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Thank you for letting me know what to expect...we will plan accordingly depending on what time our flight would come in. My father in law ( 82 yrs old) tends to get crabby when my husband drives him in the car..especially in traffic....might put him over the edge LOL. We will make this as smooth as possible thanks to all of your great information. Thanks a bunch. Melissa

GarageTwoThree: Thanks for the info, that shop sounds like a place my teenage daughter might like to go look around in. It is appropriate for teens isn't it? I had been wondering about the traffic since I was told rush hour is nasty there...wondering how it can be worse than Chicago, but I guess anything is possible LOL. This cruise we are thinking of switching to leaves on a Saturday. We would be coming in Friday night though and depending on what time the flight comes in..we may have to fight traffic...What time does it generally clear out in the evening? I know in Chicago after 7:30-8:00 you are home free ( most days). Thanks for your input!

Melissa

I guess 12-15 miles does not seem like much to me (I drive for a living). Since we are renting a car, I figured, depending on when our flight would be, once we get to the hotel if it is a decent area we could find a nice place to eat, settle in and relax till the next morning. If I am reading the map right...the port would be on the way to drop off the rental in the am and I could drop most of the people there and they could wait till I got back on the shuttle. We would much rather get a rental than depend on a hotel shuttle. Like I said Neice works for Enterprise so it will be cheap/free. The rates are so much cheaper there than the others I was convinced it was in the ghetto LOL. Thanks so much for reassuring me that it is in a decent neighborhood. Is the only Walmart/ Grocery the one you mentioned earlier in this post? Last time I was in Tampa, I went to the Wallgreens near the port and they do not sell liquor. Thanks again for your help. Now I just have to convince Brother in law to get the time off in Nov so we can change the cruise.

I found a great rate at this hotel that serves our needs as it has both suites and regular rooms. I am cruising with family in November and I need a big room, but they only need a standard. It is the Hampton Inn and Suites at 8210 Hidden River Parkway. it shows it to be a bit north of the airport. Do you know anything about this? I have never stayed at a Hampton Inn I didn't like..just wondering about the local area. Thanks Melissa

PS:transportation is covered....neice works for Enterprise

( Fingers in ears)

LALALALALALALALALLALALALLAL..that is stuff you don't want to hear!!!!!

But they are in their own room since this is THEIR anniversary present.Besides they are both 80 and over...I don't have ask them to babysit. I called my travel agent. He says this is not going to be a problem and I am just trying to figure out which room on the Enchantment are the new ones so I can try to get put there. It looks like they still have connecting cabins open so I can get 2 connected 2 person rooms and one quad next to that. I am not worried about my kids getting in trouble. They are usually so busy that they don't have time. You are lucky you have a parent both willing and young enough to watch your kids for you. On the rare occasions that my hubby and I get to go away without the kids it costs us $100 a day to hire a nice or nephew to watch them and drive them around ect. Worth every penny, but sometimes I feel envious of people who get so much help from their parents or in laws.

Oh that is TOO funny!!!! cold nose touching your butt..can't say he has gotten his nose THAT close to me...I bet that will wake ya up thought huh?

You know how true that is!! When my husband wanted to remodel the main level and put a master suite in for us, at first I was against it since I wanted to be able to let the kids each have their own rooms. Now I am so happy he did it and even though my kids get grounded if they use my bathroom (boys...pee on the seat ect)..... when I go into my bathroom it never fails that if I do not latch the door all the way...THE DOG comes in to see what I am doing!!! I thought when the kids all were in school I would get some peace. At least I feel loved right?

I see so many lonely people where I work ( an independent living facility) it is pathetic. I only hope my kids do not ignore me the way some of their kids ignore them.Today a lady who has 5 children moved out and her cousin came to drive her to her new apt. Her 5 daughters could not be bothered to help her pack or move....Sad...very sad.

wow thanks so much for the info.... I went on last night to see how much it would be to put hubby and I in a balcony and it really isn't much more. I just have to sit down and make a final decision about where I want to be a stick with it. They still seem to have quite a bit of availablility too. Even though we were looking forward to the trip I had pretty much resigned myself to sharing a room with my girls and that would have put a bit of a damper on things...this opens up a whole new list of possiblilites LOL. Imagine not sharing a bathroom!!! sounds like luxury to me.

SO now we are talking about getting 3 cabins......but with only 2 adults will they let us book them? According to this thread, as long as I have my kids close by, I can book 3 of them in one cabin and 2 of them in another and then hubby and I in our own cabin. I will call my TA and ask him to look into this for me.

I am soo glad I have wonderful people on this board who can solve dilemmas. I WAS told that one adult had to be booked in each room. So I did book it that way. When we cruised Disney we had no problems switching rooms once we were aboard and no problems with the key to the world cards. I was considering booking a room with a balcony so we could have extra space, but if I can book another cabin for the kids it will be the same if not cheaper to do that. Then hubby and I can have our OWN room and not have to sleep apart and we can shag whenever we feel like it. It is not like my kids are babies...5 of them are teens ( 4 which are coming) and the youngest will be almost 12. This opens up a world of possiblilities and even could fill one more room so we can get our 8 cabins to fulfill our group. I set up a group sailing for my inlaws 60th anniversary and many of the people who thought it was a GREAT idea in the beginning have now decided not to go.

Now....to figure out which toys I can bring if I am going to have my own room.....There would be no way I would risk bringing them with kids in the room.....it WOULD scar them for life worse than seeing us mess around. Ohhh I am sooo excited now!!!! Thanks everyone!!!! Melissa

If we couldn't put the kids in a separate cabin, we wouldn't take them along on the cruise at all. Even aside from the sex issues, it just wouldn't be very relaxing or enjoyable if we needed to have an entire family crammed together in one cabin with no privacy, all sharing one small bathroom and limited storage space for a week or more. Others may enjoy that much togetherness, but it's not our idea of the way to spend a vacation.

 

Why do you think grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were invented?

You can trade off and take care of their kids or pets when they go on vacation.

 

Or, if you feel you really must take them along on the cruise, put all those strongwilled kids in another cabin with the horny grandparents.

Important: Make sure they are on another deck, on the opposite end of the ship. Then you can pretend you don't know any of them.

 

Still haven't figured out whether the kitchen utensils should go in your cabin or theirs though.

I know I stated our situation about the sleeping arrangements. This cruise happens to be for my in laws 60th anniversary which I wanted all the kids to be a part of. Since we have 6 kids and have already booked 2 cabins, 2 of the kids do need to sleep with us, unless they are expected to sleep on the floor in the other room and sharing a bed in an inside cabin with a sibling when they are both teenagers is not a very do-able solution either. The last thing I need to contend with is 6 kids who are tired from lack of sleep because they were expected to share those tiny beds. As far as booking another cabin, they will not let us because we have one adult booked in each room already and need to have someone over 25 booked with anyone under 21. TRUST me I have tried to figure this out several different ways. Since the whole extended family is going I guess my only option for leaving them home would be to hire a nanny......soooooo Thanks to those who actually answered my question about the beds being pushed together..I do appreciate the information and plan to possibly upgrade to a cabin with the hide-a- bed and upper bunk.

Not everybody has the luxury of Aunts and Uncles or Grandparents who are healthy enough to watch their kids.

Oh and for the record we do pretend we don't know them LOL....especially when they are not behaving. ( kidding)

When we sailed on the Disney Wonder we really didn't have too much trouble sharing the bathroom....I guess when you are blessed with a large family, you take it for granted that you will have kids in your face most of the time. I would not trade them for the world...not even my PIA 19 yr old. I am so not complaining about having my kids in the cabin with me. I would much rather cruise WITH them than stay home.

First of all,

Thanks for the answer to my question. As I said, not sure how much SEX yes I said it SEX we are going to have on this cruise, but I don't want to sleep in separate beds or try to DO IT on one of those tiny things. I outgrew that a LOOOOONG time ago. About the boys being easier, I USED to think so, until I had one kid ( now 19) who just totally went down the wrong path. Of course he has other issues, ( bipolar disorder and ADHD) but he has truly put us though more hell than anyone can imagine. My daughters are dream children and one of them will be 16 and the other is almost 11. I also have an 18 yr old son, as well as 13 yr old twin sons who are pretty easy kids. My husband keeps saying we should have stuck to dogs, but I understand you need to be careful what you wish for. I love all my children equally, and I LIKE a few of them better than others.

About the sex thing.....LOL My neice slept in our camper when she was about 9 and we thought she was asleep......about 10 years later she comes to me and says..."remember the time at Uncle Tom's when I slept in your camper?....I WASN'T ASLEEP and I HEARD YOU!!!!" We laugh now, but I was pretty horrified at the thought.

As for how people with lots of kids find time...my last daughter was concieved during an afternoon delight when all the rest of them were napping.

This has been quite entertaining for me and now I might just book that balcony room after all for us, and put the 4 other kids across the hall in an inside room. Thanks for the information I do appreciate it. Melissa

Does anyone know if they offer roll away beds? I don't think at my kids size (5 of them are teenagers 19,18,15,13,13) that they would fit 2 to a bed in the quad room, nor will they tolerate sharing a bed. They can hardly sit next to one another in the car, much less share a bed LOL. We have a while to work this out. I was considering upgrading my room to an oceanview and have 4 of the kids in an inside cabin. When we sailed the Disney Wonder, they have a nice privacy curtain sleeping area for parents and bunks outside of that, one which turns into a couch during the day. Hubby won't go into the public hot tubs, since last time he got....uhhh.....well...it was OBVIOUS he was happy to see me, so now he is afraid that will keep happening. I am sure we will work it out, I just wondered if anyone had been in a quad room and knew the bed arrangements. Thanks again. This has been quite the entertaining thread by the way. Melissa

If we have an inside cabin on the Enchantment of the Seas for 4 do we automatically give up the chance to make the 2 twin beds into one king bed? Please do not suggest putting the kids in another room since we have already done that. We have 6 kids and 2 of them need to be with us since we are unable to book a 3rd room due to the fact that an adult has to be booked in each room. I have searched a looked at several pictures and it seems that in order to utilize the bunk beds, you need to leave the lower beds separate. I am not sure I like the idea of sleeping in separate beds and maybe we should upgrade to an oceanview with the sleeper sofa. After 20 yrs of marriage, I am not worried about the extra curricular activities taking place, where there is a will there is a way, but I would like to sleep ( yes really sleep, snoring and all) with my husband. Thanks in advance for all replys. Melissa