CruisingWithTriplets

We're doing that itinerary in August on Sunrise with kids. It's an end of summer treat for us as the kids don't start school until the next week.

If your itinerary is during the school year, I'd assume the length of the trip is going to significantly limit the number of kids on board. But, if it's still during summer vacation, all bets are off.

When I went in yesterday, I saw it for my August cruise but couldn't add it to the cart. As of this morning, it's not coming up at all. Hopefully @Rudyard is right and it'll be back up soon after they resolve whatever glitch they're having.

We first cruised when my trio was 4. We didn't bring electronics, so we brought a few things to keep them entertained during down times. Crayola mess free markers with the coloring sheets, washable crayons and coloring books, several free printables of dot to dots or seek and find pages for preschoolers. I also hit the target dollar spot for some small toys that would be brand new (they had cute felt books at the time) so that they would still be exciting.

Unfortunately, trying to book 5 person rooms without talking to a person is really hard.

NCL and Carnival will let you do it on the site, but others like RCL require that you call.

I ended up booking connecting ocean view rooms on Carnival, which was much cheaper than any of the suites while affording us more room and a second bathroom. Our kids will be 6 at the time of sailing, so we didn't want the balcony, but they were available connecting as well.

A call to a TA or the cruise line is the easiest way to do this, as they can look up which connecting rooms are available that meet your party size. You can also start the process of booking the first room, looking at all the rooms still available with connections, then seeing if any of them connect to another room with the correct party size (Carnival had a lot of 2s that connect to 2s or 3s that connect to 3s, which we couldn't book). This is super time intensive and annoying, though.

1 minute ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

That’s why it’s not there.  Carnival isn’t going to list OBC it hasn’t received yet from the TA.

 

So, your OBC isn’t part of the fare code.  Your TA is including it as.a package.

 

OBC that is part of the fare code is paid for by Carnival, not the TA.  That OBC will appear on the cruise docs.  

I'm not the OP, I know not to look for it in the Carnival site yet.

I'm just suggesting that it's possible, if the OP got their OBC through a TA, it may not show as well.

1 minute ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

Interesting.  Ours is on page 2 of the printed cruise information, right under the itemized charges. I have to click “print documents” under where the online check in link will be.

 

Maybe it depends on whether the OBC is part of the fare code, or if it is paid for by the TA, and TA is essentially buying cruise cash.  I believe our OBC is part of the fare code, and not paid directly by the TA.

Yes, mine is not part of the fare code. He told me they do essentially pay cash a few weeks before departure.

On 1/16/2020 at 4:56 PM, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

We booked with a TA, and our OBC is listed there.

I booked today and the TA specifically told me that their OBC wouldn't show on the Carnival site because of the way they do it. So, at the very least, it varies depending on who you use.

My question. How are you getting to the embarkation port? If flying way cheaper to rent versus pay baggage fees.

 

 

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As per my initial post, driving to the cruise, so no issue with airlines.

Background: thinking of booking a cruise to Bermuda but want to keep the budget tight. My kids are 4, so there's be a lot of beach time.

Would we be able to bring our own camper chairs in order to avoid renting at the various beaches? Our own umbrella? I'm not thinking anything huge, just chairs you can carry on your back.

I checked the NCL prohibited items list and didn't see an issue. But, my last cruise, I don't remember seeing anyone with the backpack beach chairs the day we were in port, so I'm assuming there's a reason. On the other hand, the reason could just be that I wasn't paying attention :-).

We'd be driving to NYC, so no issue with airlines, only with NCL.

I was playing around tonight and came up with something you could take to a printer and have it enlarged to a poster size (this is a smaller version jpeg) Add the names on the 3 goldfish to personalize it.

That's really cute, thanks! They would totally get a kick out of having their names on the fish, too.

Just order the birthday package. It comes with a cake, balloons and a banner. Or better yet, just go to the dollar store and do it yourself for under $5.

 

We decorate on every cruise and use $ store merchandise.

Have you ever had any trouble with tape on the walls or anything like that? I know other places I've been have had rules about those things.

My concern with decorating myself is that I'll have to ditch hubby with the kids on embarkation day at some point after we've been given the all-clear to access our room. They're going to be so excited that they'll want to see and do everything right away, which makes crowd control tiresome at best. Also, because we won't have our luggage yet, I'll have to pack supplies in our carry-on. But, if I do it myself, I can put all of their names, favorite colors, etc. Decisions, decisions.

Background: We embark on my daughters' 4th birthday. I would like the room decorated with the sign, ballons, etc. When I try to indicate that it is all three of their birthdays, the system wants to charge me for the package 3 times, so $105. I definitely don't need three cakes, triple the balloons, etc.

On the other hand, I can just say it's one of their birthdays for the $35. If I select it for just one of them, will there be somewhere where only her name appears? The girls can read their own names and there will be hell to pay if the decorations, card, or similar only say "Happy Birthday Kate"!