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Don’t even think about doing a ship excursion for Florence/Pisa. If you want to maximize your time find a small group tour (I recommend https://www.italytours.eu , they also do an awesome Rome/Vatican tour). They will meet you as soon as you get off the ship and you will be on the road in minutes. The van will be able to park right near the leaning tower (certainly a lot closer than any bus). The classic photo stop as you approach Florence will take only a few minutes instead of the long time it takes to get everyone off and back on a bus. Your small group will get to skip the line to see the David like the large groups, but will get to see more of the museum because of the small size. Yes, your post David tour of Florence will be quick, mostly pointing out highlights for you to check out the next time you are there, but at least you will get a tour, and with a guide listening to your questions and directly engaging with you instead of having to keep track of a large group.

Tap Water, which is distilled and quite good, is free. If all you want in addition to water is soda you can get a soda package. If you want to also get mocktails, coffees, milkshakes, etc you can get the refreshment package. OR if you don’t think you’ll drink enough of those to justify the cost you can just purchase as you go.

It isn’t that so much as it is that 4 adults to 1 toddler is a good ratio. Sure, there is babysitting, but there is also having different people to sit next to and occupy attention during meals and excursions/just another pair of eyes to watch.

My wife and I have currently done 2 cruises with our daughter, and have two more planned for the upcoming months. She first cruised in July 2021, just after turning 2, 7 days on the Allure. This was a perfect ship for such a young child, and being right when the restart was happening was awesome. The entire crew, and most of the passengers, knew her name by day 2, there was plenty for her to do, and the Babies and Tots Nursery program was available for her. Next was 12 days on the Jewel doing a British Isles cruise. This was originally supposed to be a Baltic Cruise when she was an infant, which would have had its own set of pros and cons, but that cruise was delayed multiple times first due to Covid and then Putin. We were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa with us which really helped. While this ship doesn’t have all the bells and whistles the larger ones do we still found plenty to do with her. She liked being able to be in the “real pool” since she is now diaper trained, but she had some major separation issues and didn’t want us to leave her at Adventure Ocean. Our next two cruises will be 2 very different experiences. We are going on Rhapsody out of Barbados on an Island Hop cruise. 7 days, a different island every day, with 0 sea days. Yes this ship is very small compared to others with not a ton for young kids, but we won’t be spending a lot of time on the ship. When we are on board we will be in the pool and now that she goes to preschool at home she is more excited about Adventure Ocean. Grandma and Grandpa are not joining us for this one, but we are cautiously optimistic. This summer we will bringing a bunch of friends on Oasis. Her other grandmother will be with us, and this entire trip is about having fun with all the kids. So, what are my thoughts? If you can’t bring grandparents try to go on a larger ship with more for young ones to do, and a nursery program. Realize that you won’t be able to do everything you used to, but you and your partner should take turns doing a few fun activities while the other watches the kid. In terms of a room I suggest a balcony, so that after you put the kid into the pack and play you can go out on the balcony to relax with some wine. It can still be a ton of fun, but you have to know what you are getting in to.

Just bumping this once to see if anyone else has any ideas.

all of the exclusions are in writing when you click “Exclusions Apply”, and if it is a sailing where Kids Sail Free can be used it says (in bold) “You're eligible for Kids Sail Free savings on this cruise” when you first click a date.

A few days ago I tried booking a shore excursion on Cruise Planner but any time my 3 year old daughter was added it did not allow me to proceed (even though it doesn’t list a minimum age anywhere). I called the main number, explained the situation, and after “speaking to a manager” the man i was speaking to told me that it must be a mistake on the website, that the child would be free, and that she would be listed in the confirmation email. But she isn’t. Not being able to book our daughter online is actually the case for every single excursion at this port (Trinidad). I’m not getting anywhere speaking to normal customer service, is there a better number to call (thinking maybe Crown & Anchor, but I have only called them for questions about the C&A program before.

As Ashland said above Kids Sail Free is one of the best deals Royal has (some might say one of the only true deals out there). You do have to make sure you are comparing TOTAL occupancy and correct room category. Two recent success stories! My family did a British Isles cruise this past summer, that was originally supposed to be a Baltic cruise in 2020. After many changes due to Covid and then Putin, we finally had a cruise we were going to go on, and we noticed there was a Kids Sail Free promotion going on. Even though they say “new bookings only” they applied it to the cruise, and it dropped our total by over $1500. A similar thing happened with the cruise we will be taking this March from Barbados. We were Originally scheduled for one cruise, which Royal canceled. They emailed saying we could reschedule to certain other cruises with price guaranteed, I called with the new sailing we wanted. The woman on the phone said “by the way, there is a Kids Sail Free promotion” and added it. The original price for my wife and I remained the same, even though the new cruise was around $400 more per person, and my kid’s entire charge (minus taxes and port fees) was gone, a savings of around $900.

Fair. On Allure it was bright enough to read comfortably without straining. Are you suggesting it is probably best to bring some lights?

My wife and I will be cruising on Rhapsody in March in an aft balcony room with our 3 year old toddler. We plan on spending time on our balcony with books and wine after putting her to bed every night. Is there enough light out there for this, or should we plan on bringing some led lights with us? Our only other experience with any balcony was a Central Park balcony on Allure. We were one floor under the pool deck and there was plenty of light to read by. But this room is obviously different in many ways.

I have never been of the All Access Tour (have had it scheduled twice, but they were both cancelled), I imagine it is similar (of course without the brunch and alcohol), but someone who has done both would be able to answer your question better.