boulders

The key phrase from the website is

Beginning on August 1st 2013, based on the principle of reciprocity in diplomatic and consular relations,

It sounds like Brazil instituted this because of the requirements for their citizens who want to get a visa to the US. Requirements for Brazilian citizens to get US Visa Note that Brazilian citizens are required to schedule 2 different interviews. The country of Brazil covers a larger area than the lower 48 and there are only 4 locations in Brazil where people can have the interviews.

If you are unhappy about it, you should contact your congressman/woman to get the requirements changed.

I just signed up for this trip too! My kids are 18/15/8. HAL told me this morning that there are about 20 kids on the sailing.

I just booked this same cruise. My kids are 18/15/8. I asked HAL how many kids were on the cruise and as of today, there are about 12 teens and 9 - 12-and unders.

The Family JS's have 1 1/2 baths if that makes a difference

This is an old thread, but it's still relevant.

The only time I booked a guarantee, I received a whopping upgrade. This was during the economic meltdown. Disney decided to put one of its ships in Europe for the summer and forgot to do any advertising. :rolleyes: So, very few people knew about it. I booked an interior guarantee, with kids sail free, for an 11 night Med cruise. $50 pppn including taxes. I got a midship balcony. :D

I still see very good pricing on Med cruises. I went back to the Med last summer on HAL. This time it was $75 pppn, in their newest ship, but in an interior.

For me, it's not so much the space on the ship as it is being on the ship. If I wanted square footage, I'd stay at home and take myself out for dinner. :cool:

Hi there!

We are a family of 5. 3 kids. At the time of our cruise the kids will be 5 and 4 ( twins).

We haven't chosen our cruise yet. We are going on a cruise for my parents 50 year wedding anniversary. (July 2014) I'm trying to be the planner because I have the youngest kids, and 2 of my kids have autism. I'm trying to find what works best for my family.

1. There are 5 of us. Are there any cruises that allow 5 people without having to get a suite or 2 staterooms?

2. My twins have autism. Which cruise do you think is the most understanding of kids with disabilities?

3. We are not willing to fly, so we must leave out on NY, NJ, Boston or Maryland. Do any cruise lines have half price or at least a lower price for kids?

 

Thanks everyone!!

1. Some rooms on RCCL's Grandeur of the Seas (Baltimore), Explorer of the Seas (Bayonne, NJ), NCL and Carnival ships (both NYC) can sleep 5. You generally have to call the cruise line for those rooms (at least on RCCL) because they won't show on the website.

2. See autismontheseas.com

3. 3rd, 4th (and 5th) passengers in a stateroom will pay less than the first and second passengers. NCL will more often have kids sail free promotions, but not likely in July.

Cruise ships generally don't take the view that an 18 or 19 year old is an "adult". Many ships require a passenger of that age to have an older person be responsible for the teens. If the teen gets in trouble, the parents of an 18 or 19 year old will be thrown off the ship, along with the teen. So, since the parents will be held responsible for whatever the young adult does, the parents get to have some say in what the young adult does.

For younger teens, many ships impose their own curfew. Usually around 1 or 2 a.m. If there's a shore excursion the next day, and the teen is a "grump", it doesn't just affect their enjoyment of the day, it also affects their parents. I would not be happy to have spent thousands of dollars on a cruise, to have to spend time with a grumpy cabin-mate.

Curfews are also for the safety of younger people as well. I'll never forget the report of two older teens who were held hostage in a stateroom at night. The young lady was raped. I have both a teen daughter and a teen son. I will worry about my daughter for a much longer time than my son, for just this type of scenario.

A ship is like any downtown area. Things are generally safer during daylight. Passengers on cruiseships have easy access to alcohol, which sometimes makes people do stupid things. A curfew keeps teens away from getting involved in a bad situation.

Parents don't stop worrying about their children just because their children reach a certain age. I remember my father visiting his mother when he was 60. His mother told him to dress warmly.

We just returned from the 3/23/2013 sailing of the Celebrity Reflection - me, DH, and DS (3 y/o). We knew before booking that Celebrity isn't "known for" being kid-friendly, but I scoured these boards for more detailed information about their "Fun Factory" (kid's area) and found very little. So I'm posting a little about our experience.

 

This is our third Celebrity cruise (it is/was our favorite cruise line) but our first with a child. Our 3 y/o son is very social, loves going to daycare, is happy and used to staying with sitters. So we thought the Fun Factory would be a good experience for him. It wasn't. :(

 

First, the area reserved for 3-5 year olds is tiny. No room to run around. Mostly tables at which they color and do art/craft projects - not his thing. He likes more active, physical activities. Second, he told us that another kid "pushed him down the stairs." Ok, he's 3 and I suspect it was more like somebody pushed him back or rushed by him accidentally knocking into him. He insists the "boy in the red shirt did it on purpose," but really, who knows? :confused:

 

When I tried to address this issue with the staff at the Fun Factory, they got very defensive and launched into a litany of excuses despite the fact that I told them I understood that he was 3 and kids were rough, etc. I just wanted to find out if it was while the bigger kids were with them or what. Anyway, I was upset that they didn't offer assurances--or even listen to me--without interrupting with defensiveness and excuses. Bad juju for this mom. :mad:

 

After the first time, he said he didn't want to go back. But we tried it twice more for a couple of hours at a time. On the fourth time, he cried (he _never_ cries) and they called us to come get him. So my very social kid spent almost the whole 7 days with us.

 

This was a Spring Break cruise, so there were 650 "kids" (under 18) on board. There was no lack of kids to socialize with him. It was the place and the staff.

 

My unsolicited advice - if you have small kids, go on Disney or one of the other 'family friendly' lines. The passengers on board were very gracious and tolerant of him, which was a pleasant surprise. The Fun Factory, however, was a total bust. We'll be cruising Disney next time.

Sorry to hear about your experience. DS went on RCCL when he was 3 and Disney when he was 4, Princess and HAL when he was 6 and 7. We haven't been on Celebrity. Disney had the least amount of supervision of any cruise line we've been on. Even though we were on DCL for an 11 day cruise, I doubt that any of the staff even knew his name. It was a free for all. We had a similar experience at Disney's Aulani resort. So, I would not assume that because Disney has a family friendly reputation, that their child care is even as good as other cruise lines or resorts.

HAL has a slightly different system. You still get 1 point per night of the cruise. Double that if you book a suite. But you also get 1 point for each $300 of onboard spending. I'm a 2 star Mariner after one collectors cruise. :D

I would be genuinely interested to know - I'm not trying to make a snide point here - what exactly is the procedure for fitting three child seats in a vehicle while keeping full control of three young children?

It's very easy. Put the children in the vehicle first. Install car seats. Install children in car seats. Then drive. ;)

Taxis are not very common on the Big Island. I recommend either renting a car or pre-arranging a taxi. Car rental would probably be cheaper.

Although, I didn't know what a CRBA was until last week, I just found out I do have one, and a copy is on the way to me. :D

I do hope for your sake that the "copy" is an original and not a photocopy.

I DO know how you feel. My dh died 7 years ago this week, leaving me with 3 young children. I went on a cruise about a month after he died. It was the best thing I did. It allowed me to gain perspective, to grieve when I wanted, and to have fun too. Even though RCCL's transportation contractor did not deliver my one and only suitcase to the ship and so I had no clothes:eek: ( I did manage to buy a few things on the ship and in Nassau), I had a great time. It was my first ever cruise.

Every time we cruise, I am able to bond with the kids a little more without the stress of day to day life. Cruising is my favorite vacation now. I do not have to worry about how I'm getting from point A to point B, where we're eating etc. That's all taken care of.

Go on your cruise. Every time I go, it reminds me that I'm not the one who died. I still have more living to do.

Zombie thread alert! The OP was made 3 years ago.

I'm looking at HAL's Veendam December 20 sailing. There is plenty of availability and the price is very low. So it actually appears that demand is low relative to supply.

All of the main cruise lines on board spas are run by the same independent company, Steiner. So, the products and the treatments will be pretty much the same whichever cruiseline you sail on. On Celebrity, the area with the heated beds is called the Persian Gardens.

I too would branch out of the Caribbean at this point, especially if you don't have kids. There are some amazing places that you can go on a cruise.

I am waiting to here if we can get another couple to share our planned tours with RIL. Has anyone "booked a car with them with the understanding that there may be 2 or 4 people. I want to make sure we will have the service, how late can / should I wait to book ?

thanks

I booked a car with Rome In Limo and later upgraded to a minivan when we had additional people join our group. I would book now and then you at least have a driver. You can likely change vehicles later. I've already got my bookings for July.

Last year, ds15 brought along one of his game systems on Explorer of the Seas. It could not be hooked up. :(

When we sailed on Radiance of the Seas, they allowed kids in the solarium pool. This is a very nice area with an indoor pool which is usually adults-only. During the Alaskan cruise, however, they set aside family times, which added up to about 6 hours a day, including the afternoon.

Diamond Princess did not have an indoor pool.

If you're entering Canada from a cruise ship solely for the purpose of immediately flying home you will be escorted from the ship, separate from the other passengers, and taken to the airport. I don't know about vice versa.

Ummm, no, this does not happen. You used to be able to participate in US Direct at Vancouver. That program is no longer in operation.

Just wondering what those of you who said you would be cruising with kids in Sept thought of your respective ships. We'll be booking something soon, and are still debating between NCL, Princess and Disney (SOOOO much more expensive). Kids will range in age from 5-9 when we sail. Thanks!

I sailed on Diamond Princess, northbound AND southbound with ds6 in August. This was our second Alaskan cruise. We both had a fabulous time. It was probably my favourite cruise to date. DS loved the kids club. There were only about 120 kids 12 and under on each cruise. The kids club played lots of games, and had an outdoor area with climbers as well. DS came back with lots of prizes every time he went.

I found the food the best on this cruise the best of any cruise I've been on. I liked the public and private spaces. Even though we were in an interior cabin, it was just fine for the 2 of us.

One of my favourite parts of the cruise was the 26 glacier cruise we did out of Whittier on our turnaround day. Glacier Bay and the other "scenic cruising" aspects of the main cruise did not impress me. Hubbard glacier on our RCCL cruise was much better, and even that was disappointing.

I cruised Alaska last month on Princess. In an inside with ds6. We had a fabulous time. It was the first time I've been in an inside and it was just fine. I saw lots of scenery from the deck. I think we'll be taking insides from now on.

I booked last minute and reserved an oceanview guarantee. A few days before sailing, they called me and asked if I'd take an inside if they refunded half my money. I took the offer and sailed for less than $50pppd. Can't beat that. I had a great time and was thrilled that I was hardly paying anything for the experience. :D

I've sailed once on Carnival and would not pay money to sail them again.

Just saw the post above. I've also cruised Alaska on Radiance. On Princess, I didn't think the scenery in Glacier Bay was so spectacular. The scenery in Prince William Sound on a smaller ship was fabulous. We never got anywhere near Hubbard glacier on Princess either. We got very close to Hubbard on Radiance.

I would look at the times in ports, overall costs, and take the inside passage.

Yes, it was the Princess excursion. Will post more when I get back. The internet on the ship is unreliable.

We had a great time on this tour. We went to Chichagof Island and saw 5 brown bears catching salmon. There were 10 people and 2 guides on the tour. The tour was run by Bear Creek Outfitters.

We walked for about 5 minutes before we saw our first bear, about 300 feet away. We watched this bear for about an hour. She was replaced by another bear who stayed for half an hour. While this bear was at the site, a small brown, passed 70 feet away from us, on the other side of the creek. She replaced bear #2. As we were getting ready to go, 2 larger bears appeared. So for the last few minutes, we had 3 bears fishing at the same site. I'll write a more detailed review when I get home in a couple of weeks.

Highly recommend.

Does anyone have any experience with this excursion offered by Princess? It doesn't say if it goes to Admiralty Island.....

 

http://www.princess.com/find/excursion/exDetails.page?tourCode=JNU-870&t=A&exType=S

I've got this tour booked for August. From the description, it does sound like it goes to Admiralty Island.

Has anyone been on this trip?