SevenWonkas

Celebrity is not a good choice for families with young children.

We went on Celebrity with our son last year. He was 5.5 years old. We had a fantastic time. He loved the kids club.... but, he’s loved the Kids club on every cruise we’ve been on. (He’d been on two RCCL and three DCL cruises by the time we did Celebrity). Other passengers were friendly with our son, and the crew members had nice interactions with him. While there was no shallow pool, they did provide life jackets so we still had a blast in the water. We took him to some of the shows, and he enjoyed those too. We took him to multiple specialty dinners, and he was welcomed with open arms. All this being said, he is a good and overall calm kid. He likes talking to and interacting with adults. And we always take a bag of books and other items to keep him occupied at dinner while waiting for food.

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Accidental post

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We were on Brilliance a year ago and went to Giovanni's with our 4 year old. They didn't give us a kids menu, but asked us right away what he would like. They did offer several kid friendly options. Our son chose pepperoni pizza. Hope this helps.

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Perfect. We're going on independence in February for a 5-night. Looks like it's the same cruise as yours. We're on the road right now and it's a pain to log into the site via iPhone, so I appreciate your response . We wanted to do Chops anyway, so now we just have to decide if we want to do both. (While Giovanni's will essentially be free, we do have to account for gratuities. We always tip equal to what the same restaurant on land would be). This helps a lot Thanks!

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How much is the BOGO deal for specialty dining,and how does it work?

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-The room could not have been better. We upgraded a few weeks out after hearing stories about kids in the Epic balcony room, and we got a great deal. It was worth so worth it! The 2nd bedroom would be too small for 2 adults, but was perfect for our two kids.

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What stories are there about kids in the Epic balcony room? Is it related to the weird bathrooms? (Would love to try NCL, and Epic's location in Port Canaveral is great, but the bathrooms are a turn-off!

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I do have a Reflection review! We LOVED the reflection. It was my favorite ship by far. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2021981

 

 

 

You can't see the pics anymore unless you click on them though.

 

 

 

Thanks so much.

Thanks for the link! I can't see the photos at all, even clicking on it. Boo. But I'll read what wrote. Thanks so much!

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A little late, but what were"rustic" about the bathrooms at Mr. Sancho's?

One reason for the slow discussion on cruise critic is that a lot of Disney cruisers are Disney people, as opposed to cruising people, and tend to stay on Disney-specific boards!

Enjoyed the review! Do you have any reviews of Celebrity Reflection? We are going on Reflection next year... first time on Reflection! (lots of cruises on Royal and Disney under our belts.. trying something new next year!)

There are no chicken fingers at the buffet at Enchanted Garden, but when we went with our son our server asked us if he wanted them. He then brought them out to our table fresh. :)

We've been on 11 Royal cruises and three Disney. Will be returning to Disney in a couple months, and have a Royal cruise booked next year. Although I'd pick Disney if all things were equal (price, itinerary, etc), Royal does have a really great product too! We always price things out, and Disney rarely wins for a long cruise. In fact, for our Fantasy cruise in a couple months it wasn't cheaper than Royal, but with our son starting school next year it was our last chance to take advantage of the cheaper rates when school is in session!

Yes the kids club closes 12-3 everyday on rccl and ncl.

I believe Adventure Ocean is closed from 12-2, not 12-3. Also closed 5-7, but I think you can pay an hourly rate for your kid during this time. After 10PM there is also a fee.

Never been on a Disney ship....but friends (who have sailed on both) have told me that Disney's regular balcony cabin is the same size as a JS on a Royal ship and they price it out that way. They also have a tub like a JS.

 

 

 

When my grandchild gets a little older we will purchase a Disney cruise. In the meantime we'll just stay with Royal or maybe try MSC.

A JS on Royal is much bigger than a balcony room on Disney. They are priced similarly, true, but the JS is much larger. A JS is essentially the size of 1.5 rooms, with a huge closet and a large bathroom. Rivals the size of a real hotel room, honestly. Disney's standard rooms may be big, but not that big. :)

The thing I find funny is that people keep referring to the Allure being cheaper than Disney but I have done three Disney Cruises and I am preparing to do my first Royal Caribbean on the Allure in a few weeks. We are booked basically in the same type of room we had on the Fantasy (balcony room) (by the way the Allure rooms are smaller) - and I have been totaling up all the things you have to pay extra for on Royal Caribbean that you don't pay for on Disney and well all of those extras add up and they have actually made my total cruise cost about $400 more than Disney. . .

What cruise date(s) and room categories did you price where the price is so close?

We've only done three DCL cruises so far, but are Diamond on Royal. The benefits can be nice, but I honestly don't pay that much attention. The loyalty "gift" last time was some shortbread cookies. Yawn. (The last real gift we received were Crown and Anchor Society baseball caps, which were too small for my head! My head isn't THAT big!) We do get a separate waiting area upon check-in, which is nice. Free photo per person. Some free drinks or something, but we don't drink anyway so it doesn't matter. What is also nice is that their sister line(s) recognize loyalty levels to a certain extent. As a Diamond level cruiser on Royal, I am automatically Elite on Celebrity.

Yeah, I loved Rocco's. I hear that there is one in Orlando so we may go there again when we take our Feb cruise out of Port Canaveral.

There is one in Orlando! Yum yum!

Maybe cruise fish?

Yup. Will track all the price changes too.

I remember once when I asked for a different side for my son, I got the original side AND my requested side. So I'm assuming they grabbed the pre-plated meal (with the original side), and then the requested side separately.

No feedback on rooms themselves, but just a heads up on moving the singleton into the room with the person traveling alone..... Your muster stations are based on where your stateroom is. So if the "singleton" is someone's kid, it is possible that they will be in a different muster station than his or her parents. The chances are very slim that the muster stations will be needed, but just something to keep in mind.

That being said, it's going to be hard deciding on which cruise to go on for you! I'd love to try Harmony, but prefer Eastern routes over Western!

I'm with the people that say go if you want to go. We did our first Disney Cruise with DS when he was 18 months. It was a 3-day on the Dream. (Yes, I agree with others that 3 days is too short. But if you truly have never been on a cruise, then 3 days on the Dream is pretty awesome. It's a wonderful ship but if you hate the cruising experience you're only on it for 3 days).

Moving on.... Yes, at this age he trip is for you and not your kid. But are you not going to go anywhere, ever, because your kid won't remember it? It's only going to get more expensive, especially if there are more kids in the future.

One bit of advice is that your son will pretty much direct things to a certain extent. We had to change our expectations pretty quickly. While at home he was made to eat a variety of foods, all he wanted to eat on the ship was bread, pouches (which we brought from home), and Fruit Loops. (There are no Cheerios on the ship!) After a day of struggling with him about his diet, we just let him eat what he wanted. (He's on vacation too. I'm not eating how I normally do, why should he?). We tried to watch production shows, but once he was done we were out of there. (We made sure we sat on an aisle in the back). We only lasted 15 minutes for one show!

We put him in the nursery for nap time. He didn't always sleep, but we got our alone time and he got to chill out with less stimulation.

I'm with Santa Fe. Google to find the website he's referring to. With that website we were able to set a an alert on a cruise that was sold out (Disney, actually), and got an alert when a room opened up. We were able to get online and book it immediately. The price change alerts are great too.

Man. I made some major typos/autocorrects in that post and it's not letting me edit it via the cruise critic app. That's what I get for trying to respond to stuff in bed when I'm about to fall asleep!

I have no experience with Carnival, but have cruised 9 times with Royal (vs 3 with Disney). While I do love Disney cruises, And think they are better overall, I don't think they're $3,000 better. When we've done DCL, we pick "lower" rooms in order to make it affordable. We do Jr. Suites on RCCL, but get veranda rooms with extended balcony on DCL. The DCL room is smaller and has a smaller tub, but at least the standard rooms have a tub (vs. the small showers in standard rooms on RCCL). Our son isn't in school yet, therefore we have flexibility in our travel schedule. I was aw to convince my husband to try the Fantasy next year because I showed him a veranda was pretty much the same price as a Jr. Suite on the Oasis/Allure. I anticipate that next year may be our last year on the Fantasy, because he starts school next fall and summer/holiday pricing on Fantasy is crazy!

Play with some numbers and see if you can make the DCL cruise a little more affordable. You'll have a great time regardless of what you cruise. Disney has that little bit of magic, but other cruise lines have awesome amenities as well.

I found a pants/vest/shirt/tie set at Walmart this year for only $20! It was around Easter. I didn't inspect it that closely, so I can't speak for the quality of the outfit, but as long as it lasts a few wears that's all that matters to me. I'm planning on buying one next year for our Fantasy cruise in May.

When we went with our son (18 month and 2.5 yrs on our cruises), we pre-booked times during his nap. This worked out nicely. Once onboard we were able to get extra time, and we typically did this last minute. If he was cranky at dinner we would check him in afterwards so we could enjoy the shows. (If he was fine at dinner we brought him to the shows).

I don't have a lot of input, but do have a piece of advice/heads up! My husband tried to surprise me a couple years ago with our first DCL cruise - he had it all planned out..... And then I checked the mail. DCL mails cruise documents to the house. (We were accustomed to Royal, who does things via email). So I saw the documents and the surprise was ruined. :(

Just wanted to give you the heads up. Since you're in concierge, I don't know if he'd be able to send the documents somewhere else? Or maybe you can send it somewhere else anyway - DH just had no clue they send things to the house, so so we don't know if you are able to get the info sent elsewhere.