boulders

Disney staterooms have bathtubs in all rooms except a few in category 11 (the lowest category) on the older ships, so they can get an inside or ocean view with a bathtub. Holland America oceanview staterooms have bathtubs.

Mine is a holiday cruise and I received an upsell, but it wasn't selling well at all. 10 days until sailing and there are a LOT of insides and outsides left. I think they've offered a lot of upsells from the disappearance of balconies and suites.

Here is a tour guide that was recommended on another thread or review: Diana Persi, email dianatoursinrio@yahoo.com. Her website is http://www.tourguideinbrazil.com I'm not using her because I only have half a day in Rio, but she was very responsive to emails.

Wow! Thanks for the suggestions!

Boulders, it looks like you have been on a wide variety of cruise lines! Which one do you prefer? Do you think the Disney Ships are too "babyish" for 12 & 14 year old Boys? I was almost thinking about a few days at Disney and then a cruise. Does Disney charge to transport you to the ship?

My personal preference is HAL. But I'm an introvert and I now like to cruise to more exotic places than the Caribbean. HAL has some really interesting itineraries. HAL has bingo, trivia, cooking classes, a movie theatre (not under the stars, in a real theatre with free popcorn) and a nice computer lounge that has a view and a coffee shop. DD15's favourite is also HAL, even though she is an extrovert. DS8 doesn't have a preference. DS18 prefers Royal Caribbean. He says they have the most activities available.

Royal Caribbean's ships are probably the most diverse of all the cruise lines'. We have only been on Voyager and Radiance class ships. The Freedom and Oasis classes have more activities.

DS18 was 14 on our Disney cruise. We were on the Magic, before it had the waterslide installed. He liked the poolside pizza and the poolside movie screen. I didn't find Disney babyish, but it is aimed at kids (and adults) who appreciate the characters. My kids have always been suspicious of "people who dress in costumes and hug little kids", so the characters were not a plus for us. :o Disney's customer service is the best of the cruises I've taken. It had some of the best, and some of the worst food we've had on a cruise. The clientele definitely trends younger than other cruise lines. One thing about Disney that does not sit well with me is that newbies get access to shore excursions after people who have cruised before and DCL has a lot of repeat customers. We were newbies on a Med cruise, so the shore excursions were important. Another plus for being a DCL repeat customer is that they give you 10% off your next cruise if you book onboard. DCL repeat customers tend to be VERY loyal. DCL cruises tend to be more expensive than the other cruise lines.

There is a charge to transport you from the resorts to the ship. With 4 or 5 people, it is likely more economical to rent a car.

We are a family of 5, looking for ideas on which cruise/ship has the most to offer in terms of accommodations and entertainment for us. Our family consists of my DH and I, along with DS 12, DS 14 and DD 23. My DH and I cruised on RC Adventure of The Seas last year. We liked it, but are looking for something else. Also, what type of cabin would anyone recommend? We are on a tight budget!

 

Thanks for any suggestions!!

Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Disney, Celebrity and Norwegian all have staterooms that will accommodate 5. Unless you get a suite, you will have one bathroom only. Disney has split bathrooms though - separate rooms for toilet and bathtub, both have sinks. Some cruise lines, like Royal Caribbean and Celebrity require that you call to book a cabin that sleeps more than 4. They won't show availability on their website. Carnival and Disney allow you to book a cabin for 5 on the website. I'm not sure about Norwegian.

Royal Caribbean will have the most activities and entertainment, especially if you go on Allure or Oasis. Each line will have different options for entertainment though, so it pays to do some research on what each offers.

Regarding budget, it all depends on what offers the cruise line has at the time of booking. Different cabins, different lines, time of year, will all affect how much the cost is. Same with two cabins vs one - sometimes one cabin will be cheaper, sometimes two.

For a Med cruise, choose by the itinerary, not the ship. We've been twice, once on Disney and once on HAL. Both were great.

For the $12k he has offered, you could rent an amazing four BR/five bath villa for a week on a Caribbean island or even Hawaii that would come with a housekeeper and cook.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

You won't find something like that in Hawaii.

I'd recommend either an Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver, a land vacation in Hawaii or a land vacation in Hawaii coupled with a repositioning cruise between Honolulu and Vancouver. Hawaii is best seen by land. The POA cruises are a poor and expensive option. For land vacations, check out the tripadvisor forums.

I saw a YouTube video that made it seem like Royal Caribbean brings out motorized cars for the kids on the basketball courts...is this true?

That's on Quantum of the Seas which hasn't sailed yet.

Regarding your other AO questions:

You are not allowed past the checkin desk of Adventure Ocean. They will have an open house on the first day and parents and children can visit together then.

On pirate night, they will put pirate makeup on the kids. I don't remember if they give them costume pieces or not. It's not very elaborate.

I was just visited by the upsell fairy last night, exactly 2 weeks before sailing. I booked directly with HAL and let my consultant know I'd be willing. Thank you, upgrade fairy!

I've seen the slides on Adventure, Radiance and probably Explorer. They are pitiful. They are not waterslides.

Passports don't prove residency. Drivers licenses do. Unless you have a drivers license that corresponds to your booking address, you will have trouble.

I haven't seen this posted in the thread, but I may have missed it.

I might have missed it in the 20 pages on this thread, but American citizenship is NOT automatically bestowed on children of American citizens. Currently, the citizen parent must have spent 2 years or more in the US after the age of 14 and a total of 5. So, just because a birth certificate lists the parent's citizenship as US, that doesn't mean that the child will have US citizenship. I suspect that the OP was born prior to 1986 at which time, the citizen parent would have had to live in the US for 10 or more years, including 5 after the age of 14. If the OP was born prior to Dec. 24, 1952, there were even more stringent requirements. There were also requirements at that time to retain US citizenship if one was born abroad.

http://americansabroad.org/files/3013/3478/0295/18-04-2012_1318_971.pdf

The OP did NOT have proof that he was a US citizen, therefore he should have had a passport.

He is very lucky that a congressman was able to get him a CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) as those are only issued to people under the age of 18 and must be applied for by the parents.

Pleeease don't bring walkie talkies. They don't work well at all on ships and they are very annoying to other passengers. All the staterooms have phones and there are phones at crew stations and in elevator lobbies. Ships are not very big. It doesn't take long to find members of your party. :)

It used to be that one of the key criteria in choosing a cruise was the ships "space ratio". A high space ratio usually indicates a great deal of public space and open areas.

 

Royal Caribbean is now going below 40 Space Ratio on many of their ships with this years re-vitalizations. Even Quantum of the Seas will only have a space ration of 39.

 

Only Enchantment at 35 and Majesty at 30 space ratio were at one time below 40 for RCI.

 

For a relationship Carnival ships fall below 35, while Disney falls around 50. The luxury ships of Seabourn come in at around 70 or double the space per passenger of a Carnival cruise. The new Norwegian Breakaway came in very low for a new ship at just 35 space ratio.

 

I sailed on Liberty for a Trans-Atlantic and it has a space ratio of 44 and seemed just about perfect to me.

 

Navigator is currently at 44 as well and that will drop substantially with the addition of the 81 new cabins, that is for sure.

Disney ships' space ratio is 32-34, not 50. Disney ships have a lot more triples, quads and even quintuples compared to other cruise lines. They sail at a much higher capacity level than other lines - usually 140% of double occupancy, compared to an average of 108% for RCCL.

http://www.shipcruise.org/cruise-ship-passenger-capacity-ratings/

Are you travelling with your husband? If not, then you'll need a notarized statement from him allowing you to take the kids out of the country.

Different last names should not be an issue with or without your husband.

thanks for the ideas everyone!!

 

It's looking like we'll be trying Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas out of San Juan for our next adventure.

Jewel of the Seas won't have much for kids. No splash pad, no skating rink, no kids pool. It will have Adventure Ocean, but the programming won't be as extensive as on other ships. There's a big difference between the Radiance class ships and the Oasis class ships. The Radiance class tends to attract adult cruisers, not families.

As a mother and a grandmother I agree with this.

 

You knowing your children are well behaved and responsible is half of the answer, however there is no way you know if all 3,000 or so other people on the ship are all well behaved and responsible. There are kid's clubs where they can meet others their age and have fun. Beyond that you will need to decide how comfortable you are with them exploring the ship by themselves.

The kids club ends at age 11. The teen club starts at age 12. I haven't sailed on Celebrity, but most activities in teen clubs start around 2 pm. I wouldn't restrict kids to the stateroom or joined to my hip until 2 pm.

For a pair of 12 year old boys, I would allow them to go to the buffet, the pool, etc with frequent checkins. I would not allow them out on their own after dinner. This is the same freedom I give at home. A pair of 12 year old boys are much better able to defend themselves than most adults I know.

The bathroom will take up about 2.5 sq m. The closet another 1 sq.m. The bed is about 2 m x 2 m. So, you will have about 9 sq m in the room, and the bed will take up 4 of those, plus you have other furniture. If you do a search on cruise critic or google, you may be able to find pictures or even a video.

Oops I didn't scroll down far enough. Those ones are only 132 sq ft - that includes the bathroom too.

Prices usually decrease in January.Are you eligible for the WOW sale? You would get $200 off and a decreased deposit. It starts Monday. 3657 is at the end of the hall, so it would be best for noise level.

There were plenty of families on my non-DCL Alaskan cruises. I would think DCL would have almost as many as their Caribbean cruises. Alaska is a great place for kids, There are lots of nature and wildlife activities. I think Alaskan cruises are the most kid-friendly cruises.

There are way more than 4 rooms left in each category. The North Ameican website used to only display 6 rooms at a time. It sounds like the Aussie site only displays 4 at a time. So, there is lots of availability. If you want a certain cabin, there should be a place to search for a cabin number.

my tracking website says theres 68% of the rooms left.

There are 2 categories of insides, so I'm not sure which one you are looking at. I would think long and hard about booking the smallest one. 142 sq ft is not much at all. Every extra sq foot makes a huge difference. The panoramic ocean view cabins look nice to me.

You can get noisy neighbours anywhere on a ship. There is nothing you can do about that. Close to an elevator is actually desirable. The elevators are not noisy at all and the cabins are separated from the elevator lobby by insulated walls, even though these don't show on the deck plans.

The white spaces behind the insides are crew workspaces.

There are no waterslides or a kids buffet on Royal Caribbean ships. Although they have great things, they don't have those. That's why the previous poster said you'll have to compromise.

Op, WOW! A really awful WOW. Can not imagine walking into my room and having someone else in there

And then to be told by the front desk that they weren't going to do anything about it! :eek::eek:

You do need to leave a letter behind that allows your parents to seek medical treatment for the kids.

On the Disney Magic, the oldest and smallest ship, staterooms start at 184 square feet. On the Oasis, staterooms start at 150 square feet! Even the standard inside stateroom on an Oasis class ship is only 172 square feet.

 

Interestingly, the newer Disney Dream/Fantasy have a tad smaller staterooms, but still larger than the starting size on Oasis.

The average stateroom on oasis is larger than on Fantasy or Dream though. That half bath accounts for a lot of square footage. Square footage that other lines use to make their rooms feel more spacious. The largest staterooms on Rccl are much bigger than those on any Disney ship. Rccl and other lines offer a wider variety of stateroom choices.

With regards to the food, I had some of the best and the worst food on Dcl. My dd got food poisoning on Dcl 9 days into an 11 night cruise.