jc24cruiser

I have not read through the whole thread but this is what I found good.....

Breakfast - the pancakes, strawberry goo (can't remember the proper name!) and whipped cream was AMAZING!

I missed my English style bacon because I do not like crispy bacon, they did have some soft bacon but I think it had been cooked with peppers and onion from memory.

I loved all their rice dishes (it's my soft spot) so the Chicken a la king and the stroganoffs were yummy :)

Wasn't keen on many of the desserts...I don't know if I just missed al the good ones but whenever I went up there was just different dishes of goo in different colours :confused:

Honey stung chicken - was really excited to try this after so many glowing reviews about it but both times I had it the chicken was dry. Will give it another go, hopefully it will be third time lucky :D

Hi,

Heard about checking prices and cheap upgrades....but never actively done it.

If you come across this what do you do??? Do you just call Royal Caribbean? What do you say?

How does it work if there is a price drop after you have made the final payment?

Thanks in advance for any help :)

Having zoomed right into the picture the 2 long blue strips seem much darker than the pools and it looks like a flat surface, so as the above poster suggested I would imagine that it is a painted surface :)

Does any one know if you can set daily limits for kids cards on the Royal Caribbean? :)

I am taking my kids on their first cruise next October.

Can I please check whether there is a charge for the regular Adventure Ocean slots???

And how do we book the slots?

Thanks for any help :)

Hi,

It was 2001 when I did a cruise from Florida and everyone was dressed up on the formal night....but I realise this was 12 years ago and not really relevant.

On my cruise on the Liberty round the Med in April most people were dressed up for the formal night. I don't get much chance to dress up so absolutely loved it!!!

I would not bother me at all if other people are not dressed up as much, this is evident in the fact that we dressed up every night....we were not in cocktail dresses or gown as such, but we were in dresses/skirts, more than the "casual" expectation but that's because we wanted to make the most of our holiday :D

Whining. :eek:

 

"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy" while mommy ignores the child. :eek:

 

"Child, child, child, child, child, child, child, child, child, child, child, child, child" while child ignores mommy. :eek:

That made me laugh!!!!

I am sometimes known for zoning out and not even hearing my kids when I am really busy doing something, but hope I would notice something as excessive as that! But will be more aware of doing it around others....though it is never intentional!

I think they charge for them. My partner had a soda package so got free sodas, I just ordered water as I don't drink wine very often.

I did find that the drinks waitress was quite rude when we asked her for a soda on the package, she just referred us onto our assistant waiter and said she was only getting bar drinks. Once she realised that we were not going to be buying drinks (after the asking us on the second night and getting the same response) she then proceeded to ignore us for the rest of the cruise :( So she was after tips and nothing else, only staff member that I had an issue with!

Thank you to the two of you who mentioned sitting on the edge of aisles for the theatre, had not thought of that. Although we already adopt the "remove quietly and deal with it" tactic in restaurants, I had not thought of the implications of sitting in the middle of a row of seats in the theatre!

Elevators

My kids have, luckily, not learnt the trick of pressing all the buttons, they enjoy taking it in turns to press the correct button for the level we are going to. But I expect they will learn it at some point! On our last cruise we generally used the stairs going every where, we justified the fact that we were eating more than usual by balancing it out with the stairs! But it's another thing to put on the "Holiday Rules"

Early Mornings

My kids are very different, my son goes to sleep the second his head hits the pillow, whereas my daughter will lay quietly in bed but awake until 10pm/11pm/midnight.....but she will sleep in the morning until 9am/10am if not disturbed, whereas my son will wake up at 5am!!! Problem is when my sin goes to sleep early, my daughter stays awake for hours and then my son wakes his sister up early.....then I have one grizzly girl, but she will crash for a nap in the afternoon :)

When we went to Disneyland they were so tired that they were both asleep the second they got into bed and then we were actually having to wake them both up in the morning so that we could get into the Park early. Fingers crossed that they will have so much to do that it will be like that this time round :D

And NHDisley lover - my kids are the same, they point out other children's bad behaviour quite loudly! Some times I have to get them to try and be discreet as I don't fancy getting into an argument with the parents!

I hope that I am not sounding like I am trying to make my kids out to be angels, cause they are not angels all the time, but so far the things mentioned are not things they do all the time :)

Well, this has been tamer than expected and I am actually quite pleased with all the answer so far.

Restaurants

My kids won't have DVD players or game devices and our rules for eating out include eating with their mouths shut, not getting down unless asked and not wasting food. So hopefully we will have no probs there. However we do sometimes eat out late. Because I run my own business and some times don't finish till late we sometimes don't end up at restaurants until 9pm. The first few times at our 2 most favourite restaurants earned us some funny looks, but after going a few times all the staff know us and know that the kids will be well behaved. Even though they are used to late nights I think that we will try to keep to earlier times as I can understand that others will like adult time!

If the kids are misbehaved then I do not get into a family row at the table, I like the think that we are quite considerate of others. But I will frog march them outside the restaurant and make them do "Quiet Time" in a quiet corner nearby. It usually earns me as a parent some funny looks, so it sometimes feels like I can't win either way. But it is the best way to ensure that when they go back in or for the next meal that they will be well behaved :)

Pools

I am going to let the kids have a blast in the kids pool. From the pics I have seen it is mostly ankle deep water. I would like to take them into a deeper pool to practice their swimming, but this would be purely supervised and on a one-to-one basis :)

Buffet

I had not thought of that one on advance as being frustrating, however I hate it at buffets when people use their hands, child or adult....although you would hope that adults are more sanitary than kids. We go to one buffet restaurant occasionally and they have strict rules on not touching food. We went to a buffet restaurant at Disneyland and all the kids were touching the food, it put me off having most of it.

Shouting/screeching

My 2 generally don't do this often for no reason at all. They sometimes wind each other up and my DD will screech at her brother. But I think this is one of the things that we are going to be the most aware of other passengers not being keen on. At least I have nearly a year to work on sibling resolvement issues ;)

Running

My kids are not allowed to run in my house or other people's houses. I am just hoping that they can understand that this is the case on such a big ship. As it is something that most of you have mentioned I will make sure that we are extra firm about it. The time that I expect that they will be eager to run is racing to our stateroom, which is in an aft location so right past everyone else :-S This will have to be one of our holiday rules!

Adult only areas

My kids WILL NOT be going in the casino, adult only pools, solarium or bar areas. Not just because of thinking of others (though that obviously comes into it), but because most of those places just aren't suitable for kids and they need to grow up understanding that sometimes certain things are out of bounds!

I don't mind others stepping in and pulling my kids up on their behaviour if I have managed to miss something. In fact they are more likely to listen to some one else in those situations!

What I am more worried about it people being funny about us disciplining the kids. I am not talking about smacking them or swearing at them. But when I impose a punishment I hate it when others give me dirty looks for being harsh. If my kids do not eat nicely at the table or break the rules (such as getting down from the table) then they will probably miss their pudding....but I then get others sticking their nose in saying things like "ah, they're on holiday, treat them"...etc which makes things worse.

Come on, keep throwing me more suggestions, I will actually be using these to create some "Holiday Rules"!!!

Noise, running, and kids in adult areas have already been thoroughly covered.

 

I am bothered by kids with noisy electronic devices during dinner. I've been seated at a table with kids playing their Nintendos during dinner. The bleeps, pings, and whizzes were enough to make me switch tables. I've also been seated at the next table from a couple who let their child watch DVDs during dinner. I loved Beauty and the Beast but I hated having to shout during dinner to be heard over Be Our Guest played at maximum volume.

You and me both!!! My kids have only recently been allowed to have Nintendos, but they are not allowed them at dinner times, at home and especially when eating out!

I like to be able to talk my kids at the dinner table, because dinner times were family times for me when I was growing up, not movie or game times!

Hi,

I have cruised a few times before but have now booked the kids first cruise with us next October, they will be 7 and 8 at the time. Although I think they can be a pain at times, on the whole they are generally good. When we went to Disneyland in the summer they were amazingly behaved compared to a lot of the children I saw there.

The cruise we are booked on is during our school October half term, however our half term is usually a week out from the majority of other schools so not sure if there will be many other kids and if non-family people will have booked banking on this!

We are also hoping to do a Trans Atlantic cruise next year or the year after and due to the legislation in England changing about not authorising holidays there will probably not be many kids aboard....so interested in people's opinion, especially as it will be so long at sea.

On my previous cruise when I did not had my kids with me I didn't really notice many kids about, I think it must have been during term time but also as a parent, other people's (well behaved) kids slip under my radar.

If I spot another child throwing a tantrum and the parent is actually dealing with it, I tend to give the "been there, done that, got the t-short look" as I know how difficult it can be when I am trying to deal with my kids bad behaviour (rather than give in to them and allow them to be spoilt) and then I get rotten looks from bystanders :(

Other kids bad behaviour, that is being either ignored by the parents or dealt with (in my eyes) the wrong way, however, drives me mad even as a fellow parent!

So.....I want the opinion of anyone who travels without children....

• What kids behaviour drives you mad?
  
• What behaviour from the parents drives you mad?
  
• What areas do you not like seeing kids?
  

I want my kids to enjoy this amazing adventure and I hope that they will be very well behaved, but un-fortunately that isn't the case 100% of the time. I guess I am looking for re-assurance that they will be tolerated by other passengers....within reason :D

Thank you for letting me know :)

I went on a cruise as a mid teen, but was so long ago that I could not remember if I got a different Compass to my Dad. But I guess things have probably changed since then even if I could remember!

As Moomin2009 states previously in the UK head teachers are now not allowed to authorise ANY leave for children for birthdays, anniversaries or holidays )previously they were able to authorise up to 10 school days a year, but many families took more than that!)

We are looking at doing a Trans Atlantic cruise at some point (I can't believe how cheap they are!!!) with the kids. However these can not be arranged inside school holidays as they are at set times of the year. One of the reasons I am wanting to do the cruise is because I have a fear of flying and the thought of two 9 hour flights petrifies me, at least this way I will only have 1 flight to contend with!!!

I have e-mail the head mistress and explained that I understand the legislation however I have an opportunity to provide my children with this amazing experience and will take advantage of any opportunities for them to learn things about culture, language, geography...etc.

I will have to pay a £60 fine per child, but this is nothing compared the savingsI will be making booking outside of school holidays!!!!

Hi,

I have spoken to RCI today and the lady said that they sometimes have PJ parties where all the kids go in PJs, watch film and have milk and cookies. I guess it would be a case of asking.

Do families with children get different itineraries than the regular ones as I have never seen anything about the Adventure Ocean club on the regular ones.....or maybe it was there but I have not noticed it before as I didn't have the kids with me at the time?!?!

Jenni

Hi,

I am taking my kids on their first cruise next October, they will be 7 and 8 at the time. They have not really had much experience with balconies up until we went on holiday in August. Our hotel room had a balcony and on the whole they were very good, but my son (who is 7 atm) did open the doors and go out onto it once whilst my partner was in the shower.

We were originally going to book an inside room, but because we have ended up booking the cruise for 6 months later than we expected and due to it being cheaper than expected we decided to get a balcony room.

However...we have chosen an aft location. This means the balcony is much bigger than other balconies in the same class, so they can hopefully enjoy it without being near the railings. Plus if they were to fall over the railings it would be to a lower deck, as the back of the ship is like steps, rather than into the sea. Although this can still cause injury and ultimately it is potentially fatal, I feel they would have a better chance than falling into the sea.

They will not be allowed on the balcony without one of us, the furniture will be positioned at the back of the balcony near the cabin and they won't be allowed to play with toys on the balcony.

We are also buying a door alarm like this one....

http://www.presentsformen.co.uk/door-alarm-prod7772/?src=base&utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=products&gclid=cmfe8prk0locfsrjtaodxt8aow

It basically has prongs that you push together and wedge in to the door frame, if the door is then opened the prongs come apart and the alarm goes off. This way we can go to sleep knowing that the kids won't be trying to get onto the balcony in the morning before we wake (although I usually hear them when they are up and about I don't want to take any risks).

I will probably impose a severe (maybe shark related) punishment for either of the children that set the alarm off!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,

I'm taking my kids on their first cruise next October, they will be 7 and 8 by then.

Looking at doing the in cabin baby sitting so that they can sleep, rather than be up late in the group setting.

Does any one know if you can book this in advance? Or does it have to be when you board the ship?

Thanks in advance

Taking my kids on their first cruise next October, they will be 7 and 8. Had not considered about room key cards?!?!

My kids argued over who argues the hotel room door when we went away a couple of weeks ago.....so love the idea of taking previous room key cards with us that they can keep cause they won't be able to use them and it doesn't matter if they lose them. Will then keep theirs safe on us.

Hoping to use the Adventure Ocean programme a couple of times, but going on a practice cruise in May without the kids so will ask how the room key thing works then :)

Hi,

I have cruised before but always from foreign ports.

I have now booked 2 cruises from Southampton, one in May as a practice run and then the exact same cruise again in October (but a different ship) with the kids. It will be their first cruise, they will be 7 and 8 at the time.

Who has sailed from Southampton before? What is the port like?

Any ideas on the best way to travel to Southampton from South Yorkshire? My partner does not know about the May cruise, it is a complete surprise and don't want her to find out until the day. I can't really rely on being able to drive down as currently we own 2 vans due to running our own business and they need to stay here for our staff. Hoping to have a run around car by then but need a plan b!

I have heard about Royal Caribbean coach transfers but can't find any information about them?!?!

Thanks in advance :)

Sounds great, not done dressing up for Halloween since being a kid myself...but might have to make an exception for this, it's not like i'm going to bump into any one again at least ;-)

Hi,

I have just booked a cruise for next October and realised afterwards that we will be away for Halloween. It will be my kids first cruise, they will be 7 and 8 at the time of cruising.

I have looked through pages and pages of these threads and also looked through the review section but can not find anything about Halloween aboard Royal Caribbean cruises.

What can we expect for the kids, will be the MDR menu be different, do the staff dress up, is there something Halloween themed for the adults in the eve?

Thanks in advance :)

Personally I would put up with having a real cow in my room for the ice cream vouchers!!!

Where I work my p/t 2nd job the small tubs of B & J costs £5 :eek: and is the only thing on the menu that I don't get staff discount on!

x