rolloman

I go back to what I said 2 months ago when this was brought up, Royal leases terminal 10, why would they vacate 10? Terminal one was built for new traffic such as Quantum, Explorer and home port of yet to be named new ship.

I have actually seen quite a few people post on here that Disney kids clubs seem crowded and unstructured and that their kids preferred at least the kids clubs on other cruise lines. Of course this opinion is not shared by everyone, but it is not unique.

As I have said before, Disney caters to children. It is what they do. They are consistently rated number one in virtually every publication. The numbers speak for themselves.

The general consensus is that Carnival and RCI's kid's clubs are superior to Disney's....just a bit more structured, and kids seem to enjoy that more than "free for all" fun...especially the younger kids.

You never fail posting wacky stuff....I have never read anywhere RCCL Or Carnival has a better kids club than Disney...Maybe Allure and Oasis can be runners up but that is where it ends. My 6 year old has now been on 32 cruises, her favorites are any Disney, new Celebrity Solstice class ships, RCCL Oasis class ships and then the NCL Epic.

We are looking at cruise options next year and the Carnival Breeze is currently on our list. I see that the youngest age group is for 2 - 5 year olds. Our DD will be 5...close to 6 when we sail. For those of you who have had 5 year olds in that group, was your child bored? I guess I'm just thinking that the activities and things she enjoys now are very different than those she enjoyed / liked when she was 2 - 3. Thanks.

I was recently on the Breeze, the only issue I see is your almost 6 year old may not have as much fun in the 2-5, seemed to me to be a lot of crying babies in there. I know of one family who successfully moved their 5 year old to the next level. They gave a free trial for him and it was successful so he was able to stay in the older group the rest of the cruise. Each cruise is different, survey the situation night one and then go from there. On this particular ship it seems you do have options.

I agree with you OP. I feel Royal has degraded in some respects but I think one of the issues is, while the ships have gotten bigger and better, the staffing has gone down hill, therefore dusting of plants take a back seat. I believe we are experiencing a saturated talent pool. The rudeness from crew members I experienced on my recent thanksgiving cruise caused me to cancel an upcoming RCCL cruise and book elsewhere.

It is my understanding Richard Branson is going to build 2 ships and start Virgin cruiselines. I am excited to see what the product will become.

I live local and recently needed a shuttle to go to the Port due to the recent parking/pier issues. I shopped around and found these guys to be best price and clearly they were reliable. They specialize in MCO airport to cruise port. Give Frank a call....

Alexis Shuttle 321-863-4093

alexisshuttles dot com

At nine months, hands down Disney. We cruise about 5 times a year and my DD first cruise was at 5 months with Disney. They have superior staff and accommodations for children. In the event your child would need medical assistance, Disney is the only one I would trust. My second choice would be either RCCL Freedom or Oasis class, based on splash pool area and nursery option. In room babysitting for a child anywhere close to this age should never be an option. I have a couple horror stories related to this. When your child gets a little older, say 3 yrs....NCL offers great kids clubs on their new ships.

Did you sail from terminal 6 and return to terminal 10? Some folks on another forum that has to be nameless on CC reported that embarkation was not too bad for today's cruise. We sail on a Thursday so only ship in port is a small Carnival ship. Debarkation on 12-13-2014 may be another story.

Yes. I am glad to hear they embarked with no issues. Probably because they sailed out of the RCCL pier 10 instead of the NCL pier 6 as we did.

Just returned today from the Thanksgiving cruise. Embarkation nightmare for most. Debarkation nightmare as well. I have never seen traffic backed up like I saw on embarkation day. The ship left about an hour and a half late to due to luggage not being brought on board. The shuttle between the two piers was reported to me from several to be around an hour. Folks were parking and walking almost a mile because pier 6 does not have enough spaces. Now that the pier is not going to be finished by January..they certainly have a lot of things to fix going forward.

No, no, no .....

 

This article doesn't say they ARE doing this ..... just that some consultant said they "would need to" add 4 new terminals....

 

Everyone getting all up in arms over this ... its by no means a definite... my god .

Settle down guy.....this is just one article from today...everything is being talked about HERE, LOCALLY, on a daily basis. Ground breaking has already happened for the multi-million dollar dining and entertainment complex, new pier 1 will open in a few weeks, several additional ships are now scheduled to home port here and more are on the way....

According to CLIA, it's not at all unlikely. In 2012 (the last year for which complete data were available) the embarkment numbers stack up as:

 

Miami - 1.887 Million

Port Everglades - 1.797 Million

Port Canaveral - 1.707 Million

 

Which means that PC only has to add 180,000 passengers/year to match Miami.

 

That equates to the equivalent of one additional ship doing 7-night itineraries and carrying ~3461 passengers/cruise, or one ship doing a mix of 4 and 5 night cruises carrying an average of 2465 passengers/cruise.;)

Correct, and just to what we know, NCL bringing a ship, Celebration cruiseline bringing a ship, Quantum making port visits.....this alone will be enough to surpass the other port counts. Port Authority folks have made it clear...Port Canaveral will be the largest, busiest cruise port in Florida.....soon.

Do you know if there is any way to do this OBC or it must be ordered before boarding?

From what I understand it needs to be booked in advance. The rooms are decorated prior to you boarding. If there is not enough participation the event is cancelled and you will be refunded.

There is absolutely zero chance port canaveral will ever see more cruise traffic than Miami or PE.

You could not be more wrong.......

I was actually talking about if they were to use the new terminal 1 which is scheduled to open the day we return, I doubt I could park there on the 23rd if they are not officially opened yet.

I guess you will have to wait and see how your particular sailing pans out. The circumstance may not relate to your sailing.

That's if they will allow you to park at the new terminal if that is the one you would be coming back to

There will be other cars parked there from previous voyages. It will not be a problem. For instance as I said previously...current Explorer passengers will be shuttled from pier 6 to 10 tomorrow. Meanwhile, next cruise passengers tomorrow (which is mine) board at pier 10 and come back to 6. So the shuttles will be running between the two piers tomorrow and when I come back. The same will hold true for you.

Things are looking up here in Port Canaveral. Terminal upgrades, additions and expansions, more ships on the way and a multi-million dollar entertainment complex being built.

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2014/11/22/port-canaveral-needs-cruise-terminals-handle-growth/19427835/

Something you could do, reverse logic, park your car at the terminal the ship will be returning to and then take the shuttle to your embarkation terminal. This way when the ship comes back your car will be where it needs to be.

FYI....upon arrival, probably be a good idea to drop your bags first before heading to park.

Interesting, but there was always going to be at least one of these situations happening when the new terminal opened. It gives the port authority a good opportunity to do a practice run before they have to do it again in December.

The lessons learned from this go round are:

Do not wait until the last minute to notify passengers.

Make sure said notification states shuttles will be provided.

Do not send out conflicting information on cruise documents. (Half said 6 the other half said 10)

Do not make passengers beg for cruise docs. For Monday's upcoming cruise most did not receive docs at the 30 day mark. You had to call and have a force download in order to get your luggage tags. Some folks still do not have their docs. I personally had to call 3 times and only (last week)after I called Crown and Anchor was it resolved.

Due to RCCL pier 1 not being completed on time, a logistic issue has occurred for the Explorer of the Seas. The ship recently sailed into PC and embarked the current cruise passengers at pier 10. Unfortunately for these passengers when they arrive back on Monday November 24, they will find the ship will be located at pier 6. Transversely new passengers leaving on Monday November 24, will find the ship located at pier 10 upon its return.

This morning I spoke to a port authority official. The cruise line will be offering free shuttle service to your specific parking lot for those who drive in for the cruise. The bus will be located in front of you as soon as you walk out of customs.

Royal Caribbean has also issued the following announcement to boarding passengers:

Hello, this is Royal Caribbean International. We would like to provide you with some important information regarding your November 24th, 2014, sailing onboard Explorer of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. Please note that check in for your cruise will take place at 9241 Charles Roland Drive Terminal 6, Port Canaveral Florida, as stated in your cruise documents. Check in will take place from 12:00 PM to 4:30 PM. We invite our Suite, Crown & Anchor Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald and Platinum guests to arrive anytime between 12:00 PM and 4:30 PM. We strongly encourage and recommend all other guests arrive at the following designated times based on your stateroom deck assignment to enhance the check in and boarding experience. Guests on Deck 10 at 12:00 PM, Deck 9 at 12:30 PM, Deck 8 at 1:00 PM, Deck 7 at 1:30 PM, Deck 6 at 2:30 PM, Deck 3 at 3:00PM, Deck 2 at 3:30 PM. On November 29th, 2014 the ship will be docked at Terminal 10 which is a different terminal from where you boarded. We look forward to welcoming you onboard.

As long as it was not 69.00 per day...good deal.

If I get to port around 10:30 to 11:00 like I was planning will I really have to wait until 12 or later to board? I want to get this vacation started!! :)

To answer your question directly, yes you may have to wait until 12 noon to board, not uncommon at all. As a matter of fact last weekend at the same port the Explorer did not allow passengers to board until around 2 pm. Multiple circumstances can and often do arise. I find more times than not boarding does not commence until 11:30.

I was on the Celebrity Constellation a year or so ago and we spent the night there.....only because when we went to leave the wind was so bad the ship could not thrust away from the dock....interesting enough they opened the Casino and shops so it really did not matter if we left or not. Still not sure how they pulled that off but hey...glad they did.

I have been on both a couple of times. As far as differences, it comes down to this.....Sunshine has a couple of slides and Dr. Suess, where Freedom has ice skating, rock wall, flowrider and Dreamworks characters, shrek, madagascar and parades. The little ones swim/splash area is larger and more interactive on Freedom. The overall ship and entertainment hands down goes to Freedom. I had issues with the kids club on Sunshine. My 6 your old just completed her 30th cruise and the Sunshine was the only ship she ever refused to go back into kids club.

As far as itenerary goes...not a fan of Belize for young family. Long tender ride, only to arrive at a T-shirt stand. Not advisable to venture out the gate unless you are on a RCCL organized tour. Costa Maya...purpose built cruise port in the middle of nowhere. Beach day. Roatan...Honduras is the murder capital of the world,(google it) a young cruise employee was murdered in the street recently just outside the gate over someone trying to steal his cellphone. NCL stopped going there over this.

Freedom itenerary takes you to Cayman, beautiful island with 100% employment. Falmouth, nice shopping, do not leave the gated area unless on a tour. Labadee, probably the best private beach areas any cruiseline has (exception Disney Castaway Cay).

So to sum it up...this choice is a no brainer....Freedom hands down....and no I am far from Loyal to Royal.....this is an honest assessment. Let me know if you have any further questions.

 

Sometimes I think they plant info with staff to start rumors, who knows,

Everyone has to keep in mind this is a business decision. There is strategy involved between all the lines on where to put each ship and who to match up their fleet against. It only makes sense, we the public would be the last one to know. Secondly, I am sure waiters, room attendents and the like are virtually in the same 'need to know' category as us.

You will have to wait for Oasis 4 to come out. Then one goes to PC.

As I have stated before...they did not build a new multi million dollar terminal, dredge the channel for the largest ships and start the building of a new entertainment complex to have this now set empty for 3 years. Port Canaveral will be getting a new (er) RCCL ship soon. Count on it.