JeniferO

Hello! Leaving on the Magic next week!

Originally my family of 5 was reserved for late seating and wait listed to early seating. We recently got put into early. Thoughts on which is better? (I got used to the idea of late seating since we had no choice, but I don't love eating at 8-9pm!) Our kids are 8, 12, and 14.

Also, attire for my kids -- is it ok if they wear their athletic shorts and nicer tee shirt? What about shoes? Sneakers or flip flops? Or do they need a "nicer" shoe? Last year we were on RCCL and the boys wore collared shirts and khakis (which they do not love lol)

Thanks!

thank you for all of this info. It will be like a brand-new ship to me!

We selected 11:30 for the port arrival time (It was the earliest option) Curious -- do people on Disney transport get in earlier?

Thank you, I will do that. What is the Port Arrival Time system? (I'll google that too lol)

Hello! I am sailing on the Magic for the second time (last time was 2010) and I believe the ship has gone through 1 or 2 dry docks. Wondering what has changed over the last 9 years for anyone who has been on it then and now! Thanks! Jen

Thank you. Residence Inn sounds good! I will check it out!

We will be traveling and staying on Feb 12th. Our budget is flexible, but I would say $300-400 would be good. Thank you!!!!

Hello, I am looking for a nice hotel with room for our family of 5 (preferably a suite-type of hotel) for one night before we head on our cruise. We get in around 9pm so it really will be just a place to sleep before we head to the port the next morning. Any ideas that is also convenient to the port?

Also -- what is the earliest time we can fly back after we disembark? Would 10:50am out of Miami be okay?

Thanks!

Would love your feedback on whether to purchase wi-fi while on board. On one side, I would love our family to unplug. Plus, it seems to be expensive. On the other side, it would be a great way for us all to communicate while separated on board, and we can keep on top of the news, enjoy surfing, reading, etc.

Would love your thoughts!

Hello, sailing this week with 9 other family members! What is the best way to communicate with each other while on board? We were hoping to all un-plug a bit, so I wasn't sure if we were going to buy the wi-fi package, but we would like to be able to find each other on board. Thoughts? (Going on Independence)

Thanks!

Thanks for this info!

Good Lord. Booted off the ship. That happens ALOT. Jeez Ok so I have kids from 16-8 and we were on the Anthem. 16,15, 11, 8. My two older girls 16, and 15 had their own stateroom and I only saw them at dinner. They would occasionally let their 11 year old brother hang with them in the seaplex. I would also let the girls take their 8 year old brother with them. A couple of times we let the 11 year old take the 8 year old directly to the seaplex and back with a specific time to return--no deviations. We also let the boys go to Sorrento's to get pizza (which by the way they frequently brought to the MDR with them). Rules included not going in any else's stateroom and no one in their stateroom.

 

I can't really comment too much about the cross over of ages in the kids club. Sadly my 8 year old didn't want to hang there.

 

You are going to have the best time. My 15 year old pulled her sweatshirt over he head and cried off an on for the 1.5 hour drive home...she loved it.

Thank you... all good things to remember!

They will be fine. Just make sure you set very definite rules. Ship is no different than a small city. Make sure you set times to meet, check in with them, etc. Reinforce rules about "strangers" also things like going into cabins of other passengers, even other kids - they don't really "know" them. Also, make sure they understand that their Seapass card doesn't mean things are free! Many kids don't comprehend that arcade games, shops, etc. are not free as they don't need money.

Heading on the Indy this Thursday! We considered Nachi but have 5 kids with us (ages 5-13). We were thinking this wouldn't be a great spot for kids (though the 5 adults would love it) Thoughts??

A DAY AT COZUMEL:

Hubby and I have been to Cozumel several times, and quite honestly we were not sure what to do with our day here. Had it just been the two of us we probably would have stayed on the ship, after all, we were just there in May of last year when we sailed on the Oasis. That time we did the dolphin swim excursion with Dolphinaris and loved it. We knew that dad was on a budget and although he had expressed interest in going to the ruins months ago, we explained to him that it was a FULL day and that it was something we thought ultimately he wouldn't enjoy as much as he thought it would. In past cruises, we have heard many people rave about Nachi Cocom and in the end, we decided to book our day there.

Our beautiful sunrise off our balcony as we came into Cozumel

We quickly got off the ship after breakfast in the Windjammer and made our way to the taxi station to get a cab. It will cost you $18 each way to Nachi and is a quick 15-minute ride. Once there, we were lead to our spot for the day and enjoyed the view of the beautiful turquoise water.

The beauty of Nachi is that they limit the number of people to only 130 per day. To be honest, I don't even think that they had those many people there that day. It was not crowded at all. Our server/bartender started coming around about 10:30 to get drink orders and he came by regularly. The drinks were not watered down and there was no limit to what they could make you.

At some point, someone came around with menus for us to view to choose what we wanted to eat.

The food was so good!

I highly recommend doing Nachi. For $55/person with all, you can eat and drink it is quite a value. Should we ever find ourselves back in Cozumel we would definitely go back to Nachi again.

Thank you, this is very helpful! I wouldn't want my 10 year old with 17 year olds so that makes sense! ;) This is a tough age lol.

Yes, your 10 yr old can walk around the ship with the 13 yr old, absolutely no problem. As far as moving the 10 yr old up into the teen program with the 13 yr old, that won't happen. The teen program combines all the kids together a lot of the time and they will not let a 10 yr old hang out with the 17 yr olds.

 

Adventure Ocean will most likely let your 6 yr old move down, not the 5 yr olds move up.

Kids can sign themselves out of Adventure Ocean with parental approval starting at age 9. Not a big fan of letting kids just “roam” - they should have a specific destination. A periodic spot check might be in order. Doubt they will let the 5 year old move up - more likely the older child will be permitted to move down if not too crowded.

Thank you!

We let our kids wander around the ship when they were that age as long as they stayed together. It was no problem. We had a set meeting time and place and they had to check in with us periodically. They loved the freedom and we never had any problem. They never would go to the kids club at that age....but this was years ago. They have improved them significantly. We must have done something right as they are now adults and they still want to go with us cruising. We are taking our granddaughter on her 2nd cruise with us this fall. She loves it, but we make her go to the kids club as we can't keep up with her otherwise! Some kids love the kids clubs, ours didn't so we didn't force it. We just had rules--they had a budget and could buy what they wanted as long as they kept their budget. It was always fun watching them try and decide how to spend their money. Just make sure you are aware the kids can go into the arcade and run up a big bill if you don't limit them!

thank you for this helpful info!

Kids can sign themselves out of Adventure Ocean with parental approval starting at age 9. Not a big fan of letting kids just “roam” - they should have a specific destination. A periodic spot check might be in order. Doubt they will let the 5 year old move up - more likely the older child will be permitted to move down if not too crowded.

thank you for the info!

My kids will most definitely not be out until 1am, and they are extremely well behaved. Not sure this answers what I was looking for. I was just wondering if my almost 11 year old can walk around the ship during the day with his brother.

During spring break and summer, you can expect them to be very strict ages. Curfew is 1 am. However kids who are disruptive will be held by security u til mom and dad come and get them, with a stern warning that further incidents will result in being booted from the ship

 

 

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Hi, we set sail next week (!!!) on the Independence. Traveling with 5 kids of various ages. Curious if anyone knows:

- Is RCCL flexible with allowing kids who are in different age brackets to move? (i.e. we have two kids who are 5 and one who is 6, we would love them to be together. We also have one son who is just shy of 11 and another who is 13 and they do everything together)

- How old can kids be to just walk around on their own? Can my almost 11 year old hang out and walk around with his brother?

Any must-do activities great for the whole family on board?

Thanks! Jen

Thanks!

We have a group of 14, ages 3 to 75. We decided on Chankanaab. Hopefully it's enough variety told keep Everyone happy.

 

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We decided on the same! Thanks for your feedback!

Looking for a great excursion or itinerary of what to do while in port (on a Sunday, if that means anything)

Ages of kids are 5-13.

Some people in the group are not into touching/swimming with Stingrays.

Any ideas of what would make an awesome day would be appreciated!!!

Hello, headed to Cozumel at the end of the month with my family (with kids ages 6, 11 and 13). My husband and I have been before many years ago and were not impressed.

We are open to any great excursion. Beach, ruins, jeep, anything that is amazing. We are pretty active people (though we have a 6 year old, so major hikes, etc we probably can't do yet) We prefer to not book through the cruise line (RCCL) but again are open to suggestions.

Thanks!

Thank you for this info. What site did you use to see the table sizes to make your request? Heading out on the Indy with our family and extended family (10 total) on March 29th. Thank you!

 

About the pre-planning I did was to email Royal 49 days out and requested a table. Don’t laugh, someone else from my roll call beat me to making the request so it goes to show you that just because you rank 9.8 on the anal scale of 1 to 10, there will always be 9.81 and 9.82+ level people out there.

 

For those who don’t know, you can email Royal to make a specific request. RCLDining@rccl.com

 

My request was for table for 8 on deck 4 next to the balcony railing. Simple, no?

 

Then they emailed back to confirm you have the table. We were assigned table 468. The map below is the MDR for deck 4. The number on the top is table number, the number below is size of table. Do note this changes by seating by sailing such that sometimes they can change the table to make changes between 4 to 6 to 8 on an as needed basis.

 

At least I thought that was all settled. Will explain more on why this thing fell apart by time I get to day 1:

 

 

 

Rental agencies close to Port Everglades with shuttles to the cruise terminals:

 

Hertz from Crown Plaza Hotel

Avis from Pier 66

Budget on 17th in shopping center next to Renaissance Hotel

Sixt further up 17th.

Thrifty/Dollar just out western port exit.

Thank you Clarea. I'm assuming most of these have terminals at the airport as well? Have you ever picked up a rental just for the day post-cruise?

We are flying into FLL in March for a cruise later in the week out of Ft. Lauderdale. Our first stop is to visit with family in Boca, and then on to the cruise a few days later.

Best advice for our situation?

Looking for a rental in FLL airport terminal for ease when we arrive in FLL

and then looking to return the car close to the port and then hopping on a shuttle? (Is this easiest/best way?)

Also, when we return off the cruise, we have about 9 hours before our return flight. Ideas on re-renting a car for the day, or best way to kill the time before our flight? (Not sure what to do with the luggage for 6 people)

Thanks!

We just booked two balcony cabins that are connecting for our family of five (kids ages 6, 10, and 13). I spoke with our travel agent about my concerns with the balcony door and I feel good knowing about the safety lock and glass. I think two connecting balconies is best for a larger family. I plan to leave the connecting door open so I know whats going on. Good luck!