Mediterranean_Honeymooner

On 12/31/2018 at 1:30 PM, Bajan Keith said:

Its next April so the cruise will actually be a belated anniversary gift to ourselves. We were thinkingthe same thing 😄

We booked for our 10th anniversary! Ours will be early instead of belated, though (going in May, were married in October).

122! ❤️

Just stumbled across this review searching for Alaska Legend reviews since we just booked fir April/May.  Then I got to looking at your pictures and I thought “hey, I know them!”.  Love your reports over on the Disboards.  I mostly lurk these days due to the chaos of a full time job and 2 small kids, but I have been following your reports for years! ❤️  (I am Disneyparklover over there.)

On 12/15/2018 at 9:53 PM, Tapi said:

Even though railings are high enough, the spacing between each rail seems big enough to fit a child. When my kids were younger, I’d be deathly afraid to be out on deck with them. Ships with glass rather than metal railings across make me feel safer, both for me and for the kids. 

I will say that I did worry about this on our first cruise with our kids.  My daughter had just turned 2 and, like most toddlers, was headstrong and not always a good listener.  I worried she would pull away from me and go over. The fears were mostly unfounded. Yes, she would have fit between the rails.  But I just kept a firm hand on her if we were near any railings and most of the time we were by the pool area (which had plexiglass walls) or on the interior of the ship.

They currently have one for spend $500, get $100 back.  Does anyone know if this has to be $500 at one time, or can it be over $500 in multiple transactions?

The NCL incident happened almost two years ago and one story is posted here.

 

In that case the children's uncle and his family were on board and they were left in his care.

 

If memory serves, about that time somebody here asked an officer on another ship what would happen if there were no other family members on board? If the parents didn't return the children would be assigned a sitter 24/7, billed to the parent's account, until they could rejoin the ship. If for some reason the parents didn't get back to the disembarkation port in time (no passport = no flight home until you get one) the children would be turned over to the local child welfare authorities.

Thanks. I figured they must have a policy in place. I never thought about things like this until I had kids, but now I find myself worrying about other people's kids along with my own. Even though I have no plans to leave my kids onboard while I go ashore I know it does happen and it made me wonder/worry about the what-ifs.

It has, there was a thread about this situation a few months ago. There were aunts and uncles on the ship with the kids. Group had a miscommunication and everyone did not return together. Suspect someone will post a link.

Hopefully they will post a link as I tried searching, but didn't find it. But at least in that case there was family onboard. I agree with previous poster that I would not go ashore and leave my kids on the boat, but it is clearly allowed as it specifically advertises kids' club hours during port days to "explore the port on your own" and that they will feed kids lunch "if parents are ashore". So I'm genuinely curious what happens if kids are left onboard with no adults. Does the crew provide care until they are reunited with their parents?

I am not worried about this for us personally, especially since we will take our kids to port with us. However, I saw that they do have kids' club hours on port days if you want to leave the kids onboard while you explore port. Which got me thinking...what happens if the parents miss the boat? I have seen people miss the boat multiple times, but never thought about what if they had small kids that were at the kids' club. But now having two small kids, I can't help but think about it. What happens to the kids while they wait to reconnect with their parents? Has something like this ever happened before? Curious minds want to know.

With kids that age I would look at Playa Mia,or Chankanaab, which has a variety of activities.

 

If you want a day pass to a hotel resort I would look at Allegra, nice beach probably quieter splashground depending on how busy hotel is, or Park Royal, small Beach but no transport required so convenient if you are at International or Puerta Maya.

 

Hurricanes won’t really affect your choice they are all on the same coast and will either all be rough, or not. If hurricane is in the area you won’t dock, or will go elsewhere.

Thank you. How will I know if we are at International or Puerta Maya? Would you recommend Park Royal over one you have to travel to? I'd like a bigger, nicer beach, but not taking a cab is certainly appealing, especially since I'll have no car seats.

If the charge qualified, you should get an almost immediate email from Amex stating you've used your offer. The actual credit to your card account should show up within 3-4 days (sometimes sooner). From the tone of your question I have to ask: did you actually add the offer to your card before you made payment to Carnival?

Sorry for my tone. I swear I'm much smarter than I sound on the internet. :') I did add it to the card and I have since gotten the email. Thank you!

Congrats!

Playa Mia, with a kiddie water park, and Paradise Beach -- great facilities and a huge pool - would be my top two suggestions for families with young kids. Taxi for 4 to either should be about $17 each way.

Thank you! I just read about Playa Palancar, so that is added to my possibilities. But I think the two you mentioned are my front runners.

I found this offer on my Amex and made a payment. When and how did you get the notification that the offer had been met and you would be receiving the credit?

We will have one day in Cozumel with two kids, ages 5 and 2. We are looking for an inexpensive but nice beach. Someplace with calmer water is a plus as we are traveling during hurricane season. I have looked at Playa Mia, Paradise Beach, Mr. Sanchos, Chakanaab, and Isla Pasion, but am open to suggestions outside of these as well. The kids are too young for inflatables or swimming with dolphins. We don't need unlimited alcohol or food. Just looking for a reasonably priced place where they can play in the sand and splash in the water for a few hours. TIA!

I purchased FTTF today. My "reasoning" is this: I have two small children. I do not want to wait in long security lines with two children. I do not want to lug our carry-ons around the ship for any significant amount of time in addition to managing two children. I want to have the ability to get my kids in the room sooner to rest for a little bit before muster drill if they need it. I'd like to be able to get our luggage sooner as unpacking the stuff for 4 people and getting it stored takes some effort and I want to get it out of the way.

To some of you who have posted on this thread, my "reasoning" for purchasing this may seem foolish or even idiotic. But I guarantee you it is neither. At $15 per person, this may be the best spent money the whole trip. Just because you do not find value in something does not mean it is not valuable. And if you disagree, I'll let you spend some time with bored, overtired, cranky children until you rethink your stance. :');p

You need to understand that going from a 6B to a 6C is an upgrade. The higher the letter in the category then the higher the "upgrade" is. Just because they are both "6's" doesn't mean it wasn't an upgrade. Going up the deck is what made it an upgrade and moved it from the 6B to the 6C. The higher you go on the ship the higher the upgrade as well (generally speaking).

 

That is why I said that if you have ES rate you likely will not be able to go back down. They do not allow for you to downgrade your room, only upgrade.

Thanks. I was under the impression that the letter/number system went 1a, then 1b, and so on with 1a being the best.

I have looked at the deck plans, and your room was certainly an upgrade. However, I don't think I would have picked either of these rooms if you want it quiet. Your room (both of these) are directly in the line of the opening where everyone entering that deck from the elevators is going to traverse. In otherwords, you are going to get a lot of traffic outside your door.

 

 

R158 is more central than M68, but I don't think you would really feel that much of a difference between these two rooms related to motion.

 

I would try to stay on the main deck if you can, but get a room further of the bank of elevators to minimize the traffic going past.

 

Something else to keep in mind. If you have booked under ES, you can not go back to the other room now. Once you upgrade, you are locked in. They will allow you to continue to upgrade with an ES booking, but not downgrade to a lower class room.

Thank you. I didn't know about not being able to go back. Although, since by category this is actually not an upgrade I'm not sure if that would apply. Do I just call to see about getting a room further back? I was worried about elevator noise, but choices were limited and they were all by elevators when I looked on the website.

We had reserved room R158, but had to call in to sort out name issues. When I called, the guy on the phone said he could "upgrade" us to room M64. I took it and went on my way. But now, looking at deck plans, R158 is considered 6B while M64 is considered 6C. I am also concerned because I mentioned to him that I was concerned about motion, which he agreed with because he said gulf cruises can be "rough". And the R158 location is more midship. So I need your opinions. Which of these rooms would you consider to be better? Is the Main deck room better and I should leave it, or should I call back and try to get something different? Travelling with 2 young children, so both motion and noise should be taken into consideration. TIA!

Thanks all! I guess we will just wait. I really wanted to do a cruise this year, but we are doing Disney World the first week of October, so waiting until after her birthday (end of August) would put those two trips too close for us. Maybe next year would work better. I think she would really enjoy the kids' clubs, but she is an early bird, so the after 10 pm is a definite no go.

My daughter turns 2 in August, but July works better for our travel dates. I know she would love to go to Camp Carnival with her big brother (who will be 5). She is tall and already acts much older than her age. Will they pass her through if it's close or require her to have had her second birthday? What kind of documentation of age do they require?

They had some open time where the parents could stay with the babies while they played. No paid services during meal times. It is the same staff the runs the kids club so no under 2 care during camp hours and I think the staff gets their breaks during dinner times. The night owls is just all age groups in one open room, sounded like they would have some pack n plays set up for the under 2 kids to sleep. However there were a lot of small toys and a slide thing in the room when we went to the open play and I was hesitant to leave my very curious 15 month old with what would most likely be not constant supervision. I think the day time hours they mention are on Port days but I would personally not be comfortable leaving my toddler there while I went in shore. The MDR went ok for the most part, but a few times I did have to leave for a bit if he started to cry and fuss, surprise surprise my husband only took him out one of the times...

 

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Thank you! This is pretty helpful. I didn't think I would feel comfortable leaving her to go ashore, but wasn't sure if that was even an option, since it did say "port days". My primary use would be for dinner time (if that was available). We currently do what you mentioned (one of us will leave), but I was thinking it would be really nice if we could both relax and enjoy a dinner for once. But alas, it sounds like that is not going to happen. :rolleyes::loudcry:

When we went last January it was in the evenings from like 10pm-12 I think. We never used it because the times did not work since my son was already asleep by then.

 

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This is what confuses me. Because it does list the "night owls" time after 10, but it does say there are other times throughout the day, but does not give any examples of other times. Our toddler is kind of a beast at restaurants and would love if she could play for like an hour so we can eat in the nicer restaurants.

Okay, forgive me if I'm just completely missing but I read the link again (that was where I already looked) and I still only see "hours may vary" and "limited times". Nothing that actually specifies when the infant care would be. Hoping to find out from someone who has used it if they were able to use it to go to dinner or to explore a port.

Sorry if this has been posted, but I searched and couldn't find it. Carnival's website says that for kids too young for Camp Carnival, they have infant care at $6.75 per hour. But it says "limited times". Anyone know when the times are when they offer infant care? Could we expect to be able to use it during dinner or for a couple hours on a port day?