Sparkygirl

We stayed in this type of cabin last May. We loved it. Fairly roomy, for what we paid. Bathroom was large as well. Our younger son loved to look out the window. Our boys were 8, 14, and 17 at the time we traveled. It really didn't feel too cramped. The location was quiet and we hardly felt any motion either. We would sail in this cabin type again.

Thank you! This puts many of my concerns to rest we have a 14, 12 and 4 year old when we sail! Which cabin were you in I was wondering if there is any noise from above?

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When are you looking at going? We are also a family of 5 looking at this cabin type.

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You can see the outline of the fifth bed (pullman, single) on the ceiling above the couch.

 

 

 

Does the sofa sleep 2, bed 2 then pull down for a total of 5?

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Does anyone have pictures of the bed configuration to sleep 5 in the family ocean view on breakaway?

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Does your daughter have an epipen. Can you leave it there with them. My 3 year old and 9 year old both have allergies and I am worried about leaving them in the SA.

Yes, my daughter requires 2 epi pen juniors, Benadryl and a latex free first aid kit always be with her. I was very nervous about leaving her and was quickly at ease with the entire process and the attention to detail for allergies. Contact NCL's guest assistance division by email prior to your sailing. The head of splash academy for the fleet and I emailed several times, with a lag and delay waiting on a response from the ship splash academy about specific items.

Once we boarded we had a meeting with the head of splash academy, food services, housekeeping and medical staff. At that meeting a handy phone was issued to us for the duration of the cruise so that there was always a line of communication regarding my daughter.

There is an area near the registration desk off limits to the kids, that splash academy staff all have access that my daughter's first aid kit and medication kit lived. It didn't leave splash academy for the week we kept a second set of everything with us but I didn't was to risk forgetting it when dropping her off.

Her account was also flagged with her allergy and her wrist band also stated her allergy in addition to her medic alert bracelet. I also wrote up a background of my daughter and her latex allergy, it was posted in splash academy staff areas and I was highly impressed, with a latex allergy they were our greatest scouts, this port of call guests always get balloons from this venue be careful or this room on this deck has balloon door decorations.

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We leave in a few weeks and I'll be able to tell you how my 3-yr old likes it.

Just one point that I didn't fully realize - your child must be FULLY potty trained - able to completely go by themselves including pulling pants up and down, and most importantly wiping! My DS "is" potty-trained, as long as you tell him it's time to go. He never, ever asks himself. NCL charges a $28 diaper changing fee.

 

Can the Youth Staff assist my child in the washroom?

 

Parents should be aware that Youth Counselors are not able to assist children in the washrooms. This includes pulling up/down pants, buttoning/unbuttoning pants, and/or wiping assistance. A beeper or handy phone will be issued to alert you when your child needs assistance. Beepers and handy phones do not work ashore. At least one parent will have to stay on board when their children are in our Youth Program.

I have never been charged a diaper changing fee for my non potty trained child, we always have a handy phone due to her allergies and the staff calls us and we come change her.

I hands down love NCL splash academy my daughter has severe allergies and they handle everything amazingly well. She has a blast and even if she can't participate in everything for that night the counselor make sure she is included. She can't have face paint on pirate night so she got to wear a special cape instead.

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Not trying to be condescending here, but trip insurance is one of the worst value things one can purchase. It's pretty much throwing money away unless you have a high chance of using it.

 

 

 

I can only think of three scenarios where it makes sense to purchase trip insurance:

 

 

 

1) You are living on a tight budget, and the money you lose by not being able to go would be so financially devastating that you couldn't travel again for a long time.

 

 

 

2) You are old or in poor health, and there is a fair chance that something will change for the worse between now and your trip.

 

 

 

3) You have a family member who is old or in poor health, and there is a fair chance you will have to attend their funeral or final details, and have to cancel the trip.

 

 

 

Otherwise, it's a complete waste of money, yet I see many upper-middle class families waste their money on this garbage.

 

 

 

Someone please explain to me why they bother.

Because accidents happen! The one trip we didn't get trip insurance we wished we did. We got lucky our daughter was hospitalized in FL not elsewhere and that we had a back up plan of where to stay. Had it been anywhere else we would have had major problems and because without trip insurance the cruise line is of minimal help and even then it was frustrating that the hospital staff stepped in

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There are a number of reasons for the no decorations request. In our case DD has a life threatening Allergy to latex balloons. In our meeting with the ships staff the door decorations are discussed and if the decorations are on doors include balloons between our cabin and the path to the elevator and stairs they will ask for them (the balloons) to be removed. We are then informed of which side of the ship hallway we are to use to access our room. A general announcement is made and included in the freestyle daily.

On our sailing on the dawn for the kids club the counselors actually scoped out the door decorations and took the kids on a route that avoided door decorations when going on parades around the ship.

We are also informed of which deck to use to traverse the ship during our sailing and which decks to avoid. During port arrivals and departures when there are balloons on certain decks we are escorted behind the scenes though crew areas.

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The awesome thing about the dawn is the kids club is along the outside and back of the ship, DH and I at night would walk around on the deck to peek in on the kids and see what they were doing. Pillow fort fights were the best!

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Okay, so we're setting sail on July 18th aboard the Dawn. My 11 year old son, my 9 year old son, and my 8 year old niece are VERY excited about going. Can anyone give a good, bad, or ugly review concerning the kids clubs?

 

 

 

I have been on two previous NCL cruises when my sons were under 6, but now that they're much older, I'm wondering what fun stuff they'll have to do on board.

 

 

 

We went on the Carnival Glory 2 years ago, and they apparently had fun in the kids clubs even though on a giant ship like the Glory, there wasn't always a fun meeting place for the kids. On some nights, the kids met in a conference room, and the people running the club didn't seem like they cared to be there.

 

 

 

Please share your experiences :)

We sailed the Dawn in January with a 13 year old, 11 year old and 3 year old. All three absolutely loved splash academy!

The kids always meet in splash academy, the staff in January loved the kids and my 3 year old has severe allergies that the kids crew was protective papa bear when it came to her. They took great interest in the kids and when we saw them around the ship always stopped to say hi or chat.

We had trouble getting our 11 year old to leave the club! Do you have specific questions?

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I can help with some, but not all as our youngest daughter was 7 on her first cruise.

• There are no costs associated with the Kids Club / Splash Academy.
   
  
• When we were on the Gem last November, they really had a great Kids Club Crew on board and everyone we talked to about it seemed to enjoy themselves.
   
  
• They provide pagers to parents who request them or for whom there may be a specific need (like if the child has special needs or a medical condition of some kind). I would think you could ask for one.
   
  
• I do not think they'll provide pagers for the grandmothers, but they can be listed as permitted to sign your child in / out of the Kids Club. We listed my BFF on the last cruise, just in case.
   
  
• Registration for Kids Club cannot be done in advance - you'll be able to do it after lunch on embarkation day. The times will be listed in the Freestyle Daily
  

 

Enjoy your adventure!

A couple additional comments:

Up to four adults can be on each child's splash academy registration. When you get onboard and go the the splash academy all four adults will need to be present so they can swipe and link the cards to the child's registration.

They will issue one pager per child that needs one each time you sign them into splash academy. You can then pass the pager off to whoever will be picking the child up to turn it back in.

We traveled as a blended family and on stepchildren and DD's account was DH and I, DH's ex wife and her husband. Any of the four of us could pick up all three kids or some combination. If we were swapping the kids that night whichever parent dropped them off would then meet up with the other parent to pass the pager.

The system worked really well for us.

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If I were traveling with just my stepchildren and daughter without DH I would bring more documents then just the guardian consent and release form which is The form for the ship only. For immigration at foreign ports you may be asked to provide proof of relationship and custody papers. If I was in your shoes I would bring child passport, ID, DH divorce decree naming custody of minor children as well as DH and ex, my marriage certificate to DH listing him and I as well as a notarized authorization to travel letter from DH and ex and temporary guardianship/medical power of attorney from DH.

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We had to go to guest services and get a booklet with my daughters picture and accommodation needs. We handed the booklet to the attendant at each attraction and they wrote down a return time for us to come back. Then we would go do or see something else and return to the attendant at the recorded time. It actually worked very well and we were able to enjoy a day at disney.

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I've never purchased 3rd party travel insurance only through cruise line or last TA didn't offer it and then when we called to add it were told it as too late. As Murphy works that cruise my daughter had to be removed from the ship and was seen in 2 different hospitals. Thankfully other than some billing mix ups Tricare is covering her medical expenses but we lost the cruise and the week of an unexpected vacation in Orlando before she was cleared to travel home. I am now paranoid about having travel insurance. How does third party insurance such as usaa work? When /how do I purchase it?

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Anyone? I would love some feedback on this.

Who is the vendor? We did a dolphin package with dolphin discovery in Cozumel.

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We plan on taking three kids ages 6-10 (one with autism)on Getaway ina 2BR Haven Villa. We have stayed on Jewel and Pearl in non-Haven BR suites with nice perks but no access to the Haven area. We liked the space and butler, Cagney's perks but did not want to subject the Haven to my children. The problem on the new ships is there is no category that allows for that type room- there is only Haven Family Villas.

 

We booked the GA Villa because we need the space and perks of a suite- especially travelling with an autistic child. We will use the restaurant and the pool because we paid a premium; however, I expect my children to be well behaved. They can yell and scream on the slides and in the kids club.

 

I wish they had non- Haven family suites on the three new ships.

I completely agree! The non-haven family suites are also my favorite cabin type and really is best for our family.

There is also an add on to the soda package for juices that I believe is an additional $4. We did that for our DD(3) on our last cruise.

 

Was that $4 per day or for the length of the cruise, I have one soda drinker and one juice drinker among my grandsons that will be going with me to Alaska on the Pearl in 12 DAYS!!!:D

 

 

I believe adding the juice option took dd's soda package from 4.50 a day to 6.50 or 7.50 a day. Her child package became about equivalent with an adult package but she could have her juice! It isn't listed on-line but was offered onboard. She could have any juice from the bars, pineapple, cranberry, apple, orange, basically and fruit juice used as an alcohol mixer she could have. She often requested fizzy juice, sprite and fruit juice mix or cranberry apple mix.

 

 

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There is also an add on to the soda package for juices that I believe is an additional $4. We did that for our DD(3) on our last cruise.

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Before pricing it I would confirm if any cancelation fees exist this is from the NCL website. 10. To cancel a reservation made with a Freestyle Cruise Rewards Deposit, you must submit the cancellation in writing and it must be received by NCL in accordance with NCL cancellation policies and procedures. The Freestyle Cruise Rewards Deposit will be re-issued minus any cancellation fees, but will retain its original expiration date. If you cancel a reservation made with a Freestyle Cruise Rewards Deposit after its expiration date, it will be forfeited. You are expected to have appropriate travel documentation. Cancellations due to lack of appropriate travel documentation (e.g., improper or expired visas or passports, etc.) will incur applicable cancellation fees.

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We sailed Dawn in suite 12500 in January 2014 our butler was Jennifer was awesome and even better was our room steward Radwell. We actually tipped him the same as our butler on top of the daily service charge. I never opened the door for myself the entire week, he was always waiting as my daughter (3 years old) ran up the ramp to our room ready to help her open the door using his key. He kept us with our nightly changing of who was sleeping where as we sailed as a blended family with 2 children alternating between our cabin and their mom's cabin. We had breakfast in our room on several occasions before early shore excursions.

One night DD had a melt down in Moderno right before the roasted pineapple came out. Radwell saw me in the hall without DH or the older children bringing DD back to the room. Jennifer showed up about 10 minutes later with the meats and pineapple I had missed.

The entire ship knew my daughters allergy and went out of their way to keep her safe. It was the best cruise I have had with NCL thus far.

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DH and I are thinking of sailing on Epic before she moves to a permanent home port in Europe. We are looking at Early 2015 (January or February) and was wondering when is the best time to book? There will be 3 of us DH, DD and myself. We are 5 points away from gold status so I want to delay the long 12 day cruise we were looking at until we have the gold perks as the 25% off a load of laundry is appealing with a four year old.

OP, Which ship are you sailing and in which suite? Depending on the suite it may actually not be one sardine too many as you mentioned.

NCL's rules do state that any guest under 21 must be in the same cabin or a connecting cabin to the adult guest over 21 years of age. Simply putting her into a cabin by herself is not an option.

As it seemed you were stating you would keep the suite the same and then book the second cabin. An adult over 21 has to be listed on the cabin with a guest younger than 21 which may require removing a guest over 21 from the suite.

Our DD was 3 on our last sailing all 5 adults in our party had UDP and nothing for 3 year old. We booked all meals for 6 and cancelled DD if she was going to be in splash academy. There was no charges either way. As UDP we never cancelled a reservation so I'm not sure on that end of things

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It is a closed loop cruise going to Canada. My grandson is a special needs child so they will not be flying anywhere anytime soon.

Thank you all for your help.

With Canadian ports of call yes absolutely bring the adoption documents that state sole custody of the child. Canada requires documentation to prove guardianship of minor children and an authorization letter or proof of sole custody to enter the country with a child.

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8001 we sailed with 5, my parents, DH and I and our 20 month old daughter. They will not be on the couch, there is a Murphy bed in the wall. Ask the room steward for egg crates to soften the bed. Also, only the hot tubs in the owners suites on deck 8 are big enough for 3 or 4 adults. Deck 9 only fit 2.

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