kasi1979

Good to know that there are still people cruising in regular staterooms, as all we get to read are YC reviews.

Looking forward to all you have to say about this cruise.

Which cruise is it you are looking at? 
The cruise on august 2nd? or the longer one on the 11th?

I would suggest contacting a travel agency to help you. In the past I had the experience that you have to book the real number of people that are going to travel (if one baby, it´s 3 persons) due to ships capacity. I was allowed to just book generic Baby 1 and after birth change the data to the real name and dates. But I would ask a travel agency if this is still possible.

Thanks for your suggestions and the insight on acitivities at Celebrity.

We are really looking forward to christmas at sea, even though it means I have to do some last minute shopping in Miami before we board as not everything can be packed and tranported from Germany.

I will look into a card game. That´s a great idea, thanks.

Excuse the question, but is self assist debarcation Open to all paasengers or just If you are a US Citizen?

Hi,

we decided to escape the wet cold of middle Europe and go on an cruise this christmas.

Flights, hotels, cruise all booked.

As right now there is very little available to pre-book via MSC I am looking for infos.

We´ll board Seascape at Miami on dec 23rd, first stop is Nassau on christmas eve, than San Juan on 26th dec, followed by puerto plata and the private island.

Is anything open in San Juan on the 26th? Any must-dos for the ports?

as  for the ship:
Am I allowed to bring on some christmas sweets, for stockings etc?

What about battery operated decoration for our stateroom?

I searched quite a bit but did not find what MSC offered onboard for christmas. Do they have special dinners? A visit from santa, anything I should be aware of? 

Lot´s of questions, I know and possibly more to come, but I want this vacation to be memorable for the whole family, and it´s the first time dd(9) doesn´t spent christmas at home...

Thanks so much for taking us along on this beautiful week.

You gave me food for thought and I look forward to anything you might want to share regarding your trip.

Thanks so much, the debarcation info makes planning a lot easier.

Do you know how much MSC charges for the shuttle to MIA airport?

This looks amazing, thank you. 

Hi,

we´ve booked the christmas cruise 2023 aboard Seascape.

As of now (weeks after booking) I cannot book excursions, the spa treatments are very few, no speciality dining...

When do these points become available?

I know, I´m 288 days out, but I´d love to get into planning, I´m really interested in what´s available in the holiday week.

I´m too far out, there are no excursions available yet.

Also hoping for any and all info.

What check-in time did you get?

Awesome, we will visit the ports in Dezember. Do you have an overview over the offered excursions?

We decided to spend next christmas aboard a cruise ship in the caribbean.

We have done quite a few cruises before (it will be dd 11 th cruise).

However we have never been on a ship during the holiday season.

I want to have a few gifts for DD that she can use or experience during this trip.

We´ll be aboard MSC Seascape.

Do you have any ideas for me?

I´ll  have  4 days in her advent calender to fill that will be opened during our trip (flight + pre-cruise hotel + cruise), a christmas stocking and maybe 1 or 2 further gifts, small enough to be taken home with us on an international flight after the cruise...

Also, what can we expect christmas wise onboard? A vist from Santa? Will they hold mass? A special dinner?

Any tip is welcome so that I can set expectations accordingly and prepare if we want something else than what is provided.

Our daughter was 9 month on her first cruise. We just took her wherever we went, let her crawl in the disco which is not in use during the day or in a quite lounge. When I went swimming, dad took her around the ship. As she was taking quite a few naps a day at that time, she did those either in her stroller or one of us stayed with her in our stateroom. We took a few toys but all in all she was fascinated with all there was to see. 

Don´t fret, it´s not the vacation it used to be, but its still good. Hours and hours a day in a deck chair were not practical with my kid, we where more the action seeking group.

In Dublin we just used the ship shuttle into the city, and from there the HoHo bus, close to where the shuttle picked us up again was a big playground which my kid loved.

In Belfast we rented a car and drove at our own schedule to the Giant´s causeway. The car made it possible to take our time where needed and not visit sights that held no interest to us and if the kid needed a break that was possible, too.

This time we´ll head into Belfast for the Titanic museum.

We live in Germany and have put of the Med til a later time since my now 8 year old is not interested in "old stones". As others have mentioned the Med is pretty hot in the summer and crowded as Europe is on vacation at that time, too.

We´ve been on several cruises with the kid to Norway, the Baltics and Great Britain and Ireland. I found that my kid loves nature, animals and action. She´s good on city sightseeing as long as we don´t over do it and visit nature and sience museums instead of art which holds little interest to her. 

So, I´d check if the north holds any interest for you. 

If you want a lot of city and culture check he Baltic Sea, even though St. Petersburg won´t be in the schedules for the time being, there are lots of fascinating cities and some nature put into the mix (e.g. the little Islands outside Stockholm). 

If more nature and less city is ok, a Scotland centered tour or Norway is the way I would take a look.

Most of Europe can get warm in summer as it was last year but it can also be wet and mild, there is no weather guarantee. So maybe a ship with a good pool and ports that hold the interest of your family. With 5 people it might be interesting to look into private tours or diy it. 

at 2.5 years our kid used to sleep in a crib at home, too. On our cruise aboard MSC she came into the stateroom, rushed up the ladder to the bunk bed and could not be talked into sleeping on the floor as we had intended.

Our beds were pushed together underneath so had she fallen of the long side, she would have landed in our bed. We made her promise not to climb the ladder alone and all was well. She never fell down, but we had a few plush toys thrown at us 😉

Don´t worry, you´ll find a solution, sometimes the kids surprise us.

We´ve travelled 14 days with our 3 year old, her first cruise at age 9 month, we took a 12 day cruise and have cruised several times with her or 7 to 12 days, she´s now 8 years old. We would not mind longer cruises however school vacations and prices were not in our favour so far.

DD just turned 5 and is going on her 7th Cruise in february.

When she was a baby WE had a pack n play from the cruiseline, took an umbrella stroller that reclined as well as a carrier and did mytime dining, sharing with others. It worked quite well but I had to leave early twice as dd got cranky.

We changed our routine and are nowadays cruising on Getman cruiselines, as DD does not speak english yet and, lucky me, she loves Kids Club. The first Cruise she attended club I ended up with lots of unplanned time for myself which took some getting used to.

We always do laundry on board or sent clothes out to be cleaned, so that I do not have a ton of laundry once we come back home and we do not need as much luggage.

DD was 9 month old on her first cruise. We took a whole suitcase full of clothes and everything Else she might need and still had to hit a store along the way as she had a growth spurt.

Bring plenty of everything, clothes are easy in warm climate, but prepare to either Hand wash or sent Out some clothes. We went through three outfits a day due to food or other accidents.

Diapers might be hard to get so pack your Brand and size. Also bring any medicine your little one might need.

And no, you are not crazy to go in a cruise with a Baby. DD is 4 now and we have taken five cruises as a Family. The most relaxing vacation for us.

You don´t say how old your Kids are...

For our last cruise, which was dd´s 5th cruise, we did not tell her where we were going until abount one hour before boarding.

Just got her out of bed in her p.j., put her in the car for "an excursion" and off we went.

At our breakfast stop we gave her a coloring book with the Kids motives from the cruise and told her, where we were going. I believe she could be heard several towns away :)

Europe is quite big and very different depending on where you are going.

Maybe you can tell us your Destinations.

Pick pockets are a Problem in some big cities, Europe in total is not unsafe.

We have been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel with our than 2.5 year old Girl.

In Grand Cayman we took the 3 hour excursion with Captain Marvin, two snorkel stops and the stingray sandbar. At the snorkeling spots one of us stayed onboard with dd, We put her in a lifejacket for the trip and took her into water with us at he sandbar.

In Cozumel we took a taxi (no car seat) to Playa Mia, there are bus excursions that go there, too, if you feel more comfy in a bigger vehicle. DD hat a blast in the Aqua playpark and on the beach.

In Jamaica our stop was Ochos Rios, where we just went to the beach.

Whatever you decide, it´s gonna be a great tour.

We took dd to the caribbean last spring while stil in diapers. As we travelled aboard MSC she was not allowed in the pools. We knew this beforehand and told her so. No biggie.

In all the ports we made sure she got to enjoy the beach or pools, we took her to a beach in Jamaica, to a water park in Cozumel, to Stingray Sandbar in Grand Cayman, only Nassau was a water free day as we went to the Aquarium at Atlantis.

There was so much to see and do, that she was never sad for not being able to use the pool onboard.

If no splash-area seems to be a deal breaker, bring a tiny blowup tub which you can fill from the pool, however, be sure to empty it in a drain.

We took our daughter, aged 2,5 at the time of the cruise, to Stingary City.

We´ve been there before kids so were pretty sure, what to expect.

We opted to go with Cpt. Marvins, taking us out on a sorkel and Stingray excursion with about 10 other guests.

At the snorkel stops one of us stayed on the boat with dd and the other got to snorkel, taking turns. At the sandbar, we took dd with us in the water. DD wearing a lifevest and being on Daddys or my arm all the time.

She was pretty shy, but petted a stingray.

I´d say it was a great day out for all us.