packer99

AMEN! (and this is from someone cruising with an 11 year old who will BARELY be out of my sight.) I don't drink. I prefer to do family activities together. :)

I like to do family things too but there is only so many times I need to go down the waterslide as I get dizzy from too much motion. But I don't have problem with my kid going off for to ride down the slide a few times as a very good swimmer by himself.

I get the large groups of kids causing problems, but a couple of kids together off to do an activity on there own. Even thought its a family vacation, I don't need to be together 24/7 either. Plus I want to teach my kid some responsibility. At some point, you have let them off the leash even if its only for a little bit.

My son was 11 when we went on our first cruise last year. It was a family cruise but he was the only kid. We let him go to certain parts of the ship on his own. After watching him a few times on the ropes course, we would let him do that, go to the arcade, and head down the waterslides. He knew he would have to check in with us and also we used the Iconcierege app to communicate. I know at long dinners in the dining room, he would get served first and then would be done before we got our entrees. So we would let him go to the arcade to play a few games.

There was another thread that I mentioned this and I was accused of being a terrible parent. He knew he had to check in and with our phones we could see how much he was spending. He even went over on the arcade one day and he came to us right away and fessed up before we could even mention it to him. He is also a Boy Scout and has had some training. I think it has to do with the maturity of the kid, the ground rules you set and reminding them of not doing stupid stuff. He also knew full well of the consequences if he screwed up.

He was never gone more than an hour and he knew where we would be at all times. We wouldn't leave our location without him coming back etc.

As an NCL Board member I would have felt that the customer should come first not my group of friends.

We took our drivers license and ship card. But I also carried copies of our passports in my purse.

The disembarkation problems are all caused by the passengers. Everyone wants off right now, and they all start lining up early. With a little patience and after a leisurely breakfast there is no problem getting off. It is that way on every ship, the problems seem worse on the "away" class ships because they are so big. If you want to fix the problem you have to make some changes.

 

 

• Do away with self walk off.
  
• Stagger the times
  
• Delay boarding of the next cruise until 1:00 at the earliest
  
• Delay sail away by a couple of hours.
  

If they do these four things disembarkation all of a sudden becomes much smoother.

Totally agree with this. We were on the Escape. We picked a very late afternoon non-stop flight. We had a leisurely breakfast and walked off about 9:15-9:30. And we had our bags out the night before so we had was carry on. So much less stress.

I believe too its the impatience of people. You really think the process will go fast with 3500 of your closet friends, with the majority also carrying bags?

Also make a copy of your passports and call all your credit card companies and banks, tell them the dates and where you are going!! They could cancel your cards if they don't know about your trip. They could think somebody stole them.

I would rather be one of the last ones off the ship and sit in the airport for a little than panic to see if I can make a 10am flight.

I wouldn't do FLL if you want the 10:45am. It takes 45 minutes just to get there. Then what if customs holds you up, traffic, the ship is late. Too many variables for me.

If you are going to be there the day before, why not just get together with them the day before you board? Seems like an easier solution. I would hate to try to get on the ship then off, then back on embarkation day.

GTY means you booked a guaranteed cabin. This means, for a cheaper rate, you are letting the cruise line pick your cabin. You probably wont know what cabin it is until the cruise gets closer.

Casino has smoking

Thanks for the update. My parents are on your sailing. They weren't planning on getting off the ship today anyways. Although they are probably disappointed that they don't have the ship to themselves!

We just grabbed an Island Tour off the ship. I think it was $15-20 per person for 2 hours. We didn't have whole lot of time there either. They took us to the top peaks, stopped at a couple bar/souvenir shops etc. It was fine for the amount of time we had.

My dad was with us and he was 77 and wouldn't have been able to handle the Baths. And we had done a beach at St Thomas.

We kept it simple when we went to those ports. We paid for tours with the people waiting at the port. The most we paid for was $25 for a 2-3 hour tour. We hit Lindbergh Beach in St Thomas for a couple hours. Also spent a little time shopping. We had people in our group that didn't want to snorkel etc and I wanted to see the islands more than anything.

We are only planning 2 hours in the AM and 2 hours in the afternoon, so he can get out of the sun and pool and play with some other kids, and do activities. I think it will be great for him.

 

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Unfortunately I don't think he will be allowed in the pool if he isn't potty trained.

A Petition? What would that do? They can't just pull up to a port and say, here we are? There are rules and laws they have to follow and not alone that, there were probably other ships that had rights to the other ports first.

Sounds like it did suck, but they can't control the weather or high the seas were.

I have to admit, we brought sand back from each destination. It was maybe a 1/2 inch put in a small baggy. Then in Nassau we bought a small jar and put the sand in by order of Port. We sealed the jar and put in our suitcase. Not saying what we did is right but my husband is a world traveler and seen much more worse than little sand. No one questioned it.

12 days with a 3 year old...........without a balcony to escape too? Not sure on that one.

But that isn't nearly as bad as forgetting your wallet.........I must have checked my purse a billion times before I left to make sure my passport and wallet was still there.........LOL

They call it a service charge and not a gratuity that why.

If you think you are any sort of clausterphobic, then get the balcony. I don't think I could handle not having fresh air.

Plus early morning, or late at night if someone else wants to sleep, you can go out there and hang out.

Did you not read the part where it says she will be driving tonight?

The original post talked about being at the airport and getting on a flight.

Absolutely not other than verified service animals. Too many people wouldn't clean up after their dogs/cat. Imagine being in a cabin after the dog/cat peed in it. Who cleans it up?

People are allergic to them also. I couldn't imagine being in a cabin after someone else had their cat in there since I am allergic to them.

Remember, swim diapers only try to hold solids, not liquids. So when a kid is in a swim diaper, if they pee, they leak into to the pool too. Its disgusting.

Its why they have rules. I wouldn't try to "hide" the fact my kid isn't potty trained.

We loved the frozen drinks on the Escape. We had the UBP and it was awesome. No worries about a large bar bill at the end, and a couple bucks for a tip with your favorite bartender, had the drinks flowing as long as you wanted. It was worth it in my opinion.

Could it be they don't serve the "real stuff" because its pretty expensive to buy? When you are feeding the masses for breakfast, my guess, the cheaper the better. Real Maple Syrup is far higher in price.