ae_soleil

On 6/4/2022 at 4:38 PM, publicpersona said:

Everyone needs to stop thinking about formal or chic night in terms of what other people might think. Do what pleases you. For me, that used to be a tux. Then for a while it was shirt and tie. In recent years, I’ve dropped the tie. 
 

The simple truth is that unless you are very underdressed for any night (think tank top, shorts, and baseball cap), no one cares nor do they have any right to care. 

This is what I tried to explain to him haha but he cares, he just does. I can't change that about him. Probably a military officer thing. Can't break him of it 😆

Thank you, everyone, for all the responses. I appreciate it!

Hi all!

I know this is a rather silly question but what do YOU feel is the proper formal attire for men on formal nights? My husband is military and has always worn his dress blues. But he said this time around he just doesn't feel up to it. I think he's burnt out on the attention it tends to get (both positive and negative) and the space it take sup in our luggage. His typical go-to for 'fancier' occasions is khakis and a button down - does that suffice, or should he pull out the black slacks and blazer? This will be our first cruise in about 5 years and I feel a little out of touch with what 'is and is not' lol.

Hello all,

We just had an itinerary change and are now trying to find a dive excursion in June in Nassau with a ship that leaves at 5pm. Does anyone know of anything? We haven't been able to find anything that ends any earlier than 4:30. 

We've squeeze 4 in a cabin, but we learned that having two connecting staterooms was, by far, the BEST way to go, even with kids who were 2 and 4 at the time. We set one room for the kids, with their toys and belongings, and connected the portable DVD player to the TV. This was the "play room" while the other room was more of the quiet room where the kids (and adults!) took naps. At night we'd make sure that the connecting door was propped open and we'd block the door to the outside with a chair for added peace of mind.

 

As far as the kids program goes, our 2 yo daughter was too young for Adventure Ocean but she could attend Royal Babies and Tots for a fee. She absolutely loved it and attended a few times during our time at sea. Well worth it. Our son had also attended Royal Babies on a previous cruise when he was 15 months old and also loved it.

 

The best piece of advice that I can give you is that you don't overpack. They really don't need all the things that you may think they need on a vacation. I read about people bringing inflatable pools, large strollers, etc. Don't!

 

- Bring a handful of their favorite toys (which we brought in a small backpack) and leave the rest.

- Get some cheap and compact umbrella strollers for your time ashore, but don't bother with those huge transformer style strollers.

- Plan your activities ashore to minimize the use of transportation (many ports have plenty to do within walking distance) which means not having to worry about bringing car seats either. If you're driving to the port, leave all the extra junk in the car.

- Take advantage of the ship's laundry. You don't need to pack 3 daily outfits per kid. Just send your laundry out once or twice during the cruise. Yes, it costs money but it will make your vacation more enjoyable.

 

Most importantly, understand that the experience will be different than cruising without kids. You may not get to do everything that you traditionally like to do. You may want to dress them up on formal night and go to the MDR, but they may feel like going to the buffet in whatever the are wearing and eating mac and cheese (happened to us more than once [emoji23]).

 

Finally, set aside some time for mom and dad. Yes, it's a family vacation, but we've learned that being tied together 24/7 isn't enjoyable for everyone. You don't want to look back and think of how exhausting your vacation was because you didn't take any breaks.

 

And one more thing; some people may try to discourage you from taking young kids on a cruise. Either they haven't done it, or they haven't done it right. It's a wonderful experience, and even if the kids are too young to remember it, you and your husband will. Our kids have been cruising since they were 15 months old and have been on 6 cruises even though they are now only 5 and 7 years old. No regrets.

 

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All of this was EXCELLENT advice, thank you! I never even thought about using laundry services to cut down on clothes. That's a huge help.We were planning on just bringing one umbrella stroller for the littlest. We have a ginormous double stroller that I would never in my wildest dreams even attempt to bring on a cruise haha.

We fully plan on utilizing the nursery at least a couple times so that we can do an excursion and go see a show, but with 2 of them in there I know we won't be going too crazy with it since it gets awfully expensive.

MY husband and I, and our three little ones, and my father in law will all be taking a cruise over Thanksgiving.

We've never cruised with the kids before. At the time of cruising, they'll be 1, 2 and 3.

What's the easiest way you've gone cruising with kids this little? Is our only real room option to get two adjoining rooms?

I've been trying to do my own research on the website but over the last couple days it hasn't really been working out.

THANK YOU so much for posting this! We're cruising later this year with our youngest 2 kids, who will be 12 months and 22 months at time of cruising and its encouraging to see little ones having so much fun, our other cruises have always been without our kids.

For the record, there is also in-room babysitting, at $19/hour, usually 2-hour maximum per session. Booked through Guest Services in advance, they assign two pre-screened and trained off-duty crew members whom you can meet in advance. DW (moopetswife) has previously written more about this service, which we had found to be excellent each time we used it.

 

For Explorer and Oasis, we had babysitting every night during our late-seating dinner -- allowing DD to be in the stateroom for bed time. Was obviously a bit expensive at $38 per night but worth it to have some time to ourselves. We had requested the same sitters every night for consistency/familiarity and they honoured the request.

Do you know if in-room sitting is $19/hour PER child?

Yeah, unfortunately we've decided to cancel. We figure there's no point in going on a cruise if we won't actually be able to enjoy doing all the things we'd planned on. If they were a few years older it'd be much easier but we cruise for the destinations and excursions the most and since we won't be able to do the things we'd initially planned we decided its just not worth it. We'll take all of our kids to Disney for a 4 day weekend instead. haha.

I'm looking for information too. When my kids were little, they had to be three for the adventure ocean club. My brother is cruising shortly with their triplet two year olds and it seems now ships have a nursery you can check little ones into, although the info I'm finding varies greatly! Not sure it's on all ship - and can't find consistent pricing. They're sailing on the Brilliance.

 

 

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I had read that it was $8/hour/child which would get crazy expensive very quickly!

Its looking like our next cruise, we might have to be accompanied by our 1 yr old and 2 yr old because none of our family is willing to watch them for 8 days. So I'm wondering, those of you who have cruised with little ones, how does it work out? We were hoping this would be our much needed break from our kids (our older 3 have plans, its just the 2 "babies" we can't work anything out for) but now I'm trying to determine if we should cancel or if we can still have fun and do everything we wanted to do.

We did a Rasul when we sailed on Explorer, but I can't confirm if they offer it on the Oasis. Can anyone tell me if you know?

I'm a licensed massage therapist, I don't need their crazy expensive massages, I just want the room and the scrubs and my husband and I'm good. Haha. TIA.