Billoftt

On 3/3/2019 at 4:42 PM, Snick500 said:

It seems like other people’s opinions/experience aren’t very welcome on this board if someone else has more cruises than them. The crew will help you when you have a problem, especially if you are patient. Your Time Dining desk is on deck 5 on the Horizon.  We went there first to get a dining time, and then went to the dining room at the time that suited them. We didn’t barge in.  If someone else had a different experience, ok.  It still doesn’t change my experience or stop me from telling someone not to worry because it can be worked out.  Heck, maybe they catered to us as first time Carnival cruisers?  We had a great time and the crew were extremely helpful and friendly.

I noticed that.  A lot. 

Ironically enough, bragging about having more Carnival Cruises than someone else as a sign of virtue seems a bit like bragging about being the smartest kid in Special Ed class.  But if that is what defines a person and makes them feel better go ahead, I have more important things to deal with.

It is a bit odd though, I recently booked two balcony rooms for my family on Carnival Horizon an entire year out and selected the 6:00 PM sitting on both. Somehow one room on the same booking was confirmed while the other was waitlisted. I am pretty confident that when I am withing the 90-day window and start checking in and real humans vice software start looking at things, someone will put 2+2 together.

Sorry to necro this thread, but...

Thank you for the time spent on putting this together. A lot of time and love went into it. I recently booked an 8 day to the ABC islands for my family of six and my wife parents for next spring break in April 2021, we really like to get out of town during the Master's Tournament down here in Augusta if we don't score tickets. Our April 2020 cruise kinda flopped... 

Just an off topic question, did you just go to college there, or did you grow up in Nebraska? If so, where? I once ran into a young woman here wearing some Husker athletic gear. It turns out she was from here and on an athletic scholarship to UNL with the swimming/diving team and came back home to go to med school. I asked here how she liked her first winter there. Her response, with cold, lifeless eyes fixated somewhere 1000 meters behind me, "The wind... That... That... Cold... Wind..."

I went on a 8-day cruise at the age of 40 and gained 4 lbs. The only alcohol I consumed the entire cruise was 1/2 bottle of wine.  I never used the gym but I did make an effort to use the stairs as much as possible.  My wife was the one that preferred taking the elevator a lot.

I believe I ate significantly more than usual though.

I would like to thank all of you for your responses and good information.

Alas, we ended up cancelling. My wife's parents decided to cancel on account of them expecting another grandchild the first week of April from my wife's brother.  My wife does not want to go without her parents along.

So, we booked a "Super Family+" suite (it appeares to be three connecting balcony rooms) on MSC Seaside in October.

I assume you are cognisant with the minimum age requirements, particularly consecutive sea days.
 
https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/before.jsp
 
Regards John
 
 
 

Thanks a bunch everyone, you have given a lor more detail that what I was expecting!

Thank you for the thorough reply.

Hello, first post here. I have recently booked a cruise on regal Princess for April, 2020 (Totally digging the $100.00 ship credit for veterans). This will be our first time on Princess (went on a Southern Caribbean cruise on Carnival Sunshine last year) and our first time ever cruising with our children. Children will be 13, 10, 7, and 7 months by the time we sail. As a matter of fact, the 7 year old will be turning 7 on embark day.  My wife's parents are joining us on a separate booking as well. As you can imagine, I have a lot of questions.

How long is the dinner service in the MDR? I remember in Carnival it was upwards of 2 hours. The older two kids will be able to handle a long sit down, the 7 year old may get a bit antsy and I am concerned about how the baby is going to handle 2 hours and how much of a nuisance they would all be to other passengers.  I just don't want to be "That Guy." What is the kid's menu like?

At what age is it appropriate to allow children to be unsupervised on the ship? When I say unsupervised I don't mean roaming free, I mean hanging out in one area and then finding one of us adults to tell us where they are going to next. My 13 year old is pretty responsible and so-far seems to be making good decisions and I am not worried about him nor the 10 year old girl being a nuisance to others. I know him and they can sign themselves in and out of the youth programs by themselves, I was just wondering what the "accepted practice" was. I do trust both of them playing outside by themselves, I trust the older one to supervise the smaller ones in our yard or on bikes in our neighborhood, the 10 year old is not yet there responsibility-wise. When the wife and I were on Sunshine last year, we didn't notice many school-aged children, (during school year) just many smaller children in the day-camp group. 

What are the crowds like? The Sunshine seemed like there was more people than ship and always had a crowded feeling to it. 

When are the rooms usually ready? On Sunshine it was 1:30 before the the hallway doors were open and I was lugging around rolling carry-ons for a few hours. Is there a designated place to stow carry-ons before rooms are ready?

What are the boarding times? The info Princess gave me only states that boarding starts at 12:30. 

What is the "bringing my own soda" policy? On Carnival it was explicitly stated that liquor and beer was not allowed to be brought on board, only 1 bottle of wine and 1 12-pack of soda per person in the carry-on. On the Princess cruise contract, the only guidance I can find is that bringing alcohol is prohibited with the exception of the wine. There is no mention of soda or if it can be in checked luggage vs. carry-on.

I am pretty sure I will annoy you kind people with more questions when I think of them.