sarahbeth476

9 hours ago, BornPisces said:

I’d like to know also on the Breakaway. And does it get very crowded? We’re looking for very relaxing down time. 

I sailed the Breakaway several years ago and enjoyed the spa. Thermal rooms face outward to the area with all the heated loungers which were at the front of the ship with nice views. The pool was small but the area was open. I think its worth the spa pass on this ship. 

I'm sailing the Viva in July '24 and debating the spa pass since its a heavy port itinerary. Still...I love thermal suites. 

On 2/16/2022 at 9:24 PM, Essiesmom said:

May I suggest you get a copy of Rick Steve’s’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports.  Have your kids read it, pick out ports and activities that interest/intrigue them, then look for itineraries that include them.  A good site for that is cruisetimetables.com.  Plug in the different ports of call and see who calls there, and their itineraries.  EM

I love Rick Steve! We've watched some of his videos on Amazon. This is a great tip. Thanks.

Thanks y’all for your comments. I appreciate your insights and you’ve given me much to think about. It sounds like a whole different game in the Med. I’m going to continue to research. My son is definitely into history and seeing the sites. My daughter is probably more experiences oriented. 

We are longtime Carnival cruisers (and once on NCL) for Caribbean cruises. We are interested in a Mediterranean cruise, maybe Italy, Greece, Egypt. We will have our young adult kids with us, 18 & 20. I’m feeling out of my depth here. Which cruise line would you recommend that would be fun for young adults and moderately priced? 

Blue Water, thank you so much for the info. This is very helpful. 

We will be in St. Thomas on December 15, 2021 on Carnival Magic. We don't port until 11:30am. We are really wanting to snorkel from the beach. From what I've read here on this forum, Sapphire Beach might be our best bet. We'd like amenities and the least amount of walking. What would be the best transportation to get from the cruise terminal to the beach?  I'm also open to other beach suggestions that might be a better choice. We don't love crowds and I think its suppose to be a busy port day.  

Carnival is reasonably priced and good for families. I’ve had excellent customer service on Carnival ships. I love the Cloud 9 spa. Specific to port, Carnival has a dedicated parking garage in NOLA which is amazingly convenient and worth the money. We tried NCL in 2018. It was more expensive and the customer service was terrible. I also didn’t love the pay for restaurants. The food was just so so. The spa was ok, I did really like their salt cave room. Their shows were a little better than Carnival, I think. Overall, Carnival is the better experience. I wouldn’t mind trying a few other brands if the price is right. 

I renewed my kids passports yesterday and chose expedited. The post office said expedited is now at 12 weeks. We will be cutting it close for our December cruise. I goofed on their renewals. I thought they had another year left on their expired passports. My husband and I mailed our renewals in early June. We were told up to 18 weeks. We did not chose expedited at ours.  But I got

mine in the mail last week (less than 2 months turn around) Husband’s still hasn’t arrived. So timing is all over the place. 

He is the best! We sailed with him on the Dream a couple of years ago. I’ve never seen a more active and talented cruise director on a ship. 

Regarding dining and show reservations, what time does the booking window opens online? (I'm a seasoned Disney planner and like to start booking reservations as soon as the window opens). I understand its 120 days for NCL, but does the window open at midnight? 6am? etc. And is it better to do the booking online or call? I have a group of 10 people. Thanks for your help!

First time cruising NCL/Julia St. Port. I love the convenience of parking at Erato for Carnival.

If we park at Julia St, its not covered parking, correct?

Fulton Garage, upon debarkation, do we all ride the shuttle back to the Fulton Garage or does one person go, then bring the car around to port to pick up people/luggage?

I'm trying to figure out what's easiest for family of 4.

Last we sailed in 2014 on the Dream, my kids did not like the camps. They were 9 and 12. They found them boring. Perhaps things have changed or they're better for the younger ages.

We sail on the Dream again in 3 weeks and both have said they don't want to go to the camps. I'm ok with that.

We did this excursion in 2014. It was too hard for our group of 8. We came in last, and we were all miserable by the end. 4 adults, 4 pre-teens. It was great being able to see some of the real city, but I hated that we felt so rushed. And it was hot! We thought we got lost at one point and that was a bit alarming. There is one point where you take a boat out and one or two people can jump in the water to see the clue better. My daughter did this (12), and she didn't have to swim very deep. It took only a minute to do this. I wouldn't do this excursion again. But I would love doing a tour around Cozumel that wasn't rushed or so spread out.

We did this in 2014. I don't remember there being lockers. We carried whatever we had with us. Lots of walking involved and one brief trip out on a boat with one person jumping into the water for a clue. I don't think we had alot of time after this excursion to do anything else. We shopped a bit and went back to the boat.

Enjoying the review. I hope you'll come back and write more!

I was on the Dream in 2014 and it sounds like they are still doing the same shows. I thought they were kinda boring personally. (and I love theatre!) Last year on the Elation, I thought their shows and performers were 100 times better than the Dream shows. I'm hopeful that maybe there will be different performers to liven up the shows on the Dream when we sail in October.

On most night, we just wear casual clothes-tshirts and shorts- in the dining room. I wear FitFlops every night, included elegant. On elegant night, my husband and son wear polos or button downs and khakis. On one formal night, my son wore a suit, because he wanted to dress "fancy". My daughter and I both wore simple cotton dresses. You can dress as fancy or not on the cruise, its up to you.

I sailed on the Elation last year. And I was suprised how much I loved this ship. The folks working on this ship were fabulous and the shows were some of the best I've seen.

We did cavetubing with Vitalino's group cavetubing.bz We chose this group for several reasons. They were highly recommended here. They carry your tubes up to the river for you. Their tubes have backs on them, so you don't have to constantly hold your head forward. Then afterwards, they feed you an amazing lunch. Great price too.

I've heard of folks writing on the form they make you fill out before services with "no product sales pitch please" or some other sentiment. Apparently this works.

I really enjoy Cozumel. There are lots of options there for things to do, and an easy port to do on your own.

The process of getting the service on the ship will remind you to put your phone in airplane mode. So, no other charges other than the plan you purchase, which goes to your sail and sign card.

Getting the social media package once on the ship is really easy. My tip, try the calling feature now while you are at home, so you and your kids know how to do it. Then, once on the ship, its a piece of cake. First time you open your internet on the ship, the menu will be there for you to purchase the various level social media plans.

I used it last fall on the Elation. The texting feature works a little better than the phone calling feature. There's a slight delay and a bit of a tin sound to the quality. But its good if your kids just want to hear your voice. It works better on different parts of the ship and some phones seem to work better than others. My friend and I stayed in the same cabin and her phone worked better than mine when we called our husbands and kids.

Really enjoying your review! We'll be on the Dream in October.

I've also used the Facebook messenger app to make/take a call. It has a slight delay and sometimes didn't work on certain parts of the ship. With the texting feature of the app, its worth the $5 per day.