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Beachbum

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  1. @Matt Totally agree. You have to take that stuff with a grain of salt. I also feel like how you are treating people is important. I wonder if perceived rudeness is just a response to how they are acting towards the staff ie being inpatient and demanding.
  2. @JLMoran Also the Head Server was present all the time. The previous cruises we have done we only saw them the last night to ask for a tip basically. He was at our table at least once if not more every night. He even filled our waters a few times. I was part a closed facebook group for this sailing and i probably saw 10+ positive comments about the servers being awesome. I dont have another RC cruise to compare it to but our experience with the MDR was very positive.
  3. @Lovetocruise2002 My son would agree with the TV selection haha! Besides a little more flexible hours with disney which was not that big of a deal my son loved it and is still talking about all the fun he had.
  4. @JLMoran The kids did everything for the most part. We brought their own goggles and life vest with us. The last snorkel area was a little much for my 3 yo so she stayed with the grandparents on the boat and her and the Capt. fed the fish some bread. The grandparents did about half of it. They stayed on the boat more towards the end. I was worried it would be too much for them but they loved it and would do it again. As far as dining..... We had the 5:30 seating due to the kids. a little bit a push sometimes to get ready for early dinner but we always made it. At times the food was a little slow for the adults. The kids food came out very quick. At 6:45 the kids club staff would meet you at the entrance of the dining room and take the kids up the deck 14. My son would clean his plate and have dessert and ask about every minute if it was time to go meet them yet. I would say two nights were slow and the other nights were better. It wasnt our servers though. I noticed all tables were slow those nights. Our kids were fed so not a huge deal. Our main server was good, but our assistant server was awesome. He needs promoted. (which i will reflect in my survey to RC). He made dolls, swans and other characters out of the napkins for my daughter. After first night he had our drinks waiting on us when we set down. Since we had the drink package i guess he figured it was not that much of a risk to have that waiting. Iced tea for the grandparents and milk for the kids. Most of the time i would be taking my last sip and the next one would come out. After the second he would ask. For dessert you brought me a double shot of espresso automatically. Our main server was ill one night and his replacement was didnt know us but he did a great job under the circumstances. My wife is mostly vegan and they did a great job figuring out would she could have and made her some special dishes a few times. I feel like we are a very easy to please family. It wasn't all perfect but it was pretty good. My wives father's biggest complaint was that when he asked for steak sauce they would not leave the bottle. By the third night they had a two bottles waiting for him. We had a good laugh about it. Quality of food was good. I have had better and i have had way worse. Some dishes were better than others. I thought the lobster was over cooked. I live on a barrier island in North Carolina and eat fresh seafood all the time. So i figure i am kind of a seafood snob. The lobster was fine even over cooked a little. THat character breakfast was pretty bad as far as service goes, but maybe that was just a bad day for everyone. @JLMoran If you have a specific question i am happy to answer as best as i can. I am no cruise expert like others here.
  5. Sorry Forgot about the shows. I pre-booked all the shows. They were all great. We did not see Cats. My 3 yo was with us (she would not go back to the kids club) and it was almost just as fun to watch her. Her eyes were wide open and a big smile on her face. She was awe struck. The adult comedy shows was awesome. both comedians had us laughing. We were impressed with the quality of the entertainment.
  6. We just got off of Oasis of the Seas this past Sunday. There were six of use including two children (3 & 5) and my wife's parents who are in their late sixties. This was our first RC cruise. We have done Disney a couple of years ago and my wife and I did a carnival cruise 13 years ago. We arrived at MCO the day before and used Ace Luxury Transportation to transfer all of use to our hotel at Port Canaveral. I cannot say enough about Ace. They get great reviews and we had used them on our last Disney cruise. Communication is great and they are always inside the airport near the baggage claim holding a sign with your name. Uber is probably cheaper but i do all of the trip planning for the group so it just takes a level of stress away knowing that someone is waiting and can help me move all the luggage. This cruise had three port stops (St. Martin, San Juan, Labadee) and three full days at sea. We have never been to Labadee but have been to the others. I purposely booked this cruise because with the sea days it would be less moving around. With the young kids and the grandparents having some mobility/endurance issues i figured it would be more relaxing using the ship as the destinations. The first two days were sea days. We loved it. We could relax. The kids enjoyed the pool and of course the ice cream cones. The kids tried out the kid zone and my oldest loved it but my youngest became clingy and never went back. More on that later. The first morning we did a character breakfast with the kids. THey loved it. All the characters came around to the tables for pictures and dancing. The only complaint was the food service was really off that morning. I ordered an egg white omelette and took and hour to get it. When it arrived it was completely wrong. I am not picky so i was going to eat it because i did not want to wait for another. I took one of the kids to the bathroom and when i got back my wife had returned it. Never saw another one. A couple of other families had left because their younger kids grew restless while all the adults were waiting for food. Its a small complaint because i was not there to enjoy my breakfast. We were there for the kids and their food was quick and they loved it. So mission accomplished in my books. St Martin - we did the Capt Bobs boat excursion not booked through RC. JLMoran did a great review on them. I can second his review. Worth every cent. Food was good. Plenty of beer, water and soda. My wife is mostly vegan so they made here a separate meal which she liked. Capt was friendly and with 6 others on the boat besides us there was plenty of room. Capt Bob said since we had the small kids he put us with the smaller group which was nice for EVERYONE! Kids did great. We rented a house 4 years ago on St. Martin at Bay Rouge near Donald Trumps investment property. I had told our Capt about it and he made a stop there so we could see it. The destruction to the area and the whole island is horrible to see. Knowing what it looked like before and seeing it now made us sad. We love St. Martin and hope they are able to bounce back. San Juan - We went to the fort by Uber. Super easy. The kids enjoyed it. My kids love pirates so they were in heaven. AFter that Kids and grandparents went back to the ship. ALl needed naps from our long day at St. Martin. My wife and I went for a couple of drinks and some food. I found a place online called Casa Melaza casamelaza.com. The owners were great. We tried a flight of different rums and ended up buying a couple of bottles of Barralito 3 star. There is no distribution off of Puerto Rico of this rum. Owners said most of their business is from the hotels not the ships. It is just a few steps off of the road from all the shopping. I found that odd. If anyone is interested it is worth your stop and their prices are good. Owners were super friendly and had a great chat with them. Labadee - We rented a over the water cabana at Nellie's beach. Awesome!!! Luckily i bought this on a black friday sale for $395. I think i saw it for $525 at one point. Having a little cover from the sun was great. We got the first one since it was closest to the water and the least steep entrance. The farther ones are more private but this worked for us the best. Service was great. Golf cart to anywhere we wanted to go. I walked most places but the grandparents appreciated the rides. I bought an all day roller coaster pass. We can have a free passenger. My son went a few times with me and my wife went once. It was a lot of fun. Dining - We did the MDR for dinner all but one night. We were tired after St. Martin so we just did Wind Jammers that night. MDR service was excellent. Loved our servers. They were great with the kids. Food was good. Some things better than others but no real complaints. It was nice to sit down as a family and TRY and teach the kids some manners. We messed up the first formal night. I had it stuck in my head it was the 2nd sea day not Day 2. Did not really pay attention to the cruise compass that day. MY FAULT. We had dresses and slacks and nice shirts on but when we walked in a immediately realized my mistake. We offered to go change but they said we looked great and there was no need. We saw people dressed less. In the end we had a great dinner and felt comfortable. We had suits and nice dresses on the second formal night. We had planned on following the rules for both nights but thats what i get for not paying attention. Deluxe Drink Package - I bought our for 40/day on a sale during black friday. We basically only had to have 4 cocktails to win that fight. With 3 seas days, labadee and a short san juan day it worked in our favor. Countless bottles of water, a couple of specialty coffees a day, a few extra red bulls to keep me moving and a few fresh squeezed juices thrown in there. A rough guess is that between the two of us we saved $400-500. Never felt pushed to drink nor did i fell like i was over drinking. My kids get up early so being hungover is painful. I got up and ran 3 miles 4 different days at 6 am. 4 or 5 cocktails throughout the day at the pool, 1 or 2 at dinner, and the 1 or 2 after dinner never felt to much. If a cruise was port heavy i could see not buying it. It worked for us and was nice not worrying about the end result aka the BILL. Kids Club - My oldest loved it. He is 5 but turns six the summer and when they saw him they instantly said he would be happier probably with the older kids (6-8 yo). Daughter did not but i think it was her being three more so than the activities. Having the kids separated probably hurts us a little. My daughter may have stayed if he was with her. Once you check them in they can not change locations. I liked Disneys a little better because they have less restricted hours and a little bit more free play, but my son loved it and getting back there after dinner was his first thought. The kids are able to roam freely between areas. The staff was great and my son was glowing and talking a mile a minute about what they did and the friends he met. Disembark-We walked off around 0650. Was out of the terminal by 0715. Super easy. Ace Luxury Transportation called me 4 different times to direct me to him and where he was parked. We were at the airport and through security by 0815. Flight was not till 1225. I had worried we would be pushing it. Again Ace is awesome and highly recommend. Communication was awesome and extremely helpful. Observations - -Room Attendant (Gena) was awesome. -We had room 12594 which was a superior balcony room (larger balcony on the "bump") Room was nice. Clean and relatively roomy for a cruise ship. We enjoyed the balcony. -I had read some critics on other sites about how rude everyone was on this ship (staff and guest). I did not find that at all. People were more than kind and staff was very pleasant. All staff everywhere stopped and talked to the kids. I thought the service was great. -The ship is aging but by and large looked great. A few stains in the carpet here and there but very clean. -Weather was great despite rainy Florida and returning to TS Alberto. We loved this cruise. We booked under a kids sail free promotion. It was more than half of a disney cruise of the same length. My kids never missed Disney at all. They loved the small wonders too. Had a lot of fun trying to find them. It gave mommy a few minutes to herself. I could definitely see doing another RC cruise in the future. We like to try a lot of different vacations/experiences so it will probably be a couple of years before we do it again. Thank you for all the tips. I have read this blog a ton and used so many tips from so many people. It was a huge help. So thank you to one and all for that help. Next trip is September. We are taking the kids back to Iceland. Thank you for listening to me babble.
  7. I have used Ace Luxury transportation two times and have them booked for a third trip. We are a family of four and we book the SUV. It fits all of us and luggage and they are always waiting for us upon arrival. They provide car seats/booster for free also. For me its nice to have an extra set of hands with the luggage since i usually look like a pack mule carrying everyones stuff. They are highly rated. Maybe not the cheapest route but the extra help and car seats are nice.
  8. For the future your little guys is old enough now. Both my kids had passports at 5 months and 6 months old. Its kind of funny. YOu have to hold them up in front of the blue screen for their picture.
  9. We spent a week in Saint Martin (French side) a few years ago. The house we rented was in Baie Rouge. The beach is a red coral sand and mostly private beach. At the other end was a public section with some parking and Gus's Beach Bar. Never was crazy busy. The beach bar had frequent happy hours, great drinks and pretty good food. Chair rentals were available also. We are going on Oasis of the Seas in May and will be heading over there. We rented a car. Marigot is not far and Grand Case is just a little further. Will be grabbing a late lunch at some of the "LoLos" in Grand Case. I guarantee there will be very few if anyone at Baie Rouge from the cruise ship. Awesome quiet beach.
  10. Joe, i have had both my knees scoped. Both were medial meniscus tears. The first one I ran my Navy physical fitness test 2.5 weeks after! (Full disclosure i was 25). 10 years later i had my other one done. No physical fitness test to pass but recovery was just as fast. Never took one narcotic pain pill, just ibuprofen. It takes 30-45 minutes so the anesthesia is minimal also. You will do great. Good Luck!
  11. Personally I have never seen the need for a TA. I don't mind doing the ground work and research for a cruise or any vacation for that matter. If people are too busy or just would rather let someone else do the work then I think a TA would be helpful. We are going on our first RC cruise in May on Oasis of the Sea. We have cruise before on Disney and 15 years ago on Carnival. I am not sure we are really cruise people but I am taking my In-laws and 2 toddlers so it seemed like the best bet for everyones enjoyment. We went to Iceland, France and Spain with our two kids last February which i did all the planning and it went great. I think i like the control and maybe nerd out on the research a little. There is so much great info out there (LIKE THIS BLOG) it makes it pretty easy. @JLMoran definitely go to Iceland. Its an amazing place. A lot of cheap flights and a quick flight from your area.
  12. I have a hard time believing any doctor is going to be excited about him, 1 month post CABG, jumping on a cruise ship and leaving the country. If anything went wrong and he had complications, the delay in receiving the expert care he would require would have a high probability of an extremely poor outcome. The timing stinks of course, but it would be risky. In saying that, his doctor is the only one that has all the details of his care, so follow their recommendations.
  13. Here is another blog about taking kids that had some tips about baby food and other related topics. https://www.momsoftheseas.com/ Hope this helps.
  14. We did a disney cruise with our 18 month old a couple of years back. Was Eating solids so did not have to deal with baby food. We sent diapers through amazon with our stateroom number on it and it was in our room when we got there. Might be able to do that with baby food too. You have the right attitude. GO WITH THE FLOW. We only did one dolphin/waterpark excursion. He does not remember any of it, but he had a great time and we have great pictures of it. Besides the cruise we have taken our kids from a really young age on trips through several island (not cruising) and a 2 week trip to Iceland, France and Spain. We just go with the flow. Obviously have to make flights and certain timed events, but everything else just depended on how the kids are doing that day/moment. We have things we want to do and see but if the kids are having a rough day we dont push it. If you push it, life will be miserable and stress through the roof. People argue that you should not take young kids on big trips because they wont remember any of it. I disagree. They are 3 and 5 now and are starting to remember some of our trips. They travel great. Still have our toddler moments from time to time. The best thing is that we have great FAMILY memories and my wife and I will remember those forever....or until i become senile anyway.
  15. rjac......NC has the Real ID. Go to NC DMV website to see what documents they require. I did it a couple of months ago. Not hard. Waited in line at the DMV for about 20 minutes and took about 10 minutes to complete the process.
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