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We have just started looking at this - HAL v Princess for a partial with extended family (ages 6 on up to 70). It sounds like HAL ship is more likely to have a good promenade for viewing, but I’d be concerned about kids on HAL? No one in our group has cruises on either before (just carnival and RCI). Thanks for any further input!

europeans have not stopped visiting cuba. just because americans do not visit does not mean that there is any difference in 'safety' as a poster seemed to indicate. it looks like they do have a kids' club, and if so in our experience on RCI's ships with a kids' club, there are different hours for port days precisely so that children can stay on ship all day, including lunch. i'd call to confirm. depending on what time of the year, your child may or may not have other kids' joining him, but that is usually not a problem. Sounds like there are other ports that you all can enjoy together ;)

And I'd love to hear your experience - this is a port we are interested in visiting as well. thanks!

oops - can't edit any more, but clarifying that we had 4 total people: 2 adults, a kid (6-ish), and a toddler (2-ish)

over 100 new cabins! presumably this means a new lifeboat as well...?

we've done a balcony with 2 adults, 1 kid, and 1 cot before. def do-able. the attendant would usually fold up the cot during the day, and then would set it up again at nite for turn-down service. on the cruise at that age, we opted to do small naps in a foldable buggy around the ship, and then one adult would stay behind in the room with the toddler when they went to sleep after dinner. at the time we were traveling with extended family, so both of us were even able to get out at nite for a date while another family member watched the little one. the balcony meant that we could still enjoy the cruise even if the little one was sleeping.

just wanted to say thank you to the numerous people that mentioned Indian food - I did request this on the 2nd nite, so beginning on the 4th nite (we had chef's table on 3rd nite), i received Indian, complete with pappadam and naan, and loved it :) On lobster tail nite I had Indian and lobster - even better!

The new menus were so/so. We asked our waiter, and he too wished that they had it separated it out so that the items that were offered every nite were in a different area; sounds like he has to repeat that information often.

He did mention what someone else here has said - that ordering desserts with main meal (which i also liked seeing) was nice to speed up the process and get dessert orders into the kitchen, and that RCI is planning on 3 dinner seatings.

With our extended family group, we always enjoy having dinner together in main dining room, as the waiters get to know everyone and what they usually order, including kids. a few in our group had the alcohol beverage package, and they would order a couple bottles of wines for the table, and that's always nice to share as well.

"But that’s in the future. For now, Giresi promises that passengers can expect a "significantly improved" user experience from Royal by the end of 2017."

HA!

For anyone technical: https://www.cio.com/article/3156806/cio-role/cruise-ship-cio-jettisons-aging-application-infrastructure.html

 

This is not just a website upgrade or an integration of multiple systems, it's a complete overhaul. This explains why there's no option to roll back. It still doesn't excuse them entirely as IMO many of these issues should have been caught in testing, but it does soften my rage.

 

I still can't login at all. I got an email from royal asking for my phone # and the best time to contact me so they can troubleshoot with me. At least they're trying.

hey! i was never able to purchase online, however when on ship (LOS), they offered a 3-class pass which would cover spin and yoga - this is the one i took advantage of. pilates was only offered one day and did not fit my schedule, so not sure if that would be included on 3-class, which was $29. the unlimited pass was i believe $79 (tho not positive), and included everything, supposedly - they specifically mentioned yoga, spin, and boot camp. hope that helps!

and to answer my own question ;) I never got the class pass working online, but they did offer it on ship. you could purchase a 3-class pass for $29, which is what i did, so i was able to enjoy 3 $12 yoga classes for a bit less. There were also spin classes that would have been included, and i think the pilates, tho they only offered that one day and i was not able to check that out. the boot camp classes are not included in the 3-class pass, tho they would have been included in the unlimited class pass (i did not purchase this, tho if i remember correctly it was perhaps 79? not sure....)

follow up - we went, and they did advertise this on day 5 and 6, i believe. we had such fab waiters in the main dining for our big group, and some of us had brought some of our own nice bottles of wine, that we ended up just opening them at the dining rm. my inlaws did thoroughly enjoy the Caymus wine tasting that was offered early in the cruise.

we also recently went with the basic package. set up shop with a picnic table, 2 recliners, and a hammock for our large group, and just lounged the whole day ;) Kids played in the sand/water, a few kayak rounds, and they have waiters that will come and serve you for a nice tip. the pizza oven area itself wasn't open, but you could still get pizza. be aware that it would be a good idea to order food on the early side of lunch, as it got busy later, and they we wanted to head out at a decent time to work with the 1hr drive back to port and the incoming rain ;) I think for a family of 4 with 2 adults our portion worked about to about $100 (we enjoyed our drinks!)

we sailed on Liberty recently, and while we did not see the beer card, we did take advantage of the 10-drink card, which i believe was offered on day 4, tho we did not purchase til 5 as we decided not to get off the ship that day. we shared it b/w two of us, and it worked perfectly. it seemed to be hit or miss whether the bartenders asked us to sign a slip for an additional tip on top of the standard 18%. and since we had it we used it to buy 'fun' drinks like piña coladas or margaritas, instead of 'buckets' of beer. we did think that if we had purchased it on day 4, we likely would have purchased another a few days later (and therefore spent more and drank more). that could be good or bad depending on your goals for the cruise ;)

Did you complete this cruise? We’re thinking of the same for our next cruise with extended family, and would love to hear a report :) (Tho it looks like you may not be posting much to CC?)

anyone confirm if this is on Liberty?

Also, my husband's a veggie, and I often eat that way as well. There have been several mention of 'asking for Indian food' - is this common? We both enjoy Indian food and would likely be happy getting that most (non-formal) nites.

Thank you to all that have posted the new menus!

Indy in December at Schooner is the only place I have seen/heard so far.

this would be fabulous if they started offering on other ships

hello all - can anyone enlighten me on taxes, specifically at little french key? is the honduran sales tax a 15% fee, no matter what? is there an additional fee charged for credit cards? we'll be bringing cash, but need to know how much to bring, and how much we'll be out if we end up having to do credit cards. thanks for the help!

would be interested to hear about the other food options on LFK - and did any of you end up getting the group lobster plate? yummmm

we're thinking about this as well, with a 9 & 5yo. how do the food options work if we don't get the package w/ food - i'm assuming you can buy a la carte (we have a veggie in our group, and a nut allergy, so are thinking a la carte is likely best) and dollars are recommended? thank you!

Could roll a towel and put it under the bottom sheet.

When ours were little we always did this - cheap and easy, and towels always available.

great news - our oldest loves the kids club, and we've never done a spring break cruise before. good for them as there will be more opportunities to meet new friends!

Sorry for the delayed reply! We did NOT have any trouble with the kids club being full - it was Easter Week so I was worried about that but it was never an issue for us!

 

 

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those of you that had dogfish head on board - were you sailing out of the NE?

we've been on cruises with varying ages from 9months up. I would not count on the babysitting in room - it's not always available, and could be booked. the adventure ocean is likely prime for the 3yo, provided they are used to going to some sort of daycare setting. Also, the nurseries usually have toys that you can 'check out' for your stateroom - super handy. The adventure ocean dining I don't think will apply to 3yo, but can't say for certain...We would just take them up ourselves and then return to the rest of the table who had kindly ordered dessert for us ;)

We tend to travel with family, and would have it so one night one couple would be in charge of the kids, while the other couple went 'out.' You could also have a girls nite out and a guys nite out. It'll save quite a bit of money on nursery fees ;) And if you're up for it, I'd recommend connecting cabins - it was handy for when kids were sleeping in one room so the adults in charge could sit in the other room talking and watching TV. We didn't close the connecting doors in that situation (the doors were only closed when families were in their respective rooms).

Also, I highly recommend getting an inflatable mini-tub - it's handy for bathing littles, or if it's hot using it on deck since they can't go in pools unless toilet trained.

As an aside, I don't believe all ships have a nursery - be sure to check! (I'm not familiar with Anthem itself)

Have fun, and set expectations accordingly and all should go well ;)

This is a great idea! Ours are too young right now, but will keeping this on the back-burner for when we feel it's appropriate. Thank you :)

My daughter was given privileges to sign herself in and out of the kids club when she was 9. Before we sailed, I drew up a contract with specific conditions for her to follow in order to keep this privilege. One of the biggest points was that she could not go down any cabin-only decks. She always had to walk across the public decks, then take the elevator or stairs that landed her right next to our cabin. She had to prove to me she could get from our cabin and back by herself on the very first day. She also had to notify us where she was going before she left the cabin or the club, and then go straight to her destination (with quick a stop for ice cream while in route, if she wanted.) She loved having this privilege, and one day, hubby and I secretly followed her, just to check up on and also for a little entertainment of our own. (Had to make sure we weren’t spotted in the stairwells!) She did exactly as she was supposed to, and you could tell she felt liberated being “on her own” for the journey. Still, she spent most of the week hanging out with us, rather than roaming the ship. She just liked knowing she could go if she on her own wanted to.

She will be 12 on our next cruise, and the sign in/sign out for the kids club at that age is way more lax. So I’ve drawn up a new contract for her, that includes checking in with us before she leaves any area, and after she gets there. The other rules about cabin-only decks and navigating the first day still apply, but I’ve added a few more stipulations, like not accepting any drinks from anyone other than her parents or crew members.

 

 

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I would recommend asking about this on the RCI Cruise Line Board.

 

Keith

Thanks Keith! I’ve posted it there as well - I couldn’t find much about it thru a post search, so thought I’d try all my bases :)

Thanks Bob! I had read it was the regular meal - it’ll still be nice to be able to get matching wines for each course :) We usually try for the chefs table for some nicer food and wine pairing combo. We shall see!