random_australian

I'm sorry, but I'm actually laughing at this one but I'm sure you weren't too thrilled with this going on when your kids were on the cruise. I wonder if that "bride-to-be" is still married, or even if the wedding went on. Wow!

I'm not bothered about my kids seeing anything that's legal, Australian law about what is permitted in public is a good match for what I think kids should be exposed to. My son has drawn enough penises and made them out of play-dough that I don't think seeing a dress decorated with them is going to harm him. A lot of stuff that most parents think kids need to be protected from is just boring to young kids, sometimes it's best to not made an issue and let them ignore it. I had a short conversation with my daughter about how bad that woman's socks must have tasted and then she went back to swimming.

In terms of future cruise plans the amount of drunk people and loud music was more of a concern. Note I'm not dissing P&O, if you like loud parties then I'm sure you will enjoy it. But I think that Princess is a line that's more suited to my tastes. Maybe Princess ships have loud parties in bars and clubs, but I don't go to bars and clubs. I can't avoid what happens on the sun deck.

We had a lady like that on one of our cruises. Wore a dog or bunny suit the whole time and was mostly in the bar trying to pick up buys.

Did it work for her? Did she have it covering her head so you couldn't recognise her?

In February I went on the Pacific Jewel with my kids. There were at least 2 hens parties on board. While waiting to board I noticed one woman wearing a dress decorated with about 20 plastic penises around the hem.

Later while swimming my daughter asked what a man was doing, it turned out that he was removing a bride-to-be's socks with his teeth.

Also at the bar on the pool deck a bride-to-be was french kissing a man who I don't think was going to be her husband (they appeared to have just met).

One of the hens night groups all had Rod Stewart hair styles, I didn't get close enough to find out if it was wigs.

1 hour can go fast when you are having fun. But consecutive sessions will be ok.

OP you indicated originally your daughter was in the 6-8 year-old age group. You may wish to check height / age requirements for some activities. Example is flow rider - minimum height is 52-58 inches. My granddaughter was able to do the rock climbing wall just after her 6th birthday. We did, however, see a 6-year-old turned away - she was old enough but attendant said too small/skinny for the harness.

 

Just a heads up so that you don't disappoint her.

Thanks for that, I'll ask my TA about heights. She may be too short for the flow rider but that's not a big deal, it's like #4 on the list of things to do.

It's a little disappointing that skating is 1 hour sessions, but it's good that I know it in advance. DD doesn't cope well with surprises.

I'll get a copy of the kids club schedule as soon as we board. She probably won't plan things ahead (it's not the way she works) but she wants to know in advance what the options are.

It's quite likely that she would never leave the kids club without encouragement. But I'll try and get her to use the all the entertainment options.

I'll contact RCI about the schedule and comment here.

Thanks everyone!

don't forget the ice-skating :) offered most days

I didn't forget, it's one of the best things about the ship! But I expect that as you can fit dozens of people on an ice rink there won't be any queues.

What are the options for eating at the ice rink? Is there food supplied there? Can you order "room service" delivered to the rink? Is it viable to make a packed lunch from the buffet, collect DD from the kids club, and then eat at the ice rink?

I'd like to have a lunch option that doesn't require DD taking her skates off.

Later this year I'm going on VoS with DD8. DD is very intent on ship-board entertainment and we might not go ashore on the port days (unless they tender and we can enjoy a boat ride).

What are the hours of the kids club for 6-8yos? Do they close the kids club for lunch on port days or have a child lunch service for parents who go on shore excursions without their kids?

Do they have an evening break for the kids club?

Is the kids club open on embarkation day?

Which of mini-golf, flowrider, and rock climbing have the longest queues? Are the queues for those things shorter on embarkation day? I'd like DD to do as many of these things as possible but she may refuse to leave the kids club when it's running.

Any suggestions for kids who want to do all the fun things and sleep as little as possible?

Thank you for the info. We are empty nesters so no kids going with us so not really a factor unless Dreamworks attracts considerably more kids on Voyager cruises.

When I take my kids on a cruise the price is one of the highest priorities. Dreamworks isn't a factor for me as my kids aren't into that sort of thing.

Maybe look for 2 almost identical sailings with a price difference and book the more expensive one. If you avoid school holidays and take one of the more expensive cruises (even if it's only an extra $50pp) there should be hardly any kids on board.

Any number of difference devices, but only one logged in at a time.

How easy is the login/logout process? For my use I plan to just login/logout with phone, tablet, and laptop on a single account. For someone's Nana I wonder if just buying her an extra account might be a better option if it saves doing IT support on holidays.

Note that the MDR is open for breakfast and lunch and usually has really good food. On my first cruise I didn't realise it was open for breakfast or lunch and ate at the buffet instead (which was still reasonably good).

Find out when the MDR is open for meal times and when the buffet is open for snacks. One cruise I had to buy expensive room service on the 2nd night because everything closed before I got supper!

Look for meals with alcohol in them and note that you can order multiple serves. Alcohol is expensive on board so you should take advantage of any opportunity for free booze. One time I had 8 serves of a dessert made with Cointreau which was relaxing.

Take what the cruise line says about "formal night" with a grain of salt and ask here for advice. It's not fun being the only person wearing a tie in the MDR.

Get out of the pool before the ship leaves port, the waves in the pool can be significant.

I believe that has been removed.

I recently took DD8 on the Pacific Jewel where they have a 2m*3m*30cm pool in the kids club area. The pool is designed for younger kids but she had some fun playing in it (there's no maximum age specified). It takes up hardly any space and lots of kids had fun in it.

But I'm sure VoS will be great even without that feature. Looking forward to my first RCI cruise in November!

I think it has the speed to handle it, but they block the Ports the apps need to do VOIP. It is simple to do on a technical standpoint and thus more people will upgrade to the stream package. The ports will be open. My home router has it where I can click a button and block all VOIP ports to make sure my internet isn't being hogged by my sister.

Does anyone know which ports are blocked? Do they selectively block VOIP ports or do they block most things other than HTTPS?

I'm going on the Voyager of the Seas at the end of the year and want to plan net access. I run servers on the Internet for fun and for money so it's fairly important to me to have good net access. I don't need much speed (the speeds that someone was complaining about for Voom Surf are more than adequate for me) and I'm used to 400ms ping times. I just need to have most ports working.

I can setup various proxies and VPNs ;) but it helps to have advance notice on what I might have to work around.

I'd prefer not to pay for the Surf+Stream package as I don't plan to do VOIP or watch video at sea.

Thanks in advance for any information you can offer.