firstcruiseever
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Posts posted by firstcruiseever
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Cost/benefit points away from Silversea since you don't want to be on edge the whole time you are on the ship, worrying about the children's safety and constantly having to be prepared to amuse them, keep them quiet, etc.
I'm sure you can manage that just fine and the children would also have a good trip, but what is the benefit to you?
On a more family friendly cruise line, you will still have to be on alert for safety but so many of the other worries will disapper:
* the kids will have a chance to make new friends (one of the best parts of traveling)
* you'll have a chance to pal around with other families with similar interests to you (we live in a small village so this is important to us)
* if your kids want to spend an afternoon in a children's program, you can spend an afternoon just enjoying the ship, your spouse, and breathe (something parents don't often get time to do, and an important part of a vacation.)
I've never met anyone IRL (as opposed to internet forums where people come to whine) who hasn't had great things to say about Disney. My daughter's friends live in a port city and have taken 2 cruises so far and their oldest is just 5.
Our next cruise will be Disney :D
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Did you take the picture right before you left the cabin on disembarkation day? Otherwise how could you prove that you didn't take the towels?
We take them to show the state of the room for the reason that if they try to charge us for something we can show it. And yes, right before we left the room and also when we get there. It might be stupid, but I think it is smart. You technically ARE renting that room for the week. It IS like an apartment rental. If you damage the room, you are responsible. If they try and charge you for damage or excessive filth, won't you want to have a picture? It just seemed like common sense to me....
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It was not a hold. Our room steward got mad at us and tried to say we took 2 beach towels and some alcoholic beverages in the stateroom. We don't drink and didn't use the towels. It was all sorted out when I called guest services. The lady there was super sweet. She filed a report against that room steward. I just couldn't believe somebody could be so malicious! That is crazy. We kept pictures of the stateroom when we left, because that is the best way in case something like this happens. Glad we did that. And he should have done his research anyway. We didn't buy alcohol the whole trip. the lady at guest care could see that.
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This is off of a CC thread. I already made it a few times and it turns out great! I used french bread instead of brioche, and it was very good :)
Bitter and Blanc
Serves 8
Ingredients / Quantity
For Vanilla Sauce:
Whole Milk / 6 ounces liquid
Sugar / 1 ounce (2 Tbsp)
Cornstarch / 1 Tbsp.
Egg yolks / 2 quantity
Vanilla Extract / 1 tsp.
For Pudding & Meringue Mixture:
PUDDING:
Brioche bread, crusts removed / 8 ounces
Egg yolk / 3 ounces
Sugar / 2 ounces (4 Tbsp)
Heavy cream / 5 ounces liquid
White chocolate / 8 ounces
Butter / 3 ounces (6 Tbsp)
MERINGUE:
Egg whites / 2 ounces or 1/4 cup (about 2-3 yolks)
Sugar / 1 1/2 ounces (3 Tbsp)
For Ganache:
Dark Chocolate / 6 ounces
Heavy Cream / 4 ounces liquid
For greasing :
Butter solids / 1-2 Tbsp to coat
Sugar / 1-2 tsp to coat
METHOD :
• For Vanilla sauce, boil milk & sugar in small saucepan. In small bowl, cream yolks & cornstarch; whisk in the milk, add vanilla extract. Pour back into saucepan & cook on slow heat till it reaches a coating consistency. Strain lumps. (may add a few drops of milk if too thick).
• For Ganache: In saucepan, heat heavy cream to simmer. Put dark chocolate into bowl and pour simmering cream over chocolate. Stir gently until smooth. Cool slightly.
• For Pudding: Remove the crusts of the brioche bread, dice into squares. Put in large bowl and pour cream over bread; let soak in.
• In saucepan, melt the white chocolate with 6 Tbsp. butter & set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, cream sugar & yolk, add the melted white chocolate/butter mixture on slow speed.
• Add the cream-soaked bread, mix well.
• In a separate bowl, prepare meringue by whipping room temperature egg whites and sugar til thickened; fold into the bread mixture.
• Grease individual soufflé cups with butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Spoon a layer of ganache into the bottom of each cup. Top with bread pudding mixture.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 mins. Remove, cool slightly, dust with powdered sugar & serve with vanilla sauce.
NOTES; Brioche is a spongy textured, sweeter, egg bread. Whole Foods had it ($5.99 per loaf - NOT!!) Trader Joe's has brioche rolls (not a loaf) for $2.99 - I used 4 of the 6 rolls and had 2 left for sandwiches. You could substitute a combination of Kings Hawaiian sweet bread and yellow dinner rolls if you can't find brioche - my chef contact said don't do it - it wouldn't be the same.
Culinary bakers use scales for everything - hence the "3 ounces egg yolk, 2 ounces egg white, 8 ounces bread." I have a kitchen scale and weighed the eggs yolks and whites.
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So we just got back on Saturday and we paid off our Sail and Sign with cash. Well, we had a Credit Card on file with Carnival for the Sail and Sign and they CHARGED it, even though we paid of the total the night before we disembarked. And its some random number that is not even on our receipt! No clue what is going on and guest services doesn't open for another hour! :( Very stressed now.
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From the looks of the pic, the OPs observation is spot on. :confused: I love the WCMC as much as the next guy, but it has to be done right.
It should be cooked only long enough for the middle of the cake to still be liquid. If cooked too long they're just a chocolate cupcake with no frosting. Too little cook time and they're all batter with a little cake on top (as in the OPs pic). I've experienced all three scenarios over the years.
Just right is just right for me LOL. I wish I had a good WCMC on this cruise... I think the chef was..... off.... or something. Nothing was cooked right!
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No' date=' DCL is NOT like Carnival. Kid programming is open 9 am to midnight most days; some days have longer hours that that and there is no charge ever for kids 3-17. Even activities that would have a charge if done "on your own" will be free if done with the group. For instance, if the tweens "Invade the Arcade," all games are set to free play for that hour. If they do "make a t-shirt," each participant gets a free shirt to decorate. At "smoothie party," each kid gets a free smoothie.[/quote']
That is really neat! The one thing that bugged us, (and we LOVED Camp Carnival) was that it was close for those four hours that we really wanted to put them in camp. We don't want them gone all day, but we would like to have dinner together and teatime as well which started half hour before we had to go pick up the kids. So that kind of stunk. Thanks for the information. So do they take the kids out of the play area? That was one thing that stressed me out was that if you brought them at certain times they would leave the play area to go to the Lido Buffet area.
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Is anybody reading this review?? No comment luv??? :eek:
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I agree with you, but people each think they are special. As you say, it's the ship's job to get you a reserved seat.
When I worked in nursing, each Christmas we heard the same story. THEY felt they should have that day off because they had children. So what? We had families too.
A good company, REGARDLESS of size or service, makes EVERYONE feel special, or attempts to. This brings customers back. Anyone who knows anything about customer service or running a business can attest to this. Everyone in the world thinks they are special. You are the center of your own universe, as is your family. Regardless of logic, you do want to feel special. Why do we cruise? So that we can feel pampered, taken care of, and special.
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With Galapogos the itinerary is much more relaxed from a formality point of view but appears to be go-go-go (so no downtime for the kids if they are tired.) As well, personally, I'd be terrified with all transfers from ship to zodiac and small kids. And when hearing about all the scrapes and broken bones and long hikes the adults experienced I think your kids would have to be experienced long-hikers to be able to enjoy the trip fully as it might be too physical for them. In 5 - 8 years it might be perfect but that's a lot to spend on something they probably won't remember.
If you want the SS experience, I'd start with Alaska since the ports are so interesting and you'd be able to easily book excursions that are age appropriate through on-shore tour operations (not SS).
We were on a cruise with a toddler and the crew were wonderful. Most miss their own children and doted on this little one. It was fun to see how the staff would light up when she came in the room (as opposed to the fellow cruisers who weren't at all happy to see a baby on the cruise.) So don't think the crew will be unhappy to see children, but there is little they can do to help make the trip special for the kids because SS isn't that sort of cruise line so there is nothing to support little ones - no toys, no colouring sheets, no places where they can be kids instead of mini-adults.
Awesome information! Thank you very much. Alaska sounds awesome. We have a HUGE bucket list of places we want to visit, so Alaska sounds like a good place to start! You know, the crew was like that on Carnival with our kids as well, the doting part anyhow. They just lit up when the kids came in the room. They went out of their way to make the kids happy. They loved talking to them. Anywhere we went the crew would make faces at the kids, comment on how cute they were, say hello or do something special. Our head waitress in the main dining room made a little bunny out of a cloth for our little girl and a little mouse for my son. They LOVED it. Actually when we left both kids gave her a hug :)
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What I don't like about the Haven?
The price ;)
LOL AT THIS :rolleyes:
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Donor consider SS to the Galapagos at this time. Read the comments/reviews on these boards.
I'm thinking you meant "Do Not consider" If so, I'm guessing the cruise quality is poor? I did not read a review, so I will step over there today. I did see the fact that they some have had issues with laundry and such on their cruise?
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There's nothing wrong with dreaming - I dreamed of Silversea for almost 20 years before I finally made it onto a SS ship :)
I was going to suggest Disney as a step up, assuming from your sig that Carnival is your experience so far, so its good to read that you are planning on that. I think you'll very much enjoy it.
Awesome. I am guessing you are recommending from experience? The thing were are excited most about the Disney cruise is the quality of the food and entertainment, the experience and helpfulness of the staff and the ships themselves :o So excited. That doesn't even compare though to how excited I would be to board a SS :D
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I break into the top of the delicious crust and take the first bite. YUM so rich and delicious. When I go for the second bite I get THIS:
The ENTIRE bowl of WCMC was an uncooked mass of brownie GOO. TERRIBLE! I didn’t want to make a fuss, and dinner had already taken over an hour by now, so didn’t say anything to our waiters. On the way out, I did mention it to the hostess and she said it would be addressed.
Since we obviously didn’t get enough to eat after the billions of pounds of food that we had already eaten, and since they could actually push me through the doors of the dining room, we decided to try the TASTE bar. Very excited. This little bit was given to us:
It tasted like eating a wad of allspice. No really, that was all you tasted. And the tomato soup was just tomato paste, water, pepper and salt. Hmm…. Kids wouldn’t even eat a second bite. My husband could not finish it, and this guy is definitely not picky. If he won’t eat it, I know there is something wrong!
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Oh NOM NOM NOM’s Up next is the main course on the first night dinner. Love that my camera separates dates so all I have to do is look up the right day and BAM full menu! So we stuck with something we *thought* we knew the kids would like. We ordered them a cheeseburger with bacon and French fries.
Surprisingly they didn’t really eat too much of that. They DID however eat the bacon off the burger! DH got the Pork Steak and said it was pretty good. He liked it.
The peas on his plate were crunchy and he did not like them or the other side. I had the Tilapia. It was MUSHY and bland.
The table next to us got the same thing as me, so I asked their opinion. The man next to us (opposite the Canadian women) said he liked it okay. His wife said “well it was very bland and mushy.” So I guess it wasn’t just me and my husband that thought that. Both kids got lime sherbet and DH got the black forest cake.
He liked his and of course the kids did too. You ever met a kid that didn’t like ice cream??
I ordered the WCMC. One scoop of ice cream not two…
I can’t eat that much ice cream! I was SOOOOOO excited.
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You need to bear in mind, as pointed out, that depending on which itinerary you choose, there may be no other children at all on the sailing. The ambience on a Silversea ship is usually one of quiet, refined elegance.
Also, the verandah suites only accomodate 3 people. So you need to either get two interconnecting suites, with one adult and one child in each suite. Or you're looking at staying in the Royal Suite, for example, on Silver Spirit. This is going to be a very expensive cruise. Personally I'd wait until the kids were quite a lot older and they were old enough to appreciate what makes the Silversea experience so special.
Which ship and itinerary are you considering?
Well honestly I had only dreamed of Silversea :) We did look at prices and itinerary for either a galapagos island cruise or the Silver Spirit to Belize, Cozumel and Costa Maya. The Galapagos cruise would be for the itinerary especially and the Belize would be for both the itinerary and the ship experience. It's probably just a dream honestly. I do know that we will be taking a Disney Cruise in the fall, but we are dreaming of Silversea as well.
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How old are your children ?
What cruise/ship are you looking at ?
This will help people to respond to your question.
They will be 5 and 4. Is there an age limit?
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Just a few questions: Do they have Milkshakes on Disney? And how much are they? Also what do they have on Disney that costs extra?
One more: What are the hours for the child activities? Carnival child care was closed from 12-2 and 4-6. Are they closed like that at certain times? Thanks!
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Carnivals food is better. NCL has better entertainment.
But they are both very similar.
OH NO!!!! Carnival FOOD IS TERRIBLE! We compared it to Golden Corral, only Golden Corral has better mashed potatoes!
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I would love to hear about how the food is, the entertainment and specifically the Haven Suites. We are thinking about booking the Haven suites for our family of four on a 7 night, preferably out of Florida. We are foodies and we like family friendly entertainment. I love shows. Kids love kid programs and as a family we like to sit on the balcony and sip hot chocolate. So tell me... Is the food fantastic or okay... We just got off Carnival and swore off Carnival forever. We had fun on our Carnival ship, but the food was terrible and the entertainment non existent. Tell me what you like about NCL
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Soooo.... You can buy an unlimited pass to alcohol AKA CHEERS, but you can't buy more than two bottles of wine? Sounds like a nice way to suck you dry.... of your money. I would be pissed too. But then again, after this last cruise I am no Carnival Cheerleader... Unlike some other people that seem to defend every policy of Carnival no matter how illogical.
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After telling me that we can't cruise in 2014 and instead have to save for a house, my DH apparently changed his mind and we just booked a cruise on the Conquest in January! We must both be nuts! :D
One thing that was strange when we booked is that we are on a waiting list for the early dining. Has anyone ever experienced this before? Will we likely get the early seating, and if, not, will they put us in late or anytime? Anytime looked like there was a wait list, too.
We were put on the wait list for early dining and were put into anytime dining. If you get into late dining and it is a problem, I'm sure they can put you into anytime dining. It was actually much better than early dining. We had the same table and wait staff 4 out of the 5 nights. The first night we had a wait staff we didn't care for too much, so we switched. Easy peasy.
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I was wondering what experiences people have had with children in a quad OV cabin on Fantasy class ships. We're considering a cruise when my girls will be 5 and 6 at the time, and I'm not sure how much I like the two uppers for my kids. Do you feel the railings are sufficient for children this age? My girls don't move around in their beds at home, but they've also never slept on bunks, and for some reason the pics of the railings I saw on these uppers didn't look that great to me. But I wanted some opinions from people whose kids have actually used them.
We have a 4 YO and 3 YO. We tried to do two twins, we slept on one, they slept on the other. It worked okay, but wasn't the most comfy. So then we made them into a king and put both kids on one pulldown bed. We took the two ladders out of the closet and put one on the front side and one on the open side so there was just a small gap. We put a pillow between the ladder and the bed so that there was a soft barrier so they wouldn't roll into the ladder. It worked great. Sounds super over protective, but my kids roll and are not used to a high bunk. My DS has fallen out of bed a few times, and with the rocking of the boat, I was worried. You can try that. they also have trundle beds. I also heard the cabin steward talking about how he pulled a twin mattress down on the floor for someone every night. he wasn't too happy about it, but he was a bad room steward. Didn't turn down our bed 2 of the five nights and didn't turn down the pullman bed 3 out of the 4 nights we had it pulled down.
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My children love to sail with us, and are very well behaved. I know there are no children's programs, but honestly we are a family that loves simple entertainment and spending time together. They love have formal dinners with us and have good manners. We have found that exposing them to different environments and travel experience helps round them and learn how to behave in different situations. I would love to take them on a Silversea cruise with us... Are children allowed? Also can you have four in one stateroom? Thanks!
Are kids allowed to sail?
in Silversea
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More likely than not our kids will be older when we are able to set up a SS cruise. So that should be okay.. I am excited to go someday!!!