moneyman702

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Not really.  The CDC requires a significantly higher chlorine concentration, and continual monitoring and continual dosing of chlorine to reflect changes in body load in the pool than most land based pools, and certainly home pools.  Chlorine is the main agent fighting against infections from pool water.

Ahhh. I stand corrected. Regardless, I'm agreeing with your rebuttal of the "giant toilet" argument. 

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

 

Since they are designed by the CDC as part of the VSP (Vessel Sanitation Program), they are far from "toilets".  There are very definite design and operational requirements to keep the splash area safe.  First, there is a crew member assigned, whose only duty is to supervise the splash area, and close it down whenever a problem happens.  There is no more than 2" of standing water, and will immediately drain if shut down due to a "fecal incident".  The water has a higher turnover rate (how many times it is filtered per hour) than other water facilities on the ship, and has a UV sterilizer that the water passes through while being filtered and chlorinated.  The pool supervisor is also to ensure that parents change their children frequently, there is a changing station nearby, and the ship has a supply of  swim diapers available.

 

The CDC did a study of land based public pools in the US a few years back, applying the requirements of the VSP that cruise ships use to these land pools (where they have no jurisdiction), and found that 70% of them would be in violation, and over 60% would be closed down immediately.  When it came to swim diaper splash areas, over 80% of these land facilities would be closed down immediately for contamination.

 

Right! I believe they also regularly drain these areas and refill them due to how small of a volume of water they require conpared to other pools, and the obvious concerns they mitigate as best as they can.

I'll just throw it out there: humans are kind of subconsciously gross, and children are worse. There is some inherent assumption of risk of getting sick when it comes to grossness in anything we do, and particularly boarding a vessel with thousands of other humans.

If these pads with all their special filtration were an issue, the CDC wouldn't let them fly. Thanks for posting the information I didn't have the time to find. The main pools don't circulate and clean water nearly as much, so you are primarily relying on the solution to pollution being dilution, and nobody loses any sleep there. 

As somebody who is more than acutely observant of other folks nasty habits, I could probably easily list 10 other things that are far grosser for my money than this. I'll stop short of calling myself a germaphobe, but I sanitize and clean more than most folks do. 

26 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

Thank God they don't.  Sounds like a disease breeding center.  If someone does not mind their kid swimming in the toilet then by all means let them swim in the toilet in their cabin.

They are splash pads, not pools, and have their own filtration separate from the other pools and water features. I'm sure there is plenty of nastiness from adults and potty trained children in the regular pools, too. 

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

The only ships that have water facilities for non-potty trained children are the Disney ships, and the RCI Oasis, Quantum, Freedom, and some Voyager class ships.  No other lines have invested in these areas.

That is what I had read. Looks like I'll be going for either Oasis or Quantum Class then. We were on Independence in December 2019 and didn't love it. I've heard that Navigator may also have something after her refurb/amplification a couple years ago, but nothing definitive. We loved Mariner, which makes it seem so strange that we didn't like Indy considering Freedom class is essentially Voyager Class on steroids. 

We were supposed to be on NCL Encore this past October, but we all know what happened there. We will definitely be looking to sail NCL once little man is a bit older and can enjoy it a bit more. DCL and RCI win for now. 

Thanks for your help. 

54 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

There is no information on the facilities because they don't exist on NCL. 

Thanks for the clarification. Looks like NCL is out for now. Back to RCI. 

6 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Not that I know of. 

Fair enough. The more I dig into it, the more it sounds like these areas aren't separately filtered. DCL is really the only line that is good about making the information on this readily available. 

28 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You will need to have your 20 month-old potty trained if they are going to use any of the facilities (#8 on the Rules).

 

I understand that about the Aqua Park in general. I was under the impression that several newer ships had an area (possibly in the same general area of the ship) that is separately filtered for younger children in swim diapers. This is definitely the case on several newer RCI ships, but as is the case with RCI, you cannot find definitive info on this anywhere. MSC also apparently has some ships with baby splash pads that are separately filtered and comply with the CDC VSP. 

I have seen photos and other posts from folks mentioning this area does indeed exist on at least Getaway, Breakaway and Epic. 

Hello All,

My wife and I are considering a cruise sometime next spring or summer, but this will be the first time we ever cruise with a little one. Our son will be 16-20 months based on the window I'm looking at. 

I'm well aware that babies who aren't fully potty trained are not allowed in the pools, and neither are swim diapers. However, much like RCI, I understand that some of the newer ships have splash pads specifically for younger kids who aren't potty trained or who are in swim diapers. Can anybody give me a list of those NCL ships?

Our decision definitely still hinges on what the COVID situation is at the time, so this is still a bit of a pipe dream. 

Just now, DCGuy64 said:

From your lips to MSC’s ears! 😁

I can be optimistic.  Hahaha. 

Sorry if this has been asked 100 times before, but I wasn't able to find a thread that specifically addressed this by the thread title/name.

9 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

MSC is different, you pay the full amount of the drink, not the difference in price (unlike some other lines). 

Thank you, DCGuy.  Maybe they'll look into changing that someday.

Does anybody know if MSC allows you to pay the difference on drinks over $6.00?  I know that Royal Caribbean allows you to simply pay the difference on any drink over $12.00-13.00 with their package.

I haven't been able to find a definitive answer to this question online, and the MSC Customer Service Representative I spoke to after a 20 minute hold was no help either.

Pretty much all Royal ships with the exception of Empress and I believe now Mariner have formal nights regardless of the number of nights. It’s usually on night 2 for the shorter cruises.

With regards to Mariner, the formal night on night 2 has been replaced by the "Wear your Best" night.

Go with SW...you can easily make the 10:15 flight if you do self disembark by 7:30...we do it all the time for a 9:55 flight.

 

Happy cruising!

It is tempting. The trouble is, booking Enchantment or Mariner after Serenade creates a bit of a SNAFU with our airfare. I will almost certainly book with Southwest due to baggage being gone for 11 nights. If we book after Serenade, we would be flying back home on April 8th, and bookings through SWA are currently only open until April 7th.

Thank you for the reply!

Traffic will add a bit onto your travel times. If you disembark in Fort Lauderdale at 8:30, I expect a realistic departure time from the rental car facility would be about 9, especially if one is already registered with the rental car company and it’s pretty much drop and go. 3 hours is a bit optimistic and doesnt allow for any time to stop for a quick break. I would give at least 3:30. You also want to budget 30 minutes on the Canaveral end to drop the car, giving a transit time of 4 hours.

 

There isn’t a really good plan B if the roads are jammed up. Depending on where the jam is, you could easily be delayed 45 minutes or more.

Then again, just for kicks, I checked Southwest Airlines and a one-way flight from FLL to MCO at 10:15 AM on disembarkation day is $63 per person, so $126 total for the 2 of us. That comes out to around $30 more than what the rental car would be, and it arrives at least an hour ahead of what I would by ground. :')

Traffic will add a bit onto your travel times. If you disembark in Fort Lauderdale at 8:30, I expect a realistic departure time from the rental car facility would be about 9, especially if one is already registered with the rental car company and it’s pretty much drop and go. 3 hours is a bit optimistic and doesnt allow for any time to stop for a quick break. I would give at least 3:30. You also want to budget 30 minutes on the Canaveral end to drop the car, giving a transit time of 4 hours.

 

There isn’t a really good plan B if the roads are jammed up. Depending on where the jam is, you could easily be delayed 45 minutes or more.

I had tallied up some of the time in my mind like you just said. IF we do this, I would have the rental car booked in advance for a quick pickup, and get on the road as soon as possible. Accounting for transit times, picking up the cars, etc., my best case scenario for arrival would be around 1:00 PM at the terminal, with 1:30 PM being more realistic. That isn't optimal in my mind by any means, but I would be more willing to take that chance after disembarking Serenade, which actually makes more sense for our schedule and return home anyway.

Thank you for your insight as well.

Travel time between the two is more in the 3 1/2-4hr range. Also consider you will be traveling during rush hour as these are both work days. One bad accident and you could be tied up a while!!

 

I have been on the Enchantment and while it is fine....for me personally I would never choose it over the freshly refurbished Mariner.

Thank you for the reply. The 3 hour range being more along what you described is kind of what I was guessing you would say.

As for the Enchantment vs. Mariner topic, I don't entirely disagree with you, but we have never been on a Vision Class ship. Mariner is by no means out of the equation, as it will logistically make much more sense, and we absolutely loved our time on it. We may ultimately decide just to stick with our original 11 nights without any added time, too.

All,

My wife and I are currently booked for an 11 night cruise on Serenade of the Seas in March 2019, leaving from Port Everglades. To extend our vacation a bit, I have considered tacking on a 3 night cruise on Enchantment of the Seas out of Port Canaveral either before or after our cruise on Serenade.

If we opt to book on Enchantment before Serenade, we will disembark from Port Everglades on Monday, March 25th, and all aboard from Port Everglades on Serenade is 4:00 PM the same day. If we choose to book after our cruise on Serenade, we will disembark on Friday morning and embark Enchantment in Port Canaveral that afternoon.

I see that according to Waze and Google Maps that this is about a 3 hour drive between Port Everglades and Port Canaveral. We would walk off with our luggage on the first leg, rent a car, and travel to the next port.

Also, just to point this out before anybody else says it, I know that Mariner of the Seas operates on the same schedule as Enchantment out of Miami, is much closer, newly refurbished, etc. We have already been on her following the refurbishment and absolutely loved the ship, but we were wanting to consider something different.

All of that setup leads me to the real meat and potatoes of my post: Is disembarking one ship, renting a car, traveling 3 hours under normal traffic conditions, dropping the car off, and embarking on another ship a feasible endeavor, assuming we are off the ship by around 8:00-8:30 AM?