Aggies24

On 7/22/2019 at 3:28 PM, mitsugirly said:

We absolutely love it here! We had to go back for a second time. This time around with did the tour that included the mud bath and waterfall. Such a great experience.

 

The snorkeling at Jalousie is just out of this world! I can't recommend it enough!

It looks like the banana plantation is part of this tour. Was there an option to skip that part and only do the waterfall/mud baths/beach? Thanks 

Good decision!

 

Are you Texas A&M Aggies? Our son is and he is touring Alaska interior this week with friends; on Wednesday other family members start arriving in Anchorage for our Friday cruise.

Actually, Utah State Aggies. But we like Texas A&M too 😊

Thank you everyone. You've really helped me decide that we should go earlier.

I'm just starting the research and trying to find how to get to Seward from Anchorage. Our ship won't leave until 8pm, but the earliest flight I can find that day arrives in Anchorage at 1:10pm. Can we still get to Seward on time or is that pushing it? Car, shuttle or train? Do we need to come a day early? Thanks for any help.

We ended up going to Goffs caye. It was a relaxing day and very pretty water. A little dirtier than I expected and rocky. But less stressful than trying to see ruins or doing something else. It got really really busy in the afternoon, glad we got right over there in the morning. Probably wouldn't do this excursion again, but it was fun to try. Would love to do the ruins next time when kids are a little older.

We leave Sunday and I'm trying to pack today. It's stressing me out a bit. Anyone who's been to Goffs Caye, do we need water shoes? I'm packing for younger children and hoping to get away with flip flops for our beach days. We also go to West End in Roatan and chankanaab in Cozumel. We have the hiking sandals/water shoes I could take along as well, but they're a lot bulkier than flip flops and water shoes. Trying to limit the amount of things we're hauling on each excursion. Thanks!

We will have a lot of onboard credit and I'm really hoping we can pay our gratuities with it. Is this an option?

Also, we have a large stateroom with a window. Do the showers have shampoo and conditioner dispensers, or just shampoo? We leave Sunday on the liberty and I'm trying to get organized and pack now. 😊

We were on this cruise too. I was very worried about hard beds, but ours had a topper already. Honestly I think it was old/broken down under the topper, because I did end up aching by the end of the cruise, but I'd still prefer that to hard.

 

Our steward was not good, all the other service was great. I know working on cruises is hard work, but so many of the staff really seemed to be enjoying their jobs. The windjammer staff was so upbeat and helpful, as were kids club and sports staff.

 

We have small children and we ate in the Windjammer every night save one. After the things I had read on here, I was so pleasantly surprised by the food. I ate at least some Indian every night (the lamb curry (rogan josh) and the pork vindaloo were real standouts) and my husband had sushi just about every night. Everyone really liked the crepes. There were a few misses, but overall we were pretty happy. We feel dinner is much better than breakfast or lunch in the WJ. The eggs in the breakfast buffet are TERRIBLE though - half liquid every day.

 

Navigating the WJ with small kids is hard - trying to get everyone food without spilling or having your kid run headlong into people... I appreciated the room service breakfast giving me a break sometimes. the food always came on time and was fine. Nothing great but perfectly acceptable.

 

The kids club is OUTSTANDING. So much better than Disney, which is generally a free-for-all in which the adults are basically bouncers. RCI's kid's club is more like a day camp. I walked by the outside windows a lot and the kids were always engaged in fun activities with the counselors. Even though ages were combined, everyone was involved in something every time I went by. I couldn't pry my kid out of there!

 

The nursery staff was really sweet and even my son who's only stayed with family before went several times.

 

The new waterworks area for kids is awesome. The area for diapered babies is better than anything I've seen on other lines.

 

The cupcake class was overpriced, but a really fun activity for my daughter and I to do, and I would do it again next time.

 

I had never been on an RCI ship, and we were 6th floor aft. It turned out to be the perfect location for the things we utilized. A quick trip down the stairs for the cafe promenade or customer service, and a short elevator ride to the windjammer or dining rooms, the splashpad, and the kids clubs and rock climbing. The only things we ever had to go forward for were the platinum theater and mini golf.

 

This was our first balcony and I grossly underestimated how much we were going to like it. It felt like it added so much more space to the room and was also great for days we brought up breakfast or treats - we could have the kids eat out there and not risk spilling or messy hands on everything.

 

We are actually not huge fans of cruising - it's not really our style of vacation and gets claustrophobic for me. But we take an all inclusive vacation with kid's club every spring and this is what we could afford this year. And we would absolutely do RCI again in the same situation. I feel like this line has So! Much! for kids 5-12.

 

The "open house" or playdate or whatever they call it for toddlers is a joke though. I have pictures if anyone is interested in that. I wish there were a little more for that age.

 

The smallest size climbing shoe they have for rock climbing is a youth 2. My daughter (6) wears a 13/1, so she managed OK, but it's something to bear in mind if you have a small-footed youngster!

 

The ice skating and aerial shows were great fun! I feel like Saturday Night Fever was really hyped a lot here and it was not very good in reality. Maybe it's just because I'm spoiled because of living in Houston and the theaters we have here, but we wished we'd done something else instead of going to SNF.

 

People talk all the time about doing away with formal night, but on our cruise, the formal nights were very, very popular. People in fancy evening gowns everywhere. I mean, there were more subtle cocktail dresses too, but if you want to really go formal - you won't look odd!

 

One of our biggest disappointments - the ice skating was open literally one day for three hours. And we were not told at the time that it would be the only open time on a 7 day cruise.

 

Umm...Those are my thoughts...if anyone has any questions about little kid stuff I can probably help with that. It was the week before Texas spring break and there were only 245 kids under 18 on board!

 

We actually did Lamani with a 2 and 6 year old. I feel like that needs its own write up on the destination board, because the only info you ever see on that is; "Don't!"

Thanks so much for your review! We leave in just over 2 weeks on the same itinerary. we have 5 kids ages almost 2-12. I'm pretty nervous. (Lol). How was the tendering in Belize with kids? I've heard you have to get a tender ticket and wait in line??? Don't want to be doing that. 😊

We've been deciding if we should eat in the dining room or windjammer. Sounds like the windjammer would be a lot easier with our group. What about the nursery? You said you had pictures of it? My email is briannef24@hotmail.com if you don't mind sending pics of it, and anything else you think I'd be interested in. Did you have to book a time for the nursery way in advance? I was hoping to bring my toddler there whenever seems like a good time. It's hard to plan how our days will be with kids and that makes it hard to plan ahead. Did you take your kids to any shows? My husband and I went on freedom of the seas last Fall and many of the shows were questionable for kids.

And the pool area for diapered kids is good? I've been worried about that too. So glad to hear it!! Thanks for reassuring review. Oh, and any news on tidal wave? Thanks.

Room 1810 is alive and well!! I have no clue how to add pictures. You can check my Instagram Mneatherlin and also #libertyoftheseas

Awesome!! We're in 1860 in 3 weeks. Do they have a curtain in the room separating the bed and couch? We have a baby that naps and I'm hoping there's a curtain so he can nap without seeing us in the couch. Thanks!

Thank you mitsugirly. I think we'll try Goffs caye. We love the beach too and it seems the easiest way to relax with kids in tow. I sent an email to Belize cruise excursions and I'm hoping they still have room for us at the end of the month. Can't wait!!

We just returned and had an absolute wonderful day there! It's definitely a must and great snorkeling even from shore.

 

There was no chair rental guy there last week when we were there. But then again, I never sit in a chair because I'm usually too busy out in the water. :D

 

I will have a full review of our day there with tons of pictures to follow in the next several weeks. :)

Glad to hear you had a good time. We are considering Goff's Caye in 4 weeks with our children, ages 1.5-12. Would you recommend this? Nice beach? I'm worried about being on the tender boat and then the excursion boat for so long with kids, but realize most any excursion in Belize takes time to get to. It's our first time in Belize and we are considering river tubing (since our little guy is too short for cave tubing) or an island trip. Goff's Caye looks the best for this. Any thoughts or suggestions? We'll be doing a roatan tour with part of the day on west beach and then chankanaab in Cozumel. Will this be too much beach time? Thanks.

We're booked on deck 12 in 4 weeks. Better be done since we need 2 rooms for our family.

We will be doing chankanaab with our kids.

We are going try Goffs Cay. Belize cruise excursions is the cheapest for $40. Never been but this is what I found while researching on here.

We have a party of 9 ages 2-60 looking for a beach with a short water taxi ride. How long is the ride to Goffs Cay? How does it compare to the crazy ride from Cozumel to playa del Carmen? That ferry ride was torture for me. Lol

Also, I can't seem to find any company that offers just a water taxi ride over without a snorkel tour. My kids are fine to snorkel from shore and I don't want to pay extra for a tour. Is there anything like that available? $40 seems expensive for a ride and back for a party of 9. Any other closer and pretty beach options other than Goffs cay? Thank you

Did you decide to go river tubing? I was thinking about doing this too. I think my 4 year old would love it

My older kids really want to cave tube, so I think we'll split up and do both. Belize is a harder port to plan with little kids.

We just went last week with Rony's Tours. I emailed him ahead of time to make sure it was Daniel's sanctuary that we would be going to. Good communication before, during, and after our vacation! GREAT tour! Highly recommended! The sloth is awesome!! Capuchin monkeys are a hoot!

*We did the freestyle tour for our day in port. Only $25.pp plus $10.pp entrance to get into Daniel's animal place. Spent the rest of tour on West Bay beach, did some local shopping, and toured Rony's neighborhood to give the children some school supplies and toys. Wonderful day all around!!

We ware doing the freestyle tour with Rony in March and our agenda looks similar to yours. We will do Daniels monkeys, rony's neighborhood and then west bay beach. We hope to spend lots of time on the beach so our kids can snorkel. Did you feel rushed at all? How long do you need in rony's neighborhood? Thanks. Oh, and we are coming on RCI at Coxen Hole. Will we be back tracking to get to Daniels? Don't want to waste too much time on the road.

Anyone ever been river tubing? Since the new height requirement is 40 inches for cavetubing, we need to make new plans. Cavetubing.bz offers river tubing for families with small children and I'm wondering if it's worth it. Is it the same river? Is there still a hike? Is there a way that some of us could cave tube while some river tube and still meet up in the same area after? Thanks.

We will be in roatan the end of March on Liberty of the seas. Unfortunately, so will 4 other ships. We have Rony's tours booked and the plan is to visit one of the monkey places, Rony's neighborhood, and a beach. We have 5 younger kids and the plan was Tabyana beach. Is it going to be super crowded with that many people on the island? I worry about keeping an eye on all my kids (ages 2-12), but we really want beautiful sandy beaches and easy access snorkeling. Any other less crowded beach options that are comparable? Thanks for your help!!

Which monkeys did you go see? And long of a visit was it with the monkeys? Thanks.

That's great to know. We've had a hard time trying to figure out Belize with young children. I'm curious how this will work though, isn't most of the river caves? And will you just get out with your 2 year old while everyone else keeps going through the caves? Orbits it's different section of the river? Thanks!

You can take your 4yo tubing with cavetubing.bz as long as he/she is 40 inches tall. That's what we're hoping to do with our young kids in March. Although we do have a 2 year old as well, so not sure yet.

This is great know since we've also booked with Rony and will have a 20 month old. Thanks!!

We are doing Chankanaab in March with our young children. Looks like there's a few great resort and beach options for young kids. Have fun!

Thanks for the info. I did email them and they changed the rule as of January this year to 40 inches. Darn!!