SueG23

Here's my 2 cents.... We were just at KSC on Dec 30. We were NOT on a cruise excursion and happened to visit during our trip to Florida. We were there from 9A until 8P and still didn't see everything. We also did an Anthem cruise 2 years ago during Christmas week and did not do a planned excursion out of Port Canaveral. I ended up regretting that decision and we ended up spending the day on the ship (which also happened to be Christmas day). We were planning to get off the ship, get on the free trolley and go to Coco Beach. Alas, the only way to get out of the port is by a taxi or a shuttle (whether to the beach or wherever) as the entrance puts you on one side of the highway than everything else. So... We opted NOT to spend $60 (for 4 people (15/pp)) to go to the beach. If I were to do it again, I would do the KSC excursion. Get it through RC because if you are late getting back on your own they will leave without you. Even if you only see a portion of what is there, you will have a great day. I highly suggest getting on the bus tour as soon as you get there. Also the Atlantis exhibit gets really long lines too. I don't think you will save all that much by getting your own transportation there, and like someone else said, you don't have to wait in line to get in if you go through RC. You can take in snacks and bottled water, although we didn't eat the snacks and just bought some food there. Food prices were reasonable. We did drink the water we brought in and ended up refilling the water bottles at drinking fountains. Good luck!

We did the one through Royal. It was comparably priced to private and we didn't have to do any work. And I also figured since we took the afternoon excursion and it was cutting it close to all on board time, I didn't want to take any risks.

We took the NE Adventure cruise 2 months ago. We did the Land and Sea tour in Bar Harbor. We all enjoyed it (2Adults, 1 15 year old, 1 13 year old). After walking through the village and hearing about the history of some of the buildings, we boarded a 5 mast sailboat and took a ride on the sea edge of the Acadia. We had a park ranger on board with us and he was a wealth of information. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. I wish we had more time in Bar Harbor as I would have loved to also take Ollie's Trolley into the park, and walk across the sand bar. Another time, I guess. In Saint John, we just took a walk. I didn't feel there was much to see, but they have a lovely walking path that is paved with a few benches scattered throughout it and some cool sculptures to look at too. In Halifax, we walked to the Maritime museum. It was a nice museum and we were also able to watch 2 movies in their dome theater. Our original plan was to then walk to the citadel, but we were tired and hungry so we just went back to the ship. We didn't stop at Boston on our cruise, but I have taken a week vacation there. And we still didn't see everything in a week. I think the highlights of the week were the whale watching tour (put on by the aquarium) and the Lexington trolley tour. But really, everything we did and saw was fantastic! We had a Go City card for the week so we were able to keep costs down. I think if I had to choose 1 thing it would be a whale watching tour. We saw 23 whales the day we were out. No comment on Portland. I've never been there. Good luck!

We found it super helpful to know where our teens were. We have androids and installed Google hangout and set up a family account that had all of us in a group text. Also I had zero issues feeding my online game addiction that requires some decent wifi (doesn't work in the doctor's office when I sit there for 4 hours for testing). We ended up with a 4 device package surf and stream for $27/day (so less than $7/day per device). We were on Adventure going to Canada.

Thanks everyone. I guess I'll see what we are comfortable with when we are there. I'm sure the age requirement is for insurance purposes and I would rather he not use it if it means breaking the RCI rules.

Question - We embark in 2 days on the Adventure! YAY! I have a 15 year old son who would like to use the fitness center. I know the rules are you need to be 16. I'm not looking to break any rules and sneak him in. But I thought I saw somewhere there is teen time for 13-15 year olds. Can anyone confirm this and do you happen to know when? Is it special times or all the time, with the supervision of a parent? Many thanks!