wagtail_syd

If you look carefully at the deck plan you can choose a cabin that is between the lifeboats so you will get more of a view of the ocean. They look like great value to me if you don't want to shell out for a balcony but would like fresh air and daylight.

We had 1194 so just 3 cabins along. Location was excellent. Very quiet as the casino above is carpeted and almost no movement due to low deck and midships plus handy for the lifts. I believe the guest laundry is behind your cabin but I doubt that will be an issue. I'd say the grey area is either part of the laundry (which you enter between 1206 and 1207) or it is a cleaning cupboard.

Those cabins aren't really on the way to anywhere except the comedy club so there was almost no traffic outside our doors.

Maybe someone else can confirm re the laundry as it is hard to remember exactly where it was.

Hi

The other MDR thread has got me thinking...

We've only done one cruise before. There are 5 of us and we did early dining. We were lucky to be assigned a great table right up the back of the restaurant with natural light.

I would have really hated to be assigned a table right by the door or in one of the walkways with people going past and gawking at your food the whole meal.

So, do you worry about which table you are assigned? If you pop down to the MDR early on the first day can you choose which table you get (within reason)? Or will this just cause a big hassle for the wait staff?

They do dancing between the courses on Carnival? Every night? :eek:

 

Princess made us stand up and sing Waltzing Matilda on the final night of our last cruise, it was quite mortifying. I can imagine if he'd been there, my 12yo would have crawled under the table crying "laaaaaaaaaaame".

It was actually quite endearing. Before going I thought it would be cringeworthy but I ended up thinking it was fun. You didn't have to join in, you could just watch (I didn't do it, just the kids). They played nut bush city limits, gangnam style...that kind of thing. The teenagers at the table next to us were right into it, videoing themselves and hamming it up with their young waiter.

It is a dilemma. We had a 4, 8 and 11 year old last year and booked early dining. Mine are fairly adventurous eaters so they loved the food but I was worried about timing etc too. In saying that, there are kids meals and also side meals. The sides aren't obvious on the menu (right down the bottom in small print) but you can just order your child a plate of mashed potato and steamed veg if that is what she would like to eat. There is a spaghetti dish on the kids menu every night. You could always feed her up on a toasted sandwich late in the afternoon and she can just pick at dinner and then enjoy her dessert. :)

With the timing, early was good for us as it meant we could all make it to the family friendly comedy straight after dinner. There weren't really any long waits in the MDR. The longest wait was between main and dessert but that is when they have the dancing. Having our same table every night meant that my kids knew our waiters and couldn't wait to get up and dance with them every night. Very sweet.

A few nights my husband and I wanted to eat on our own. We discovered that you could drop the kids off at the buffet at 5 or 5.30 and they could be signed into kids club there for dinner. They loved doing this as they could sit and have dinner with their friends.

Another night we took the kids to the buffet, dropped them at kids club and then got dinner ourselves at the buffet later and ate it out on the Serenity Deck. That was lovely too.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

What advice? Where?

Sorrry I meant 'advice'. :)

Are you offering to toilet train the OP's child by the end of this month?

LOL! Love some unrequested parenting advice!

We were able to get our 8 year old into the 9-11 room (he was 3 months off 9) so that he could be with his sibling so there is some flexibility but I think younger than 2 would be a definite no if only for insurance reasons. If you see them on the first day I think you have a good chance of getting him in once he has turned 2 but no guarantees. Might depend on who you speak to. Definitely go to the Camp Carnival kick off on embarkation day and speak to them then.

Hi. We're booked on carnival legend during the April hols. Last time my 3 kids loved kids club and we cruised during term time so it wasn't too busy. This time will be school hols. Since carnival had no cap on no of kids on board I'm wondering if the kids club is packed. Do they cap the numbers on a first in best dressed basis each session? Or do they just take all comers?

Expectations may ave something to do with it.

 

Demographics probably also come into play, once a cold beer and a burger plus the kids being taken care of would have had me at 90+% now ?...

Ha, ha gut, that is us for sure! Just being able to get 24 hour food for my kids and not have to listen to one, "I'm hungry, what can I eat?" for 12 days was enough to make it our best holiday ever.

Very interesting!

I won't weigh in as I certainly wouldn't class myself as an experienced cruiser except to say that I think it does depend on how fussy and pedantic the pax are. Maybe some lines attract fussier people and some attract those who are more easier going/have lower standards. I'm always bewildered by people who complain in their review about things that should have been obvious to them prior to booking e.g. no free room service, no free bottled water, cruise-line excursions are expensive.

Perfect solution. Maybe get her a camera though so she can still take some photos without the phone. Or take the sim out of her phone and give it back to her.

Wow, so much judgement! Our kids don't live in the same world we grew up in and unfortunately a lot of them are addicted to social media/constant connectedness. I know a lot of us as adults probably also spend more time than we really we should online too. For us it is so much easier to control the urge though, don't you think?

Sounds like just telling your child you are taking their phone off them for the cruise will just result in everyone having a horrible cruise. Not really that great an option.

You should be able to turn off international roaming on her phone. I've done it by just googling "How to turn of international roaming on [phone model]" when I've gone overseas before. Maybe also call your provider to make sure this will be enough. You better also explain to her why you are doing this and what the charges will be like if she decides to try and turn it back on. Good luck! Very glad my kids are still tweens. We have all this to come.

Based on my experience on Carnival legend you would not be out of place in a suit but you also wouldn't be out of place in nice jeans and a button up shirt/polo shirt so just do what makes you happy.

I'm such a party pooper but the lack of a drinks package on Carnival is a big selling point for me. :)

Agree re the negative reviews. I had a quick look at the Eden and Aria hashtags on instagram (#pacificeden and #pacificaria) expecting to see lots of photos of broken lifts, bad food and unhappy pax but instead it was just lots of happy people enjoying their holiday.

Thanks all. Very interesting. :)

Hi

This is just a question that I've been pondering while reading the boards recently. I see lots of comments about how awful the tendering process is on some boats/at some ports. Is it usual for tendering to be a drama?

I've only experienced 2 tender ports (Lifou and Isle of Pines) as I've only done one cruise (so far. I'm hooked and have more booked for 2016). Both times were fine. The process was very orderly and we were called shortly after getting our tickets (we were up early and got #2 and #3). Is that not the norm? When you say 'tendering was a nightmare' what does that mean? Long queues? Or the ride itself was bad?

Thanks.

We had one Aussie power point in our interior room. It was hard up against the desk but luckily I had brought a double adapter that went upwards. Are they all like that?

Are you sure that's the case? - I thought it was American that they code share with given the One World alliance - United are members of Star Alliance to competing group

Yep sorry you are absolutely right. I have done that Fort Worth to NY sector on both United and American so getting confused

I think you would be happy with any of those airlines. I personally love Air NZ as I find their service to be fantastic. However, of those three I would book based on price as I think they are all fairly similar.

I would also look into which airline will do the US domestic sector (LAX/Houston - Florida). I know QANTAS code shares with United but not sure about the others. If you can find a line that does international all the way to Florida that will be a much nicer experience than switching to a squashy, low service domestic flight for the last sector.

I've had one firsthand experience. On the second last night of our Carnival cruise there was a lot of shouting and scuffling right outside our room at around 3am. A violent domestic had happened up on another deck and security were bringing the man down to our deck to separate them and confine him to a separate cabin but the woman had followed them down and was screaming abuse at security. They ended up dragging her away and there was a security guard outside the cabin three up from ours for the whole last day of the cruise.

I have 3 kids too but they are younger than yours. I guess it all depends on your budget. We chose cruising as we wanted an affordable holiday and therefore a family suite or interconnecting rooms were not an option. The suites costs a bomb. The interconnecting rooms seem to book out really early so no chance of taking advantage of sale fares.

We booked cabins next to each other (a double and a triple). This means you can't book guarantee category as you need to be able to select your cabins. Best to do through an agent or through the cruise line directly over the phone. It is a nightmare to do yourself online as it isn't easy to see all available cabins at once.

We did boys in one and girls in the other. There was time for romance while the kids were in kids club. ;) Sorry if that is too much information.

Alternatively, if your teenagers are trustworthy I would be tempted to put all the kids in one room. You'll be right next door after all. We didn't do this as felt 11, 9 and 5 was too young but with kids your kids I age I would. You can get your cards changed so that every member of your family can access both rooms so if there is an issue your older children can let themselves into your room during the night. Or they can call you on the phone. You can't tell the cruise line you are doing that as they require an adult to be in each room but they can't really control who sleeps in which bed. They might think it is a bit strange that your husband and son want to share a double bed though.

My understanding is that cc issued outside of Australia require a signature and no PIN is required.

 

At least that is how it works in our office when someone presents with a foreign cc. :)

Oh no, sorry for giving the wrong information.

Do you have a PIN for your card? In some situations you will need to enter your PIN and and in others you won't. The machine/operator will tell you which it is. If you don't need to put in your PIN the transaction will be approved after you insert your card, if not it will say "Enter PIN".

The only time you will have problems is if you don't have a PIN at all and want to sign instead.