Cruising with a family – a simple review

[Lois R]

Hi Suz:) Fusion cooking? I don't think the Specialty Restaurants even offer that type of food/cooking/preparation.

 

Yep, your best bet might be Crystal or Seabourne and since you said it won't matter if your kids don't have others to be with, then the Luxury Lines might

be a better choice.

[MrsBoo]

Thanks for the horse info. We will be going to Mazatlan in December & there have been lots of good reviews on Randi's happy horses, so will definitely wait until then.

[canderson]

Loved it! but after three days decided it was not a great idea for the waistline. asked for triple garlic and it was Great!

Glad you found that one, and also that you found the grill in the Spa area. Have had some of the most interesting tasting lunches there of anywhere on the ship.

 

As to breakfast -- I would have to agree with an earlier post. Although they've been known to swap smoked salmon and kippers on alternate days, the day to day variety doesn't change much -- but there are a lot of choices! If you see the same stuff day after day, I can imagine that the selection itself might become boring. Like you, we've done the Infinity trans-Canal (going the other way), and never did that much repeating of breakfast to the point where we got bored. We just kept making different choices from the wide variety that was available. Did you happen to venture to the aft area between the two sides and snag a few of their Belgian waffles? These guys aren't bashful with the malt.

 

I'm curious -- what did you think specifically of the little burg of Huatulco? We noted that you also enjoyed it (as did we) but what did you do there?

 

As for the ANNOYING "men in blue shirts" in Acapulco, I could NOT agree with you more. If these guys are really guides sanctioned by the city, somebody needs to take el alcalde aside and explain the problem to him.

 

I note that you enjoyed tea in your room w/cookies at 3:30 every day. Did you ever get down to the Cova for an afternoon supply of goodies from the selection there? I think that's where the cookies come from, but they have lots of other tasty baked goods as well.

[CanAm Girl]

Great review Suzsummit...with lots of reads and replies too. To others, I sailed on this voyage also, and met Suzsummit first through roll call on this web site, and then on the ship.

 

Just a few comments from reading everyone's replies...

 

Evoni....our waiter told us starting with the May 16th sailing, they will have all new menus for the Alaska season.

 

LoisR... I dined with Suzsummit and her DH one night, and she made her request directly to not only the head chef, but the restaurant manager himself. BTW, I had really enjoyed your posts on this website and haved learned alot.

 

As far as the menu goes, I agree with all of you that it is not an easy task to prepare food for and please over 2000 people. However, one entree choice out of five(?) could be a more "zesty" preparation, but then I have never planned and cooked for more that 20 people so what do I know. Oh and BTW Suzanne...they had V8 and tomato juice in the Oceanview...but you had to ask for it as they kept it "in the back".( which I didn't discover until half way through the cruise). As for breakfast...perhaps if they changed the presentation order a little or something.....it was all very delicious......but you could walk through it blindfolded by Day 10. The service there was also exemplary.

One note.....by the end they ran out of grapefruit, boxed milk, and creamers....there again it must be hard to plan what 2000 people will want to consume.

 

MrsBoo - re Huatuclo....what a fantastic little place....unruined ( yet!) We took a tour that took us around the area, and ended up in a small town ( La Cruecita sp?) which was very nice.

 

One last comment was disembarkation....which I am sorry to say that in this case could only be called an unfortunate accumulation of events that turned in to a disaster. ( late arrival, late immigration arrival ). It is funny how quickly people can turn from having the greatest time of their lives to "I will NEVER sail with Celebrity again!". And to see people stealing taxis from those waiting in the taxi line, not once, but dozens of times....what can I say. Anyways...this isn't supposed to be my review. I just wanted to add a few comments to what I read in the replies. This was my 7th cruise, and I love Royal Caribbean and Princess but I do have to say...the service on the Infinity that I experienced was fantastic.

 

CanAm Girl

[Lois R]

:) Hi, Well, if the Head Chef and Restaurant Manager couldn't help with those "spice up the food requests", then maybe Celebrity really isn't the cruiseline for

Suz. Hopefully she can find something that will totally please her pallet.

 

As for breakfasts, I guess I am just easy. I could pick something different every day, then start over again and be happy.

 

And thank you for the compliment:) I have learned many things from other folks on here too so I guess what goes around comes around for all of us!

[jerseygirl3]

My question is how did you manage to get your children out of school for two weeks? I've always taken mine out for a week (and usually tried to arrange around a week when they had another day off so it only involved 4 days). I'm surprised the teachers didn't scoff at taking off 2 weeks. Or maybe they did?

[suzsummit]

My question is how did you manage to get your children out of school for two weeks? I've always taken mine out for a week (and usually tried to arrange around a week when they had another day off so it only involved 4 days). I'm surprised the teachers didn't scoff at taking off 2 weeks. Or maybe they did?

 

My middle school daughter is homeschooled; so that one was easy. My 1st grade son attends a tutoring center/school they were thrilled about the trip and didn't even give us any work to do on it -- the learning was taking place just by taking the trip. My 5th grader is in public school -- I never gave them an option to scoff. I told them in Sept this trip was taking place, I remeinded them at 3 month intervals throughout the year. When three weeks before the trip came I handed them a list of what work we would be doing on the trip (I made my own lessons). I never gave them a chance to say no. I indicated that this trip was as valuable as my daughter sitting in a classroom for two weeks. Read the book Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School

by Grace Llewellyn and you might get some ideas of how to take control of your children's learning. It has really helped figure out family and school balance -- basically that family time is as valuable (if not more) than time sitting in a classroom. Also helps put things in perspective.

 

I think a big part of it is going in and letting them know this is what you plan on doing... if you are feeling guilty about pulling your kids out of school then the school officals will play upon that guilt. And as a side note... honestly.... how much time is spent in 'true learning' during a typical school day after you subtract the recess, lunch, electives, trying to get the kids to settle down, classroom management, passing out assignment and review of what your kid already knows... What percentage is really spent on new learning???? Just something to think about.

[boltnut55]

My daughter just turned 8 yesterday and is finishing 2nd grade. I take her out of school on 1-2 occasions every school year ranging from 1-7 (this time) school days. She goes to private school, so I don't know if that makes a difference (ie. they still get funding from me even if my child is not in school). I don't ask; I just tell. And I feel NO guilt at all. During the trip, we do school and homework that she would be missing. I assign her journaling to do every day; she will be reading Because of Winn-Dixie and doing the worksheets that accompany that; we will end up reviewing math (subtraction and addition); and I have checked out some reading books that have an Alaskan theme, so it's not all just fun and games. When we visit places, I will also read from the guide books.

 

This time, the teacher wrote back a curt reply though about how she'll be missing important tests, etc. I had assumed that the last week or two would be more wrap up and more fun and games, so I was a little surprised. In the end, he's going to double up the bible verse memorization and spelling words to make sure she gets a chance at including those grades in the report card. He won't count any schoolwork/homework she will miss as part of the grade, but I told him she will bring it and complete it anyway.

[AnotherVirginCruiser]

I think I may know how many kids are on your cruise. I asked the child care staff and they told me. the May 16th Alaska cruise on the Infinity was to have 22 kids but 10 were infants. The 28th sailing I believe they stated they were expecting 60 kids. The cruise after that they are expecting 200. That came from the Fun Factory supervisor.

 

Hello- I wanted to double check with you and check to see if the "cruise after that" has 200 kids? Did they give a break down? infants/children/teens? We are on that cruise 6/9-and I we haven't had much of a response from any other families other than our roll call and I think there's about 12 kids(17-2 years old) in our group of 60+ on that roll call. 200 sounds like a lot!:eek:

[Lois R]

Kids/school/cruises is an entire separate topic.

 

I don't have any so it doesn't affect me, but I know the replies are varied....they have varied BIG TIME on these forums.

[whynotcruise]

Great review, suzsummit! My husband and I will be on the Infinity (same itinerary) next year. Where did you get your info on the tours/excursions you went on? Thanks! :)

[suzsummit]

Great review, suzsummit! My husband and I will be on the Infinity (same itinerary) next year. Where did you get your info on the tours/excursions you went on? Thanks! :)

 

WAY too much time on the internet. We did the ship's excursions in 3 ports. But the Costa Rica one we wanted something special so that is why we went with a private tour company, Coach Costa Rica. They were fabulous. and didn't seem overpriced or anything. I really liked the ideas of being able to stop whenever we wnated and not feeling rushed or like part of a cattle call. But I do recommend shopping on the pier. I really found a lot of little souveniers at this stop.

The colors of Aruba ship's t The our was nearly empty. I think we had 12 people on the whole bus.

I was also able to find out a lot by just using the Celebrity Web site and looking at the shore excursions -- these boards are also a wealth of information.

 

Good luck in planning your cruise --