chester2008

I see that there are quite a few hotels offering day passes in Nassau. Which one would provide the best snorkeling experience. I don't mind swimming out to find a decent little reef (not expecting anything amazing here). We have our own snorkel equipment. My wife and I have a four year old who can't snorkel yet so anything on a boat is not an option as one of us has to keep an eye on her. Which leads me to my second question. Which day resort would be the most suitable for children (water games, slides etc.)

We will be in Nassau on Aug. 6 on RCL's Enchantment of The Seas. I was looking for an excursion where my wife and I can take turns snorkeling while the other stays with my four year old daughter on a glass bottom boat (so she can see some fishies and such). We did such a thing in Cozumel and it was a pretty good compromise. Anyone know of any tour operators offering such an excursion (can't seem to find anything on RCL's website) Another alternative would be a beach or lagoon type place where we can swim out and snorkel from shore. Any input will be very appreciated.

The same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I was picking my dinner times. Went through all the hoops and questions just to be told at the end that a "technical problem" had occurred. When I returned to the website the day after to try again, all the times I had chosen were entered.

RCL should try recruiting some tech savvy 5 year olds from the Adventure Ocean Program to run their website. I'm sure they would do a better job than the team that's in charge now. I can't believe a corporation of this magnitude lets stuff like this slide. Their website is pure junk and filled with glitches at many levels.

Why an "old credit card". Is there a reason not to use a valid credit card from your wallet?

I think it's funny how some people equate dining in the MDR with classiness. This illusion was quashed for me on the first night of my first ever cruise when a fellow table mate (a rather portly fellow from Louisiana), proceeded to order two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts (strangely enough no salad :rolleyes:) and this every single night of the cruise. Yes, he actually ate all this food. Let's just say that I would rather see someone wearing crocs or flip flops at dinner instead of witnessing this disgusting behavior.

Well put, minimum suggested gratuities are more like a resort fee at a fine hotel, you can always add more to specific individuals for exceptional service if you feel it is warranted, or withhold any such additional tips if service is merely acceptable.

 

Also agree with other posters who recommend immediate attention to truly poor or offensive service (rather than"complaining" by removing the service charge, which punishes all staff, not just the individuals who are performing below standards)

 

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A suggested gratuity is nothing like a "resort fee". A resort fee is a mandatory charge, whereas a " suggested gratuity" is just as it says, suggested. The proof is there, any charge that can be removed is not mandatory.

As far as lodging a complaint against a person serving your food, make sure to do it on the last day when you know you won't be eating there anymore. I have several friends in the food service industry (both fast food and fine dining) and as a general rule don't p*$$ anybody off who's handling your food.

So just an update. I finally got down to it and booked this cruise yesterday (and just in the nick of time as it seems the prices went up this morning :eek:). The little one is very stoked about going on the "BIG BOAT". Not much left as far as cabin selection (2038 was the best I could do as everything else seemed to be in the back). If someone has reason to believe I should look for another cabin, let me know. Huge thanks to everyone who responded in this thread for all the great help.:)

That would be great, but sadly no. They need a passenger count, and you need to pay for her food thru the cruise fare. No matter how she sleeps, you daughter is counted as a passenger and cannot slip by like a hotel room. [emoji17]

 

 

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Actually, I had every intention of paying for her as a third person. Just wanted to see if we could have booked the 3 of us in a 2 person room just to have more cabin options.

Even if it doesn't pull out, the couch is big enough for a 6 year old to sleep on. You could use that as a fallback if none of you like the pullman.

 

That is assuming you aren't in a connecting room. Those have chair instead of a couch.

Wow, thanks. I didn't realize that connecting rooms didn't have a couch. Definitely don't want to end up in one of those rooms. Connecting rooms are shown on the deck plan as a double arrow, correct? When I see the list of staterooms available they all have written "Connecting room" with a little bar underneath (even though the drawing doesn't have the little arrow) When going through the booking process with only two adults, I have many more options. Will they let me book one of these two people rooms with my daughter added on (since she won't be sleeping in the pullman beds anyway)?

Thanks for all the responses. This forum is a wealth of informed people (unlike RCCL customer service, which gave me 3 different answers). My understanding is that these rooms come with a King sized bed (RCCL says), or is it two twins squeezed together with a giant crack in the middle? If its a king size she can squeeze between us, or use the sofa as the bed (which is about the same size as her day bed at home) If these don't work, I guess daddy will sleep in the sky while mommy and daughter sleep together. I am sure we can make this work since it is such a short cruise. Do the pullman beds stay down all day or do the but the back into the ceiling and put them down at bed time?

Looking to book an August cruise on enchantment of the seas. I am a little confused regarding the Pullman beds. We were looking at an ocean view room G1. Going through the RCCL site, the only options available to us (2 adults and a four year old girl) seem to have a little cross on it indicating 3rd and 4th Pullman beds available. Am I right to assume that these rooms don't have a sofa bed ? The last cruise ship room I was in that had a Pullman bed, the bed seemed to be 5-6 feet up in the air ( can't picture my little girl trying to maneuver down that ladder in the middle of the night to go wee wee). I assume since there is two Pullman beds in these room one will be closer to the ground? Any help would be appreciated. The agent at RCCL seemed to be just as confused as I was ( yet still pushing hard to make the sale)

Same here. Cruise I wanted (NCL Sky out of Miami Aug. 4) wasn't included in their list. In fact the price of this cruise went up today. Back to the drawing board of trying to score a great cruise deal this summer (I miss 2008, bad year for the economy, great year for cruising)

The reason kids are priced that way is because the ship has a certain capacity of people, does not matter the age matters the head count based on the lifeboats. So basically they are a body, they really don't care how much they eat or how much space the take up they count towards capacity so they charge that way. I'm not sure if the way I explained it makes sense but that's the reason.

It makes sense I guess. Economically IMO, it makes less sense. All I know is my wife and I discovered cruising on our honeymoon and did a few after that loving the vacation experience. When we had a child, the thought of paying close to full price (or third person rate) for a baby/toddler seemed nuts. We stayed away from cruising and vacationed in Caribbean resorts, where most times children under a certain age were completely free (no taxes and definitely no port fees) That's four years of my vacation dollar that could have went to the cruise industry going elsewhere (and I'm sure we're not the only ones). Not everyone is savvy enough to wait for KSF deals or demand price drop credits. They get quotes from their travel agents and get discouraged. The proof is there. The cruises I am looking at now are barely a month away and plenty of space left (during primo family vacation time). Prices seem to be going in a downward spiral tempting me to wait till the very last minute.

So back to my question. Anyone know if this deal will apply to August 2014 sailings out of Miami?

I've been looking to book a four day Bahama's cruise out of Miami, Aug. 4, 2014 (Norwegian Sky). We'll be in Florida the first two weeks of August and was looking to initiate our 4 year old daughter to cruising (Wife and I have not been on a cruise since having her :() I was just about to book until I read this thread (Thanks for posting it BTW). Can anyone let me know if this sailing is included in the promo. I can't find any info anywhere and would really appreciate any info. On a side note I don't understand why a 4 year old's fare is only 50$ cheaper than an adult. Kids this age eat like birds and end up squeezing into our room anyway not taking up extra space.