Doctor_Who

It's been forever since my last cruise and I've only sailed from Fort Lauderdale. I love going in the day before and with this next cruise we will also be looking at staying the night after the cruise due to flight times.

Looking for suggestions/ideas of what might be available:

- Cruising on Royal Caribbean

- Need shuttle/transportation from/to the airport/cruise port

- My daughter will be 5 but has special needs and is much smaller. We will not be traveling with a car seat.

- Hotel with a playard would be nice but not necessary.

- Two beds are needed though as my brunet will be traveling with us (Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale always liked giving us just a king so always had someone on the couch lol)

Wondering what Royal's packages are like or options to do something on our own.

Suggestions and advice?

Thanks!

Thanks! I think that's what we'll do then! I'm a little tempted to go to Disney or something since our flight will land in the morning but I'll have to see if I can convince my brother to go lol.

Your port/airport will determine if a transfer is worth it...in most cases, a cab is the better choice....but not all!

 

As far as a rental car...again, that depends where you're staying, and how long you have there...if you arrive late in the day, a rental car is usually a waste of money.

 

Give us more info!

SORRY!! Ya, guess that would help lol.

Landing in Orlando, going to Port Canaveral. I've flow to MCO before but never for a cruise. The other cruises I've been on went from FLL.

Hi. My brother and I are about to book our first RCI cruise (I've put a "hold" and just about to pay :) ) but confused about what to do pre-cruise. We will definitely be flying down the day before but on previous cruises with Princess I've always done their pre-cruise package. This is also my first time NOT using a travel agent.

- Are the pre-cruise hotel packages worth it? Do they include a transfer to the hotel/port?

- Cheaper just to book our own hotel and rent a car?

- What do you normally do?

Thanks!

Thanks! I'll have to remember that :)

Haha, I'm glad the language is the same :P My credit card includes insurance if I use it to book. We live by the border so we drive in the US a lot but I've never rented a car in the US before. Good idea about bringing the GPS.

That sucks that the shuttle can take that long just to get to the port :(

Guess I'll have to talk more with my brother and see which is a better option. Thanks everyone, at least I know it's not some crazy impossible thing to do lol

Ah, never thought about picking it up at MCO. We are not from the US so I'm hesitance to rent a car but it does seem like a good option.... We don't like thinking on vacation though and driving and trying not to get lost might be crossing that line though lol.

Thanks! We'd rather not rent a car but the dedicated car/van sounds like a good idea. My brother wants to do the space center tour post-cruise so that will get us to the airport after, I was just so confused on how to get to the port since we've only ever sailed from Fort Lauderdale.

We hired a car service. There are plenty of them out there. I believe ours was $200 round trip (picked us up after the cruise and took us back to the airport) 45 minutes from the port.

Do you know the name of the car service? Thanks :)

I'm hoping we can fly into Orlando a few days before our cruise and spend some time at Disney. We will stay on site at Disney. What are our options for getting to the port? Please include estimated price if possible. Thanks!

The cruise we were on this past summer some guy jumped. It was just starting to get dark, people saw him jump and threw life preservers. He was rescued pretty quickly but only because the quick actions of others marked where he was.

Thanks for the splash zone pics :)

Baby will be between 6 and 12 months. I was thinking about bringing the inflatable bath so that's a good idea about using it was a pool. Where'd you dump the water after (since dumping it into the pool defeats the purpose of keeping them out of the pool lol)?

Thanks!

I'm actually thinking of getting the Phil and Teds Traveller instead of using their playard. We are doing a hotel for a night or two before plus it's smaller that a pack and play. It's really light and can actually fit in my suitcase so not something crazy to travel with.

Good idea about the homemade laundry. Probably won't get as clean as a washer but it's something!

I'd love to see pictures of the Baby Splash Zone if you have any because I'm struggling to find any online.

Thanks!

If you said in the same cabin for both weeks, you don't even have to pack. If you have to move cabins, you would have to pack, but your stateroom attendant will move your things to the new cabin.

 

You do have to "get off" the ship. Basically you are taken from a special lounge with other B2B cruisers, and you check in at the pier, get new seapass cards and then get back on the ship.

AWESOME! Makes me even more excited for b2b :)

Double post and I don't know how to delete lol

Thanks for sharing your experience with little ones!

I was just looking at 4 and 5 night cruises but you are totally right, not worth it, especially when our flights are also the same cost as the cruise!

I'm only planning on sailing on the Oasis and Freedom class ships since they have the "baby splash zone" and seem to have the best options for babies. The biggest downfall to cruising with babies is no swimming so I love that those ships have that small area as an option.

If we do back to back we plan on bringing about 10 days worth, rewearing as we can, and sending off to the laundry people what we can't.

Does anyone know if you do a back to back if you have to get off the ship? Do you have to take your luggage with you?

I'm not having issues with the home page but I am with the excursions page.

My mom is having issues with the whole site.

Thanks!

MDR is the Main Dining Room. It will be noted if there are age or weight restrictions on excursions. All must pay no matter the age,

Thanks!

Thanks! I don't plan on cruising with baby until after six months. We will be going in non-hurricane season because last summer when we went we had an extra sea day. Since most the the (current) babies are due before June I'm going to hold off as long as possible, probably mid-June and then book. I'm an obsessive planner so this does not work well for my personality but I think it's the best for my wallet lol.

Thanks everyone!

No, I didn't know Freedom was moving... I was looking at April 2016 and it was still showing Freedom. As long as it's a ship in the Freedom or Oasis class it's all good to me since those seem to be the most baby friendly, especially since they have the baby splash zone. Oasis scares me a bit because it's so big lol. It was in port with us when we went on Princess in August and it was overwhelming looking lol.

What is MDR? I'm guessing food related but I can't seem to figure it out :P

For excursions if it doesn't say "minimum age: X" does that mean young children can go on it? Also do you pay for the child even if they will be sitting on your lap?

Long story short I'm trying to adopt a baby. I've had four failed matches (the mothers decided to keep) but I also have a bunch of babies due soon.

My brother and I want to do a cruise in August. I'm scared that if we wait too long the price will either be insane or there won't be room :'(

On the other hand I'm worried that if I get a successful match after we've booked we'll be out a lot of money.

Anyone know the cancellation policy? Is there insurance that I could get that would cover us? Is there a cancellation fee etc?

Or should I be okay to book just a few weeks before the cruise?

Thanks!

That sounds like a great plan! I think that RC has deals with Universal studios if you like that.

Yes, I think they do. I don't think we will right now (my brother doesn't like grown up rides lol) but when I have a child a bit older I would LOVE to do that. I've been to Universal twice and it was amazing :)

Also we are thinking of one cruise this summer (as long as I don't get a placement by then) one night overnight before (possibly at Disney) and then a back to back once the adoption is finalized and baby is six months old. I originally planned for one week at Disney World and then one week on a cruise (two separate trips) but after seeing all the character fun and that they have parent/baby activities on the ships I think we are going to do Disney one or two days at Disney so we can just visit Magic Kingdom and then do two weeks on the ship :) . This way I get the fun and cute pics at Disney and then get to "relax for two weeks on the cruise! We will probably have to use the laundry bag service at least once and I'll hand wash baby's stuff as needed but I'm really excited now! After seeing the ship (both this summer trip and the future two week trip would be on the Freedom) the Princess ships I've been on seem so stuffy and outdated lol.