Itchy&Scratchy

when we were on Caribbean Princess in 2016, the food off of children's menu was inedible. I don't know why. It truly was. I didn't believe my kiddo and had to take a bite to show him it was good, but none of the dishes were. We tried several.

Our waitress was so wonderful and she tirelessly brought out a dish after a dish, but eventually we settled on fruit salads, bread and ice cream for DS's dinners. Adult food was great, though.

He had no problems picking out foods at the buffet for lunch and breakfast.

I don't remember what savory bites are, but on our last RCI cruise in 2014 they had paprika cheddar bread in MDR. One night only. It was heavenly.

The tax free promo wasn't really much of a benefit. I booked our November cruise under the last one then, when the promo ended, noticed that prices dropped..

just for giggles, then, please.

I booked a Thanksgiving cruise at the beginning of Sep. The prices have falled by $200 so far, right after I booked it. I need to book the same cruise for my parents. Do I hold out until the Fall Flash sale is over in hopes that the price will drop some more, or should I go ahead and book it in the next day or two at the present price?

P.S. It's within 50 days now, and there appear to be plenty of inside cabins available.

I wonder why all these posters with terrible reviews of RCCL food waste their money cruising. I agree with fishbonz that the food on RCCL is more than acceptable.

 

I especially enjoy the Tutti salad for lunch in the MDR. The made to order pasta is a bonus.

well, we left RCI several years ago because their menus stayed the same for years and the quality and variety were declining. We went with Princess for better food and, truly, the food is so much better on Princess. However, we are now coming back to RCI because, while the Princess food is far superior to RCI's, the ships themselves don't offer much in terms of family activities and family friendly entertainment. So, this time we are trading better food in for activities/entertainment.

P.S. By food I only mean MDR and buffet food, and not specialty restaurants.

P.S.S. We LOVE cruising. Just because someone finds the food quality in decline doesn't mean that we don't love cruising.

Additionally, I get insurance through RCCL. Since the kids were free, they were covered under the Insurance Policy for no charge since there was no fare for their cabin, but it gave them medical and all the other items free!

Sailings from March 15 to Sept 1 are excluded.

 

Also it only includes sailings up until December 14th 2019..

not true. Allure sailing on March 31 2019 is included.

I got very lucky and on July 4th booked all three of us into an inside cabin for $1,600 total on that cruise. Right now there is only one inside cabin left and even with KSF promotion it's $2,500+.

What surfaces, the floor.

the nightstands, the table, the shelves, the lamp bases, the phone. Everything in the bathroom.

Everything that can be wiped, gets wiped.

And believe me, we aren't really germaphobes - we have two dogs that sleep in the bed with us, and drag lots of dirt and mud into the house, and we aren't afraid of regular dirt. But kids are so good at spreading the germs around... They cough, they sneeze, they wipe the snot on their friends, they puke, they don't wash their hands like ever....

DS did get sick on a cruise once, with a high fever and horrible cough, and if you are at home you just deal with it - it's just regular life, but when you are on a once a year vacation and you paid a ton of money to go to nice places, and now your kid is miserable and can't breathe, and y'all can't sleep at night, and you no longer care about going to a nice beach and just want to get a couple of hours of sleep - that's different. Being sick at home and being sick while cruising are two different animals. So, we take precautions - and there is nothing wrong with that. If you are trying to convince me that I am a fool for doing so - you are wasting your time.

No, I have a healthy immune system.

I thought so too, until my kid went to school and started bringing a whole lotta of germs, bugs, viruses and other crap from other kids home. I hadn't had any colds/flu/URI/etc. for years prior to that. Once he started school, I found out my immune system is not all that healthy after all.

we didn't until we started cruising with our then 3 yo. If an adult can be trusted not to put his hands in his mouth after touching a whole bunch of stuff and to wash his/her hands properly and often, a kid cannot.

So, now we use Lysol wipes on the plane and in the ship stateroom. And yes, the wipes turn totally black after I wipe the surfaces in the bathroom and in the cabin itself.

And for those who asked if we are afraid of noro... YES. We've had it, it's not fun, the kid was terrified of puking and dehydrated. Who would volunteer to have it?

Our friend was patient zero (noro) on one of the cruises and spent 5 days out of a 10 days in confinement in his cabin. I doubt that the cabin was properly disinfected after he disembarked.

I have recently purchased a sailing on Jade for Thanksgiving cruise for 3 of us. It was cheaper to get an inside guarantee Sail Away rate for all three of us than to pay extra for the inside guarantee cabin that included a perk of a free 3rd person. Same for the balcony - cheaper to get SailAway rate than the "perky" rate.

Always price both ways to see which is cheaper.

I just returned from the Jade Norwegian Fjord sailing and instantly rebooked next year on the Jade to the Greek Isles. In my opinion, the Jade food and entertainment is MUCH better than either RCCL or Princess --- and I was a travel agent for about 10 years. The Jade specialty dining is outstanding. When you book, you often get a few nights of specialty dining free and you also have a few choices of restaurants like Sports Bar and Jasmine that are totally free. The buffet at night was better than most I have experienced. The only issue we had was a little it of haphazard service in the main dining rooms (which we rarely went into) but this is due to the convenience of being able to walk in any time you want. We also rarely go in to watch "drab" cruise entertainment and I can say the Jade show "Elements" is the best I have seen on any ship. Our last 5 cruises have been NCL and this will continue.

Thanks, love2cruise!

We don't do specialty dining.

Are you comparing Jade's MDR and buffet food to Regal and Royal Princesses' MDR and buffet food?

I will get to compare them myself in about 50 days, but I do believe that Regal and Royal Princesses are superior in terms of food even compared to other Princess ships. Definitely better than MDR and buffet food on RCI ships. Someone on cc told me that Norwegian is right in the middle of the scale between RCI (lowest quality) and Princess (highest quality).

P.S. I am very excited to go on this cruise! Can't wait!

my vote is for Royal Caribbean. Family activities is the reason we are going with them again during the next spring break. Our 7 yo DS doesn't do kid's club.

OP,

 

You need to get out more.

 

There are visible armed police (or military) in many countries when you visit.

 

They are common, for example, in the tourist areas of Mexico, on the streets in Costa Rica, and yes, in Aruba last week.

 

There even were armed guards in Paris, France during one of our visits.

 

And even more frightening are those yoyos with gun permits in the USA....

amen.

Last November there were a ton of police armed with scary looking rifles at FLL airport. You'd think we were in some dangerous country or something.

P.S. That said, I will no longer disembark in Mexico.

Tense ride home.... I think that if I had been the wife I would have boarded and told him to pick me up in a week! :D

same here.

But I AM THE WIFE, so I pack the passports for the entire family and have all of them on me at any given moment. I am also the one who reminds her husband that his passport is expired and sends it off for renewal. I don't want a family vacation spoiled and that's why I ensure that everything is packed.

I was considering a 12:30 pm flight, but went for a later flight just in case. I was told I'd easily make the 12:30, but with my luck you just never know.

all three of us have passports, even though we never venture outside the US aside from cruising. You just never know when something may happen and you will find yourself in a different country with no means of getting home by air. Like a medical emergency.

I assume the connection is that room service is their preferred option for meals because of the mobility problem.

why even bother going on a cruise, if you can't venture out of your cabin so far as to get the food?

P.S. My dad went with us last year on his very first cruise ever. He was in pretty bad shape and could barely walk, but he went to the buffet and MDR nevertheless. If you go on a cruise only to spend the entire time inside your cabin due to immobility, why even bother???

But I do wonder if some who are not drinkers ordinarily, get on a ship and go nuts with the cocktails.

I still think you should have gone with Princess (Regal or Royal).

And no, I wouldn't spend $419 on these items.

Good price for a balcony with larger bath, unlimited alcohol drinks and 3 upscale restaurants included...

 

I haven’t seen that deal on any line recently..

 

Just checked, for kicks..next March, Allure..

 

SUMMARY

 

Ocean View Balcony

 

$3,358.00

2 Guests

 

Deck 14 Room 14578 Edit

 

View pricing by guest

 

BOGO50

-$840.00

Subtotal:

$2,518.00

Taxes & Fees

$219.70

TOTAL

$2,737.70

Minimum Deposit

$500.00

 

This is before drinks and any specialty meals....add at least $700 for drinks for two, and $100 or so for meals..

 

 

Now which is cheaper again? Again choices are good, but I don’t find other lines much cheaper, if at all...

MSC maybe, but I’ve read varying reviews of their ships...

 

you gotta catch a sale. On July 4th, I bought a 7 day Allure spring break 2019 for the 3 of us, inside cabin, for a total of $1,600 including tax. Since then the same cabin has been $3,000+ for 3 people.

I haven't cruised Carnival, but I understand they have smaller ships that might mean less children as they don't offer the amenities for kids that the larger ships offer.

that is not correct. Carnival is a very family-with-kids oriented cruise line. Just like RCI. But RCI is usually more expensive...

if you don't want to have a ton of kids on the cruise, don't go during school breaks. That includes summer.

Skip Carnival.

Princess and Celebrity are for older crowds... (for the record, we are in our early 40s, but with a 7 yo kiddo). Maybe, Holland as well.

RCI is great if you want activities onboard, but do go outside of school breaks.

For families with small children, I recommend Carnival or NCL. They will enjoy the splash park. The only thing RCCL offers small children is the carousel. The rock wall, zipline, flowrider - all AWESOME, but definitely for older kids.

DS's first cruise was on Independence of the Seas. He was 3. He had a blast, and since he was potty trained, he enjoyed their water playground very much.

So, the carousel is not the only thing they offer for small kids.

Not sure what else NCL offers, because it definitely doesn't compare to RCI's megaships in terms of free fun activities. We are going on NCL in 2 months, and Jade offers next to nothing compared to the Allure of the Seas.

SotS sounds pretty fab, but not +$3k fab. We're looking for a) nice cabin with balcony b) fitness center c) good food d) casino for wife e) absence of zillions of screaming kids :) So Oosterdam is starting to sound pretty good.

Food is so much better on Princess (Regal and Royal) as opposed to Royal Caribbean.

Since you chose to sail during the Thanksgiving school break, children will be present on all mainstream cruise lines.

thank you for letting us know. I can't stand smoke either.

Read elsewhere that libraries, where games usually stored, are being phased out. Why stock shelves with books that no one touches and employee "librarian" since most readers now carry their own bookstore on a Kindle.

I usually get a book from a cruise library on every cruise, and by the 2nd day there is nothing left at the library - so, somebody IS reading. There is never a librarian (on Princess or RCI ships).