gotksgirl

The terms now say through November 1st :P I came on here looking for the next "Sale". I am hoping for 3rd-8th guests in 2016 or at least 3rd/4th. It has been awhile (2 months?) since that was offered.

I am hoping for a "Kids Free" sale as in 3rd-6th passengers only pay Taxes and Port Fees. I think I read that NCL is going to have one on February 1st. We booked our 6 night Independence Dec. 14th cruise in a Family Promenade (6 person 300 sq ft) last March during their Kids Free sale and paid $679pp for passengers 1 and 2, and the 4 kids were "free" - just tax and service charge. I thought it was a pretty good price, but we like longer cruises.

Thanks all! We are really looking forward to the tour!

You may want to look up Aquarius Tours. We just booked with them for first part of December and though we have never used them before, they get glowing reviews on trip advisor and the cc boards. It was $50 per person for time at stingray city, a snorkeling spot and then Starfish Point. We are 2 adults, decent swimmers but not overly active and we booked with them for several reasons:

the $50 price tag seems very reasonable

Nice large boat with clean restroom

Snorkeling gear included

Pictures (pics you can download) included

Smaller group than what you'd get on a cruise's excursion

 

The staff has also received great reviews for catering to children and non-swimmers so that everyone gets a chance to get in the water and feel comfortable doing so. Our kids are 4 and 7 (7 yr old is an okay swimmer) and I think I'd feel comfortable taking them on this tour.

Thanks, but as I said in the first post, Acquarius is booked up for us. We booked with Nativeway. They got back to us a few days later and responded to emails well the same day. We are also going to Starfish point. It was $40 per adult and $30 per child.

Thanks for the response! The last time we went, we only had 2 children and we booked via the ship. The boat did not have any children's vests that held air, and the water was rough that day. The bathroom did not work, either! We plan to bring 2 vests, but 3 of the kids need them. I was looking into Dexter's Fantasea Tours today, but I am also a little unsure of the catamaran with the kids. It is hard for me to want to pay for kids that won't even do the activities. At least most companies won't charge for the 2 year old.

All I can help you with is that Island Marketing sells Captain Bryan tours (searched the boat names Buccaneer and Hannibal) -(http://www.captainbryans.com/) I did not care for the reviews, especially the picture selling part! http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147366-d950332-Reviews-Captain_Bryan_s_Sail_and_Snorkle_Tours-George_Town_Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

Oh and I emailed Acquarius 2 months out, and they are booked already. Native Way has not replied to my emails/booking requests so far (been about 2 days). I am considering Dexter Fantasea Tours right now for our family with 4 young children, but I am still hoping to hear from Nativeway.

We want to do a Stingray City tour with our children, but 3 of the 4 are not really swimmers. My kids are 11, 8, 5, and 2. Most tours include snorkeling as well. The 2 middles are okay with flotation vests, but I think they would be scared in the ocean and would not put their heads in to snorkel. I do not want to do an island tour, though the Turtle Farm would be okay. Starfish Point sounds neat. Does anyone have a recommendation for a tour company that might offer something for us? Acquarius is booked up, and I have not heard back from Native Way. Also, we do not care for the photo sales pitches many tour companies do. ;)

We used MJS in May. They were very good. They had the same Sprinter vans that SAS had. Their price was better than SAS for our group of 8. They even had a booster and car seat in the van in case passengers needed them. They wanted my 2 year old in a booster both ways, even though a car seat was more appropriate for her. I am guessing since it takes so much longer to set up, so they went with the booster. My dad was the one they communicated with via cell. They were on time for pick-up and waiting for us in a lot nearby at the port after the cruise.

Are you flying into MIA? We stayed at the Sleep Inn in Dania Beach (Fort Lauderdale), but we flew in and out of FLL for our cruise out of POM.

Do you know if they will unlock the balcony doors (connecting to the next room) if you ask them to do so? They did it for us on MSC but would not do it on the NCL Jewel. We did have connecting rooms on the Jewel, though. We are looking at midship balconies (two 4 person rooms next to each other) that do not connect inside.

I have never seen Kayaks at Le Galion. There is a floating dock but i have never seen a roped off area. The water is so calm and so shallow for a long time that a roped off area is not needed. There are no motor boats/jet skis allowed because its a nature reserve. The restrooms are free. I only go for 90 minutes or so I pick a spot under a tree and put my towel down on the sand so I can't tell you the price of chairs and umbrellas there.

Thank you for the info! I was just thinking about the idea of bringing a thin flat bed sheet for us to put down on the sand. We do not all need chairs (9 of us - 4 are kids) for sure.

I am still confused about Divi Little Bay - How do you get to the beach and how do you rent chairs/umbrellas? Do many not staying at the resort go to that beach? Are the restrooms and restaurants part of the resort?

ETA: I just found this http://www.divilittlebay.com/divilittlebay/st-maarten-water-sports.html Well it mentions visitors just above the price list.

Chairs and umbrellas were $5 Euro each ($1 Euro= $1.37 US). We rented chairs and sat under a tree. See coupon on Chez Pat's website. They rented kayaks and we also saw people windsurfing. There was a platform in the water,but I can't remember if a swimming area was roped off.

Euros? Hmm. Do they take US $ too or credit cards? Thanks so much for the pricing!

Thanks so much for the replies! I figured Le Galion would be better and worth a few more $ to get to.

Is the food place there called Chez Pat/Tropical Wave? I found a website with a menu. Are the restrooms free? How much are umbrellas and chairs?

Does Le Galion have a swimming area roped off? I saw a picture of this, but they said it was for school children. Is there also a platform out in the water? What rentals are there as far as water toys? Kayaks?

Sorry for so many questions and thanks for the help!

Which beach would be best for kids (2-10 years old) as well as adults up to 64 years old? We need restrooms and some sort of food and drink available as well as some shade. I know a taxi to Little Bay is slightly less expensive than Le Galion. I read it could be hard to get a taxi back from Le Galion.

Also, I am confused about what Divi Little Bay offers and how you get to the beach. I know it is a hotel and they only charge for the chairs, umbrellas and optional watersports, right? Can you just walk through the lobby and go out to the beach? Does anyone have a menu for the food and drink there?

Thanks!

So if anyone is curious, I emailed Choice Air and got an answer to my question. They do not offer children's fares.

" Unfortunately the airlines do not allow for us to book their space using children's fare."

Their rates are so low (for one way transatlantic flights), that it is not a big deal. I was hopeful for an even better price, though.

I got a child's fare for my 9 year old, but not my 13 year old, when I booked my IcelandAir flights for my Med cruise this summer.

I think the child fares are often for 11 and under. Was this with Choice Air or direct with the airline?

 

Internationally, I have never heard of children's fares.

Sorry, but this is not true. There are airlines that discount children for international flights. This is why I asked if Choice Air does it or not. I know Norwegian and Air Canada do it for sure as I was on their sites pricing flights.

When you book international flights (particularly one way flights for a Transatlantic cruise) with Choice Air, do children get a discount from the quoted adult price? I can only see adult prices when I try to get a quote without a reservation number. I know many international flights offer slightly reduced fares for children.

Also, how do seat assignments work with Choice Air? Can you pick seats during booking? Are they assigned immediately?

Thanks!

Hi! A friend and I are going to the Western Caribbean in about 8 days on the Jewel and she wondered if the cabins have personal safes so I thought I would check in with someone who was just there!

 

I was on the same cruise as Mitsugirly. Yes! It fit our laptop. It was not very tall but pretty deep.

I know that you have cruised a lot with your daughter. We cruised the Dawn with both our kids for the first time a few weeks ago. They loved the kids club activities. I noticed that they were pretty similiar to what ours did. Do you know if they change often? Do they change from ship to ship or once a year? IE, has she ever been the tiger in the circus show before?

They did the circus on the Sun December 2012. I am pretty sure it was fairly new then. Each time we go, the workers are different and from different countries, so that changes things up a bit. The features of the kids rooms vary among the ships. The Jewel had what they called the Jungle Gym, but the Sun did not have one of those. The games, movies, crafts vary a little for each cruise. If you look at dailies, they try to make the port you are visiting the theme on port days. The circus is a major theme throughout the cruises of course. The last night has been a pajama night as long as I can remember.

I never looked in there, but I know on the blueprints on NCL it had said that this was some type of kids PC library. It doesn't sound like that's what it was though.

There were computers in there, but they were not being used. There was a U shaped counter with stools (like at the kids buffet) under it. In the open space were two tumble mats with toys out for babies and toddlers.

On the opposite side of the Grill & Topsiders bar you will find the toddler play pool area with the little water slide. However, this part is a little different because they have a full sized hot tub just for kids in this area as well. The Pearl didn't have this and there were some type of small bouncy toys that no one seems to play on.

 

 

So for anyone with children under 3 going on the Jewel, the door behind the slide says "Crew Only", but it also said it was the entrance for the Guppies play room (ages 0-3 years old). I am not sure if this is the normal spot (doubtful), but with so many kids on the ship they had this place available. It was open from 9am-9pm. They had baby/toddler toys in the room that our child could play with while supervised by us. It is connected to the kids club, but the door in the picture above was the only entrance we could use. They also offered special activities with organic edible paints (baby food?) in another room off of the Stardust Theatre.

No he did not. All is right in the world.

 

He did keep trying to have some sort of "bromance" with my husband because they both had six kids. Mr. Smith did lament that he kept on trying until he got a boy and was happy to be traveling with 10 women. All the girls, the wife and various other ladies in the family.

Do you or Kim have any pictures of this family?? I am so curious if I saw them around the ship. ;-)

 

***I almost forgot, tonight we would also come back to find our balcony door unlocked...I made note of it****

I just mentioned your door lock issue with your room steward to my husband. He mentioned that our room steward would come and go from the balcony each time, because he would put our little table (the one that goes in front of the sofa) out on the balcony at night and bring it back in the next morning when the room was made up. I did not go back to see if you had a table, but could that be why your room steward would open the balcony door?

After Grand Cayman I believe, my husband wrote "Wash Me" on the balcony glass with his finger so we could find it when we were out in Cozumel. Unfortunately our room steward decided that it was the day to wash the glass, or he took the message seriously. My parents (different room steward) next door never got their glass washed.

I honestly don't know how I got VIP. It seems to happen randomly. I got VIP one other time and it was on the Pearl...for no rhyme or reason. They never did say.

Could it be because you arranged the CC Meet and Greet?

When I posted what you quoted, we were referring to the cc meet & greets jokes being the same as the Captains party jokes. Not the latitudes party. We went to the latitudes party. We just forgot about the captains party and didn't go. It's different.

 

At the latitudes party we were sitting straight ahead all the way to the front by the windows. We were with other members from the m&g. I have never been to one where they danced. It's usually just a free giveaway of prizes and it's over.

 

I was just saying that I saw you in the elevator and finally introduced myself as we were going to the Captains party. At least I think it was that one - Thursday after Grand Cayman, right? The wine and cheese one.

I saw you at the regular Latitudes party. We were crammed on 4 high seats without a table on the same side as you along the windows. You beat us to the couch ;-)

Now it sounds like I was stalking you!