kitkat343

How long has the crown been having issues? So sorry to the OP for what you are experiencing. Alaska is really a once in a lifetime trip.

You absolutely need to talk to your daughter ahead of time, especially since you can afford your own cabin. We travel with the grandparents, and they have spent very little time watching our kids. They do pay for themselves and basically do whatever they want on the cruise by themselves. We meet up at mealtime, and some shore excursions (their choice - they can skip any excursions we pick that are too child-centric for them. We knew that would be the case before we invited them, so there are no issues. Camp carnival is open for vaccinated children, so I would assume they will open up for younger kids once the pediatric vaccine is more available and 2-4 year olds can be vaccinated. Does your daughter plan on having your grandchild vacciated? And if so, is your daughter willing to use Camp carnival for the two year old? Is the 2 year old already in daycare and very social and easily separates from her parents (2 is iffy for independent activities, which is why so many lines start free drop off programs 3, because some 2 year olds love daycare/kids clubs and others get overwhelmed and can't stay). I'd never survive a cruise in which I needed to be on call 24/7, but if the child was in camp ocean most of the day I actually might be okay with taking care of a grandchild all other hours if I didn't normally spend a lot of time with that child.

Thank you so much for letting me know - the kids clubs are the most important reason why we cruise, and if it's only closed rarely we will have a very different experience than if it is closed all the time or if we have to stand on line forever trying to get our kid in.

And could you also let us know if you are aware were there specific times AO was full (dinner shift, morning, or lunch?) Did that happen a lot to the families that want to use AO extensively?

Other people have posted that it was a total nightmare getting their bags back (I don't remember which line it is, but I cannot imagine any cruise line being able to easily return luggage on embarkation day, especially now when everything is so short staffed.) Honestly, if you can't handle them, leave them in the car. Or else keep them with you. The last thing you want to do if you find out at the last minute your cruise is cancelled that you need to wait for hours for your luggage.

The Stockholm card was always expensive, so it was a question of whether or not you planned on visiting a lot of expensive museums. We had kids, so we started at Vasa, went to a really interesting hands on Viking experiences exhibit at the history museum where kids could bake bread in an oven and shoot a bow and arrow, visited the open air lemur and monkey exhibit at Skansen, and then went to the Royal Armory, so for us the card was worth it 8 years ago. The HOHO boats used to run directly to Vasa from the cruise ship terminal early in the morning, so if that's included in the current Stockholm card its quite a lovely and convenient way to traverse the city. They sold the Stockholm card in a booth across from where our ship docked, but the lines were crazy long there, so you might want to consider purchasing in advance if that's possible now.

Could someone please let me know what is going on with the crown? How long has it been unable to make its itinerary due to mechanical issues? Have they announced an actual plan as to when they are planning on fixing it? Did they notify the passengers about the issues and are they letting people transfer to other ships? We'd had two lovely cruises on Princess in the past, but what I am reading sounded quite concerning but I can't seem to find an overall summary of the issues (just status updates as to how close to the original itinerary they are currently sailing)

We travelled to Stockholm with a 3 year old, and were able to very easily traverse the beautiful city via public transportation. The ferries are really lovely. You can easily do this on your own if your ship docks directly in Stockholm, but try to get to Vasa first because it will get crowded, and its a much lovelier experience when it first opens and is fairly empty. We went to a lot of expensive museums, so the Stockholm card worked out really well for us. We went to the information desk at each museum and they gave us directions to the next one.

Also, please note that RC's website states that fully vaccinated means having completed the total number of doses required by the manufacturer. I have a 3 year old, and Pfizer is easier to find than Moderna. But it has to be Moderna because we don't have enough time to have 3 shots, and then wait another 14 days for her to be considered fully vaccinated for the cruise. So for most children, it will be two shots plus another 14 days, but if you chose Pfizer for an under 5, you'll need 3 shots plus another 14 days. And to the OP, your pediatrician really should have offered you your second shot at each visit. This isn't entirely your fault. And does anyone know how to change the title of this thread? Does the op need to contact an admin? I just don't want people thinking "oh god, what now" when they see the title because RC didn't change their policy. Someone at RC screwed up when they cleared your kids, and then another employee at RC caught their error, but nothing has changed.

That's good - I'd love to take my kids to Santorini, but know the logistics of the transfer would currently be quite difficult for young children.

does anyone know what it is like on the adventure? It also would be helpful to know across the fleet because if we know what it looks like when the ship is full, we will have a better sense of what we are facing.

We attempted to walk up the donkey path, and people were turning around, telling us it was impossible. A vendor offered to get us donkeys and we took those up instead (we managed to avoid the line to get the donkeys, which was helpful) but still a rather unpleasant experience. My donkey was crazy and kept trying to run faster, and I got scraped against a wall, and my brother lost a shoe halfway up (unsurprisingly, there is a store at the top of the donkey path that sells shoes to stranded tourists). Also, reports have circulated that the donkeys aren't very well treated. Santorini is absolutely gorgeous, but getting there is very difficult. Does your cruise line offer an excursion that just provides transportation to drop you off in Oia? Or check with the Santorini forum or tripadvisor to see if anyone knows if the private boats that run as ferries between the port and Oia are running currently (they have in the past, but I don't know if they are running now). A long time ago, there used to be store fronts near the entrance to the cable car where you could purchase tickets on the high speed boat transfers.

Thanks. Luckily we are docking on a saturday, but that's helpful to know for the future. Really nice of ncl too, especially on a saturday when the bermuda ferries won't run there. Thankfully we found stuff for the kids in the Royal naval dockyard and near hamilton so we are all set.

Thanks. Its good to know they will take the same testing as the cruise line. They were fairly efficient in processing the TA for a land vacation, but its unnecessary for a cruise since they can get their money as a port fee.

Also, I think there's a number you can call if you are running a little late. No guarantee they will be able to help you (especially with initial boarding) but I've read you are supposed to call the port if you are running a little late on an excursion.

great that's really nice of NCL, and a huge benefit to us even though we will be on RCI.

Having applied for it for family members who flew to Bermuda on a land tour (and who didn't realize they needed the TA and would have been denied boarding if I didn't know about it from my own cruise and happened to mention it to them 4 days before they left), the application just appears to require you to agree to quarantine if you get covid and to submit covid test results to them directly. The 40 fee also used to include the cost of a Covid test the day before you fly out if your country required it to fly,, but that's no longer required for American passengers since American airlines no longer require a negative covid test. Since cruise ship passengers would quarantine on the ship and not stay in Bermuda, and their covid test results are checked already by the cruise ship I don't really see why Bermuda can't just charge the 40 as a port fee through the ship and accept the ship's verification of passengers covid testing. They can still get their money without annoying people by having to apply for a separate TA and submit covid results. Plus, my relatives who had no idea they were supposed to get the ta also didn't read my text explaining which type of covid test to get, and took the rapid too soon and needed to get tested twice. It's just better not to confuse some passengers by giving them too much to keep track of.

We are docking at the Royal Naval Dockyard on a weekend, so there is a limited ferry schedule to Hamilton. There are two ships in port that day, ours and another large ship (NCL). Do the ferries get full and turn away passengers on the weekend? I just have no idea how large they are in comparison to the number of cruise ship passengers trying to reach Hamilton.

The countries usually charge port fees through the cruise ships. I was told in Guatemala that their country charged really high fees, which was why so few ships stoped there (which was a shame, because it was a really beautiful country and I really loved our day there). The fact that you have to apply separately and deal with a whole extra layer of bureaucracy instead of just going through the cruise line is particularly annoying, but I don't know if it is enough to make the cruise lines change their schedule so they don't stop there.

It's possible, but there's no guarantee. Your best bet is to very politely and quietly ask when there are few people around, offering to either move the eight year old up or the 9 year old down (as a general rule cruise ships are more likely to agree to move children down than up, but depending on the numbers breakdown on your sailing they may have more flexibility the other way - Disney blocks guests from booking when the have too many children in a certain age group because they don't want to turn anyone away from the kids club, but I don't think any of the other lines do that and therefore the number of children in certain kids club age groups might just get unbalanced occasionally) . August is tough because the kids clubs are usually quite full. We've sailed during the school year when there are only 10-15 children on the whole ship, and on sailings with so few kids they combine all the ages into one group. Unfortunately, they do tend to be stricter about age limits when the clubs are full because its harder to deal with any additional issues. It really depends on the person you ask as to whether this accommodation will be granted, and if it is an absolute dealbreaker, then you need to sail a line that can accommodate this need (I think Disney has a wide range of ages in their kids clubs, although that isn't always great for the smallest kids who sometimes report being overwhelmed with the big kids). It's sad to read reviews from people who went on family reunion cruises that were ruined because the cousins refused to go in separate groups for the kids clubs and the parents were miserable because they didn't want to have to watch their kids on vacation.

We have three children (aged 3, 7, 11). If you've been to Labadee, what do you recommend? Is there anything we should book ahead of time? Anything kids in particular would like?

St Maarten has the Moho beach where you can see the planes land. You can walk around a beautiful quaint town, visit Pinell island and snorkel (with turtles if you are lucky) and there are iguanas you can feed. San Juan is an hour from El Yunque rainforest, which your 11 year old and teenagers might really like hiking and swimming in waterfalls. Bermuda is beautiful and safe and you can easily travel it with their bus and ferry system. They have beautiful beaches, and the zoo/acquarium is supposed to be quite nice but small. The weather is more temperate, and it could be really hot in the Eastern Caribbean depending on when you are planning on traveling. The beaches are beautiful in Bermuda, but you can find beautiful beaches in St. Maarten also and I think Labadee is supposed to be quite pretty. My family likes seeing lots of different things so we'd pick the RC cruise, but it depends on what you are looking to do (lots of people are happy with Bermuda cruises and just visiting beautiful beaches), and how sensitive you are to weather because it could be quite hot in the Eastern Caribbean. You are from NY, so please bear in mind there are 10 night RC cruises that sail to Bermuda, St. Maarten, Labadee and Haiti from Bayonne so if itinerary is your primary factor and your dates are flexible you can consider that and visit all of those locations.

This is my first time sailing RC, so if anyone disagrees with me listen to them. I logged into my rc account to check to see how many days out I am. I'm more than 45 days out, so my cruise planner says I'm not eligible to check in yet and that they will email me when I can check in. So I'm assuming I should check at 45 days plus get an email when I should do so. And if it weren't for this thread I might have missed this. thanks. I'll let them know so they can decide what they want to do.

My parents are traveling with us on our cruise. I don't know if they have a preference on check in time, but we are sailing from Bayonne. Is it totally random when the lines are bad, or is there a time you'd recommend is likelier to avoid the crowds? Also, to the OP I've taken 7 cruises, 4 with young children (my next will be my 5th with young kids). This is my first time sailing on RC. Until I read your post, I had no idea I needed to check in 45 days early to secure a desired check in time. So thanks for helping me with my cruise and I hope everything works out for you.

The first time I flew with a car seat, a jet blue attendant told me it was against JetBlue regulations for my child's car seat to be rear facing. It was a graco 35 infant seat, which can only be installed rear facing. Thankfully, she didn't see me until halfway through the flight when my kid was asleep in the carseat, and realized that if she made me wake up my kid to take the carseat away the other passengers might riot if he started screaming (plus I don't know where she was planning on putting it. I hadn't researched the car seat laws, so it turns out the FAA requirements are that any car seat that has been approved by the FAA can be used in planes, and must be installed according to manufacturers instructions. So I actually had every right to have that car seat, and she was totally wrong but I didn't know it. A passenger died during a tender on a Cunard cruise a number of years ago, so they instituted a step test, insisting that every passenger take a test to prove they can step the distance required for tender. I don't remember if it was 12 or 18 inches, but they insisted my 2 year old do it independently. We explained that my husband would carry my 2 year old onto the tender since there was no way we would let him cross by himself, but they refused. We spent an hour fighting with the front desk, which finally issued a tender ticket. We went to the tender, and the ship employees saw my son, picked him up and carried him over for us. Later I wrote to Cunard for clarification on what their policy was on issuing tender tickets to children. They told me they allow parents to take the step test carrying their children, and as long as the parent can cross safely carrying their child they can go. That's why I would really like to know the rules for testing before I board- can they demand unvaccinated children/adults be tested on demand? Close contacts? Anyone on demand? I absolutely will comply with their rules, but I've found in my previous travel that employees don't always know the rules and so I'd like to know them if they are published anywhere.