kitkat343

The itinerary of that sailing looks great. I hope they continue to sail that in the future.

You can find the kosher sailings here: https://loyaltoyoualways.com/news/kosher-dining/

Hope you get somewhere good! It's really easy for RC to refund everyone for Labadee excursions, so I think it's fine for them to sell them just in case. I'm not really into beaches, so I'd be thrilled to have Labadee substituted (it was a very beautiful beach but I'd rather go somewhere else too).

The plantations I've visited in the Caribbean were different than the ones I visited in the US. In the Caribbean (at least at the plantations I've been to) they are still either working farms, in which case you watch the process of growing and harvesting crops or they highlight the history of the plantation, which includes looking at the buildings where the slaves lived. The highlight on the tours I visited in the Caribbean was not a beautiful colonial home like visiting a plantation in the American South, so I personally found the Caribbean plantation tours to be less concerning (you are still visiting a place where people suffered, died and probably are buried) but it felt less concerning in the sense that we weren't admiring the wealth of the people profiting from slavery. When I visited the plantations in America (like Monticello) you are admiring the beauty of a building built by the slaveowners. Among some circles in the US, it has become controversial to hold events/weddings at historic plantations in the south. It's possible there are Caribbean plantations that are primarily about the beauty of things built by the owners, but I wouldn't know since I travel with kids and plantations aren't our first choice of excursions so I've only been to a few which either highlighted how you grow and harvest crops or didn't leave behind beautiful historic buildings.

Totally understandable to be upset to lose Bergen. Olden was one of my 3 favorite ports, and it has both the Loen Skylift and Briskdal Glacier. Flam and Geiranger were also 2 of my other favorite stops so it's really up to you if you want to switch to Celebrity (our day in Bergen was what the port staff described as one of the worst weather days they'd ever seen, so we really couldn't get much of an appreciation of it so I can't really help with Olden vs Bergen. Everyone else really seems to love Bergen though)

Amber Cove has Monkeyland right in the port. Further away, there is a larger monkey land and also Ocean World. Bermuda has a nice zoo. If you like, you can arrange a private tour at feeding time to get closer to the animals. The public buses are completely safe in Bermuda, and the kids might also like the public ferry In Nassau, you can research if you want to choose Atlantis (very large, sometimes very crowded water park hotel complex). The Atlantis is cheaper if you purchase directly.

I don't know the OP's situation, but my children's four grandparents perspective is "I worked hard my whole life and now is my time to enjoy myself." They like visiting, but absolutely do not want the responsibility or work required to take care of a child for a week or two so the parents can get a break. We didn't take trips until our children were a minimum of 2 years old, and only cruise because the daycare is the only way we could survive travel with small children. The upside of cruising that we were able to take much more significant trips with our children than if we had gone to all inclusive resorts (my 3 year old loved St. Petersburg, and we were really grateful to have gotten there while we could, and for the daycare we brought our son to the second we returned to the ship).

I'm not familiar with the ports of the longer cruises that travel to the north since I took a 7 day cruise to the heritage fjords. But if you are looking to see the heritage fjords, Olden, Flam and Geiranger were my three favorite ports. Olden has both the Loen Skylift and Briskdal Glacier (if you have a longer port day you can visit both), Flam has the Flam railroad (just buy tickets independently in advance) and Geirenger has many lovely viewpoints and a spectacular sail in.

I usually purchase non-cruise line travel insurance. If something like this happened, I'm sure the cruise would be reimbursed, but what happens about the hotels? How much of an obligation does a passenger have to try to limit costs or can they just check into the four seasons and call it a vacation (I'm sure that's not going to be reimbursed but what level of hotel would at the last minute?) I would imagine your first call would be to your trip insurance hotline, but does anyone know how something like this is handled halfway around the world?

The NCL Haven has a very strong reputation. But please read the CC reviews on the Breakaway (or whichever ship you are considering booking) prior to booking because the NCL CC reviews raise concerns recently: https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruise/norwegian-ncl/norwegian-breakaway/reviews?LoginEnabled=true If you are sailing primarily for itinerary, please note the following issue that comes up with itineraries being changed after final payment for nonemergency reasons like helping the environment:

This is also the policy on Cunard. I can't remember if the kids clubs are closed when the ship is in port, but you cannot leave the children behind in the kids club and go on tour. Also, parents should note that NCL's kids club hours are currently set by each individual ship (there used to be consistent hours fleet wide): "Opening hours on Sea Days and Port Days while the ship is sailing are posted onboard the ship or via the Freestyle Daily."

In the Dominican Republic, the private tour operators were so used to NCL cancelling tours there that they led their introductory emails by touting their generous refund policies. It was the first time I'd ever seen private tour operators do that, and at the time I thought it was really weird. Then I read about the cancellations on these forums. Then NCL informed us after final payment. It's helpful to keep an eye on other sources because sometimes you get more information from them, and that might let you switch or cancel if you can find out before final payment.

Tivoli and the canal tour were my son's favorite parts of Copenhagen (but he was only 3 so it is. a little different)

Cruisetimetables lets you search by port and will show all the ships in roatan

So sorry about that! That is a really good point, plus you need to worry about what to do if people in the other group are late. We actually also do private tours for just our family because we have three kids (youngest is 5) and don't want to ruin anyone else's tour if our kids hit their limit.