NolaKait

That sounds fun! Also, the Elation is my favorite ship, so far! I have been on it three times and would again if it still left from New Orleans. To me, it seems less crowded and easier to navigate than othe ships. Hope you have a great vacation!

I am booked in 9201 on the Breeze for November 2020 and was told by the vacation planner that there was not a sofa. I don’t really care one way or another, but thanks for asking for pictures, because I was super curious to see what I had booked 😂

On 2/12/2019 at 11:36 AM, pacruise804 said:

I haven't been to Aruba yet, but was at Grand Turk last September.

 

We walked the beach down to Jack's Shack and had a nice quiet day (at least much quieter than near the ship).  We enjoyed the snorkeling right from the beach, but Grand Turk also has the wall which I've read good things about (although more for diving than snorkeling.

 

Jack's does have some dogs (both their own and some local strays).  They will interact or leave you alone - my daughter would want left alone but my son would probably enjoy interacting.  They have a small shop that you might find some souvenirs.  They also have a bar (fairly easy to sidestep, but there are some potentially offensive drink names on the menu) and some grilled/fried food options, which are high priced - but so are most of your other options in port.  We didn't have any food, but the ginger beer in their dark & stormy was pretty good.

Thanks for the advice! Grand Turk sounds like a great place for a lazy beach day. I have heard great things about Jack’s and since my daughter goes to school in the French Quarter New Orleans, she has been ignoring inappropriate drink names since she learned how to read, so no worries there 😂

I have not been to any of those ports and I only cruise on Carnival, so I am not sure how helpful this will be, but... The Carnival Elation is my favorite ship. It is smaller than most of the other ships and to me it seems less crowded. My daughter was 12 the last time we were on it and had a blast. She enjoyed the mini gulf, circle c activities, and the trivia. 

Whichever cruise you pick, I highly recommend avoiding a cabin in the front. It is often way bouncier. A midship cabin may work better for seasickness issues.

Cuba only requires the yellow fever vaccine for persons that come from or travel through certain countries (I believe they are mostly in Africa and South America and the US and Canada are not on the list.) The CDC, however, highly recommends it, as well as MMR, hepatitis A, Typhoid, and hepatitis B. The CDC has health information pages for most countries if you need more information.

There are so many choices! My favorite port so far is Grand Cayman because I love the beaches and my least favorite is Cozumel because I have been so many times it bores me. My favorite time is anytime November-March. For my next cruise, I wanted to go somewhere I have never been and I googled pictures of a few places and picked the one I thought was prettiest. The Carribean is your oyster, have fun exploring!

I have been to Jamaica several times with children and it is definitely a place you want to book an excursion or tour guide, not a wander around kind of place. Dunn’s River falls is awesome. Our favorite trip was when we hired a tour guide to take us around. She picked us up off the cruise ship and took us to Dunn’s river falls, a super cool restaurant, the jungle to meet a really interesting Rasta man who told us all about plants and then shopping. Our daughter was 4 at the time and I think a regular excursion to Dunn’s River Falls would have been to structured and grueling for her at the time. Hiring the guide gave us the flexibility to not be outdoors too long, driving too long, etc. 

My 14yo daughter and I are going on an 8 day cruise that stops in Grand Turk, La Romana, Aruba and Bonaire. We have excursions picked out for La Romana and Bonaire. For the other two, we would like one day to be a snorkel excursion day and the other to be a shopping/beach/no plans day. Both Grand Turk and Aruba look like they have great snorkeling opportunities, but which one do you all think would be a good port to meander of the boat and wander around?

My daughter is from my first marriage and has a different last name than my husband and I. We always get a notarized letter from her father prior to any international travel, but I have never been asked for it on a cruise ship. So far, I have only ever needed it flying into Jamaica and Belize.