Itchy&Scratchy

Wife's stubbornness and the persistence of the person asking made this situation more uncomfortable than it needed to be.

I don't believe your wife was stubborn. She was comfortable with the choice of the seats, and there were other seats around you that those other people could sit in. So, I wouldn't have moved either, especially since the request was forceful.

A 6 year old will be THRILLED to be in the club for the most part of the day...it's fun! It's "age appropriate'...lots of friends!

not my 6 year old. He is yet to stay at the kid's club. He adamantly refuses to stay with strangers, and I don't blame him.

So, it's really kid dependent.

To OP: since his skin is fair, load up on SPF50-100. We have a redhead, and he's never sunburned. Ever. Not on a cruise, not on the beach in ports, not in Florida in August.

Don't forget floaties/puddle jumpers/swim vest if the kid doesn't know how to swim. Better safe than very very sorry.

I am going to assume that the kid's parents gave you the go ahead to take him on a cruise without them. Make sure to have all the permissions to take him outside the country.

I personally wouldn't want my 6 yo to go on a cruise with anyone else but us.

In Grand Cayman, we enjoyed the 7 mile beach with our 3 yo. Now that he is 6, we'll try the stingray excursion.

Climbing Dunns Falls would be fun in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, if you are up for it.

Beach time in Cozumel.

My son is huge cruise enthusiast. He is only 15 years old but has been on quite a few cruises and DREAMS to someday work on a ship.

my 6 year old is the same... But I keep explaining to him that WORKING on a cruise is not the same as cruising for fun. :) He still doesn't get the concept of working, poor lad.

Except for the professionals: ships' officers and entertainment and hotel management directors, cruise ship jobs offer only hard work, long hours and low pay.

That's why you see all the foreigners filling the waiting and cleaning staff positions. To them $5/h is a lot of money, but it's not a lot for an American.

I'm unclear how one spends $20k on a 14 day Princess cruise. Perhaps the OP is including airfare and hotels in that cost? Kenneling the dog?? No idea. It's definitely not just the cost of the cruise.

I was recently unpleasantly surprised by the price of kenneling our dogs for our thanksgiving cruise. IT was a small fortune for a week (more than we are paying for the cruise per person). For two weeks it would, accordingly, cost us the same as our cruise.

I think a $32.00 bottle of wine is more than sufficient. .

P.S. I have an extremely sensitive nose.

What category is your cabin? If it begins with a "D" you'll have a loveseat couch that may convert into a small bed; if it begins with a "B" there is no couch but as you can see in this other post there's an upper bunk that recesses into the ceiling when not in use.

wow, what a weird place to have a bunk bed lowered out of.

It's DW category on Regal. The photos I found (not of that room, but of Deluxe Obstructed Balcony category) show a small love seat next to the balcony, so I assumed it was going to be the sofa-bed. Kind of uncomfortable, because when it's unfolded, it cuts off the balcony access.

To think of it, last time I called Princess or TA a couple of years ago about Regal, I was told that sofa beds were only available starting at mini-suite category, that's why I was confused.

Curious as have never been offered an upgrade or upsell...how are u notified? Email? phone call? Thanks!

for the first time I was offered a free upgrade yesterday - via email. I bought my cruise directly on Princess site. Got upgraded from an regular inside (for 3-4 people) to a deluxe obstructed balcony.

Yesterday that particular cruise was selling inside rooms for more $$ than balconies, believe it or not, so it was probably cheaper to upgrade us for free and sell our inside room for more money.

A balcony room does not come with a sofa bed (only mini's). No bathtub either. It is about the same size as an interior but with a balcony.

 

Congratulations on a nice upgrade.

thank you!

Our kid loves bunk beds, so he'll be happy to know that he still gets one. He was very excited about having a balcony, so when I hinted that there may not be a bunk bed, he said it was ok. So easy going. :)

:halo: Do not do the Happy Dance. Someone will be upset with you. Instead, gracefully offer your upgrade to your parents and let them deal with it.

I would offer it, but they have a cabin for 2, and there are three of us... :)

great news! Just got an email from Princess - we got a free upgrade to a deluxe obstructed balcony!!!!!

forgot to ask - it appears that it's a cabin for only 3 people, and that the 3rd person will get the sofa bed, and not a bunk bed. Correct?

I just got an email from Princess - we've got upgraded to a deluxe obstructed balcony! I am so excited.

Perhaps, I should be upset - it's not fair that my parents didn't get an upgrade offer. It's their first cruise, and I bought inside cabins close to each other on purpose...

I too would say that I'd like to keep that information confidential. That's it. It's no one else's business and you, OP, shouldn't be going into any detail about your personal business.

Good grief.

I don't tell anyone any details about what I do for living. I just vaguely say - " am in marketing. Bean dip? "

It's because I don't really care to tell anyone about what I do, even if there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

Jamaica, Caymans, and everything south if Dominica is all in perfectly fine shape, minimal or zero affect from Irma..

I hate sea days on Princess. They are very boring if you have a kid and it's raining.

just occurred to me: since we are already in an inside cabin (always are), we can never expect a move over offer to downgrade. I am gonna go cry in the corner and cancel all my princess trips from now on!

Wow, 639 for a Princess cruise for 7 nights? What are the dates

thanksgiving 2017. I caught a sale in mid-July. Right now there aren't any inside rooms left, but balcony is $799 pp on Regal.

To say get over it is to me bad. I've booked over 6 months in advance paid top money as we are from the uk and I find out this sort of stuff happens.

you know, you'd be better off not knowing about the move over offers. Roll calls are evil!

See, my life is so simple - I never knew move over offers existed, so I don't envy anyone or seethe with rage over it. I will definitely NOT cancel my future business with any cruise line over someone else getting a move over or whatever offer...

my experience has left a bad taste in my mouth which has resulted in me cancelling all future Princess bookings and dismissing Princess for all my future cruises. I didn't know I had to grab it immediately so I feel like they offered me £1000 and took it back from me in 5 minutes saying "only joking". !

I would honestly call that a huge overreaction.

I would love to!

But Princess is much more expensive than Celebrity, Royal Carribean, Norwegian and Carnival.

How does Princess justify its higher price?

In what way are the shows, activities, food and entertainment better on Princess? Thanks

we actually found Princess to be more reasonably priced for cruises out of FLL than Royal Caribbean. You have to catch a sale.

During several recent years, I was never able to catch a good price on RC for either 1, 2 or 3rd passenger. All the RC cruises I priced, were $700+ pp for 1st and 2nd, and $800+ for the 3rd passenger in the room. Even during their "buy 1, get one 50% off" sale, the prices for a comparable (to Princess) cruise were $799+ pp.

For our upcoming Regal Princess cruise, I paid $639pp for 1st and 2nd passengers, and $99 for the 3rd. It would have been $599 pp for a double occupancy.

Plus, Princess gives about a $100pp discount to established cruisers.

That's their "Shtick". Formal dress codes. You'll find their ships to be packed as more pax are getting tired of the slovenly downslide to many cruise lines these days & going to where the dreams of true "Ocean Liner" travel are.

we personally don't like to dress up and only do it when it's required. I am not wearing jeans on a formal night, but I dislike dresses and am very self conscious about the way I look, so I put on slacks and a pretty top.

So, I appreciate a more relaxed "formal" requirement while still enjoying great food in MDR.

Or should we just fly to FLL with our carseat?

Unless you take a shuttle, you will need a car seat for the taxi. If you take a shuttle of some kind, then you won't need your car seat.

In any case, I just wanted to say - don't rent a car seat. EVER.

my friend's mom with T1 travels with us often. I think she does injections, because I've never seen a pump on her. She only gets one entrée at dinner, keeps it low carb by eyeballing it, and always gets a sugar free dessert.

She and her husband found Princess (they only go on Regal or Royal Princess) food to be much better that other cruise lines (Celebrity or Royal Caribbean).

Once you book a cruise, you can go into your personalizer and choose the Diabetes option in your Medical and Dietary requests. Here is what it says on Princess website once you chose it:

We offer items low in carbohydrates as well as the following items onboard: sugar-free applesauce, sugar-free jams and jellies, sugar-free syrup, Sweet & Low sugar substitute, Splenda sugar substitute, Equal sugar substitute, sugar-free pudding and a variety of sugar-free desserts.

Please contact your Head Waiter or Maitre d'Hotel once onboard to discuss your special dietary needs as they will be happy to assist you with making suitable selections from our standard menu.

also, check out the Disabled Travel board. They may have some additional tips.

I hand wash the actual diapers in the sink and we had no issues. I have also hand washed flats before

lol, I don't want to hand wash any diapers on any given day, and definitely not on vacation...

I think it's unreasonable to think that nobody else books inside. We always book inside only. Why would I want to pay more for a room we simply sleep in?