cruisergrandma

4 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

The first shuttle out of Fort Lauderdale to POM is about 9 am, taken it a dozen times.

Not according to the Carnival website. We booked an independent.

Just now, RocketMan275 said:

Are you arriving the day of? 

If so, you might be better using the cruise line transfer since they will hold the boat for their bus.

We are arriving the day of but their first Carnival shuttle out of Ft. Lauderdale is not until noon. We are platinum and believe we can board the ship before that time. Our flight arrives at 9:45 and we don't want to sit around the airport. Thanks,

Has anyone used Uber from the Ft. Lauderdale airport to the Miami Cruise Port? Or a car service you could recommend? Any idea on pricing? How hard are they to find at the airport? Do not want to use the cruise line transfer. Appreciate any information. Thanks!

We found that most hotels no longer offer the Park and Cruise rates. We stayed at Springhill Suites. It is about a 15 minute drive from the port and is super nice. Close to restaurants and even a Walmart in case your forgot to pack something. The best part is that instead of you leaving your car there and them shuttling you back and forth - they include parking at the port! When we checked in they immediately booked us parking at the cruise terminal and handed us the receipt. Next morning we drove to the port, pulled into the parking deck, dropped our luggage with the porters, showed our receipt, parked our car and walked right into the terminal. Easiest thing ever and we loved having our car at the port. Self assisted at the end of the cruise and were on the road in a snap.

We also parked at the port and loved the convenience.

Going on my first cruise post covid. Are we required to have a covid test before returning to home port? Does Carnival provide this? Do you get it at port?

Can anyone recommend a good hotel near the port of Mobile where we can leave our vehicle during our cruise? Would also like a hotel that provides a shuttle. Thanks.

We are hoping to do a Christmas Market cruise in December 2020. Or maybe a Christmas Market land tour on our own. Hopefully we will be able to do so.

9 minutes ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

Tauck has river cruises specially designed for families.  https://www.tauck.com/tours-and-cruises/family-travel/family-river-cruises.  Their family cruises are wonderful.  it's not just having kids on board, they plan activities especially for the kids. 

Thanks. I will check them out.

1 minute ago, Hoyaheel said:

OMG, as a teen I would have *loved* French cuisine all the time. As I would have loved a trip where I could read a lot and explore Europe. And I know plenty of adults who'd hate it. So let's not judge based on age 😉

 I was not judging. I was speaking only for my grandchildren.

57 minutes ago, acwmom said:

We have been on "normal" Uniworld itineraries and had children as young as 5 onboard. Another cruise had a 12yo traveling with her aunt. (This was the Rhine itinerary on the Antoinette) They did a lot of the more active excursions (hikes, bikes) and enjoyed the movie theater onboard. They won't bat an eye at 14yo's. Enjoy!

 

Robin

Thank you Robin

4 minutes ago, Roz said:

This is from Uniworld's website:

 

"In our experience, most young children—especially those under 4—are simply not yet old enough to enjoy river cruising. We make no special arrangements for little ones and offer few kid-friendly activities onboard or onshore. (One exception: Our Multigenerational Family-Friendly Cruise Program, available on select itineraries during the summer and the winter holiday season) Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult 21 or older at all times."

 

Based on this, it looks to me that you may take your grandchildren on any of Uniworld's Rhine cruises, but there won't be activities geared to kids except for the Multigenerational ones.  

I never saw that. Thank you!

8 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

CroisiEurope does not do family focussed itineraries, but as gnome12 said they are good with families. However, they have few children on board as a representative assured me just the other day. As you quite rightly say, they have each other so they should not get bored. I am little more hesitant about food on CroisiEurope as they are French and do serve quite a bit of French cuisine. An alternative can be had if the choice at dinner is not to your liking, just wondering if the teenagers will be happy with such an arrangement.

 

For more buffet style serving and family-friendly cruising Arosa is the choice. They are German with international sailings. Teenagers and children are more frequent on board. I would avoid the special family itineraries because, as you write, it is your celebration and not to cater too much to the young ones.

 

What about Tauck - perhaps others can give you a bit of insight there - with their family programme?

 

notamermaid

 

I too was a bit concerned about the French cuisine and teenagers! I am sure they would try a few things but not sure they would like it for a week. I will definitely look at Arosa. Thank you.

24 minutes ago, cruisewmn said:

Crystal would be a nice choice. Also has connecting cabins.

I will check with them. Thanks

35 minutes ago, skinnylegs said:

Are you sure Uniworld does not allow teens on all their cruises?  They have a generations program on some cruises targeting families but they may allow your grandchildren on regular itinerary cruises.  

No, I have not spoken with Uniworld yet. I have only checked their website so maybe I am wrong. I will definitely speak with them to be sure.

42 minutes ago, Hoyaheel said:

Avalon allows > age 8. We had a family of 5 on our Avalon Mekong cruise. No 3 person cabins (in Europe or Asia) as far as I'm aware.

I have not checked with Avalon but, I will do so. Thanks!

59 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I think that CroisiEurope (as well as some of the other European lines) are more amenable to families.  If you are looking for companions for your granddaughters, however, I wouldn't count on it at all.

I will check out CroisiEurope. Thank you. I am not worried about them having companions as they will be together and will be fine for a week. A river cruise stays so busy I don't think they will have much free time anyway. They will just have to be entertained by their grandparents ! ! Thanks

1 minute ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

You still might want to look at AMA, because their newer ships are among the very rare river ships with cabins that accommodate 3, and connecting cabins that go up to 5 (depending on the size of your family).  Most river ships are strictly 2 persons per cabin.

That does sound good. I will check them out.

1 minute ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Several river cruise lines offer family cruises, but the most highly developed is Adventures By Disney on selected AmaWaterways sailings.

https://www.adventuresbydisney.com/river-cruising-with-disney/

Thanks for the Disney suggestion but, we would really prefer something else. I do know that Disney does an impeccable service but we want a more normal river cruise experience. I don't want a cruise to cater to my granddaughters. I just want them to accept them on ship. They are quite mature for their age and will not need to be entertained in any special way. 

We will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary in June, 2021 and would love to do a Rhine River cruise with our entire family. Two of our granddaughters will be 14 at the time. What river cruise line allows children of this age? We have cruised with Viking but, they do not allow anyone under 18. We have cruised with Gate 1 but, there were no children on board and I can't see anything on their website showing if they do/do not allow them on board. I see that Uniworld allows children on some cruises but not on the Rhine the week of our anniversary. Any suggestions? Has anyone done this with kids of this age? Thanks for your help!

We have rinsed a few things out in the sink. Our cabin had a retractable clothes line in the shower. Both of the river cruises we have taken (Viking and Monarch) offered laundry service for a fee.

1 minute ago, Roz said:

Nice review, and I'm looking forward to the next installment.  Thank you for taking the time to write it, because as you've already stated, there are so few Gate 1 reviews.  

 

Your review points out the need to be flexible, which I've found to be true on all my river cruises.  Things happens beyond the cruise line's control, and docking locations, port times, and the ports themselves can change.  

We give Gate 1 a lot of credit for an admirable job of dealing with all of the issues!

8 minutes ago, G.M.T. said:

Really enjoying reading your travel tails. There was another review a day or so ago, same stretch of the Danube but they reported problems at every port. Just goes to show how some cruisers can take things in their stride.

 

The thing that disturbs me were the rude shop keepers in Passau (my home town) can you remember the names of the shop at at least the type of shop.

 

Happy Christmas

I did not take notice of the shop names. One man actually stood just inside his door. When we walked in he asked if he could help us. We told him we would like to look around. He never moved and we could not look around so we just left. It was a souvenir shop near the fountain on the square behind St. Stevens. Another thing is that we had received a map of 25 different nativities in town. I was taking photos of all that I found. I got ready to take one photo and the shopkeeper knocked on the window and told me not to take a photo.

Overall it was a great cruise. The ship is beautiful and the service was impeccable. We will definitely cruise with Gate 1 again.

There are LOTS of locks on the Danube – 24 during our cruise – and the river is very crowded this time of year. It was a long trip to Nuremberg – we arrived about 24 hours after leaving Regensburg. We docked outside of town and boarded busses for a 30-minute trip into town. We were late getting into Nuremburg and our time there was greatly shortened. Many on board had been to Nuremburg previously so the ship offered 2 busses for tours and one bus for the Christmas Market and shopping. We were told that the tour was an hour and 15 minutes so, since we had never been to Nuremburg we opted for the tour. After our 30-minute drive into town a guide boarded our bus and the first thing he said is that he would be with us for the next 2 hours. What? Not what we had been told. We visited Hitler’s rally grounds and saw the Hall of Justice where the war trials were held and then headed into town for a walking tour. It was Saturday and town was extremely crowded and traffic was terrible. The bus we were on actually side-swiped a car and never even slowed down!

Since we were anxious to visit the Christmas Market, we decided to skip the walking tour and head directly to the market. We were pointed in the direction and off we went. Well, in all directions all we were finding were food booths. We asked 3 different people how to get to the Christmas Market and all 3 told us it was just food. We walked around for over an hour (in rain) and finally gave up. We visited one shop and headed back for the bus. Others who actually found the market said it was so crowded they could hardly reach a booth and found it very difficult to look around.