kctwinmommy

I have a trip report in my signature, for this exact cruise. And we stay at the Radisson in Cape Canaveral.

Thanks for the quick review! We're sailing on her next month!!

A few questions -

* Where did you stay in Southampton? How far was your walk then? We're staying at the Holiday Inn, but it's 2 adults & a teenage boy, so I'm pretty sure walking won't really be a big deal for us anyway.

* What did you do in Le Havre?

* For the kids with the soda package, do you feel it was worth it? I drink soda every day, but with our 4 port days being so long (12-14 hours), I don't feel I'm going to get the best bang for my buck. And my son drinks little soda, more juice/water.

*Any complaints or recommendations about the ship itself? Anything you discovered? There was another recent review that was somewhat negative, but he/she hasn't really said what was wrong. A little dirty issues, but they saw staff cleaning it after they complained. So I'm waiting to hear more about what they thought was wrong.

This is our first time on RCI, and out of the UK, so it's great to hear from others who are doing this so recently. Thanks!

Probably better asking on the RCI board. We're taking our first RCI cruise this summer, they have a nice Europe one that we chose. So I can't speak to the differences yet, but I'll be sure to give a review when we get back!

I'm not the OP but I will share how I felt about it last year when doing a short Caribbean cruise.

 

Independence, as you know, goes back and forth between 14 day sailings out of Southampton and 4/5 nights out of Fort Lauderdale. Naturally, these are completely different clienteles, atmospheres, itineraries, and personality types. To me, that is why the Freedom has a different (friendlier and more natural) feeling. Independence totally changes gears every six months or so. Ship-wise, Independence is fantastic, but in my experiences has not been as well cared for as Freedom and Liberty.

I could understand that causing issues, that does make sense. I'd like to hear what the OP had problems with though as we're doing a European cruise. And our cruise is unique, it's the only one they're offering with this itinerary! Which has made it really hard to find reviews on it even. I don't know if they've not done it before, or super rare. It's an 8-night cruise. At least all the ports are found on other cruises, so we can find port info at least.

I'd love to know what the problems were as well. We're on a European cruise on her next month!

This is why we've never bought any of the really expensive stuff on board. We've bought some earrings, and I think a pendant, about 10 years ago. When Tanzanite was up and coming, so not quite as expensive as it is now. But I'm talking like $200 pieces, so any price match would probably only be a few dollars, not a big deal. Obviously, if the price difference is closer to $700, then you probably bought something quite expensive. I'm sorry that it didn't work out. It's a reminder for others to beware, and I think that goes for all of the expensive items on board. My husband always looks at the Rolex watches, but he always realizes it's better to make that purchase on land, in a local shop.

You can find more answers on the FL departure board. But, we've used Cocoa Beach Shuttle for about 10 years now. Always reliable, easy to use, and one of the less expensive ways. I don't want to deal with a rental car, but I know others do that. When I land, I would rather be driven to our hotel then have to deal with the traffic ourselves. And same thing in the morning, heading to the cruise, I want to just get on the hotel shuttle and go to the ship.

For the past 10 years that we've been cruising out of there, we've stayed at the Radisson. It's been nice, good pool if you want that, and close to the port. Plus they have a shuttle, although many do now. Oh, and we usually book a few months ahead of time. We get a military rate, so it really doesn't change any.

Oh, and this will probably get moved to the FL departures board, you'll get more responses there anyway. ;)

They did not allow my daughter's friend who was a senior in high school and had just turned 18 into Club 02. We met many 18 year old high school seniors on that cruise who were not allowed to go into Club 02.

I'm wondering if they used to be more lenient on this. I did search and found some older threads that say a few times people said they saw/had it happen. But it just seems that in the more recent times I've seen this question posed, everyone says they weren't allowed.

Typically if they are still in high school they allow 18 year olds - many are still seniors so they are normally with 15-18 year olds.

 

 

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I've never heard of them allowing an 18 year old. It has nothing to do with being in school, it's the fact that they're legally an adult. I understand that in school they are, but this is a business. I should clarify that at least in the recent times when I've read posts about this question, it seems they've all said their 18 year old wasn't allowed into O2.

IAnother time my oldest daughter's friend was two weeks from having turned 18 (she was a senior in high school) and they would not let her go to Club 02.

 

We were on a spring break cruise every time, so that might have made the difference.

I've never heard of them allowing an 18 year old into Club O2. Legally, that person is an adult, there's no way they would allow it. And yes, the summer cruise we were on was much more strict. I believe the kid they moved up to Club O2 was traveling with the large group of school kids who were all in O2. He's the only one they allowed to move up, and they didn't allow any of the younger kids moved in to Circle C on that one. The times we saw it happen were during our November cruises, way fewer kids.

Doesn't bother me at all. The kids are a lot more quiet and respectable in the pools than the adults in my opinion. The main reason I don't go into the pools are because of the adults who yell out "Hey baby! Hold my beer and watch this!" and then does a cannonball into the pool. Saw it all day long last week on the Breeze. Then you have the adults that moon everyone at the pool and are really loud so they can get more attention. Then, these adults sit in these pools and hot tub all day long drinking beer -- and never get out? Yeah! They are peeing somewhere. LOL! At least I see kids getting out and going to the restrooms.

 

So.... doesn't bother me at all. If I want quiet, I go to the Serenity Deck. Library Bar and the side decks are nice as well for quiet.

 

:)

Haha!!! I agree! I can't recall having any problems with kids in the pools. My son cruises with us, but he's usually eating or at Circle C (teenage boy! LOL!). I typically don't even spend much time in the actual pool. Maybe just a dip to cool off, but that's about it. I realize Carnival will never please everyone though, so people have to decide what they want to do for themselves.

I could be wrong but I would think they leave port at a certain time because of how long it takes to get to the next destination.

That would seem the most sensible answer to me. I had heard in Key West it's rare they stay because of where they dock. It blocks the sunset at Mallory Square.

We're doing a European cruise this summer (on RCI), and all our port days are 12-14 hours! But the ports are much closer together.

We were able to use our phones in all the ports, if I wanted/needed to. I didn't do much though, maybe check in on FB, or my email. But not really much. We have T-mobile...

If you search Circle C in the pages, you'll find more posts about this same question. It's asked every other week or so. The short answer is maybe. We've always had a kid in Circle C. He's been 12 since his first cruise. And we've seen 11 year old kids moved up and we've seen them deny it. We've also seen a 14 year old kid moved up to Club O2. It will all depend on the capacity level of the Circle C club. I would go to Circle C on the first night when you need to check in and ask. Some people will tell you it never happens, some will say what I've said, and seen... it all depends on the amount of kids.

We're doing Europe this summer, but like you said, it's not cheap! Airfare & cruise is just about $10K for the 3 of us!! That doesn't include the 4 extra days in London (hotel/meals) and the 2 days in southwestern UK (rental/hotel/meals). Now, we haven't cruised as much as others, so we're not really burnt out on the ports either, but we wanted to get back to Europe and this cruise seemed like a nice way to get around to several things in a short time. But we do like the Caribbean ones in the cold months, just to relax.

It's not true that they "won't move her up..." We've been on 3 cruises within the past 18 months with our 12/13 year old son. During the summer, when the ship is full of kids, the change of kids was more rare. But on the November cruises, it happened more often. I would go to the camp she's technically supposed to be in and see what kind of kids are there. Depending on the capacity, it MAY be a possibility to move up. We have seen it done, so when people say it never happens or it's against Carnivals policy, that's not 100% true.

However, you are correct that Circle C isn't as strictly organized as the younger camp. Our son would go check-in in the morning, find his friends that he had made and often play video games with them. Sometimes they would walk around, they would go to the Lido deck for lunch, etc... Our son knew the rules (from Carnival and us), so he also knew the consequences. He stayed out of trouble, stayed out of where he wasn't supposed to go, etc... He knew when he had to be back in the room, we knew the schedule and talked about the plans before we started each day.

Everybody can tell you different stories and ideas, but you need to do what's best for you, your daughter, and what you're comfortable with.

It all depends on how much you drink, IMO. For us, getting 12-packs of soda is more of a pain since we fly in. This last time, our friends who came with were driving, so they were able to bring two 12-packs for us. I didn't get it this time.

Now our son (13), he uses it a ton! It's cheaper for the kids too. He'll drink like 2-3 glasses at dinner. He doesn't drink soda usually, maybe an occasional sprite. But he'll drink the pineapple juice. So he will easily drink 5-6 in a day. That definitely makes it cheaper by having the BB card. And when we do have it, I probably drink more than normal. When I'm on the Lido deck and my soda gets watered down or warm, I just go get a new one.

What a great review We sail out on the 16th of May, but we are flying to Chicago to take the Amtrack to Seattle (combining 2 bucket lists in one trip!). This creates a bit of a packing challenge since we will be doing a plane, train & then ship. We are packing with a variety of layers but I'm a little torn on what to wear for the dining room. We've done 11 Caribbean or Mexico cruises & I like to dress up for dinner but Alaska seems a little more casual with the dress code. Would I be safe w/jeans & a nice top for non elegant nights in the dining room? I've searched the forums for advice on this without luck. Thanks in advance!

Thanks! And what a trip that will be then! We didn't have the traveling challenge, but spending 4 days in Seattle before hand also meant extra things to bring. I actually bought a jacket on the ship. I packed rain gear, but it was colder than I thought it would be (for me), and the jacket was like $25-30. It had warm fleece on the inside and rain resistant on the outside. I also packed too much "fancy" stuff. I brought some capris and cute tops for dinner, but rarely wore them. We still have nice clothes for the 2 formal nights, but yes, in general, it was nowhere near what it is on the Caribbean cruises.

Argggh, only 4 people per cabana? We will have a party of 5. Is it a nice swimming pool?

We had 7 people in our cabana! They don't stop you from having other people there with you. My son is a swimmer, so he likes having the fresh water pool for awhile.

Here's what it looks like. Our cabana was right behind me in this photo, about 20-30 feet back.

The price is now $160.

 

https://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/grand-turk/poolside-cabana-rental-440035?b=69364D62306A3443426F564377657457676D58724F673D3D

 

Yeah, I knew they raised them a little. Like I said, I think we paid like $130. But someone else in this thread commented that it was $300 for the cabana! I didn't believe it was anywhere near that. Plus we shared it with another family. We paid for the cabana and they paid for some drinks and appetizers for the 7 of us. It came out pretty even! ;)

Last time we were there (November), they were taking conch shells from people coming on board. I wasn't sure if it was because there was a limit or taking all of them. The guy behind us had like 2 bags of them!

How was the snorkeling there?

My husband and son really enjoyed the snorkeling there. There are a couple of objects down below to look for. They just went right off the beach, close to the ship. I put pictures in my review (in my signature), so you can see where they were in comparison to the ship. We didn't pay anything to do an excursion, just did it for free right off the beach. ;)

The Carnival activities look very expensive. A private cabana is about $300, though sometimes I think it may be worth it to stay out of the sun.

They must have doubled the prices then. We were there in November and paid I believe around $120-130.

Yes, we do the same as what others have said so far. You'll get a variety of responses for sure though. Our son was given the rules before we left. And he's done 2 cruises with another family who has a son around his age, so he had someone to start the cruise hanging out with, but they also did their own things too. And then he's been on 1 where it was just our family (from the age of 12-13). He liked to get to the camp in the day, check in, see who was around. Then they would sometimes play the video games there for awhile, then go eat, roam around, etc... I was usually on the deck, sunning, etc... and I'd usually see him pass by a few times during the day. He pretty much knew where we would be (we tend to find a spot to hang and go there every day, or close by). But then he had to be back in our room at a certain time to get ready for dinner (and camps close at this time anyway) and then he had to be back when the camp closed at night (sometimes midnight, sometimes 1 a.m.). For us, on the Caribbean cruises it's a pretty loose vacation for us, we're not doing much anyway. Our one cruise to Alaska though, he had to be back earlier since we were getting up early for excursions.

I just think you need to make sure your child knows what you expect and what the consequences will be. I've really not had any problems with the kids around the ship. Even on Alaska, where there was a very large high school group of kids! Oh, and make sure you tell him where he can and can't go (other kids rooms for example). We trust our son and he's earned that trust so he knows what he should and shouldn't do.