123cwm

We cruise with our kids a lot on princess. We did Panama canal on a panamax ship several years ago in the fall and our child was the only one on board. It was a longer re-positioning cruise during school time (not Holidays). We also did a 30 day re-positioning in the south pacific during school time and there were about 14 kids. You never know. As long as you are on a bigger ship with a children's program they will have fun. The smaller ships don't always have programs for children. Just check in advance. Happy sailing!

thanks so much for posting!! We are sailing on the 20th as well. Great information and pictures! Looking forward to more.

I had trouble getting Crystal Geyser the last time I was in Europe with Princess. I had a couple bar tenders watching out for those bottles and hoarding them for me. Turns out they were left-over stock from the US. The European counterpart (forgot the name) was not nearly as good.

 

If it's convenient, we bring a case of water on the ship with us. Just put a luggage tag or two on it and drop it off with your luggage and a tip. ;)

Crystal gyser is good. On a princess Baltic cruise last year the bottled water was terrible, it was almost salty!! But that was out of Eastern Europe. If you refill the bottles and keep them in the fridge in your stateroom the tap water is okay (as long as you are not nauseous). I was eight weeks pregnant on a cruise once and just the smell of the water when washing my hands or entering the shower made me heave!!

If you truly do drink a lot of water stop at a store and buy a case or two and send them with your luggage. Well worth not being thirsty the whole time! I am just like you..no alcohol, no soda..just water!!!

I have been so enjoying your posts! I leave for the same cruise in 2 weeks and have loved reading about your experiences. Can't wait for the rest of your posts. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!

we have just come back from cruise to NZ and did the taieri gorge ride - we were able to get off the ship and easily buy tickets ($89nz or $84aus) per adult (kids riding with an adult were free), jump on a bus that was waiting (and runs every 5 mins or so) and for $5p/p were shuttled to the station and hopped on the train - viola! We were then able to hop back on same bus later that afternoon and go back to ship. We saw the other train (the ship excursion booking) whilst we were on our travels and found out that the only difference was that they were provided lunch and the shuttle service to and from the boat. It did look very nice but definitely not worth the extra $100!!! The train has snacks available and being a 4 hour return trip (we went to Pukerangi) we really over needed a light snack on the way back all of which cost maybe $10 for a couple of coffees and large cookies. It definitely seems a shame that they have booked out the entire train for that day. The train tip is definitely worth the $89 - it was a lovely experience - but I'm not so sure I'd pay the $189 to be honest. Hope things work out ok for you :)

Thanks so much! We are doing this trip in April and have booked on our own. I was a bit worried about how to find the shuttle but you have given us great info! My kids and I are so excited for our train ride!!