jermeg

Thanks for the help all! We really appreciated all of the helpful info! We are home and had a great time minus the COVID I got as a parting gift! My youngest turned one a week before we cruised so we were set for her no matter what in terms of sea days! We took the wonderful advice on waiting to board and arrived at the port maybe 11:40? We basically walked on minus a small line at security. We had no problem booking reservations while on board including changing our dinner plans last minute. For those curious, it was really only reservations for specialty dinning, the show (choir of man) and the escape room. The rest was first come first served sort of thing. The escape room was really fun though! Also we did stop at GSK and it was fine. It was a ramp to get on/off the boat and while we didn’t use it, there was an elevator to get between the two levels on the tender. I held her in a carrier and my husband had the stroller folded up. Next time I wouldn’t bring the stroller to that port at all though as it’s mostly sand. cruising with kids was fun and we will do it again, but I think our next one will be just the adults 😂

The younger two are not but my oldest is. He’s 14 and very excited about it

Oh I didn’t realize that! Thanks so much!

Thank you! We are prepared that the baby won’t be able to swim. Great points about the GSK tender though. Perhaps I could use a carrier for her instead. I’ll do a bit of googling to visualize it. I have done that port before (without kids) but I have zero recollection of the details lol.

Thank you! She’s just about to turn 1 but I appreciate the information! I’ve heard some horror stories about people not knowing that! Including someone who as able to board and then kicked off (can’t recall if that was NCL or not)

Thank you so much for all of that really helpful info. Some of it I had not considered so I appreciate it! When you board later, do you find it harder to get reservations for entertainment like comedy shows and the go karts? We are on the encore and apparently it’s full or close to full. Without that issue, boarding late does sound appealing! We are sailing to DR, St Thomas, Tortola and GSK. I’ll research the back up ports for those! Thank you!

Thoughts on whether priority access is worth is on a full sailing out of miami? Traveling with two young kids in tow (infant and 3 year old) so considering that it might be worth it? I'd love to hear people's thoughts and if you used it before any tips! Thank you!

Thank you all for the tips! I had no idea one of our balconies was a bit longer so that’s a perk! really appreciate the help

Thank you both! Super helpful!

Hi all! We booked on Encore shortly and have stateroom’s 11310 and 11906. Wondering if anyone has any experience with those rooms? Curious about the balcony size and the layout of the rooms (eg bed vs couch by the balcony) or any other info! I googled for room tours but couldn’t find anything for those! thanks so much!