I belong to several groups on FB and this question has been posted countless times. Each time, it strikes a chord. Here is the direct question.

“I’ve been on a few RC cruises before and I’ll be going again on Grandeur. In the past, we pretty much have only eaten in the Windjammer because we have two small kids with us. Am I missing out by not going to the main dining room? Will I regret bringing the kids there? If I only choose to go to the main dining room a couple nights, are there any particular nights I should go?”

anonymous from FB community group Cruising with Kids

YES, you’re missing out!

So my answer is always YES you are missing out on dining in the main dining room with the kids. When I had to convince my husband Dan years ago to cruise one of my top reasons why cruising with our kids would be best is for the mealtime options.

For starters, I don’t want to have to think about what restaurant we go to on vacation, or let alone having to drive there and as a mom of a child with allergies that adds an entirely new component.

Even more importantly. I want to feel waited on. I want to feel that way all the time! Moms are a jack of all trades, am I right? We are the cooks, cleaners, nurses, chauffeur, teachers, entertainers, schedulers and so much more. So, why not at least on vacation let someone wait on you?

This question always leaves me wondering, why would you not want to sit down and have a meal in the dining room? Is it because you have children? Would you go to a local restaurant to eat with your kids? What would be the regret? What makes you nervous?

Will I regret bringing the kids?

Not that you directly asked me but it’s my job to be a resource and tell it like it is and so NO, you won’t regret bringing the kids.

What if my kids don’t behave?
What if they are loud or cause a fit?

To that I will say as a parent you just need to plan in advance. The dining room on any cruise line can take awhile. In my experience if you can get through the first night you’re all set. The wait staff will get to know you and your likes/dislikes and the timing.

Timing of dinner

First thing is timing dinner appropriately. We do the early or anytime dining. Anytime is just that you can choose when you eat every night. If you decide to do an early dinner one night the next you can do a later time. I don’t recommend switching it up though as it’s best to keep to a schedule. You’ll have the same waitstaff and table and the more they get to know you the more enjoyable the evenings will be. And if you dinner time is say 6:00pm by the time you actually eat it could be closer to 6:30pm so take that into account.

How to keep the kids entertained

As for preparing in advance we bring with us sticker puzzle books and on occasion our old iPhones. When we upgrade our phones we keep our old ones (currently iPhone 6 and 8). We wipe them clean and start them over for the kids. We only download educational books, games and fun apps for them to play. We do also have at least 1 movie downloaded. Most often than not we just spend time playing with a travel tic tac toe or the puzzles. And you can’t go wrong with crayons and a coloring book or even better the mess free ones by Crayola.

Which nights to actually go to the dining room?

The final part to this particular question is: “If I only choose to go to the main dining room a couple nights, are there any particular nights I should go?”

I think this depends on what you want to experience while on vacation. If you care about the food options obviously check the morning of to see what is being offered. If you can’t find something to eat then skip it.

If you want to get dressed up then make sure to take them on ‘formal’ night. It’s fun to see those who choose to get dressed up and usually the waitstaff will perform a song and dance if you’re lucky. Enjoy the time you have with the kids and opening the door to new experiences for everyone. Least you can do is try it. If it’s one thing I can say you can ask others for their opinion (we all have them after all) though you won’t know if you’re missing out unless you give it a try.

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Mom & Dad are on TV?

True Story. Back in April 2018 Dan and I went as we always do the Love & Marriage game onboard the Granduer of the Seas. If you can go see this show on whatever line you are on do yourself a favor and GO. RUN.

More on how to participate in these games to come.

Low and behold though all those events they do from the belly flop to the game shows are shown in all staterooms on a loop and our kids were super confused when they saw us on the TV in the room!

TV offerings on 3 cruise line

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL): We cruised them back in December of 2016 on the Escape. We didn’t seem to use the television that often as we had a balcony. The girls would sit outside while we got ourselves ready.

Most would agree that NCL does not have very good station offerings. There are standard cable networks and movie rental channels. As with most lines they do offer movies in their theatres.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL): Just recently updated their offerings and thank goodness for that because I was getting sick of the same cartoons for kids that they had already seen. This time there were newer old shows like Family Ties, 7th Heaven, Nickelodeon shows and more. Plus the news channels were MSNBC and Fox News so pleasing to all. One negative on the older ships there are no movie rentals available in cabins.

Carnival Cruise Line (CCL): Just updated their offerings about 3 weeks ago! All guests now in North America will have newer top-rated network channels such as HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel and Discovery. Nickelodeon programming and a kids central (usually a mix of various cartoons) are there to entertain the younger kids! The news source will be a CBS National News channel that will provide original reporting, interviews and breaking news 24 hours a day. 

All lines still offer movie channels* and their original content programming such as shopping channels, excursion channels and their own channel for location & speed, highlights from the day and your schedule. 

*please note that some of the older ships may not have the same offerings as newer ships.

Thanks for tuning in!

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Let’s Break It Down

Cruise Fare/Taxes/Insurance (see Anatomy of a booking confirmation) we paid totaled $3,011. What’s left then to spend would be anything you purchase onboard.

Here is where we spent money onboard:

– Gratuities (we never prepay: we usually change these when onboard and use cash to tip those who directly helped us)
– Casino (we budget about $100 per/day the casino is open)
– Arcade (a kid thing but at least $20 p/kid)
– Beverages (we bring our own wine onboard and then budget for little extra. We never purchase the beverage package.)
– Gift Shop (miscellaneous items like ornaments, t-shirts or jewelry)

What our account showed

The images below show what you onboard account looks like and can be requested at the guest service desk anytime throughout your cruise. I recommend getting a copy at least half way through to see how you are doing! Things add up quickly when you never use cash and it all goes straight to the room. You will receive a copy to your room the night prior to debarkation.

At the bottom of the second page above you’ll notice the total owed at the end of the trip. It was an ADDITIONAL $670.

So in total the cost for our entire experience was $3,681.

Now, that may seem like a lot of money but if you read our Anatomy of a Booking Confirmation you can see that this was for a 12 Night Cruise.

Take the total experience amount divided by the number of nights and then divided by the four of us in the family.

It cost us $306 p/night ALL INCLUSIVE.

Whoa that seems like a lot of $

NOW, I wouldn’t be doing my job educating you all if I didn’t give you a quick comparison.

So, for comparison purposes I went to an online booking tool and did a quick search in Myrtle Beach for 12 nights in April 2019 (since we went in April 2018). Why Myrtle Beach? Because it’s comparable in the offerings (sun, sand, activities) and let’s be real, we all know Disney is expensive—just go price out 12 nights there! 

The cost at the Paradise Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Resort^ (ocean view room which is comparable to our cruise) for family of 4 is $2,411.

This DOES NOT INCLUDE all food (just 2 breakfasts each day), entertainment or kids programming.

On average per day you could spend at least $20 p/person on food (and I think that’s low) however, that’s about another $1K.

Ok, are you still with me?

This leaves you with just $200 extra for entertainment.

A quick search and I found if you do 3 excursions it would be:
– aquarium with glass bottom boat tour about $140 for family of 4
– visit a botanical gardens would run $50 for family of 4, and
– adventure ropes course would be another $176

You are at $366 on entertainment/activities.

If you’ve followed along so far you will see you are now OVER the cost of what 12 nights cost my family to cruise the Southern Caribbean and you’re in Myrtle Beach!

^I am not affiliated nor have I ever stayed at this property. Only using for the sake of an example!

Could we have saved even more?

Take a look at the images included. I diagramed them for you so you can understand the breakdown. Plus I think we could definitely have saved more and think one time when we cruise we won’t do any extras at all!

The post The Anatomy of an Onboard Account and all those costs! appeared first on Cruising with the Family.

50/50 split on whether we stay on the boat at our second port of Miami, Florida or leave. If the weather was good the plan would be to stay on the boat and get some pool time in. If the weather was rainy or cloudy and cool we’d catch a ride to the Children’s Museum. The weather won out and we stayed onboard!

We started the morning by having breakfast in the main dining room. This is always preferred for me since it’s a sit down and I am waited on with minimal thinking taking place for what everyone else wants to eat. Breakfast and lunch in the main dining room you are seated restaurant style though sometimes with others! This particular day we sat with another couple and had some great conversations about travel, the association industry and more.

Today happens to be Sunday and something we haven’t had in the past since we usually cruise in the spring is being onboard for football season! They showed three major games on the big screen above the pool deck.The first game was the Baltimore game and clearly there were plenty onboard interested in watching. This is also where they show other movies at throughout the week at night.

Plus I got to try out my new GoPro! I got it for my birthday this year and was really excited to test it out underwater. Speaking of gadgets. If you are in the market for a new camera of any kind it’s good to know those prices from home before you set sail! You can purchase some great items in the islands and they are duty free!

Cruising with the family: Meet Becky
My goal with this blog is to talk to others (stay tuned for our podcast) about their experiences or questions if they’ve never cruised before.

Today I got to meet Becky while we were sitting in the pool with our kids. She hails from New Jersey, close to the Pennsylvania border. She has a son age 7 and a daughter almost 4 so very similar. I asked how the kids liked it and the first thing she said is “they are a little bored.” She went on to tell me their first experience cruising was on a Disney ship.

No wonder they may feel that way then on this particular ship.

That being said it’s been hard for her kids to get used to the ‘lack’ of activities if you will. What Becky did say though is when they were on Disney they couldn’t afford to do the excursions however, on this (which is half the cost) she said they’ve been able to do excursions such as Sea World for the day and a dolphin encounter.

Time again for that? 
Before I knew it we needed to get lunch. We weren’t dressed properly for the main dining room so the buffet was the choice again for lunch. It definitely gets old there after a while. As soon as we sat down it seemed about time. Time for a meltdown! We hadn’t really had one full on just yet. I leaned over to where little little sat and picked her up into my arms to talk. She put her head down to listen and calm herself and this happened.

She slept in my arms for about 20 minutes. All she needed to feel refreshed, eat and have enough energy to head off with her big sister to Adventure Ocean. After they were signed in for the afternoon camp session Dan and I headed to the theatre to watch Oceans 8. I will say the movies onboard have been amazing. We have seen so many newly released films that have been on our list.

One of the neatest parts today were the ships we saw in port. Several came and went while we were still here. We took a little time to hang out and play checkers and the girls had some fun scoping out the different ships! We have some video up on our Facebook page of the ships in port such as a NCL Getaway, Carnival Magic and more.

Truth be told

We geared up for dinner and sometimes it’s hit or miss and I have been taking many photos! Tonight we had a so-so night. Dessert was my favorite! We have a kids menu to order from and also the main dining room menu. You can order as much as you want from this menu. Though the starters are all listed in one column you can get more than one! Typically I will try a soup and salad or a salad and appetizer like shrimp cocktail. Here was tonight’s meal.

I had the cauliflower soup and caesar salad. Both fantastic. Dan had the feta, tomato and watermelon salad. He loved it. He had the skillet chicken and I had the beef bourguignon and ravioli with mushrooms. I didn’t care for either and didn’t eat much. Dan liked his. Dessert for me was sherbert and I tried the cheesecake which was fantastic. The kids asked for a cookie and they brought seven.

We did a quick round on the dance floor and headed off to the cabin. I got the kids settled in and Dan headed back up to watch the evening football game and get his late night snack!

Tomorrow we are on Day 5 and I’m excited to head to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. It’s a special island for us!

ps: I love when you read until the end and this time I’d love to hear from you. You just got $2K to spend on a cruise with your family. Where do you want to sail to? What island do you want to experience?

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Today is our first port day and we are in Port Canaveral. This is about one hour from Orlando and the theme parks we all know and love. We purchased one excursion the entire time and it was for today. Roundtrip transportation directly to Universal Studios.

This happened to be another surprise for the kiddos. Their Aunt works for Universal so we got to see her briefly while there. However, their Uncle and cousin surprised them and spent the day…neigh six hours riding rides and catching up.

Thankful for NOT going to Disney
The day started as we arrived into port half hour late and that set us back. I had originally looked into tickets to Disney for the day. That would have run our family of four $509 and I would have been ticked off with the limited amount of time. This tour was booked through Royal but run through Sunward Tours and they were fantastic.

Our meeting time stated 9:45am in the theatre. Actual time left: 10:45am. Be prepared to sit and wait if you have a tour first thing and are docked late. There were 51 who purchased this particular excursion. They gave bracelets, like the ones to show you are over 21 at a festival, for us to wear to easily spot as we left the park.

Our passes included Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. There were quite a few rides the little little couldn’t do. Before leaving I printed the park maps and highlighted what I knew we could do. I definitely plan ahead and encourage you to do the same!

Seuss land is a favorite. There were at least five rides all in one location which helped with our time constraints. Not to mention the holiday decorations are up and that just made me so happy! There is something so exciting about holiday decorations at a theme park!

Barely made it in time
We barely made it back to the ship in time for dinner! Kid you not. We knew we’d miss our seated dinner time so planned to go to the buffet. We returned shortly after 8:00pm and by the time we got upstairs it was 8:15pm. Buffet closed in 15 minutes.

We ate and hit the sack. The kiddos were so tired from the day and we were too! I will say the weather has been amazing it was the perfect day to be at a park. My brother in law said “you’re welcome” and to that, I say thanks!

The post First Port Stop Day 3: Port Canaveral, Florida appeared first on Cruising with the Family.

We all had a great sleep overnight and woke up around 7:00am. These rooms are nice and dark on the interior which I thought might help the kids sleep in. That didn’t happen. It must be the excitement for a day at Adventure Ocean.

There’s Never a Lack for Food

We decided to go to the Windjammer again for the buffet breakfast. We got up there around 7:45am, snagged a table and off we went. Dan took the big little to get her ‘volcano’ egg and the little little and I waited. This was an amazing breakfast. I had an egg white omelet cooked to order (from one of our crew buddies: Nowar), my favorite apple danish and crispy bacon. The kids had their eggs and pancakes and Dan’s favorite today? Cocoa Krispies. We all said ewwwwwwww in our best Jimmy Fallon impersonation.

Then the inevitable…..

Big little said she didn’t feel well. She went back to the room with Daddy to get some medicine. Little little and I went to get in line for Adventure Ocean. Line? Yes, there is always a line to sign the kids in for the camp program. On this particular cruise there is a cap of 15 kids in the 3-5 age and 25 in the 6-8.  There are over 100+ kids onboard. So, yep,  third in line.

Just as we were about to sign both kids in, big little said she didn’t feel well. The inevitable…..you get me yet? Yes, our sweet girl threw up right outside Adventure Ocean. Big little she is brave, scared, shaky, and sad.

This kid has been on eight cruises and this is the first time EVER she has gotten sick and thrown up. And guess what? This awesome travel blogger didn’t follow all the steps in that packing list. So, off daddy went to the infirmary for medicine, bar for ginger ale and buffet for crackers.

Within an hour of having the medicine she was “starving” and ate all the crackers while sipping on ginger ale. She was well enough by 2:00pm to go Camp for the first time and was so happy.

With her being under the weather and the seas still a little rocky we decided it was best to just have a picnic in our room. We took turns going back to the Windjammer and brought lunch to the room. There is room service don’t get me wrong and that includes a $9 service charge. No thank you.

Invite Only

We had no plans today at all except to attend one program. I just wanted to sit in the Centrum with a cup of coffee reading. Due to a frontal system it’s been rough weather today. Off and on rain storms and high winds. So much in fact the outdoor pool was closed as was the top deck for walking. They did allow kids to swim in the solarium, usually for adults only!

The event I went to was invite only to a Top Tier welcome. This is for all those who belong to Royal Caribbean’s loyalty program, Crown & Anchor, at Platinum level and above. You are rewarded based on number of nights cruised. I have been to one before and won a free spa treatment so I’m all about the free. Plus I knew I’d get a free drink! Yep, I got the free drink and nope I didn’t win anything. Matter of fact, they didn’t do any giveaways. They introduced the key staff members, had a singer from the entertainment staff do their thing and the jazz quartet played music.

What do you want to do?

When 2:00pm hit and both kids were dropped at Camp that’s what we said to each other. We say this all the time. Part of us wants to sleep and rest and then the other part is like what can we do without the kids. We didn’t have our Cruise Compass on us that would have told us what was going on so we ended up where we always do. The casino.

As quick as we entered we exited down $40.00.

We strolled through the onboard shops. We checked on the price of liquor in the onboard shop so that we could compare when we get to the islands. Duty free shopping means we’ll find some good deals and don’t have to fly home with it!

Guess what time it is again?

Yep, time to eat! Go figure. I think that’s why everyone thinks that’s all you do when you cruise. Though I have to say I haven’t once felt stuffed! I’m also not ‘watching’ what I eat right now. Tonight is a formal night. They usually offer 1-2 on a 9 night cruise. Formal is anything cocktail attire to black tie.

Dinner took about hour and half again. The moment our girls sat down our waiter, Sherwin, had their fruit cups ready and big little’s separate plate of bread! Once we were done we went straight to the photographers for our family picture. Took a cool behind the scenes look but if I put it here then it would spoil the holiday card! This particular formal night the Captain spoke to everyone, gave out free champagne (SWEET) and there was a small performance from four of the entertainers.

Okay, so get this. The Captain. His name is Captain Thor. So, seriously I feel super safe!

Those who know me know that I love to dance. Tonight we took the girls dancing after dinner. The showtimes in the main theatre start at 6:30pm and second show 8:30pm. We wanted tonight to be an earlier night since tomorrow we have a full day. So, we did dancing in the Centrum and family game night.

Kids were in bed and asleep by 9:45pm. We are all packed and ready to go tomorrow off the boat when we arrive at our first port, Port Canaveral. The kids have no idea what we are doing so another surprise is in store. As I type this we are off the coast near Savannah, GA and the seas have definitely gotten calmer.

It was one of those days where it didn’t seem to go as planned and it was ok.

p.s. if you’ve read this far do me a favor? will you leave us a comment and tell me an embarrassing moment you’ve had in life? I am going to read them to big little so she knows that everyone gets embarassed once in awhile!

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WOW, did you all see our last post about how we were surprising the kids with a cruise? Well, we pulled it off and we couldn’t have done it better. If you missed their reaction definitely go check it out on our Facebook page.

We promised to take you with us and in doing so I want to give you a timeline of how our first day went. The first day is Embarkation day. Basically you arrive at the port, get checked-in and off you go climbing the gangway and entering the ship.

We left a little later than we had wanted but there was no stress. Big little realized at 9:30 when she looked at the clock that she had missed the bus. She was not happy until I said she was playing hooky today. We made a quick stop at our local library to pick them each out their own tablets. FYI: those tablets are amazing they are age appropriate and loaded with games, puzzles and books. Best of all—require NO WIFI!

It was Noon at the Port of Baltimore when we arrived unloaded bags and proceeded to park. Onboard eating at 1:15pm! We sailed through (pun intended).

When you cruise you can check-in online in advance which we did and makes this process seamless. We were also lucky to have priority boarding which made our embarkation a bit quicker. The regular lines are like riding a ride at Disney with zig zagging your way to the front.

SAY CHEESE
The last thing you do at check-in is say cheese while they snap your photo for your sea pass. This card is all you need for the duration of the cruise. No cash, credit cards or Ids are required. Everything you purchase goes to this card. We got checked-in walked around the corner and BAM….another Say Cheese moment! The photographers from the ship are there with backdrops of the Grandeur to take your boarding photo. Then we got onboard and we took you with us!

Top 3 Things We Do When We Board
1. Go EAT. Straight to the buffet and in our case this is called the Windjammer. It’s very crowded so finding a seat takes patience. 

2. Check kids in at Adventure Ocean. This is the kids club and you need to check in on the first day and sign a waiver. On Royal Caribbean it’s Seuss at Sea. 

3. Go to our Room. This cruise we did an interior room. No windows or balconies and it saved us quite a bit of money. Dan took this while I was getting this blog together and the kiddos were eating!

We unpacked and did the muster drill. This is MANDATORY drill for all passengers. Doesn’t matter if you live on a ship or not  you have to go. As you can see we haven’t even left port yet. That is the only activity that has to be done at all the entire trip.

We had dinner seating at 5:30pm and before that took a walk outside. It was just perfect. Dinner took about an hour and a half. Afterwards we caught some of the set sail show. My kids are excited to see the cruise director we had on our April sailing. His name is Mike and he’s outstanding. We love to see familiar faces. Our waitstaff from April is all here too and they gave us all big hugs when they saw us.

Following the show in the theatre they played a movie: The Greatest Showman. We stayed for half the movie and called it a night at 10:00pm.

That’s it for Day 1….we’ll be back again and make sure follow us on Facebook too!

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I’m a little serious and a little joking obviously! Clearly, I didn’t win the MegaMillions or Powerball or you would be with us! But alas, we won $4!

I am serious though in the sense that this Thursday, we are surprising our kiddos with a cruise! They literally have no idea. Our school district has several days off for teacher workday/election day (make sure you vote–we did our absentee weeks ago) and Veterans Day. Making this a perfect time to escape.

We booked this about 3 months ago

That was after we looked at options such as Disney, Legoland and going to the beach. This one just worked out cost wise. We will spend about $215 p/night for a family of 4 which includes our entertainment, accommodations and food! Our journey will be 10 days. We get to visit Port Canaveral, Miami, Freeport (Grand Bahama Island), Nassau and CocoCay (a private island in the bahamas).

But wait, Nicole, you said we were coming with you. What do you mean?

Well, we’ll be live blogging the ENTIRE TRIP! We will have video (some LIVE on Facebook) and posts all week. We’ve heard from you on questions you have so we’ll make sure to answer all of them while sailing. It’s not too late if you want me to show you something just comment and consider it done.

We haven’t done too much pre-planning on this except to know that we didn’t want to spend more than $2,500 on a vacation and that’s our goal. You all know that I’m full disclosure here on what we pay for what especially if you’ve seen our Anatomy of an Booking Confirmation!

What’s New For Us?

Our room location. This will be the first time that we are sailing in an interior cabin. If you don’t know an interior room has no window, view or balcony. These tend to the be the smallest rooms onboard. For us we don’t quite care since we are never in the room except to sleep and get ready for dinner but we seem to have that all down to a T anyhow.

So, join us Wednesday the 30th on our Facebook Page at 9:30am we’re going LIVE to answer questions that you all have had for us and to let you know some of what we’ll be doing on the trip this week.

As always if you haven’t signed up to our BLOG please do and you’ll be sure to get our posts so you can follow along on our journey. Plus there is that awesome packing checklist that’s FREE!

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