Itchy&Scratchy

Except for the water slides on the Harmony Of The Seas the ships are basically the same. The Allure Of The Seas is a wonderful ship and that would definitely be my choice for a first time family cruise.

my friends who are not first time cruisers actually hated the Allure. Long lines for buffet (about an hour to get in), huge crowds, charges for movies and cartoons for kids, etc., all of these were just a bit disappointing. She also complained about food compared to Regal/Royal Princess.

we brought our car seat for the kiddo, and I didn't want to entrust a $300 seat to just anyone. The luggage handlers on Caribbean Princess broke our suitcase twice, so I don't trust them with a car seat whose safety may be compromised. We brought it onboard ourselves and stashed it in the closet.

You will definitely need a stroller for your toddler before the luggage handlers bring it to you later in the evening, so keep it with you.

MUST have water shoes! We didn't know a year ago, so I had multiple cuts to my feet from very sharp rocks both on the beach and in the water, and my kid sliced his foot pretty badly. This year all of us are wearng water shoes!

DH is a measly 6'1, so he didn't have any problems. We had a queen on Royal Carribbean, and always twin setup on Princess (Regal and Caribbean). I found the beds to be very uncomfortable, but they were long enough to accommodate a 6'1 person.

on our very first cruise I totally blanked out and didn't bring rubber flip-flops for beach/pool/upper decks. I don't know what I was thinking. I had to wear my dressy shoes to the pool (they were ruined) and sneakers to the beach and tubing (they were ruined as well). Hubs forgot his toothbrush.

Now that we are older and travel with a kid, we also have to pack up our entire pharmacy...

If you are going to Princess Cay, water shoes are a must...

Battery operated nightlight is great for the bathrooms on any cruiselines and inside Royal Caribbean rooms (we found no usable outlets), and plug-in nightlights for inside rooms are fine for Regal and Caribbean Princess.

We don't bring ducktape or magnets. No use for those.

It's better to have SPF lotion in bottles instead of sprays for ship use. OK to use sprays on shore. Too windy for sprays on the ship (and you can't spray inside unless you want to inhale that stuff).

Make sure sun hats are snug, or they'll fly away on the ship.

We also bring Lysol wipes and wipe down our seats on the plane (plus window and folding trays), and the entire room on the cruise. They were very useful.

on our very first cruise we thought we had to dress up big time for formal nights. We ordered a tux for hubby and I wore a little black dress. Ha-ha. Not anymore. He wears slacks and a buttoned-up shirt for formal nights and I wear slacks and a nice smart-casual top. For smart casual - nice top and jeans. For casual - jeans and t-shirts.

The FLL airport is right beside Port Everglades. A taxi ride will take maybe 10 - 15 minutes depending on the traffic and will cost around $10 or so. .

We've always cruise from Port Everglades (since 2009) and we always fly to FLL. The taxi ride has never been $10. Last year it was just over $20 from Spirit arrivals, plus tip. 3 passengers. Before that we flew Delta and the taxi ride has gradually increased from $15 in 2009 to $20.

If you are in the US, Publix stores and their entire chain offer Metformin for free with prescription. Other than that, it's much safer to buy it at Walmart for $4/month than to trust unknown Mexican pharmacies.

keep in mind that if the taxis are not American cars with locking seat belts or latch, you will need locking clips or built-in lock-offs to install your car seats securely. You will also need to store the seats at your destination somewhere.

Easy to install seats are Britax clicktight seats and Evenflo Maestro which is a great light forward facing seat which doesn't usually have installation quirks. However, Britax seats are big and heavy and not extremely travel-in-foreign-countries friendly. You can also check the Traveling with Children board on http://www.babycenter.com for more tips.

Cosco Finale is the new seat that is only $44 and also travel friendly. It may or may not have installation quirks, too soon to tell.

Pirate Bay beach was tiny and underwhelming. It wasn't very crowded, probably, because it's not all that nice or pretty.

We were there last year and loved it! Lac Bay at Sorobon Beach.

The resort was on the other side of the beach the taxi delivered us to. The non-resort beach was nothing special and very small with little shade. However, the bay itself made up for everything! We stayed in the water for hours, but saw no fish whatsoever. I hear that you need to go to Klein to snorkel.

I specifically registered to comment on this thread.... Water shoes are a MUST! It's been 2 years since we'd gone to Princess Cay and I am still bitter. I had no idea about the super sharp rocks in the water and on the beach. My feet got small cuts all over on hidden rocks, but what's worse is that my 4 year old kid's foot got sliced on a rock and it was pretty bad.

Princess Cay was the first day stop, and with the sliced food he refused to get into any water be it the ocean, pool or shower for the rest of the cruise.

Princess Cay was the only destination that I've seen so far that provided free bandaids to cruisers on the beach. I am, however, glad we brought our own super-heavy duty giant water proof bandages because we had to seal off my kid's wound. It wasn't sliced deeply, but rather a piece was sliced off of a foot, so stitches were not possible.

So, come November, our entire family will be wearing water shoes!

Must wear water shoes!!!!!!! The sharp rocks on the beach and in the water cut my feet, and sliced my 4 year old kid's foot open. It was pretty bad.