Melcoug

I've done both and generally prefer to pick my cabin. We ended up in a cabin directly below the Lido once and I was woken up through the night with sounds of the crew cleaning. Since I'm a bit of light sleeper, I prefer to have cabins above and below me. Two decks below the Lido and toward the aft is my favorite location.

Maybe, but probably not. They don't have everything a normal bar might have on hand to mix drinks with. They have the supplies on hand to make their own menu items and then some other ingredients so that they can be creative and come up with news drinks their customers might like.

Your best bet would be to try a few of the drinks from the menu (which are really good), get to know the bartenders, and then later during the cruise tell them about the drink you are refer to and see if they can come up with something similar you might like.

Other bars on the ship might be able to make what you are looking for IF the ingredients are on the ship.

Yes, but you might want to teach your kids NOT to lock it when the come back from Camp Ocean. If they fall asleep, you''ll have to go in search of help to get back into your room.

There is still bread every evening. Tablecloths on formal nights.

Does anyone know if you are still able to climb the ruins? I know at some you cannot.

NO, you cannot use tape on doors on Carnival ships. From their FAQ:

 

In the interest of guest and crew safety, the following stateroom decoration policies will be instituted and

strictly enforced:

• 
  
  • Decorations may consist only of fire retardant materials. Please note that items sprayed with fire retardant spray are not acceptable
    
  • Decorations may only be placed on the stateroom door and not the surrounding frame, walls or railings
    
  • You may use magnets or Command Strips but no adhesives such as tape or glue.
    

Read the whole thing here: https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3256/~/decorating-your-stateroom-door-and-stateroom

Not all Carnival doors are magnetic. I had magnets with me, but they didn't work for Glory's doors. A friend had some double sided fabric tape that I used instead. My small decoration was also paper. I guess the policy was not "strictly enforced" during our cruise.

I was traveling with several other families in Nov and we all used the the Hub app to communicate. I never noticed much of a lag. It was a great way to communicate with each other. I just wish it was free like on other lines.

A few people on Carnival do. No where near the extent or as elaborate as on Disney though.

In Ocho Rios and Cozumel you will be able to get off the ship as soon as it's cleared for debarking. I've never experienced much of a line getting off the ship when it is tied to a pier. The line to "ding" you off is usually short and fast moving. It's the photographers taking port photos slowing everything up.

Ship excursions generally meet on the pier but the meeting times vary for each excursion, so there isn't really a mad rush to get of the ship. You'll be fine.

I was in a group of 13 on the Glory over Thanksgiving. We had Anytime Dining (or whatever Carnival calls it). We only tried to sit together a couple of the nights because we know a large party is really difficult for the staff. We did have to wait maybe 30 minutes for tables after checking in. We were given two large round tables somewhat close to each other. Bigs kids sat at one and adults and small kids sat at the other. We also made sure to tip extra to the waiter dealing with the older kids' table.

If you have traditional dining and have your reservations linked, you'll likely have a similar set up; i.e. tables near each other.

Roatan weather was great. No rain at all the day we were there. Booked excursion with Bodden tours and had a fantastic day, We do not drink, but when passing the Alchemy bar, it was always crowded.

Thank you! Our group of 13 has a private tour booked with Bodden Tours. Planned to visit monkeys and then the beach at West End, but if it looks rainy, we may need to adjust. Do you mind sharing what you did with them?

How was the weather in Roatan? I read that it is rainy season there right now.

Did you hang out at Alchemy at all? Who are the Alchemists there right now?

Irons are available to use in the laundry rooms.

March and April are prime spring break travel months for most cruise lines. Your only safe bet is to cruise on an itinerary that is longer than 7 days. Longer the cruise, the fewer kids.

The police will do this more effectively than an attorney.

 

 

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I'm not trying to imply that attorneys would be more effective than local authorities. It's just how the family can legally ensure all related evidence is preserved and that they can have access to it.

That's the job of the police who is now investigating, not their attorney's. The facts will come out in the police report. Why not wait for the investigation report instead of launching legal action at this stage?

I would assume that an attorney will request a litigation hold so that Carnival cannot delete or destroy any evidence (video, internal incident reports, maintenance documentation, documentation of incidents of other ships, etc.) until it has a chance to be reviewed and the legal team determines if any other entity could be at fault. I know nothing about standard law enforcement practices, but it could be a litigation hold casts a wider net than what the local authorities may request in their investigation. I doubt they have a case, but this seems like standard practice in any serious accident. Let's give this grieving family the benefit of the doubt.

My kids (9 and 11) sailed on the Miracle last year and have been on a handful of Princess cruises. I think the kids clubs a little better on Carnival, but honestly, my kids like both lines just fine. There is more of a party atmosphere on the 3 and 4 day cruises and somewhat more subdued on a 7 day, but Carnival will be more lively than Princess. There will be LOTS of kids on your cruise no matter which line you go on at that time of year.

I've never felt that Princess had a stuffy country club feel to it. It's not as flashy or loud as Carnival and people dress up a little bit more. It also has an older average age crowd, so nightlife tends to die down after 11-12 pm. Princess has prettier pool areas and the pools are freshwater.

Carnival cabins are better for families if you have 4 in a cabin. On Princess, unless you get a mini-suite, the upper bunks are directly over the lower beds vs on a Carnival balcony cabin where the kids sleep on a convertible sofa and drop down bunk over the sofa. If we have 4 in a regular balcony, we'd choose Carnival. When I've sailed with just my kids, the 3 of us in a Princess cabin is fine.

This poor family, I can't imagine the grief they are experiencing and cannot fault them for hiring an attorney for the reasons stated previously. They will want to know exactly why and how it happened. It's natural to want to point a finger of blame in some other direction, and while there may be contributing factors at play, I suspect it was just a truly tragic accident.

Kids on cruise ships get a bad rap for being unsupervised and out of control, and while I'm sure we've all seen examples of that, there are plenty of well-behaved kids having a great time, learning how to be independent and responsible.

I've used this story, and others about people going overboard, as teachable moments for my kids. I've repeated told them that they are not to lean over railings because if they go overboard they WILL die. They know if I ever catch them doing it on our balcony or that if they climb on balcony furniture, they won't be allowed on the balcony again.

We do our best as parents but cannot make their lives risk free. Even well-behaved kids can make stupid and impulsive decisions at times, so let's not blame the parents when we don't know them or the child. They will feel this pain for the rest of their lives.

We just went with Ricardo from Liberty Tours as well. They were great. He called me several times prior to our cruise to make sure I knew exactly how to find them at the port and see if I had any questions.

Check the credit card you used to pay for your cruise. Some of them offer trip cancellation insurance that customers aren't aware of.

We just got off a cruise on another line and while on an excursion in Jamaica, we saw Kristin Bell and Seth Rogan. We were all interrupting the shoot for their movie. In one shot, we were next to the extras, just out of the frame.

You just never know what the winter weather in Southern California will be like. Nights will always be cold outside, but if the sun is shining, it's probably great up on deck. We've done early January and mid-March cruises off the coast and enjoyed plenty of pool time. Once you hit Cabo and further south, it should be fine.

Plan for the cold, but keep your fingers crossed for sunshine!

Princess still does a Baked Alaska parade on the light night of a a cruise. They use a little LED light on the top of it while the lights are turned down in the dining room.

I personally don't care for Baked Alaska, but they always serve me some anyway. Happy to hear it won't be pushed on me while on Carnival!

I wouldn't put a 4 year old in one of the pullman beds. There are rails, but the ones we've used still have a gap in the middle. At 4, many kids still move around a lot at night.

One of my kids fell out of bed on our last cruise, it was a bottom bunk without rails, but he was 9!

I think your best bet is just to move the mattress to the floor.

In March, my 16 YO daughter and I sailed on Crown Princess from San Pedro on a California Coastal cruise. MY DH couldn't go, he had to work. We got the letter and had it notarized.

 

When we checked in for our cruise, they did not ask for the letter. When we disembarked, the customs agent did ask for the letter and questioned my daughter extensively. I would think for a cruise to Mexico, they would be more likely to ask for it.

I don't know what the agent would have done if we didn't have the letter but if they ask for it during check in, they could deny boarding. That was why we got it.

Best of luck to you.

Just wondering if your daughter has a passport or was cruising with a birth certificate? We also cruised the Crown on a CA Coastal in March of this year. Mine have passports. Once (a couple years ago) the agent held the passports up to compare photos and faces, looked at my kids, and asked them for their names. That was it.