PM. Sure agree about some of the nuts on cruise critic. They really don't moderate very well there.

Thanks everyone for all the advice, it is greatly appreciated. ParrotMan, I see that you have experience regarding disability concessions. So the priority embarkation and debarkation was also for the persons accompanying the disabled person, as we would surely have to accompany her. The shower stool would surely be helpful for her to sit down, but ramps, or close rack or door push button are not necessary as we would have to do everything for her as she is both physically and mentally disabled. Regarding taking her to the pool, she is not heavy at all, and we can easily take her down and up ourselves, as I am certainly sure she would be afraid in the sling. But thanks a lot for the suggestions anyway. I would prefer a cabin for the disabled especially for the extra room space and stool, and I would particularly look forward to her not having to stay too long in queus to embark and disembark. I will have a good look at cruisecritics site and read reviews. A couple of other questions I have is whether we should prebook beverages, like wine or soda for the kids, or better pay for what we consume, and about the tipping - is it compulsory to pay beforehand to the cruise liner, or is it better to tip them ourselves individually whevever we are served?

Your whole party can disembark or embark together. We are not heavy drinkers and perhaps for the children you might want to pre-book soda for the kids... otherwise there is lemonade and iced tea for free all over the ships. It is not compulsory to pay beforehand to the cruise liner, but we usually have and if from our cabin steward or somebody special we often add an extra tip at the end of the cruise.. On the other hand, I know and cruised with a couple who received such poor service that they cancelled all their tips and tipped only their Room Steward. Sadly, Europeans have difficulty understanding the cruise tipping policy and there are guests they tell me who avoid tipping at all. Considering the long hours, demands of guests I just consider tipping for the main part as part of the cruise.. BTW if you manage to book a "handicapped" cabin or the Aqua Class...check out there is a small sofa in the cabin that doubles and pulls out as a bed. Oh yes...another secret...in the Celebrity theatres there is a secret elevator that takes you down to the floor level. Any other questions or concerns I'll be delighted to answer

Thanks so much ParrotMom for answering my latest questions. I do not think it is really necessary then to prebook soda, since there are iced tea and lemonade for free around the ship. If we do take the drinks package, would the drinks then also be free in the dining rooms, even in the evenings? We are still not sure whether to go on the Carnival Breeze or the Celebrity Silhouette, would there also be free drinks on Carnival cruises? We would not mind paying beforehand for the tipping, as long as we know for sure that the money is going directly to the employees and not the cruise company. Would the steward etc know that we payed for the tipping beforehand? We would not mind either tipping a bit extra for room service or the steward either. If we prepay the tipping, then would we have to tip extra again at the dining table in the evenings? By asking for a small sofa bed in the room you mean that I make sure that the room for the disabled is a cabin for three people? About the Celebrity theatre elvator, is there also one on the Carnival cruise lines, and by secret elevator do you mean one that is reserved for staff or for disabled persons, like one usually finds in museums, palaces etc in Europe, and would any of the staff escort you to these special elevators? Also, would having a handicapped person give you concession to skip queus in dining rooms, theatre etc - maybe even have a reserved seat at the theatre? This always applies in Europe, like for the Eiffel tower etc. One other important question for me is, when they say the ship is berthed, would one have to jump on the boats, or would there be a few easy steps? We always take our daughter with us when we go on short boat trips in Europe, like at the port in Barcelona, or in Bruges. We do not find it a hassle at all to lift her to the boats, as she is very light. We would for sure all of us to go to the countries where the cruise ship is berthed. So do you think we would manage? I would not like to miss embarkation because we list our child as disabled, as we can manage to take her with us for sure, unless there is a high jump to the boat. Thanks again for all advice and suggestions. I feel so stupid as we are literally new to cruising, but if we enjoy it, it will not be our last for sure.

We did find when we privately toured handicapped elevators in places that surprised us..like the Colusseum in Rome, Cinque Terre and of course the the private guides we have used with others have been very helpful..My husband even with his rollator with the guides help was able to get to the Pyramids and Sphinx the last trip. As for the cabin we have always had a balcony on any ship that we have sailed and there is always a "love seat" that opens up.. There really aren't any lines in the dining room and if there is at an "open seating" I'm sure with your family you would have no trouble.. As for the set dining room hours...you can just walk in and go to your table. Getting off the cruise ship if the ship is berthed is no problem...you just take the elevator to the correct floor and you go through security and I can guarantee that there will be more than enough staff to take your daughter down the ramp... BTW one of the things I just adore about Celebrity is that when you return from your tour/excursion there are tents/tables set up serving punch and water not to mention cold towels...any time or day or night..As for ports which you have to be tendered you and the officers could lift your daughter into the boat. Now, sadly, as to having a special reserved seat in the theatre.. this is a sore point.. We found that there are people who enter after the first show and grab all the first few row seats..There is "handicapped" seating on the top level which I find insulting because able bodied people take up that space.. What you could do is carry her down a few steps at the top of the balcony and leave her chair folded up at the top, the staff will be only too willing to help you.. Oh yes... when you embark and sign in you will be taken to a special waiting area where when the ship is ready to be embarked the stewards will take you personally to your cabin or to the upstairs cafe. If you have been to Barcelona by ship you know there is a handicapped elevator under the stairs.BTW you haven't mentioned what ports or itinerary your looking at. For more info please write me at [email protected]

Thanks again Parrotmom for the useful information. I guess then it would not be such a big problem to take our child with us when ship is tendered, as long as boat or platform is stable, as we always take her with us on short boat excursions around harbours like in Amsterdam and Barcelona, my husband and two sons who are in their late teens help me carry her to the boat. We have never been on a cruise ship, as we always go on holiday by driving around different places, stopping every two or three days, using a rented car, as we did whist visiting Barcelona, we travelled around France and Spain, but we did not stop at Marseilles or Monaco, and both ships, the Carnival Breeze or Celebrity silhouette do either of them. We visited many of the ports that both of them go to, but they still have a couple of stops which we never visited like Croatia or Santorini. We would not really mind either visiting again the lovely Amalfi Coast or even Bari. Maybe we can still hire a car from the harbour and drive around, although we would fear that we get stuck in traffic, like in the Amalfi coast, he traffic jams are terrible in Summer. We will probably only take one or two shore excursions of the cruise, they are just too expensive, especially for the five of us. Would there be private drivers near the shore? Since there would be five of us it would prove to be cheaper. No, it would be no problem to carry her some steps, she weighs only 22kgs, that would be about 50 pounds. We are still unsure whether to go on the Breeze or Silhouette, roughly they both have the same destinations, travelling east and west Mediterranean, with quite a few stops in Italy, we visited most of them. But we want to go for the cruise experience, maybe next time we will go on a cruise to Alaska, and another time to the Carribean if we get a cruise deal, but it is more convenient for us to embark anywhere in Europe since we are Europeons. I am unsure whether the boys, rather, young men would enjoy it more on the Carnival, personally for myself, I think I would enjoy it more on Celebrity, they seem more relaxed, but it is the boys that I want to make sure they would enjoy cruise most. It is not that much of an issue for my daughter, she is both mentally and physically disabled, and she will be with me all the time, I would not trust her at a kids club without me, but she would enjoy it for sure whichever cruise we go to. I am certain this will be a much more relaxing holiday for the first time, as we always have a hectic one travelling from one place to the other, like when we travelled by hired car from Trento northern Italy, right to the very south to Amalfi coast. We do see a lot, but we end up getting more tired than when we started off our holiday. The carnival cruise is also a lot cheaper than the celebrity, for the whole family it comes to nearly half the price, so there is also that to consider, especially since they roughly go to the same places. I would also though like to see the outcome of the concordia shipwreck, since carnival owns costa. So I will probably book around May. Maybe if we do carnival this year we will try celebrity next year, as I would still like to try out this cruise line for sure. That is if we enjoy our cruising experience They seem particulary attentive and everything to detail, but maybe carnival is more fun for the boys.I will surely email you using your email address once we have booked, I really appreciate that you gave it to me, as most probably I will have more questions to ask for sure. Thanks again.

Hi Anna, I ahve been away and was unable to answer your questions but I believe tat between ParrotMom and Larry, they have pretty much cover everything.

I would like to add that an experienced travel agnet would bbe very hehpful to you. My suggestion is to look at the deck plan when you book, make sure the cabins are cloae to each othwr. You can also see where the "public access" passage ways are.

Adjoining cabins are not like adjoining hotel rooms where there are actual doors conencting 2 cabins (at least I have not seen them myself) More typical is they have common access between the 2 cabins, sometimes, via the balconies.

Although Carnival owns Ccosta, they are 2 separate companies and runs separately. There is a "Carnival" that owns Carnival cruise, Princess Cruiase, Costa Cruise etc ...

We will be waiting for your trip report!

When do you plan to go? I was under the impression it was in the summer so May might be pushing it a little in terms of getting your preferred cabin selections.

Thanks for the info Eschew. You were right in guessing that I was imagining that connecting cabins had a common door inside cabins, but a common balcony would be fine. Even adjoining cabins or cabins facing each other would be ok, as long as the cruise company allows it as I do know that by American law you have to be 21 years of age to be considered an adult, unlike Europe which is 18, my sons would be 17 and 20 years of age at time of sailing.

There should not be any difficulties whatsoever then if Costa and Carnival are two separate companies. I am more leaned towards doing a carnival cruise, since it comes much cheaper than a Celebrity especially since there would be five of us, as long as the service etc are roughly the same. I would prefer that we spend a few days in Italy or Barcelona with the difference in price. Maybe we will do a Celebrity cruise next year if we enjoy it.

The thing that put me off cruising mostly always was that I thought that they would be too crowdy in decks, and there would be no privacy, but maybe having a cabin with balcony might help and also the library, as you mentioned, might be a haven, I do love reading and browsing through books. But then my sons would enjoy all activities for sure. Also I used to think it would be a big hassle having to stay in long queues, as a family we always do individual travels for privacy.

We plan to go late August or September, are there any specific months when the cruises are more crowdy - like in Europe the main tourist months are July and August, September is always a bit quieter, as in many countries school starts in September. We have no problem with that as my sons both start high school and college again in October.

As I mentioned, we plan to go end of August or September, jacketwach. I thought of waiting until May to book as I did read - I think it was on the Celebrity - in a review that last year they made very good special offers in May.

I will certainly write a report on my experience when we come back, that's for sure. Going on a cruise for the first time feels like going on my first holiday, I have put it on hold for so long!!!!

Hi Anna, the typically rule is anyone under the age of 21 must be accompanied by a parent, grandparent or guardian 25 years or older in the same cabin so an adjoining cabin may do it.

If they don;t allow you to do that, then just tell them that you and your husband are in 2 separate cabins to "supervise" the kids. Once you are on board, just switch around, but make sure you keep your own sail card though for ID purposes especailly if you are going off the ship. Since you will be travelling as a group anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.

You will find the service and food on Carnival acceptable and they may surprise you. Carnival is debuting a new "library/wine bar" concept on the Breeze so it would be different from the Princess or Celebrity libraries. I would imagine that it will be more quiet than other part of the ship. I heard the plan was for the wine to be self-serve (?).

Other than boarding and disembarking, you may not notice the "crowd" as the ship is quite large. Make sure you allow lots of time on the first day to explore the ship. You will find the dining room, the main stage and the buffet "busy" but certainly no worst than going to see a show or going for dinenr at a busy restaurant on a weekend at home.

BTW, make sure you ask for a child size life jacket for your daughter as soon as you baord. They typically do not have child size life jacket in the cabins.

September would be a good time to go but you really shoudl book now for cabin choices.

Thanks so much Eschew, you have certainly answered the my remaining questions that I was unsure about.

We did Western Europe on the Carnival Magic last October (sister ship of the Breeze) and the food was subpar and that's being generous. If food quality is a big issue for you, go with Celebrity. We sailed the Caribbean on the Eclipse (sister ship of the Silhouette) last February, the difference in food quality and elegance of the ship are night and day.

I assume the Carnival cruise is less expensive, if the cost isn't a big issue I wouldn't hesitate to go with Celebrity.

Had you said the ports where the most important criteria I would tell you to save some money and go with Carnival. We found we spent our entire day on land and were so tired at the end of the day that we went back to our cabin directly after dinner. Basically used the ship as a floating hotel and really focused on the ports as opposed to the cruise experience.

I just got back from a weeklong cruise on the newly renovated Celebrity Summit out of San Juan, and I have to say it was excellent. The ship was beautiful. The food ranged from good to outstanding, and the staff was extremely friendly. It was like being in a nice, new big-city hotel. Celebrity is in the process of renovating its Millenium class ships, so if you can get one that's been overhauled, that might be a good deal for you. One thing, though, is the age range was mostly from about the 30s to senior citizens on our sailing. I'm not sure if that's just because kids were in school or if the line simply caters more to an older crowd. I'm in my late 30s and it was my first cruise since I was a kid, so I can't compare it to other lines.

Thanks Frank and andrews. I am definitely after the cruise ship experience, as I have been to many of the ports that both the celebrity and carnival would be visiting. I did imagine that celebrity was of a higher level, understandable as it is more expensive, but I think I would be willing to spend a bit more on the cruise and omit staying a few days in the departure port. One of the main issues for me was whether my teenage sons would still enjoy it on the celebrity as much as they would on carnival, andrew remarked that age range is from the 30s to senior citizens, although even that might be to their advantage regarding certain games and activities.

Anna: Although we had also done several of the ports previously, we found that there was always something new to explore. Example, we had been to Naples twice before and had visited Pompei and the Amalfi drive but this time we spent the day on Capri, we had visited Monaco before but this time we took a tour of Nice. Also in Marseille, we did a tour of Aix en Provence in the afternoon after a city tour of Marseille in the morning. We had previously covered the major attractions in Rome and Florence so we did an "On Your Own" ship tour for both and just enjoyed strolling, having lunch and taking in a couple of lesser sights if there are lesser sights in either of those two cities.

You might be suprised to find that you'll ultimately spend more time on land than you initially thought on a European cruise.

On the other hand, for ports in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Mexico, and the Caribbean I wouldn't consider Carnival. Our personal favorite is Princess, but Celebrity and HAL are close seconds.

Anna,
That was my first cruise since I was a kid (I'm in my late 30s), so I don't have a basis of comparison with the other lines. My understanding is Celebrity caters to an older crowd in general. There were only a handful of kids on my trip. Keep in mind, that schools were in session when I sailed. I'm guessing the crowd might be a bit younger in the summer, but I'm not sure. I'm also guessing that no matter what time of year, the crowd will generally be older than on, say, Carnival or Royal Caribbean or NCL. The question for you is do your kids need to be on one of those lines or will they be happy enough on what might be a more upscale ship even if the crowd overall is a bit older? And, do you want to be on a ship that might be overrun by kids?
As for price, Celebrity was in line with the other companies at least for the week that I booked.

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I am sure I would still enjoy my days on land, you are rigt there would always be a new place to visit. Even I had gone to Naples and all the Amalfi coastal towns, Pompei etc, but I didn't visit Capri yet either. But I would really like to make the most of my cruise experience, as I am not sure whether we will go on one again for some time, so I want to enjoy the cruise experience at its best. Since I live in Europe, I can easily visit an EU country, especially since low cost airlines are nowadays so affordable. In fact, we were planning a holiday on the French riviera overland, visiting other towns and cities besides Monaco, and maybe keep on driving to Cinque Terre in Liguria etc. these last Christmas holidays, but then again fell for the Dolomites and Tuscany in Italy. I would not look forward to a full crowdy ship at all, that is the reason we kept putting off a cruise holiday, you just can't escape them on a ship, and I do not think that my kids would really mind a slightly older crowd as long as they have activities on the ship to pass the time and for them to enjoy. They are in their late teens. I would certainly prefer an upscale cruise, especially since it is going to be the first one, and as I am not sure whether we will sail on one again soon as we just love having holidays in europe overland. So a cruise for us would definitely be for the cruise experience, of course we would still love to visit some ports or coastal towns. Thanks again.