Cruising with children

[arxcards]

5 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

2 thirds. One of the seats stays as a seat, the other two cushions are the sofa bed part. 

See the bit circled. There's three cushions. Two are the bed part and one single cushion stays put. 

Thanks for that. We didn't check that, and presumed the sofa bed was full width. Yes, that could be a little squeezy for two.

[arxcards]

10 hours ago, Jean C said:

Thanks for the advice, maybe I will leave it. The cabins do lock again if not accessed. The door handle on our last cruise was so stiff that the door would often re-lock before I could get it to open!

Certainly ask aboard. The stewards have a way of accessing multiple cabins, and it may be possible for the kids/parents to open the alternate cabin by tapping the medallion against the circle on the door display.

[NSWP]

8 hours ago, arxcards said:

Certainly ask aboard. The stewards have a way of accessing multiple cabins, and it may be possible for the kids/parents to open the alternate cabin by tapping the medallion against the circle on the door display.

Not having experienced the medallion, is that how you open your cabin door, tap and go, lol. I was of the impression it would detect your approach and magically open the door, lol. If you want to buy a drink etc, do the stewards tap your medallion with a hand held device or what? 

Edited August 31, 2022 by NSWP

[Jean C]

28 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Not having experienced the medallion, is that how you open your cabin door, tap and go, lol. I was of the impression it would detect your approach and magically open the door, lol. If you want to buy a drink etc, do the stewards tap your medallion with a hand held device or what? 

Darn, my post went poof and magically disappeared.  A couple of very good video links for you -

 

Balcony cabin, shows medallion cabin door unlockng panel with profile picture, TVs on wall, NZ power point and size of standard balcony:

 

https://youtu.be/NqHiXAzxDgU

 

Medallion app features:

 

https://youtu.be/nJYU_J59Ax0

 

[arxcards]

56 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Not having experienced the medallion, is that how you open your cabin door, tap and go, lol. I was of the impression it would detect your approach and magically open the door, lol. If you want to buy a drink etc, do the stewards tap your medallion with a hand held device or what? 

It is as you approach, but stewards have service access and they tap in on the screen, otherwise they would be opening every door on their turf as they were approaching. I just mentioned it might be possible for kids/parents in mixed cabins to be able to get the same level of access without opening two doors as they approach.

 

Not so much magically opening your door, but it unlatches the lock, so you still pull the handle to open.

 

Yes, the waiters have hand held devices, and don't necessarily need to tap them, but be in close proximity. Same deal for the shop registers and ding-on/off. The other part to make you sit through the safety video in your cabin, is that the medallion needs to be detected in your cabin while you play the safety video. Sure beats waiting for the stragglers to show up at muster though.

[Jean C]

3 minutes ago, arxcards said:

The other part to make you sit through the safety video in your cabin, is that the medallion needs to be detected in your cabin while you play the safety video. Sure beats waiting for the stragglers to show up at muster though.

A tip I read and used, for seasoned cruisers, is to put the medallion on the bed in front of the TV while you play the safety video, so you can be unpacking etc while the medallion pretends you're diligently watching every second of it, and you don't inadvertently go out of range 😀 

[arxcards]

25 minutes ago, Jean C said:

A tip I read and used, for seasoned cruisers, is to put the medallion on the bed in front of the TV while you play the safety video, so you can be unpacking etc while the medallion pretends you're diligently watching every second of it, and you don't inadvertently go out of range 😀 

Yeah, first time cruisers wouldn't think of doing that. When it is common knowledge and authorities realise it is a mockery, we will all go back to mustering. Yay.

[Jean C]

18 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

2 thirds. One of the seats stays as a seat, the other two cushions are the sofa bed part. 

See the bit circled. There's three cushions. Two are the bed part and one single cushion stays put. 

Hi Cilla, another query from family (other than where they can get food if they're peckish at 10.30pm or 2am - they'll be fast asleep at that time!!). Does the mini suite have a curtain to section off sofa bed from main bed? I think I recall from earlier posts from you and Irene that the suites do, but the mini suites don't but said I would ask the question. I much appreciated all the invaluable info everyone has provided. I must admit it's quite exciting researching info for first time cruisers, you get to see it all again from the perspective of newbies. I hope you and your family are well 🥰

[OzKiwiJJ]

50 minutes ago, Jean C said:

Hi Cilla, another query from family (other than where they can get food if they're peckish at 10.30pm or 2am - they'll be fast asleep at that time!!). Does the mini suite have a curtain to section off sofa bed from main bed? I think I recall from earlier posts from you and Irene that the suites do, but the mini suites don't but said I would ask the question. I much appreciated all the invaluable info everyone has provided. I must admit it's quite exciting researching info for first time cruisers, you get to see it all again from the perspective of newbies. I hope you and your family are well 🥰

Judging by Cilla's photo it doesn't look like there is a curtain between the two areas. 

 

One tip I read somewhere is to take cheap shower curtains, one or two depending on size, and some magnetic hooks. Then you can hang the curtains from the ceiling if you want visual privacy between the two areas. Probably not so critical with small children though but useful for teens.

[arxcards]

No privacy screen in our mini. Also no child latch on our balcony door.

[Jean C]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:19 AM, OzKiwiJJ said:

Jean, we'll be on Coral on Saturday in a minisuite. I'll measure the width of the sofa and let you know. From the photo I suspect it's the size of a double bed, or maybe a tad smaller. 

Hi Julie, after your wonderful cruise, if you get a moment and it crosses your mind, could you please give me a ball-park idea of what a bottle of beer and a Jack Daniels and coke (I think I got that right) cost from the bars? Not being much of a drinker I don't take notice of these things 🙁. 🍻🍹 Cheers 🥳 🌞

[CDaze71]

No curtains separating the two areas in the minis on Coral. 

Lynda I think it was took a shower curtain and hooks, but we didn't. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 hours ago, Jean C said:

Hi Julie, after your wonderful cruise, if you get a moment and it crosses your mind, could you please give me a ball-park idea of what a bottle of beer and a Jack Daniels and coke (I think I got that right) cost from the bars? Not being much of a drinker I don't take notice of these things 🙁. 🍻🍹 Cheers 🥳 🌞

See the other thread. 😊

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 8/31/2022 at 10:26 PM, arxcards said:

Thanks for that. We didn't check that, and presumed the sofa bed was full width. Yes, that could be a little squeezy for two.

The actual width of the sofabed mattress is 1.13 metres. That's just a few cms bigger than a king single.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by OzKiwiJJ

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 9/1/2022 at 12:36 PM, arxcards said:

No privacy screen in our mini. Also no child latch on our balcony door.

There was a high bolt on our mini-suite balcony door.

 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

There was a high bolt on our mini-suite balcony door.

 

Nothing on ours.

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Nothing on ours.

Looking at it I imagine they could install one fairly quickly on request.