luvbrady

My kids loved AO. We chose to take them after we had dinner with them- but you can arrange for them to have dinner at AO sometimes. My daughter (nearly 23 now) was just talking yesterday about a little girl from Mexico she met at AO and even though they did not speak the same language they were besties for the cruise and cried the last night together LOL. We were also looking at the old pirate parade pictures from when my son was around 5. Over 10 years ago and they still bring smiles to all of us! My experience was that they keep them very busy with age appropriate games, activities and crafts.

We went out of Vancouver. Arrived 2 days early so we were able to enjoy the city- it's beautiful! Then a few days afterwards in Anchorage. We opted for Vancouver over Seattle as we had some folks on the trip that can be a bit motion sensitive and that passage looked a bit more protected than leaving from Seattle. And again, glad we did as we all really enjoyed the city.

I do not normally suffer from motion sickness but had issues in open water on a small vessel (45'). So this year I took the Dramamine Ginger and it worked perfectly for me. I had no issues and we were in very rough waters- over 6 foot waves in a small boat is very noticeable!

I like Hello Bello kids. Yes- you have to rub it in and there is some white left behind. But tolerable. I use the cream. The more you reapply the worse it is. Comes off OK in the shower- needs rubbed but not like you have to take a layer of skin off. Bonus it smells great! CeraVe has a 30 SPF tinted face hydrating sunscreen. Looks great, feels light- but the tint can transfer if you've been sweating it out. Tried a few for our time in the USVI's.

We cruised with my SIL who also has Celiac and a few others with food allergies. They were EXTREMELY attentive. The head waiter came over each night to review the menu for the next day and take any questions to the chef. They even made her GF Cordon Bleu so she wouldn't have to miss out on a favorite when it was offered. A friend with a honey sensitivity had ordered BBQ ribs as an ap night 1. I told her she should check on that- and sure enough there was honey. BUT the chef offered to make her a serving with out honey the next night if she wanted to try it and it was delivered. She loved it. They have every reason to want your vacation to be wonderful and like I said- our service was top notch. This was several years ago and like other posters have mentioned, you can now find GF options outside of the main dining as well....

Cards Against Humanity or Apples to Apples- both are multi player card games- no bulky boards or anything involved....

We used walkie talkies in the past with our kids and found them to be very unreliable onboard....

We have traveled with 3 of my daughter's friends (at different times- I'm not crazy LOL). In all cases I got the notarized letter with permission to travel, make medical decisions and to sign all waivers. In the case where the parents were divorced I got one from each parent. We paid cruise fare, parents paid air/walking around cash. Only 1x in Jamaica the friend was pulled aside by port authorities and asked who we were to her and if she was safe with us. Still glad I had all the docs. They were 12 on that trip. We had known the girl her whole life so no need to go into expectations. They knew they were lucky and weren't about to blow it!