BrooklynGirl2

My son will be a month into being 18. It takes awhile to grow into being an adult and kids mature at different rates. His maturity at best is uneven. He is also an experienced cruiser beginning from age 5. This is his 11th cruise but there was always a kids/teen club to break the social ice. I told him to hang out outside the teen club area to meet others coming and going to perhaps make a few friends. Maybe hang out on the sports deck even if he's not playing. Kids will be there. He has no money to waste at the casino so that's not an option.

I think the roll call would be a great idea to check out. I'm sure there are others in the same situation.

Thank you to everyone who responded. I appreciated the input.

Brooklyn Girl

Having fun, thank you for your snarky response. Not that it's your business but my son lost a year of maturing being hospitalized almost all of last year and he struggles with some social skills due to special needs. This is our fami!y vacation, why wouldn't he want to come? Your lecture was not appropriate and not helpful.

Brookmill18, thank you for understanding. You totally understood my issue. I was looking for a meet and mingle type of event for this age group to break the ice and find others to connect with for the rest of the cruise. He is an only child so no siblings to hang out with. In the past he would use teen club just as a meeting point to connect with other kids and then make their own fun around the ship. Because of his surgeries he can't do many sports.

I guess we will figure it out when on board. Someone hah posted the daily Anthem planners and I didn't notice any meet up for 18-20 group which is why I asked.

BG

I'm so glad to hear about this. I was on the Anthem cruise when the little boy drowned. It was a terrible tragedy.

Iceman , are you on the June 28 sailing by any chance?

BG

We are cruising on Anthem in June. We last cruised her two years ago. At the time my son was 16 and very much enjoyed teen club and met up with some nice teens to socialize with during the cruise. He will have just turned 18 when we sail. He is now excluded from teen club and is really too young to enjoy adult activities. And I don't really want him hanging with 25 year olds. Does Royal offer anything for the 18-20 age group? I want him to enjoy his cruise and make friends but how can he find others his age?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

Brooklyn Girl

Quite simple. I'm limited right now to cruising during summer months and leaving from a drivable port. Don't have a lot of choices since I don't live in Florida. And how long before dynamic dining goes to other ships? I wish they just left liberty of the sea at my port.

Thanks for the advice

I must really be missing something about Labadee because I do not like it at all and would not go back again or get off the ship. I have been there twice. Once we were at Columbus Cove and the beach was rocky and full of coral and other unappealing stuff. The water was cloudy, and still, almost stagnant. We rented clam shells to protect us from the fierce sun and they were so hot. We heard about the cabanas at Nellie's Beach and tried to rent one but the suite guests had first choice and there was nothing left when we boarded on the first day. The excursion guy rented our group a "beach bed" on Adrenaline beach. It was basically a platform on the beach with bed-like mattresses and a canopy and curtains on the sides which we could not secure and kept blowing in the wind. It was extremely hot and humid and the lunch was basically burgers and hot dogs. The sand was coarse and rocky and so was the water. I walked in and walked out. It was cloudy and full of seaweed and coral. I did not have water shoes. My son and nephew spent their time floating on the water mats so they would not have their feet in the water. The bed bed which holds six came with two mats, 3 towels and six bottles of water in a cooler. Cost $175. There was an attendant who would bring drinks.

We shopped in the nicer store near the beach and last time we shopped at the markets. I agree the vendors were very pushy and aggressive. They are not supposed to leave the deck surrounding the little stands and there is security around if anyone gets out of hand.

If you like to zipline or jetski I guess it's a good stop but I would not ever go back there. The beaches here cannot compare or come close to the beaches on Bermuda, St. Maarten, or St. Thomas. And the private island experience cannot compare to Margaritaville where Princess stops. Just my opinion.

Thanks all. We sre not interested in any buffet eating. We want full service breakfast and lunch in a white table cloth venue like exists now on Freedom class ships. Any suggestions?

Thanks all. We sre not interested in any buffet eating. We want full service breakfast and lunch in a while table cloth venue like exists now on Freedom class ships. Any suggestions?

Hi all... we just got off Liberty and are considering booking Anthem for June 2015. I am concerned though because I am reading such negative reviews of the service and food on this ship. Both are important to our group. Not so interested in robots, technology and skydiving, etc

I understand they now have classic dynamic dining which while is not the traditional mdr experience is better than just anytime dining which I would not enjoy. I am trying to wrap my head around the idea of rotating restaurants.

My question is... what do they do for breakfast and lunch?? We normally eat both in the MDR on our cruises and I am not sure how they handle this on Anthem. Where do you go for these meals?

Also... we enjoy Portofino and was wondering what the equivalent to this would be on Anthem? I read about Jamie's Italian and that does not appeal to me. Looks more like a diner than an elegant restaurant to me.

Thanks for your help. Not sure I like the direction RC is taking with the new ships and may just start to look at other cruise lines again.

Brooklyn~~

Thank you for checking in and offering to answer questions. Can you tell us what nights are the two formal nights? Is Portofino the Specialty Restaurant? And when is "Italian Night" (do they still have it?).

Thanks for any information.

along with the many suggestions you're going to receive...

 

Why not teach your FIFTEEN year old child to do as he is told?

I did not appreciate your rude and totally unhelpful comment. My teen did do as he was told on our last cruise. He was never late at curfew or in meeting us for lunch/meals. I wanted a way to communicate with him if plans changed (I was not going to be where we were scheduled to meet) or if I wanted him to join us for something we hadn't previously scheduled to do. Or to just check in. I am not the type of parent that sets her teen free and does not want to be bothered with them (like many parents do) for the length of the cruise.

To those who offered constructive and informative responses, I thank you. I will look into the WiFi option and the use of an App for messages.

Hi all--- we are sailing on Liberty of the Seas for the first time in July to the Caribbean. My son who is 15 will be sailing with us. I was wondering the best way to keep in touch with him on the ship as he will want to be with the other teens. We tried the leaving notes/leaving message on cabin phone thing and it was cumbersome and didn't work all that well.

I was wondering if I should invest in some Walkie Talkies to communicate with him while on board or is there some better high tech option... like a way to text back and forth without it costing me a lot of money.

I spent a lot of time looking for him on our last cruise and would like to avoid that if possible.

Thanks for any comments or information!

What I liked was pre drink cocktail (free) with canapes, meet and greet with Captain and introduce staff, photo op with Captain, then dinner with the table staff doing the baked alaska cake song/dance while we all swing our napkins in the air and sing along.

 

Now that could be called a gala night, formal night or even royal night.

Perfectly said! This is what I loved about the old formal nights. It was fun, different and special.

BTW, we have been cruising with our son since he was 4 years old. We always dressed him for Formal nights in khaki's, dress shirt, tie and blue blazer. He now loves dressing for formal night (he's 15) and looks forward to it on our cruises. His old Formal night clothes have been passed down to my younger nephew who cruises with his parents and loves getting dressed up too. The tradition does not go away unless the parents are too self involved to teach their children how to dress and behave in certain circumstances. And if you don't want to spend the money on formal clothing for children then you can visit consignment shops and get things for very little cost.

For those who don't want to spend Formal night with their younger kids, you can always feed them early at the Buffet and check them into the kids club so you can enjoy a date night minus kids.

Brooklyn

I have been calling the C&A number to redeem my points for the past three days. They seem to be having problems with their system. I was unable to redeem.

Has anyone else been having these problems?

Thanks

Brooklyn

Thank you, Ken. I didn't realize that. I've been away from the Boards for awhile. I will take your advice.

Brooklyn

Hi All... Please excuse me if this information has been discussed somewhere on the Board (I have looked around).

We are sailing Liberty in July (9 day Caribbean) and would like to make reservations at a specialty restaurant but I don't want to miss something I enjoy in the main dining room, including the formal nights. We have sailed Explorer on the 9 day Caribbean in the past and I was wondering if the menus/formal nights are the same. I didn't want to miss prime rib or rack of lamb nights and I can't now remember which nights those were.

Does anyone have menus or information on the dinner menus in the main dining room?

Any guidance and information would be appreciated.

Thank You,

BrooklynGirl

Does anyone remember a Franco from Asti who worked on both Doric and Oceanic? He was a waiter in the dining room.

That is quite an incredible story Silvia. It's amazing how a ship can evoke such emotions in us. I felt the same way when I found out the that SS Doric (Home Lines) that I met my husband on in 1981 had been sold and evenutally sunk off the coast of South Africa. In fact, it was one of the hosts of Cruise Critic that kindly informed me of this. I had no idea what had happened to her.

It's nice that you have those mementos and pictures. I feel like I do not have enough pictures of Doric and I'm sorry I didn't take more. When we celebrated our birthdays and Anniversary on Zenith this year I took pictures of everything so I would always have those pictures to remember her by when, eventually, she too, is no longer around.

Thanks for sharing your story.

Anne... my parents cruised on Raphaello on her next to last cruise. They loved that ship and although cruised on other ships, they could never measure up to Raphaello and her wonderful crew. It was a terrible shame what happened to these ships and that Italian Line allowed it to happen. From what I understand at one time Home Lines wanted to buy the ships but Italian Lines did not for some reason want this. In the end the ships were sold at a very low price to Iran!

Here's an interesting link for you:

http://www.michelangelo-raffaello.com/english_site/en/en.htm

Hi Marge (waves). Can you believe I loved our Zenith cruise so much in June we went back for another in September (2 weeks ago). It was just as wonderful. Cruising is certainly addictive :D. I asked around my circle of old Home Lines friends and did not get any info on Terri R. I'll keep asking though. Did you enjoy your recent cruise?

Dianne...so glad I posted that info for you and I hope you can make it to the next reunion. We certainly plan to be there. I will ask my husband if he knows yours. They were on board at the same time it seems.

I took some old Doric pictures on my recent cruise and the waiters there got a kick out of looking at the pictures. They couldn't believe that the busboys wore Tuxes on formal night :). I only regret I didn't take more pictures, especially now that I found out the Doric sank off the coast of South Africa some years ago.

Wow, you Dad worked on the original Homeric! I'll bet he has some great stories to tell. And I've never heard of the Queen Federica. Where did she sail?

We travel back to Italy often to visit family. Where does your Dad live? My husband is from Piemonte and my cousins live near Amalfi. I'm sure if your Dad could attend the reunions he would have a great time. I don't know of any guys who worked on Home Lines in the 50's. Most of the guys we know worked on the ships in the 70's and early 80's with a few from the late 60's too.

Wow, Gail, that was some story. Which ship were you on for the hurricane?? My first cruise was on the Doric and we sailed to Bermuda in very stormy waters as well. I remember rocking and rolling on the first night. My girlfriend and I were quite sick after early dinner. The next morning we both dashed to the infirmary for meds and shots...all I remember is a very handsome Italian medic or doctor trying to help me while I was sick into one of those bags :eek: Our room was in the very front of the ship and was rocking so badly the water was sloshing out of the toilet bowl or shower drain...don't know which :confused: . They had to mop up our cabin and the medic told me to stay midship in the lounge which we did. My friend slept most of the day on a couch near the lounge while I decided to go to the movies (just like you) and we saw Superman 2. The doors were roped off and no one could go out on deck (who would want to LOL). You could see the waves splashing up over the railings :eek: .

That evening we felt well enough to attend the first formal night although we didn't eat too much. I'm glad we went though since that was the night I met my husband who happened to be my waiter that night :D ;) . He took very good care of me for the rest of the cruise and we had a blast in Bermuda. Doric was a fun ship, the food was great and the crew was just the best (of course I'm not prejudiced).

I'm still sad about Home Lines going out of business, although I just loved my recent Celebrity Cruise.

RichYak...you are obviously a very smart man ;) :D .

RichYak...we had late seating too. We usually eat around 7:30 dinner at home anyway so it wasn't too much later. I have a 5 year old. The kids dinner is at 6pm in the Cafe and then they have scheuled activities for them after that until 10 pm. Dropping him off at 6 pm worked well for us because we could still relax a bit at the pool and take our time getting dressed (especially on formal nights). On the nights we went to the late show (10:45 pm) or the party on the pool deck we signed our son into the kids P.J. party which goes from 10 PM until 1 A.M. He loved going so there was never a problem. By that time of night they are usually settled in watching a video on their mats. Since he watched no TV all day I had no objection to this "winding down" time.

On the 4 nights he ate with us in the main dining room we just gave him a snack to hold him over until 8:30 pm. Let's just say you are never hungry on a Celebrity cruise.;) :D

I know you will all have a wonderful time. Come back and write a review for us.