jhdoublin

Just got off liberty and was trying to find info on name of band that played in star lounge at night. Was 4 Filipino guys and said they were on Facebook but can’t find them. Something like “music venture” maybe? 

I went with Liberty of the Seas for the Western Iten. IT's an older ship and I have been on the sister ship to it but not this one yet. I hope I'm not disappointed in picking an older one since most the recent ones I have been on were newer. (Ive done 25)

Thanks for all your input 🙂

Really asking more about the difference in the ships I have been on both of the sister ships for each of those I like western itinerary but not sure about an older ship versus the breeze

shpukd mention taking my 11 year old son who has cruises many times and likes

NCL. Would also consider NCL Breakaway although ITEN is not as good as others 

Been on multiple cruises but will be taking new hubby never been on one. 

Carnival Breeze 7 night eastern- st thomas PR,  dominican, grand turk  miami

Liberty 7 night caymen cozumel jamaica houston

Which one?

On the NCL Epic 10/2010 my 2 3/4 year old son was allowed to go to the childrens program and he was in pull ups. yes they give you a beeper. No I didn't get to keep it long to worry about it because- they had lots of exciting things to do and in the same room, but wanted the 2 year olds to sit at the table and doodle or whatever they were doing with the 4 and 5 year olds. So they called me to come get him lol!

Well, duh, 2 year olds don't do that. So that was it for our kids camp. It was really just an experiment for me- we weren't doing anything anyway- so it didn't matter- I just wanted to see how he would do in that type of setting. He has a mind of his own and it didn't align with theirs......

They weren't mean or anything like that- just called and stated he wasn't participating in the group setting...I kindly tried to explain why 2 year olds probably wouldn't sit at the table in a room with toys lining the walls and a ball pit just outside the area- but they didn't seem to be getting it.

It would be much better if they would have seperated the 2-3 and the 4-5 year olds since they had multiple workers, but hey it's their program.

I personally feel that Carnival had a better grasp on things than my experience on NCL Epic- but it is a new ship and maybe new people I dunno.

It would help if they had workers that were mothers so they understood the logistics of parenting- and maybe some were, but most weren't on that particular ship/sailing- although I do believe that on Carnival they all have to have a college degree to work in that program- I thought I read that somewhere-

And that is another thing- the workers are all different- I have had some that really took to the kids and would go out of their way to make them happy so the parent's could go out for a bit- then you will have those who just do ABC cause that's what the rules are....so you can't necessarily judge a ship/sailing/cruiseline because the workers change often.

Anyway- my 33 month old loved the Epic as we did too- it's a great ship with a FABULOUS water park for the little tots!

Julie

We are hoping to take our son on a cruise – he will be 2 at the time, isn’t potty trained yet and is also too young for supervised children’s activities on many of the cruises which start at 3 years old. I’ve been carrying out some research into the kid’s clubs which are open for 2 year olds and just wanted to check if anybody is aware of anything I’ve missed, other cruise lines offering similar or if the information I’ve got is wrong! Also does anybody know if they all charge a reduced rate for children?

 

The only three cruise lines I’ve found are:

 

P&O - Aurora, Azura, Oceana, Oriana and Ventura

 

 

Pros

·Splasher (ages 2-4) smaller age difference than Carnival and NCL which are for 2 to 5 year olds

·Supervised activities from 9am to 11.30am then 12pm to 5.15pm then 6pm to 10.30pm.

·Free launderettes

·Can use paddling pool

·Stateroom listening facility.

·Will staff change nappies?

·Free Night Nursery up to 2am on first come first serve basis

 

 

Cons

·Must take child ashore if going on excursions

·Given a pager and they will page you if child needs changing.

·Need to be with child for meals

·Morning session is only 2 and a half hours.

·Age group may be changed from 2-4 to 2-8 years out of season

 

 

 

 

Carnival – all ships?

 

 

Pros

·Camp Carnival (ages 2-5) - does anybody know the opening times?

·Will look after child during on shore excursions.

·Staff will change nappies

·Slightly larger cabins than other liners

 

 

Cons

·Group babysitting costs $6 an hour but this is only charged from 10pm to 3am when we can cope without it.

 

 

 

 

NCL – all ships?

 

 

Pros

·Trained counsellors provide age-appropriate supervised activities for Juniors (ages 2-5)

·Supervised from 09:00 to 12:00, from 14:00 to 17:00, as well as from 19:00 to 22:00. Only 3 hour sessions though so would have to keep settling him.

 

 

Cons

·There is a “nominal charge“ for group sitting. Group sitting is offered whenever in port which would be most days since travel is usually overnight with the odd sea day?! Does anybody know how much this is? We have a limited budget so I’m trying to avoid any that charge $5 an hour for babysitting etc.

·Parents with participating children who are not potty-trained will be issued a beeper and be alerted when the child needs to be changed. I’m a bit worried about this because think it could unsettle him us popping in and out several times a day although fine with taking him for meals.

·Children not potty trained are not allowed in pool.

·The NCL website states that cribs are only available up to 2 years old – eek I hope they would let us have one.

 

 

So from this summary it looks like Carnival may be our best bet for a 2 year old, closely followed by P&O?

 

 

Does anybody know whether all these ships have buggy hire etc? If anybody can answer any of my questions or have their own experiences, I will really appreciate it!