Two families on JOS Ultimate Caribbean in December 2009

[Beechwood50]

We are two families doing our first cruise - the 10 day Panama/Caribbean cruise on Jewel of the Seas departing on the 11 December. We were wondering if you had any good tips on cruising with two 7 yearolds and two 11 year olds. For instance:

 

What worked best for eating arrangements? Did kids eat with you in MDR or in Windjammer earlier and then off to the kids club? Were there alternative kids eating arrangements in the kids club and were they every night?

 

What are the hours for the kids clubs? Particularly how long do they continue into the evening?

 

How do you keep track of the kids on the ship? At what age can they check themselves out of the kids club and if you specify that they can't, how does the kids club let you know that the kids want to get checked out?

 

Has anybody cruised at that time (ie between Christmas and Thanksgiving) and how many kids were on board?

 

Any advice on good excursions (we visit Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Grand Cayman) for kids? Any good local tour operators that you think do a good job?

 

Is there anywhere where we can dowload the kids club activities for JOS?

 

Anything else that will be useful to know or links/posts/websites that will be good to check out?

 

We're all really excited.

 

Thanks

[Baxter]

We sailed during that time period two Decembers ago. There were 12 kids on board. Total. It was wonderful! We were sailing with our then 15 month old and we would visit the kids' area every day so she could play. The staff had said that the following week they were scheduled to have something like 1200 kids on board. It is that period before Christmas that is a major lull for the kiddo population (at least according to the staff at that time).

[cb at sea]

Early (main) seating works best for families--the AO activities are scheduled around the main seating time.

Kids have to be 9 years old before they are allowed to "check themselves out" of the club--and that's with parental permission. You don't HAVE to allow that.

The ship isn't so large that you can't find each other.....I mean, most of the ship is passenger cabin space---and you won't be roaming in those areas searching for friends and family!

We tell each other our plans, and if plans change, we just leave a note in the cabin...we've never not found each other yet!!!!

I know for the smaller kids, they have dect phones to be able to contact parents....I don't think they provide them for older kids.

[mrspjotter]

Hi - we're thinking about this trip in Feb 2010 - our son is 9 and twin girls 6 but I wasn't sure if the route was kid friendly - I know they would be fine on the ship as we did EOS this Feb but just a bit worried about some of the ports although hubby is keen to see Panama Canal although I understand we won't actually go into/through it!