ClevedonMum

Thanks LHT28! Looks like they only go up to triple share. Not sure how I'll decide which kid misses out haha :)

Hi, I'm looking at cruising with my children and I'd love to try Oceania. The itinerary is port intensive so we'll be off-ship snorkelling etc most days. Do they have quad share cabins on the Marina? The Penthouse suite looks like it might have a pull-out sofa, is this correct? Thank you 🙂

Hi ya, I'm in the same boat (haha get it)...aka same situation as you as we want to go to Sorrento but worried about times etc and getting back before we sail. I'm travelling with a 75 year old and two kids. Now looking into getting private transport. When are you going to be in Naples?

Lol well we may literally be in the same boat :) We will be in Naples 29 April.

All aboard time is 30 minutes before sailing time

Thanks for that I think that will leave us plenty of time :)

Sorry I was unsure how to head this up and did a search with no joy.

We are at port in Naples from 11am - 6pm. We want to take a kids tour of Pompeii from 1:30 - 4pm. Is this cutting it too fine to get back to the ship in time? The tour finishes 2 hours The before the ship leaves. How long are you meant to be back before the ship leaves? Is it an hour? From what I can find it should only take 30 minutes to get from Pompeii to the port. Is this accurate?

Thanks very much for any and all advice!

Ha! Sorry, missed your other message :) Weather was nice, made all our ports but had to leave Mystery Island a few hours early due to expected swells. It was very lumpy for a day or 2! My other half did the access all areas tour & was told they had 7 metre swells. The restaurants were deserted but there were still room service meals going put. No circus or elephants for us 😢 I heard they'd had an 'incident'...

Ugh totally should've carried them on, took 3 hours 😋

Hi we're travelling on the Pearl from Akl this Friday. We'd like to take all our luggage on ourselves instead of checking it in & waiting to receive it to unpack. We've been able to do this with Carnival out of Sydney but P & O's website just mentions checking it in.

We'll just have 2 soft rolling bags.

Trying to figure out whether I need to pack more in our backpacks to tide us over if we have to check the rolling bags in (to keep our kids amused).

Looking forward to your advice :)

I wonder if they will do something similar on the cruise leaving 8th May? I'd love to donate some canned food, kids clothing & blankets...

Also go with a open mind about the Pearl :)

Oh I ALWAYS travel with an open mind :) Especially since we had children, our accommodation options are not as 5* as they once were! Cruising offers excellent value for money, and it'll be lovely to leave from Auckland. Flying is fun but I imagine it'd be a bit less stressful going onboard to our cabin.

I don't think I have a snowballs chance in hell of getting my 5 year old to a kid's club :( Maybe the 4 year old but not without her sister. The trouble with the Carnival one was parents weren't allowed to stay (or even go in to drop off, the kids got pushed through a gate). And I understand why but it makes it hard. They also had a crying kids room, if kids were upset they got separated from the rest in there to watch a movie, and cry (both our girls were in there when we picked them up from their one & only visit).

Do they do dinner entertainment on the Pearl? On the Spirit the wait staff put on a little show each night (like, dancing gangnam style or singing). I loved that. Do you know if it is flexible dining? As in you get a different table/wait staff each night? Thanks!!

Thanks for the warm welcome.

We've only been on one cruise before, Carnival Spirit Sydney to Mystery Island/Isle of Pines/Noumea. We loved it! Especially the warm & caring crew. I'm scared the Pearl will be a huge let-down. I'm yet to tell my partner we'll be sleeping in bunks haha :) I booked it as a surprise trip & we're taking our girls, aged 4 & 5.5 (they hate kids clubs so will be our little traveling companions).

My cousin won a trip on this same cruise last year and raved about it. Hopefully we have the same experience!

Me! Me :) You look like you've been on a couple of cruises before? :p