cruise tips for family

[bigpud]

We are a family of 7(parents and 19,17,13,8,7 year old,we really deserve this holiday!:eek: ) travelling on the P Sky on the 15th April.I am not sure what to do with the dinner arrangements.We originally thought we would all sit together but after reading the threads,think the three youngest might enjoy the kids dinner more.Do they stay there whilst adults eat?Would the 13yo be better with the kids or us?I read of Karons sage on the Pacific Sun with older teenages not being aallowed to eat with the adults.Also could anyone tell us about embarkation and shore tours?Thanks,its alot to ask! Philippa

[cruiselover96]

Philippa, On the Sky if you nominate that the kids eat with you when you fill in the form then the kids eat with you. We had our 11yr old at the kids dinners but she hated it. she was the eldest there. Needless to say we requested she join us at our table of 8 and where accommadated the next day. I would recommend that the 7 & 8 year old have the kids dinner and the others eat with you. There are a lot of 7 & 8 years eating at the kids dinner. I would strongly recommend the 13 year old eat with you.

We've embarked without any problems, just quere up and wait, doesn't take that long. We organised our shore tours the first cruise through the cruise, but on our second cruise we did a few things ourselves. eg. In Vila if you catch a taxi they will take you where ever you want to go and it's a lot cheaper. We did the Cascade Falls tour the first time and cost a small fortune for 4, the second time we caught a taxi and it cost $10 to take all of us to the Cascade point, then you just follow those heading upto the falls. Great tour. I found that being our first cruise, I felt safer doing the cruise tours, (if you're late, the ship waits if you're on their cruise tour, if you're not they will not wait. It happened on our first cruise!!! and i've heard of it happening on many others). So for your first cruise you may feel more relaxed knowing you'll be back in time when the ship sets sail.

Your teens are going to have a ball also. We didn't see our 13 & 16 year olds except for breakfast and dinner. It's the best holiday as a family, you can have I reckon.

PS. We're on the Asia cruise also but on the 25th march for 2 weeks. (Hubby and I are doing this one on our own this time.)

[bigpud]

thanks for your reply!Can I ask,is sea sickness a problem?I realise we are in fairly protected waters in the Straits of Mallacca.Are you staying in Singapore before/after the cruise?I am not sure what to do about this and flights as we want to have 4 days in Singapore sometime.There are so many hotels,I am not sure what is the best way to go. Thanks.....Philippa

[cruiselover96]

Bigpud, we're in Singapore on the Monday and set sail on the following Sat and when we return 2 weeks later we're staying one night in Singapore again. I've temporarily booked the Carlton hotel for 3 nights before the cruise but I think I'll change that. I wanted to be close to the shipping terminal (it's 15 mins approx) away and was going to do the P&O pickup but that was an extra $50 and to catch a taxi would only be approx $10 (big difference), so I'm not sure were we'll stay yet, having your problem, so many places to choose from. Also have never suffered sea sickness and we have some choppy water heading home from Noumea on our last cruise, so I would think if the Straits of Mallacca are well protected hopefully it won't be a problem. Also having not been to Thailand and Malaysia before we'd probably to the shore tours through the ship (a safer option if you don't know where you're going, (and we have no idea!!!!).

I was looking at spending our return night from the cruise at Sentosa Island. It's supposed to be good for a night or two apparently, (and Binton Is also caught my eye..... like you say "so many hotels to choose from........" Kerri

[aussiedisneyfan]

We have stayed at both Bintan and Sentosa Island.

 

On Sentosa we stayed at the Shangri-Las which was lovely. Sentosa has lots of things to do. On Bintan we stayed at Bintan Lagoon Resort. It was good too. The hugest pool I have seen with a swim up bar. The also had another pool for kids which had a slide. We also did a day tour of the whole island and a bit of discount shopping.

 

I would recommend either of those resorts.

[Truebliss72]

We have been confirmed at the 1st dinner seating. We have done this as we eat at 5pm here at home as we have the 3 children and we have always done this so it would be wise take the 1st seating. Although if it was just hubby and I we would have taken the later seating.

I dont think our youngest who is 2 1/2 would be able to wait till the later one.

 

Our 15 yr old will be eating dinner with us as far as we know. We havent been told anything different about her eating with the other teens. She is also confirmed 1st seating.

 

I am wandering about when we set sail as we may miss dinner as we dont want to miss out on going through Sydney Harbour. I know I have seen the Harbour so many times but seeing it this way on a cruise will be amazing!

 

I would like to do the Asian tour on the sky but with all 5 of us it is so expensive so hubby and I may go but we will have to take our little man who will be 3 than. At least he will be able to use the kids club by than.

 

When hubby and I got married we went to Thailand on our honeymoon. We flew into Bangkok for 2 weeks and we done our own thing. We hopped onto the tiny little boat on the Chayophray (sorry about the spelling) and sailed down it 4 hours!( was literally feeling unwell) as my dislike for boats.

Anyway we seen it all the tourist way with no tour guides. When we got to the other end of the river ( well it kept going past the 4 hours but we needed to get off) we got into a taxi as they worked out cheap and than when we came back to Bangkok can you believe it only took 30 minutes to get back by train! lol...we were laughing the whole way home as we thought we went the only way to get to where we were going! Thats being a tourist who doesnt know where they are going! hehe

 

Anyway we went the River Kwai tour as my great grandfather was a POW there and he died there. No one in the family has been able to go pay respects and we did and I cried for hours when we got to the cemetary and also the Hellfire pass. We didnt know where he had been working and I was walking alone and had a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I said to hubby that we needed to go into the museum to ask more info about my GG. Anway turns out he was working at Hellfire pass when he got very ill and died a few kilometres away. This was a very SAD time for me but also joyous. It stays in my heart forever so if I got to go to Thailand again I would go back this time feeling alot more settled if this makes sense.

 

Singapore would be great and what a great way to show the children new countries. I am hoping that we will be able to go on the Asia cruise with all 5. Will see what happens. You just never know.

[cruiselover96]

Truebliss, it's me again!!

We had the first sitting also at 6pm with the kids and never missed sunset. We were often the last down to our table, but we never missed any of our meal except On the trip out from Sydney, we were about 30 mins late and just missed the Entree but that was it, no big deal. Once your table waiter gets to now you he always made sure we still got all our meals. Your 15 year old won't be the only teen eating with parents. We noticed all the teens ate at the same seating as their parents.

There is nothing like seeing the Harbour Bridge from the top of the Ship, watching it coming up and going under it. There's a real buzz about it. You won't miss your dinner, if I remember rightly we were out past the heads when dinner was being served.

I'm so looking forward to our cruise next march/april from Singapore around Thailand and Malaysia. Have wanted to go there for a long time, so this is a perfect opportunity to get the best of both desires. (cruiseing and islands)

Keep your eye out for last minute deals, as I'm sure there'll be some, there usually is when you've finally paid for it........ you may get fly/cruise deals which what we got last March. Kerri

[cruiselover96]

Thanks Aussiedisneyfan, I'll look into both Sentosa and Binton. Kerri