boulders

My experience with Royal Caribbean over several cruises is that they do a lot of "active" activities. I don't think I've ever seen them do crafts. They have a separate video game arcade which is top notch.

I have a video game obsessed ds8. We just got off a 3 week HAL cruise. There were a lot of organized activities, including crafts, bingo and board games, plus Wii and Xbox for limited times. He wanted to be there very minute it was open. Hejust loved being able to play with other kids.

There are repositioning cruises that go from Vancouver to Hawaii and vice versa. There are excellent Marriott Vacation Clubs in Hawaii. You would need at more than 2 weeks for such a trip though. We often combine a cruise with a timeshare stay in Florida.

I would suggest you give Holland America cruises a try. Holland America does a great job of spreading people out on their ships. The MDR is open for lunch. They also have a great room service menu. I haven't been on Celebrity, but have been many times on Royal Caribbean, their sister line. HAL's pool deck and buffet areas are much less crowded.

thanks for the review! Interesting, I see you did not have Punta Este or Chacabuco or Chiloe on the itinerary.

 

Did you meet Nyree? She's great and does such a wonderful job with the tours.

 

You did not see any Gentoos at Volunteer Point? There were so many Gentoos last year....or maybe they were in a different place this year? The Gentoos were great :). The Magellans were all in their burrows, so we were very glad with the opportunity to see them at Punta Arena's. I wonder if it is because the time of year? We were there in February.

 

We did Punta Arena's with a speed boat. It was a bumpy ride, but it got us there quickly and we spent about an hour on the Island. How much time did you have there?

 

Ushuaia....we had a totally different experience there as well. I guess it all depends on the weather and the kind of tours taken? Tierra del Fuego NP was gorgeous.

 

Re people dropping out on tours: I had the same problem with some people on a tour. We had a fixed price for Chiloe based on the amount of people in the group. There was one person who joined in at the last moment for the tours that still had space (not many) and then it turned out they did not show up for any of them. I had a feeling this would happen (call it gut instinct, I need to listn to it more!), and called them on board. No they were not going on the tour, which left me scambling to find 2 people who would want to go. I started to write a whole ramble on that in my blog, then deleted it. I was pretty upset about that though. It had me worrying all through the remainder of the evening and morning. The other people on the roll call were great and we are all still in contact with each other, but unfortuantely there are those who give no thought to others. Argh. :mad:

 

Thanks for the review, I am very curious about Zaandam as it will be our next ship, and also I love to read experiences of those who have done the same (or almost the same) cruise to Antarctica as we did.

 

Glad your kids enjoyed it as well, I was wondering how kids would experience Antarctica.

We did meet Nyree very briefly as she was overwhelmed by people trying to get on a tour. She was very responsive to emails. While on the tour, she did a great job of keeping track of all the tours via radio. I did not see gentoos unfortunately.

In Punta Arenas, we had one hour on the island, plus a total of 5 1/2 hours in transit. Although we made good time on the ferry to the island, we then had to sit offshore for 20-30 minutes as only one ferry can dock at a time. One woman on our tour was surprised that the tour did not go to more places as it was a 6 1/2 hour tour in total.

The scenery that we saw in the national park in Ushuaia, was not much different from home, plus it was raining and the windows in the bus were fogged up. It was just after Antarctica, which had fabulous weather and views, so it paled in comparison. I much prefer wildlife tours too.

Enjoyed the review.

 

Lettuce wraps are usually an 'assembly required' type of meal.

Yes, I've had lettuce wraps many times before. There was no lettuce on the plate. They were wrapped in a leafy vegetable that was not identifiable to me, but which my table mates said were collard greens.

Thank you for your response.

 

Thought that there was an extra charge, as the OP stated that the "expert talks were very interesting and worth the price of admission".

Sorry you misunderstood, it's a colloquialism. I did pay to be on the ship though. ;)

Here's the link to the full review - http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=247730 It's a long one!

Thank you for the info! Really hoping we make it to Falklands, too!

 

Can't wait for the rest of your review! :):):)

You're welcome! By the Friday night before the cruise, I was so sure we weren't going to make the Falklands that I almost emailed Estancia to cancel.

By the way, in the past, Patrick Watts has been recommended on these boards for the Falklands. Apparently, he is no longer doing excursions.

Estancia was very professional. There were about 40 vehicles total at Volunteer Point, including the ship's excursions, so only about 200 people were there. About 12-16 vehicles were Estancia's. All the vehicles at Volunteer Point were Land Rovers or similar.

Who were your experts?

 

We had the (Dr.) Wilson Brothers and Dr. Dave Breshnahan(sp?).

 

I still don't understand why HAL doesn't advertise that they are having expert speakers. It certainly a drawing card for me.

We had Chris Wilson, Dave Bresnahan and Guy Guthridge. Chris spoke on birds, Dave spoke on logistics and Guy spoke more about general science topics, e.g. ice.

it's something, isn't it?

 

Did you make all ports? Volunteer Point is really something, I agree. So glad you made it over there. Where there still alot of baby chicks?

We did make all ports. I really thought we wouldn't get to Ushuaia as the weather forecast was very poor the night before. There were a lot of baby chicks, but they were moulting - were these last year's babies?

Looking forward to your review! We're doing the 13 Nite from BA to Valparaiso in March.

 

Were you scheduled for Falklands? Our Itinerary is showing "Weather Permitting" and have Puerto Madryn right now as the Port of Call. Did you go to Volunteer Point through the Ship or a private excursion? Also, how bumpy was it?

 

Also, did you take the Ferry to Magdalena Island or the Speed Boat?

 

Looking forward to hearing about what you did in all the Ports!

 

Thank you!

 

Eileen

We had the same "weather permitting" on our itinerary. Four days before sailing, I was emailed that the Falklands was on. So, Saturday before a Wednesday sailing. They opened up the shore excursions a few hours after that. We took Estancia Excursions and they were great. The cost was 110 GBP vs $349 USD for the ship's excursion. The ship's excursion quickly sold out, not sure how quickly, but the tickets were gone by day 2 of the cruise. There were people on the dock begging Estancia to take them. Bumpy? It was an E ticket ride. We had a very comfortable vehicle, but some people were in the jump seats in the back of a Land Rover. We got lucky. The ride was half the fun.

For Magdalena Island, we took the ferry. I had heard the speedboat could be bumpy. We were lucky here too and the waters were calm. Normally, they have 60 mph winds at Punta Arenas. DS8 backed out and stayed in the kids club, so the $30 extra per person wouldn't have been so bad. We only got an hour on the island, which was sufficient, but the 2 hours both ways on the ferry was tiresome. We went to the Falklands first, and Volunteer Point was much better imo, but that could have been because we were there first.

I have just posted a review, but it's not up yet. I'll post some highlights (and low lights) from our cruise.

The great:

Antarctica - we had some wonderful weather. Much better than the minus 28 Celsius at home. It was a little warmer than freezing, but the sun made it feel very warm.

Penguins, penguins, penguins - We saw penguins in 3 places - Volunteer Point in the Falklands, floating past on an iceberg in Antarctica, and Magdalena Island near Punta Arenas. My favourite, maybe because it was the first, was Volunteer Point. I consider this a must do for future travellers. I loved the King penguins.

Expert Talks on board - I was not expecting this as the Zaandam is a mainstream cruise ship. We had 3 experts on board and there were maybe 20-30 lectures in total. They were very interesting and worth the price of admission.

Fellow cruisers - Most cruisers were aged 50-70, although there were about 40 under 18's and smatterings of people in all age groups. It was truly an international cruise. About 50% from the U.S., 10% Canadian, 10% Russian, 10% Aussies and Kiwis, 10% European, 10% South American

The good

The ship was in good shape. Carpet was new.

Entertainment. There was a wide variety of activities, including Dancing with the Stars. There were quite a few "On Location" shows with dancing/singing from the various countries visited.

The bad

Our Neptune Suite, 7022, was very noisy. It sounded like we were under a bowling alley at times.

The food (sometimes). The descriptions of the food often didn't match what was delivered. Lettuce wraps were not wrapped in lettuce. Lobster thermidor had one identifiable piece of lobster, one quarter inch around. Don't think of ordering the Black Forest Cake if you expect something that: a) has chocolate, b) is cake c) has cherries. Stay away from the pies too.

Overall, we had a fabulous time. It was truly the trip of a lifetime. I travelled with ds18, dd15, and ds8. Everyone had a great time and did not want it to end.

If you have any questions about the ship/itinerary/ports of call, just ask. I'll post the link to the review when it's up.

I just got off the Zaandam yesterday. My table mates reported that at trivia, not only was someone using their cellphone to cheat, but when they disagreed with the answer, they showed a webpage on their cell to prove their assertion!

My guess is that there is nothing newer than 2010. Hope you prove me wrong.

I don't hit a lot of movie theatres so I don't remember release dates very well, but here's some where the release date is mentioned in the book

21 Jump Street

The Three Stooges

Abduction

Head over Heels

and some that are don't have the release date listed

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Julie and Julia

Moneyball

The Lincoln Lawyer

The Social Network

Royal Wedding

There are plenty of excellent movies from both this century and last century. I have the book in front of me (I'm on a cruise) and have been very impressed with the selection. We have borrowed about 6 movies.

Falklands ships excursions opened up 5 days before boarding. Some of us were notified by email the same day that we were going, but not all. The ship's tour to Volunteer point ($349 pp) did sell out and there were some angry passengers when they could not book it.

We had booked Estancia Excursions to Volunteer point (110 GBP) several months ago. Estancia took 12-16 vehicles, not sure about the official tour, but there were a total of 40 vehicles at Volunteer Point, each holding 4-6 passengers. Estancia met us on the dock and they seemed to be the only private tour operator there. People were begging them to take them - I'm not sure how it turned out for those who didn't book ahead.

Volunteer Point was fabulous. Other aspects of the cruise have been fabulous. I tried to post a semi-live trip report, but the internet was not good enough to take it. I'll post a review when I get home.

Connecting rooms are probably your best bet for the widest selection of sailings. Disney does have a 2 bedroom suite, but it is crazy expensive - and they don't do 10-14 night Caribbean itineraries.

I've got to say, you started with the biggest, most incredible ship for your first cruise. I fear that anything else will be a letdown after that.

Royal Caribbean has the best options for 6 in a single room or suite.

Norwegian has 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom suites. The 3 bedroom suites are huge.

A hat!

Hi Boulders,

Thank you for your suggestion.

Can I ask you something.... Diana and me had many emails for this tour. She seemed very nice but she ask me to pay a deposit with paypal and I am not sure that her way to do it is ok... how did you pay your excursion?

Hi

I did not book her.

I have used paypal, but not for a shore excursion. There is always some trust involved in a private shore excursion. The private shore excursions we are planning for our South American cruise mostly have payment in cash at the time of the excursion.

 

--> BINGO: not a Bingo Player, so I can't comment, but I didn't see the "Win-A-Cruise" game on the daily program. I usually go to that one. I wondered about them stopping that.

 

I've only ever seen win-a-cruise bingo on Royal Caribbean ships.

We ordered one 3 years ago. There was only one size available at that time. It was 18-24 inches (can't quite remember). It was small. It teetered if you touched it. However, I sail with kids and it was certainly better than nothing. It was worth the cost to have a tree. I would go with something bigger if they have it.

We are also sailing this Christmas. HAL doesn't offer trees. They have a thousand and one ways to buy alcohol, but no Christmas trees. :( So, I'm packing my own. Yup, I'm trekking about 5000 miles, each way, with a tree in my luggage. :p

The MDR is much easier to eat at with kids than the buffet. They have people bring food to you. In the buffet, you have to find a table, get the food , get the drinks, rinse, lather, repeat, for each person. There are no trays. It is not an enjoyable experience, imo. It's possible to be in and out of the MDR in as little as 45 minutes, if you have a table for just your family.

Also, in the pool, neither diapers nor non-toilet-trained children are allowed. There are passengers who think because the sign says no diapers, that they can just take the diaper off the baby and that makes it OK. The pools on ships are not filtered.

Royal Caribbean ships do have facilities for little ones, just not a pool. They will have in cabin babysitting. They will have playgroups. The Mariner also has a nursery where you can drop your little one off for babysitting.

Alaska is much more young child-friendly. There are lots of opportunities for wildlife seeing and active excursions. There are even sled dog puppy-holding excursions

We received an invitation to upgrade to a Neptune Suite for our B2B cruise on the Oosterdam Jan5 to Feb2 2014.

We need a handicapped stateroom so I have booked the three of us (my sister and Ian and myself) into 5001 which is a category SY.

I do not know ALL the perks of being in a Neptune suite and was quite excited and interested until I saw the cost.

AUD$2,900 odd each!!! That is virtually half as much again on top of Ian's and my fares and $1600on top of Jill's.

Can anyone explain or justify such an expense please

 

Thanks

That seems steep for an upsell from an SY. I accepted an upsell last week, but only the first and second persons paid for the upsell, the other two did not. My upsell worked out to be $200 per day total, but that was from a lowly ocean view.

RCCL faq only mentions children

 

Please note: Due to public health regulations, children in diapers, swim diapers, pull-ups or who are not COMPLETELY toilet trained are not allowed in the pools, whirlpools or H2O zone.

from

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/search/processSearch.do?ip_server=prdiphrase-unstruct-new222.dmz.rccl.com%3A200&ip_text=DIAPERS&searchSubmit=

You missed the guest conduct policy, which is second in your search which stated that guests in diapers or who are not toilet trained cannot use the pool.

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I will look at those ships.

 

And no they would never leave them alone, but they will try to hire someone to do some in-room sitting at night. They don't want to worry about someone forgetting to lock the door, we all know how sneaky those kids can be when they want to. They aren't cruisers so I don't think they realize how small the rooms are, and I don't think the kids could open the door by themselves, but it's their first cruise if they feel more secure without the balcony, I don't want them to have to stress about it.. :)

Not all cruise lines have in room babysitting. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are the only ones I'm aware of that do. They charge $19/hour. I know that Disney does not have in room babysitting. At age 5, the kids would enjoy the kids club more anyway.