bubba83

This coming year I will get about 6 weeks total of vacation time which includes all the holidays off....

if I had the money to do so I would probably take several a year....some of those would probably be without the husband because he rather hunt and be in the woods :D

There is a really nice pool area at Margaritaville. Not a bad place to spend a few hours. And it's so convenient.

 

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Nice little outing.

So there were kiddos in the pool? And is the pool free. Our kiddos will be 3 and 5.5 when we sail here and I really don't like the idea of paying for a beach/all inclusive excursion....so we could possibly go to Margaretville and have some adult beverages and swim with the kiddos a bit as a nice option...

FYI you will have to pay for a full renewal to change your name on your passport. I have opted to just wait until mine is expiring to change the name there. As such, I book cruises in my maiden name. It wasn't worth it to me to change the name on a passport that was still going to be valid for several years.

I did not have to pay for a full renewal to change my name on my passport after we married. We went on a cruise for our honeymoon so on the cruise my last name was my maiden name on all of our documents, my drivers license and my passport since we sailed the day after we married. When we got home and I worked on changing my name on every single thing it was on (drivers license, SS card, bills, etc) I just applied for the name change as well and the turn around was fairly quick. I don't remember if there was even a fee other than mailing it, and if there was it was minimal. I remember getting my old passport back with a hole they punched into it, and they even used the same picture for my new passport that was on my old one.

Studies have shown that babies should be rear faced in a car seat now until at least 2 years old and longer if possible, because of this your little one, not even being 2 at the time of travel, should be in a car seat even while flying. You never know how much turbulence or god forbid an accident that could happen which could cause your little one to be jerked around and cause injury. You should NEVER check a car seat while flying because even though it may look okay when you pick it up, you don't know if any unseen damage was done which could compromise the car seat.

I would say purchase a light weight car seat to fly and travel with, you can use it in a taxi/van after the air port, and while on the cruise you can store the car seat in your closet.

Thanks for the warning about the room life jackets. I wouldn't have even thought of that (and hopefully nothing we would actually need as those would be for emergency).

 

Mia, good point that a ship's pool can be different too from a regular pool. Thanks for the feedback that you did get life jackets. I think I'll look into getting one, even if its just for this trip. Better to be safe than sorry.

I don't believe you are allowed to use the emergency life jackets that are in the rooms to swim in the pool. They are for emergency use only. You could either bring your own life jackets or bring arm floaties, small blow up tube for the kiddos.

following we are doing the 10 day western in April :)

I understand that the weather can't be controlled, but we had a lot of other problems with this cruise. We just didn't list everything on the post from our roll call.

I'm not trying to get everyone upset, but when a server drops not one but 2 beverages on you during formal night and he doesn't care about cleaning up the mess that was made by the beverages.

I just didn't think it was necessary to list all of our complaints on here, so if I was wrong for asking where to send a letter than I'm very sorry, but when we spend our hard earn money for a nice vacation and you have problems that could have been fixed, you do get very discourged.

Im not sure what your expectation is as far as some type of resolution or compensation will be coming from RC now that the cruise is over. Its best to address the concerns while still on the ship....did you do that for any of these, other than the weather, which can not be controlled by the cruise line so although the bad weather put a damper on your cruise nothing can be done about that.

I am not much help as I haven't cruised over Christmas or new years but I am sure you can make it just as fun as if you were at home.

The ships decorate for Christmas with at least one huge tree.....(from the videos I have seen on youtube) and ring in the new year as well.

Pack a little Christmas tree for your room...if you have a balcony, buy some battery operated lights for the balcony railing.... window clings for the mirror or window...and maybe some magnetic decorations for your stateroom door....you could even pack a few birthday decorations or pay for the birthday package for your one who will be turning 6.

And then pack a few gifts for each kiddo for Christmas and have them open them up on Christmas morning.

I think this would be less stressful as I wouldn't have to worry about cooking Christmas dinner and then cleaning it up :)

This is NOT a body shaming post, more of a hygiene shaming, but I just thought of something that I saw back in 2009 on the Explorer. As we all know, the showers in the cabins are tubular. Very small for large people.

 

 

 

I am a very early riser. I had gone up to the lido deck to get a cup of coffee and take a couple of pictures of the sun rise.

 

 

 

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a VERY large couple approaching one of the hot tubs. They had towels and other things in tow. (could not see what they were). The hot tubs were not running at that time and I thought it was strange that they were in them at this hour...not running....and at dawn.

 

 

 

After a couple of minutes of observing, I realized that she was shampooing her hair. OMG......they were taking baths in the hot tub. Ewwwwwww.

 

 

 

As I have already stated, you could not pay me to get into one of those things.

Peoples filth and dead skin is going to come off in a hot tub regardless of using shampoo or not [emoji3]

OK, I'm on Periscope,com, I don't see anywhere to search for Villain, I keep watching the video, we do things people love. Sorry for being so dense! :D

If you click on the bottom where the three people are, a new page will load... Then at top left of that page is the magnifying glass which is the search icon, click on that then type in his periscope screen name

Great scope, just watched it, sorry couldn't make it live was at the beach, no rain in New York! If you want to switch places just let me know! Have a great cruise!

 

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It's sunny skies there now! Great for sail away!

They just got the clear to let the lines go... Happy sailing!!

Look like sail away is delayed a little... They had to take some passengers off the ship for some reason... It's a husband and wife....Listening and watching the port Everglades webcam :)

Make sure the ship you choose has a splash/pool area for babies in swim diapers unless the 1.5 year old is fully potty trained at time of sailing....

And maybe to save you some $ would the 1 adult be willing to share a room with one or two kiddos from the group of 5? That way you are only booking 4 cabin vs possibly 5?

from what I have gathered through different post is that the shot with gratuity could possibly cost you as much as a fuzzy navel would any ways...

I would suggest getting a travel agent or booking directly over the phone with an agent from the cruise line itself. There are some rooms on cruise lines that hold 5, but they are few and book fast. If you are comfortable with two connecting rooms or side by side or across from one another, that would be your best bet.

Last year Royal had a few sales that were great for families...when we booked they had a deal where the 3rd and 4th passenger were half off. They also did a kids sail free deal that some took advantage of. But it is hard to determine when those sales would be....

Its best to book as early as possible and then if price drops before your final payment date you MAY be eligible to get that price drop and save some money.

Flying is so expensive so I am right there with you as far as needing to drive to the port to save on expenses.

Keep in mind to also prepare for onboard purchases, gratuities (even have to be paid for the kiddos), drink packages or drink purchases, and specialty dining, and if you have to use the paid child care at all....

And try to find a ship that has a child swim area incase your little one isn't potty trained yet, they will not be allowed into the pool unless it is a designated area for babies still in swim diapers. (We were pretty diligent in getting our 2 year old trained this summer for our upcoming cruise in April, she will be an early 3 year old and the ship we are going on has no swim diaper areas available and she would not have been able to go to the kids club)

Just to give you an idea we paid a little over $3300 for our family of 4 for a 10 day cruise, that included our prepaid gratuities I added to the booking. Our travel agent also gave us $100 onboard credit to use once on ship. We will then only have to worry about onboard expenses and our drinks (probably getting a package)..we don't do the special dinning that cost more and we may or may not do any excursions as they would cost more as well.

I would also recommend getting travel insurance for your family, which can be purchased through a travel agent if you use one. We received a quote for a little over $100...that would protect us on canceling after final payment if needed, if we missed the ship on boarding day or at a port, and any medical emergencies if they happen while on vacation....I don't want any of these things to happen but it feels nice to have insurance in the event something did.

and I know I am rambling on, but some say cruising with kids is expensive when really it isn't. We did a 7 day trip to the beach last year where we split a condo with other family....it was a 14 hr drive to and from...after you add in all the meals, gas, entertainment, and shopping for souvenirs etc...I am certain we spent a little over $3000 and that vacation wasn't even as long as this upcoming cruise!

If in your cabin just take a bigger cup/mug with you that you could get the tap water as hot as possible and have bottle of milk warm in that....

if its formula that you have to mix with water anyways...just have your bottles of water always sit out at room temp that way it wont take as long to warm...

when we transitioned our two kiddos from warm milk to cold milk (was close to the time they went to cows milk)...I would do have cold milk mixed in their bottle with the warm milk...so it wasn't super cold like right out of the fridge.....I don't think they noticed the gradual change as much...

I think you also have to keep in mind that an older crowd is expected as all schools are now back in and families typically wont take vacations at the beginning of the school year.

Oh also...don't forget a chap stick that has sunblock in it!

Nothing like burnt red puffy lips for those cruise pictures :D

We had to use the medical facility nearly 7 years ago on our honeymoon cruise, I am sure things have changed but there was no way we could avoid going. My husband nearly passed out at the muster station. While we both just through he was recovering from 2 days of wedding drinking he had a bad stomach bug. We BOTH were stuck in our room for 48 hours on our 5 day honeymoon cruise. There was no compensation as far as cruise credit, and honestly I wouldn't expect one, it wasn't the cruise lines fault my husband fell ill.

The nurse and dr on board a the time were very nice to both of us, they supplied him with ample meds to get this thing to end quickly, which we were not charged for. My fear was we wouldn't be able to cruise! But all was well. He was feeling much better probably about 30 hours into our cruise. I stayed as far away from him as possibly, HAHA.

The room service menu had some soups on there he chose and then tried some sandwiches later on when all was starting to get better. And they brought us plenty of bottle of water free of charge and ginger ale (but we had the soda package at the time).

Our room attendant made sure to check in what seemed like often, and he even made jokes about the "Ship A Rockin" cause we were on our honeymoon, but I wouldn't go near hubby at all....but it was a good laugh!

All in all we laugh about it now and I tell my husband he owes me another honeymoon cruise.....

and just an FYI, the ships medical team are not on the ship often, typically its just a few weeks and then they switch out...they are contracted out through the cruise line.

TUMS!

or something along those lines for acid reflux/heart burn.....like prilosec

Terri, I was afraid of other people posting on the board or even changing what you write. There will be six in all. My husband and me, our son/daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. It will be hard to get together for breakfast because we will be getting up at different times but perhaps we can go over things the night before instead. We also have our favorite place to hang out that they know about so they could usually find us there. But we do sometimes change our plans and don't necessarily want to be tied down. Just curious as to what others do. We most likely will not have WI-FI due to the cost.

There are 13 of us going so far on our April cruise (3 of those are children)...But anyway, we all have the same dinning time so we will most likely discuss possible plans for next day at dinner. But all of us are going into it knowing that we all can do what we want so we don't feel tied down. We (my family of 4) are the only ones who are not booked on the same floor as one another so communication will be difficult. But we all pretty much share the same interest- drinks by the pool...so I know where I should be able to find other family and friends if need to.

Looking forward to following along.

Either find a friend who is 21 to go with on this particular cruise or book the cruise when you or your friend are 21.....

It's been RC's policy for quite some time, so you can't be mad really....if anyone to be mad at I would be mad at your TA for even trying to book you two knowing one of you are not 21

I guess another option could be for you guys to get married, lol since then you would be allowed

Also the arcade on the ship isn't free, just and FYI