Itchy&Scratchy

Indy was the first ship our DS was on when he was 3. He loved it!

We don't love Cozumel, though. It's underwhelming, unless you can go on a catamaran tour to snorkel. Crowded beaches with coarse brownish sand or rocks, very rough water last November, and expensive access to water (it was $17 pp at Ocean Club just to get a chaise).

We are going to cruise in 2 weeks, and will most likely stay on the ship in Cozumel. If not, we might try snorkeling at Money bar, since DS is now 7 and can float.

Other than that, please check out Ports of Call boards for Cozumel for more suggestions:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/131-cozumel/

I hear Mr Sanchos ($$$) and Nachi Cocum (besides Chankanaab) are nice.

I feel the same about Jade. The entire middle of the decks 6, 7 and 8 smelled like smoke. Except the Grand Pacific - it was fine.

My mom's cabin was all the way forward on 8, and you could smell the smoke while walking all the way to her cabin.

we were on Jade a couple of weeks ago, and as far as kids are concerned - there isn't much to do with them. We have a 7 yo.

The chess and checkers sets on the deck are nice, if your kids are into it. Ping pong - yes. 

Arcade was terribly expensive, so it's a no for us.

DS ate a ton of soft serve - that and the hot tubs were the highlight of this very short cruise.

Oh, and the smoke smell was everywhere - the library was soaked with it, and everything on decks 6 through 8 as well.

Dawn is even worse than Jade in terms of cigarette smoke.

but that doesn't explain why they'd allow a 7 yo to sign up for another ATV excursion.

I have just looked up some excursions on our upcoming Getaway Dec 16 cruise on www.ncl.com. I was logged in fully. The passengers are my husband and I, and our 7 yo son.

For some odd reason some of the ATV excursions completely blocked ME from signing up, even though I am clearly over 16 and under 70. Our son was properly blocked from purchasing them, of course. But why ME? I could purchase it for my DH.

Then I clicked on the next excursion (also ATV with the age 16-70 and weight restrictions) and, voila, all three of us could sign up, even though the kiddo is clearly ineligible.

Is it a glitch?

2 hours ago, smashedpumpkins said:

 

 

We'll be dropped off by family with the car seats. The car seats can either remain in the car or come with us.

 

well, unless you are in some kind of a minivan during the excursion, I'd leave the seats in the car then.

you will have to sit opposite of each other or one behind another on the plane due to the oxygen mask situation.

I'd also like to recommend the following board: https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling-with-children  for all sorts of useful information on traveling with kids.

I'd use at least 1 suitcase for all the diapers and wipes you will need, but pack them into different suitcases, in case one or two get lost.

depends on your party size.

1 hour ago, esm54687 said:

 Isn't this answered in the OP's very first bullet..... 

no, it wasn't. Their friends could drive them, they could take an uber, etc.

are you driving your own cars to the airport and parking there?

21 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Thanks for posting the menus!

 

One menu listing the Mains appear to be an "Italian Night" dinner menu.  Was this "event" made known to the guests prior to arriving in the dining room?  (I'd have a difficult time of selecting which entree to order.  The days of ordering more than one are long past!)

well, the guests could have looked at the menu posted outside MDR in advance. :)

5 minutes ago, cruisencrazy said:

Still shouldn't be a problem.  You all arrive and order at the same time....  Problems with big table is you wait to fill up, then everyone says hello and eventually everyone has read the menu....it all takes time.  The server isn't standing around waiting for this to happen...they go where people are ready....  Just try to enjoy the time and talk to your children

We had a table for 4 for the 4 of us. We didn't have to wait for the table to fill up or for anyone to say hello. I read the menu and ordered for my DS and mom. The service was 2.5+ hours on Jade, with long breaks between every darn food item brought to us and between taking orders.

Regal Princess is a much bigger ship (than Jade), and there were 7 of us at the table, yet the service was no longer than 1.5 hours and the food was a LOT better. And sometimes the service was less than 1.5 hours, since we showed up at 6:45 pm, ate multiple appetizers and main courses, polished off our multiple desserts and still made it to the 8 pm show. That's how it's done right.

On ‎11‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 3:40 PM, cruisencrazy said:

 Here are my thoughts:  If you have problems with slow dining, get a table for two; it's ALWAYS faster

well, that would be a problem, since there are the 4 of us, including a 7 yo kid.

13 hours ago, molole said:

 

I completely agree about Oasis class.  

Haven't been on Princess Royal class or MSC yet and HAL and Cunard flagships are not mega in my book.  

We have been on Regal Princess and it handles crowds beautifully.

Our friends LOVE Regal Princess and absolutely hated Oasis of the Seas (long lines for everything, too crowded, horrible food compared to Princess, no free on demand movies)...

We will be on Allure in 3 months, and I am sure we'll LOVE it (except for the food - it definitely doesn't compare to Regal Princess).

On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 2:22 PM, Artemus said:

Great post.

One thing  I wonder is when people go to dinner without their dogs, what happens when their dog needs to go to the bathroom ❓

my dogs are trained to go out when we get up, when we get back from work and before we go to bed. I am sure most other people keep their dogs on a schedule as well.

So, on a ship you'd also take the dog out before or after dinner, and while you are away at dinner and the dog is in the cabin, hopefully, crated, then nothing out of the ordinary will happen.

57 minutes ago, GORDONCHICK said:

So I made reservations - for all 7 nights.  This is not the freestyle that we've previously enjoyed, but I guess this is a big ship thing.  If the smaller ships are now like this, someone please let me know.

yes, we were on Jade last week, and reservations in MDR would really-really make your life easier.

On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 3:41 AM, tanyaewa said:

Imo it’s inconsiderate to be tipping in a currency other than your own.  If you were a tour guide in Alabama what would you do with a handful of Rubles  from a Russian tourist?

both euros and US dollars are equally welcome in Russia. However, they want them to be rather new-ish and crispy-ish.

And, in general, it's not a tipping kind of culture, but tourism business is different and nobody ever says - no, thanks, I don't want a tip.

34 minutes ago, misand said:

NCL Rep said it expires Nov 2020 when I called.

that'd be good, because we are all set on RCI and Princess next year.

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Is it? I have had ice every day on all of my NCL sailings this year and never had to request it.

didn't have any ice last week on Jade. 

17 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Thanks for sharing your experience.  I cant imagine all you have been through.  I hope to be on the Jade in February. I am flirting with a sail away rate too.

you are most welcome!

We were very lucky to be on the first chartered flight out, but our friends with 2 little kids and 2 elderly parents - not so much. They got off Jade at 9 am on Tuesday and spent all day waiting for a plane. They finally got back home on Wed afternoon. Their journey home was a lot more arduous.

Our OV cabin 5102 was pretty quiet at night, but in the evening it did have some kind of mechanical noise for a short time. We didn't hear any noise in the morning at all - I was afraid that being right under Alizar, we would hear noise from the staff getting ready for meals. Mom reported that her 8003 cabin was quiet. When I went to visit her, the rocking of the ship was pretty bad, though, but she didn't even need dramamine.

Day 3 dining

Mom and I ordered a Roasted Beet salad, Waldorf salad and White Cheddar potato soup. All three were very good, but we particularly liked the soup. Hubby ordered Minestrone soup and potato soup, and liked both.

Asian Spareribs were ok, but we only ordered them because we thought DS would like the spring vegetable roll. That vegetable roll was NOT something a regular 7 yo would have liked. It was a soft roll of unknown origins and didn't even look appetizing. Husband had one half and disliked the texture and taste, and I had the other half and liked it just fine.

For main course, husband and I ordered whole-roasted Sirloin with a baked potato. Both my husband's and my baked potatoes were raw and crunchy inside, which we reported to the waitress. The sirloin (we asked for medium) was perfectly medium, delicate and juicy. It was a sliced sirloin, not in a filet form. I asked for no gravy.

Mom and  my husband ordered Almond-crusted Trout. The trout was inedible - way too salty (even for my husband) and very dry. Mashed potatoes were barely edible.

I also ordered Bang Band Chicken and Shrimp - rice and shrimp were good, nice flavor, soft. Chicken was very dry.

We ordered Rigatoni Primavera with Pesto for our son, and all of us found it inedible. The flavor was bad, the pasta was too  hard.

For dessert we once again were delighted to order Warm Chocolate Lava cake. It was just as great as the first day. We also ordered Tiramisu, which was also great. It was flavorful and creamy. Some may say - too creamy, but we found it to be great.

That pretty much concludes my review. Did I mention that my husband and son both consumed untold amounts of soft serve ice cream on board? They loved it. The only complaint is that the ice cream was only served starting at 11:30 am, but both boys would have loved to start eating it at breakfast. :)

I wish we had a chance to complete this cruise, and get a lot more positive experiences. I am sure the islands would have been the greatest highlight of our journey, but alas - it was not to be. Maybe, next time.

19 minutes ago, 20165 said:

We ate at the MDR once given it took close to 3 hours to get through the courses.  My wife and I could handle it, but the kids got restless.

that's why we bring an ipad for the kiddo (he is 7) into MDR. Once he is done eating, he is on the pad, while we roll our eyes at the excruciatingly slow service. It was way over 2 hours on Jade to get a full meal served. Pretty ridiculous, I must say.

We also had the very first bad cabin attendant on NCL. This was our first NCL cruise. She also left us 2 towels for 3 people and it took forever to get another towel! And lotion. And body wash...  My mom's cabin attendant was great, though.

At least your cruise ship didn't break down on day 3 and had to evacuate everybody. So, yay!

Before I continue talking about food, I wanted to chime in about our general experience on the ship.

We only managed to have dinners at the Grand Pacific in the first 3 days. We had reservations at Alizar on other days, but never got to step foot in it (except for the "mustard grill", lol). It might be for the best, because the area in front of Alizar always smelled smoky, and I was afraid that inside Alizar  would smell the same. Our cabin was right under Alizar and we took the stairs a lot, so we ended up in front of that MDR quite a bit.

Grand Pacific didn't smell like smoke, and neither did the Theater.

Service in Grand Pacific was excruciatingly slow. The 3rd day was better - we had a waitress named Rami, and she didn't even have an assistant waiter, yet she managed to be quicker than our two previous waiters.

Our cabin attendant wasn't the best.... On our first night we discovered that we only had 2 towels for the 3 of us and we never got any lotion. Of course, our attendant was nowhere to be found. We called 00 several times, but nobody ever answered. I walked out and ran into somebody delivering room service and asked who else I could call about the towels. He gave me a number for General Housekeeping. 10 minutes later we had our towels. The next day our attendant left us 1 bottle of lotion.

Our body wash ran out on Sunday morning - she never refilled it. Called 00 again... They told us our cabin attendant would fill it during turn down service. It didn't happen. Had to call 00 again.... Some guy came over and refilled it about 10 minutes later.

She moved our stuff all the time, like taking our toothbrushes off the vanity and putting them into my cosmetics bag while she cleaned. Moved out clothing and pjs (they were on the table, so not in the way of her making the beds or cleaning the bathroom). We'd come back to the cabin to see our clothing, shoes, and personal items rearranged and moved elsewhere.

My mom's cabin attendant has been the exact opposite. Couldn't have found a better person to take care of her. The beds were moved as soon as we left a note for the attendant, and her fridge was unlocked right away. He went out of his way to make my mom feel taken care of. We left him a cash tip when we were running out of the ship.

Speaking of service, we were pleasantly surprised by staff walking around the pool deck, offering frozen juice packets and fruit kebabs on a stick. It was great! However, the waiters don't offer to get your drinks or refill them at the buffet like they do on Princess.

There were lifeguards on duty and plenty of child size life saving jackets on the pool deck. Something I don't ever remember seeing on Princess or RCI. My mom loved dancing on the deck (group dances) and the konga line. :) She also attended a couple of lessons or seminars in the morning. 

An unpleasant surprise was that the library had very limited hours when books could be checked out. On Princess the books are not locked, and anyone can walk in at any time and get a book. On Jade I was so surprised by the size of the library at a first glance, because there were plenty of books, but then I realized that they were all locked... 😞 I brought books with me, but I still love going to the ship's library and checking books out. Oh, and by the way, the library smelled like cigarette smoke as well. Pretty badly, I must say.

We found staff to be pleasant and helpful in general.

We all loved the Elements show. It was beautiful. However, a woman sitting in front of us "had bad calamari" and barfed all over the floor.

Oh, and my kid finally agreed to go to the kid's club! That only lasted 3 hours, but he had fun - they played active games on the basketball court. However, it was in the middle of the day, and the parents weren't quite informed that the kids would be outside in the sun for 2+ hours. I ran to our cabin to grab an SFP spray and a sun hat for DS. Our child burns extremely fast, being on a very fair side. Other kids were also complaining about being hot and getting headaches from being in the sun.

That was on the 2nd day of the cruise, and he refused to go back to the kid's club after that. But he did have fun! It's a start.

See, it's not all negative. We had some very positive experiences. :)

Oh, I forgot to say about the muster drill. My mom didn't go because she didn't realize she was supposed to, but they never checked the cabins or forced people to go at all.

14 hours ago, Nukeworker said:

 I give NCL credit for how they have compensated folks but I give them an F for communications. We have already turned our compensation into a 7 night voyage next weekend in an AFT BALCONY for very little extra.

I agree about the communications... All we've heard along the way was "sorry, we don't have any information for you" and "sorry, we don't work for NCL, and we have no info for you."

Not even what airport in Miami we were flying into. Once we board the charter plane, I was able to get that info from the airline crew, but not before that.

I looked into booking a NY cruise to still be able to sail this year, but it's twice as expensive, so I'd still have to pony up $2,400 on top of the future cruise credit. 😞

27 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

Oh, that makes so much sense. One has issues with flying so definitely do not use a ship. 

 

I know...

I have a friend whose mother is deathly afraid to fly. She moved to the States from Europe a couple of months ago, and she actually used a TA cruise to get to the States. 

if price is no concern, a Ride Safer vest may be a possibility.