Mistyhon

We did this last fall for a 7 day on the Magic. Our kids were 6 and 3. We got them up at 5am and threw them in the van for a surprise trip (which involved driving to Galveston from MN!)

We kept it a surprise until pulling up beside the ship and have a video of DD excited. Now that they've cruised they both talk about going again almost daily. We will surprise them again in October (mainly because if you tell them about something in advance they will drive you insane until the day arrives.) This time we're flying to Orlando and cruising with friends (and our kids are all friends!)

As for cruising with a 3 year old, it kind of sucked, but it sucked so good we're doing it again (LOL!) and hoping since DS will be 4 he'll be a bit better and more easy going.

Well, I didn't see it posted here, but I'm also kinda lazy and didn't read back too far. HOWEVER, port of Galveston has posted on FB that they have an announcement tomorrow as well. So, with the "rumors from PVP's" and now both JH & POG having announcements tomorrow, it's looking quite likely. At least IMO it is.

Thank you thank you thank you!!! I got one for our sailing now. :) It's so convenient with the kids.

It's for all ages. One sea day I took DD-6 and the next my husband took her. We didn't take DS-3 but maybe this fall when he is 4 he will be more interested and we can make it a family event.

Here is my DD enjoying her tea. We dressed casually (well as casual as DD gets in a nautical top and custom Carnival hair clip that I made.)

We are going on the Sunshine. We book with Go port canaveral. We got a great deal on transfers from airport to hotel, the hotel, hotel to cruise ship and back to airport after cruise. They have website but called and got a better rate. It was cheaper per person than just transfers to cruise ship. Worth a call.

Which hotel did you end up with for the go port canaveral deal? I was looking into that as well.

As others have mentioned, Spirit does fee you to death. Their seats are very small and there is no leg room. I'm 5'8 and 150lb (size 8) and I felt OBESE in their seats. My knees were touching the seat in front of me and there wasn't a ton of room.

Also, please only fly spirit if you are going in the day before. They DO NOT GIVE A CRAP about being on time. (7 hr delays are the norm not the exception.)

With the Radisson and Country inn and suites transport to the cruise terminal...do they offer sign ups/time choices or is it, you go now?

PS Are there cabs in the port canaveral area? Or is it private transport companies only?

I would pick panorama if lido was unavailable. Actually, we had a lido balcony last time and may try panorama next cruise it's available. :)

We bought 2 bubble bum boosters specifically for this before our previous cruise. They work well. We'll be bringing them again in October.

Bueller? Bueller?

I'm begging anybody for info! Maybe you didn't even stay in those rooms, but have seen them? Any insight into noise (from lobby bar) from theatre above?

Whomever the magician was on the Magic. He was phenomenal!!

Our pediatrician suggested simple benadryl.

We also brought along the safe for children OTC med for motion sickness (the name slips my mind right now, but it's the most common one, not bonine.)

I also brought along a few different ginger/candy options.

Neither of them (6 &3) ended up needing any, but darn it we were prepared. I'm an over packer, I even brought pink eye drops. Ya never know!?!?!

I've checked with the cruiselinephotos website, but since it's so new there aren't any. I'm hoping to see some photos of the ADDED rooms on deck 3. They are obstructed ocean view rooms.

From what I remember on the Destiny, those would have to be rooms overlooking the outside deck where the lifeboats are, correct? Does anybody have a photo of them (either inside or outside?)

Thanks a million!

I don't think "difficult" adequately describes the trouble she will encounter. I would describe it as "IMPOSSIBLE" or IMPASSABLE. HTH!

I went and checked my account hoping it was somehow attached to my name… was unfortunately let down haha

You aren't the only one. I thought to myself...I don't care if hubby is in San Francisco for the week, I will drive me and the kids through the snow-pocalypse up to MSP and book the 1st flight to NOLA if there is a cruise with my name attached to it. :) LOLZ!!!

Don't worry at all about the noise from the pool. We had a balcony (10265) and the only noise we heard was occasional music from the atrium. Perfect place to have a room IMO!

It was around $100 last time I was there (May of 2012.)

How did your kids do in the MDR and did you do the traditional time or your time dining? Did they give you a table of 4 or a bigger table.

The kids did fantastic in the MDR. We had early dining and requested to be seated with a family that had children (prior to sailing.) We were seated with another family with a son that was my daughters age. They got along well and were able to converse and have a good time. We were at a table for 8 and there were 3 middle aged women seated with us as well and we all had a fantastic time.

We just took our first cruise out of Miami and flew with three kids. The airfare was as much as the cruise! When we do it again (and we WILL do it again! LOL!) we will drive. We are looking at cruising out of New Orleans and the drive from SE Minnesota is about 16 hours. 4/5 of us can drive so I think we could do it straight through. Our kids were 19, 15, and 6 when we cruised in December.

Where are you at? We're in the Mankato micropolitan area. :)

We anticipated it taking about 19 hours (so realistically 24 LOL!) We never did figure out what it ACTUALLY took. We left at 5 am and drove until 7pm the first day (Friday) and stopped in Sherman, Tx. We saved a lot of time by having a potty in the car so we weren't stopping every 25 minutes.

The next day we were in Galveston by 2:30 pm (I think 5-6 hrs total that day) to enjoy the pleasure pier and fun things to do in Galveston (so yes, we did arrive a day early.)

On the way home we spent a couple of days in DFW so we made the drive home from Dallas to MN in one day. We left at 6am and returned home by 9pm that same day.

I had lots of activities for the kids and we didn't even end up using our ipads or the kids leap pads (surprisingly! The didn't even know we had brought them with.)

We ate in the MDR every night. The kids went to camp carnival twice (both after dinner for about 1.5 hrs.) Our days involved a LOT of time in the waterpark, pool, or exploring the ship. Younger DS wasn't big enough for the big slides and older DD wasn't tall enough for the ropes course. Maybe next time. :)

When it's just DH and I we usually book empress balcony. This past November, we took the kids (6 &3) on Magic and did a lido balcony instead. I don't think we'll go back down to Empress again. Lido is where its AT! It was so convenient to everything (plus it's much easier to go down to eat with the kids.) I know you eventually DO have to come back up... but it's not at super busy times so there is the elevator option. I usually took the stairs and kids and DH would take the elevator.

I don't mean to come off rude, but I don't even understand how you could ask or compare the two (especially with putting 5 in a room with the dream having the deluxe ocean views as an option.) The choice is totally obvious to me. :) HAve a blast either way though.

We're in SW Minnesota and chose to drive to Galveston for our previous cruise. It was our first time taking the kids and it went wonderfully. Kids were 3 and 6 and did so well. We'd do it again in a heartbeat (and just may from New Orleans next time.) LMK if you have any specific questions. :)

We just took our 3 year old son and 6 year old daughter on their first cruise around Thanksgiving (7 day Magic)

We chose early dining as that is about the time we usually eat at home.

We requested being seated with another family with children (boy was DD's age)

We requested fruit we knew they would like as apps (in advance strawberries, grapes, bananas)

We didn't allow electronic devices at dinner

Every night was a ton of fun in the dining room and the kids were fantastically behaved beyond our expectations. DD loved trying new things, and DS loved the unlimited bread and all of his faves on the kids menu.

We only took the kids to cc twice (both on an evening after finishing dinner at 7:30 pm) They had fun and next time we will most likely use them more. Cruising with kids is definitely a different experience than just cruising as a couple.

We spend most of our time in the waterpark and pools (and at port doing fun excursions.) We didn't stress about routine and did what we wanted. DS crabby-he needs a rest, if not we ignored nap time. It's their vacation too was my opinion so I let naptime (younger child) and bedtime slide as long as they were well behaved.

We drove so it was nice to be able to overpack and have a toy or item from home if we were sunned out for the day and needed a break.