kctwinmommy

IAnother time my oldest daughter's friend was two weeks from having turned 18 (she was a senior in high school) and they would not let her go to Club 02.

 

We were on a spring break cruise every time, so that might have made the difference.

I've never heard of them allowing an 18 year old into Club O2. Legally, that person is an adult, there's no way they would allow it. And yes, the summer cruise we were on was much more strict. I believe the kid they moved up to Club O2 was traveling with the large group of school kids who were all in O2. He's the only one they allowed to move up, and they didn't allow any of the younger kids moved in to Circle C on that one. The times we saw it happen were during our November cruises, way fewer kids.

Doesn't bother me at all. The kids are a lot more quiet and respectable in the pools than the adults in my opinion. The main reason I don't go into the pools are because of the adults who yell out "Hey baby! Hold my beer and watch this!" and then does a cannonball into the pool. Saw it all day long last week on the Breeze. Then you have the adults that moon everyone at the pool and are really loud so they can get more attention. Then, these adults sit in these pools and hot tub all day long drinking beer -- and never get out? Yeah! They are peeing somewhere. LOL! At least I see kids getting out and going to the restrooms.

 

So.... doesn't bother me at all. If I want quiet, I go to the Serenity Deck. Library Bar and the side decks are nice as well for quiet.

 

:)

Haha!!! I agree! I can't recall having any problems with kids in the pools. My son cruises with us, but he's usually eating or at Circle C (teenage boy! LOL!). I typically don't even spend much time in the actual pool. Maybe just a dip to cool off, but that's about it. I realize Carnival will never please everyone though, so people have to decide what they want to do for themselves.

I could be wrong but I would think they leave port at a certain time because of how long it takes to get to the next destination.

That would seem the most sensible answer to me. I had heard in Key West it's rare they stay because of where they dock. It blocks the sunset at Mallory Square.

We're doing a European cruise this summer (on RCI), and all our port days are 12-14 hours! But the ports are much closer together.

We were able to use our phones in all the ports, if I wanted/needed to. I didn't do much though, maybe check in on FB, or my email. But not really much. We have T-mobile...

If you search Circle C in the pages, you'll find more posts about this same question. It's asked every other week or so. The short answer is maybe. We've always had a kid in Circle C. He's been 12 since his first cruise. And we've seen 11 year old kids moved up and we've seen them deny it. We've also seen a 14 year old kid moved up to Club O2. It will all depend on the capacity level of the Circle C club. I would go to Circle C on the first night when you need to check in and ask. Some people will tell you it never happens, some will say what I've said, and seen... it all depends on the amount of kids.

We're doing Europe this summer, but like you said, it's not cheap! Airfare & cruise is just about $10K for the 3 of us!! That doesn't include the 4 extra days in London (hotel/meals) and the 2 days in southwestern UK (rental/hotel/meals). Now, we haven't cruised as much as others, so we're not really burnt out on the ports either, but we wanted to get back to Europe and this cruise seemed like a nice way to get around to several things in a short time. But we do like the Caribbean ones in the cold months, just to relax.

It's not true that they "won't move her up..." We've been on 3 cruises within the past 18 months with our 12/13 year old son. During the summer, when the ship is full of kids, the change of kids was more rare. But on the November cruises, it happened more often. I would go to the camp she's technically supposed to be in and see what kind of kids are there. Depending on the capacity, it MAY be a possibility to move up. We have seen it done, so when people say it never happens or it's against Carnivals policy, that's not 100% true.

However, you are correct that Circle C isn't as strictly organized as the younger camp. Our son would go check-in in the morning, find his friends that he had made and often play video games with them. Sometimes they would walk around, they would go to the Lido deck for lunch, etc... Our son knew the rules (from Carnival and us), so he also knew the consequences. He stayed out of trouble, stayed out of where he wasn't supposed to go, etc... He knew when he had to be back in the room, we knew the schedule and talked about the plans before we started each day.

Everybody can tell you different stories and ideas, but you need to do what's best for you, your daughter, and what you're comfortable with.

It all depends on how much you drink, IMO. For us, getting 12-packs of soda is more of a pain since we fly in. This last time, our friends who came with were driving, so they were able to bring two 12-packs for us. I didn't get it this time.

Now our son (13), he uses it a ton! It's cheaper for the kids too. He'll drink like 2-3 glasses at dinner. He doesn't drink soda usually, maybe an occasional sprite. But he'll drink the pineapple juice. So he will easily drink 5-6 in a day. That definitely makes it cheaper by having the BB card. And when we do have it, I probably drink more than normal. When I'm on the Lido deck and my soda gets watered down or warm, I just go get a new one.

What a great review We sail out on the 16th of May, but we are flying to Chicago to take the Amtrack to Seattle (combining 2 bucket lists in one trip!). This creates a bit of a packing challenge since we will be doing a plane, train & then ship. We are packing with a variety of layers but I'm a little torn on what to wear for the dining room. We've done 11 Caribbean or Mexico cruises & I like to dress up for dinner but Alaska seems a little more casual with the dress code. Would I be safe w/jeans & a nice top for non elegant nights in the dining room? I've searched the forums for advice on this without luck. Thanks in advance!

Thanks! And what a trip that will be then! We didn't have the traveling challenge, but spending 4 days in Seattle before hand also meant extra things to bring. I actually bought a jacket on the ship. I packed rain gear, but it was colder than I thought it would be (for me), and the jacket was like $25-30. It had warm fleece on the inside and rain resistant on the outside. I also packed too much "fancy" stuff. I brought some capris and cute tops for dinner, but rarely wore them. We still have nice clothes for the 2 formal nights, but yes, in general, it was nowhere near what it is on the Caribbean cruises.

Argggh, only 4 people per cabana? We will have a party of 5. Is it a nice swimming pool?

We had 7 people in our cabana! They don't stop you from having other people there with you. My son is a swimmer, so he likes having the fresh water pool for awhile.

Here's what it looks like. Our cabana was right behind me in this photo, about 20-30 feet back.

The price is now $160.

 

https://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/grand-turk/poolside-cabana-rental-440035?b=69364D62306A3443426F564377657457676D58724F673D3D

 

Yeah, I knew they raised them a little. Like I said, I think we paid like $130. But someone else in this thread commented that it was $300 for the cabana! I didn't believe it was anywhere near that. Plus we shared it with another family. We paid for the cabana and they paid for some drinks and appetizers for the 7 of us. It came out pretty even! ;)

Last time we were there (November), they were taking conch shells from people coming on board. I wasn't sure if it was because there was a limit or taking all of them. The guy behind us had like 2 bags of them!

How was the snorkeling there?

My husband and son really enjoyed the snorkeling there. There are a couple of objects down below to look for. They just went right off the beach, close to the ship. I put pictures in my review (in my signature), so you can see where they were in comparison to the ship. We didn't pay anything to do an excursion, just did it for free right off the beach. ;)

The Carnival activities look very expensive. A private cabana is about $300, though sometimes I think it may be worth it to stay out of the sun.

They must have doubled the prices then. We were there in November and paid I believe around $120-130.

Yes, we do the same as what others have said so far. You'll get a variety of responses for sure though. Our son was given the rules before we left. And he's done 2 cruises with another family who has a son around his age, so he had someone to start the cruise hanging out with, but they also did their own things too. And then he's been on 1 where it was just our family (from the age of 12-13). He liked to get to the camp in the day, check in, see who was around. Then they would sometimes play the video games there for awhile, then go eat, roam around, etc... I was usually on the deck, sunning, etc... and I'd usually see him pass by a few times during the day. He pretty much knew where we would be (we tend to find a spot to hang and go there every day, or close by). But then he had to be back in our room at a certain time to get ready for dinner (and camps close at this time anyway) and then he had to be back when the camp closed at night (sometimes midnight, sometimes 1 a.m.). For us, on the Caribbean cruises it's a pretty loose vacation for us, we're not doing much anyway. Our one cruise to Alaska though, he had to be back earlier since we were getting up early for excursions.

I just think you need to make sure your child knows what you expect and what the consequences will be. I've really not had any problems with the kids around the ship. Even on Alaska, where there was a very large high school group of kids! Oh, and make sure you tell him where he can and can't go (other kids rooms for example). We trust our son and he's earned that trust so he knows what he should and shouldn't do.

GT is actually one of my favorite ports because it is so simple. We have done the beach hanging out, with some time by the pool for one stop. And then this past year, we opted to pay for one of the cabanas at Margaritaville. We split it with the other family we traveled with, so it was like $60 for each of us. It worked out especially well since the wife of the other family was just starting cancer treatments, and had just had surgery a few weeks before, so she really loved having the shade, private cabana, a/c, etc... But otherwise, the pool and chairs are all free for the taking. Yes, the food/drinks are expensive, but that's all we got (some nachos, calamari, and a round of drinks).

We did this cruise July 2015 and it was never even chilly in port (I wore short-sleeved shirt at every port, see photo in my signature in our favorite - Skagway).

Skagway was the only port where I was comfortable in capris for awhile on the deck during the afternoon. We did an early morning excursion, we came back to town around 1:30-2:00 p.m. and walked around for a bit. But we were tired, so we went back to the ship around 3ish and changed. My son was running around in a t-shirt in shorts by then. For us, every other port was still pretty chilly, jeans & long sleeves. We were also there in July (2016).

I have heard that the Fun Shops on board will have very reasonably priced jackets as will all of the ports. You'll be able to buy it if you feel you'll need it AND is a souvenir that says Alaska on it so it does double duty LOL!!

Yes! We're from Chicago but I didn't pack a heavy coat. I had rain gear though. So I ended up picking up a jacket in the Fun Shops. It was fleece on the inside and then waterproof outside, it says Alaska stitched into the fleece part too. It was great! And I think it was like $25-30. I've used it dozens of times since I've been home from our cruise last summer.

Going on the Carnival Legend to Alaska on August. Celebrating one of my kids graduating from high school, the other from college and my 50th birthday. We're going early to spend three days in Seattle. Who knows when we'll get to do this again. I must admit that in my research I greatly under budgeted for a hotel. We're staying in the Hampton Inn near the Space Needle. Has anyone done the Mt. Rainier tour?

So, we rented a car with the possible intention of driving to Mt. Rainier. However, we didn't want to get our rental until like 10 a.m. so we could return it 24 hours later (and use their shuttle to the cruise ship). By starting at 10 a.m. we knew we didn't have anywhere near enough time. It's a pretty good drive out there, plus traffic, and then the actual time spent there, trying to hike around, etc... I've been told it's a pretty long day trip if people try to do it. We went to Snoqualmie Falls instead, and then found a small mountain on the drive back that we did some hiking at. Just saw some beautiful scenery.

I live an hour north of Seattle and used to work in downtown. Whenever I have relatives come over we take them on the UNDERGROUND TOUR! It is pretty amazing.

The space needle is not that big of a deal and imho is better viewed from afar. Pikes Market is fun, but it will be packed. The Museum of Pop Culture is nearby so your kids may like that. There is so much to do. . .But don't skip the Underground Tour!

Yep! We did that tour!! It was really neat and interesting! And I also agree, we skipped the Space Needle and went up in the Sky View Observatory instead. It's cheaper and better views. And way less crowded. Plus, the ticket is valid for all day visits, so we went once during the afternoon and then again in the evening for sunset.

My biggest advice is the splurge on your excursions. Do something at every port, and don't even consider price as a factor. Do WHATEVER you want to do, you are in Alaska, and may not get back!!!! Do a helicopter tour up to a glacier, lots to choose from, pick whichever appeals to the group, but do it.

Haha! That's the same advice we tell everyone who says they're considering this cruise. I know many people go more than once, but I bet a majority only do it one time. We did everything we wanted to do. We did the helicopter onto a glacier - which was awesome!! But you're right, don't wait and think you'll have a second chance.

would rather have something close to the airport as well as the cruise terminal and places like the Space Needle. I admit I know nothing about the area, so excuse my ignorance if none of those things are relatively close.

Thanks!

You won't find that as they are spread apart. We found staying near the Space Needle worth it because it was much cheaper and we could use the monorail ($1-3/ride) to get into the city quickly. Then we used a shuttle to get to the terminal. As I just posted, I have all the info in my trip reports. Hopefully it can help you make some decisions. :)

I have trip reports for all of this, in my signature. I have one for our 4 days in Seattle as well as for our July cruise. Hope it can help!

Not sure why people think calling is safer than doing yourself online. The rep you talk to is also doing it on a computer. Granted, it's not the same front end but still the same reservation. Just as likely their system will mess up too.

When I do call, I plan on saying right up front that I've heard from others that their reservations have been screwed up, so I want them to take their time with it! LOL! I can also then verify everything with the rep while I'm on the phone with them still.

I think the rep is directly connected to the back end mainframe. Not that it's foolproof by a long shot, but I suspect there are fewer layers to mess up. Additionally, if there is a screw up, you are already on the phone with the rep who now has to fix everything. Better yet to call during normal working hours, when the Resolutions people are working, because the fix might require their intervention.

Yeah I was planning on waiting until during the week to do it. And while I understand the point that people can make a mistake, I can at least verify everything with the rep while I'm on the phone.