Home from our NICKELODEON cruise

[MnAsMom]

It was a BLAST! My kids had the trip of a lifetime. They didn't want to come home. It really was so much fun. We got slimed and have the pics and video to prove it. Mexico was fun but HOT. Mariner of the Seas is a LOVELY ship. Adventure Ocean did not disappoint... we had to drag the kids from there at 10 pm every night. They ate dinner with AO the last 2 nights we were at sea.... they spent the majority of their 2 days at sea in "camp"..... woke up in the morning asking if they could go to camp after breakfast! LOL

 

One thing about the Nick cruise that we learned was there is no "formal". They said the 2nd night was formal night (saw a few families in dresses and suits) but very few people actually dressed for dinner. They did have portrait options that evening and several other nights throughout the cruise. The dining room was full of shorts and swim wear under dresses, flip flops. We managed to get our boys in pants and polo shirts a few nights but after about 3 of them they wanted to wear shorts like all the other kids! Wish I had known that before we went and bought a bunch of collared shirts and pants.... but it was fine in the end. We also did not have set dining times. It was a free for all in every dining room... come any time after 6pm and they would seat us as we came. We did miss having the same waiter/table mates but we sat with several nice families and enjoyed being able to eat whenever we were hungry. Oh and they didn't charge for sodas (unless you got it at a bar)... so the kids had shirley temples with dinner etc.

 

The Nickelodeon stuff was high energy and lots of fun. Every night the boys got a small present with their towel animal and compass. Things like a spongebob shaped sponge, mood rings and temp tattoos, a Nick cruise drawstring backpack etc. My kids were so spoiled by this cruise I feel like they are gonna be disappointed if we take a regular ol cruise in the future! LOL

 

My only disappointment was that the dining room food was good but not great. I recall our dinners on Monarch 10 years ago being YUMMY.... it was not the case with this cruise. The filet was mushy almost ( my 8 year old loves Filet Mignon and only ate a few bites of it), one shrimp meal I had was quite boring. Only a couple of things really stood out as far as the food went. We had dinner up in the Windjammers 2 nights and it was actually really good... the kids preferred it.

 

So there you have it ... I am happy to answer any questions anyone has!

[busymom29]

thanks for posting!

We leave a week from today for the Eastern Caribbean Nick Cruise!

[crusinmama06]

WELCOME BACK!!!! Were the boys shocked????? I wanna hear about their reaction!

 

Which Nick stars were onboard?

[Ula]

This sounds like a childs dream cruise. Sounds like you had a grand time.

[MnAsMom]

WELCOME BACK!!!! Were the boys shocked????? I wanna hear about their reaction!

 

Which Nick stars were onboard?

 

We had iCarly cast on board, the voice of spongebob, and characters ... spongebob, patrick, dora, diego, 4 penguins of madigascar, Blue, Pablo, Ming Ming, Avatar, Otis, Little Bill. The kids were given autograph books the 1st night and they had stamps for each character. I think we got most of them.

 

My little one as we walked up to the check in saw the flags and said "nickelodeon cruise mommy"... my 8 year old didn't hear him or just wasn't paying attention (he was enamored with the size of the boat). After my husband parked the car we went in and while I dealt with the paperwork he said "hey wouldn't it be cool to go on the Nick cruise?". My son said "yeah". He said "well you're in luck". My sons response was "Sure Dad, I'm not stupid you know, I know you're just trying to fool me!" (nice!). So he said ask your mom... I shook my head yes, he said ask the lady behind the desk if this is the nick cruise. Just then she passed over the sea pass and a special holder for it... it had a big Spongebob on it and he just smiled and kinda looked back and forth from me to my hubby. I was expecting him to jump up and down with excitement but I think he was trying to play it cool (you know he's EIGHT now! LOL). He was thrilled!

[runmomrun]

We had iCarly cast on board, the voice of spongebob, and characters ... spongebob, patrick, dora, diego, 4 penguins of madigascar, Blue, Pablo, Ming Ming, Avatar, Otis, Little Bill. The kids were given autograph books the 1st night and they had stamps for each character. I think we got most of them.

 

My little one as we walked up to the check in saw the flags and said "nickelodeon cruise mommy"... my 8 year old didn't hear him or just wasn't paying attention (he was enamored with the size of the boat). After my husband parked the car we went in and while I dealt with the paperwork he said "hey wouldn't it be cool to go on the Nick cruise?". My son said "yeah". He said "well you're in luck". My sons response was "Sure Dad, I'm not stupid you know, I know you're just trying to fool me!" (nice!). So he said ask your mom... I shook my head yes, he said ask the lady behind the desk if this is the nick cruise. Just then she passed over the sea pass and a special holder for it... it had a big Spongebob on it and he just smiled and kinda looked back and forth from me to my hubby. I was expecting him to jump up and down with excitement but I think he was trying to play it cool (you know he's EIGHT now! LOL). He was thrilled!

 

 

I'm sure he was thrilled! How cool for the kids!

[TRenlds]

I'm on a Redeye back home while reading this- our kids had a great time, too!

 

They were enamored with the Nick celebrities, who were patient and gracious.

 

I agree with M. about the food... exceptions were the lobster tail, small as it was, and the NY strip served on the last evening.

 

Ship staff was exceptionally friendly, however, and the casino was good to me as well!

[jdembosky]

Hello! We are scheduled to setsail on the Eastern Nickelodeon cruise this Sunday. Do you have any advice about reservation lines such as character breakfast, ice show and speciality restaraunts, and spa reservations? Do some of these things fill up earlier than others and do you recommend targeting those lines first?

[WendyKroy]

We also had a blast! I loved the little gifts they left each night in the rooms. The autograph book was great. I think the ONLY characters we missed were the Fairly Oddparents, who were only out on the first night. Otherwise, we got the stamp in the book for each, and we got some fantastic pictures. My son even got a picture with Chris Hardwick and with Tom Kenny.

 

My son thought getting slimed was the coolest thing ever, and getting that little container of slime at the end of the trip made him downright crazy. It might be his most cherished possession.

 

I agree about the dining room food. I was surprised that oftentimes, the Windjammer food was better. But in every other way, this cruise far exceeded the last one we took (Carnival). The Mariner is a gorgeous and comfortable ship. Our room was spacious. Our balcony spoiled us; I don't think we'll ever be able to cruise without a balcony again.

 

Adventure Ocean was great, as were the arts & crafts that we all got to do in Ellington's Lounge every day at 2 pm.

 

Lot of great memories from this cruise. I'm so glad we got to go!

[crusinmama06]

I am so glad you all had a fabulous time! Did they change the AO activities to have a more Nick theme? I know they already had spongebob days on the regular cruises. But I was wondering if they changed AO anymore.

[WendyKroy]

I am so glad you all had a fabulous time! Did they change the AO activities to have a more Nick theme? I know they already had spongebob days on the regular cruises. But I was wondering if they changed AO anymore.

 

Yes. They'd go to Ellington's at 11:30 am or so for "storytime", and the story book would usually be a Nick one. Then, surprise!, the Nick character would come in to greet all of the kids and hang with them.

 

They did quite a few other Nick-themed things. It was a lot of fun.

[WendyKroy]

Hello! We are scheduled to setsail on the Eastern Nickelodeon cruise this Sunday. Do you have any advice about reservation lines such as character breakfast, ice show and speciality restaraunts, and spa reservations? Do some of these things fill up earlier than others and do you recommend targeting those lines first?

 

You don't need any kind of reservation for the character breakfast, just show up. In fact, I think most families had breakfast in the Windjammer and not the MDR so it was never even remotely full. Very easy to get in and meet the characters.

 

The ice shows were just the standard shows, and didn't fill up.

 

We had dinner at Chops and it was very empty. The staff told me they didn't have a huge turnout on this cruise for specialty dining.

 

No idea about spa reservations. It seems like the ship's "regular" stuff was much less busy than usual, based on how uncrowded everything was and what the staff was telling us.

[TRenlds]

<<<My son thought getting slimed was the coolest thing ever, and getting that little container of slime at the end of the trip made him downright crazy. It might be his most cherished possession. >>>

 

 

:D Unfortunately, we didn't think, and we packed our kid's slime in my wife's CARRY-ON! We were eventually allowed to bring it through, but it got one heck of a looking over by security.

 

To JD..:

You'll have a terrific time! The nick staff are great people, and they provided a lot of poignant extra touches in terms of decor, entertainment, and treats for the kids, as already mentioned by Wendy and Mn...

[stimpy1]

Thanks for the report! We're leaving tomorrow for the East Coast Nick cruise.

 

I noticed you said you could show up at anytime for dinner? Did you have assigned main or late dining before hand? Or did you have My Time Dining?

 

We're stressing about the dining since we're down for Late & couldn't change it. Both Nick & RC told us we could only change it on-board.

 

And just made a note....no slime in the carry-on :D

[Jen1000]

On the cruise did they announce anything about 2010 Nick cruises?

 

We wanted to go but it was out of our budget. I could kick myself that I saw the posts for the discounted cabins after it was too late!

 

Thanks,

Jen in SoCal

[WendyKroy]

On the cruise did they announce anything about 2010 Nick cruises?

 

We wanted to go but it was out of our budget. I could kick myself that I saw the posts for the discounted cabins after it was too late!

 

Thanks,

Jen in SoCal

 

I haven't seen anything official, and they didn't announce anything on the Mexican Riviera/Mariner cruise. They announced the 2009 cruises just a few weeks after the 2008 ones sailed, so with any luck they'll announce next year's soon.

[hohoz]

Did anyone get to meet "Sam" or "Freddy" from iCarly? My daughter is watching this week because they are showing iCruise week and she wants to go so she can meet the people from iCarly. I told her they have not set a date for next year and we don't know if the same people will be there again. Any news if there is a cruise next year?

[cruisingram1]

We just booked the Freedom for Aug 1, 2010 and I just found this thread. I had forgotten about the Nick cruises and decided to look for the 2010 dates. Is the Nick cruise usually on the Freedom? I see all of Aug 2010 Freedom cruises but none seem to be a "Nick" cruise. The only clue I have found is the lack of family rooms on the Serenade out of Puerto Rico on that date. Might that be the Nick cruise? I could not understand why I could not find one cabin for three on that cruise.

 

For those who have taken a Nick cruise.. how costly is it compared to a regular cruise? Did your children have more fun than they might have on a "regular" cruise? My granddaughters are 6 and 8 and have cruised many times, always enjoying the kids program. I know they would love a Nick cruise, especially since we've already decided we're going to Florida in 2010 to cruise, but worry it might be cost prohibitive.

 

Your input appreciated.

[Empressa]

wow! that sounds like so much fun! i'll have to look into that for next year.

[bubblysexycool]

I called the number on the Nick cruise website and was told to check back the middle of September. I guess a few more days maybe:rolleyes: