Jennilee17

I would choose allure only because its a 7 day not a 5 day. I am not a fan of the huge ships so I would not choose Allure if Brilliance was a 7 nighter.

The first self-assist people normally start walking off around 45 minutes after arrival.

Thank you!

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If you carry your luggage off the ship what time can you be walking off? I was planning on taking an uber but now I think I am going to book Dial7.

I will caution you about hiking the trails on Macworth. We have a VERY BAD situation here with ticks. Maine is ranked #1 for Lyme Disease and vector borne coinfections, with southern Maine the worst. I won't go hiking there for that reason. I'm from one of the islands in the bay. More than 50% of the residents have tested positive for Lyme. The other suggestions are much better choices for you and your children!

 

Uber cars are very available in Portland. There is also a UHaul car for rent at the corner of Commercial Street and the Maine State Pier. That's two blocks from the Ocean Gateway Pier or just outside the gate of the State Pier if you dock there. You can reserve it online. They will email you the code to get into the car. The keys are in it. You can't get more convenient than that!!

 

One thing to consider... we have strict child safety laws here regarding car seats for kids. I found this for you:

 

 

 

• Childrenwho weigh less than 40 lbs. must ride in a child safety seat;
  
• Childrenwho weigh at least 40 lbs., but less than 80 lbs. and less than 8yrs. old, ride in a federally approved child restraint system;
  

Public transportation and, I believe, car service is exempt. I don't think rentals are, though.

 

Also, you can not smoke in a vehicle if there are children in it.

Wow thank you for this advice!!! I would have never thought about ticks and Lyme disease. We will definitely find other things to do.

Is there such a thing a tick repellent? I need to look into that!

Also thank you for the info about car seats. I’m a freak about car seats so I always bring our inflatable boosters that meet all the federal requirements for child restraints!

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Trip was overall great. Not too many kids, but my kids don't like the Adventure Ocean program so they never go to those activities... Difficult to say if there were more kids than I got to see around... The sights were amazing, even with the cold weather we enjoyed it. In Portland we did a tour of the city and had lunch in the waterfront (Minillos??) were we had Lobster Rolls, Lobster, Fish and Chips and Chowder... everything was delish. In Bar Harbor, visited Acadia with Olys Trolley (Thunder Hole, Jason's Pond and Cadillac Mountain) Really really nice tour and ate Blueberry pie... Our favorite ports were Saint Johns and Halifax... We did our own thing, as the city is very nice and small enough to walk it. We ate regional food and tried Fried Pepperoni for the first time (it is very different than the pepperoni in the states!) The shows were nice but nothing outstanding... We found that the entertainment on board was lacking... almost nothing to do... but of course I think the weather had to do with this, because we could not take advantage of the pools, flow-rider and slides (even though there were some ppl using all these) as it was too cold for us. Hope this helps... Let me know if you have any more questions!

Do you know if they let kids in the solarium during the day when it was cold?

Probably not as many kids as the Caribbean attracts, but school is also still in session in NE (and I imagine many other places) which also greatly reduces the number of kids. I sail on Adventure in 2 weeks. It sold out looooong before the previous June sailing. I suspect because families (like my own) are out of school.

 

 

 

I live in MA, the coast is ~30 minute drive for me. I would not call the weather "cool" but maybe actually being on the water changes that. Last week did get a little cool, but other than that it has been 70's and 80's here. The next 10 days is forecast to be in the 80's every day except Monday which is 97. I anticipate at least 70's up the coast when I go.

I hope it has a good amount of kids!

70’s sound amazing!!

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There were not too many kids on this sailing, too cold for them;)

I hope it stays cold when we get there! We are already in the upper 90’s down here. We are ready for cold!!

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Incorrect... Adventure Re positioned out of SanJuan and ended in Bayonne May 11th, and Its been doing the NE/Canada since that day. Sorry I dont have out Compasses... We just came back from the June 1st - June 8th Trip. It was wonderful... Weather was awful on the first 2 ports, but then it got a bit better...Mikki, Anything in particular that you would like to know??

Other than the weather how was your trip? Were there a lot of kids? We leave In July on this itinerary and I am sooo excited! We’ve never been to that part of the country.

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What do you mean the key will be in your room? The sea pass card? I would be interested to know how that works as well. We are going on AOS out of cape Liberty in July.

There should be sufficient uber cars. I don't believe there is much demand for them by cruise passengers, as so much is within walking distance.

 

I don't know why you chose those two sites, but I'll give my impressions (lived here 40+ years):

 

Mackworth Island: are you going for the trail and the views of Casco Bay? A closer and cheaper way to get virtually the same views is Portland's Eastern Prom/Fort Allen Park. Nice walking trail, beach, and views almost parallel to Mackworth. Uber is $10-14 each way. Eastern prom $0

 

Fort Williams: are you going for the Portland Head Light? A way to get a different perspective for photos of the Head Light is to get up about 45 minutes prior to docking in Portland, and the ship will sail close by the light, and you get her from the seaward perspective, or what mariners see when entering harbor. Uber is about $12-18 each way. Watching from the ship $0.

 

And, other ways to see the islands of Casco Bay are the Casco Bay Ferry mailboat run, or the Windjammer Portland cruises.

Thank you for the info! We’ve never been to Portland. We chose those places for our kids. It looks like fort Williams park has a children’s garden that looks really fun and we would get to see the Portland head. Macworth island has fairy houses all over the island, from what I read.

Do you have any better recommendations for families with young kids (4&6) having never been there I have no clue so I would love suggestions!!!

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We are planning on using Uber to get around Portland Maine when we visit next month. We have never been to Portland before, are there enough Uber cars to go around? We were planning on taking an Uber to Fort Williams park and also Macworth island.

Thanks in advance for the help!

We were on Oasis in March and they only had one vegetarian entree every night. Most of the time the vegetarian item was Indian food. I do not like Indian food so I just ate appetizers. I asked if they had any other options but they never came through. However when we were on the Adventure last summer they had AWESOME vegetarian food. Best food I have ever had on a cruise ship.

I've been researching HOHO tour bus in St. John, NB, and in emailing with the tourism office there, I learned that you can only purchase the tickets for the bus via the cruise line. The HOHO only runs on cruise ship days. They have virtually no info online. Doesn't seem like a great way to operate, but I guess they don't generate enough business to make the information easier to access.

I have found plenty on the Halifax HOHO bus but I cannot find a map for the Saint John bus. I an going to book it and hope for the best!

It seems the towns are walkable but we have little kids so we will need some sort of transportation because they tire out quickly.

Does adventure of the seas offer low calorie/low fat menus?

I have been doing weight watchers now for over a year and down 50 pounds and at my GOAL! Woot Woot! We were on Oasis of the seas in March and I chose not to do weight watchers and I regretted it when I got home. We leave on Adventure in July, I want to stick to the plan this time.

I know on cruises prior to the Oasis cruise we just went on they have the Vitality symbol on some of the items and I didn't see that on Oasis.

Thanks!!

Exactly. I will take that well mannered and nice "good ol boy" in his Dale Jr t shirt and Wranglers at my table over some hoity toity jerk wearing a tux that insults peoples intelligence just because they dont conform to his way of doing things any day.

Agreed!

You will be fine. Like others have said you would only need it if there was an emergency in a foreign country. I would get them for next time though just so you have nothing to stress about! I would be very uncomfortable going on a cruise without passports for my kids. My luck we would have to fly home from a foreign port and we would have a whole mess of drama to deal with!

Jeans are fine! I wore jeans every night that wasn't formal night on my last cruise. I wore them with a nice top and cute shoes. I was dressier than a lot of people in the dining room. Really it is all about how you feel about it. I'm sure that some people will judge you but who cares! Enjoy your trip and enjoy your family!

71 days until we set sail for Canada and New England with our kids (4 and 6). Last night my 6 year old asked me if there were going to be a lot of kids in adventure ocean and I did not have an answer. From what I have read it seems like there are not too many kids on this itinerary. Does anyone have experience? This will be my girls first time being split up in adventure ocean so I think she is hoping by some miracle the two age groups will be combined! HA.

Thank you for the photos!! They look great. We are leaving in 77 days and it cannot get here soon enough.

Does anyone have any pictures of the Grand Suites on adventure of the seas since the refurbishment?

Thanks!

I just logged on to the new my cruises section of the Royal Caribbean website. I did the online check in. It was the first time I have ever chosen a time to board. I chose 10:30am. Then I noticed it said arrive no less than 2 hours before your scheduled boarding. So do I need to be there at 8:30?

Normally we just show up around 10:30 or 11 no matter what our boarding time is, but we have never chosen a time before.

We were on this same cruise! Before we got on I was nervous that the ship was going to be gross after reading many negative comments and reviews. But I didn't notice a thing. It was a great week!

Does anyone know what the stops are for the HOHO in St. John New Brunswick and Halifax Nova Scotia? We are thinking about doing it but I can’t seem to find a specific list of stops.

Has anyone had good or bad experiences with the buses?

We will be traveling with our two daughters 4&6

Thank you!!

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We just got back from st Maarten. It was great but very sad to see how badly the hurricane damaged their beautiful island.

We traveled with 4 kids ages 7 months-6 years old. We did a private tour with Bernard’s tours. He took us from the port around the island in a nice air conditioned van. We stopped at different t scenic spots, then a place to feed TONS of iguanas. After that he took us to a beautiful toddler friendly beach and afterwards we had lunch st the restaurant in Maho beach. The kids loved watching the planes land and there is a pool at the restaurant which was fun. This is the second time we used them. Great drivers and great company.

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We go on family vacations to spend time together as a family. That being said our kids do go to the kids club maybe an hour or two a day on sea days. They enjoy it and during that time we either go play in the casino or get a massage or on our last cruise I packed and my husband napped!

Our kids enjoy the time they have in the kids club socializing with other kiddos!

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