Itchy&Scratchy
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Posts posted by Itchy&Scratchy
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9 hours ago, Simple_Travels4578 said:
A few years ago, we were attempting to book a cruise on Princess with our child and we were unable. Apparently there are safety rules for the maximum number of kids in certain age groups that can be on board. So there is a limit. But it's probably pretty big.
this happened to us as well. We wanted Regal Princess, but ended up going on Caribbean princess to ABC islands, which was so much better in terms of the itinerary.
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Infinity beach, Roatan, Honduras.
Strangely enough, Getaway was docked, but Jade had to use the tenders boats.
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a very quick review of our destinations
Cozumel, Mexico: We'd been to Cozumel before - 3 times to be exact, and with every time we found it to be less and less pleasant, culminating in a rather unpleasant and expensive visit in Nov 2017 ($17 pp for just the lounger at the Blue Ocean club - very overcrowded, not worth the money, too loud, not enough loungers for us, hated it).
This time was much better - we went to the Money Bar Beach, where they don't charge you for the loungers or wifi. Now, it was a very cold and windy day, so we were not able to swim/snorkel like we planned, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. This was the first time we actually purchased drinks on Cozumel - a frozen mango margarita for me (didn't taste like mango, but was pleasant enough), a mojito for DH and a coke for DS. The bill was $15 and change, we left a $20 bill. I would have also gotten the guacamole, but the onion chunks could be seen from outer space, and I don't eat onions, if I can help it. Looked delicious otherwise.
We did use the free wifi, and it was very strong - good enough to make a Skype call (audio only), very good connection. The bathroom was very nice and clean. We knew in advance it wasn't a beachy beach (no sand).
The taxi was $12 each way for all 4 of us. No freaking seat belts... Sigh.
Roatan, Honduras: we went to the Infinity beach. Upon arrival at the port we went to Kiosk #7 as instructed on the Roatan, Honduras board, and for $15 pp roundtrip we were safely delivered to Infinity Beach by Simon. The $20 pp entrance fee included the use of a lounger and 1 rum punch, but we talked them out of charging us $20 for our 7 yo DS.
I don't think the beach, a lounger and even 1 rum punch was really worth $20. Honestly. But the beach and water were relatively seaweed free, unlike the Tabyana beach that was right next to us - full of nasty prickly plants in the water and on the beach.
But DH liked it, so we'll be going back there in April.
By the way, a ton of vendors bugging you every minute or so, but we did use one of them - took a bunch of pics of DS with a monkey for $10. And then another bunch of DH with the monkey for $5.
Harvest Cay, Belize: Not really a great location. Murky water, sand that's not soft. But it was free. :) We found loungers, swam a bit, relaxed on the beach. They also had a lovely kid's sprayground, but the water was freezing, so DS didn't even want to try it. The water in a gorgeous pool was also very cold.
WE had an unexpected treat at the end, when we walked back to the ship. Mom went exploring on her own and found a small garden with an aviary and a butterfly house. FREE. They were lovely.
In order of appearance: Roatan Coxen Hole port.
Harvest Cay.
Harvest Cay - the garden and the butterfly house.
Costa Maya port - a free dolphin show.
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On 11/29/2018 at 10:53 PM, Moon Orchid said:
Do you remember how much you paid for the driver at Kiosk # 7 for round trip? They told us to pay the driver directly, then pay $20 for the day pass at the resort. Does that sound about right? TIA!
it is correct - we were there 2 weeks ago. Kiosk #7, $15 roundtrip pp, and $20pp for a lounger and a rum punch. A bit expensive just for that, if you ask me, but we still had a nice enough time. Lots of vendors bugging you every darn minute...
We will be going back in April. :)
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we were at Coxen Hole in December, and didn't find any FREE wifi. There was a kiosk right as you enter the port from the ship and it had a sign "Port Wifi $5/hour". We didn't use it.
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On 1/2/2019 at 10:12 AM, Ella2 said:
While I would have enjoyed visiting a "port" that I hadn't seen before, life goes on.
not missing much, honestly. It was rather underwhelming. We were there in December.
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my short Blue Kay, Costa Maya review:
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2611268-best-beach/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-56459833
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On 1/2/2019 at 1:06 AM, CanadaGuyEh said:
Will you sail more on NCL or ? RCCL has the kids slides etc - how it their food - better? I sail solo so for price NCL has my business.
the last time we were on RCI was in 2014. The food was good, but nowhere near Princess level, of course. We'll be on the Allure in exactly 3 months - so, we'll find out if it got worse. Cruisecritic people seem to think it became pretty bad. :)
I don't think we'll specifically look to book NCL again, unless we accidentally stumble across a fantastic deal. And I mean - FANTASTIC (price and itinerary wise and on a newer ship). The food was not all that good, and the cigarette smoke drove us crazy. Everything else was very good, so it's not like we hate NCL or even dislike it. We liked the Getaway just fine.
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soooo, reporting back on Blue Kay in Costa Maya Dec 16-23: we really liked it. :)
Yes, it's rustic and basic, but we paid $8 for the taxi for the 4 of us, and $10 per adult, which included a chaise and any 2(!) drinks (got a wristband). Some people didn't pay anything at all, they quietly snuck in and got themselves a lounger each, but they didn't need anything else.
We arrived after 9 and got a place in the shade. Loungers had a soft mattress on them. Not broken up or awful looking, so that's a plus. Juan took care of us, but we are not high maintenance.
DS enjoyed a Coke and a Fanta, mom didn't want anything, and DH and I enjoyed a couple of mojitos. The first mojito gave me a tiny buzz and it was delicious. A couple of hours later, at the end of our beach break, my DH and I went to the bar to get a mojito for both of us, and I think they accidentally put all of the alcohol in mine, because hubby didn't taste or feel it, but I became literally (not figuratively) incapacitated in about 5 minutes. LOL. It was pretty bad.
Free Wifi at the Blue Kay bar was very good and strong. Ask your attendant for the passcode.
There were a couple of homeless dogs, which we delighted in meeting.
Some vendors, but not too annoying.
It was very windy, but warm, and the water was nice and clear. I wore water shoes in the water, which was a great idea. Didn't need them on the beach itself, but in the water the rocks were very sharp. We did a bit of snorkeling, but there was nothing by the rocky reef - so don't go there. You'll get hurt. There were a couple of old tires under the water, and they had a lot of fish swimming around them.
I am grateful for the water shoes, but nobody else in my family wore them, so everybody was getting a little hurt by the rocks. I put my kiddo on top of an inflatable donut and pulled him around with his snorkeling mask on. :) He loved it - he didn't need to worry about staying afloat or wearing a cumbersome inflatable vest.
Forgot to say: there was no FREE wifi worth of anything at the port, but a coffee house at the port was booming with business - free wifi with any purchase. Apparently, the connection was very strong, there was a ton of people enjoying it.
The boys wanted to go on the ship, but mom and I stayed looking for the wifi connection, so we actually got to see the dolphin show for free - at the port.
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Italian night at the buffet: my mom took these. :)
Oh, so very quickly - the dishes we liked at MDR were: salmon tartare, beef medallions and the shrimp and crabcake the first day (see pic below), gnocchi with pesto sauce and pine nuts, cauliflower soup, white cheddar and potato soup, DH loved the seafood gumbo (I didn't), shrimp scampi, and the shrimp and mushroom alfredo from the every day menu.
Mushroom gnocchi a the buffet was dry and bad.
I must say that I loved all the shrimp dishes at the buffet and MDR. I am very partial to shrimp and get anything shrimp related while on a cruise. I enjoyed them all!
Feel free to ask questions, I am sure I am forgetting something. I don't remember whether I mentioned that on the 2 extremely windy nights the balcony separator door was banging loudly all night long, but it was very quiet otherwise.
I'll come back soon to tell you about the beaches we went to at the destinations. :)
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Now, on to the food. When I did my research on Norwegian, I already knew that the food would be inferior to Regal Princess's food. Yes, it really was. It wasn't completely horrible and inedible per se, but it was mostly either very underwhelming in general, or oversalted, dry, cold... We liked very few dinner dishes in MDR. And for the first time in our cruising history, we actually ate dinner in the buffet a couple of times instead of MDR. That sure was a first. We looked at the MDR menus on the TV on the Getaway and felt that a couple of those days didn't warrant our attention at all.
We love good food, and have found that Regal Princess does offer what we love and want.
Now, the Getaway buffet was more plentiful and diverse than the buffet on Jade, but nowhere near Regal Princess's quality and quantity. Princess always has smoked salmon for breakfast in the buffet, whereas the only salmon I found on Jade was in a salmon mousse (kind of like salmon flavored cream cheese with tiny bits of salmon in it) and on Getaway - every other day there were English Muffins with scrambled eggs and chunks of smoked salmon. They were delicious, but what I really wanted was smoked salmon on a croissant. :)
The buffet wasn't bad in general, but the buffet layout was horrible. People were bumping into each other all the time, the hallway wasn't wide enough for people to go in different direction and still have a line at the buffet. If you wanted scrambled eggs, a bagel, hash browns and a cup of coffee, you had to run all over the buffet to collect all of the items.
We found breakfast buffet to be nice in general. :) It was consistent with the same items every day. The only items I saw rotated on an every other day schedule were the scrambled egg english muffins. One day - salmon, next day - ham. The poached eggs were also served in a couple of different ways - sometimes with an avocado toast, sometimes plain.
Dinner buffet's theme nights were nice. I personally liked the Italian night - it was better than the others. The Mexican night was a huge disappointment, because the buffet ran out of guacamole before 8 pm.... Getaway didn't offer guacamole on any other days. Regal Princess had guacamole EVERY DAY and never ran out.
My husband's opinion was that the food was always cold - whether in MDR or the buffet. I tend to agree with him - it mostly was cold or lukewarm instead of hot. With a notable exception of fries and curly fries. I have to give a huge bonus point to Getaway - the buffet fries were really-really good. And believe me, when I cruise on Princess - I don't even LOOK at french fries, because the rest of their food is heavenly. Norwegian's food was boring and uninspiring, so I can't believe I am saying it, but yes - we as a family ate a ton of french and curly fries on this cruise. And they were good! Especially, when straight out of the fryer.
What we enjoyed most on Jade was the crepe station. Jade's crepes were heavenly. Princess doesn't have a crepe station... Sigh. So, when we tried out the crepe station on the Getaway, we were very disappointed. The lady, who prepared them, killed them. Killed them dead. They were dry and very crispy and we kept choking on them. They were crap. So, after a couple of nights of this, we started asking her to cook them for half the time. They were much better that way, but still not as heavenly as Jade's crepes which were delicate and buttery and were melting in our mouths.
Desserts in the buffet were quite good, although I didn't indulge in them as much as I usually do. Regular ice cream was available in a lovely variety of flavors and was pretty good.
My husband and kiddo LOVED the soft serve ice cream on Jade, but my husband found it to be not as good and always too melty on the Getaway. The kid was ok with Getaway's soft serve, but didn't enjoy it as much as Jade's.
Here are Getaway's scrambled eggs on an English muffin and a hash brown (which was delicious!). A poached egg on an avocado english muffin (the sauce was spicy like Tabasco). Also, some sort of an egg souffle with potatoes and spinach, which was very good. And the last one is a heavenly crepe on JADE. :)
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continued:
The ropes course had a 48" minimum, but on our last day we discovered that Getaway had a tiny little ropes course for young kids right at the entrance to the ropes course. It's not high off the ground like the actual ropes course, and some kiddo that looked about 3 was doing it at the time. It was adorable. Sneakers or other fully closed shoes must be worn. They do check, and fisherman or athletic sandals with a strap in the back are NOT allowed. Dry clothing is a must as well.
There was a 30# and 42" minimum for the trampoline (Getaway bounce) and the Spider net. Kids must wear socks and dry clothing.
The blue and green water slides had a 100# minimum, and looked too dangerous for a 7 yo anyway. So, DS started with a nice and easy purple slide that all kids could do, and then ventured on his own to the red and orange slides which were quite a bit more adventurous and challenging. But great for a 7 yo!
A bunch of kids were also enjoying the kid's aqua park area which was adorable and fun. I was also surprised by the presence of the life guard on both Jade and Getaway. I've never seen life guards on Princess or RCI.
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On 12/30/2018 at 3:16 PM, cathi007 said:
we are two families (2), and (4), and we are doing a 14 night in 2 connecting mini's for 11,000. I think that is a great price. Plus we get the drink package and free tips, oh and 50.00 OBC
hmmm, $50 OBC on an $11K cruise doesn't sound like a real bargain....
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1 hour ago, Barb Nahoumi said:
When the service carts are in the corridors, just grab an extra towel or two.
there weren't ANY carts in the hallway that night, and we really needed a shower after a long day of traveling... believe me, if there were any carts with towels, I wouldn't have had this problem. :)
Our cabin attendant on Getaway last week was a lot better, but, once again, mom's attendant was superb.
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was on the Getaway last week (balcony room).
There is no white noise in the bathroom. I sleep with ear plugs in.
There were only 2 regular electrical outlets, so bring a splitter. One of the electric outlets didn't even work. No USB outlets at all.
Our balcony (forward) light switch was by the balcony, but in mom's balcony room (aft) it was under the vanity mirror above the desk. Mom left her light on all night.... Sigh.
Bring a small battery operated night light if you wish. For us personally, leaving the curtain slightly open (with the light OFF) provided enough light not to bump into things and use a bathroom normally.
No outlets near the bed either.
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this time both taxis didn't have any seatbelts... It was scary.
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a tablet for dinner time if you are planning to have the kids with you in MDR and they cannot sit through a 1.5-2 hour dinner.
DS, who is 7 now, has been cruising since he was 3, and his tablet with cartoons and games has been a life saver (especially on cruises like Princess which have nothing in terms of family activities). On cruises with plenty of fun activities the tablet was only used during dinner in MDR (with headphones, of course).
DS doesn't do kid's club, so he is with us 24/7.
If DH and kids are not into shows, then he can watch the kids in the evening when you go alone (that's is, if the kids don't do kid's club).
Other than that - just relax and enjoy - it's a vacation! We don't adhere to the daily routine times we have at home, but DS crashes by 10 pm in the evening on cruises, because he has so much fun. WE don't really have hacks (besides the tablet for dinner) because during cruises we are just going with the flow. Check the daily activities - pick stuff you like - do it. Done!
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9 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:
AND THERE WERE TWO MOVIES (charges) ?
netflix usually does a monthly subscription, not a per movie charge. We've been using them for years.
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16 hours ago, BirdTravels said:
Each and every piece of trash is hand sorted in the Environmental room
seriously? why?
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school is back in session.... so - fewer kids onboard.
For the record, due to having a school aged child, we only sail during Thanksgiving and spring break, and we honestly don't think that the ships are overrun with kids during those times (RCI, Princess, Norwegian).
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my husband's cards are always in his possession, yet somebody bought $1,400 worth of Beyonce tickets with his card. Then somebody used my work-issued amex for Vera Bradley and Walgreens purchases... Needless to say, my card never left my purse either.
What I am trying to say - it may have absolutely nothing to do with the open safe.
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3 hours ago, Forfio said:
Thanks again, everyone. This is disappointing. I wish I did some research before booking. We’re on Celebrity Edge at the moment. They’re not kid friendly either. When these places don’t offer enough services for the kids, it’s not so much of vacation for the parents either. Sucks.
We've always enjoyed cruising with our kiddo, but he started at 3, when he was potty trained. He's never agreed to participate in the kid's club (with a notable exception of the very first time on his very first cruise, which ended 20 minutes later, and this year, which lasted for 2 hours, and that's was it).
Our cruise vacation has never been ruined by his presence. If yours will be, leave him at home with a trusted sitter, please.
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honestly, I wouldn't spend any money on Epcot. I spent a couple of days there for a meeting two years ago, and was very disappointed. It was free for me, and I definitely wouldn't pay to see it.
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18 hours ago, Budget Queen said:
It's a known - that shorter, booze cruises are more problematic, and easy to avoid.
it was a week long cruise with a ton of families with kids - not a 3-4 day booze cruise.
Princess Kids’ Club
in Princess Cruises
Posted
Our DS doesn't do kid's club, so I completely agree - Princess doesn't have anything in terms of family activities onboard... Sigh. So, we just went on Norwegian Getaway (average to below average food, but great activities and entertainment) and will be going on Allure of the Seas next (bad food, great activities and entertainment).