LeesSummitCruiser1

My daughter loved AO at 6, we could not drag her out of there.  She also liked the late night movie time (@$10/hour).  The do science stuff, art stuff and sports.  On shore days they will keep them and feed them lunch and on formal night you can drop off early and they take them to Johnny Rockets for dinner at no additional charge.  By 8 my daughter was bored because the program was the same every sailing.  It is a great program if you kids have never experienced it.

On 7/17/2019 at 1:56 PM, dougieshoney said:

Is there any leeway with the age ranges for the teen club on Oasis of the Seas?  My DD will be one month shy of 12 when we travel and my DS is 14.  They will be more likely to participate in the organized activities if they can do them together.  If we tell them they have to be separated because she is only 11, they won't be comfortable and won't participate which will make for less fun for them (and DH and myself).  Anyone know if they will make an exception to the age requirements?

We never have had trouble moving our daughter up.  Sadly the teen program is not very well organized because it is not very well attended.  There are times posted for some sports and scavenger hunts.  Usually the teens find each other and group up as the cruise goes along.  They don't stop younger kids from going into the teen area.  Your 11 yo does not even have to check into adventure ocean unless you want her to.

My daughter used to get them.  On Jewel in 2014, our assistant waiter made her one every night and noticed she liked the cherries and put several in her drinks.  I turned out towards the end of the cruise the cherries disappeared.  The assistant waiter was told that cherries were for mixed drinks and to not put them in a kids drink.  We gave that assistant waiter an extra tip.  Typical cheap bar manager stuff.

3 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

I don't know why you would think that. When DHS wrote the regulations they determined that a US citizen on a closed loop cruise presented a low risk to the national security, keeping in mind 1) that the cruise lines do an excellent job of passenger control when passengers are re-boarding the ship in foreign ports and 2) that CBP has the time during the cruise to fully vet each passenger through a multitude of government databases. 

And the cruise lines lobby heavily for this policy ;-).

On 12/11/2018 at 7:28 AM, apratt said:

That is what I am worried about! If one of my kids needed medical care I would feel so bad if we were held up because of that. I know they have some kind of med bay on the ship, but I don't know how good it is. I didn't know until I posted this that kids under 16s passports are only good for 5 years...what a rip off! 

They do that for the picture.  Kids change to much to have a picture last 10 years.

3, Jewel of the Seas

On ‎7‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 4:25 PM, Nickles said:

We’re sailing on the Allure and we’re sailing with a group of 14. We have traditional late seating for dinner. Would they put us all at one table to eat? Would they separate us? Just curious how dining would work with such a large group.

On Liberty last year we had a group of 50 friends on the sailing.  I sent a email to rccldinning with the names and reservation numbers and we were placed in our own corner of the dinning room.  10 or 12 tops are the biggest tables they have.

On ‎10‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 8:50 PM, Friendofbillbob said:

Ok thanks.....do you know when the first cruise out of PR is??

November 17th.  We are on it.  I will try and remember to collect the compasses. No guarantee, there is alcohol involved.

My 14 year old diamond daughter made sure that no "SO" in the future will "drag" her down.  She wants to be pinnacle as soon as possible.

On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 6:13 PM, billsr said:

Hi Folks,

 

I have booked return flights for our upcoming cruise and am wondering if I allowed enough time to make it from cruise to flight for my return flight back to Canada leaving out of FLL Airport.    We are sailing Harmony which arrives back in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday March 17.   We plan to use self-assist disembarkation.  I am planning to hail a cab at the cruise port.  Our flight boards at ~10:50am with departure at 11:20am.    I am hoping to get nexus cards for all of us but need to assume we won't have benefit of that.   Do I have enough time?

 

I am not sure what to expect for cabs outside the port.  Are there cabs waiting outside airport to be hailed and if so is it relatively quick to grab one OR do I need to pre-arrange one?

 

 

Anything after 9:45 is not to risky.  If problems arise that you can't make a 10:20, you probably would not make anything before late afternoon.

We have only been charged corkage once in Giovanni's Table. We have never been charged corkage any other time since the fee was reinstituted.

Read up - the ferry out of Cozumel recently had a bombing associated with drug cartel that injured or killed tourists. There are warnings associated with Cozumel area.

The bomb was just enough to cause some smoke. It was placed to lower the value of the Cozumel ferry concession so the current concession owner could get it at a better price. It was not terrorism or drug related.

Question is where does liberty go?

 

 

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Alternates:

Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

Rotan, Belize, Cozumel

Occasionally Maya instead of Belize.

Hi all --

 

We are looking to book a December 2018 cruise from Galveston. It looks like the Carnival Vista and Royal's Liberty of the Seas are both sailing nearly identical itineraries out of Galveston at that time for approximately the same cost, give or take a few bucks. We will have a multi-generational group, including a 1 year old and a 2 year old, on this trip.

 

Anyone with experience on either or both ships have any insight on which we should pick? I know that Liberty has a baby pool/splash pad area where kiddos in swim diapers are allowed. Does anyone know if Vista has something similar? Would hate for the babies to not be able to use any of the pool/swimming areas.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

We have done the Liberty and it was a great cruise. We had 50 people in our party and all enjoyed it. It was not an organized party, we just announced we were going and a bunch of our friends decided to go also. The staff seated us in one section of the dinning room. The 3 sea days was very relaxing.

Coki and Sapphire are nowhere near Crown Bay where the OP wants to be

It's relative, the whole island is only 32 square miles, you can be anywhere in under 30 minutes. With the traffic through town, I bet there are days you can get to Coki faster than Emerald.

Coki beach is not to far. On islands I never worried to much about car seats when my daughter was younger. Of course I am of the age that grew up riding in the back of a pick up truck or with out even seat belts.

I don’t see why one couldn’t peruse the ship’s wine menu and purchase a bottle on the list to bring with them. Wouldn’t it appear to be an onboard purchase if opened and not on the first night?

 

 

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There is very little on the list I would buy on my own. The bottles I bring on board are much nicer than the ones on the list. Its not worth the hassle to bring on a bottle of cline zin or Kendal Jackson chardonnay.

The purpose, on ships or land restaurants, is to offset the loss of profit from not selling the bottle of wine.

 

Since a glass of wine is around $10 or more, $15 for the bottle is not really that bad.

I am happy to pay corkage if I get great service. I want a new glass for each bottle and never touch the bottle after I hand it to the waiter. We always bring our own wine to restaurants and pay as much as a $25 corkage. I would happily pay Royal corkage at check-in if I was allowed to bring on my own case of wine. Yes I am a wine snob. I get the majority of my wine direct from the vineyards and pay significantly less than what Royal sells similar bottles for. They are not loosing profit because I won't pay their prices. Royal could get an extra $150 from me if they would let me bring my own wine on.

The free wines are terrible on RCL.

Most all-inclusives don't have fenses, locked gates, and armed guards to keep guests from getting out.

Have you been to Mexico recently?:evilsmile:

You can send yourself a bottle or two and then take two bottles aboard. On our last cruise, our TA sent us a bottle as did the cruise line. With the two we brought we ended up with 4 bottles of wine in our cabin.

Only problem is if you are a wine snob (guilty) there are few bottles I would buy on board and nothing they send me as gift I would want. I wish Royal would understand that wine snobs don't buy on board and they could get $15 to $25 a bottle if they would just let me bring my case on board. I would even agree to not bring anything they stock on board. Every fine restaurant we dine at has a corkage fee we gladly pay to drink our own wine. We are still money ahead and the corkage is pure profit for the restaurant.

Hi! I realize that there are boards dedicated to excursions but I’ve come to really appreciate the opinions and experience on this board. I see such good consistent advice here. So any insight would be so appreciated. This is our first cruise. We have elementary school son and are cruising to San Juan and St Martin. Anyone feel strongly about certain excursions? We are thinking of beach day in St Martin (but the ports of call boards don’t seem to really recommend any one beach. They reviews all seem kinda negative) and maybe a tour of San Juan ( I was thinking pirate one seemed fun. But saw negative review of it). Any thoughts? Thanks

No need to pay for an excursion in San Juan. Just walk to Fort San Cristobal National Park. Lots of history and great information. You can then walk to Castillo Morro or take the tram or get a taxi. You can do them in either order. Both are neat for an elementary student. Make sure to be on deck as you sail past Castillo Morro it is beautiful from the sea. Most beaches are great in St Martin. I am not a fan of the Airport Beach it is to narrow and the surf is very rough.

We had over the 25 minimum for a Cruise Critic Party and we all got the confirmation email well before our cruise. I last checked about a month before the cruise and there were 38 I believe. After boarding I did not get the invitation to the M&M Party so I asked the Diamond concierge to see why. Later that evening on day 2 I got a message that there was no party scheduled because no one signed up. I told that was not true and said the IT at Royal is having issues with M&M and she told me she would check further. Today is day 4 so we’ll see if there is any developments. I’ll let you all know.

 

Shak

 

 

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It's been several years for me since the meet and mingle was worth the effort. They used to have an officer and the CD now your lucky if you get a CD staffer. Used to have drinks and canapé now rarely anything. Always had key chains ;-). Used to be well attended now hardly attended. I always register, but I have to remember to attend instead of planning on it.

RCL didn’t cruise out of Port Everglades prior to 2009 when Oasis was launch

 

 

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We cruised on Radiance out of FLL in March 2008.

I’ve never been charged when bringing over the 5 liters (or whatever the limit is). It’s been at least 5 years since I’ve brought anything back so my knowledge isn’t current. I’ve heard that Galveston is pretty strict about it though. I’ve stopped bothering to buy liquor on cruises because you really don’t save money anymore. Prices are the same as home, maybe $1 or $2 cheaper, but not worth the hassle of lugging it home.

 

 

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Galveston is sticky after customs because they are collecting the Texas tax on alcohol and cigars. These are Texas employees, not federal. They will stop you, they will randomly search and they will fine.