our wait staff - would compliment her on her clothing and "princess" manners. She felt like a princess! We were a bit concerned because we'd read on these boards about people (see some of the above posts) who don't like kids and families on Celebrity. We needn't have worried. Passengers and staff alike were wonderful.

In December we are scheduled for a Disney cruise - our first time on Disney - with our kids and grandkids. We expect a very different experience. I'm sure we'll have a great time, but for different reasons. I would cruise Celebrity with grandchildren again in a heartbeat.

*A note on the pool. On the Reflection, there is one adult pool and one family pool on the main deck. The family pool got quite crowded during the day, so we started going to the pool after dinner. We were the only swimmers, the pool was lit up beautifully - an absolute delight.

Every time the subject of cruising comes up amongst my friends and co-workers, I tell Klfhngr's story. It's the stuff of legends.

I remember the first time I read it to my husband, late at night in a hushed tone. The look of abject terror in his eyes. :)

Both my husband and myself are nuts about never being late, whether it's a vacation/cruise deadline, a work deadline, or a personal deadline. It sometimes diminishes our enjoyment of things, this need to be at X early, but the anxiety of being late isn't something either of us can do.

I think I won't show him this video. :)

Edited to Add: Sometimes I wish they had these kinds of repercussions for people who are chronically late to meetings at work.

This is a friendly update from Dude's eldest daughter. We are happy to announce that we are sailing once more in June. Dude has already sat us down for many a family meeting (20 or so) to discuss the finer points of cusing- including deck plans, excursions, and how to "whip and nae nae". This time we will be crusing with Dude, wife, Eldest(23), Middle(14), and Brat(4). Be prepared.

Firing up the popcorn machine. Can hardly wait to hear the details. :)

Don't forget that you can drop a pillow case and/or picture mat off at the front desk and the cast will sign it for the kids. Good idea to include some candy/snacks for the cast in your plastic bag.

I read somewhere on these boards that they no longer do this. Have they reinstated it? We would love it if they still did this.

You're welcome.

 

The negatives to FE participation....largely dependent on the size of the group. My opinion is that the idea group is 20-30 cabins. More than that and the negatives start to multiply.

 

Negatives include--cost to purchase or make gifts' date=' weight and space in suitcases, time and energy to distribute gifts (the ships seem HUGE when you are making a trip to many cabins scattered all over the ship)

 

You can also organize a meet and greet activity without doing FE.[/quote']

 

All good points. We fly with free luggage space, but the gift distribution/time might be downsides we hadn't fully considered.

Actually' date=' during Open House hours, kids of all ages are permitted into the appropriate venue. In addition, on some specialty cruises they have "Adult time in the Oceaneer's Lab (or club)" when the facility is closed to anyone under 18! So yes, you can play Star Wars. Watch the Navigator for open house hours. Now dry your tears.[/quote']

 

Thanks again, moki'smommy. Old lady temper tantrum averted, thanks to you. :)

 

Thanks Arthur, good to know it's playable with pre-schoolers as well.

Thanks mokismommy. Great information. Much appreciated. :)

Absolutely! It is for "kids of most ages." I don't think toddlers would get the idea' date=' but a 6 year old would love it even though a little adult assistance will be required.

 

Hint--you don't have to do it all at one time. If the child gets tired or bored, you can stop where you are and continue later.[/quote']

 

Thanks tons, awesome hint.

 

I don't suppose the Millenium Falcon is available to adults? Just kidding. Sort of. Because that would be so amazing. If it were. But probably it isn't.

 

Crying on the inside now. Because I'm 57, not 7.

The descriptor on this says it's designed for kids nine and up. For those of you familiar with it, would you say it's suitable/playable for a six year old, playing with a pair of adults?

This will be our first time on Disney (have cruised Carnival, Princess, and Celebrity) and are prepared for Disney to knock our cruise socks off. We are grandparents traveling with our daughter and son-in-law and their two daughters (aged 6 and 2 at the time of the cruise). We'll be cruising mid-December on the Dream. We will be booking this week, so just starting our research.

Fish extenders. These sound like a blast. We would love any information you can give us about them. What exactly are they, how do they work, how do we sign up, examples of fish extenders, etc.

Since we're cruising around Christmas, are there special fish extenders you can think of?

Thanks in advance, spent the weekend combing this forum for ideas and are SO gunned for this cruise. :)

Y

Disney is noisy. Some cruises it seems like there are more kids then adults. The kids clubs are packed. If your looking for a quiet cruise dcl is not it. I would go into it with realistic expectations.

Oh yeah, we get that Disney will be packed with overexcited kids (and grownups) and therefore noisy. It won't be a deal breaker for her.

Speaking as a grandma,

A. I'd love the quality time with my newest..

B. the older ones will love the quality time with you. After all, they've just spent the last few months with most of the attention being directed to the newest arrival. (which is as it should, but that's an adjustment for the older ones too....)

and C. you get quality vacation time to reconnect with them,

 

Also speaking as a grandmother, I was going to weigh in with the same words. :)

It's lovely for Grandma and Grandpa to have some two-on-one time with the babe, who likely is used to sharing them with siblings. And great for you to devote your attention to the siblings. Everybody wins!

Thanks so much for the advice. This will be his first time cursing and I just want to make sure he enjoy it. Ill check the prices when they roll them out for Oct 2017 and if it is too high then we will settle for Allure of the seas.

Great thread, really enjoying the input.

To Cruzin Phillis. We have cruised twice with our granddaughter who will be six on our upcoming Disney cruise. First time was on Carnival, second time Celebrity. She has loved both.

Here's my fear about doing Disney: It's gonna set the bar really high.

She enjoyed Carnival but felt it was too noisy, which might be something it'll share with Disney. She liked Celebrity. Will Disney blow us out of the water in terms of future pint-sized expectations?

Frankly, I'm glad we didn't start her out on Disney for that reason alone. :)

You won't need a stroller on Castaway Cay as there are red wagons available as you get off the ship--load the kids and the stuff in the wagon if you choose to walk to the beach.

Oooh. Intrigued by the red wagons.

This will be our first Disney cruise. Do you/can you/should you book a red wagon in advance?

Ditto. Sailing March 20 Eclipse and taking the Tux. I attended a Travel Show yesterday and approached the Celebrity rep. I told her we had been loyal Celebrity cruiser since 1995 and was very disappointed in the dress code change. She spent most of the conversation defending the decision. She said it was done to make the other passengers feel like they did not have to dress up. I said, well what about buffet for those folks. She repeated the previous. I said, well, no one was ever forced to wear a tux. There was always the option to wear a coat and tie on formal nights. She again repeated the previous. I said, well, now you have taken the level of acceptable dress all the way down to wearing jeans. She again repeated the previous. And finally, I said, I believe those choosing to wear a tux are going to feel uncomfortable surrounded by passengers wearing jeans, shirt tails hanging out, and ball caps on their head while eating. She said, feel out the comment card.

We were on the Reflection earlier this month and dressed up for formal/evening chic night as did most guests.

The difference between your point about comfort and the rep's, is that you would like to control how others dress whilst the rep/Celebrity is allowing everyone to dress, within reason, as they choose.

If you want to wear a tux, for heaven's sake, be a grown up and wear it. Stop measuring your comfort level and vacation experience by what someone else is wearing.

 

My children have always enjoyed Celebrity, but they tend to holiday the same as we do - excursions during the day, then a swim/sunbathe (wifi) then just dinner and show. The ship is beautiful, the food is fabulous, you should have a great time but do remember it is more low key fun - no rock climbing, bumper cars, ice skating or zip wiring like on RCL.

Our granddaughter is the same. We spend the majority of our vacation together, with occasional breaks in the kids' clubs on cruises.

With less than 50 kids onboard for our cruise, the Fun Factory was pretty flexible about the both the age groupings and the activities. We were even invited to participate in some of the craft activities, beyond the family activities. We did clay sculpting with our granddaughter and three other delightful young girls, ranging in age from six to twelve. The older girls were quite big-sisterly to our granddaughter. The counsellors were great. One was not really enthusiastic about her job, but the rest were just fabulous.

We were also told we could borrow toys and games for our room, but we never took advantage of that.

If you ask, they will loan out a pager so that you can be paged when/if your child wants to be picked up.

Her only other kids club was on a Carnival cruise last year and she didn't care for the kids club on Carnival.

Edited to Add: I think the VIP package was ... I wanna say $100.

Thanks for sharing! I'm enjoying your blog. I appreciate the info on ice cream and tea. :)

 

May I ask how old your daughter is? Mine will be 8 on our Reflection sailing this June. I'd love to hear more about what yours though of the kids' club. Thanks!

We were on the Reflection with our five (and a half!) year old granddaughter earlier this month. She LOVED the kid's club. The counsellors were fabulous. There were only 47 kids on this cruise, so at times our granddaughter was the only one in the Fun Factory, but she loved playing with the counsellors as much as with the other kids.

Take in the family bingo and scavenger hunt, they were tons of fun.

Of the two pools on the main pool deck, only one allows kids and it can get quite crowded. We went for swims after dinner and both pools were completely empty. These night-time swims were one of the highlights of our trip.

We just returned from 1/30 sailing of Reflection and ate each evening in MDR. The best meal we all agreed was the Beef Tournedo (i.e., beef filet). So tender and flavorful. DH liked the lamb wrapped in phyllo pastry (sorry, don't recall name) and the duck dishes. The salmon was usually done nicely as well (the one on the everyday menu). The shrimp cocktail in the everyday menu was consistently awesome!!

 

We were on the same sailing and I agree about the Beef Tournedo - it was my favourite, too. Otherwise the food was good, not outstanding, as others have said.

We found the storage to be good, too.

But I still packed an organizer for the bathroom door (plastic c that cupped the towel/pj holder on the door). Because I'm crazy when it comes to organizing. A place for every thing and everything in its place. Organizers warm the cockles of my heart. :)

 

Our conclusion would be is that the more different cruise lines we sail the more they seem alike, the similarities out weigh the differences. Over all we had a wonderful experience with Celebrity, the ship appeared to be less crowded than Carnival and the no announcement policy was nice. I would not hesitate to sail on either cruiseline. My experience doesn’t depend on décor or what others wear. I think each cruise is different and is going to be what you make of it. :D

 

Linda

Great review, Linda!

We've also cruised Carnival and had a good time. We found Carnival to be too noisy for us, but we tons of fun. I don't get the "Carnival is the Walmart of cruiselines" thing. You choose a cruise based on what it offers that appeals to you personally.

OK...

 

 

Additionally, attitude is everything. Your review came across very attacking & negative. Perhaps that wasn't your intention. But my family has joked that even if we were on that Carnival ship that was floating at sea for a few days with no power, we would STILL have had a good time...

Agree completely with everything you said, particularly this. Whether you think you'll have a good time or you think you'll have a bad time, you'll be right! :)

We were on the same trip as the OP and had a completely different experience. At five years of age, our granddaughter was definitely in the under 30 crowd and had a great time. ;)

Complaints about food ("everything was gross") on a cruise ship give me pause. Food is highly subjective. While I wouldn't call MDR or Oceanview fine dining, there was certainly a great selection of good food. Perhaps wandering away from a comfort zone of chicken fajitas and chicken breast might have helped. I found the beef (and we live in cattle country) and lamb dishes very good.

And complaints about serving size? Our granddaughter knew enough about cruising (she's been on two cruises) to order three plates of frogs legs.

Thank you for your review. Sounds like you had a wonderful time and your grand-daughter enjoyed herself. I'm boarding Saturday.

You'll have a lovely time! Check out the night-time swims, we loved them.