leighi123

I'm aware that there is no snorkeling right off the ship, which is why I'm asking where to go from there, and how to get there.    

We don't do excursions booked through the cruise lines, they are way too expensive, waste too much time waiting for everyone, and the people are always terrible.   We have done it twice and regretted it both times.    

What can we do on our own? 

Where would the best snorkeling be?   We will be in port at Harvest Caye from 8am-5pm and want to go snorkel on our own - we know what we are doing and have equipment so we don't need a "tour" or "guide", we just need to know where to go and how to get there (and back again!).     Suggestions?   

We have some dietary restrictions, and have done well eating on many cruise lines, but NCL was the worst as far as getting a good variety of interesting options for meals.   We did a 13 day cruise last year and are doing a week long one this month.   On the previous cruise it took them half the cruise before they got an allergy friendly menu together for us, and never once did we get any "fun" deserts (just fruit!).  On other lines we had plenty of options!    We were also given variations of almost the same thing every day (rice with veggies in various forms)

We are gluten free (2 with a sensitivity, one with non-celiac allergy), AND vegan, and there are a few other things we can't have (some nuts, kid can't have oats) 

Anyway, are there any tricks to getting more variety in meals?  Deserts we can eat that aren't just pineapple?     

We obviously alert them in advance, as well as talk to staff on board, but last time the food selections were so boring!   

5 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

Did you alert them before the cruise? We always have it noted on our reservation about celiac, and are met with at embarkment lunch. Dd ordered her breakfasts and dinners the day ahead of time, I don’t think she had anything for dinner twice (she prefers to have lunch in the buffet with her new friends and just stick to basics).

Yep we always alert in advance AND go talk to them when on board AND when we get to meals.   We like to do buffet for breakfast/lunch (lunch is not bad with some of the Indian options and the salad bar working fine for us), breakfast is hard even at home to get good things so we are used to that.   It is dinner that was tough last time.    3 of the 5 of us have special diets, mostly the same with a few different things.   We ate SO much rice last time between lunch and dinner for example and the dinners were way under-seasoned, as if they thought allergies = bland.  

We have some dietary restrictions, and have done well eating on many cruise lines, but NCL was the worst as far as getting a good variety of interesting options for meals.   We did a 13 day cruise last year and are doing a week long one this month.   On the previous cruise it took them half the cruise before they got an allergy friendly menu together for us, and never once did we get any "fun" deserts (just fruit!).  On other lines we had plenty of options!    We were also given variations of almost the same thing every day (rice with veggies in various forms)

Anyway, are there any tricks to getting more variety in meals?  Deserts we can eat that aren't just pineapple?     

We obviously alert them in advance, as well as talk to staff on board, but last time the food selections were so boring! 

Carnival ship they had a "morning show" sort of thing that they projected onto the big screen by the pool. We were watching and the cruise director commented that he wished he had some bacon. My son noted this, ran to the buffet and asked for a plate piled with bacon, ran down to the theater where the show was being filmed and then climbed up on stage and handed it to the cruise director. Kid was then invited to take over the show, and ended up with the cruise director and the other person in the show and himself all on the floor "demonstrating" what its like to go down the water slide complete with sound effects.

Same cruise - first night this kid ended up on stage for a goldilocks show and was called "baby bear" by random people on board for the rest of the cruise, was also constantly hi-fived for the bacon thing.

Side note - this kid has been vegan from birth.

You won´t find any tour from "La Harve" : please, try "Le Havre"! [emoji4]

 

 

Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Forums

Sorry, my computer likes to autocorrect to whatever it thinks is right, I was in a hurry and didn't double check spelling!

Looking for a private tour from La Harve that includes transportation from the ship, seeing a couple key sites in Paris, and return to the ship.

We are looking for the best (and cheapest) way to get from Le Harve to Paris and back again (on time!). 3 people, 2 adults and a 10yr old. I hear there is a train, does anyone have the link for info on that? Or any other suggestions? (renting a car, sucking it up and paying the cruise "Paris on your own" deal... something else?)

We basically want to do the Eiffel tower and the Lourve, and if time see some other highlights but those two main things are the priority.

You didn't mention if you were planning for this summer or in 2016. Also the type of cabin you want to reserve.

 

Princess has 7 day round trip from Seattle starting at $699 per person for an inside cabin. The 3rd and 4th person in the cabin starts at $374. There are two itineraries.

 

They both call on Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and Victoria, BC.. One sails into Glacier Bay (this one starts at $799/pax) and the other sails into Tracy Arm Fjord.

 

A lot of folks, myself included would highly recommend Glacier Bay. I don't believe Celebrity or RCCL sail into Glacier Bay. But of course that's a personal preference.

 

The Princess San Francisco 10 day round trip sailings basically go to the same ports. A couple itineraries add Haines or Icy Strait Point also. However these start at around $1200/pax and a little over half that for the 3rd and 4th in the room.

 

Whatever you decide, you'll love Alaska.

THIS summer! We always plan cruises pretty close to departure.

We would need 2 cabins, one would have my parents and be a balcony, and the other would be an inside with me, my son, and my grandma. It would be nice if cabins were close by each other, so grandma can make use of the balcony as well

Most important is what you want to do and see in Alaska and ensuring that the cruise you pick meets those needs.

 

Celebrity has 7-night round-trips from both Seattle and Vancouver. Royal Caribbean has the same out of Seattle. Both have one-way cruises between Seward and Vancouver which is great if you want to extend your time on land in Alaska. To get a San Francisco round-trip you probably need at least 10 nights.

 

You might want to enlist the help of a travel agent. If you're looking at this summer, you may find availability is already quite limited on some dates and ships.

 

Good luck.

Thanks!

We have a travel agent we used before, but we already picked what we wanted to do before talking to him. For this, the goal is to just find the best deal possible, because we don't have a particular destination (in Alaska) or particular date/ship in mind.

The whole point is to get my grandma to Alaska, its the ONLY state she has never been to, and she just turned 88yrs old, so we need to do it sooner rather than later. Thought summer would be better for her because she gets cold easy (I know, Alaska...), Kid we are taking is homeschooled and 3/4 adults are retired, so we are more flexible with timing, however, 4/5 of us live in Florida, and visit Reno in the summer, so will avoid an extra flight if we leave after our summer visit there.

I haven't been able to find anything at all out of San Francisco.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask but anyway...

Our family is researching Alaskan cruises. Trying to find a good deal, but on a cruise that will work for our family!

Starting location is Reno, NV, so leaving from Sanfrancisco is easiest, Seattle would be "ok" and Vancouver we would have to consider flying to get there to start.

We have 4 adults (1 senior, 2 late 50's, and 1 younger adult), and a 8yr old. 2 cabins

Cruise lines we really liked were Royal Caribbean and Celebrity so would like cruises of similar caliber, but also wanting to keep cost as low as we can.

Timing is flexible, but this summer would be "best".

Any suggestions?

Ours is different, click my link in the first post to see what ours does. the real elf is super creepy.

Will probably eat a lot in the buffet but we want everyone to enjoy the cruise, including the kids. They love to wave at everyone or say hi. Hope there are kid lovers out there who want to say hi back and make their little faces light up.

My son is like this too - he loves to say hello to people and engage them in conversation. However, I have taught him not to bu people if they don't say "hi" back, he has been taught that if people don't respond or look away or just nod, that they don't want to chat and to just smile and leave them be.

Its one thing to say hi and wave, another to get upset when they don't respond, or keep saying hi again and again, or whatever. Also some people clearly want kids to talk to them and some do not, so its important to teach kids the difference.

Playing on a screen at dinner. Learn to have a conversation. Kids are capable of learning to sit properly at a meal, enjoy the conversation, eat, etc. Its super annoying to listen to another kid playing on their ipad or whatever while I'm trying to eat and chat with my son.

And also eating everywhere - like at shows eating and making a big mess - my son is allergic to lots of things and we have had to leave family events because of kids eating. They can eat before, eat after, but during a show WATCH THE SHOW. This happened at the library over the summer many times, and you aren't even supposed to eat there and it was a kids show, so why food needed for entertainment during entertainment. Its messy, annoying to look at/listen to, and in our case a health issue.

And lastly people tryign to sneak un-potty trained kids into the pool. Potty train your kid, or stay out of there (and "almost" doesn't count). No one wants to swim in poop. I saw this happen on every cruise so far - either flat out sticking a baby in a diaper in the cruise, or putting a kid without a diaper in there, even though I saw the same kid in a diaper before and after they were in the pool - so thats even worse, no diaper at all. My kid was out of diapers on his first birthday (and trained for poop at 8months) so the forever potty training thing in the U.S. irritates me. Gross.

Unless you just do it in your cabin, I would be afraid another excited child might find it, and it will be taken.

 

Buy another if you really need to do it.

 

Enjoy

 

Sea Ya

Yes I plan on keeping it in the cabin for sure. I can't buy another one, its hand made and I don't have any more of that fabric (nor time to make it)

Has anyone done elf on a shelf on a cruise?

Our elf is a handmade one, (click for pics) and doesn't do the creepy spying thing, it just shows up and does silly things. We don't have the "no touching rule" or anything like that (and have never read the book)

I finally found the darn thing (I hid it from myself last year), and now my 7yr old is going to expect it to be around - going on a week cruise from the 13th-20th.

Any fun ideas for what he could do? Or little gifts he could bring useful on the cruise? (I was thinking a glowstick, but I don't know what else!)

(cross posted, getting no responses in other forum)

Has anyone done elf on a shelf on a cruise?

Our elf is a handmade one, (click for pics) and doesn't do the creepy spying thing, it just shows up and does silly things. We don't have the "no touching rule" or anything like that (and have never read the book)

I finally found the darn thing (I hid it from myself last year), and now my 7yr old is going to expect it to be around - going on a week cruise from the 13th-20th.

Any fun ideas for what he could do? Or little gifts he could bring useful on the cruise? (I was thinking a glowstick, but I don't know what else!)

We did RCI when my son was not quite 2.5. He had a wonderful time and there was plenty for him to do. They had toddler play time every day with crafts and toys and books so he could play with other little ones.

We did Disney when he was 5. Disney lets kids in the kids room age 3 (and potty trained) up to 12 I think. Even at 5 and a super outgoing kid it was a lot of kids in there running around, I don't think I'd send a 3yr old without an older sibling to look out for them.

Given the choice, I would do RCI now, and wait until they are bit older for Disney, when they can appreciate the experience more and enjoy the activities more.

Looking for ideas for Excursions for our family for the Eastern Caribbean.

Grand Turk

San Juan

Philipsburg San Maarten

We have 7 adults (25-28 and 60ish), 1 child (7) and 1 senior (87) who cannot walk long distances (we are renting her a wheelchair, though she doesn't normally use one and can walk)

I'm looking for ideas we can all enjoy together, or possibly things just for the younger set while the rest hang out on a beach or something.

7yr old is very smart/well behaved and LOVES history (and is a homeschooler) so things like that are still a possibility with him along. He also loves the beach, snorkeling, etc.

We generally have just showed up at ports and "figured it out" on our own, so possibly will do that if there is a significant cost difference (trying to keep costs down in general), but this is my grandma's first cruise (at 87yrs old!) and the priority is making it enjoyable and easy for her.

So suggestions as to what we should do?

Thank you - that is helpful.

He is allergic to dye/artificial stuff too - as well as oats, vinegar, dairy, strawberry and several other things. And is vegetarian on top of that. So nothing he could eat on the buffet. I will just tell him in advance that he can't eat with his friends unless their family wants to meet us for lunch in the main buffet where we can find him stuff and supervise what he eats.

As for the screens, its disappointing they have them in the main area, I will have to see what the set up is in person as well as talk to the staff to see if they can help either shut them off or keep ds from watching them - he has a neurological reaction to screens and it won't be pleasant for him or anyone around him if he ends up in front of one.

I made everyone matching shirts for our disney cruise, they all had mickey or minnie head on them with a name under. I stitched the heads on and screen printed the names.

Now I have an embroidery machine so would go that route instead, I might make some for our december cruise, and I'm guessing only my sister will be a party pooper and not wear one!

Thank you - I do plan on doing that, our last 3 cruises I've called and each time they just tell me to "tell our server" his needs. Which worked on 2/3 cruises (the first one he had terrible allergic reactions).

I have also always been told we could only eat in the main dining room, but all three cruises were able to accommodate him in the buffet areas, by giving us info on what was in some of the dishes or by sending something special made to the buffet area for us to pick up when he was ready for lunch.

We also learned to bring our own sheets/towels as he is allergic to the laundry soap they use!

But the reason I asked here was because I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the kids room and how they handle food specifically.

And also wondering what the set up of tv/movie/computer screens is.

My son has allergies, and we are vegetarian, and he actually likes veggies, so can't really use the kids menu anyway.

So he has always ordered off the adult menu (on cruises and restaurants at home). Often just the appetizer is enough for him, so often he would get soup or salad, an appetizer and then fruit for desert. You don't have to order a "main course".

Last cruise they found out he loves beans and rice and had a HUGE plate of it every meal for him, he'd eat that and then some other stuff. My kid is super tiny and not a big eater (quantity wise, he isn't picky at all) but they got him to eat more than usual!

We have only done Disney and RCI.

My son had a hard time in Disney because he cannot tolerate screens of any kind, and all Disney has is a room full of screens and a tiny totally lame climber - so he only went when we were on the island, and for specific activities that he wanted to do (30min long or so)

I sailed just me and him on RCI earlier this year and he LOVED the kids room - to me it looked really basic, quite small (small ship tho), and not much in there, but he played games and did activities and science stuff all the time. He really enjoyed it.