Itchy&Scratchy

check out Family Cruising board for more family friendly ideas.

Our life saver is a tablet with downloaded cartoons, movies and games. We don't get internet onboard, so everything has to be downloaded prior to the trip. He uses it with the headphones. We have nice dinners in MDR with the best behaved kiddo - he doesn't have to get bored with adult conversations and we can stay and talk and enjoy food for a long as we want. DS doesn't do kid's club, so he is always with us. Whenever he gets bored with whatever we are doing that is not a family activity (cooking demonstration, happy hour, bingo), out comes the tablet to save the day.

We also bring a couple of small lego sets for him to play with.

For us, we chose the Jade because of the itinerary, because the 10-day aligned well with our schedules (which can't be counted on happening again), and because my daughter still had plenty of fun on the Pearl. We will miss not having Ocean Blue and Food Republic, and the Go Karts and water slides would have been fun, but our daughter sails FREE on the Jade, and we didn't feel those few things were worth having to pay her fare, given the other considerations. I am looking forward to the ports we've been to before, and to visiting three new ports. I think it's going to be a fantastic cruise...even more so because all the pieces seemed to fall into place in terms of schedule, cost, perks, etc. At the end of the day, how can you go wrong, either way. LOL

that's exactly why I am looking at Jade. DS will only miss one day of school - Monday, and the itinerary has interesting ports we haven't been to before. The price is reasonable (but not low).

It's interesting that if I choose the lowest guarantee inside stateroom and to pay for all three of us, the total is a little cheaper than if I were to choose a more expensive inside guarantee room with the 3rd person free perk.

To the poster above who asked about their 7 year old.... a 7 year old is unlikely to be able to do the Go Karts unless he's very tall. My 8.5 year old is tall at 55 inches and that was the height limit.

I still remember the time we were at some carnival and my then 4 yo DS was able to go on some ride due to being over the height limit, whereas some 6 yo was crying her eyes out because she was shorter than the height limit. Her mom was very upset and kept asking the attendant why he would let my 4 yo go on the ride, but not her 6 yo....

P.S. RCI has great FREE activities on their megaships. I don't understand it when you have to pay for go-carting and laser tag on Bliss. I just don't.

this is not the only issue we encountered on this trip, we incurred further issues on board the ship, with mistakes being made by NCL and encountered further issues disembarking the ship by NCL staff.

and what would that have to do with the jumper?

we usually sail to the Caribbean in November and April from Ft Lauderdale, and we can never get into the pools onboard. The water is always freezing.

Luckily, my 7 yo kid LOVES hot tubs, so he is in a hot tub a lot. He's been cruising since he was 3.

thanks, xriva!

There are 3 sea days and 6 port days on that itinerary, as opposed to Getaway, sailing at the same time for 7 days, also with 3 sea days, for more $$$.

I think I am starting to seriously like this Jade sailing. I'll be making my decision in a couple of days - waiting for Princess to drop their prices drastically after final payment day, or Jade it is. :)

I just went through this same decision, Jade vs Bliss, sailing with a 7 year old. I cancelled the Bliss and went with the Jade. I hope I made the right choice. LOL

I am considering the same Jade cruise on Nov 16, also with a 7 yo kiddo. :)

Just curious why doesn’t your kiddo do kid clubs? We were not impressed with RCI kid club years ago but DD loved kid club on NCL (granted she is older now , she is 6).

Does Princess offer kid clubs?

Princess has WONDERFUL kid's clubs, but our DS has a bit of a stranger and separation anxiety, which is getting better with age.

He didn't even want to stay in the kid's club with our friends' kids, who are his friends as well. They, on the other hand, absolutely love Princess kid's club and find it to be the best.

Oh, well, we make the best of it. :)

Coming from someone looking to go the other way (was on the Getaway twice, first time was my first cruise and I was amazed by everything, second time I wanted to find a smaller ship), we were booked on the Gem for last November (sister ship to the Jade) mainly because it was a little smaller, I liked the idea of the great outdoors...

 

Unfortunately, our cruise was cancelled at the last minute due to azipod issues. We quickly were able to book on an absolutely FANTASTIC deal w/ the Coral Princess to Panama Canal and.... we loved the itinerary but it felt like it went too far the other way. No kids, filled with old people, ship was sleepy after 8 PM....

 

I understand what you're going through though. I'd love to have a smaller ship w/ some of the amenities of the bigger ships (rope course, we did fall in love with Movies Under the Stars on Princess..., mini golf) but go to more interesting destinations.

 

I don't think any of this actually helps you but maybe will provide some additional color.

had to google azipod issues. :) I thought it was an infection of some sort. LOL.

Caribbean Princess also experienced propulsion issues, as a matter of fact.

The size of the ship doesn't really matter to us, as much as a combination of price, food, destinations and age of the ship.

It is nice to have RCI type of activities onboard? Oh, yes.

Or the fabulous FREE on demand movie program Regal Princess has? Yes.

Does that alone overthrow the rest of the factors? Nope.

P.S. Since we can only sail during school breaks, there are always hundreds of kids onboard. In November of 2016 we were unable to join our friends on Regal Princess, because Regal Princess was no longer taking any passengers between the ages of 4 and 8. So, we very unexpectedly found ourselves sailing on Caribbean Princess, which is a smaller, older ship, but like I said above - we absolutely, head over hills, fell in love with Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. And that totally made up for any shortcomings an older, smaller ship may have.

Have you thought about a Disney?

Can't afford that. We can sail on 2-3 cruises on Princess, RCI or NCL for the price of one Disney cruise.

We are very frugal. Plus, kiddo doesn't care for Disney all that much anyway. Neither do we, to be honest.

Thank you, MaryZ and Paul!

It's all about compromising, and so far I think this particular sailing on Jade would be a good fit for us. Fun and new places to go, good food, acceptable price - it all balances out to create a positive experience.

NCL offers a better buffet and specialty dinning than RCI. (in our opinion) We don't find much difference in the main dining room offerings.

 

We sailed on Jade as well as sister ships Pearl and Gem. We really like these ships as they are less crowded. However I think they will not work for your little one if the kid's club is out. There really are not many activities for kids of that age outside of the club. In fact IIRC when we sailed Jade in March 2016 the ship didn't have a water slide. To be honest, after sailing Allure I think your kiddo will be very disappointed.

thanks! We would be sailing on NCL Jade BEFORE the Allure. :) The other option for Thanksgiving is a 7 day cruise on Royal Princess, but inside cabins have not been available for several months now, so the price is quite a bit higher.

DS has already been on the Independence of the Seas, but doesn't remember much of it and has never been on a water slide before. DS is pretty happy with whatever as long as he has his tablet with him and as long as the ship has cookies and soft serve (which Jade does), but I want more family activities than Princess offers (which are pretty much NONE) and less time on electronic devices.

But I think Jade sailing wins because of the destinations. We once went on Caribbean Princess - it was pretty boring and rainy on sea days, but the ABC islands itinerary fully made up for the boredom on sea days.

I would say - Food better but its more an adult ship

 

It does depend on the Itin - which you haven't mentioned

the itinerary is fun and long - most of the places we haven't been to before and all beach oriented - and that's what we are into:

EMBARK Miami (Florida); San Juan (Puerto Rico); St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands); Basseterre (St. Kitts); Bridgetown(Barbados); Castries (St. Lucia); Philipsburg (St. Maarten); DISEMBARK

10 DAYS

I like the itinerary quite a bit.

We've previously sailed on Princess and RCI only. We are looking for a November '18 cruise with a 7 yo kiddo. Here is some more information on us:

We've been very happy with the family activities RCI offers, but became increasingly bored with the food offerings in MDR (the menu hadn't changed during our 4 cruises from 2009 to 2014). We will be going on Allure next year and we are looking forward to it very much, mostly because it's a "floating resort with tons of family activities".

We were very happy about the food on Princess, but unhappy about the lack of family activities onboard. Our kiddo doesn't do kid's club, so we would like to have something to do onboard that would include a 7 yo kid and be interesting. Let's say he wasn't interested in bingo or happy hour or cooking demonstrations on Princess. There is nothing else to do on Princess. Also, we are limited to school breaks and Princess keeps offering the same very boring destinations (read Falmouth, Jamaica and Cozumel) which we don't like anymore. We would still cruise on Royal or Regal Princess if the prices are right and the destinations are attractive.

I saw an interesting itinerary during a school break on Jade and it's cheaper than Princess or RCI during the same break. I have read several reviews about Jade on cc to familiarize myself with the ship offerings, but haven't quite formed an opinion on whether the ship itself would be the right fit for us.

Food is very subjective and half the reviews were fine with it, and half said it was blah. If we make a scale with the RCI's food being at the bottom and Princess food being at the top, where would you rate Jade's MDR food?

My DH needs a clean ship due to his respiratory allergies. Is Jade well taken care of in that regard?

I'd like to have family oriented activities with the kiddo outside of kid's club.

What do you think? Before I spend $2K on the cruise and more $$ on the flights...

Balcony cabins on Princess do not have a couch. It will be very uncomfortable to have 4 people in the small balcony cabins, as suggested a mini suite is the way to go.

Deluxe Balcony cabins on Royal and Regal princess have a sofa bed. It was actually more comfortable than their regular single beds.

I can't imagine 4 in a balcony. Blech. I agree that a mini-suite is a far better solution.

my friends always get a regular balcony room with 2 of their kids. The kids are 9 and 12 now.

I mentioned a deluxe balcony room being more spacious, but she isn't not budging. :)

Deluxe balcony, only on Royal Class ships, - Believe, not certain, the configuration is similar to the mini suites, but access to the balcony is blocked when 3rd and 4th berths are in use..

We were in a Deluxe Obstructed cabin on Emerald deck. I slept on the single sofa bed and could access the balcony by simply swinging my legs to the other side of the bed. It's not blocked.

As a mother and a wife, I just want to say that sharing a cruise cabin with my MIL doesn't seem like such a great present for my Mother's day...

Add to that two toddlers and it just make become a....

When we invited my parents on a cruise with us, there wasn't a single doubt about it - they'd be in a separate cabin. Same goes for the mother-in-law. She would be in a separate cabin.

Upon returning to the US, everybody goes through the same line - it's not like the airport. At least at the FLL port.

The immigration is after you exit.

We’ve never even considered taking the train (although we used to take the AutoTrain to Disney with the kids)

I once priced Amtrak instead of flying from ATL to FLL, and it was outrageous. It's not a "non-stop" trip and goes through DC, costs more than flying, and takes 2 days each way.

No, thank you.

are we allowed to discuss actual prices or what we paid for a certain cruise?

totally.

I paid $1,600 for next year's cruise on Allure for the 3 of us, using Kids Sale Free perk and BOGO50%. Inside cabin. The sale was over July 4, 2018.

I also bought RCI insurance, but the kid's insurance wasn't free, so I don't know how PP got free insurance for kids.

Right now the total is $2,887 for the same cruise, even with KSF.

Allure.

And right now RCI is running Kids Sail Free promotion (with lots of blackout dates, of course).

our life saver has always been a table with games, movies and cartoons (downloaded beforehand).

I don't have the programs, but my friends have sailed extensively on plenty of cruiselines, and their kids have been sailing and doing kid's club since they were 3 (they are 9 and 12 now), and by FAR, their favorite kid's club is on Princess. Still is.

we started cruising with DS when he was 3. He doesn't do kid's club at all (separation and stranger anxiety, which is getting better with age and experience). So, he hangs with us and does everything we do - we watch the land disappear, and so does he. He literally tags along to everything: shows, bingo, happy hour, galley tour, cooking demonstrations, etc. He is not interested in a lot of them, but if we want do to something together (DH and I), DS has no choice but to go with us.

Our saving grace has been a tablet with cartoons, games and movies. If he gets bored, he just fishes it out and watches/plays (with headphones). He's been called the best behaved kid in the MDR by many a neighbor.

A disclaimer: the last 3 cruises with DS have been on Princess, which is awfully boring, if the kid doesn't go to kid's club. Princess ships offer very little in terms of family with kids fun. When we sailed on RCI's Independence, we didn't have that problem. You shouldn't have this problem on Carnival either - I do believe Carnival is a lot more oriented toward families with kids and offers different activities.

Dropped the pupper off at MIL’s. I’m not crying, you’re crying. [emoji24]

 

Bella is very beautiful!