CruzinMel

Thanks for the heads up! When we were in the Haven before, we never tried to get the couch opened up - I shall have to ask! If we *have* to, DH and I can sleep in the bottom bed and DS will go in the top bunk, but I can't tell you the last time we all shared a room.

We are afflicted with Chaos Goblins on a good day, that's for sure. Will do - come along with us!

The Basics, aka the easy stuff: The Itinerary: The Cabin: Haven 2 Bedroom family villa on deck 18, and I swear I think it's the same one we had in 2018. I dithered over the location - the Escape Haven restaurant is on deck 18, so that's good for Mom, but the pool and bar and Haven entrance/exit are on deck 17, which is less good for Mom if she wants to do the pool or Haven spa. I finally stuck with deck 18 because of noise - there will be folks in and out of the hallways and since Mom takes long naps, less noise is better. She will take the elevator up and down, and the rest of us will do the stairs. Who's sleeping where? We have heard about it for 6 years now, so Mom is getting the big bedroom. DD might sleep with her, depending; DH and I are going to take a look at the layout once aboard and decide whether we will be happy on the expanded bed in the small bedroom, or whether we want to take the couch in the living area and put DD and DS in the bunks in the small bedroom, or some other combination. I thought about putting Mom on the couch bed, because she's irritated that she can't see the ocean from the big bedroom and the Deluxe Owner's Suite was already booked (thank GOD). Mom flat refuses, but we shall see. She seems to think she will get a chaise out on the balcony and sleep there, and that makes me laugh and laugh and lauuuuuugh. . . NO. I have already told her that anybody who wants to is using the big shower, and DD has already laid claim to the tub. (The shower in the 2 br Family Villa is HYOOGE - all tile, with multiple shower heads, and a floor to ceiling window for the outside wall. There is also a full-size whirlpool tub with a window, perfect for a good sozzle and a glass of wine. That villa is worth it for the bathroom; if push comes to shove, yours truly might just sleep in the dang tub.) Getting There: We are driving from home to Orlando, about 6 hours, and spending the night at a 3 BR condo about 10 minutes from the port. The children might drive down a day early and spend the day at Epcot, but that's up to them - they are instructed to be at the condo by 9 that night, and that's that. I liked the condo better than booking 2 hotel rooms, and you are not getting The Diva at an Econo Lodge - the condo was less expensive than the Holiday Inn I originally booked on Cocoa Beach. Similarly, I started to rent an Expedition and put all 5 of us in it, but a) supply was low, and b) the kids are thinking about Epcot, and c) it's still less expensive to park 2 cars at the port for a week than to rent an Expedition AND park it for a week. Covid: It's the elephant on the ship, isn't it? Everybody in the family is vaccinated and 3 of us are boosted; DH is double-boosted. Mom and I are going next week for our 2nd booster (and my flu shot, possibly); DS is going to go get his, and DD can't because she got Covid about a month ago and is outside the booster window. NCL has just this week removed the pre-embarkation testing requirement and masking requirements, so that is easier, but frankly, we're still going to mask - we've gone 2 years without getting the flu or Covid, and we aren't taking chances now.

So, this topic is mostly for me - although I will be careful to save it someplace else because (who knew!) after a couple of years, Cruise Critic purges old posts. (Which is really kind of a "duh" moment, but it didn't occur to me until I went looking for my cruise review from 2018 and it was poof - gone - like it never existed. And yes, that's 4 years ago . . . but I've gotten used to thinking of the Internet as "forever." So fair warning, posters - CC is not a travel blog. 😜) We've cruised a few times before and NCL is our line of choice - after The Great Escape, DH and I will be 2 cruises away from Platinum. We had fallen into a happy pattern of every-other-year cruises, until Covid derailed 2020's planned Alaskan getaway. We took the children once, in 2010 - our cruises were our adult time, so we cruised alone or with my parents. Cruising with Mom and Dad was both fun and frightening - Mom and Dad were fun traveling companions, nonplussed even when their SIL came back from a day in St Thomas wearing a 2 foot tall orange balloon p3nis hat, but Dad had a heart attack on our 2014 Getaway (well after the hat deflated), and on our 2016 YOLO Escape from 2015's sadness, (we lost Dad), Mom got sun poisoning. Both disasters led me to declare that I would never take Mom anywhere that Medicare didn't cover, and that I myself would never leave the US without my passport, travel insurance, and a paid-off credit card. We became empty nesters in 2019, sending DD (the baby) off to college, and since we didn't need 2 houses for 3 adults, we moved in together with Mom in the fall of 2020 - I don't know how we'd have handled Covid otherwise. Since Dad passed, Mom has become fragile physically, so living together has been good. Holidays, though, have been fraught; my brother passed unexpectedly in 2019 and after 2 years where the losses overshadowed Mom's enjoyment of the holidays, we have started distracting her with holiday travel. (It's either that or cancel Christmas.) And for 2022, I couldn't find a unicorn beach (Mom has Requirements), and I said, you know what? We've already had the worst that could happen - TWICE - so I think we've paid our dues. And voila, we are cruising. Now, one of Mom's Requirements is the Haven - in 2014 she and Dad had a perfectly adequate balcony room, but for the YOLO cruise in 2016, we had a 2-room family villa in the Haven. DH and I took the big bedroom, and she had the 2nd bedroom to herself, but has never let go of her distaste for "that hole" (the 2nd bedroom is a standard cruise room but a little smaller, while the big bedroom is all Haven luxury. She never let the attendant make up the bed, so it was cramped.) I'll take any kind of room as long as it's on a ship, but Mom needs the Haven, and she needs the butler and she needs breakfast in the room and she needs the space because crowds give her the heebie jeebies. Since she has become less mobile, she also needs priority embarkation/debarkation and wheelchair assistance, and it is especially helpful if she can go straight to shows without having to stand in line. (The older she gets, the less she waits - for anything or anyone.) So, Haven is a non-starter for her, and since the goal of the cruise is family time, it is for us as well. And who, exactly, is included in that "us"? Well, there's Mom (a 70-something widow and former beauty queen from the 1960's, whom we affectionately call The Diva. Don't get me wrong - she worked hard all her life, and ended her working years running successful political campaigns - she earned the title.) There's myself and DH, basic working folks - I'm 52 and he's 56. And for this trip, there are 2 of our 4 kids - DS25, fresh out of graduate school and working in the real world for the first time ever, and DD21, a senior in college. We are a grab bag of interests and abilities - Mom has minor mobility issues and diabetes; I have celiac and need a GF diet; DH doesn't like beaches but loves bars; DS is an orchestral musician/teacher up for anything; and, DD is a history major who thinks she hates cruises (not the right decision to make based off one 4-day cruise when she was 8, but we shall see.) So, I have my work cut out for me. I have 2/3 of my loves going on what could either be a vacation to remember forever, or a colossal disaster. I don't have my passport and there are 82 days until we leave.

I'm getting the kids snorkeling equipment for Christmas (our rule this year is that all presents must be cruise-related), so that is definitely of interest - thank you!

Second vote for Sapphire, and it sounds marvelous! I wonder if I could find a way to rent the loungers in advance? We don't port until 11, which means we won't get off the ship until 12 or so, which means all the early birds will have those particular worms (can't blame them, either!) Thank you!

I will have to google that - thanks!

Thank you - that sounds marvelously close to my unicorn! I had read about ICBW on a page for cruisers with disabilities - I was waiting to see what the STT folks would say first, and then decide based on whether we could manage with the rollator (in which case we'd need a taxi or private car) or if we'd need the wheelchair (then def ICBW.)

Hi all - we are going to be in STT the first week of January from 11 - 7. We're a multigenerational group - my Mom, 78 and of limited mobility, myself and DH in our 50's, and then 2 of our 4 kids, DS25 and DD21. Advise us, oh those knowledgeable about ST Thomas - none of the cruise tour options appeal, basically because of our requirements, so I think I'm going to have to book something private. Those requirements? Mom can get around, but she can't walk long distances without tiring, and we don't want her to do stairs. We're renting a motorized wheelchair for the cruise, but what I really want is a unicorn: a beach that she could walk onto, so we can get by with her rollator rather than the wheelchair. This is Mom's only port tour for reasons, so I need the perfect Caribbean beach and bonus points if it's not slammed with cruise visitors, and triple bonus points if they have beach chairs for rent. DH is not a water person, so his requirement is that whatever beach we go to, there must be a bar that has Crown Royal and preferably snacks. Further, DH lives in utter terror of being a pier runner - this plus Mom can't run, means that he will be antsy, cranky, and determined to leave to go back to the ship at least 2 hours before all aboard. If I thought he'd go for it, I'd leave him on the ship because he's going to hover and clock-watch. So basically, transportation has to be reliable, time-sensitive, and familiar with STT traffic. Me? I'm easy - water, sand, and sunscreen. Maybe a beverage. Boom. The kids have never been to STT before - they're there for the experience, and possibly the bar fun. If you were me, what would you book? Thanks for anything you can tell me! Mel

Hi Betsy - I appreciate your post, because we're going on the same itinerary in December, and I am having a TERRIBLE time deciding about excursions for my mom. She has neuropathy and balance issues, and is just frail, so we're planning to bring her rollator and also rent a wheelchair for the ship, to try to make sure she gets to enjoy the cruise and doesn't feel trapped in her room. But the ports are the big problem - each port has a long, loooong walk that she just couldn't manage, no matter how game she is. (She freaks out at driving a scooter, so that's not a good idea. I'm going to see if we can take the rented wheelchair off the ship, but then where do you stow it?) My husband and 25 year old son are coming along, and between the two of them they can get her off at GSC and there are beach wheelchairs we could grab if we go early enough. But I want to take her on a tour, at least once, and I settled on St Thomas because it's the longest port day. I'm pretty resourceful, but I'm at a loss. Sigh.

It helps absolutely - my most pressing concern at the moment is making sure that she enjoys her cruise, and that she only stays in the cabin when she wants to and doesn't feel constrained. Thank you again!

CDR B, thank you so very much for this review - it has eased my mind tremendously. We have traveled in the Haven twice before, once on our own as self-sufficient upgrades from a balcony cabin, and a second time with my mother, as a distraction from the first anniversary of her widowhood. Those were healthier, more mobile days for Mom, and the most we asked of the butler was to deliver her breakfast daily. 7 years later, we are going again in the Haven, with a more delicate version of mother, and I have worried endlessly over how much would be too much to ask of a butler, and how we would handle her mobility issues. One hopes never to be too demanding, so I will credit yourself and OP for helping me develop an idea of what would be acceptable and what would not. Thank you again!

Thank you,!! I'm glad she had fun!

Hey there - Just seeing this - did you already cruise, and if so, do you mind sharing how it went? I am going in January with a mobility-challenged senior (she can walk, but not for long distances) and really not sure how to make sure she gets to the beach - but we are going to try!