cruzinlisa

I have been there twice and I don't recall there ever being a children's menu. And I have a child. But she does not eat much (real food anyway, she is a snacker). I am not sure whether we ate actually either. I think we just had some drinks.

If we end up there next week, I will look.

First, nobody is falling off the ship (get them an interior cabin). If they are overly intoxicated in public areas, it will be noticed, teens aren't able to hide it as well as 'drinkers' and you guys will get to have a fun conversation with the Royal security.

Second, if teens want to drink, they will find a way. My suggestion is make them have late dinner with you and make them eat early breakfast with you. There is nothing better than watching a teen suffer through breakfast with a nasty hangover, especially when they think they are hiding it from you.

Third, it's so easy to smell it---during, but especially after (unless you also smell of booze). Teens aren't smart enough to know which drinks to order to keep the smell away.

 

Go enjoy the cruise, let the kids have fun. Let them know ahead of time there will be consequences if they drink (or if they are caught).

This.

OP, its probably as easy or easier for them to get drinks at home. They should not be sold alcohol on the ship, but just like on land, there are ways of getting it- usually an older friend or acquaintance.

I would do what other posters suggested- lay out rules and consequences and make them check in periodically. If they get caught drinking, privileges get taken away. Probably the same stuff you would do at home.

Does anyone by chance know the MDR menu order for the Roatan-Costa Maya- Cozumel route? DH and I are trying to figure out what night we'd like to try some speciality dining. I've tried searching, but have come up empty handed. TIA!

 

 

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Interested in the same thing. When are you leaving? We are leaving 5/14, so I can try to remember to write it down and post when I get back, unless someone posts it first.

Any idea why? We are not going until next weekend, just wondering if this is something that could carryover.

Some of it is based upon the ship or your particular tastes. Sailing on Royal for the first time next week so I don't know how their food stacks up yet, but I can say that between Carnival, Celebrity and Disney I would have ranked them this way:

MDR-

1. Celebrity in BLU only (not MDR)

2. Carnival

3. Celebrity MDR

4. Disney

Buffets

1. Disney and Carnival tied if Carnival ship has 2.0

2. Carnival ship if not 2.0

3. Golden Corral, hometown buffet or any other buffet other than a hotel breakfast

4. Celebrity

I am curious to see how Royal stacks up. However, I am betting that there are tons of people who would disagree with me, either because they have different tastes or because the ship they were on had better/worse food than mine.

While it is not necessary to rush to sign up - have never heard of the kids club filling (they know in advance how many kids will be onboard and plan accordingly), I strongly suggest you attend the first night orientation. This is when the kids meet the others in their group and form friendships.

Typically when is this? Before dinner? After?

I like cruising out of New Orleans, but the Vision?

They brought in the worst ship.

I will pass and go with the NCL Pearl.

Maybe it will lead to something better. I would love to see RCCL in NOLA. That is the most convenient port for us to drive to- about 11 1/2 hours for us and straight down the interstate. That is the reason that most of our cruises have been on Carnival. But I would want a bigger ship with some amenities. That is one of the reasons I have not sailed NCL. My options on Carnival have been better.

I have not flown on "cut rate" airlines to my knowledge except once on Allegiant. But major airlines can mess up your trip too. We had a flight scheduled this December on United to fly from Kansas City to Denver (short flight and popular itinerary with many options). That flight got cancelled due to weather and the rebooked flight got delayed twice before being cancelled as well. But that was not due to the weather itself at that point, but ice on the plane and the lack of de-icing trucks. Apparently United only had 1 and it broke down. Because I guess they don't know that it snows in Kansas City in December. They also had a plane full of people headed to Houston who were on the plane and then taken back off because of de-icing issues. I understand the morning flight but the afternoon and evening flights were because of the lack of proper equipment. The flights the next day were all sold out and we ended up missing the football game that we were headed there to see. So stuff happens not matter which airline you travel.

That said, I have not noticed an increase in flight prices either. Actually a decrease. I priced flights to Houston for our Liberty cruise and at the lowest I saw them for $215 pp. In the end, we decided to drive anyway, because with three of us, plus getting from Houston to Galveston, it was adding up. But that price was less than we paid in 2013 to Fort Lauderdale, 2009 to Miami or even 2004 to Miami. We don't really live that close to a major airport- there is small one 45 minutes away but very limited flights. So we have to drive about 2 hours to an airport. So that opens up our options for us, as we have 3 options for us. If we lived close to one, we would feel bound to one or the other.

Sadly...this is the truth. Gone are the days when people would actually put their phones in their safe in the cabin after sail away. Even longer gone are the days when we didn't have cell phones on a cruise. I actually look forward to being completely disconnected on our cruises.

On our Harmony cruise in November, I did get the internet package and posted daily as a live review...mainly because of the newness of the ship. But I felt like I missed out on a lot of things.

I am old school. We did not get an internet package and will stay unplugged with phones in the safe. Currently I am not sure how I will manage since I get on the internet constantly. I am not sure what my life was before Google. I vaguely remember before I had it on my phone and having to write a note to look something up. But I can't remember what it was like before internet. I guess we just did not know the answer?? It would drive me INSANE.

But we are always unplugged on cruises so I guess I will live.

Time can go more quickly than you would imagine. I booked right after the first of the year for our cruise which leaves in less than 2 weeks and the time has flown by. We are coming up on summer and time really seems to speed through during the summer. Pretty much after summer is over, you will be about ready to leave. I would say just concentrate on enjoying summer and before you know it, you will be cruising!

And reading cruise critic non-stop and researching/planning excursions or every aspect of your trip helps too. ;)

We've never had a drink denied on any of the RCI cruises we've taken and we've definitely hit the 15 drink mark on the at sea days. 15 sounds like a large number but a mimosa or bloody mary with breakfast, a few drinks during the day/by the pool, pre-dinner, dinner and drinks at the dance club adds up. I've also never had a waiter tell me to wait between drinks. Honestly, if that happened I'd probably just put down the remainder of my current drink, walk 30 feet to the next bar and order something there. In the past we've also been able to order a shot and a beer at the same time since they consider a beer a chaser but I am not sure if that still applies with the new package.

I am not sure if I myself could drink 15 alcoholic drinks a day because I really don't drink that much and I drink frozen drinks which take longer to drink. But I agree 15 it is not as gigantic as it sounds. It would be easy to do on a sea day without getting trashed. Hubby could do it with no problem on a sea day. Even not being a big drinker, I could probably get 5-6 in a sea day if I really wanted to. Port Day- no way.

Hi- we thought we would be assigned and given some kind of card in our room. However, at about 3:30, I just called Chops- and asked. They told me what time they had available-- and we were all set.

 

Re: drink cards. Probably around day 4 or 5, I noticed they had them for sale. 10 for $75 plus 18% gratuity.

Hmm, so you never got a card or call or anything? We are hoping for Chops as well. Was it a hassle to call or did you just tell them you have the first night done right package? Did you have to show anything to them?

OP, it sounds like you had an adventure. I hope that once you actually got on the ship you had a good time and got to relax.

I am not an advocate of flying in day of, but even if I were, arriving at 1:45 would have been a little too close for comfort for me. Assuming your flight was on time, you still have to get bags and then get to the port (which I know is fairly close but even so). Any kind of delay in arrival, bag unloading, long wait for taxi/shuttle, traffic, etc would stress me to no end.

Sometimes even flying in the day before is an issue- especially in the winter. My cautionary tale does not involve a cruise but a football game. We were scheduled to go to Denver last December to see the Broncos/Patriots game. Leaving from Kansas City on Saturday early afternoon. Its a relatively short flight (under 2 hours). The day before there is this unexpected and terrible ice storm but it seems to be okay by the end of the work day. The forecast for the next day is a little bit of sleet in the morning and then some snow late in the afternoon. As we are leaving for the airport, I get an alert that our 1:15 flight was cancelled. I scrambled to rebook the next available, which is like 8:40 p.m. Since we are already packed and ready and the weather is supposed to get worse, we headed to the airport. We arrived there about noon after multiple detours, interstate shut downs and scary moments. By the time we are there, the ice calms down and it snows a little. Flights keep getting delayed, including ours, which got pushed back to 10:00 p.m. They tell us that they are plowing the runway and then deicing the plane (which is there). And about 9 p.m. they tell us all the de-icing trucks are broken down so all United flights were cancelled. We tried to rebook with them or anyone, but the soonest they could get us there would be Monday, unless we wanted to try for standby on a flight with 2 connections, which was supposed to arrive at 2 p.m. (game was at 2:15 or something like that). So, we missed the game, even though we should have been there 26 hours before the game. I was bumbed out about that and it was an outdoor football game in Denver in December (yuck). I could only imagine if it were a cruise- honeymoon no less.

You need to check the towel back in, you can't just leave it in the cabin. Call though, they will remove the charge. Didn't know you could leave them in the cabin on Carnival, good to know if we ever sail them.

Carnival has them in the cabin to begin with. The room steward will exchange them for new ones.

I book through a TA, but they have nothing to do w/ my BOA OBC. You'll see it when you sign into your cruise planner. It will pop right up. Two months is a long time to wait on BOA OBC, especially since you cruise the same time as me, three weeks. Do you have the confirmation email from BOA?

I called them and they did not even look up to see if the points were redeemed, just transferred me to Royal, who told me they don't apply it until 2 weeks before sailing and even then i might not see it unless I had my TA get me an invoice.

After you mentioned the email, I went back and looked and could not find it. I went online and low and behold, I have all of my points available for redemption. So either I did not go through with the redemption with the intention of going back and did not or something else happened. When I redeemed them this time, I noticed that there was an additional step when it really seemed like I was done to confirm. I almost closed out of it, thinking that was the confirmation. So that could have happened the first time. Anyway, I have redeemed it now, so we will see if it comes up.

Yes, Visa points OBC appear in the Cruise Planner.

 

Redemptions are processed in order of cruise date, so if your cruise is far in advance, it might be a while.

WHere does it show up and is it different if you have a TA. I applied mine about 2 months ago and my sailing is in 3 weeks. I am not seeing it. But I do have a TA. I did not apply it with my TA though, I went onto my credit card account and applied the points myself.

We booked during a Kids Sail Free promo. The price was good but the "taxes and fees" were significantly higher. After the sale, the price went up several hundred dollars. About 2-3 weeks later, the total price was a little lower. Base far was higher but taxes and fees went down a few hundred dollars, making the total price about $40 less. I have not seen it go lower, its either the same or higher. If you find a really good price, then go for it. Otherwise you can wait for the next sale.

I am still happy with what I paid. Its still about the same (maybe even a little less) than the one I was looking at one another line and this ship (Liberty) has more stuff on it.

Interested in this also. Our ship offers it, but it may be sold out, as I am not able to book more than 1 person. So I may have to go independent.

For anyone who has done it, do they have a minimum age limit?

I found an excursion that I like. It is listed in my planner as available on my sailing- good right? So I go to book it and if I put in more than 1 person, it will not allow me to do it. If I put in 1 person, its good. I am not sure if this is a website issue (shocking I know) or if this excursion is actually fully booked? Is there anyway to know this?

If it is booked fully, what are the chances of something else opening up on board? If there is no chance, then I will probably just book independent. But the price is the same and all things equal, I would rather book with the ship. But if I can't find out until I get on board, I either have to book the independent tour now or try on board and hope they offer it.

If it makes any difference it is the Dune Buggy Excursion in Cozumel and we leave in 23 days. Thanks.

We have a couple of totes that we got in Cozumel for a few dollars, which we usually use. Or one of those reusable grocery bags is good. Or if you have a drawstring sling back (sort of like a backpack) those are great too. Or an old back pack. I would not take anything super nice. Just big enough to carry your stuff and not something that is a family heirloom (in case it gets wet, sandy, ruined, lost etc).

 

While Conquest does have slides, it doesn't have the rock wall, Flowrider, or ice rink, or Promenade.

 

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This. I absolutely love Conquest (post 2.0), but with teens, I think you would want to rock climbing and Flowrider. I think Conquest has slides (not into that) but they really do not have a dynamic pool area.

But I am assuming Conquest is the cheaper one.

If money is a big factor and you end up picking Conquest, I am sure a good time will be had (it is a cruise). But Freedom is probably a better choice.

For Caribbean I have found best deals:

mid-late September

October

first 2 weeks of December

January

February- except last week.

I have cruised in April and early to Mid May and prices are not terrible, but not as cheap as the other times. WE like that time though because its warmer (and we often drive to port so no weather concerns) and our anniversary is in May (along with my birthday). DD's school gets out early (May 10 this year) so if we go in mid May, we can make sure she does not miss school and get better prices than summer.

IMO the most expensive times I have seen are:

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years weeks

Last week of February

Last week or so of March

Easter week

After Memorial through the end of summer

I like being aft- it has been most convenient on the ships I have been on. Once on a Carnival ship, we had an aft cabin on deck 6, which was great for us because the promenade level was just one flight of stairs down and the lido buffet was 9 aft. So we could either walk up the stairs or take the aft elevators which were empty.

I don't like forward cabins at all because of the movement. Mid ship is good I guess, but I really prefer aft.

I know people concerned about some really important things, but table cloths? that's a first for me..

Trust me. You know the thread about room service charges on this board, there was a similar type thread about the table cloths back when the decision was made. Polls, debates mostly between the "a table cloth makes my dining experience" group and the "I don't give a rat's xxx" group. People swearing off Carnival forever. It was interesting.

OP, I have not sailed Fascination, but on Imagination and Elation, which are in the same class. Neither had water works - which Fascination does so its probably a little more updated than what we did. But we still had a good time. Fascination is not a dump, but its not going to compare to a mega ship by any means. You will have good food, good service and some stuff to do. As far as entertainment, it really depends on what you are looking for. Karoke for sure, comedy shows. The production shows leave much to be desired, but its also not my thing, so maybe its me.