Athankfulheart

We have left our children home many times. We do like to leave something fun for each day after school and chores are done ( we homeschool and continuing school work during our absence helps pass the time). We make up bags with treats, a DVD, game or puzzle. We usually do something fun the morning that we leave ( before they wake up).

One cruise the movie Despicable Me had just come out. We left the makings of a " shrunken breakfast" along with a printed and colored stand-up of Vector and the shrink ray. There was a tiny frying pan, spatula, small eggs, mini bananas, cocktail bread ( for toast). They loved this one.

Another cruise we took washable markers and drew messages for them all over the fronts of our white appliances. They enjoyed them and left them up until the day we got home, when they went on a cleaning binge :)

Others have given good advice about paperwork and such.

Our first two cruises we had family members stay with our children, but after that, our children stayed together with the oldest in charge. I believe that the first time our oldest were 18 and 17. My husband and I have cruised 5 times, with 2 of them including our children.

We've been in 11240 recently and the only noise issue we had was a screaming baby in 11236 ( every night ). Also, it was very windy during our cruise and the latch mechanism on the divider between those two balconies rattled and banged quite a bit. I guess its understandable in gale force winds. 11240 is a 2 person room on the deck map and we stayed there with just 2 of us.

My boys stayed in 11224 and said they heard the occasional noise but wouldn't call the cabin "noisy". My girls were in 11223 and had a quiet cabin.

I originally booked 11222 to be across from my boys. After realizing it was not only under the gym ( I knew when I booked but *had to be across from 11224), but also had a connecting cabin I became a bit concerned. After reading a review of this cabin here at CC, both of my concerns were validated and we decided that being a few doors from the boys would be fine and we moved to 11240.

Thank you so much cruise life. that was really helpful, and it's good to know about the weight room right above deck 11, port. i haven't been on the dream before so I'm unfamiliar with the deck plans. Do you know what's above deck 11, starboard side? the only spa rooms left on panorama are forward, very front of the boat (rooms 11209, 11225, 11237 & 11243). the higher numbers look like they're close to stairs and an elevator bank, so i'm thinking they might get more traffic/noise. But I can't tell if there are rooms above those or if it's part of the spa above.

 

I think you've got me sold on deck 11, starboard. Now it's just a matter of which forward room!

I don't think that you could go wrong with 11237 or 11243.

We have also stayed recently in 11240 and our girls were over in 11223 ( boys near us in 11224). With either 237 or 243 you would have cabins above and that gives you minimal noise risk.11237 is the same distance from the elevators as 11240 and we never heard any noise from that area. In general this whole area was quiet. We had a screaming baby one cabin fwd of us on our sailing which was miserable at times, but I would definitely stay up here again. If I had the choice though, I would not book next to a quad. Just incase! LOL With that in mind, I would have to lean towards 11243 if I were you :o

We also loved 6479 on a previous Dream sailing. We never found the promenade below to be a problem. People just didn't stop and congregate there. Also had no problems with noise from the lounge. The location in the corridor is ideal and very very peaceful.

We use zip ties to keep our stuff in and other peoples stuff out. I tighten them completely and its not easy or quick to remove ( we use a nail clipper). I figure that would encourage a criminal to move on to the next bag. We don't pack valuables in our checked bags, but it matters to me that nobody is rifling through our personal items. Its also important to me to make sure that nothing is planted in our bags. It may not be perfect, but it reduces the risk of troubles.

We had a large group of kids on the Dream recently and our system worked well. We asked our kids what their plans were and then they updated us by either finding us or leaving a message on our phone. As it turned out, they all traveled in family groups with the exception of our 13yo who was the odd one out age wise. She made some great friends at Circle C and wanted to spend time there. She had different rules because she would often be without her siblings. She had to be in the club or at an activity that was at a stated location. We allowed her to walk in public areas alone during the day, but after dinner she had to travel with a sibling. This worked out fine since her older brothers didn't love the teen club and had the time to pick her up at night. There wasn't a single time that we needed to find someone but couldn't, even on such a large/populated ship. Its a good idea to check your messages every once in a while when your kids are in camp, since that was the only way that they had to get ahold of us. We were called once by our 10yo who had a brief bout of seasickness due to very rough seas. We picked her up and took her to a friends cabin on deck 2, one green apple and 15min later she was ready to go back and play with her friends.

With the agent I mentioned I have always booked my cruise, made all the changes I wanted directly until just before final payment date then I switched to him for OBC. At that point I am unlikely to need him to do anything, it is a win/win for both of us. I have gotten as much as $550 OBC. When I booked this one he told me he didn't do that with Carnival, maybe that was the reason.

I have a family member who is a TA so I try to give her the business, but it does have its frustrations. From recent experience I can tell you that the 30 days to transfer is correct and also if its beyond final payment it was either 24 or 48 hours ( sorry, it escapes my memory). I wish it was more generous, because I prefer to have control over my bookings, especially early saver ones. I don't know a lot about commissions, but I do know that the commission on a $1900 booking was only $111 because the wrong confirmation was fwd to me by accident. I could see why a TA can't afford to give perks for Carnival bookings :(

I don't really care about the concerts, but it would be nice to have a later day in Cozumel. I would love to go back to Xcaret without having to do a land vacation. Ship in port til 1am would make for a great day there including the night shows.

There may have been some recent changes. I was also aware of the 16yo and up rule, but we have DMV IDs for all of our children so I wasn't too concerned. When we checked in for our 1/4/14 sailing I was asked for a photo ID for my 13yo ( 16,18,20 and 21) but NOT my 10,8, and 7yos. I was surprised that she asked for it, but I did not ask why. Now I wish that I had. The information that you received over the phone is probably what will be expected of you at the pier. I would get the ID.

Just back from the Dream , avoided Carnival last year because of the cut backs ,ect Gave them one more try , We were really surprised at the changes we saw . Very fast boarding ,at about 11:30 , went straight to cabin to drop off carry on's . Headed to buffet , This was the only day it was really crowded , People just sitting around after they had all ready ate. Mid 70's to 80 for sail away , Great sail away party , We did anytime dining , This was the worst part of the trip , Always a wait line ,one night line was all the way into the show lounge . Do it again we would do traditional dining.

Music one word WOW ,it was great , On lido deck outside , Early morning shows like the Honey Mooners were shown , About 11-12 DJ ,Sir Charles , the best I have seen on Carnival played 50's 60's 70's Music , Jimmy Buffett , Zac Brown , Toby Keith { Red Solo Cup} ,Bob Marley , ect NO rap , techno , ect was heard , Later after DJ a guitar soloist played , Songs like Sweet Caroline , Brown Eyed Girl , A lot of sing along music .This was done everyday .

Shows were all new to us They had a 7 piece band , ,Easy to get good seats. Bob in the piano bar was very good , His saying everybody yelled when someone new walked into piano bar was , HOLY SHIP !! Come on in !! We saw 4 different comedy acts , all very good , There was live music every night Deck 5 midship lanai area , Different them every night , Country , 50,60 , 70's , Madi Gras , ect Lot of fun . Live singers , guitar player in casino every night , Live singers in atrium every night , soft ,rock , easy listening ect.

It seemed as if we went from one venue to another ,and stayed to listen ,and see each , They were all very good .

Not many were seen in karoke bar , and They did not have enough people to fill the legends show parts , Carnival staff had to play 4 or 5 parts in that show. We tried a spa cabin this trip , 11th floor , only down side was we had a crying baby next door for a week , EVERY night he cried , . All in all this was a great cruise when compared to past Carnival cruise's We were off the Dream at 7:15 AM headed home .

I think we were on the sailing before you ( 1/4) and we were in 11240 ( our kids in 11223 and 11224) and We had a screaming baby next door too ! It must have been every night from midnight until 2 or 3am. I was beginning to wonder if the baby was alone :confused: I would say she was about 18-20 months old, so not a tiny baby. A couple of nights I was really at odds with myself trying to be patient, but holding back from banging on the wall (which would have done no good I know) On our sailing there was always a great crowd in karaoke ( partly my group, but lots of others) and the Legends auditions were PACKED. Our previous Dream cruise was more like yours as far as karaoke, but they did have every legend barely represented. We love the Dream . It has everything that we love and a nice crew/staff.

ETA: My husband had a "run in" with crying baby's father. He was walking behind him in the spa and noticed that he had dropped his card. He nicely said " You dropped something" and the guy really snarled at him =/ Im guessing that they didn't have the cruise that they expected....

On our Dream cruise last week , they did not "peel and stick" the FTTF sticker, but rather left it on the backing and stapled it around a handle. I was really happy that they did it that way. We happened to spot 6 of our 8 bags ( 10 ppl) on a cart in the elevator area right after we boarded and it was forever until anyone elses luggage started coming up, including the other 2 as well as friends bags who also had FTTF. We dragged our bags in and the other two showed up later with the rest of our corridor.

We had 6479 in March 2012 and I totally agree with the previous poster who stayed in the same cabin. We LOVED that cabin and it was always peaceful and quiet. We saw a few people on deck 5 at sail away and then a few sparsely through the week. People just didn't linger there at all. We would book the same cabin again in a heartbeat :) The deck 6 wraps are the largest ones on the ship and the balconies are pretty amazing. There is plenty of space on them where you cannot be seen from above or below.

ETA: Our friends stayed a few cabins over on the mid/aft on that sailing. They said that the only time that they heard noise from the lounge was the music at the intro of the comedian.

We have had a few balconies and really have gotten a lot of use out of them. We especially loved the aft corner wrap. We had a spa balcony on our sailing last week and were only out there two or 3 short times. The weather was horrible and we felt like we spent an extra $400 for nothing :( The weather ruined a lot of our plans but we are trying to look on the bright side. It was still a cruise and we still went on vacation ;) We will get a balcony in the future, but we aren't the "balcony or nothing" folks.

Reasons that we found ourselves at Guest Services.

We were at GS to:

+ get extra keys

+ to replace a lost S&S (mine, which I later found that my hubby had borrowed)

+ to increase our children's spending limits after they added cash at the kiosk ( several times),

+ to address some questions for someone from our group (special needs)

+ to inquire about a missing bag

+ to report back that we found the bag after searching every cabin deck ourselves

+ to remove the $2pp/per day from our prepaid gratuities and add that cash to our dining room servers additional tips. They "made" our cruise (we didn't have a lot going for us on this sailing due to horrible weather)

+ to give a compliment on one particularly special staff member.

I was very grateful to NOT have to stand on the long line. We have sailed numerous times in which we never visited the GS desk. We never waited behind more than one person, and most times we didn't wait at all. The regular line was at least 6 people deep on most of our visits.

On our Carnival Dream sailing last week, the 6-8 and 9-11 got together frequently. The 2-5 were always in their own room.

Faster To The Fun!

Miami, FL - Sat, May 10

Select a Shore Excursion Time:

 

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

$49.95 Only 16 tickets remain

 

 

 

I was under the impression that Carnival only released 15 FTTF at a time, and certainly not so fair in advance. And this is AFTER a friend already purchased 2 of them today...

 

No wonder the Guest Services Desk is so crowded :(

My husband and I had need of the guest services desk at LEAST 8 times on our cruise last week. Two of those times we had ONE person ahead of us. The other times we were the only ones in the priority line. My children used GS at other times as did the rest of our group. None of them mentioned having to wait in line. From our roll call, I know that at least 20 FTTF tickets were sold.

Edited to Add: The first batch of FTTF tickets for our Jan 4.2014 sailing were opened up in mid December 2013.

I think that the only reason that this sailing felt more crowded than our previous Dream sailing was due to the weather. We all had a lot less sunshine time to get out and about. I didn't even try to find seating outside ! We did attend both of the deck parties which were a lot of fun. I did hate waiting on line for pizza, but eh' its not a deal breaker for me. We only ate at the buffet once? all week so I can't comment on lines there. I stay away from buffets because I can't stand to wait in line for food :o It just makes me grumpy and not hungry anymore. I wish carnival did their buffet like the other lines with the square stations that you just pop in and out and grab what you need rather than doing "the shuffle".

I agree that Alex was pretty fun. Our wait staff ( Oswaldo and Webert) were AMAZING. Both were very prompt, accurate , friendly and entertaining. My 7yo ordered pizza on formal night :rolleyes: and Oswaldo cut it up for him to eat with a fork without anyone asking. What a thoughtful idea....and it kept the tux clean. Webert was so fun with our group of 21 people. He also had a serious talk with my 7yo when he stated that he wanted to work on a cruise ship. The other staff member who "made" our cruise was Victoria Santos - the karaoke hostess.

On the Dream, you can watch on monitors just outside the check-in area. You can also see in/out of windows that wrap around a large part of the camp rooms. I don't know about the 2-5 room, but the 6-11 did not get bathroom help.

They served my kids Goldfish and Pretzels during the day. They did have popcorn during movie night. I believe that was the last night from 10-12. They didn't want to go to the Legends show with us so we allowed them to go to Night Owls. On sea days we picked them up and fed them lunch when we thought that they would be hungry. There is always water available for the kids to drink. Snacks were the same at Night Owls.

If you do not allow her to sign in and out she can't participate in the scavenger hunt.

 

With my kids in depends on which ones I'm talking about as to whether they were allowed to sign themselves in and out at the age of 9. Two of my four children were allowed to sign themselves out at younger ages. The two who were not allowed were just too unpredictable.

Our solution to this was to have our child participate in the all ages scavenger hunt with the family =) My 10yo didn't care too much about missing the camp hunt after winning the all ages hunt with her sibs :D

I don't know about other ships, but on the Dream, there is a boys and girls bathroom as well as several sinks (outside the bathroom). There is always water and cups available as well. There were only 2 activities during the week that required sign out privileges and that was a scavenger hunt and swimming. My 10yo did the all ages scavenger hunt with her siblings and skipped swimming because she is not a strong swimmer + no life guard on duty. No way I was allowing swimming without myself or my husband present.

My kids always enjoyed camp. Our friends were on their first cruise ( with us) and their children loved it as well. I was a little surprised since the little girl (7) doesn't usually venture off to things like this.

We did Night Owls (10pm-12) on two of the nights for $13 per child, but that was the only "pay for" thing that we did. They had "Build-a-Bear" and also 12-3am babysitting. Since it was supposed to be a port intensive cruise, we did not stay up after 12. As fate would have it though, we missed 2 ports and got poured on at the 3rd. Still glad that I didn't have tired crabby kids :)

We just sailed again with all 8 of our children. The 7 and 9yo's did not have sign out privileges and neither did the almost 11yo. The 9 and 11yo are very mature for their ages and the 7yo is an average kid. As a consolation for not being able to sign out for the CC scavenger hunt, we allowed our almost 11yo to participate in the all ages hunt with her older siblings. She never had an issue with our decision and we felt that it was a good middle ground. I was ok with her going from point A to B within my range of hearing such as in the buffet. She is a smart little girl, but she is defenseless otherwise and there is no way that I would rely on " the kindness of strangers" to look out for my child aboard ship.

Our 13yo had freedom to come and go from Circle C as long as she walked with an older sibling after dark. All are/were forbidden to travel through cabin only decks or to visit cabins with new friends.

We checked up on our children many times during the week to see that they were abiding by our rules and all was well. I don't see these rules changing until each turns old enough to move up to Circle C, and even then they will come and go with siblings/parents until we feel that they can hold their own when necessary. In the current case that was 13yo but I reserve the right to raise that if I need to :p

For what its worth, even my 13yo doesn't go to the mall alone. We homeschool our children, and don't use any type of daycare. I feel completely confident in the camp carnival staff. They are kind, resourceful and have excellent security measure in place. If my gut feeling ever changes on that, then I will have to recalculate my shipboard protocol.

Edited to Add : We cruised last week on the Dream and I saw several children of ages 7-10 walking without parents. Also, at our muster there was a 9 and 11yo sister/brother sitting behind us. They had no idea where their parents were. The staff person who was assigned to our section called a manager who took down the kids info. They found the parents and had the children stay in place until everyone left the theater, at which time the parents were to come and get them. I was a little concerned that they were allowed to roam, but proud of the kids for being exactly where they needed to be and at the appointed time. I was relieved to see how well the staff handled the situation.

We did a aft extended balcony on our last cruise ( the corner wrap) and it was AWESOME ! We will definitely do one again. We are doing a spa balcony this time because we enjoy the spa and the rate was such a great deal ( we needed 3 nearby cabins) . Next time we will probably go back to and aft wrap again and just buy the spa pass again.

Not sure why Carnival doesn't just change the departure time all together instead of sending these stupid E-mails.....there's no problems with customs or maintenance ...it's just them not wanting everyone to show up at once and to not set sail until after 5:00. There's already a million threads on this ....look around!

This situation is unique because the boarding has changed from 12:30-3 to 2:00-5:30. The boarding time is longer and the departure is quite delayed.

The Dream usually sails out @ 4. This indicates the ship won't leave until after 5:30. I think its reasonable to say that this situation is different. The delay doesn't upset me, but I did have some things to take care of before early dinner which I may not have enough time to accomplish now.

Someone in my Dream 1/4 roll call has friends aboard the current Dream sailing. Friends say everything is great, no problems or illness that they are aware of.

We are on the 1/4 Dream which is a Western route sailing. The one coming in on that day is an eastern, so wouldn't be delayed because of a Belize stop. I received the email and it did say for "routine maintenance tests".

The odd thing is that not only was boarding pushed LATER, it was also made LONGER. It changed from 12:30-3 to 2-5:30.

What seems to be bothering people at the roll call is that they have only informed people a few days ahead of time. People get concerned about problems and/or sickness when there is short notice.

My plan is to keep an eye on it over the next few days. People with FTTF in particular are really bummed.