Aggiebuttercup

I am wondering when the itineary change would be announced? When we board the ship or thru and email prior?

 

Just wanting to know as soon as possible so we can make alternate excursion plans.

This depends on when they make the decision. We found out on our last cruise the morning before we were scheduled to be at the affected port (midcruise). We were on RCCL - they had the excursion money refunded to our onboard accounts at the same time they announced the change. Within a few hours, they had new excursions posted for those who wanted to do something in The Bahamas. The selection wasn't great, because they didn't have a ton of notice, but it was obvious they were trying to offer options. We got the internet plan for the day and managed to figure out what we wanted to do on our own.

Lots of conversations with fellow cruisers, swapping options and advice.

Last summer we were due to arrive in Belize the day the tropical storm hit there, so the ship diverted us to The Bahamas instead. My 11-year-old insisted that we stand in line to meet the captain. When it was our turn she shook his hand and said - "THANK YOU. My mom told me she was absolutely not ever taking me to The Bahamas for a vacation because it's too expensive, and I've been wanting to go there forever. I'm so excited we'll be there tomorrow. You've made this is the best vacation ever."

It's all about the attitude.

We generally sail out of Galveston because we live very close. I'm only concerned about what's happening with the port of Galveston, and, honestly, I'd rather evacuate to a cruise ship than have to sit in traffic to get to central or northern Texas to ride out a storm at a friend's house.

Our kids are 8, 10, and 11.

Our philosophy on vacations (any vacations) is that we'll buy each kid a souvenir worth up to $25 and a t-shirt that reflects where we've been. We also provide "parent matching funds" - we match dollar-for-dollar anything they save in the 6 months before the vacation, up to $100 per kid. One child always saves more than the match, one child gets close, one child has a hard time saving much.

It's up to them how much of "their" money (savings + match) that they want to allocate for the vacation. Before we leave, we write down how much money each kid wants to spend on the cruise. They hand me the money for safekeeping. On cruises, their cards are connected to my credit card. Every night, we review their purchases and mark them in the notebook so they know how much money they have left. In port, if they want to buy something I hand them their cash, and we mark their purchases in the notebook.

For these ages, they really like to see the list of what they bought to determine if they want to buy X or Y the next day. We don't argue with them about anything they want to buy except to point out when we think the price is unreasonable (although our oldest is a world-class haggler).

They are learning about the value of saving and matching funds, budgeting, and value. We started them on this plan when each turned 5, and they love it. There was nothing quite so amazing as seeing a 5-year-old at Disney World trying to justify to himself buying that stuffed animal when he'd already bought a stuffie the day before and was running out of money. He gave it a long hug, put it back on the shelf, and walked away without an argument. His sister picked it up, walked to the counter, and bought it with her money "because I saved more than him, and I'm not going to spend all of mine, and this will make him happy." I was so proud of both of them.

ETA: On last summer's cruise, one kid spent 20, one spent about $50 on board and about $40 in port, and one spent $120 total.

If we do Carnival their bigger ships seem to be leaving Galveston, other than the Magic

Carnival is sending the Vista to Galveston next fall! I can't wait to sail on it.

I Get the kids involved. My parents were very hush-hush about money when we were young and I think it affected us adversely - I feel that income and budgeting and such should be openly discussed within a family so the kids have a healthy relationship with money when they get older.

I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment!! We're pretty transparent with our kids, and we talk a lot about budgeting and priorities. For example, I no longer say "we can't afford that"; I tell them "that isn't in our budget" or "that isn't a priority for us, so we choose not to spend money on it." Once they understood that they get to go on cool vacations in part because Mom refuses to buy whatever random toy they wanted last week, they got on board the program (our kids are 8-11).

My husband I have written household money goals and priorities. That makes it easier to not spend on some things because they don't mesh with our goals.

The key that everyone has mentioned is to identify where your money is going now, as specifically as possible. That will help you figure out where else you can cut to get that debt paid off faster and the cruise money saved.

One example for us - I found out by tracking last year that we were spending way more than I thought on school lunches. It auto-refilled their accounts from my credit card, and the littlest was apparently eating ice cream and chips every day. I put the kids on a budget. They each got $25 per month to eat at school and they could use it whenever and on whatever they wanted. Once they ran out of money, they had to make their own lunch at home. It worked GREAT, both in keeping spending down (I cut lunch spending by 2/3) and in letting the kids learn how to make and stick to a budget.

If you're tired of the normal ports out of Galveston, Carnival Freedom does a once-per-month itinerary that stops in Key West, Nassau, and Jamaica. My husband and I really want to take that one. No flying, but no Cozumel!!

We prefer Carnival for trips that are just the two of us, and RCCL for trips where we bring the kids. The Carnival comedians are usually really good, and we like the cove balconies.

I'm doing a 5-day in January (the first week back of the spring semester). I chose Carnival because I liked the excursions in Progreso better than what RCCL offered; my mom is actually doing a 5-day the week before and chose RCCL because she likes their ships better.

I do also highly recommend cruises out of San Juan (I did that on RCCL 15 years ago and loved the islands), or Alaska if you don't mind skipping the beach.

Kudos to you for planning something just for you right now. I took a V T G singles' cruise after my divorce- it was a lot of fun. I became friends with a woman my age from my hometown, and we've cruised together since then. The advantage of those cruises is that a) they will assign you a roommate if you want so you don't pay the singles' supplement, and b) there are lots of activities specifically for the group.

You may want to price several cruises and see which ones are less expensive to have one person in a room.

I highly recommend sites like Mr Money Mustache - his blog (and the forums) have LOTS of tips for saving money. I've heard a lot of great things about You Need a Budget, but it was too much for me. I use Mint.com - a free budget/spending tracker site to see exactly what we're spending money on and help determine where we can cut. We switched from a major cell phone company to a small one, cutting our bill in half, are considering cutting cable, and we're working on bringing down our meal spending (groceries and eating out).

We're a family of 5, and we booked our next cruise exactly 2 years out, so I can put aside so much every month and have it paid off when we get there. We're doing a cheaper cruise than I wanted - we're sailing out of a port we can drive from, on a ship we've already been on, because it was the best deal. (I also stuck the kids in an inside cabin so we could splurge on the balcony for us.) We're going over spring break, and it's only about $4500 for the cabins.

The good news about waiting until late 2019 to go is that you can book as soon as the itineraries are posted next spring and get exactly the cabin you want - and probably the best prices. Good luck!

Spend some time in your cabin before sailaway - last time we had a cove there were dolphins playing right next to us while we were docked in Galveston. That alone made the cove worth it for us.

No, you don't have to be paid in full. It opened for me to schedule embarkation about 175 days out. I got my slot reserved even though I've only put down the deposit.

I switched from refundable to non-refundable yesterday for a March 2019. For my two cabins, we saved a grand total of $100 on the fare, plus got $150 in OBC. I wavered on whether to change it, but my husband asked me what would realistically keep me off the ship.

All I could come up with are death, dismemberment, or total poverty. So I bought a travel insurance policy for the 5 of us that costs $117 and lets me cancel for illness and layoffs. (I was going to buy insurance anyway to cover medical costs.) My family and his parents are all booked on the same cruise, so it is highly unlikely that the date will change, and we're driving, so the ship definitely won't change. If the school schedules spring break a different week, then we'll just take the kids out of school.

The first person I talked to at RCCL told me you get charged a fee for taking advantage of price drops. I complained, hung up, and did more research. The second person told me the first guy was an idiot, but then tried to talk me out of switching ("because that's a long way away and lots of things could happen"). I'm comfortable with the risk and the savings.

We usually get the non-refundable rate when we sail Carnival. Only once has this been a problem - I wanted to switch to a longer cruise, but the penalty didn't make that price as appealing. So we'll stay with our 5-day.

I'm an adult who doesn't drink alcohol, and I always get the kids' drink package so I can have unlimited virgin daiquiris. :) Some bartenders are better at making them than others.

Read the fine print. When we sailed in August, I bought one photo package, and I was able to link my mother's room number as well. The fine print said that grandparents travelling in another cabin could be included, and it also said it included children aged 21 and under who may be in a separate stateroom. I would certainly argue that this includes your younger child!

Ms_Fl_Cruiser - I bought my package online (through the cruise planner) before the ship sailed. I put in my room number (and my mother's). Mine was $99 for a digital copy of all pics; it is regularly $199 on ship. It's usually only offered a few months before sailing.

I loved the cove balcony - and I deliberately booked one with a lifeboat over part of it so I had more shade during the day.

When we got into our cove in Galveston, we looked down and saw a pod of dolphins playing RIGHT THERE. During the cruise, we often saw flying fish - again, so close it almost seemed like I could touch them. I loved being closer to the water. It is perfectly safe for a child. There are small holes in the bottom of the structure to let water out, but they aren't big enough for a 10-year-old to slide through!

On the second deck, you are far from everything, if that is a concern.

I would book a cove balcony again in a heartbeat.

I've sailed once with a 3-yr-old and once with a 1-yr-old. Our little ones loved to dance. There's usually live music early in the evening and not a lot of people dancing, so we'd take a corner of the dance floor and dance as a family. It was a great way to burn energy. We also took them to the walking track and let them run (they are used to walking tracks at home and were already trained to stay out of people's way). The ships we went on had splash pads for little kids, so we were able to spend a lot of time in the water, and they truly loved that.

A port-intensive cruise may be more difficult. My children did not do well in situations where they had to sit down and be quiet for extended periods. With toddlers, we'd use go to the beach 2 of the 3 port days, and the third day one person would stay on board with the children while the other adults did an active shore excursion. Nap time can also be an issue - if you're in port all day, will kiddo sleep at some point? The 1-yr-old napped under an umbrella on the beach. The 3-yr-old did not; we had to return to the ship so he could have his downtime.

It's certainly possible to do - and to have fun! -, but that depends on the child's temperament and what trade-offs the adults are willing to make.

The ages of the kids do make a big difference. I took a 6-yr-old and 3-yr-old a cruise...and decided to bring my mom along. To make it even more fun, a family friend came with her 6-yr-old too. The little one DID NOT like the kids' club. I was glad for other helpers so I could get a break occasionally. I could have done this cruise by myself, but it would have been a little more stressful, especially when the little one needed to nap and the older one didn't want to sit in the room with us.

The next time we cruised, they were 7, 9, 10. We also brought along my mom and another family with kids the same age (plus a 1-yr-old) All of the kids loved having their friends to play with. We even had a slumber party one night (half the kids in my cabin, half in theirs).

I could have handled the last cruise on my own and had a blast. The two oldest loved the kids' club and spent a lot of time there. The youngest still didn't like it, but he agreed to go a few times, and the rest of the time we had fun hanging out together. The next cruise...all the grandparents are coming. The kids have decided it isn't a cruise unless there's at least one grandparent there (to sneak them cookies and ice cream when mom says no).

It depends a lot on your kids.

I second the advice to tour the tall ship Elisa! I personally also like the Galveston Railroad Museum.

I'm glad you are going to go to the Houston Zoo. Be aware that it will be HOT. If you are driving yourself, I highly recommend that you be there when they open. Parking does fill up. Depending on where you are staying, there's also the option of taking the MetroRail. Within a short walk of the zoo are Hermann Park and the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences (which is EXCELLENT and has a nice butterfly center, a planetarium, IMAX, etc).

I would choose a ship with a splash pad. I took a 3-year-old on a Disney cruise, and cruised RCCL with friends and their 1-year-old. They both loved the splash pads on those ships, and we spent a lot of time there.

Our 3-year-old had a great time (although he ran away from me once during dinner - slid out of his seat and took off out the main doors while I was talking to the waiter. I almost had a heart attack but found him standing outside the elevators.) He was, however, absolutely terrified of the toilets. He was very newly potty-trained, and he literally did not use the restroom for the first 18 hours of the vacation. It took a lot of coaxing him to convince him the toilet wasn't going to eat him. I ended up bribing him with the promise of a stuffy of his choice in the gift shop.

The wait staff is usually good at bringing special things the kids will like at dinner - a fruit plate waiting for you so the kids have something to snack on while you order, a special order of veggies (the only veggie my kid liked was peas; they served him peas every single dinner even if it wasn't on the menu), etc. With the one-year-old, we requested a table in a corner. When the baby got restless, we could let him out of the high chair to play on the floor in the corner, where he wouldn't be in the way of other diners or the wait staff.

Our excursions were pretty much limited to the beach. We'd take a taxi to a local beach and play in the sand for a few hours. I brought a few plastic buckets and sand toys from home (in giant ziplocs, so the sand didn't get everywhere from port to port).

I highly recommend a balcony. You'll want somewhere to sit while the kids are sleeping - and they'll sleep hard, because the ship is so exciting. Mine had outgrown naps, but he still took one every afternoon.

We didn't use the kids' club much - the 3-year-old was afraid of being left there - but we did take advantage of the family play times.

I'd bring little kids on a cruise again in a heartbeat - just choose a ship that has features that appeal to your littles, and, if possible, bring help (each of those cruises we brought a grandmother and friends with kids, so we could pass the children around and give each set of parents a break.)

Kids are not required to participate in the activities. We were on Liberty in August. My middle daughter brought a book with her every time she went to the kids' club. While the other kids did planned active games, she sat on the couch and read. When the scheduled activities were more tame, she put her book down and joined in.

I took a 3-year-old on a Disney cruise a few years ago. As other posters said, he did not like the kids' club. He was willing to go in there to play during their open "family time" (meaning I was there with him). We also went to the toddler play time, where parents stayed with their little ones. His absolute favorite activity was dancing. We'd find the live music during the day and right after dinner and we'd all dance together.

I liked Disney because the tv played the shows live. I could sit in the cabin while little one was sleeping (and my mom took my older daughter to the show), and I could still watch the shows.

One of the port days my mom stayed on the ship with the kids while I did an excursion. The other days we took taxis to the beach. (I had packed a sand pail and a few toys.) Nothing fancy at all.

We did Royal Caribbean when the kids were a little older. I think it might have been a little better for the 3-year-old (kids' clubs were segregated). The ship amenities were similar enough and the service was great for both.

I highly recommend an afternoon nap, even if your child has outgrown them. We turned cartoons on with really low volume, dimmed the lights, and the little one generally fell asleep for an hour. He NEEDED it - he was worn out with all the excitement.

We also booked a balcony so that the adults had a place to sit and chat while the kids were sleeping.

The hardest part was the toilets. My son was newly potty-trained, and he was TERRIFIED of the toilets on the ship. It took a great deal of persuasion to get him to sit on one. I wish I had brought little rewards/bribes, or that we had talked about the scary potty more before we got on board.

I had packed tons of prepackaged snacks from home, just in case. We didn't need them. My picky eaters found plenty to eat, and the wait staff was tremendous. They noticed that my son ate all his peas on day 1 and none of the veggies on day 2. Starting day 3, he was served a bowl of peas with his dinner every night, even when peas weren't on the menu, because, as they head waiter told him, "Mickey Mouse wants you to eat your veggies and get big and strong!"

Even though he doesn't really remember the details of the cruise now (he's 8), he remembers that he had a great time. The children nagged me for a few years until we took them on another cruise.

I've lived in Southeast Texas for almost 40 years. We tend to be more at risk of hurricanes starting the first/second week of September. Chances are, unless a hurricane is in the process of trying to hit Louisiana and your flight gets cancelled, your vacation will be fine.

Hurricane Ike was the last one to damage Galveston, and the cruise lines made arrangements to temporarily sail from a port in Houston. Some of the cars parked for the cruise were flooded and ruined - but if you aren't driving, that wouldn't affect you.

We sailed at the end of July last summer. We were scheduled to visit Belize the day the hurricane hit, so the captain diverted us to the Bahamas. The seas were rougher for one day, but not too bad.

I'd second the recommendation for trip insurance and motion sickness remedies, just in case.

And the good news for you - most local kids should be in school that week, so the ship may be quieter.

[Note that this is one reason that cruises from Galveston tend to be near their cheapest the first and second weeks in September.]

In Cozumel we took a cab to Chankanaab National Park. It is fairly inexpensive to get in. There's a lagoon with a beach for swimming and wading, alligators to look at, and replicas of Mayan ruins that you can wander around. The children (as young as 7) enjoyed the day.

For Grand Cayman, I second the recommendation to go to 7-Mile Beach. It's cheap and easy to get to.

We did Liberty of the Seas (Freedom class) with kids aged 7-11 last year, and they LOVED it. I think they liked the ship more than the ports. Lots of water slides, lots of pool time, lots of activities (rock climbing, Flowrider, etc).

We live near Galveston, so when all of us are along, we sail from there so we don't have to pick airfare. We chose Liberty because of the itinerary (Roatan, Belize, Cozumel)....and then last summer's hurricane decided to visit Belize at the same time we were supposed to so we were diverted to the Bahamas at the last minute. It meant more sea days than expected, but the kids didn't care. We're sailing Liberty again on our next family vacation because they liked the ship so much.

I loved the Carnival Magic too - we did it without the kids and had a good time.

Whether they allow it will be determined in part by how many kids are on board in each age range. We were able to get an 8-year-old moved up to be with her sister and friends on RC last summer. The first day was conditional - they watched her to determine if she'd be allowed to stay.

$25,000 for 8 people???? Are you booking multiple suites or multiple single-person rooms?

If 2018 is too expensive, you might look at 2019 instead.

We're taking a family cruise on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas in March 2019. Three aft balconies for a total of 7 people = $7500; 3 kids in an inside room down the hall = $2400. On average, about $1k pp. I priced a two-bedroom grand suite (aft balcony), and it would have been $8500 for 7 people (and could have fit 8, if we chose - 4 kids in one bedroom, married couple in the other bedroom, grandma and adult daughter in the living room).

Would you consider a different ship that is less expensive? A different home port?