KimA75

9 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I don't think you should give aspirin to 1 and 4 yo kids...

Acetaminophen and ibuprofen - yes

I think everyone understood I was, in general, indicating pain relievers/fever reducers.  I think with a 4 year old they know what to give kids.  No need to get snarky on here.

But, in addition, yes, I take aspirin and antacids for the adults as well.  Medication, sunscreen, aloe, etc are all overpriced onboard.

Definitely the meds.  Aspirin, etc.  They are way overpriced on board.

Sippy cups along with a bottle brush and dish detergent to wash them.  I fill a travel bottle with the detergent and put it in a ziploc.  I wash the cups in the sink.

You can take a tablet and if you have Netflix, download some favorite movies before you go.

If your 4 year old is a boy that is on the shorter side, see if you can get a collapsible step stool.  Our son was too short to reach the toilet or sink effectively.  Just make sure you are with him, with a hand on him, in case there is sudden movement by the boat.  We never had an issue, but I wouldn't want to chance it.

I took a couple toys and let mine pick one toy from the gift shops on board.

Our 4 year old loved having the lanyard with his own "key" even though we were always with him to get into the room.

The blow up tub is a good idea.  But, if not getting that, at least the shower heads are ones that can be moved and brought down to child level to shower with.

We took the puddle jumper (water vest) for our 4 year old.

Oh, our 4 year old also loved having his own rolling suitcase of his own.  I got all of his clothes in his child suitcase and he even got some toys in there.  That left more room in my suitcase.

We will be going on Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Seas in August.  I have a 9 yr old and 5 yr old.  We decided on this ship because there is plenty to do to keep the kids entertained.  They have the kids club, which my oldest has enjoyed on the last two cruises.  This one also has the bumper cars, roller skating, gaming consoles, iFly, etc.  It is definitely one to consider.  We considered Norwegian Bliss because it is their newest, with a go-kart track on top of the ship.  I was concerned, however, that weather would prevent the use of this feature a fair amount.  We are familiar with Royal Caribbean and I like that most of the features we will use on this ship for the kids are indoors.

7 hours ago, pink845 said:

We plan on driving to Haleakala

If you plan far enough ahead you can do this on your second day and get a reservation to watch the sunrise there.  We did that about a week ago and it was breath taking.

Yes, Lahaina for tender.  I am leaving from a trip there and this is where we saw one tendered this week.

I will add though, my friend and I just attended Old Lahaina three nights ago and it was amazing.  I can't sing enough praises for it.  The food was scrumptious, there was an open bad included, and the dancers were great in going through the history of Hawaii.  If you are tendering in Lahaina it is really close.  If yippy are at the other port it is a distance.

On 12/10/2018 at 10:25 AM, scottca075 said:

Here is a sample of how the road is. Kipahulu

Great example.  We just drove this on Sunday.  There are two really rough spots on the southern side where I was literally thanking God that another car didn’t come the other way.  Locals fly through there as well.  Even with the blind curves.  So, you just have to be cautious.  Just like eltigre said, I doubt I’ll do it again, but I am glad I did it once.  The south side is just as beautiful, but in a different way.

I verified with my rental company, Maui Budget Cars, that we could go that way.  I also inquired about recent rainfall to make sure it wouldn’t be even more difficult, if not impassable.  My understanding from other research is that the companies can’t exactly prohibit the travel.  However, you will be on your own if any tow truck service, etc is needed.

If you decide to go, you better make sure you have a very confident driver.  My friend, the passenger, panicked for a moment each time a car came around a blind curve towards us.  There is no way she could have driven that side.

We did the road to Hana on our own this past Sunday.  It does make for a long day, but you will never see such beautiful landscapes again.  It was breathtaking.  The other thing to consider is fitness level.  My friend and I are in our 40s.  We logged over 15000 steps on my Fitbit and 80 flights of stairs.  However, we stopped as much as we could and took trails.  We went down into the lava tube (which I’m not sure if excursion vans stop at).  The trails at the black sand beach led to spectacular views, but there is a lot of stepping up and down along the trail.

We just did the road to Hana and loved it.  You could do at least part of it and still get an amazing experience.  Do some research on it.  I don’t know what time you have to be back on board.  Just make sure you keep an eye on the time.

We used Maui Budget Cars on Maui.  It is a local company that charged a lot less than national chains.  They are very laid back.  They brought our car to us at the airport and we drop it off back at the airport when we leave.  We got a Chevy Cruz and got through the entire loop of the road to Hana with absolutely no issues.

I am currently in Maui on separate trip, not a cruise.  We attended Old Lahaina Luau last night and absolutely loved it.  The food and dancers were amazing.  The dancers take you through the history of Hawaii.  There were activities to do beforehand, an open bar, and local artists with items to sell (cash only).  I can’t express how much we enjoyed it.

I have attached a couple photos.  I am on the wrong device for any of the videos.

We have taken our son's puddle jumper on two cruises.  There was never an issue and it was nice to be able to take them to the beach.  Royal does have some life vests on board, at the pools.  However, they cannot be taken off the ship.  So, you are out of luck at the beaches unless you find one that offers vests for use.  This can be difficult.  In my opinion, if it makes her and her children more comfortable in and around the water, she should take them.

You can also go to a dive shop and buy anti-fog solution.  You rub it into the mask and rinse it out before putting it on. No more fogging.  We had our own and took those.  I also saw them on the ship for sale, but not for rent.

58 minutes ago, aflyingbuttress said:

 

I will keep an eye for a sale. Maybe I will get lucky! Too bad we can't share packages. That might make upgrading to even the alcohol package worth it. 

Just be aware, it usually takes a few days to credit the original package back to your card.  

I am with you on not drinking enough of the specialty coffees or alcoholic beverages.  We buy the soda packages for my husband and I.  We will carry on bottles of lemonade or fruit punch for our older son.  Our younger one only drinks milk.  If you don't see milk at the meals, you can always ask the wait staff for it.  We did this before and once we asked the first day,it was always available at the other meals.  I may buy a couple coffees or beverages and buy them as I go.

We are in this room in three weeks.  You are correct that there are very few reviews on these rooms.  Please come back and let us know how it was.  I think overall, with the extra space from an interior or even general oceanview, you will be happier with the room.  We have been in another room at the front of a ship before and I didn't really notice the movement.  My husband, who is more motion sensitive than me, advised that he did, but he was able to handle it just fine without any medications.

Royal Caribbean will book 5 in a room- you just have to call.  The Kids Sail Free promotion definitely helps at times, but not always.  The Ultra-spacious oceanview will sleep 6 and gives much more room than a standard room, if you are willing to give up that balcony.  Honestly, for us, when we did have a balcony we used it to dry our swimsuits and that was about it.

No matter which line, you just have to keep checking prices.  They will fluctuate, sometimes it seems daily.  I would avoid Disney because of the budget.  While we would like to use them one time, I would rather grab a suite on another cruise for their prices.

Wherever you go, check parking options outside of the airport or cruiseport.  Many times, you can find off site parking for much less.  I always google and check reviews so we make sure we are with a reputable company.

We don't do specialty dining.  We try to book excursions through other companies, either through Viator after checking reviews or through companies with good reviews on here.  We only buy the soda package since we aren't big drinkers.  We don't buy internet packages or photo packages. 

Try looking at some of the smaller ships rather than the mega ships.  There are still plenty of activities, and you can book them a lot cheaper.  On Royal Caribbean we haven't touched any of the Oasis class ships (although we have only done two, with two more coming up) and we have had an amazing time.  Once again, like the Disney ships- I want to get on one, but not at their prices.

If you are willing to cut out some of the extras, and go with smaller but still fun ships, you should definitely be able to make that budget happen.  If you are not willing to do these, or even go with oceanview rooms, you will not make that budget.  You need to decide if you would rather spend more to get absolutely everything you want, or be willing to cut back and probably still have an amazing time (this would depend on your outlook as you get on the ship).

Also, take a look at your school requirements.  Even if you do make any part of this educational, they will still generally make it unexcused absences because it does not meet the requirements to apply to every subject matter.  I have seen several letters from parents that were sent in to schools when they took trips to Philadelphia, Boston, etc and included US history visits as part of their trip.  While there is much history to be seen and learned from, these trips do not meet educational requirements to count the student as an excused absence.  We are taking our kids on a cruise during school because the price when school is out is a bit too much for us.  We will simply ask for school work ahead of time and complete it while we are gone.  We will take those unexcused absences without argument.

I have read very little about actual upgrades.  It seems like the more common route to upgrade is to watch for price drops and grab a better room when those happen. 

Thank you Jim.  I was just trying to look at another post about this, but was still having trouble finding the information. 

I was hoping someone would have answered you by now.  I am having the same issue.  This is really disappointing since the photos are a large draw to many of the reviews for me.

I wish I had better memory, lol. We bought it last year before the cruise. It was in the planner, I believe with the internet packages. If I do remember correctly, it was separate cards from the sea pass, but I could be wrong. I believe I remember an envelope in our room with them. You will not find a better deal in the reloading machines on board. We were disappointed on Freedom last year with the limited selection of games as well as the number that were out of order. With that being said though, the kids enjoyed themselves and it did use up some of the time on sea days.

You can absolutely swim. What surprised me though was that the sand in the water was more like a lake bottom than ocean sand. Don't wear water shoes as they will get stuck in the sand/mud.

I know you can download some movies ahead of time on Netflix. I believe you can on Amazon Prime as well. We downloaded before our last cruise and used this. Just make sure you download the morning of, or the night before. The downloads are time sensitive as far as how long they remain active.

Actually I thought he was referring to the new app. I was assuming RCI when they came out with this new app they were getting rid of I Q version since it does near the same thing.

 

I am on the Adventure in 3 weeks so I am not sure how it will work onboard. On the app now I can see some of the daily activities by the day, it also say I will be able to track my expenses once onboard.

 

Shak

 

 

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Did you get any of the internet packages on Adventure? I will be on in November and I would like to use the app, but I am not buying one of the packages. If you don't need the internet package, do you still put your phone in airplane mode, or how exactly does it work?