AOS Southern Caribbean Questions for Young family

[xcell]

Well I finally booked my 5th cruise with RCI, first on AOS and first Southern (always wanted to do a southern), now comes the panic.

 

I have DW, DD2 and DD5 coming along with me (also the grandparents). This time I booked adjoining cabins so that my parents can look after the kids at night and me and DW can maybe enjoy some alone time.

 

Any ways, for those who have done AOS and Southern...can you please help me with the following:

 

1. We are flying in a day early - are car seats available in the taxis or should we bring our own? Last time I took our car seats in Miami we hardly used them (possibly because the rain was so hard we just wanted to get into the taxi, plus the ride from the hotel to the port was like 5 min)? (I know anything can happen).

 

2. What are good things to do with DD2 and DD5 in Aruba, Curacao, DOminica and St. Thomas? I am doubtful I will do excursions on every port but any suggestions would be appreciated. Also, do they need car seats here too? or are there beaches within walking distances?

 

Thanks!!

 

We (well I am) excited...

[cb at sea]

Personally, I wouldn't bother with carseats on the islands...but in Miami, you will need them..it's the law! On shuttle buses, there are no seatbelts, so you can't use a car seat properly, anyway.

 

Most of the beaches will require a short cab/ bus ride---you wouldn't want to swim near the ships, even if you could!

 

Get a guidebook on your ports, so you'll know about all the beaches, how to get there, mode of transport, costs, etc....a little research will reap BIG benefits and can save you big bucks!

[xcell]

Would you fly in the day before or same day? ok, let me be even more specific, if flying the day before would cost your family of four an extra $1000 would you fly in the day of the cruise and forego the hotel?

[boulders]

For $1000, I would be tempted to fly in the day of. However, it would depend on the time of year - definitely not November to March, and whether or not it is a direct flight.

 

We did fly in the day before our AOS cruise and stayed at the Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino. It had a great spot close to the airport and on the beach. The stay at the resort was definitely worthwhile and added definite value to the vacation. If you can stay there by flying in the day before for under $1K, I would do it.

 

For shore excursions, there was an Aloe Farm and Ostrich Safari trip which was a great hit with my kids. This was on Curacao. There was also a waterpark on Aruba - I can't recall the name.

[olemissreb]

Well I finally booked my 5th cruise with RCI, first on AOS and first Southern (always wanted to do a southern), now comes the panic.

 

I have DW, DD2 and DD5 coming along with me (also the grandparents). This time I booked adjoining cabins so that my parents can look after the kids at night and me and DW can maybe enjoy some alone time.

 

Any ways, for those who have done AOS and Southern...can you please help me with the following:

 

1. We are flying in a day early - are car seats available in the taxis or should we bring our own? Last time I took our car seats in Miami we hardly used them (possibly because the rain was so hard we just wanted to get into the taxi, plus the ride from the hotel to the port was like 5 min)? (I know anything can happen).

 

2. What are good things to do with DD2 and DD5 in Aruba, Curacao, DOminica and St. Thomas? I am doubtful I will do excursions on every port but any suggestions would be appreciated. Also, do they need car seats here too? or are there beaches within walking distances?

 

Thanks!!

 

We (well I am) excited...

 

When are you cruising AOS? We are on her for the 4/42010 sailing. If you are on her then, come join our Roll Call (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=964597) and don't forget to sign up for the meet-n-mingle!

 

As for flying to SJU - personally I'd bring the car seats for the flight at the very least - probably for the ride to the hotel or pier too. We are flying in the day before and staying at the Holiday Inn Express near Old San Juan and not too far from Pan Am pier (at least that's what it looks like on a map). I too didn't want to pay close to $1000 to fly down so we used my DH's frequent flier miles (50K miles each). I also used DH's hotel points to stay for free at our pre & post cruise hotels! (Hate that DH travels so much but love these perks! :D) Depending on when your cruise is, you may want to hold off on booking the airfare. Check out clarkhoward.com - he is a radio talk show host here in Atlanta and notoriously cheap. He can usually find some great airfares - I know recently AirTran had fares as low as $99 (don't know if that was one way or roundtrip). but that fare didn't cover when we needed it to!

 

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

[ginger2000]

We took our kids on the 4 x 4 jeep adventure in Aruba - but your kids would be too young for that. In St Thomas, we took a van taxi (it had seatbelts) to Coki Beach which is right beside Coral World which your kids may enjoy. We didn't go to the beach in Curacao - just walked around with the kids. They liked all the different coloured buildings and walking over the pontoon bridge and taking the little ferry back across. What month are you going and where are you flying from? We flew in the day before (from Toronto) and wanted a direct flight and it was in the winter. Didn't want to chance a snowstorm! And DS had just turned 5 - wanted the quickest way there possible. If you have time, just keeping checking the good travel sites and hope a good deal comes up for a hotel - I am sure it will!

[xcell]

update

 

I booked the cruise and got all my discounts...quick hint, if you have senoirs (55+) uf you book them as the first person, the second person still gets the discount.

 

booked the flight - going in the day before so little chance I will be cruising without my bags or miss the ship, plus I get to a little early vacation.

 

i still have to book a hotel...

 

but now i have to figure out excursions for my dd2 and dd54 - any suggestions?

[seacrcsvz]

For the islands you do not need your carseats - chances are you will end up on bus tours/transport so leave them behind - they are a nuisance to drag around. As for Curacao, definately do the Ostrich Farm tour in combo with the Bat Caves - way too cool and the kids will love it - mine are 2, 4, and 6 and had a blast. Although Willemstadt is beautiful, your kids aren't likely to appreciate it much - consider hiring a private guide for the bat caves (Hato Caves) and ostrich farm, and then after, when the kids are tired our and in the luxury of air conditioning, have him drive you around a bit. We did that and it was amazing - our guide was so knowledgable it was worth every penny. He also took us to great lookouts for photos, knew interesting tidbits of info, and was funny, which the kids appreciated - you can book it through Viator.com; ask for Freddy. Klein Curacao is also worth it, but then you might be ready for a land based day then, not more beaches.

For Aruba, I found pretty much all the tours to be equal, so it just depends on what you want to do. Probably a day at the beach here is your best bet - just trudge along till you find a spot you like. If you are interested, pretty much all the resorts will allow you to use their beach chairs and facilities for the day for a small fee - might be worth it for the pool for the little ones, especially if the resort caters to kids.

Good luck!