scubaslayer

I guess the big question is how it compares to Freedom class with a full holiday sailing (lots of kids)? I already vetoed anything other than aft if we go with the deck 14. No way I want to be near Adventure Ocean. Kids are teens now and probably will be off doing their own thing together. They know to stay paired up for safety. As for the adults, I just want to forget work exists and relax, read, eat, and have some family time. Definitely looking forward to the shows. Thankfully our schedules are slightly more flexible since the kids attend an online school and college courses.

That is my big concern. I don't want to feel like we are elbow to elbow with other people. We travel in 2 rooms, because everyone that says a 2nd bathroom is the best is right. Plus it is my vacation 2 and being separated from the teens is good for all of us. I do expect crowds when waiting for shows and getting on and off at ports and seats at the pool on sea days. Our last Liberty sailing was full but it was in October.

Currently looking at dates for Harmony of the seas. This will be the biggest ship we have traveled on. Past family cruises have been on Liberty in October and one Christmas cruise. How bad is it for crowds in the first couple of weeks in June? Is Memorial day departure worse (probably not possible due to work but still looking)? If the crowds are too bad at these times, is Harmony less crowded feeling in late September or October? We will be traveling with 2 teens, so Adventure Ocean is not a concern but I know they are planning to hit all of the slides, pools, and available food.

Yes we would be booking 2 rooms that are adjacent. Of course the booking would have a parent in each room on paper. This part is pretty standard for all cruise lines. Thank you for those that answered the drink question and had ship recommendations. Now I just need to make decisions and nail down when I can get time off.

For Disneyworld/land they are an adult at 10 for pricing. For what it is worth, at 10-12 my kids started eating adult sized meals.

No chance of Icon this year. I already looked. Galveston is driving or a direct flight, so cheaper. We don't live near a hub airport. Our home airport is small and the nearest larger airport is 5 hours away. Driving to Houston takes about 9 hours. Fly or drive will depend on deals for flights. Right now flying in the fall is stupid high rates but I know prices will drop.

Day before trip is going to depend a lot on my work schedule and what time I can secure off. Unfortunately that is hard to gauge more than a month in advance. Last time we had to drive to the port the day before we sailed and we were exhausted by the time we got to Houston. If we are driving, I am going to try to get there 2 nights ahead, 1 night ahead if flying in. We have gone to the pier, and Moody gardens in the past, so pretrip fun is usually decided by the kids. Last time we just went to The Spot for lunch before boarding.

We are planning a fall cruise with 2 teens (15 &17) as our last family vacation with 2 "kids". Right now we are between the 7 day Harmony out of Galveston or the 7 day Navigator out of LA. Previously the kids have cruised on Liberty out of Galveston and done the Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel itinerary. We are looking to go somewhere different. Youngest will probably not have a passport for this fall (expiring and so close to 16), so closed loop out of US is needed. I would be willing to consider other ships and ports but the price would need to compare when adding higher priced airfare (can drive to LA or Galveston or get direct flight). Youngest said we should just stick to Liberty because they like consistency but of course Liberty is no longer in Galveston (last cruise 2021). Family is fairly introverted and kids have never enjoyed the clubs but waterslides are a must, as well as 2 balcony rooms. We would really like a fun itinerary with good food and some arts, history, and maybe some beach time. As much as I would like a day of diving there are medical reasons that likely make this a no go for at least this year but snorkeling in calm water would probably be ok.

We are looking for a fall cruise with 2 teens (15 &17). We have previously sailed on Liberty of the Seas with Royal but are open to trying something different. I am trying to understand the included drink package but since they are under 21 what would they get? The drink package on Royal let them get mocktails, plus all the sodas juice, and bottled waters. Also what ships would you recommend? Waterslides are a must have and a fun itinerary. We have already done Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Is the atmosphere on Norwegian similar to Royal? We are kind of a laid back group that keeps to themselves. I have yet to get them to go to the kids or teen clubs. They mostly ditch the parents and hangout together now. We also will travel in 2 balconies but could do a 2 bedroom suite if the price and amenities matched up but teens must have own bedroom and bathroom because how dare we all cram into one room with their parents now.

We are looking for a cruise between August and December of this year to somewhere warm. The teens are 15 (possibly 16 depending on sale date) and 17. They have cruised twice on Royal on Liberty of the Seas. Right now we are looking at Harmony or Navigator but have been contemplating trying other lines as well. The only must have for the ship is waterslides and either 2 balcony rooms or a 2 bedroom suite that is reasonably priced (ie comparable to 2 separate rooms plus the extras that are included in a suite) for the 4 of us. Also we would really want an itinerary with something besides Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Those places are great but both of our previous cruises were the same itinerary. Also youngest kid will probably not have a new passport so US loop cruise is necessary. We live the same driving distance from Galveston and LA but could fly if the price is good enough.

And if you do drink a lot of sodas, bottled waters, fresh juices and fancy coffees subtract the cost of the refreshment package and re-figure the number of alcoholic drinks to see if it is a good price. If you are 1-2 drinks a day it probably isn't worth it but for many it is a good deal for their vacation and no worries about the bill at the end.

Pre-trip for us was the drive on Saturday, the day before the cruise. We chose to cruise from a port we could drive to since 4 flights would have greatly reduced our spending ability. Unfortunately, there are only 2/3 ports that fit this and both are approximately 12 hours away. The best options for the week of fall break for the kids was Galveston. We had the car mostly loaded and ready to go Friday night after I got home from work, and we left Saturday morning at about 5am. First stop was 5 minutes later at Dutch Bros and then we hopped onto I-10 to get the drive done. I hate driving on I-10 across the state. It is a long and very boring drive with no stops for long periods of time. 2nd stop was at about the 2-hour mark for bathroom and to clean the windows to reduce the glare of the sun. We topped off the gas tank and had to stop at McDonalds because of course by 7am people wanted greasy food. We skipped lunch and just had gas station snacks because the kids started seeing Buc-EEs signs and wanted to stop there. We got to Houston and stopped for dinner at a Longhorn Steakhouse at 5 (4 on our home time zone) and proceeded to our hotel. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn Hobby International airport. It was right off I-45 south of Houston. It was cheap, had breakfast, free parking, free wi-fi, and we just needed a place to sleep. Unfortunately, the beds are rock hard, and it needs to be updated but it was cheap. Breakfast was typical edible but not great. The 4th floor was surprisingly quiet considering our view of the interstate and the proximity to the airport. Day 1- We left the hotel to head to Galveston around 10 when my oldest asked to stop to buy a hairbrush because hers broke. Thankfully there are 3 or 4 Walmarts along I-45 headed toward Galveston. We stopped and bought a couple of hairbrushes (why buy 1, when you can get 2?), some hair accessories, and a Monster that remained unopened to carry on to the ship. Also decided to go ahead and grab cash for taxis and tips while in port. Finally in Galveston at 11am and headed over to The Spot for lunch by kid request and sat with a view of Pleasure Pier and the beach. After lunch we headed to the port a little early to drop checked bags and to park at Port of Galveston Lot B. We had reserved in advance and parking was quick and simple. Waiting for the shuttle was about 15 minutes. Our check-in time was at 1pm but they went ahead and let us through at 12:30. The security line took a good 20 minutes to get to the front but the rest of the check-in, pictures, and heading up the gangway took less than 10 minutes. We were onboard right about 1 and headed to check in with the lifeboats and headed to the rooms. By 1:30 we were in our rooms. By 3 we met our stateroom attendant and asked for the beds to be separated in the kids’ room, but the teens asked we leave the balcony divider closed. We pretty much hung out in the rooms until time for dinner except a walk to the pool deck for drinks and some desserts from Windjammer. While getting ready for Sail away we got to see a pod of dolphins playing in the waves created by the ship. We went to dinner, walked around the ship, and went back to the room to unpack our bags which had arrived right before dinner. Day 2 – Seaday and we took advantage of a relaxing nothing planned day. Started the day at Café Promenade for Starbucks and a donut for 1 kid. Then adults and other kids headed to breakfast in the main dining room. Later we went up to the crowded pool deck but were able to grab some chairs near the splash zone. Kids enjoyed ice cream but wished it was still self-serve and there was only chocolate, vanilla or swirl, but no strawberry. Spent the day hanging by the pool, lunch in main dining room, took a nap, and the teens went to hang out and explore without us but didn’t want to join teen activities. They did go to a late night showing of Jurassic World Dominion and got back to the room close to midnight. Day 3 – Cozumel is one of my favorite places but post covid infection my desire to go for a couple of dives was a no go. Instead, we booked a food tour through Cozumel Chef. Gerardo (Gerry) our guide was fantastic. His family was in town for a reunion and joined us. We stopped for tacos, quesadillas, a soup, went to tour a local market, went for fish, then final stop was a bakery. I really wish we could have taken baked goods onto the ship, but we managed to eat them all before boarding. On board we got ready for dinner and after that I believe we all passed out from too much food and the rocking of the ship. Day 4 – Grand Cayman is a nice port but between the need to tender and no one wanting to snorkel we decided to stay on the ship. My oldest had all the slides to herself, chairs at the main pool were plentiful, and the pool never had more than a few people in it. We napped, read, and had a relaxing fun day. It was a perfect vacation day. Day 5 – Jamaica we had booked an excursion with Chukka for tubing, rum tasting, and Good Hope. Unfortunately, after this was booked 3 months earlier, 2 days before we were informed our trip was canceled since we were on a cruise ship, and we would be required to book through them. Of course, no tours were available by this point, so we opted to do a beach day instead. The excursion desk was unhelpful in telling me about the different options, so we decided to get information once we were off the ship and go on our own. We took a taxi to Blue Waters, rented a cabana, bought the buffet lunch, and spent the day playing at the beach before going back to port for some shopping. Jamaica is a place I would love to go for a week or two. It never feels like enough time on the ship. Day 6 & 7 – More time at sea and more time relaxing, napping, reading, and eating. Husband and I went to a couple of the trivia things and the kids mostly hung out together eating and at the pool or chilling in their room. Day 8 – Disembarkation was smooth. I messed up the information and ended up with us carrying our luggage. This worked out in our favor as we were off the ship, through customs, and had the car loaded by 7:30. We headed for home, making one last stop at a Buc-EEs. It was a bit sad realizing it was back to reality but hey the pets were happy we came home.

It has taken a week to get around to writing my review since I was back to work by Wednesday. This was our 2nd time on Liberty on the same western itinerary (Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica) but the last time was a few years ago on a Christmas cruise, pre-covid. We traveled as a family with 2 adults and 2 teens (13 &15) on our first vacation since summer 2019. We drove to the port and had connecting balcony rooms on deck 8. Overall, it was a great cruise, and we were sad to see it end. One kid asked what would happen if we just didn’t leave. Overview – This trip was great. 3/4th of the family is introverted, and we like to keep to ourselves. The other 1/4th isn’t that interested in adventuring out to make new friends and is ok with staying with the rest of us. Since we hadn’t had a vacation in 3 years and both adults have high stress jobs, we really needed a laid back, relaxing trip and this was perfect for that. The ship is showing her age and could use a dry dock to replace carpeting and repaint, but it is still a beautiful ship and most of what we saw was cosmetic though our balcony door needed to be repaired but it still worked. The slides are kind of meh and need more waterflow to get rid of the slow spots but they are still fun. Rooms – We had standard balcony rooms that were connecting. They aren’t anything fancy but having 2 bathrooms was great. If one person was taking too long there was another bathroom available. There was plenty of space for our things and empty luggage it nicely under the bed. The couches were not pull outs, but we did not need them to be. There was signal interference or something so the shows on the TV were sometimes shaky. The kid channels seemed to be Nickelodeon and had Avatar and Legend of Kora and mostly older shows. The movies we saw were Jurassic World Dominion, Minions: Rise of Gru, Greatest Showman, and Thor: Love and Thunder. We do not do the internet package so what was downloaded on phones, tablets, and the Tv was all we had. We have T-mobile with a plan that includes Mexico and the Caribbean and had data and texting on port days. The kids acted like we were trying to kill them but with others reporting bad connectivity it didn’t seem worth the cost. Our stateroom attendant was phenomenal. By the 2nd day he knew our names and recognized us. It seems like he did this for all his rooms, and he made it a point to say hello and talk to us. The beds in the kids’ room were separated by the time we got back from dinner on night 1. The connecting door was a small door near the beds in the rooms. It was not able to be locked but it could be closed. Having the balcony was nice but the kids rarely used theirs. Next time we may get a promenade facing room/balcony for them across the hall. Kid room complaint was the beds are too close together. Next time we will bring a curtain to hang between the 2 beds if they are still like this. Dining – We had main dining room early seating and did not go to any specialty dining or JRs. This is what we wanted. We did not want to deal with making reservations for my time and just wanted to go to the same spot everyday for dinner. Our servers were great but the pressure they are under is ridiculous. The food was decent, but the portion size has decreased from our last cruise and the quality was a bit less but still on par with a somewhat fancy chain restaurant. It isn’t 5-star food but if that was the expectation, we would cruise a higher-end line. We still had plenty to eat every night and it was no problem if we wanted seconds or 2 different things. Honestly the smaller portions probably reduce food waste and stopped us from eating way more than we needed. Our table was a couple over from a window and we had a nice ocean view for dinner every evening. My biggest complaint for dinner was for some reason they decided the servers need to do song and dance stuff and perform more for us. From the clapping from some guests, I guess they enjoy this, but it was off putting for my family. My kid with sensory issues had to leave the table for about 20 minutes in the middle of their meal to escape. The reason we always do main dining for dinner is for a nice calm environment. The theatrics seem like what I would expect from a cheap restaurant and not a nicer restaurant with a 3-course meal service. Unlike dinner, breakfast and lunch in the main dining room was disappointing. Next time we will probably skip over the dining room, except for dinner. The Windjammer was pretty good when we did go for breakfast, 2nd breakfast, elevenese, lunch, and second supper. It is buffet food so our expectations aren’t that high, but it is a buffet with a lot of choices, and we could always find things we liked and new foods to try. The desserts are always plentiful as well. Café Promenade had a nice small selection of sandwiches and snacks including fruit and gluten free options, but we mainly went there for Starbucks. Sorrento’s was ok and the last thing to close at night at 3am. Sprinkles had soft serve whenever the pool was open, and the kids had more than enough. Drinks – All 4 of us had the refreshment package. Neither adult is a big drinker, and that package is not a good value for us. We had no issue getting whatever non-alcoholic drink we wanted. This package includes Starbucks, fresh squeezed juices, soda, bottled water, milkshakes from Johnny Rockets, and all the virgin drinks you can concoct including virgin bloody Mary which was not just tomato juice. Daquiris that were readily available included strawberry, peach, and mango. The mocktails were all pretty good and now I am forced to have the ingredients for a Shirley ginger available at home. We did have to take each seapass card up to the bar and ask for our refillable cups but there is no freestyle soda machines on Liberty so we picked up the cups and packed them to bring home.

Wait Allure doesn't have slides? Now my kids might not want to try that one next year since it is changing home port. I may have to continue to play dumb and pretend I still didn't know.

I have only sailed on Royal and my kids are older but there is a lot to do on their ships. I would also look at Carnival and Norwegian. They would probably love Disney but that line is definitely not affordable. We also homeschooled and I will base some pros and cons on how my and some friends' homeschooled children are on vacations. So a big con I see with sailing Royal is that the kids' club starts at age 3 and kids must be potty trained. There is often a small water area for diapered kids and they do have for a fee childcare. Another con, based on my kids, is that they are so used to always being with us that they did not want to attend any of the kids club activities and said it was boring and like we were sending them to daycare. My now teens said they may checkout the teen club because it is come and go as you please and they have more freedom now. The not doing the kids' club was not a big deal to us, because we were not looking for a break or a lot of adult time but I know this is a big deal for a lot of families. Pros Royal seriously caters to families/kids. The kids' club and teen club have a lot of activities. I think all of the ships have waterslides, rockwalls, and surfing/bodyboarding but many ships also have far more. Another pro is that they do have connecting rooms. We have connecting balcony rooms for our upcoming trip that ended up being the same cost as a suite. Each of those balcony rooms can sleep 4 people and yay for 2 bathrooms. When planning costs look at all of the things you will need. Some lines everything is really included, while other charge for drink packages and other things that are deemed extra. Royal has multiple drink packages that you can purchase from a soda package up to includes all of the alcohol. Plus there are extra dining venues that may or may not be included in your price. Don't forget shore excursions are extra as well. Look for ships and itineraries that will meet everyone's needs and will be fun. Personally we go with Royal because we can drive to the port and we like the ships more than Carnival options but if we saw something that interested us we would go with any line.

What normal things are not available/working? I know she is due for a refurb, plus supply chain issues. We board in just under 2 weeks.

My kids have only done 1 week cruises. The first one they were 9 & 10. I honestly think they would have been fine with and definitely now as teens with any length cruise. The reason we stick to 1 week cruises is because of school and work schedules, plus the cost. I would love to do a Panama cruise or a transatlantic but between cost and convincing work to give me that many days in a row it likely won't happen anytime soon.

Thank you for this information. You just saved me from spending more money on Super Goop. It came up on the reef friendly search and I was only looking at the 2 ingredients to not be there.

Not sure if you end up looking like Casper but Super Goop has worked well for my children that already look a bit Casper like. The complaint was some of it is a bit heavy for the face, so they use the regular formula in the pump bottle for body and a different formula for face. They also prefer the spray but I'm not sure if that one is reef safe, since it was for the pool this summer.

We loved Paradise Beach with the add on of the inflatable waterpark. It was just the ticket price for the waterpark and then you had to buy some food or drinks while there. We were traveling with 2 adults and 2 older elementary age kids. Not necessarily on a cruise but my ideal thing in Cozumel would be SCUBA. A lot depends on your interests. This upcoming cruise (with teens) we are doing a food tour with Cozumel Chef.

The only cruise we have taken with kids was Liberty of the Seas Christmas cruise and it was wonderful but my kids weren't interested in the kids club. The decorations were beautiful and they got a gift from Santa (even thought they were way past Santa age). The slides, splash area, and flowrider were a hit (skipped rockwall and ice skating). It was the overdone boring Western Caribbean itinerary but I think it was great with the kids at the time. They got to swim with stingrays, snorkel, and went to Blue Hole in Jamaica. Cozumel we went to Paradise Beach and did the inflatable water toy pass. We are actually doing the same itinerary with the now teens on Liberty this fall.

I actually did speak to them through the website and Chukka was unhelpful on time needed or more than asking if I needed help booking. This is why I wanted other opinions. I was looking to book directly through them as the ship tour isn't quite what we want, unless we could add stuff once we were at Good Hope. I also don't want to make the entire day packed and risk getting back to the ship on time. Did you book through the ship or direct? How much free time did you have after the tubing and zipline portion? Is it packed and rigid during the tubing or did you get to relax and enjoy it? I am not sure I am physically able to do the zipline but the teens are.

I just want the information out there for others. No one likes surprise expenses when they get there.

This is one of the other things I was curious about. If we can just add the river tubing and my kids can add the zipline once we are there that might be an option. Especially since moods change and what if they don't want to zipline or whatever? I would rather do something low key and decide what to do as we go where the teens can choose to participate or not based on the day to reduce drama. Good Hope seem to have more adventure for them and the river tubing looks fun.

I posted in the ports of call board for Jamaica but have not had any responses. We will be on Liberty this fall with a stop in Falmouth from 8-4. My family is leaning toward one of the tours at Good Hope that included the river tubing and zipline. There are 2 different packages, the Ultimate and Eco that have both. The Eco tour is cheaper and is missing the bamboo rafting, which no one minds missing, but also does not include lunch. Has anyone done either of these tours and have any insight? The teens would also like to play in the waterfalls, pool, and water slide but not sure on how much time we will have to just relax. If lunch isn't included, what are food prices like?