cornflake girl

We’re on the Oceana on 12th April. Whilst we did book a select fare and chose our cabin, I’m obsessively checking the cruise personaliser in the hope that we’ve been upgraded!

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The Children's Club or Reef as I think it is called opens roughly 9 or 9.30 might close for lunch and closes something like 10pm. It varies with port/sea days as I recall.

 

The number of children on board reduces in term time. If you wish to know exactly how many children on board phone P&O Carnival House and they will surprisingly tell you exactly what the breakdown totals are for you voyage. This need to be done near sail date for the information to be useful not years ahead!

 

4 year olds are grouped in the 2 - 5 age group (Splashers) which sometimes becomes 2 - 8 where few children are on a cruise or high numbers of oldest group need their group thinning out.

 

There is strangely a Night Nursery for 6month old babies up to 4 years olds which runs from 6pm to 2am! Last admission is 11pm!

 

Splashers activities seem only to be run at the centre whereas older groups sometimes do an outside event like ping pong where the tables are etc.

 

Late on in the day the clubs tend to amalgamate a bit with a dvd cartoon and an impromptu grandstand of chairs, staff and bean cushions with people nodding off in the dark.

 

It is all well run and I have used the clubs on all modern P&O ships I list in signature from a 2 year old to a 14 year old.

 

Regards John

John, thank you so much for your informative reply. I shall definitely call P&O nearer the time.

I’m pleased you mention the Night Nursery, any experience of a 4 year old using it? I know all children are different but it would be good to know. Do you, or anyone else, know the set up of the nursery in Oceana? The one on Azura looks very private with curtains but not so much on Aurora.

Does anybody me know whether ships have children’s books to borrow? Would rather not take 7 nights of bedtime stories with me on a plane!

Also, do there tend be a few kids on board in term time? What do the hours of the club tend to be?

Sailing on Oceana in term time with a 4 year old the week after Easter holidays.

Thanks!

We use the following as recommended on CC by a number of people. Just incase you need the wipes as well :-) These are the links to Amazon.

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EcoHydra-Alcohol-Antibacterial-Instant-Sanitiser/dp/B00K803AW2/ref=sr_1_11_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1515322596&sr=8-11&keywords=antibacterial+gel

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Serenity-Alcohol-Free-Antibacterial-Multi-Surface/dp/B00TZ86Q8I/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1515322760&sr=8-1&keywords=antibacterial+wipes+serenity

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks for this.

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Its just called " Boots Anti Viral Hand Foam"...50ml....gives up to 8 hours protection

Wonderful! Thank you.

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Keeping yourself clean is also important. They might clean the stair handrails and the first person to touch them deposits viral particles because they have just been to the toilet and not washed their hands.

 

 

 

The Boots viral foam I use in addition to hand washing claims to protect against virus for up to 6 hours, do the cleaning products as well?

 

 

 

If using the buffet I try to avoid using the tongs provided for obvious reasons. You can use your fork or spoon for a lot of dishes. I also like to use a paper serviette to hold serving cutlery but surprisingly they do not provide these as standard.

Please will you tell me the name of the Boots foam you use?

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We've booked flights from local airport to Malta to spend time there before the cruise. Saved £400 on fly cruise price (2 adults, 1 child).

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We've just booked the 12th April Croatia/Italy cruise and it cost £400 less for cruise only. This is for 2 adults and a 4 year old. For other dates there was no reduction in price. It's far cheaper doing it this way and then going from a regional airport. We get to go the day before and stay in Malta for a couple of nights after.

 

 

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Forgot to mention that for other dates/itineraries there was no reduction in price online.

We've just booked the 12th April Croatia/Italy cruise and it cost £400 less for cruise only. This is for 2 adults and a 4 year old. For other dates there was no reduction in price. It's far cheaper doing it this way and then going from a regional airport. We get to go the day before and stay in Malta for a couple of nights after.

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Don't base your purchase on any promo (which change all the time but have minor affect on price) - buy if you are satisfied with the bottom line.

Thanks for your super quick reply. I'm not satisfied with the price at all but is it likely to go down? I'm also looking at a P&O cruise and I know that the price will only go up. I'm also aware that there will be limited spaces for children (4 year old) so can't leave booking until the last minute.

I know this may be an impossible question but I see that RC have 30% off until 4 September. The cruise I was interested in went up £100 each overnight. After this promotion ends, will the price shoot up or will RC bring in another promotion? What's your experience of this?

It's a loveseat.

 

 

 

Unless he is an unusual 4 year, he should be able to sleep on it. The pullman beds are supposed to be used only by age 6 and up.

Fab. Thank you for this.

Forgive the stupid question but how big is the sofa in a standard ocean view cabin on Rhapsody? Large enough for a 4 year old to sleep on? I wouldn't want my son to sleep on a Pullman so the next option would be to put the mattress on the floor.

Well, because I obviously have too much time on my hand, I looked at historical weather for the last 3 year. Someone else maybe interested in this:

2017, 2016, 1015

All in Celsius

April 12

Valletta 21, 25, 17

Venice 21, 21, 23

Dubrovnik 21, 17, 16

Split 22, 21, 18

Messina 27, 21, 25

May 10

Valletta 23, 21, 27

Messina 21, 21, 24

Ajaccio 22, 26, 22

Livorno 22, 22, 28

Civitavecchia 20, 22, 25

Looks like there's not much in it, We've never been to the ports on the Croatia/Italy cruise so that's winning.

Thank you for the suggestion of Taormina, it looks great!

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Split and Messina you can walk straight of the ship. Dubrovnik you need a shuttle. In Venice you use the shuttle boat at £10 per person to get into St Marks Square from the port unless you use the local services.

 

 

 

Of the two itineraries, this one is probably the best as even in April or May it can get hot if you go to Ephesus which may not be the best for your little one. Just check to see if there are any event on in Venice as that can make it very crowded which you may want to avoid. April/May though is comfortable for that region.

It definitely sounds like this is the more child friendly of the two then. I am concerned about the weather and it being a bit cool though. Food for thought.

Any recommendations for things to do in Messina area?

Thank you

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

The Croatia/Italy cruise takes in Venice, Dubrovnik, Split and Messina. The terminals all seem quite close/easy to get to the sights.

Thanks for the heads up on Turkey.

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I've finally managed to convince my husband that a cruise would be perfect for us and our 4 year old. We're looking at the Med next year and we're wondering which ports would be more child friendly? We intend to do our own thing in all ports and limit the adult activities or do a mixture. So, we'd be looking at ease of access, distance to the sights (I'm thinking Ephesus if we did the Greece/Turkey cruise), heat. Looking at late April or May.

Thanks!