Baxter

We are driving to Galveston from Manitoba this year for our cruise. Our kids are great travelers...we are very lucky. One of my husband's strategies is to leave the first morning around 3am in an attempt to a good distance under our belt while the kids are still sleeping. We try to drive as far as we can that first day in an attempt to make for shorter days to follow.

Just wondering if anyone has come across a zip lining experience that is essentially good for all ages. We have a 5 year old who would like to go -- but his experience is limited to zip lining designed for kids.

We are travelling to Falmouth, Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

They do have a better selection of Zero type drinks in cans. Unfortunately, cans of soda are not included in any package.

 

It would surprise me if Navigator did not get Freestyle machines as part of the current dry dock.

Thanks for the information. I would really really really love to be surprised. So would my husband...then he doesn't have to shlep drinks for me :)

I am going to assume that the Navigator will not have the Freestyle machines on board when she comes out of drydock (mostly because that's the kind of luck I have :))

I have read on other threads that they only diet fountain drink available is Diet Coke. If you buy the soft drink package does it include can drinks? And do they have a bigger selection of Diet or Zero (Coke or Sprite Zero) in cans?

As always, thanks for the insight :)

We travel with two kids and have found our best option to be two inside cabins (we do "boys cabin" and "girls cabin").

Even pre-kids we found that we never spent enough time in the cabin to need anything else. The first cruise we took we booked a mini-suite on Princess. Then tried a balcony. Then an outside. We are happy in an inside.

The price difference for our upcoming cruise was $300 more for the two cabins. For us, that is a small price to pay for the extra space and extra washroom. Some will argue that they could do a lot of fun stuff on the ship for $300...but our sanity is worth it!

I just reviewed my paperwork from when we on the Magic. The only babysitting noted for kids that young was the 10pm to 3am Night Owl babysitting. $6.75 per hour plus 15% gratuity per child.

We just booked a cruise on the Navigator - sailing to Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Falmouth. We have been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel with them before but didn't really plan any excursions. The only thing we know we will probably do is the stringray snorkel through Captain Marvin.

For those of you who have travelled to these ports with younger kids, what activities were a hit with them?

I admit I have been away from RCCL for a number of years. I booked two cabins last night and was thrilled to learn I had the option of paying in Canadian funds or US funds. It was definitely in my advantage to pay in Canadian -- between the exchange and the 2.5% charge by the credit card company I probably saved in the ballpark of $200.

I love the idea of this, but I wish they had something equivalent for the boys! My daughter would probably love it, but it would break my heart to see the look on his face when he looks at her room all done up with special activities to go to, when he doesn't.

Usually the cruise lines know how to capitalize on these things...find another way to shake $150 out of those of us with boys! ;)

Our daughter was a big fan of "eating with her friends". We had to pick her up when Camp closed at 5:45. No kids were allowed to stay. We then had to drop her at the buffet for 6:00 and they were brought back to the kid's area after. We picked up when the camp closed.

Lunch time was a bit tricky -- we were told numerous times that lunch with the kid's club was only to be used by those parents who were not on the ship (only available on port days). Our daughter really really wanted to eat with friends. So we said we were going into town. Just our luck, they paraded the kids into the buffet area right where we were sitting...so we were hiding like children! The last thing we needed was to get banned from Camp Carnival! :P

Thanks for this.

I read one review that said ships sailing out of Galveston do not have the Cheers program available on embarkation day, due to something about Texas liquor laws. Any confirmation of this?

I read in another post that if you book a spa cabin that yoga and tai chi classes are part of your amenities. Can someone confirm whether this is the case?

I've taught at both college and university. Assignments could not be made up and tests could not be rescheduled. Students are expected to travel over Christmas and spring break.

My friend tried to tell me to just take my dd into the pool on the cruise with no diaper and nobody would know.

That was a common solution for people the last time I sailed. When folks were told that there were no swimmers or diapers allowed in the pool, no problem -- they just whipped off those diapers/swimmers. And these were young kids....not more than a year old. They felt they were abiding by the rules. And, I guess, technically they were. Sometimes we need to be careful what we wish for!

 

After hours yeah, you do feel it on your back. But, NOTHING compared to the baby bjorn. The baby bjorn is horrible.

I feel the need to stick up for the Bjorn! Absolutely fabulous! No back pain, or pain elsewhere in the body. We've used it for lots of trips and carry her for hours at a time, no issue.

That said, with #2 on the way, I will check out the Ergo since I'm not familiar with it.

We have taken our Peg Perago Aria, and have managed. For ports, we really prefer the Bby Bjorn carrier. With all of the people in the streets, and uneven surfaces, we find it less stressful to carry her that way.

One of the entertainers had a heart attack and died on the CB last week.