pmmaurer

My daughter got bitten multiple times in Roatan by what the locals called sand fleas.  Said to use coconut oil on them, but you couldn't find any coconut oil anywhere near the beach.  Benadryl alone didnt realy seem to help much.  There was a pharmacy near our hotel and got some prednisone that helped.

We booked him for a tour when we were in Roatan for a week vacation earlier this year and would highly recommend him.

Oops it was Ronys Tour that we used

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Coco Cay add ons are super marked up.  But people keep paying them

We wont be paying that price, will be happy just to sit on the beach.

We are going to be in Roatan in a couple of weeks, flying in for several days this time vs cruise.  Looking at the spa packages at Tranquility Spa, has anybody had any experience with a massage or other service there.

We were on the Vision in June. On the night we left Venice it was  masquerade  Ball theme.  We picked up masks when we were in Venice and wore them that evening 

53 minutes ago, mamakacie said:

Good info!  My daughter turns 18 on our upcoming cruise:)

My daughter too, but not till the last day. 

7 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Planning a European cruise is so overwhelming for me!  With DH having way less vacation than me, we have limited time...  and, there are just so many options!  And it’s so pricey for a balcony (if we’re going to go, I for sure want a balcony).  It seems like every year, I research a possible European trip, get overwhelmed, then book something different 😉. Our 25th anniversary will be in 2023, and DH will have more vacation then, so maybe that is a good year for Europe 🙂. 

 The European cruises tend to be port heavy on our 12 day Mediterranean were only at sea 3 1/2 days I couldn't justify the additional expense of a balcony so we went back to an inside cabin which we haven't done in years     But I figured on the sea days we could hang out on the top deck    Now if I was doing an Alaskan to her I would pay the additional price for a balcony   

1 hour ago, SarahD112 said:

This particular cruise on Anthem is 8 nights - and I’m hoping for some kids, teens and young adults, not trying to avoid them. Our UK friend sailing with us is bringing her younger two, but the older one (15?) will not be able to go because of exams. Maybe there will be other American kids on the ship. Schools in the south will be out for summer, like ours. I think quite a few northern schools still in session. But if you want to do the itinerary...it’s only offered once a year. So we didn’t have any choice of dates. It is what it is. Just glad we were able to make it work for us next summer - between high school soccer for one kid and a college age student,  we have a narrow window to work with!

 We are doing a 12 day Mediterranean out of Barcelona leaving on May 30    Like you here in the Midwest our kids will be out of school by then but I'm not expecting a large number of European kids on our cruise, but am hoping for some American kids (hopefully older teams). My daughter has afriend who lives in Madrid will still be in school for another week or two   

11 hours ago, amcb said:

4everAfamily, we will be on Allure for the New Year’s cruise.  I will make sure he goes to the first night event so he can meet some of the other kids.  I’m still quite uncertain about allowing him to be off on his own.  Because he’s such a big kid, people think he’s quite a bit older than he is, and expect him to behave accordingly.  But he’s young for his age in terms of maturity, so I definitely have some concerns.  I guess we’ll just play it by ear.

 

Pmmaurer, is your daughter very social? Did she have any difficulty making friends?

 

And thanks so much for your replies!

 She is pretty outgoing but she struggles to make friends at school though she seems not to have a problem on the cruise or at summer camp   She 17 now and will turn 18 the day we get off our next cruise she's not happy about not being 18 on the cruise but mom is happy that she can go to the Teen area and not have to worry about making friends elsewhere on the ship

We are booked on a cruise out of Barcelona in May 2019, we booked just after Christmas last year and I think that we got the email from our TA that the cruises were open for 2019 about a week prior to that.

I was concerned about my daughter when we went on the Allure when she was only 12, but everything went well.  Because they can come and go we set up rules about what she could and could not do.  She was also required to check in with us every few hours.  Like earlier poster said, make sure he goes to the teen club the first night to meet others.  For my daughter, the club is more of place to meet up before heading to the pool or other places on the ship.

16 hours ago, birdylady said:

This is good to know as our upcoming trip will be the first time we will actually plan to have internet connection. 

ditto - just saved some money

Hi all,

 

My husband and I decided it would be worth signing up for the US Global Entry program due to the number of times we go to the US. We completed our application 3 weeks ago and we haven't received our 'pre-approval' yet and wondered if any UK passengers had signed up for this and who long it took to get pre-approval?

 

On the application form it says 2 weeks, and so I am worried it hasn't come through yet.

 

We are due to leave on a cruise (to the US) in less than 3 weeks and I was intending to schedule our interviews for then, but I am concerned we may miss this opportunity to have the interview.

 

Anyone have any experience of their application times for this program they are willing share please?

 

thanks in advance

 

Jean

Just applied for Global Entry as US citizens for both my daughter and I, go our pre-approval right away, but the earliest we could get interviews was the week of Christmas and we have to travel 4 hours (8 round trip). I did get an email about Enrollment on Arrival. It is available at many US airports, don't know if it is only for US citizen or if you would be eligible as well.

I have a similar situation. We are traveling with cousins who are 13 and 16, so 2 different age groups. The 13 year old is mine and he is very mature for his age and would have no problem playing in a group of 15-17 year olds. The 16 year old is my nephew and is “globally delayed” he is more on target with the abilities in the 12-14 group. But would be fine in the 15-17 group as well.

 

How strictly do they stick to the age ranges? Can the boys stick together with one age group or the other or will they have to split with their actual age groups? (To clarify, I’d prefer my 13 year old stay in the 12-14 year old range. But in something like dodgeball or soccer he could easily “hang with the big boys” if it meant playing with his cousin.

 

I guess, like the OP, Im wondering how strictly they stick to the age ranges.

 

 

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We've been on two cruises since our daughter turned 12, once when she was 12 1/2 and the other time when she was just shy of her 14th birthday. The teen program was not real structured and they can come and go as they please without a parent checking them in or out. I've found that the teens generally meet up in the teen lounge then head out to other parts of the ship. It should be no problem with them hanging out together. Depending on how many teens are on the ship they may separate the older teens from the younger for some structured activities but not many.

Make sure they go to the teen club the first night for the meet and greet. Our DD made friends with some other teens then hung with them the rest of the cruise - we hardly ever saw her except when we were in port. We set some rules and she was required to meet us for dinner each night. She had a blast.

On our next cruise our daughter will have just graduated from high school but she won't turn 18 till the last day of the cruise, I am glad she won't have aged out of the teen group but she's worried that the other kids will be too young.

How far out do they open up dining options?

We want to see the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. We are not so interested in the entire Vatican museum and therefore, we could "speed" through it to get to the chapel. I'm assuming that would mean we should avoid a formal tour, however, tickets for St. Peter's basilica on the same day now seem to be for only 1 time slot (13:00) and we are committed to another tour at that time. Do I look elsewhere for tickets to St. Peter's? the tour we have booked is at 1:15 for the coliseum.

Just took a continuing ed class at local community college on traveling in Europe, according to the instructor there is no such thing as speeding through the museum to get to the chapel. The instructor and his family had been there before and wanted to skip most of it and he said it still took at least 45 minutes to get to the chapel. They funnel you through and you follow a predetermined path.. I believe there is no charge to get into the Basilica but there is for the museum. You can get advanced tickets online at www.vaticanstate.va He said allow three hours for the museum.

I am hoping to do Australia and New Zealand in about 5 years when I retire. I don't want to have to be rushed to get back to work and three weeks is about the max I can take at a time. What time of the year is the best to go?

I agree with the above reasons. The first thing I do in the cabin, is put my phone in the safe. I go to relax, see other places, even if I've been there before, have pretty good food, very good entertainment for the most part. If I were to do all these things from a hotel room, it would cost a fortune. Now for between $2 and $3,000.00, I can have my cake and eat it too.

Our phones go in the safe as well - love that my daughter is not connected for a week. She's out on the ship making friend with other teens.

Cruising allows us to spend time as a family but also allows my husband and I to have some couple time as well. Our daughter loved the kids clubs when she was young and her time there gave us time as a couple. Now she is a teenager and we only really see her at dinner (she's required to have dinner with us) the rest of the time she is hanging with other teens.

Cruising gives you the chance to see different places even if it's only for a few hours. We've been on 5 Caribbean cruises now and we found an island that we would love to go back and explore more and hope to do that some day, but it is someplace we probably would have never thought of going to if it wasn't for the fact that we visited there on the same cruise as a couple of ports we specifically wanted to visit.

We are doing a European cruise next year and am looking forward to getting a taste of several cities and countries.

I see that a 12 year old is considered part of the Teen Club on RCL. How much if any supervision is there for a 12 year old. May be travelling with a "just turned 12 year old" who has never cruised before and is a bit naïve too. Anyone have experience with a 12 year old and the Teen Club to share?

My daughter was a few months past her 12th birthday when we went on the Allure. I too was a little concerned about her being in the Teen Club. We set ground rules and she had to check in with us periodically. She went to the get together the first night, didn't really meet anyone her own age, but she went back to other activities and by the second or third day she met another girl her age that she hung out with the rest of the cruise (they still snap chat each other 4 1/2 years later).

We are taking another cruise next May/June (12 Day Mediterranean Cruise) just after she graduates high school. She turns 18 the day we get off the ship and I am actually really glad she won't be 18 and she will still be able to hang out in the teen club vs with young adults.

We also used Montenegro M Tours and had the owner, Mladen as our guide. He was fantastic and we couldn’t have asked for a better day! Here’s a link to my blog: http://theworldthroughmylens.blog/2017/05/21/the-wow-factor/

 

 

 

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Great blog, love you pictures. How far out did you book your reservation.

We are on the Vision next May/June for Med cruise. My husband doesn't really care for the real big ships so this should be a nice change for him. We chose this ship because of the itinerary. It's a port intensive cruise so I figure we will be eating a lot of lunches in port and dinner in Venice when we overnight there. We haven't been overly impressed with the food on any of the RC cruises we've been on so we don't have high expectations (we were spoiled by the food on Disney when our daughter was younger)

Our DD turns 18 the day we get off the ship and she love Italian so we my try Giovanni's Table on night to celebrate her birthday.

Congratulations. We just booked a 12 day cruise out of Barcelona for summer 2019. My goal is to loose weight and get in shape so I can keep up on all the walking. I just started a work out routine and cut the soda out completely and drastically cut out gluten. I've had knee and ankle issues for almost two years and now that I am a few months out from knee surgery it's time to get at it. The cruise is my motivation.

Our daughter is not nearly old enough to go off on her own. But in the least with your children's ages (and for years to come) I would have the rule that they are NOT allowed in any rooms and even down passenger hallways. They can go from point A to point B alone and come back and check in before heading off somewhere else. But they cannot join other kids in their rooms, or roam the hallways (where they not only disturb others but could be persuaded into rooms to 'help' someone etc).

 

Start the first few days with small bits of freedom (running to the pop machine, going ahead of you to a certain place where you meet up and check on them etc and reward them with extended distances should they earn it. But just as quickly revoke the privileges when called for. Having a firm upbringing is a great start, they know what is expected of them. BUT you have little control over the peer group on a short trip and peer pressure can blur those lines.

Another rule we have is to always get a fresh drink anytime you sat it down to swim, play a game etc. Unless it has been changed in the last couple of years, at 12 your oldest would be considered a teen and can come and go from the teen area as the please. I was concerned about that when our daughter was only 12 when we were on the Allure but she followed the rules and we had no issues.

We've been on two cruise when my daughter was a "teen", one when she was 12 and another when she was 14 (almost 15). When she was 12 we were on a cruise in October - not a time when there was a lot of kids so we were told the may mix the older teens with the younger for some activities which I wasn't too thrilled about. Turned out she met a real nice girl her age and they hung out at the pool and around the ship for the week and they didn't go to very many scheduled activities. Make sure you set rules for what they can and can't do. Our three big rules where (1) no one was allowed in our room nor was she allowed to go into anyone else's room(we relaxed that rule towards the end of the cruise as we got to know the girl and her family). (2) no running around in the "hotel" portion of the ship -down the halls extra, and (3) always get a fresh drink if she leaves hers unattended for any length of times, such as to get in the pool.

On our last cruise, several of the teens thought it was fun to push all the buttons on the elevator so that it stopped at every floor, fortunately my daughter knew better than to do that.

I asked our TA this same question. We cruise in late May and our passports expire in June or July - His response was -

"As long as your passport is not expired you will be OK. Some countries when flying or if you need a visa will require 6 months of validity but for a cruise departing the US you will be all set."