MA_Serendipity

Thank You all :) ... I think we'll be good as long as I can get the 13 y/o out of bed.

Thank you! That actually makes sense. Hopefully it ends up being that way.

Oh... forgot to mention... the excursion was listed and booked via Royal Caribbean web site.

I just booked a cruise on Harmony OTS for next fall. One of the excursion choices in Roatan (Turquoise Bay Horseback Riding) is something my daughter really wants to do. The thing that worries me is that the itinerary lists the ship arriving at 7:00am in the morning. However the excursion lists the van pickup at 7:30am.

So how does that work? Other than the obvious of getting up really early and heading to the exit (gangway ?), and trying to be one of the first off the ship... I'm just not sure how to plan things, or what to anticipate.

Any advice would be welcome and appreciated!

Thanks :)

This is probably a really dumb question.

However, I just finished watching a great review of a cruise on the Melody and the author of the video showed pictures of the food which looked pretty great. But having never cruised on a river cruise before (just the big Ocean Cruise Ships), is it the same policy where you could ask for a second entree at dinner if you want? I could definitely see myself wanting another serving of the lobster ravioli !!

Thanks

I just got off the Pride (May 14th -21st) . My 5yo liked Camp Ocean alot.

Apparently it recently made the switch from Camp Carnival. Everything in the kids room (with it's new Blue motif) looked brand new. There were a ton of things to play with. Plus the staff was amazing with my daughter. The leader (Christina) goes by "Miss Jellybean". I honestly can't compliment them enough.

Every night from 7-10 they had a different theme, and my daughter always had some craft project to show me when I picked her up.

My only complaint is that we had a cabin all the way in the rear (aft) of the ship, but Camp Ocean is all the way in the front (bow) on deck 5. It was a LONG walk back and forth. But what can you do about that. The ship is 963 feet long after all :) Anyway, I wish the location was higher up on the ship and more toward the middle. But I guess that's the price you pay for an Aft Balcony :)

On the last sea day of the cruise my daughter wanted to stay with me during the daytime session (10am to 2pm). But that wasn't so much because of Camp Ocean per se. She just wanted to go swimming in the pool and use the splash pad instead.

Also, on the last sea day they were showing Trolls and Moana on the top deck (outdoor movie screen), and she wanted to do that instead of Camp. So there might be reasons why your son wants to boycott it. But honestly, it's a good time for the little ones (Penguins).

The biggest thing I will say is get them to go the first day then (or second if it's too busy embarkation day). Since all the kids are generally new and don't know anyone, most make their friends for the cruise right away and it can be hard to get into an existing group then if they're shy.

This is the best advice.

I've had a 5yo in Camp Ocean (recently), and a 12yo in Circle C (a few years ago). In both instances what made their experience in camp fun was making a friend or two.

My 12yo initially didn't want to go to the tween mixer on the first night, but I pushed hard and told her that if she didn't have fun I wouldn't force the issue the rest of the cruise. But she made a friend the first night, and the two of them were inseparable after that. They actually corresponded with each other online for almost a year after the cruise was over.

At 9 yours will be one of the younger "Sharks" (9-11), so he shouldn't feel like the facility is "for littler kids" than him. There's a lot to do and the Councillors are great!

Our family will be going on the Carnival Pride in May out of Baltimore. We're taking Amtrak down from Boston the day before and staying downtown overnight. Looking forward to a nice relaxing morning and a quick taxi ride over to the Port!

The issue is the hotel check-out is 11am. But our selected Check-In time at the ship is 12:30-1:00. That was the earliest available for selection.

I understand the difference between check-in and boarding, and know that we might not actually get on the ship until 1pm anyway. Plus, I am checking every day to see if FTTF opens up for purchase (currently "sold out"). This will be our 3rd Carnival Cruise, and we're totally ok with being patient and waiting until being called etc.

Anyway, I'm really just wondering what to do with a family of 4, including a little one, and a whole bunch of luggage that would fill the gap. My initial thought was to hang out in the hotel lobby (Lord Baltimore) or the adjacent Bakery and just chill out for a while.

Having never departed from Baltimore before, is there a better area to wait at the Terminal or in the vicinity? And am I wrong in assuming it will only take about 10 minutes by taxi to get there from downtown?

Thanks in advance. :)