6rugrats

I love any airline that has Ben and Jerrys ice cream at 35,000 feet!

You are easily pleased :)!

OK, I am curious. Most of you seem to think that taking the car seats is no big deal. I have not yet flown with my kids anywhere (we've only gone on driving vacations so far). We have the Britax Regents:

 

They are, um, large. Awkward to carry. No way I could carry the car seat and still hold my toddler's hand. Multiply that by two... two Britax Regents, two toddlers, including one who does not do the holding hand thing very well in the first place. Plus diaper bag/carry on luggage, and getting the suitcases to the check-in point. I'm just not seeing how I could do this. So I'm curious how *you* do it. What am I missing?

I don't know how old your children are, or if you are taking the car seats on the plane.

If you aren't using the car seats on the plane, and you are parking at the airport, you can have the person driving the car drop you off curbside at the airport and unload all the baggage. Check it in with the skycap (I know you cannot do this at all airports anymore). That way you have to deal only with children (and you can leave one of them in the car to come in with the driver) and the carryons. If you are doing off airport parking, you can do pretty much the same thing.

You can also unload everything at the curb, and get a baggage cart and load everything on it and check in at the counter if you prefer that option.

If you have one that doesn't hold hands well, consider a small umbrella stroller or a harness/leash. If you need to bring car seats on the plane, they can be piled on top of the stroller to get them to the gate. Using a backpack as a carryon will free up hands, and even a young child can carry toys/snacks in a small backpack.

Those are large carseats and I know they are very inconvenient to transport.

Am I nuts?

Yes, the road is very busy, and I am not sure there are even sidewalks all of the way.

If you don't want to bring the car seats, and can't rent a car and seats, have you considered taking the bus?

http://www.miamidade.gov/transit/routes/route.asp?route=243

I'm still alittle confused about this whole swim diaper thing. Don't all kids probably pee in the pools regardless of swim diapers!? I would love to take our children on the carnival dream with the new waterpark, but are you telling me that because my 18 month old isn't potty trained she can't be in a swim diaper in the spray park?

As stated by others, yes, that's what everyone is telling you. You not liking the policy will not change it. You might love to take your child in a diaper in the water, but no one else will love you for it.

I have been reseraching which ship we want to cruise on and from what I am reading it looks like only Carnival allows chidlren in swim diapers. Is this right?

No, not allowed on Carnival. The last I read these ships allowed swim diapers, and this isn't in the regular pools, it's in the kid zones (whatever each ship calls them):

Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas

Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas

Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas

Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas

Disney Magic

Disney Wonder

There could be others, but none are on Carnival.

Just to clarify a bit; these are two different situations. There is a difference between having a deceased father (who IS listed on the birth certificate) and not having a father listed in the first place. In the former, it is often required to provide the death certificate.

 

Here is another oddity: In the case of a single parent - only one listed on the BC - and a child with a passport; it may be necessary to bring both the BC and the passport when traveling. The BC proves the single parent custody which the passport does not. A passport is an ID and citizenship document; it is not unlimited travel permission for a minor.

Exactly correct, and a distinction that is confused by so many people who constantly post incorrect information about this issue!

If the certified birth certificate only lists one parent, then you only need to bring that to prove sole legal custody.

I believe cherylandtk is correct:

Minor has one parent: If the birth certificate shows that the minor only has one parent, it will be sufficient to hold only a notarized copy of the birth certificate.

Your English is much better than my German!

You may wear whatever you like. However, I feel you would look out of place, and you may want to consider the fact your dress may have gotten dirty and you won't have time to have it cleaned.

I will still do what your BIL going to do but one day early and fly into Seattle than drvie to Vancouver stay over night, and if they will not let him in at least he can fly from SEA to catch up with the ship in Alaska.

He wouldn't be able to stay overnight in Vancouver if they won't allow him to enter the country.

I hate to sound like a wimp, and flying doesn't normally bother me, but I knew nothing about SA before I booked them yesterday for my flights at Christmas.

 

Today I started thinking I really should look into their safety record. I happened to "wander" onto a website (not a safety website) where people were discussing how SA doesn't have adequate training, have a poor record of safety, etc. They mentioned some fatal crashes, etc...

 

Now I normally love, love, love flying, but I go with airlines I know which make me feel safe... Delta and Qantas.

 

Do you feel like SA is safe? I honestly don't know the difference between any of the airlines in Asia..and I "thought" I recognized the name of this one, as opposed to some with China and Korea in the title, so I booked it.

 

Thoughts?!!!

The airline code for Singapore Air is SQ, not SA. SA is South African airways. So perhaps you were reading about the wrong airline?

Is it possible to get our passports stamped at ports of call in the Carribean (Puerto Rico/St. Thomas/Antigua/Bermuda)? Had a name change this past year and my passport is empty. :(

Never ever had my passport stamped in the Carribean or in the Med while on a cruise. Have been to Aruba on land based vacations and it was stamped in the airport everytime.

Plan more land based trips if you need stamps in your passport!

Wow. I just can't get on board with this idea. You have no idea who would end up with these cards; kids are notorious for losing things. IMO, I'd just have the kids give each other their email addresses (and I hope they have an account with a name that isn't their real one). You don't want their names and addresses floating around on a card.

Sad, but you really have to be careful.

This is a new adventure for us! Plan to visit Rome for 3 nights before a cruise next September. Any hotels that stand out? How does Windstar provide transfers to the port when you are staying in Rome beforehand. Do they provide pre and post cruise packages?

If you really want an adventure, I highly recommend you consider a lovely bed and breakfast, located about 30 minutes by train outside of Rome, called Anne's Place. We stayed there after our last Windsurf cruise. Anne is wonderful; believe everything good you read about her on Tripadvisor.

She can provide transportation to and from the port and airport at a very reasonable fee. It was wonderful to leave the bustle of Rome at the end of a busy and very hot day, and spend the evening in the peaceful countryside outside of Rome.

She will take you to the train and pick you up daily and at night, will recommend some wonderful "real" Italian restaurants, and of course, provides transportation to and from them also. One night we were exhausted and she ordered pizza for us, which we ate on her beautiful terrace. Her current rates are about 75 Euros a night, which includes breakfast.

You can purchase transfers and hotels directly from Windstar but they are very expensive. Her webpage is: http://www.byanne.com. Have a great trip, whatever you decide.

I've looked at a lot of those threads and they all deal with Liquor. I know I can do that, I was just wondering if anybody has ever brought Beer in large quantities on board.

Uh, no. Never have felt the need to smuggle on mass quantities of beer, or any beer at all.

I'm sure someone has.

Have you watched how bags get thrown around?

They x-ray the bags. If they find your beer, they will confiscate it.

There must be a thousand threads here about smuggling alcohol on board. Can't you just purchase alcohol onboard?

You had 900 people in your graduating class? That's huge.

I'd have to say bad idea. The cost of the trip would exclude many people who would otherwise go. People won't want to bring their children, they won't be able to get time off from work, etc.

If you want to cruise with your friends, it'd be better to plan this separately and not part of your reunion.

Keep it simple and affordable.