Gatordad815

Hello! We are planning our first Alaska cruise with kids who will be age 12 and 10 at the time. We are looking to choose between two Royal Caribbean itineraries (r/t Seattle). 
 

The more convenient date for our schedule does not stop in Sitka but does have a full day in Victoria the last day. The less convenient date for our trip has a full day stop in Sitka, but the Victoria stop is the obligatory 5-10PM stop the last day, and we likely wouldn’t have time to do much. Otherwise the itineraries are the same (Juneau, Skagway, Dawes Glacier).

What does the forum think of a full day in Sitka vs a full day in Victoria? We haven’t been to either. 
 

(I do realize neither of these are the “best” Alaska itinerary but with our kids ages and experiences with RC ships, these ships will be the best for our first Alaska trip)

Any comparisons/thoughts are appreciated!

2 minutes ago, Berniecruiser53 said:

Wow, that is high!!!!  Any discounts the first day??

 

I honestly don’t know because I pre-purchased the package so I wasn’t too concerned about it. But I don’t think there were discounts the first day. 

19 hours ago, closecruiser said:

If anyone is sailing on independence tomorrow and can check price once on board and post it that would be great.   

 I just got off the ship this morning and the on board price was $105 per day.

Thanks to all for the helpful insight! It’s reassuring to read the perspectives of others who have managed this. I’m feeling like we are getting the hang of this, but definitely want to learn everything I possibly can to be sure we are managing this as best we can. Thanks again.

Hi all! Our family of four enjoys cruise vacations and young daughter was very recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She also has Celiac disease, so we are already accustomed to closely managing her meals, and Royal Caribbean has been excellent at accommodating gluten free meals, but this adds a whole new dimension to our planning.

Can anyone give advice/tips on managing diabetes on a cruise? I already know to contact special needs and to have extra supplies just in case, but what else should we know to help manage on a cruise?

I’m specifically curious to learn how people reliably calculate carbs to keep insulin dosing correct? I’m assuming we will be guesstimating using an app, but is there any more reliable way to get accurate carb information from the kitchen? 
 

Can anyone comment of Adventure Ocean? I’m assuming we will just check her blood glucose when we drop her off to be sure it’s not going low, but is there anything else we should know? Any tips on shore excursions/exploring ports? 

Any other tips/advice? Thanks in advance for any input-this is still pretty new and daunting to us!

4 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

An ice show is normally on a hockey size ice rink. I cannot believe how they manage all the stunts on that small section of ice. It is amazing. Did you see the special effects turning the ice into the sea and moving water?

Yes-it was the full 1887 show-it was fun & worth seeing.

3 hours ago, Ashland said:

Also what ice show is being shown?

Last week they had both iSkate and the 1887 production show. Enjoyable show.

On 3/27/2022 at 10:27 PM, MamadawgFL said:

Can you tell me how Falmouth went (if you got off the ship)? How was the port area?  did you leave the port? 

Hi! Sorry for the delayed response-getting back to reality can be hectic!

We did get off in Falmouth but did not leave the port area. Our kids love “shopping” and I hate shopping when I could be at a beach instead, so this was the perfect port to let them get off the ship, walk around, and browse the shops.
 

While there isn’t too much to the port, it was clean and all of the vendors we encountered were quite friendly. There was live music and the vibe was better than I remembered from our prior visit. There was also a lot of really neat hand-made art that was priced reasonably. While it wasn't too exciting of a stop, our kids actually loved it and my wife and I commented that we’ were surprised how relaxing/fun it was for our family’s needs. We were off the ship maybe 2 hours, spent under $100 on stuff, and the kids were very happy so Falmouth was (surprisingly) a win for us! 

I have no idea why the schedule is posting sideways-I took the photo upright. User error I am sure…

Hope this helps!

Our family got off a spring break cruise on Harmony this morning. To answer a few of your questions:

1. Buffet was open for all meals.

2. There were 3600-3700 passengers. Plenty of people but it did not feel crowded at all relative to our pre-Covid spring break sailings. There was generally room to get into shows for those without reservations, easy to catch and elevator, no massive lines for food, etc.
 

3. Pools were not limited at all. The entire cruise felt pretty normal from a Covid perspective.

4. Most restaurants were open, though I did notice Solarium Bistro and Wonderland were closed. It wasn’t hard to get food!

5. Early dining was 5:00. Buffet was open 6-9 each night.

6. The only Aquatheater show was the showcase, as mentioned above. It was worth seeing, but nowhere near as good as the full production.

7. I’ll post a picture of the entertainment schedule.

Overall it was a great cruise! The entertainment options felt fewer than in the past but there was still plenty going on. I don’t really know the answers to the other questions, but if you have any other specific questions about this past week, feel free to ask!

Thank you all for providing input-its very helpful! 

Wow I didn’t realize parking was so tight! We are staying in Cocoa Beach the night before our Harmony cruise, so we can easily arrive early for parking.  But since we booked only recently our check in time is not until 1:00.
 

Is there a stand-by line at Port Canaveral for early arrivals? If we get there by 9:30 or10AM for covered parking, I would want to know we actually have a chance of getting checked in a little earlier so we aren’t sitting there with the kids for 3 hours. Any recent experiences with how early arrivals are handled for Harmony sailings at Port Canaveral?

Has anyone been to the arcade that can comment? All input appreciated!

Hi all! We are going to be on Harmony soon for our spring break with kids ages 6 & 8. In the past we never spent $ in the cruise ship arcade, but I see in the cruise planner discounts on arcade credits. I think this would be a fun family activity so I think I’ll buy this.
 

Can anyone give me an idea about the per-game costs? If I bought a $50 credit (on sale for $40) or a $100 credit (on sale for $80), would that be sufficient for us to stop in the arcade a few times during the cruise? We wouldn’t allow the kids to be in the arcade without us, so I’m not worried about them running up a big bill-just trying to get a sense of how much mileage we would get out of a $50 or $100 credit. Thanks for any input!

Was boarding in Port Canaveral organized by boarding time? Was there a separate line for early/late arrivals? Last cruise I took (November) it was just one area for everyone without regard to boarding times. Thanks for answering questions! 

14 minutes ago, Scottyb1708 said:

It was all first come first serve, no pre-booking allowed.  They said if you had an excursion booked, you would somehow get priority access, not sure how that works though.  We had trouble getting some of the kids in the 6-12 program 2 nights, but we were slow getting them there.  I think as long as you get them in before the 8:00 dinner rush, you would probably be OK.

Great-that sounds a lot easier (overall) than other reports I’ve seen-thanks for reporting back!

8 minutes ago, Scottyb1708 said:

Just off Oasis and had kids in the 3-5 and 6-12 program.  Kids wear masks, not really any social distancing.  They all loved it.

Hey! We will be on Harmony in 2 weeks and we are wondering if AO has increased capacity from a few months back when it was limited. Did you have to sign up for spots ahead of time? Was it difficult to get the kids in as often as they wanted to go? Any input on current process appreciated!

Hey! We will be on Harmony in just under 2 weeks and wondering about whether they have increased capacity/access to Adventure Ocean since the terrible reports we were reading about a few months back. Any sense of how easy or challenging it was for parents with younger kids (in my case, ages 6 & 8) to get their kids into AO? Thanks for any input!

Thanks for sharing your recent experience-that’s kind of what I was afraid of. I’m hoping with restrictions easing so much the kids clubs will be better for spring break, but as with everything else we will need to be prepared for a modified experience if we choose to book.

Does anyone else have recent experience they can share?

Hi all! We are considering a cruise on an Oasis class ship for spring break with our kids ages 6 and 8. Historically they have LOVED Ocean Adventure. I read several reports over the holidays of terrible AO experiences (extremely limited availability, kids made to stay in a circle and not interact, etc.). That, coupled with the huge Covid surge put us off for a spring break cruise.

With Covid subsiding and pretty good spring break pricing, we are considering booking. Can anyone comment on whether the Adventure Ocean situation has improved in the last few months? Any other input on recent cruising with kids in this age range sincerely appreciated as well!

If it makes a difference, both kids will be fully vaccinated. Thank you!

15 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

Check out my review.  It was not good.

 

The opened reservations at noon on the first day, and they went on a first come, first serve basis. I was there when they opened and unlocked the door.

 

There were parents doing back to back cruises who skipped past us newbies who were filling out the forms,  they didn't have to fill them out again and they were grabbing all the times.

 

AO told us there was a max of five hours AO time the entire week and we needed to schedule it all right then. 

 

I told them we didn't have show reservations/dinners confirmed yet, as the concierge was working on them for us and nothing was showing up yet on our app.

 

We were told sorry.  Pick your times now or you won't get any.

 

We did, without having any clue what show times we were getting.

 

We had one kid who was a few weeks away from her birthday and would have been moved up to the next level. We asked considering she was just weeks away if they would move her up so she could be with the other kids in our family.  We were refused.  Told it was impossible.

 

I've done this before previously, and asked if I could at least speak to the AO manager about it, they gave the manager the message but told me she was not willing to speak to me.

 

So all that was just reservations.

 

When the time for AO came....   we dropped the kids off as normal.   Only when we picked them up did the kids tell us they were given circles to sit on and they had to stay on those circles and not interact with anyone else.   We sailed with friends.  Our kids and their kids, we all were together all week.  The kids asked if the travel group could play together, since we all came together. The kids said they were refused and had to remain on their circles for the entire time we were gone.  WHich was 3 hours.

 

I almost didn't believe them, but other kids being picked up were recanting same situation to their parents.

 

Our kids refused to go back. 

 

It really changed the dynamic of our cruise.

 

We were not allowed to bring the kids in any lounge/bar/restaurant at all.  They were all vax only. 

 

At least one night there were no activities for unvax families. 

 

We saw one family that sat in the pub, but their kid had a chair in the promenade.... like pushed right up to the pub table.  Technically they were in and he was out. 

 

They said it was all they could do, because there was no where else they could all be.

 

It was really truly disappointing.

 

Fortunately my daughter had her second shot today and is now fully vaccinated, but let me tell you if we had to sail again under those conditions we had on Allure last week, I wouldn't do it.  I would rather wait it out until protocols change.

 

Now.... that all the complaining is over let me say this...

 

Is this RCI's fault, no, I know the CDC has them under a lot of pressure.  However, they needed to make some changes.

 

I'm sure they thought, "We want everyone vax. and so unvax passengers lose the full experience.  But they didn't consider that many of us were families of 9- 10 people with just one or two kids too young to get the vaccine.  

 

We sailed on a holiday week when kids were out of school.  They said it was the highest passenger count they had and the most kids they've had post pandemic. 

 

If this is the case, shouldn't someone have said, "With so many families on board, maybe we should make sure there is at least one lounge families can go to and listen to live music. "   or  "We need to make sure there is at least two post dinner activities for families each night, especially since AO is so limited"

 

I don't think anyone looked at the manifest for us and did any critical thinking.   They just treated the week like any other and it didn't work.

 

Yes we chose to go with our kids.  

 

We booked this cruise in 2018 for 2020  So it's been a 3 year wait, and we didn't want to push it off another year.   We also sailed Adventure this past summer from the Bahamas and the experience was nothing like this.    Adventure was actually my favorite cruise in YEARS, maybe even ever. 

 

So we didn't expect this one to be so drastically different for families.

 

If you're not sailing a holiday week, or you have a more experienced cruise director than we did, maybe your experience will be better.

 

I'm the biggest RCI cheerleader, love the company, but AO just didn't work for us last week.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing this. We have a family cruise booked on Harmony for spring break. I really hope by then the procedures are different, but your experience is helpful to read because I now know I need to pay closer attention to reviews as it gets closer. Fortunately for us by the time spring break comes both of our children will have had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated, so hopefully that will improve the experience for them. Bummer for your kids that due to the timing this wasn’t even an option for your family…

Thanks again for sharing this experience in detail….it’s quite helpful for families considering cruises on RC in the near future!

21 minutes ago, rockmom said:

I think that St. Kitts is one of the islands that requires you to take a ship excursion, you can't go out on your own.  Depending on when you sail, that may change, but for now, that's the rule.  

Great point-I was reading about that!! I'm going in a few months, so I’m thinking by then I may be able to go on my own. But if not, the Marriott day pass example is a proxy for a more tame option I could do through the ship (beach day, ship day, etc.)

Appreciate the input! 

Hi all-I could use some input from the RC experts on excursion ideas for my upcoming Eastern cruise on Allure. The itinerary takes us to Nassau (7:00-3:00), St. Thomas (11:00-7:00), St. Maarten (8:00-6:00) and St. Kitts (8:00-5:00). 
 

I like a mix of relaxing days and exploring days. Love nice beaches and being in the sun and water.

Nassau-I’ll stay on the ship to enjoy a less crowded ship day.

St. Thomas-even though it’s a late arrival, I’m thinking the St. John Trunk Bay Snorkel/Beach excursion through RC? I’ve only been to St. Thomas once and we didn’t go St. John, so I would love to see it, but if there other ideas I should consider, I’m open to suggestions! 
 

St. Maarten - I’ll likely do Mullett Bay (beach morning) and Maho Beach (afternoon) on my own. Always wanted to see the planes…

St. Kitts - this is where I’m a little stumped. I’m thinking that after 2 days in a row of exploring St. Thomas/St. John and St. Maarten I may be a little more in the mood to relax, so I was considering a Marriott day pass. BUT, I’ve never been to St. Kitts so I’m considering an excursion. I see RC offers a catamaran snorkel/beach excursion to Nevis that looks like it could be a lot of fun! Any input on these very different options? I’m torn on the best choice here….

If anyone has thoughts/comments about any of the above, all input is appreciated. I’m particularly interested in input regarding the St. John excursion and the St. Kitts options. Thanks for any input!

Hi all! In the past we have been to Paradise Beach multiple times (non all-inclusive) and very much enjoyed it (nice area, decent food, cold beer, great service). I’m researching for a future trip and thinking of trying a different spot just to experience something new.

I see many of the all-inclusives serve draft beer as part of their package, and I definitely want to avoid places that have only 1 or 2 cheap draft beer selections. Can anyone recommend places that have a little more selection in bottles or cans? It can be all-inclusive or pay as you go, but I just want to avoid draft beer.

Other priorities would be cleanliness, a decent beach, and tasty food. I’m thinking maybe Nachi Cocom would be a nice option for a change of scenery? Any other options I should be considering?

Thank you for any input!