Itchy&Scratchy

The OP has already mentioned she is Australian so quoting US land prices aren't really relevant. Prices are higher here.

I am sure the prices will be much higher onboard, no matter where she sails from.

Did you do a RCCL excursion in GC? Or a private one. Curios as to the tendering process for ships excursions vs private ones.

Thanks

Laurie

 

 

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Private. I think the company was called "Captain Dave's", but there are so many of them. They waited for us at the port, a short walk to the office where the minivans were parked, and then a short drive to the boat.

They also offered a free call home from the office upon completion of the excursion... That was about 4-5 years ago, and no free wifi was available in port.

5 pm is fine. We fly out of FLL at 5 pm because it's the most reasonably priced flight. We just hang out at the airport, there are charging stations for tablets and phones, free wifi, we get a meal..

Granted, we don't fly too far, the flight is only 1.5 hours, but hubby doesn't want to drive for 10 hours.

Last year this 5 pm flight was a blessing, because while we usually get off the ship around 9-10 am, last year there was some kind of a customs problem and we didn't get off the ship until after noon. We got to the airport at 1 pm, the line to drop off the bags (we checked in online) was over an hour long, then security... by the time we finally got lunch and got to the gate, we only had a bit of time left.

1) For us personally Princess offers much better pricing. Our first three cruises were on RCCL and we got very nice rates. In the last few years RCCL prices have become rather unreasonable, while we caught $99 kid sale or even a $1 kid sale on Princess. Plus, the prices themselves are reasonable.

2) On Regal and Royal the free on-demand movies rocks. Totally indispensable when you have a 7 yo kid who will not attend the kid's program.

3) the best kid's program according to our friends with 2 kids.

4) Regal and Royal Princess offer a fantastic buffet including desserts. Caribbean Princess - just an average buffet. MDR food all three is fantastic and much better than RCCL. Actually the main reason we switched from RCCL to Princess was better food. I am a food addict.

Cons for us personally: it's a more subdued relaxed atmosphere geared towards relaxing adults. RCCL offers a lot more physically engaging activities like skating rinks, flowrider, rockclimbing, minigolf, etc. Aside from a terrific kid's program (which my kid will not attend) and pooltime, there is very little to do on the Princess ship with the kid, especially if it's a rainy sea day. Literally NOTHING to do, but watch TV.

But that doesn't stop us from sailing with Princess. Especially, since the food is great and the prices are acceptable.

ETA on another con: we are limited to school breaks now, and I found that Princess offers abysmal itinerary choices during school breaks, so we are sort of forced to go to the same destinations, some of which we don't like.

Give them ice skating and hockey lessons or soccer or basketball very young and keep it up...then by age 16/17 they will be in demand private coaches/instructors at $$$$. Ditto for tennis and swimming. Added bonus they can be lifeguards ....extremely flexible schedules which allows them to earn elsewhere

in Belize we loved a cave tubing excursion through http://www.coralbreezetours.com/

They were cheaper and better than the cruise excursion.

As we cruise more in this day and age we are finding out that most of the big lines like RCCL and Princess are becoming nickel and dime outfits with the number crunchers winning the battle. MSC is family owned and makes billions from their shipping line, everything is priced fairly on MSC ships and they are not stingy with their passengers.

Yes, MSC charges for water in the main dining room, bars and lounges; but there is a free water and ice dispenser in the buffet.

totally unexpected. I don't think my family would be a fan.

we don't cruise between May and November mostly for the hurricane reasons.

We did cruise in April a couple of times, and the last time (2016) we got rain, rain and more rain. No fun.

you pay for water at your table

That is a shame as they have so much to offer:

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Discover-MSC/Family-Cruises.aspx

Hopefully one day you will find one that suits your needs. :)

every time I try to book one, all the 3 person cabins are sold out. ALL THE TIME.

when DS was younger (4-5), we brought some snacks and real breakfast foods off the ship, like hard boiled eggs, croissants, bread with butter, pastries, sausage, etc. in Ziplock/Glad containers for him. Most of it ended up in the trash. We brought it because our friends brought lots of food from the ship for their kids, but their kids were not very good eaters and, therefore, needed a lot of snacks between meals.

When he was 6-7, we realized that all he needed was a couple of boxes of Fruit Loops when we were at the beach. He isn't much of a snacker between meals. He had breakfast, we went to the beach/excursion, he had a box or two of Fruit Loops and then we came back onboard about 2-4 pm, and DS then got a lunch. Perhaps, this will work for you, OP, as well. Something that your DS likes and is portable.

I know Princess offers terrific casino rates to some people who dabble... However, my friend's mom spends a lot of her time in a casino onboard, and not once did she get an offer of a casino rate.

I think land prices are much lower than cruise prices for such services.

I get my deluxe pedi ($27) and regular mani ($10) done before the cruise.

We can never catch one of those MSC cruises...

What we do is catch Princess sales for $99 per 3rd and 4th passengers. So far we have only sailed out of FLL.

Royal Caribbean used to be very reasonable years ago and we even got a "kids free" cruise one, but in the last several years the prices even for the 1st and 2nd person are unreasonable, and even higher for the 3rd and 4th.

just to sum it up: if you want to spend the entire day floating in waist deep water - Bonaire Lac Bay. Oh, it was heaven for all three of us! I want to go back so bad.

If you are into snorkeling and an uninhabited island vibe - you stop at Bonaire, but take a trip to Kleine Bonaire island. No facilities, totally wild apparently, but great snorkeling.

I don't know about the deluxe balcony sofa. That sofa is shorter so perhaps it does pull out. If so then I think it makes it impossible to get to the balcony if the bed is out.

I am 5'6 and had plenty of space to stretch out. If you sit on the bed and swing your legs to the other side, you will be able to open the balcony door and get out onto the balcony. Which I did a lot.

We prefer to sail from NY/NJ and Princess doesn’t offer sailings until May from up here. But thank you for the suggestion!

we prefer Florida ports, because most of them have a direct short flight from/to ATL.

Alas, now that the kid is school age, we are limited to school breaks. Otherwise, we'd go at the beginning of December when the prices are the lowest.

granted, we are limited in our choices and haven't been to many destinations, but I must say Bonaire and Aruba beaches and water are our favorites. Aruba was very prim and proper and "civilized" so to say, and Bonaire was a total opposite, but it awed us with its natural beauty (Luc/Lac Bay). They are usually referred to as ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). We picked a so-so beach in Curacao, so we weren't impressed.

I would 100% skip Cozumel. Been there twice. Next time we won't even come ashore.

Would also skip Falmouth, Jamaica. You can accomplish/see a lot more if you go to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, but it's still not one of my favorite destinations.

In Belize we loved a cave tubing adventure (not through a cruise vendor, though).

Beaches in Grand Cayman Island were nice, but what we really loved was a Stingray City + snorkeling excursion.

Labadee private island in Haiti, is lovely and nice. Also has a zipline ($100+) for adventurers.

I'd also consider cruises on Princess out of FLL/NY. We always pay no more than $2K for the 3 of us on Princess - we wait for the $99 sale for the 3/4 passenger.

I too would have taken Carnival out of the three above and used the difference on another trip. We love cruising! And so does our kiddo who started cruising a couple of months short of his 4th birthday. He, however, does not go to kid's clubs - not because he doesn't like them (they are fabulous on Princess and our friends' kids love going from morning till night), but because he has separation anxiety.

I slept on that bed for a week last year. We had a deluxe balcony cabin. I actually liked the sofa bed a lot more than the standard Regal beds since it was a little softer. DH and DS slept on the regular beds.

It was a tight fit as it was touching the chair in front of the desk when it was unfolded, but we didn't have a problem with it not fitting when opened.

In the morning I didn't wait for the steward to come in and fold it back in, so I did it myself. He unfolded it in the evening.

Now I am totally aiming to get a deluxe balcony cabin again, because I really liked the sofa bed instead of having the bed come out of a ceiling.

I must have upset the Princess gods as the S'n'S is not showing up when I am looking first at the cruises I have booked and then at any cruise to find out what is being offered. :confused:

I must have as well, since I don't even see S&S on the Princess website.

since we are limited to school breaks and Princess itineraries doesn't actually shine in the choice of ports during said school breaks, we are simply forced to repeat cruises..

Which is very said when the destinations are limited to princess cays, Falmouth and Cozumel...

We got very lucky back in 2016 because the Spring break itinerary included ABC islands instead of Cozumel, Falmouth and Princess Cays.

You planted yourself smack dab in the middle of the deck 11 smoking section:

 

 

so, what you are saying that a non-smoker is not allowed to use a loveseat in the middle of a smoking section? and if a non-smoker is using a loveseat in the middle of the smoking section, he or she must yield to a smoker and share said loveseat with a stranger?

I apologize for my unintended choice of words and for making you feel saddened.

my interpretation was that she/he was saddened by the response to your post. Not by your post. I sure hope so.