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Boarding was very smooth. Having suite privileges definitely helped with the security lines. At check in, they did not ask for the notarized letters or guardianship paperwork. But I’m glad we have it as NCL definitely asked. A few pictures from the ship.

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We woke up this morning to news of a new tropical depression in the neighborhood which is forecasted to become a hurricane. No news from Royal on an altered itinerary.

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Dinner this evening at Pappadeaux was good, not great. Actually, the food was great. The slow inattentive service was frustrating. Manager apologized and offered a $50 gift certificate towards another meal. Our bill was $275 for 8 of us. I thought it wasn’t too bad as we had drinks, salad, pupu (appetizer), entrees and 2 bread puddings to share later. The bread pudding was great! Love the shuttle service from the Hyatt House.

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All settled in the Hyatt House near the Galleria. The room is comfortable. Unfortunately they don’t have connecting rooms and the closest we could get the two rooms is about 7 doors away. I like the Hyatt House and Hyatt Place brands. They are comfortable with a little extra space, breakfast is included, free WiFi and the price point is usually reasonable. We are paying $84 per room per night. We will be utilizing their free shuttle (within 3 miles) to go to Pappadeaux for dinner (Cajun).

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Will be following along.

 

 

 

Which ports are you going to?

Roatan, Cozumel and Costa Maya

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We made it to LA. AA moved our seats on us, so we’d all be sitting together. Unfortunately we were at the back of the bus. Our child with PTSD found the loud noises in the back a little overwhelming. A movie and some snacks helped get her calmed down. I have a few scratch marks on my arm to commemorate the flight!

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You hooked me with the thread title! I hope this means you plan on doing a live or semi-live report. Sounds like you will have quite an adventure and I know many will want to follow along. In any case, enjoy your cruise and thanks for your dedication to helping kids!:halo:

I’m going to try to do a semi-live report. Stay tuned!

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As you are traveling so far, definitely get your paperwork in order for the kids. You will definitely need original birth certificates or passports. There has to be someone at the foster care agency that can advise you. I would also check with RC as to the cruise line’s rules and requirements. Get confirmation in writing - don’t just go on “someone told me.”

 

 

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

We did. Multiple times. RC approved our letter before we signed and notarized.

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You’re gonna have a blast!!! You may want to order 2 uberX’s if you have significant luggage verses 1 uberXL.

2 Uber X is the plan. A little elbow room wouldn’t hurt!

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I hope to hear back from you as I will be traveling in December with my adopted daughter who has PTSD and a few other initials. Hopefully foster care helped you acquire all the right documents. We held off leaving the country while ours were still foster kids because of the expense of passports and knowing we were going to adopt. So glad we don't have to do that anymore. So great of you to take the kids instead of putting them in respite. Hopefully in the future you and your hubby will get a little alone vacation. Let us know all about it your family cruise.

I will report back. The staff is apparently trained for autism. Trauma informed care isn’t that much different. Hopefully it’s smooth sailing in the kids club!

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You said you were worried about documents needed for foster kids. Surely you checked with the Foster agency and RCCL as to what is required to take them on a cruise?

Yes. We cannot get passports for kids in foster care. We have to do closed loop cruises and rely on notarized letters and birth certificates....makes me nervous. I’m sure it will all be fine!

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About us: The title sums it up. We are Brian and Keith from Maui, Hawaii. We have 4 kids, including two kids currently in foster care. I’m worried about the documents needed for foster kids. We are a very busy family, with all of our kids playing two sports. My husband (Keith) has a busy private practice and I’m always busy as a special education advocate. If you can’t read between the lines, relaxation time is hard to come by.

We love to cruise because (in general) the kids are very entertained and we can get some much needed downtime. It also allows us intermittent bursts of family fun together.

Our kids are 7, 10, 12, 14. All have made their way through (or currently in) the foster care system. If you can’t tell, I’m quite passionate about helping kids in care. All have their issues but are great kids. One thing we are quite nervous about is one of our kids has PTSD and we are hoping the kids club staff will be able to work well with them. We contacted the Access department ahead of time and they’ve done the documentation.

We booked a Panoramic Ocean Suite for the 6 of us.

We are flying tonight (redeye from Maui to LA and then onto Houston). We will be staying at the Hyatt House near the Galleria on Saturday night. On Sunday, we plan to grab an Uber after breakfast and make our way to Galveston.

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We are boarding Liberty on Sunday. I’ve purchased $50 credit for each of our four kids. On NCL, you swipe your room key.,.there is no packaged savings option. I’ll find out soon enough if RC is the same way. More to come!

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We are on the Oct 7, 2018 sailing on liberty. Can’t wait to hear about your trip!

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You are correct. The piece you’re missing is that on NCL (just like RCI) you can make reservations in MDR. We did that on NCL and the same on our RCI cruise too!

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We are sailing on Oct 7. We have MTD with reservations each night at 5:30pm as we understood the kids will be picked up at 6:15pm for kids club activities. I looked at a recent post which included the kids club dailies and it appears the evening program in kids club doesn’t start until 7pm. Is all of this accurate? If so, why the 45 min gap (pickup at 6:15, program starts at 7)? I’d actually prefer to eat a bit later but don’t want to miss the kids pickup time.

We have 4 kids and our last cruise on NCL was great, except we had to leave halfway through dinner every night to walk the kids to the club. Really looking forward to the family time dining service.

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I’m not vegetarian but often eat vegetable heavy meals to eat healthier. I’d like to know more about the vegetarian options too!

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Planning ahead for our cruise and whether we should bring 80’s wardrobe. Any recent cruisers on Liberty know if there was an 80’s night??

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Did you try the Grouper sandwich in the MDR for lunch? I want one now. :halo:

There was no grouper sandwich, just the salmon burger. Not sure if that is an Aussie change or change fleet wide?

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Thanks for the comparison. How was the itinerary?

 

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The itinerary was pretty good. Kangaroo Island was our favorite. We rented a car and saw a lot of stuff, fed some kangaroos at the wildlife park, saw Flinders Chase park etc. Melbourne requires more than the allotted time. We went to Handorff while in Adelaide which was neat. Nothing to really do in Burnie. In Eden we went on a oceans to plate tour, snorkeled and caught our lunch. Great tour in Eden!

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About us: (me) Brian (still 39), Keith (37), Thomas (13) and Timothy (11) from Maui, Hawaii. Celebrity loyalists who decided to try NCL for kids sake and a much lower price point. It was the boys first cruise as they recently joined our family permanently..,we are foster parents.

Purpose of trip: Celebrating my 40th (I mean 39th repeated) birthday.

We booked roughly one year out. Paid $3,800 for 4 in a mini-suite with a beverage package, and $140 onboard spend. About 30 days out, price dropped significantly on a two bedroom family suite (11524) and we jumped on it. So glad we did! Having two bathrooms and the living room made all the difference. Well worth the extra $1,900...plus we got the dining package, shore excursion credit and internet package thrown in too. Many videos online of these suites state there is no curtain by bathtub, meaning anyone on balcony can watch you have a tub. Our suite had the curtain and it wasn’t an issue at all. Our suite had a pretty new sofa and relatively new carpet. Seems like some soft goods were updated somewhat recently.

Boarding: There is no separate waiting area for suites in Sydney. Not a big deal as we arrived around 11:15 and were sitting in Moderno for lunch at 12noon. Scallops and shrimp risotto was good although the risotto was slightly undercooked. Brownie & ice cream for dessert was good (nuts in brownie).

Service at front desk and poolside bar were great. Butler honored all requests sent to pre-cruise concierge and all was in our suite when we arrived around 1pm. The butler (Flor) had us unpacked and settled in by 4pm. On the drinks package, I love that you can buy two drinks on drink package with one stateroom card. Celebrity requires one card for each drink. The wine list on Jewel was rather limited. Luckily, I found one Chardonnay and one sparkling I liked so I stuck with them.

Dinner in Azura was great, although service was definitely better in Tsars. The decor in Tsars is an acquired taste....we only dined there once. The first night in Azura I loved the flank steak salad although it was small. Hubby had the pork loin which had good flavor but was salty. Kids enjoyed the sushi for the appetizer. Thomas enjoyed his salmon but Timothy was disappointed in the quantity of clams in his pasta (5 small clams). Lava cake was great.

Breakfasts at Moderno were good and service was relatively quick. Priority tendering in Eden was super smooth. Tendering in Kangaroo Island was very rough but safe. Dinner service was frustrating one night in Azura as staff wasn’t trained on new regional wine offerings for cruises out of Sydney.

Other culinary high notes include:

- MDR Crab cake appetizer was good as was prime rib despite no creamy horseradish even though it was listed on menu.

- filet in Cagneys

- vegetable napoleon in Le Bistro

- Oreo cheesecake in Cagneys

- chocolate Napoleon in Le Bistro

- Salmon burger in MDR.

- Flank Steak salad in MDR

Kids club was a huge hit for the boys. Both made lots of friends and we had to drag them to dinner a few times just to see them!!

We went to Band On The Run. Stayed for 10 minutes...we weren’t impressed with the lead singer and we were tired so we left. Both of the shows by the Burn the floor crew were great, as was Le Cirque Bijou. Appreciated the reserved seating in theater for suite guests.

Both boys had a great time in the kids programs (one teen and one 10-12yo). Neither were back in the stateroom before 10:30pm each night. I like that they can can check themselves out after staying for two hours. It gives them so responsibility but with good boundaries.

Casino was too smoky. Spent all of 30-40 minutes in there, normally I gamble a fair amount but it was too smoky.

The hotel director Steve Jacobsen was quite visible during the cruise but the captain wasn’t seen very much.

Conclusion:

Food: Celebrity is clearly a step ahead but NCL was good (not great).

Entertainment: NCL is clearly ahead of Celebrity here...much higher quality shows.

Service: I’d say they are both pretty equal. Perhaps our NCL experience was skewed a bit since we were in a suite...but service was great on both lines.

Value: I’d put up with some okay meals on NCL to save a bucks....or sail in a suite. Speciality dining package is a must for us though on NCL.

Would we return to NCL: yes, for the right deal/package! I wouldn’t pay a premium for NCL though.

P.s. sorry if this review is a bit rushed. I’m sitting at Luna Park putting this together while boys ride all of the rides!

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I like the Grand Hyatt and Marina Bay. Both are great options.

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Hmmm...here’s my perspective.

I talk to strangers for a living...I have no interest in doing that on vacation too. Not snobby...just trying to unwind and have fun. I also don’t seek out gay-centric activities....I enjoy the things I’m interested in, which has no relevance on my (or anyone else’s) sexual orientation.

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I prefer the train from Seward to Anchorage. Lots of wildlife can be seen from the train.

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Sorry to hear this. If it were me, I’d want to plan a grande finale with as many friends and family as possible. Itinerary wouldn’t be important. Gathering everyone for one last hoorah would be most important to me.

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