Spirit or Star - Which would you choose?

[CarynRenee]

IMHO, either choice is a good choice. Love both ships.

 

If the Star happens to pass paths with the Spirit in the Gulf or ports along side the Spirit during your cruise, look over to the Lido deck. Dh & I will be waving at you.:)

 

Have a great cruise with your family.

 

Dianne

 

 

Thank you :)

 

We *tried* to get on the same sailing as you, but the Spirit didn't have any remaining availability for using the CAS certificates that week. We'll certainly wave to you and all of the others who we might have had the pleasure to meet if we'd have booked a little earlier!

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise as well!

[CarynRenee]

Nov/Dec is FABULOUS as far as weather goes!!!!!

 

IMHO, I have sialed both ships and loved both of them...I do love the look of the Spirit a little more than the Star, but that doesn't make that much a difference in the cruise.

I also love sailing out of both NOLA and FL so I can be of no help to you there either...But, no matter which ship you chooose I wish you blue skies and calm seas (and in that time frame, your chances of that are excellent :))

 

Ooops, just saw this!!

 

Happy sailing to you!!

 

Thank you :) And very glad to hear that we should be able to expect great weather!

[98Charlie]

Thank you :)

 

We *tried* to get on the same sailing as you, but the Spirit didn't have any remaining availability for using the CAS certificates that week. We'll certainly wave to you and all of the others who we might have had the pleasure to meet if we'd have booked a little earlier!

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise as well!

 

Did some port checking and our ships will be in port together in Belize and Cozumel. If you happen to pass the Wet Lizard restaurant in the shopping village in Belize between around 11 a.m. - 1:30 or so, look up and wave. Hubby & I will be sitting up there sipping a few cold Belikin beers and munching on some fantastic conch fritters.

 

If you're anywhere downtown in San Miquel, Cozumel in the afternoon, stop by Poncho's Backyard inside Los Cinco Soles. Hubby & I will be sitting at a table in front of the marimba players enjoying lunch and my birthday quota of terrific margaritas!:D

 

Dianne

[jetskier]

My DW and I sailed on the Spirt Thanksgiving week two years ago and the weather was amazing.

 

We were on that same sailing as you, Nov 22, 2009. Not sure if you were in the casino much. I was the guy who won the Blackjack tourny. I was finally able to make the leader board on the last buy-in round. There was a lady who all week playing regular blackjack would not hit a 16 with a face card showing. On the 7th hand, I ended up with a 16 with a face showing. I could hear her behind me saying not to hit it. Of course I did and got a 5. The dealer busted the table with a 20.

 

Earlier in the week, I was playing the blackjack table by the pool and I guess the flashing lights off the whitecaps ended up getting to me. I felt queasy and cashed out. I got as far as the handrail going up the couple of steps when I had an epileptic seizure. It just causes me to pass out for 20 seconds or so and go into convulsions. It scared the hell out of the dealer and the pit boss at the table.

 

Someone ran over to me and was saying lets sit him up. I raised my index finger in the air from my hand on my chest. I then heard, I think he wants us to give him a minute. I raised my thumb up. It takes about a minute for me to regain my senses. Everytime I went back to the main casino, the crew would ask if I was feeling better.

 

I was on the CCL Elation when a passenger sitting next to me in the lounge went into a Grand Mal seizure. Now that was scary. I helped get him stabilized until the ship's nurse got there. He was unresponsive for about 5 or more minutes. They had got him to finally sit on the couch. After doing a couple of more checks, they were trying to get him to move into the wheel chair. At this point there are white uniforms everywhere and he was not wanting anything to do with them. I asked if I could try and he finally responded to me asking him.

 

Funny part was one of the social host had come into the lounge looking for me for the Cruise Director right after the gentleman collapsed. He went back and told the CD, I think he is busy at the moment.

 

Dave

[tkportersat]

We went on the Spirit in March, with a 10 month old as well...I believe they had some sort of activity where the parents could take the child up and have a play time but nothing other than that. We never went to it. The ships aren't real accomodating for kids until they turn 2, unless you go on some of RC's newer ships that have infant programs or possibly Disney.

 

Thank you for the quick response! Have you already sailed the Star or is that an upcoming trip for you?

 

For all - I thought of a few more questions:

1) Has anybody sailed that itinerary in the Nov/Dec timeframe? Was the weather still nice at all of the ports? Any problems with choppy seas?

 

2) I'm pretty sure that the Spirit won't have any activities for my 10-month old son, and I suspect the same is true of the Star, but if anybody knows of more infant-friendly activities on the Star, I'd be interested to hear about that, too.

 

Thanks!

[CarynRenee]

We went on the Spirit in March, with a 10 month old as well...I believe they had some sort of activity where the parents could take the child up and have a play time but nothing other than that. We never went to it. The ships aren't real accomodating for kids until they turn 2, unless you go on some of RC's newer ships that have infant programs or possibly Disney.

 

Hi. We're booked on the Star now, but I don't expect any activities for the little one at this point. Fortunately, the grandparents are all going and they don't get to see him often, so they will be wanting to spend a lot of time with him also. Hopefully, with five adults to one baby, we can make it fun for all of us :)

[tkportersat]

I wish you luck :) We had two sets of Grandparents and we thought the same would happen and it didn't. I think once everyone got on board (especially one set that hadn't cruised before) they got too wrapped up on vacation. My husband and I had to do a lot of things in shifts and I never got to just lay in a deck chair and relax. I love spending time with my baby but I really needed some me time and couple time (it was supposed to be our belated honeymoon). You can read more about this topic on the Family board as some of us have posted our experience. Not trying to be a downer, I really hope your experience is different than mine. And yes we still had a good time, just wasn't the trip I was planning on.

 

Hi. We're booked on the Star now, but I don't expect any activities for the little one at this point. Fortunately, the grandparents are all going and they don't get to see him often, so they will be wanting to spend a lot of time with him also. Hopefully, with five adults to one baby, we can make it fun for all of us :)

[dasmonkey]

I wish you luck :) We had two sets of Grandparents and we thought the same would happen and it didn't. I think once everyone got on board (especially one set that hadn't cruised before) they got too wrapped up on vacation. My husband and I had to do a lot of things in shifts and I never got to just lay in a deck chair and relax. I love spending time with my baby but I really needed some me time and couple time (it was supposed to be our belated honeymoon). You can read more about this topic on the Family board as some of us have posted our experience. Not trying to be a downer, I really hope your experience is different than mine. And yes we still had a good time, just wasn't the trip I was planning on.

 

How selfish of the grandparents to pay for a cruise, get wrapped up in themselves and want to do things other than baby sit. ;)

[tkportersat]

Yes yes, I know but that was what was discussed before the cruise took place; there were certain expectations (as mentioned before this was our belated honeymoon, originally we were going to get married on the ship but ended up getting married at home instead). And one set rarely sees the grandchild as they live out of town....Honestly I didn't want that much, and hour here or there. We purposely got the balcony for moments stuck in the room which was a lifesaver. Just trying to prepare the OP in case her situation turns out the same.

 

How selfish of the grandparents to pay for a cruise, get wrapped up in themselves and want to do things other than baby sit. ;)

[CarynRenee]

I wish you luck :) We had two sets of Grandparents and we thought the same would happen and it didn't. I think once everyone got on board (especially one set that hadn't cruised before) they got too wrapped up on vacation. My husband and I had to do a lot of things in shifts and I never got to just lay in a deck chair and relax. I love spending time with my baby but I really needed some me time and couple time (it was supposed to be our belated honeymoon). You can read more about this topic on the Family board as some of us have posted our experience. Not trying to be a downer, I really hope your experience is different than mine. And yes we still had a good time, just wasn't the trip I was planning on.

 

Thanks for the reality check. My parents have not cruised either, and have been hesitant about doing so. It will be interesting to see if they enjoy all of the activities and offerings of the ships and ports and get more into the "vacation" mode or if they decide it's not for them. They also live out of state and don't see the baby too often, so I anticipate that they will take him at least a couple times while we do other things, but I won't get my expectations too high. I know that our son is still our responsibility and we may not get the help we'd like, and I actually hope my parents have a good time so that they will consider cruises for future vacations as well. We do have three balcony cabins so hoping that will work well.

 

I'm sorry that your trip wasn't the vacation you envisioned and that you didn't get a little more time to yourself and with your husband. I absolutely understand the need for some down time these days!!!

 

I have been watching the family boards as well, so thanks for your input on the topics there.

 

I hope you are able to get a break every once in awhile!

 

Thanks again for your feedback.

[tkportersat]

My in-laws ended up enjoying the cruise and sound like they would enjoy doing another in the future. I was worried they might not like it. My mom and dad see the baby quite a bit and my mom can tell when I am stressed and she did try to help out. My older son (18 at the time) watched him one day so we could swim with the dolphins in Cozumel. The part I missed really is just having a little time to just veg in a deck chair and have a beer for an hour or two and then a night or two to check out the clubs or casino. All in all we made the best of it, but made the decision not to cruise again until he is old enough to use the kid's club so that we can get more of a balance.

 

To be fair as well we had just been through a traumatic event. My baby had been in the hospital March 1-4; we left for our cruise March 12th. We were cleared but I was on edge the whole time and our normal easy going baby was much fussier and not sleeping through the night like at home. Had that not ocurred the baby and I both would have been easier to deal with :)

 

Either way I love my little guy and enjoy spending time with him. I have no social life right now by choice as I would really rather spend any extra time I can with him.

 

Didn't want to be a downer, just wanted to give you the info. from my experience to think about. I hope y'all have a wonderful cruise and that you get to relax a bit!! We ended up taking a another belated Honeymoon to Vegas in June and my parents kept the little one for 3 days. So I ended up getting my relaxation after all :)

 

Thanks for the reality check. My parents have not cruised either, and have been hesitant about doing so. It will be interesting to see if they enjoy all of the activities and offerings of the ships and ports and get more into the "vacation" mode or if they decide it's not for them. They also live out of state and don't see the baby too often, so I anticipate that they will take him at least a couple times while we do other things, but I won't get my expectations too high. I know that our son is still our responsibility and we may not get the help we'd like, and I actually hope my parents have a good time so that they will consider cruises for future vacations as well. We do have three balcony cabins so hoping that will work well.

 

I'm sorry that your trip wasn't the vacation you envisioned and that you didn't get a little more time to yourself and with your husband. I absolutely understand the need for some down time these days!!!

 

I have been watching the family boards as well, so thanks for your input on the topics there.

 

I hope you are able to get a break every once in awhile!

 

Thanks again for your feedback.

[CarynRenee]

My in-laws ended up enjoying the cruise and sound like they would enjoy doing another in the future. I was worried they might not like it. My mom and dad see the baby quite a bit and my mom can tell when I am stressed and she did try to help out. My older son (18 at the time) watched him one day so we could swim with the dolphins in Cozumel. The part I missed really is just having a little time to just veg in a deck chair and have a beer for an hour or two and then a night or two to check out the clubs or casino. All in all we made the best of it, but made the decision not to cruise again until he is old enough to use the kid's club so that we can get more of a balance.

 

To be fair as well we had just been through a traumatic event. My baby had been in the hospital March 1-4; we left for our cruise March 12th. We were cleared but I was on edge the whole time and our normal easy going baby was much fussier and not sleeping through the night like at home. Had that not ocurred the baby and I both would have been easier to deal with :)

 

Either way I love my little guy and enjoy spending time with him. I have no social life right now by choice as I would really rather spend any extra time I can with him.

 

Didn't want to be a downer, just wanted to give you the info. from my experience to think about. I hope y'all have a wonderful cruise and that you get to relax a bit!! We ended up taking a another belated Honeymoon to Vegas in June and my parents kept the little one for 3 days. So I ended up getting my relaxation after all :)

 

Sorry to hear about the hospital stay - I can understand that it would certainly lead to much additional stress, especially if baby still wasn't feeling well or was a bit out of sorts.

 

I didn't think you were a downer at all - it's helpful to have various perspectives and I know that it's important to balance all of the information gathered from message boards because even people who experience the exact same thing can have vastly different impressions or feelings about it.

 

Glad you got your belated honeymoon to Vegas! We LOVE Vegas! We may have been there at the same time - our first trip together away from baby was to Vegas in late June (22-25?) and my parents came to watch little one as well :) I saw your post on a different thread regarding CAS. We also spend a lot of time in casinos when on vacation...hence the need for my parents to watch the baby a few nights on the cruise!

 

We like NCL and are using a free cruise certificate (courtesy of Caesar's) for this trip, but I otherwise may have considered RCCL this time just because of the activities and services for young ones. I'm sure this will be fine, even though not the totally relaxed experience that we might have without the baby. We'll figure it out as we go...just like every other day as new parents!

 

Nearly any day cruising will still beat a good day at the office :D

[tkportersat]

Oh wow, yeah we were there June 24-27...we stayed at the Flamingo. We are primarily poker players but I am a little out of practice since being pregnant (didn't want to play at smoky bars) so I mostly stuck to slots this trip. It was a great getaway.

 

Glad you didn't think I was a downer. Thankfully the baby has done very well since (he had an ear infection that spread into his blood stream). Now he is 16 months old and climbing and jumping off everything. He is very entertaining. Makes me thankful though at 10 months while on our cruise he wasn't walking yet - ha.

 

Sorry to hear about the hospital stay - I can understand that it would certainly lead to much additional stress, especially if baby still wasn't feeling well or was a bit out of sorts.

 

I didn't think you were a downer at all - it's helpful to have various perspectives and I know that it's important to balance all of the information gathered from message boards because even people who experience the exact same thing can have vastly different impressions or feelings about it.

 

Glad you got your belated honeymoon to Vegas! We LOVE Vegas! We may have been there at the same time - our first trip together away from baby was to Vegas in late June (22-25?) and my parents came to watch little one as well :) I saw your post on a different thread regarding CAS. We also spend a lot of time in casinos when on vacation...hence the need for my parents to watch the baby a few nights on the cruise!

 

We like NCL and are using a free cruise certificate (courtesy of Caesar's) for this trip, but I otherwise may have considered RCCL this time just because of the activities and services for young ones. I'm sure this will be fine, even though not the totally relaxed experience that we might have without the baby. We'll figure it out as we go...just like every other day as new parents!

 

Nearly any day cruising will still beat a good day at the office :D

[CarynRenee]

Oh wow, yeah we were there June 24-27...we stayed at the Flamingo. We are primarily poker players but I am a little out of practice since being pregnant (didn't want to play at smoky bars) so I mostly stuck to slots this trip. It was a great getaway.

 

Glad you didn't think I was a downer. Thankfully the baby has done very well since (he had an ear infection that spread into his blood stream). Now he is 16 months old and climbing and jumping off everything. He is very entertaining. Makes me thankful though at 10 months while on our cruise he wasn't walking yet - ha.

 

Funny, I just realized I was looking at July on the calendar which is why the dates didn't sound right to me. We were also in Vegas on June 24-27 because we went to the Rush concert on June 24! We stayed at Bellagio that trip (my first time there). We used to go several times a year, but only went once while I was pregnant and then that trip in June, so the baby has put a little damper on our gambling :) But he's definitely the biggest win ever! :D

 

Glad your son is doing well now - they are definitely fun. I don't think my son will be walking at 10 months, but he's going to be mobile (i.e., crawling) any day now! That will be enough to keep us busy, I know!

 

BTW, I'm also a Carrie :)

 

And back to the cruising topic...did you do any excursions in the Western Caribbean ports that you'd highly recommend with the baby? My only real concern right now is tendering to Belize. That makes me nervous :(

[tkportersat]

We were slumming it this year :) While I was pregnant (Jan 2010) we were comped three nights at the Venetian - that was awesome! We went to the Mob Experience at Tropicana and to Brad Garrett's comedy club this trip and saw some great comedians.

 

Thanks. This is my second family as you can see by my sig. I am loving doing it all over again.

 

My little guy was crawling and starting to pull up at the time of the cruise. A few weeks before I started prepping him by starting table foods and he ate really good in the dining room. I still brought baby food for the room and ports. Most mornings I ordered room service and mashed him a banana.

 

Cool, I don't meet many Carrie's. Obviously my parent's chose to spell mine weird. ha.

 

In Costa Maya we did Maya Chan Beach, Belize we went to the Beliken brewery, Cozumel (left baby with big bro on ship) and Honduras we just went to the beach there at the port. I bought this great little sleeping tent on ebay which was great at the beach. It provides sun shade and keeps the bug away from the kiddo. It folds up to the size of a purse. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kidco-PeaPod-Portable-Infant-Child-Travel-Bed-Tent-PERI-/350477368222?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519a143b9e

 

Why don't you email me at kerryharlanatymaildotcom and I will answer any questions you have!!

 

Funny, I just realized I was looking at July on the calendar which is why the dates didn't sound right to me. We were also in Vegas on June 24-27 because we went to the Rush concert on June 24! We stayed at Bellagio that trip (my first time there). We used to go several times a year, but only went once while I was pregnant and then that trip in June, so the baby has put a little damper on our gambling :) But he's definitely the biggest win ever! :D

 

Glad your son is doing well now - they are definitely fun. I don't think my son will be walking at 10 months, but he's going to be mobile (i.e., crawling) any day now! That will be enough to keep us busy, I know!

 

BTW, I'm also a Carrie :)

 

And back to the cruising topic...did you do any excursions in the Western Caribbean ports that you'd highly recommend with the baby? My only real concern right now is tendering to Belize. That makes me nervous :(