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FYI Jewel leaves Galveston March 22 of 2020 since I saw it was mentioned. 16 day transatlantic to Barcelona.

Fun! You have put Quebec on my must do list!

Do a search because this was mentioned about a week ago for someone looking at 2021, you can limit the search to the rccl board if you don't want other cruise lines.

Seattle is cheaper for most to get to

Vancouver one ways are good if you want to spend more time in alaska,but cost a lot for as transportation and airfare (excursions, food and hotels are pricey there).

If you have only have a week do Seattle

The Seattle itineraries have the larger ships with more bells and whistles than the Radiance class, which does not have some of the "fun" items like bumper cars.

We almost always stay at the Dania Beach Springhill Suites. It is across the road from a shopping complex, but the parking lot has a Burger King. They have restaurants that deliver locally or a short walk to some in the shopping area, though my favorite restaurant is on the far end, maybe a mile. They have free breakfast and free pick up at the FLL airport and you can sign up for a free bus ( sometimes a van) to the cruise port. They are usually in the $150-200 range so a perfect precruise hotel.

For more luxury we stayed at the Embassy suites on 17th. Almost the same amenities as above except add a bar with happy hour and a nicer hotel/amenities ( better pool, hot breakfast). You just need a cab or Uber ($15ish from airport or port). In the $300ish or so range.

Happy hunting

On 5/17/2020 at 6:50 AM, PelicanBill said:

. And the Starbucks.  Always the Starbucks.

This is my husband, he needs a coffee and mug everywhere we go.

On 5/17/2020 at 6:50 AM, PelicanBill said:

Shhhh don't admit we plan imaginary vacation.  They will think we are weirder than we are. I mean, than they think we are.

 

They are only imaginary temporary... And I fully embrace my weird.

My husband loves to take credit for last minute things, but leaving the pamphlets on the table for him to find is planned...

If the ship has a pool and a kids club your seven year old will be fine. I recommend eliciting the teens in planning as you will get more buy in that way.  Seattle is popular as it is cheaper and easier than a one way trip for most.  The big ships have more to do, but cost more. Unless you have to do RCCL for FCC, there are many choices in Alaska.  There is a similar thread on the Alaska board now, take a look at that for more information to plan your trip.

I love to plan, but my husband likes to wing it, so I plan time to wing it.  

I have a packing list, but I get distracted when I pack it (kids and dogs), so I have packed and forgotten essentials several times. When my twins were 2, I forgot socks once (had four in the diaper bag and washed a pair every day, I could not find socks for kids anywhere) and the last trip, I forgot bathing suits for the kids (now 8), but we were in Dubai so a trip to the mall solved that problem.  

I research so much, but we do 1/2 of what I have looked into.  A lot of the time, I know what we are doing, (choice of one or two activites), but we don't officially decide until the morning, depending on whether the kids will be grumpy and what we feel like doing that day, except for the must do items that can only be done on a tours, but we tend to stay away from those with kids (who don't do well on a time schedule.)

I have planned several imaginary vacations in quarantine and have done so even before house arrest, so once we are able I can go at the drop of a hat. We tend to book most vacations last minute.

I did the Joy last year over Thanksgiving, it was the noro-virus cruise on the news so it has a lot of issues with keeping everything clean, much like now.  Hand sanitizer everywhere and we couldn't touch items in the gift shop, they would bring it to you and if you didn't buy it, wipe it off, and put it back.

Pro:lots to do, Le Bistro was delicious  ($$$ if not on speciality dinning plan, our bill was over $100 so you are better off getting a package of you didn't get one with your booking.)

Con: you needed a reservation for everything and they told you that you couldn't wait, but we usually did and were able to get into things, but they discouraged it and sent us away alot, they charged for all the fun items like race cars and laser tag

We had fun, but we all agreed we wouldn't do it again.  We were on a holiday sailing so your experience may be better as we had other issues (family member ill) that tainted it for us.

FYI hotwire is finally refunding our money, but it took 4 phone calls and now the waiting game to actually get the refund.

After reading your review I stuck with it and they did eventually come through.

I hope you can do your next cruise so I can read the review.

Yup, it looks like all cruises and not just Alaska will be cancelled, as you can no longer book anything in July now.  Carnival cancelled all through August 31, 2020, so I suspect most cruise lines will cancel through at least the same amount of time. No way they are going to cancel more cruises then they have to unless they need to.

I did it just fine with three year old twins and it took an hourish with stops to get a drink, take pictures, and catch our breath. Of course watch your kids, but it wasn't unsafe with toddler kids. Just take water with you and a snack because they get expensive as you climb. It only took us 30 minutes back down.

My daughter and husband did it faster then my son and I, he was the most entertaining of the trip, burying his head in my leg saying "I don't like people talking to me" every time someone said what a good hiker he was, but after a rest on top then a piece of chocolate "people can talk to me now". He earned his hot chocolate in town ( we climbed in November).

I do Rick Steve's , I can't remember if he had a wall tour, but his are free and may be useful in other ports.  I know we used his tour in the old town, though I didn't need him to tell me when we came across the famous steps (Shame Shame Shame!)

Look up info. on line and have it with you while you tour is another option. That's how we knew what was Game of Thrones related.  

That would have been perfect, but now our cruise is in limbo.  It is the new MSC ship with all news outlets saying it won't be ready until 2021, but it hasn't been cancelled yet. We are waiting to see if they offer an alternative.  If not I'm putting a pin in this post because I might just tour this area for a future vacation as it has a lot of appealing areas for me.

Travel agent relay, they didn't give one and I didn't want to wait another hour on hold to find out.

They aren't letting you for all sailings, I tried for an Alaska July 2020 to next July 2021 and it was a no go.  I can't blame them for that as it was advantages to me, but not them and they are doing these to keep people happy and themselves solvent, but not to ruin their already murky bottom line.

At 12, unless she loves Disney the age of princesses is passed.  I wouldn't spend thousands more. Now if she was 4 or five, then she is right in the princess sweet spot and it would be with it to do Disney.  That said, Disney is a get what you pay for product so it will be wonderful, but the 12 year old won't notice the difference.

Disboards are usually more active for Disney

We did Ireland in March, there were no crowds except the St. Patrick's parade.  We had a five minute wait to kiss the stone at Blarney and I have several pictures without a soul in them inside the castle. The area around the castle is very touristy, but the grounds are worth your time.  We did a short stop on the way back to Dublin and we both (hubby and I) agreed we would go back if ever in Ireland again and plan on walking the whole forest area. We took the short loop and made lunch fast food in the car just so we could walk around.

I highly recommend the Heineken experince. It is pricey and busy, but very entertaining. You get two free soda (underage) or beer, only Heineken of course,but they did a free toast during the tour. They do a "bottle experience" that my kids thought was so cool that to this day if they see a Heineken add they call "mommy look! Heineken!". They make me look like an alcoholic, though I don't drink beer and have my free beers to two very happy college guys. Seriously though, they had a dance party, a sports and Olympic interaction based on their add campaigns that we liked as much as the factory.I

Looking forward to the end.  Thanks for the entertainment!

If anyone hears, please post here. I only have that week off and air booked so I am waiting to hear if they have another ship available in that area, or a deal for another sailing later. We are in the USA so we can still cancel for a refund of our deposit until August.

Seattle Alaska cruises don't have the best views and ports for Alaska because they have to come from farther away.  If this is your one and only time for Alaska then there are better ships and itinerarties, usually out of Vancouver one way to Seaward.  If you are taking your kids I don't think this is your bucket list trip.

I did Alaska on a smaller ship with kids (twins who were three at the time).  They won't care at all about Alaska, unless you have a child that is particularly interested in whales or hiking.  The big ships will make the vacation for them. yours are older so they may appreciate it more, but when it comes right down to it the kids will like the water slide not the glaciers.

Excursions are expensive, even private, so either plan on spending $1,000 a piece in port for once in a lifetime experiences like helicopters with dog sleds, or going cheap and doing free hikes or walking around town.  Whale watching or fishing tours are usually $100 or so per person depending on ship size and time out on the water.  There are a few in between excursions around $50pp such as the lumberjack show, renting a car and driving the route of the train, or taking a taxi to the glaciers instead of with a tour, but some of these require planning like booking your own rental car. I agree that the people on the Alaska board know what they are talking about because Alaska has some unique challenges such as few rental cars and more tourist then people, so they will let you know about issues you never thought about or options you hadn't heard of.

Happy planning with whatever you decide, because what works for my family may not work for yours.

You would need to call and ask.

I was on the Jewel of the Seas March 9th when this whole thing went down. We just got our refund from that two days ago. (They refunded everyone on that sailing as well if they wanted.) If you used a travel agent, they send it to them and then they release it to you so it takes longer. 

Anyone get anything official at this point?

I had this happen to me on my cruise in March, all onboard credits are tied to your cancelled reservation and once you book another using the FCC you should get the on board credit automatically added.  Now if you took a refund you need to call because I don't know how they work out those. You will not get the points back, that they confirmed for me.

I know This was already said but the more who confirm it, the more it will be believed.

There is a port review of each port on cruise critics main pages(not on the on the message boards).  See if anything is there. They had some information on lesser know middle eastern ports so your ports might be there too.