**help** He said what??? Cancel?

[k2excursion]

So what would be the best way if we decide not to take ds? Options on that is what I'm curious about. I've heard people say don't cancel just be a no show. Can I get my money back? Am I paid in full or not because I was, but then upgraded? those are my questions.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Definitely do not do the no-show thing. You would only want to look into doing that if you are going from 2 people down to 1 in the room. Never for 3 people going down to 2. For 2 going down to 1, the cruiseline would have to tack on the 100% solo supplement (paying for 2 people even though there's only 1), in addition to whatever the penalty is, so for them, just doing a no-show is better. But not for you. If you no-show the son, you get nothing back, ever. If you cancel him, you'll get something back. CoconutJD explained it well. So the best thing is to make up your mind just before the final payment date. If you decide to cancel, you would only lose $50 & could apply the rest of son's deposit toward a future cruise. After final payment, standard penalties apply. The lowest penalty is the entire deposit amount, which would be gone forever. The penalty amount then increases as you get closer to the sail date.

 

And to answer your other question, you are not paid in full. It sounds like you owe about $300, which would need to be paid by the final payment date. If this is a 7-day cruise, it's due 75 days prior to sailing. If you do cancel the son before final payment & it's a 7-day, the $250 deposit amount will be removed from the payments on your booking ($200 held for a future cruise). The total amount for your cabin will also decrease in the amount of the 3rd person rate + taxes. More than likely, that would end up reducing the $300 you currently owe. Whether or not you should cancel the son is totally up to you.

[mickiemac]

This is a double sided problem. While I know it is nice to take vacations with kids, it is wonderful for you and your hubby to have an opportunity to have a grown up vacation. Seems like a win-win situation whatever you choose.

 

As far as the chronic ear problems, just wanted to share our situation. When our son was a baby he was on soy formula. As he got older and off formula, the ear infections started. Discovered that a milk allergy was causing the infections. No milk in his diet and no more ear infections! May not be the case for you, but worked for us.

[mum2bradley]

We always pulled our son out of school for trips in elementary school. He even missed 12 days to go to Hawaii. Now that he is in High School we travel at Christmas. Personal decision but in grade 4 I say go for it!

[jmediii]

Whether they tell you or not, teachers (my wife included) HATE kids getting pulled out of class for vacations. They are underpaid and their jobs hard enough already without having to worry about catching little Johnny up on missed work or the demands from parents that they put packets of work together ahead of time.

[LSEA]

Whether they tell you or not, teachers (my wife included) HATE kids getting pulled out of class for vacations. They are underpaid and their jobs hard enough already without having to worry about catching little Johnny up on missed work or the demands from parents that they put packets of work together ahead of time.

 

Last night I spoke with my SIL who has been teaching for 20+ years. She said she is happy that families take time to do memorable things together and never has a problem providing what the family needs. She explained to me that over the years she has figured out that kids who have an involved and active family are typically her best students in terms of behavior and achievement.

[jmediii]

Last night I spoke with my SIL who has been teaching for 20+ years. She said she is happy that families take time to do memorable things together and never has a problem providing what the family needs. She explained to me that over the years she has figured out that kids who have an involved and active family are typically her best students in terms of behavior and achievement.

 

 

I won't go round and round on this because you (royal you, not directed at the poster above) can always find a dissenting opinion somewhere but I'm not referring to the students being an issue. It is the entitled attitude of some parents that I'm talking about, where there is little to no regard for the impact in the classroom.

 

To each their own but in my opinion most kids get 3+ months off per year, that's the time for vacations.

[Andoria]

We always pulled our son out of school for trips in elementary school. He even missed 12 days to go to Hawaii. Now that he is in High School we travel at Christmas. Personal decision but in grade 4 I say go for it!

 

I agree. I've always pulled my son out of school in elementary because he learned more on the trip than he did sitting in the classroom. He *was a straight A student and never had problems catching up.

 

Now that he's in High school and no longer a straight A student (to put it mildly), I no longer pull him out for ANYTHING. He's missed two days this year and that was due to being really sick. That's why he's staying at home when I cruise in a few weeks:)

[frayedend]

I won't go round and round on this because you (royal you, not directed at the poster above) can always find a dissenting opinion somewhere but I'm not referring to the students being an issue. It is the entitled attitude of some parents that I'm talking about, where there is little to no regard for the impact in the classroom.

 

To each their own but in my opinion most kids get 3+ months off per year, that's the time for vacations.

 

Some could argue that teachers are becoming the ones with the entitled attitude. Our town (and certainly this doesn't mean every town) teachers make over 70K per year on average. They have about 3 months off per year. They work from 8 AM to 2:30 PM (I watch them rushing to their cars while I wait in line to pick up my kids). Their Union forced a 7% raise this year, which is unheard of in the private sector in this economy. The have an assistant, they grade tests and homework before lunch (tests are graded and sent home the same day they are given).

 

Some of us families simply can't afford to go on vacation during school vacation times because prices increase dramatically. So the teachers can suck it up. But in our town they don't even suck it up because they won't give assignments, won't re-do tests, or give extra credit. The kids just lose the week. That is fine by me if the kids are doing well anyhow. At least before 7th grade when High Schools start looking at absences.

[Almost Packed]

Definitely do not do the no-show thing. You would only want to look into doing that if you are going from 2 people down to 1 in the room. Never for 3 people going down to 2. For 2 going down to 1, the cruiseline would have to tack on the 100% solo supplement (paying for 2 people even though there's only 1), in addition to whatever the penalty is, so for them, just doing a no-show is better. But not for you. If you no-show the son, you get nothing back, ever. If you cancel him, you'll get something back. CoconutJD explained it well. So the best thing is to make up your mind just before the final payment date. If you decide to cancel, you would only lose $50 & could apply the rest of son's deposit toward a future cruise. After final payment, standard penalties apply. The lowest penalty is the entire deposit amount, which would be gone forever. The penalty amount then increases as you get closer to the sail date.

 

And to answer your other question, you are not paid in full. It sounds like you owe about $300, which would need to be paid by the final payment date. If this is a 7-day cruise, it's due 75 days prior to sailing. If you do cancel the son before final payment & it's a 7-day, the $250 deposit amount will be removed from the payments on your booking ($200 held for a future cruise). The total amount for your cabin will also decrease in the amount of the 3rd person rate + taxes. More than likely, that would end up reducing the $300 you currently owe. Whether or not you should cancel the son is totally up to you.

 

 

Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for.

[Almost Packed]

I really didn't want to get in to the debate about kids being taken out of school or not. He's my child. I'll do what's best for him in my opinion. Having fun is important. He's a child.

 

Not all people can vacation during summertime. Just like CPA's don't vacation usually during April or retail managers during Christmastime.

 

We go when our jobs allow us to go. It has nothing to do with affording any of it....we just simply have to bid vacations a year in advance and go when the J.O.B. tells us we can lol.

 

My youngest son has good grades and has no problems making up work. My two older kids (in college) when they got older in high school, they didn't want to miss a day of school. Overachievers they are...AP classes etc. Missing school was just like taking a beating lol.

 

But perhaps us having skip days and family vacations helped make them the NHS students, Who's Who, and all the other mentionables they are. Vacations do me good too.

 

Thanks everyone for the info.

 

I think I should just tell dh he's complicating my life and making me stress over it, i need another vacation lol. :eek: :)

[frayedend]

I really didn't want to get in to the debate about kids being taken out of school or not. He's my child. I'll do what's best for him in my opinion. Having fun is important. He's a child.

 

Not all people can vacation during summertime. Just like CPA's don't vacation usually during April or retail managers during Christmastime.

 

We go when our jobs allow us to go. It has nothing to do with affording any of it....we just simply have to bid vacations a year in advance and go when the J.O.B. tells us we can lol.

 

My youngest son has good grades and has no problems making up work. My two older kids (in college) when they got older in high school, they didn't want to miss a day of school. Overachievers they are...AP classes etc. Missing school was just like taking a beating lol.

 

But perhaps us having skip days and family vacations helped make them the NHS students, Who's Who, and all the other mentionables they are. Vacations do me good too.

 

Thanks everyone for the info.

 

I think I should just tell dh he's complicating my life and making me stress over it, i need another vacation lol. :eek: :)

 

 

Congratulations on doing such an awesome job with your kids. You should be proud and you are proof positive that good parenting is much more important than never missing a day of school. Have fun on your vacation no matter what you choose.

[Velvetwater]

Whether they tell you or not, teachers (my wife included) HATE kids getting pulled out of class for vacations. They are underpaid and their jobs hard enough already without having to worry about catching little Johnny up on missed work or the demands from parents that they put packets of work together ahead of time.

 

Completely agree with this. It is taken so seriously in the UK parents are fined for this type of behaviour in extreme cases. Its also more about being the role model for you kids 'hey its ok to skip your responsibilities for a holiday'.

 

Also, I have never seen a US classroom in operation but the UK system is very much active learning anyway so children are heavily engaged inside and outside the classroom with karate punctuation etc and whatnot. As a teacher and a cruiser I cant see how a Caribbean cruise (heck even Europe in some ways)can offer more of an education unless their parents are up to date on techniques and the curriculum (even set work wont have the teacher imput it needs). Yes there will be a heavy dose of geography,maybe history and some different vocabulary experiences but that doesnt really compare to a week of school does it?

 

 

Anywho, enjoy which ever cruise you decide to take OP.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Velvetwater

[KPfromCT]

I love your comment about the CPA's.

DH is a CPA.

His tax season killed us this year.:mad:

We always cruise in April. DD is off next week, but Tax Season doesn't end until Tuesday. Cruise left on Saturday. No. Can. Do.

Then I looked at Memorial Day weekend. She gets Mon/Tues off.

Would only miss 3 days. She didn't want to.:eek::eek: What?!?!?!?!

 

So, now, we are going in July, and paying TWICE, what we would for April.

 

We could have booked TWO cruises for what we are paying for this ONE!!!!:mad:

[jmediii]

Some could argue that teachers are becoming the ones with the entitled attitude. Our town (and certainly this doesn't mean every town) teachers make over 70K per year on average. They have about 3 months off per year. They work from 8 AM to 2:30 PM (I watch them rushing to their cars while I wait in line to pick up my kids). Their Union forced a 7% raise this year, which is unheard of in the private sector in this economy. The have an assistant, they grade tests and homework before lunch (tests are graded and sent home the same day they are given).

 

Some of us families simply can't afford to go on vacation during school vacation times because prices increase dramatically. So the teachers can suck it up. But in our town they don't even suck it up because they won't give assignments, won't re-do tests, or give extra credit. The kids just lose the week. That is fine by me if the kids are doing well anyhow. At least before 7th grade when High Schools start looking at absences.

 

First of all, teachers in Texas make around half of what your town pays and second, I agree that a strong teachers union ruins teachers but Texas does not have that either. What we do have is parents that feel like their child is the ONLY one in the class and that the teacher needs to drop everything to accommodate their family vacation.

 

On the other hand, you proved my point. Why should teachers be obligated to give assignments in advance, re-do tests, or give extra credit just because the parents decided to pull kids out of class??

Edited April 11, 2014 by jmediii

[jmediii]

Completely agree with this. It is taken so seriously in the UK parents are fined for this type of behaviour in extreme cases. Its also more about being the role model for you kids 'hey its ok to skip your responsibilities for a holiday'.

 

Also, I have never seen a US classroom in operation but the UK system is very much active learning anyway so children are heavily engaged inside and outside the classroom with karate punctuation etc and whatnot. As a teacher and a cruiser I cant see how a Caribbean cruise (heck even Europe in some ways)can offer more of an education unless their parents are up to date on techniques and the curriculum (even set work wont have the teacher imput it needs). Yes there will be a heavy dose of geography,maybe history and some different vocabulary experiences but that doesnt really compare to a week of school does it?

 

 

Anywho, enjoy which ever cruise you decide to take OP.

 

 

+1. Many schools have banned giving work out ahead of time to discourage from this practice.

 

Another thing that many parents do not realize is that it also creates a funding issue (at least in Texas) for the school. Funding is based, in part, on attendance and issues like this can great impact a schools already low funding.

 

Also, a Caribbean cruise didn't make anyone a NHS student. And Who's Who is a scam to get parents to buy books and keychains, so I wouldn't beat my chest about that.

[Laurin612]

For me, the age of the child makes all the difference. I was just going to ask how old your son was but then I saw you posted that he is 9. At that age, I had no qualms about taking my kids out of school for a vacation. Now that they are in middle school and high school, I would not do it because they would miss too much material.

 

Does your son know that you are going on a cruise in November? How would he feel if he found out that suddenly that he was no longer going on the cruise and that you and DH were going without him? I know that my kids really look forward to our family cruises and would be very upset and disappointed. If he doesn't know, then you wouldn't have an issue if you decided to make it a mom and dad only cruise. :)

 

Another idea--could you re-book your cruise so that it is the week of Thanksgiving? That would minimize the number of days your son is out of school.

[cooknknit]

No advice on the cancelling issues, but just wanted to chime in that that week in November (I see you're sailing on 11/2) is a big week for kids to be pulled out of school for vacations in NJ. The first Thursday and Friday of November is Teacher's Convention and school is closed. Many, many people pull their kids out of school for the whole week, and I've even seen teachers be out as well. No one has complained/said anything about my son being out of school those additional 3 days, even though school policy says that family vacations during the time school is in session is frowned upon.

 

That said, he'll be out that week again this year; we're on the Dream out of New Orleans on 11/2. :)

[frugalKansan]

If you take ds with, will common preventions like acetic acid or vinegar work with the tubes? I've never had experience with those.

 

 

Carnival Destiny jan 2010

Carnival Liberty 9/28/13

Carnival Victory 10/5/13

Carnival Sensation 3/9/14

Carnival Sensation 3/13/14

Carnival Splendor 11/1/14

[Duanerice1]

The question is not whether you should take your kid out of school, the question is can you and your husband agree? This is an issue between the 2 of you not between you, him and Cruise Critic.

 

It makes no difference what we say. Go, stay home, go without your kid, etc.... You two need to agree, nothing to do with us.

[Midwestgal]

We never would pull our kid from school for vacation, now that he's 18 I look back at just how silly we were for not doing it from time to time.

When he's 30 is it going to matter that he missed a week of school for vacation.....I think not. Since there's no tests going on I say do it.....it won't matter in a year that he wasn't in school.

[BeachChik]

Whether they tell you or not, teachers (my wife included) HATE kids getting pulled out of class for vacations. They are underpaid and their jobs hard enough already without having to worry about catching little Johnny up on missed work or the demands from parents that they put packets of work together ahead of time.

 

Not to stir the pot but I hate when people make it seem like teachers are the only ones that are under paid, work hard and do extra work to make up for someone else slacking.

[jmediii]

Not to stir the pot but I hate when people make it seem like teachers are the only ones that are under paid, work hard and do extra work to make up for someone else slacking.

 

No one said that so you're making an assumption. I in no way think this and did not say or infer that. What I am saying is that too many parents nowadays treat teachers, esp. elementary and middle school, like day care workers and babysitters. I'm glad schools are starting to put their foot down when it comes to needless requests like this.

 

If parents want to take their kids out of school needlessly, fine. But the burden of that decision (chasing down missed work, possible 0's on tests, etc.) should fall on the parents, not the teachers. Teachers shouldn't be obligated to put packets together ahead of time or give make up tests just because parents don't respect the job that teachers do.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

As a current parent and former teacher I would like to remind everyone that at the end of the day, IT'S YOUR KID, not the teacher's!! Do what you want, tell the school what you feel like telling them, get the make up work, that's it.;)

 

A week means nothing, unless it's finals or midterms for OLDER kids, not 9!!!

 

I choose to travel during breaks with my kids, but if I wanted to take them out of school, I would.

 

And FYI, when my 4th grader was in 1st grade, people kept sending their kids to school sick, which kept getting MY KID sick, so I pulled him out for 3 weeks and did a home study. The school had no issues with it, and my kid told me that 3 weeks of one on one with me way WAY HARDER than any time in school he'd ever had.:p

 

Do what you feel is right for your kids, THE SCHOOL is not GOD, and it works for you, not the other way around!!!

[Velvetwater]

And Who's Who is a scam to get parents to buy books and keychains, so I wouldn't beat my chest about that.

 

I lost you there...

 

Is this an American thing?

[BeachChik]

No one said that so you're making an assumption. I in no way think this and did not say or infer that. What I am saying is that too many parents nowadays treat teachers, esp. elementary and middle school, like day care workers and babysitters. I'm glad schools are starting to put their foot down when it comes to needless requests like this.

 

If parents want to take their kids out of school needlessly, fine. But the burden of that decision (chasing down missed work, possible 0's on tests, etc.) should fall on the parents, not the teachers. Teachers shouldn't be obligated to put packets together ahead of time or give make up tests just because parents don't respect the job that teachers do.

 

That's part of the job. Not any different then a student being sick and needing to make work up. If she doesn't like it she can chose a new profession.

 

I have two friends that are teachers, one for over 20 years. And neither have an issue with kids getting pulled out of school for family vacations. In fact one of them is missing school due to a vacation of her own, only three work days but still out of the classroom.

Edited April 14, 2014 by BeachChik