4Tacos

My family (4) want to do two cruises back to back. My husband and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary. We've picked two cruises but the first one ends in Port Canaveral on a Saturday and the second cruise leaves from Port of Miami on that same Saturday. We do not wish to rent a car and drive ourselves. We don't want the hassle or stress. We just want to relax and let someone else do the driving. Any specific suggestions on private transfers or shuttles? 

We have been to Jacks in the past but have only had drinks there. How is the food? Anything that's their specialty?

TY

We ate at Jack's when we were there. Had the Jerk Chicken and Conch Fritters. Really good. My kids and I are not fans of spicy things and we didn't find it spicy at all. Can't wait to go back!!

We cruise in Sept so if that is soon enough for you I would be happy to let you know our experience!

How was your experience with Barcelo Aruba and Caribbean Day Pass? Trying to decide if I should pull the trigger for March.

We cruise in Sept so if that is soon enough for you I would be happy to let you know our experience!

That would be fantastic!!!! We cruise in March 2018.

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I've always done cash. The last night I go to guest services and cash out my sign and sale. Any money left on the sign and sale, they give me back in cash.

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Voucher arrived by email about two days after I booked online.

Not sure when you are going to be there but will you post a review of it when you return? I'm thinking about doing this for my family. The pool looks like something my kids would enjoy.

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Just to add context: we cruise about twice a year so we did not, and would not have, spent the money for a single or even a couple of cruises over the almost-5 years.

 

We also have almost continuously 'planned' to do an AI over the last number of years, but about once a year I look at it seriously and find cruising to be a much better deal and book the next one. :D

I have seriously looked at AIs as well and every time I come back to a cruise. My kids have so much fun on them. We've done three and the "plan" was an AI in 2018. After all that discussion, I ended up booking a cruise for 2018 last night. [emoji12] As for passports, my kids have them. They give us the freedom to choose our vacation every year. I'm not limited on where we choose to go.

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Do your kids enjoy Camp Carnival? Mine Loved until he aged out. One trip has more ports. St Maarten not too kid friendly. Not bad w/ kids. Maho beach is fun but the French beaches are mostly topless. Grand Turk will be a great pool day. I took my son when he was about 13 and he hated sightseeing and shopping.

 

 

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My kids love camp!

Between an 8 day going to Aruba, Bonaire, and Grand Turk or an 8 day going to St Maarten, St Kitts, San Juan, and Grand Turk. Both on the same ship. Both in February 2016. We like to escape the Ohio winters. We are a family of 4. The kids will be 7 and 10. We enjoy snorkeling, beach days and relaxing with a good book on the ship. We've have not been to Aruba, Bonaire and St Kitts. Both weeks work for us. I just can't decide between the two.

I know that some of the activities at Camp Carnival charge a fee....crafts, laser tag, etc. Does my DD who is 7 need charging privileges in order to participate. Or they just automatically charge the parents for anything she does? Thanks

As far as I know, the parents would have to be present for the "for charge" activities. I'm not 100 percent sure if the child can attend such events on their own. If so, then yes she would need to be able to charge on her own card. My children are not given charging privileges and we just attended for charge activities with them with the exception of owl jams which is an after 10pm party. In that case, we signed them up during the day (I had to sign a paper saying that they could charge me for the event) and then my kids just stayed in camp after 10. I had to pick them up when the party was over.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=45337104

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Backround: A long time ago, I spent a year in Spain and I had some of the most amazing paella.

In a few days, we will be going on a cruise and one of the ports is San Juan. We have never been to San Juan. I found the above referenced restaurant, Toro Salao, and they offer a couple varieties of paella. My DH and 2 kids have never had paella before and I really want to go somewhere with excellent paella. Has anyone had paella at Toro Salao? Any other recommendations for paella. We will be in port 8am-6pm.

Thanks in advance!!

Is an 8M aft extended balcony an upgrade from an 8E standard balcony? The 8E (what I currently have) is on the Lido deck and the 8M is on deck 5. The ship is the Sunshine. If it is an upgrade, what is so special about it?

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What link did you visit for the promo?

 

Thanks

The one posted above by blue_water.

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If you like BBQ the OTG all you can eat & drink price is very good!

I just visited the link and they are running a promo that if mom buys an all you can eat, a child 6 and under can eat free. So my 6 year old will be eating free on our upcoming cruise. Who doesn't love free!!

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We are in pot from 1pm-9pm and we are heading to Sapphire. Does anyone know how late the bbq place is open at the entrance to Sapphire? We can have a late breakfast on the ship and eat right when we get there or we can eat lunch on the ship and eat bbq right before we catch out taxi back to havensight.

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Hi,

 

Just wanted to check what other families do on port days. Do you book excursions? Do you take a city tour? Or do you go to the beach?

 

We'll be on Eastern Caribbean (Nassau, St Maarten, St Thomas) with our 10.5 and 6.5 year olds. We're from Canada so beaches are not a regular place for us so am thinking we'll just hit the beach for a couple hours at each port. Not sure if tours will be too boring for kids but am hoping the beach will keep them busy enough. Not sure if any sites rent out fun floats or things. We're not too adventurous and our younger one is just starting swimming lessons so she doesn't swim.

 

Also, for Nassau, we won't be there for long so doesn't seem worth it to go to the Atlantis. For the others, I worry about nude beaches. So am wondering what other families do. Funny enough, I feel like a cruise is more about the ship than the ports...but still would like to do something when in port.

So we've been to all three ports. We took the kids off the ship at St Thomas and took them by taxi to Sapphire beach. I can't even begin to explain how incredible that day was.

In St Maarten, we did not take the kids off because mom didn't do such a great job with the sun block in St Thomas and so we left the kids in camp most of the day and explored Phillipsburg on our own. Another great day but this upcoming cruise I plan to take the kids to Maho, to see the planes, and Mullet for some beach.

Nassau left a bad taste in my mouth. We did not take the kids off, not sure why, and proceeded through the building they herd you through. After the 25th person haggled us we had had enough and turned around and spent the rest of the day on the ship. I'd go again if I had someone with experience with me but I did not feel safe there at all.

No matter what, there is so much to do in the ports. Look through the port of call boards here. You'll gather a lot of intel in no time.

Edited to say that my kids are 6 & 9.

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Pre-cruise routine

 

1. Get told I am going on a cruise

2. Pay for cruise

3. Keep away from luggage (I'm not allowed)

4. Stay in hotel for a night or two before cruise

5. Cruise

6. Pay credit card bill

 

:D

 

Pete

This is so my husband!!!!!!

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Great! I would love to hear about it when you return!

My husband was wanting to know how long are you actually in the water? The excursion says something like 2.5 hours and we are wondering how much time is in the water and how much time is traveling. Thanks for your help!!

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My kids usually choose to eat with camp because they want to be with their new friends and dinner in the MDR is a little on the long side. They would get bored. They started cruising at 4 and 7. All of your children will be in the same classroom which will help. There were nights one wanted to go to camp dinner and the other didn't and we'd just eat in the Lido or have pizza with the other. Don't be afraid to utilize the camp dinner. I love getting so many date nights with hubby!! Really helps the relationship!!

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We've been on the Carnival Paradise and Carnival Dream. Both had amazing kids programs. Our kids were 4-8 years during these cruises. My kids loved the waterworks on the Dream. We will be cruising Carnival Sunshine this February and we chose it for the waterworks and rope course.

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Suess at Sea is a breakfast 5.00pp

 

Camp Ocean is currently only on the Freedom, Magic, Breeze, and Triumph.

so the sunshine does NOT have the ocean club

 

I saw a schedule off the breeze for the 9-11 and needless to say I am VERY happy we are not having that program on the Splendor. There was just too many times the 9-11 was meeting for unsupervised play.

Unsupervised play????????

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We will be on the Sunshine in February. I know they have Seuss at Sea but does that mean that the actual camp program is different from Camp Carnival? I assumed that they would have some different Seuss programs but I figured the camp would still operate as Camp Carnival. I appreciate any help.

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Its about time that other ships get pool screens. Our first 2 cruises were on Disney and we loved watching movies under the stars and in the theatres. Then I went on my first Carnival cruise, the Pride, and no movies or movie theatres. We are going on the Pride again in October, this time I am bringing my hubby, and we cannot wait to watch movies after a long hard day of soaking up the sun, LOL. Is there somewhere that you can see the upcoming movies? I see you mentioned John Hearld, is his blog on the Carnival site? Thanks.

This came from his FB page. I do not believe it is posted on his blog nor on the carnival website. I've been told that he posts it every month towards the beginning of the new month. This was yesterday, so he posted it 11 days out from February.

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Can you tell me more about the Ocean Plaza? Is it inside or outside? Is there a bar? Open all day/evening or only certain hours? Thank you for replying!

The Ocean Plaza was located on deck 5 (I believe) and was inside. There is a bar and lots of music and trivia. I don't remember walking through there and it wasn't hopping. Always something going on.

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