Itchy&Scratchy

We don’t know how old the baby will be yet on board.

yes, we do:

My boy will be 7 months

For a week of vacation - if you are concerned about the manufactured issue of ‘bacteria in your powdered formula’ - then I don’t understand why the small upper of individual packets or premade formula cost would be an issue. It’s only a week! You would remove the scoop and open air therefore removing the risk.

 

And really - how can price be an option for someone who uses a formula maker?? They are one of the most expensive (not necessary) baby gadgets there is!

 

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I think we are talking about different things. I am not worried about bacteria in FORMULA.

And premade formula as in "ready to drink" is usually much more expensive and much bulkier because at 7 months kids are still getting pretty much all of their nutrition from formula. I am not talking about individual packets of powdered formula.

The expensive gadget could have been somebody's exorbitant present and may not reflect OP's financial state. Why are we counting her money anyway?

Why not try to find a single serving baby formula?

because it's a LOT more expensive and much bulkier than a can of powdered formula.

Call me crazy but I just used tap water and powder with DS, who was child #2. Went crazy with the boiling and warm bottles for child #1 and said never again.

at home - sure.

On a cruise, with all the rota/norovirus infections and flu and other yucky stuff, I'd prefer to use previously boiled water or bottled water.

But no, I still didn't use tap water at home directly from the tap. I used filtered, boiled water.

Ever heard of Flint, MI?

where does one bid for this stuff?

You should check out Family Cruises board on cruisecritic and Traveling with Children board on babycenter.com.

When I formula fed DS, I didn't bother with the machines and used lukewarm water to pour the formula into. I'd use an electric kettle or microwave previously boiled water, cool it down to room temperature and then make formula.

There is hot water usually available at the buffet. I'd fill a large container with it and cool it down. Then make individual formula bottles whenever needed. But I wouldn't use tap water - only previously boiled.

NCL is the Spirit/Frontier Airlines of the cruise industry.

Thank you!

We've flown with Spirit, so I understand that reference. :) lol.

We do not usually get anything like beverage packages, specialty dining or really anything else besides an occasional alcoholic drink for DH. So, if we don't get anything like that, there shouldn't be any other hidden charges, correct?

I do believe MSC's all-inclusive drink package also "conveniently" omitted the gratuity and only mentioned it in fine print... We haven't sailed with them yet either.

But Princess wants crazy money for their Thanksgiving cruise this year, so I am exploring cheaper possibilities. We aren't extremely picky, but we do like newer ships and we are picky about destinations.

Is there any particular reason?

(I'm sort of stuck with this one but if I know what to anticipate I can try to prepare / combat ;) )

Just because Caribbean Princess is the oldest of the ones you offered up, and Cozumel is one of the not so worthy destinations. Don't even get off the boat - save your money and enjoy the ship's offerings instead.

A free cruise is a free cruise. If I didn't see the other choices, I would have been super happy. :)

Change of plans due to lack of availability ....

Western Caribbean (7 day) on Caribbean Princess to Princess Cays, Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize City & Cozumel it is ...

Total cost is airfare + $270 total

sigh... Wouldn't be my choice.

$2800 tab at end. Wow. That’s almost the price of a cruise for us.

You might also want to consider NCL (Breakaway and newer). Even though there are some hidden charges, the "free" drinks packages and specialty dining packages can still result in a lower overall price.

could you please tell me about the hidden charges? We've never sailed Norwegian so I don't know much about them.

I just priced a Norwegian Jade for the 3 of us, and without any perks or discounts, it's $1,902 for a guarantee inside room.

When I priced the same cruise with the "3rd person free" perk added, I had to choose a higher priced inside guarantee room in order to actually get the perk, which brought the total price to way over $2K. It didn't make any sense.

Your cost of the rental would most likely exceed the excess milage charges at the lease end. At an average .20 per mile thats $100, and that going round trip Miami-orlando.

 

And reputable car rental excluding FOX, and those other no frills car rental co’s. Your cost, one way surcharge, sunpass activation, car seat rental. Thats assuming you don’t purchase any additional add on’s. Will cost you more.

 

Why lease a car, and not enjoy it. It’s madness.

 

 

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You never know. In November of 2016 we rented a one-way FLL to MCO car from Alamo, and the TOTAL was $16. Unlimited mileage.

This was after a cruise and I couldn't find reasonably priced airline tickets out of FLL, so we drove to MCO for 3 hours for a very low price. I don't know what happened, but when I was making a reservation, all of the car rental companies had prices like that on expedia, so it wasn't a fluke with just Alamo.

Yes, we paid a bit in tolls, but it wasn't an exorbitant amount of money and you'd have to pay them even with your own car.

SHE IS NOT GOING TO RENT THE CAR SEAT.

yea, getting it around isn't my concern. It is where to store it for the length of the cruise.

gotcha. We've never had a problem storing a seat in the closet. :)

Have fun cruising!

We are going on Allure next year and I can't wait!

Look into the car seat wheels you can buy (we have the Go Go Babyz).

just a tip: a magna cart works just as well and can usually be found for about $25 at your local stores.

Just make sure to get one with larger weight limit. 25# seat + a 45# kiddo...

you can put your seat on a magna type cart (about $25), secure it with bungee cords and wheel it through the port onto the ship. The kid can even ride in it:

The rental car companies will supply a car seat.

please-please-please don't ever advise anybody to rely on a rental car seat. You never know if they've been in an accident, puked or peed on and then improperly cleaned, if cleaned at all, if the straps were ever submerged in water or run through the washer. Never ever use your or somebody else's child as a crash test dummy.

OP,

I stored a Britax Frontier in the closet along with two large suitcases without any problems. And it's a huge, 25# seat.

How old is your child, how tall and heavy? What car seat do you have?

Also, for tips on traveling with children, please check out Traveling with Children board on https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling-with-children and Family Cruises board on cruisecritic (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49).

I just checked flights from this area to Florida and there was nothing under $400. Add in airport parking, transfers, and hotel, that really adds up for a family of 5.

you gotta catch a sale... Great prices aren't just available any time you want them. :)

Wow you guys are getting great deals! I’m a teacher so taking a week off is not an option and just a personal preference but neither is an ocean view or inside

 

 

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I am not a teacher, but a lot of us have school aged kids, so we are limited to school breaks as well.

We cannot cruise in the summer, so we are limited to spring break, Thanksgiving ($$), and winter break ($$$).

Royal Caribbean just had a Kids Sail Free deal, so I snatched a March 31 2019 cruise on Allure of the Seas for $1,600 total for the 3 of us.

Another Kids Sail Free is coming up shortly - so watch for deals.

Also consider flying Spirit.

Western on Caribbean Princess (Ft Lauderdale, Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize City, Cozumel)

If you want a newer ship and better food and nice destinations - Regal.

If you don't care about the ship's age and buffet food but want great destinations or more destinations - Voyager or ABC Islands.

Oh, how I love ABC islands (especially Bonaire and Aruba), but Princess never seems to send Regal or Royal Princess there when I can actually sail or at all.

I'd check out the Royal Caribbean's subforum. All the answers you are looking for are there.

Kids sail free is about to start again. They had one in July and I snatched a spring break cruise in 2019.

Since your kids are 3 and 4 and the school is usually not mandatory for them (are you in the US?), you should choose to sail outside of school breaks and holidays. You will save a ton of money. Usually, time between Thanksgiving and winter school break (Dec 20+) is the cheapest.

Reading this thread was a mistake; it's so full of negativity that I'm getting slightly worried for our upcoming cruise on the Regal. This will be only our second Princess cruise, our first was on the Diamond Princess nearly 8 years ago and yes, I realise things will have changed, but come on people, stop with the negativity.

 

Give me something positive.

It's a gorgeous ship, and the food is fantastic! The buffet is great.

Very relaxing atmosphere. My parents loved it as well, and my friends and their parents are addicted to Regal Princess (but only to Regal and Royal).

I do have a couple of other things that I personally don't like about Princess in general, but they are very subjective because other people, for example, would not want or need more family activities with a child who doesn't do kid's club onboard the ship on a rainy day.

By the way, I don't care about the pools on the ship, because when we sail in November and April, the pool water is always freezing and none of us can even get in. This is not limited to Princess - we couldn't get into the pools on RCI ships either. It's just too cold!

Princess customers are stiff and a bit posh I have been told?

If you like relaxation, Princess is the line for you. They are very laid back.

Now, I'd personally pick Regal or Royal Princess (newer and shinier, and the buffet is superb), but if they don't do the itinerary you MUST have, then other Princess ships will do.

I don't know about the rain in that part, since we only cruise in the Caribbean.

What do you know about Bonaire

Bonaire's Luc (Lac) Bay is a paradise if you like floating or walking through shallow water for about a mile. I so long to go back there.... Now, the beach itself is nothing to write home about, but we spent the entire 5 hours in water and never wanted to get out.

Bonaire's Klein Bonaire is an uninhabited island with no amenities, but perfect snorkeling.

In my world, if I had a customer who had been inconvienced at least an hour on the phone trying to correct a mistake. In addition, I knew that the customer would have to make further calls to re order and pay for something that they had already completed months before, . All for a reason that I could not explain why it happened, I would be offering something to them. But I probably have a higher standard regarding customer inconvenience and their perception of the efficiency of the brand of my company.

Please do not interpret that I am looking for a lot. And I want to emphasize as I did in my earlier posting - I have no complaint with the staff - I just think that a token gesture would be nice. Maybe put me on the upsell/upgrade email, maybe tell me your going to send a bottle of champagne to my room, maybe comp me the exursion.

I think this speaks to how much a company values the time and inconvenience of its customers when the company makes an error.

We all do. All companies do. I think that is the feedback I am going to give to Royal Caribbean

I am with you, OP. Simply reinstating your booking was not a great customer service. Not even close. Their error caused you a lot of unnecessary stress.

the cabin itself should be fine, but doorways and hallways - he should be careful about. We saw some really tall people (DH is only 6'1 - shorty in comparison) having to bend down while walking the inside hallways. The hallways ceilings were fine, but they were punctuated by doorways with lower clearance.

For $7 ????? Who cares if it is a connecting cabin, noisy cabin, wrong deck cabin, close to the elevator cabin, next door to a drunk and disorderly cabin??????? I'll take it !!!!!

as a person who once was in a horribly noisy cabin behind some utility hallways - I mind. The crew started working at 4 am every morning and I couldn't sleep. And YES, I use ear plugs every night - I could still hear everything.

Then another time we did have a super drunk couple who fought very loudly and obscenely all night long. Yes, I heard them through my super duper industrial strength ear plugs. Thankfully, our kid will sleep through anything, so he was spared.

I don't care if it's connecting or the wrong deck cabin. But I wouldn't want to be under the pool or buffet area either.