Itchy&Scratchy

she did, indeed. yes, a lot of schools have a fall break, especially those which start in July. And, considering how crowded it was during a "not your usual school break" week, I can only imagine how busy it's going to be for our Thanksgiving sailing.

I also refer to us as mere mortals. Makes it easier... Steerage class? Plebs? Peasants?

aaahhhh, but did you sail on a full ship during a school break like Thanksgiving?

thank you! We are in Fantastica balcony in November. The reviews for non-YC are getting bleaker and bleaker by the minute.

so was mine, he rear faced till 4 at home and was harnessed till 6.7 yo at home, but we still used a booster when traveling for short taxi rides. Brought a car seat with us for a 3 hour rental car ride. How tall and heavy is your child? What seat are you using at home? How is his maturity? Are you going to bring the seat with your on the plane (as in - use it on the plane)? Are you willing to buy a light weight travel seat? What's your budget? How often will you need this travel seat until he is 5+ and able to ride in a booster during travel? Here is my kid in his Britax Frontier (a 26# seat) on the plane. We didn't buy a travel seat, because Frontier Clicktight had a dream installation despite its weight. here is the description of my journey with it: https://community.babycenter.com/post/a62126569/frontier-90-on-southwest-and-other-questions Here is another very useful board: https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling_with_children here is how to transport your car seat through the airport: You will have to remove it at security to send it through the x-ray machine. Sometimes they fit, sometimes they don't in which case TSA will examine it manually. Read the car seat's manual to learn the installation technique on the plane. Remember, the only way to ensure that your car seat doesn't get damaged is to use it for your kid on the plane: Find the FAA sticker on your car seat in advance:

bubblebum has a 40# min weight limit. Now all of the US boosters also have a 40# min. Many kids younger than 4 yo are under that limit and may not be tall enough to have a good seat belt fit. @thesnoopster2 - we discuss a lot of similar subjects here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/ If your child is tall, heavy and mature enough to use a no back booster (usually kids at 3 are NOT all three of these), you could go that route - it's better than using nothing at all. Cosco Rise and Harmony Youth (Juvenile) boosters are great for travel. This is how we traveled with our Harmony Youth booster: You can't use it on the plane, so you have to stow it under the seat or in the overhead compartment. People in those countries, as well as taxi drivers in FLL and MIA airports, aren't the most careful drivers, so at the LEAST, I would use a no back booster. We did fly with a Britax Frontier car seat once when DS was 5, however, we needed it for a 3 hour rental car drive from FLL to MCO. Other than that, we used the Harmony Youth booster for short taxi/Uber rides.

that is very ITINERARY dependent and not true for most itineraries in the Caribbean. Please look into that. I once cruised with a passport that expired 1 day before disembarkation. Nobody cared. I am a naturalized citizen, so I cannot even do closed loop sailings with a birth certificate. We have just renewed our passports (sent in June, received in August) - 8 weeks exactly, without expediting.

again, we are going to be on Seascape, not Seaside, so I am only concerned with Seascape.

In my previous post I mentioned the two changes that affect us directly: the $5 additional entrees in MDR in the Caribbean after the first, and free soft serve only with the minor's drink package. Although I don't understand why it couldn't be included in the adult drink package.

thanks. The kid will have a minor package, so he is taken care of. It's my husband that I am "concerned" about. 🙂 apparently, Seascape only has 1 buffet for regular people, and a separate buffet for YC.

but we are going to be in Grand Cayman. All aboard is 2 pm, so if we can only disembark around 11 as people without privileges, then we'll miss our previously booked private tour leaving at 8:30 am and we'll only have 3 hours in port instead of 6. The previous cruise lines handled Grand Cayman tendering just fine.

only one of them is a kid, and, yes, he gets a vote too, but he usually votes for Princess.🙂 Princess, however, didn't have any suitable cruises during this Thanksgiving.... He can't wait to ride the panoramic aft elevator on Seascape, though. MSC has been changing things up so much lately that it is impossible to say whether something that is important to you on the cruise will still be available when you actually sail. We booked our first MSC cruise back in 2019 when they still had free soft serve available on Mera all the time...

good to hear, but when I say - it's important to my family, I mean that my boys (not me) eat it from 11 am when it's usually available on other cruise lines until closing which sometimes is late (like 7 or 8 pm). So, this "free for one hour" business is not going to do, especially if we are still off the ship at the port.

Isn't Frangelico hazelnut leaning? 🙂

port taxes are usually refunded when the ship misses a port.

what I've heard so far - off the top of my head: -huge crowds on the ship, especially at the buffet, impossible to find a spot to sit down, and then long lines at every food station. Since Seascape has only one buffet, it's not surprising, I guess. -long tender times, mere mortals get off the ship at 11-11:30 whereas YC and MSC tours get off the ship at 8-8:30. - below average MDR food - $5 surcharge per additional entree -no free soft serve (very important to my family) -early breakfast buffet closing - most dailies I've seen have Seascape buffet closing at 9:30 on most days, and 10:30 on sea days. -long elevator waiting times - important to us, since dad has limited mobility and cannot take the stairs Since we are going to be on a full Thanksgiving sailing, I am sure we will encounter most if not all of these. That said, I still expect that we'll have a good time, we have a balcony (and we always enjoy having a balcony), we'll be cruising to lovely ports, we'll have drink packages (yay! first time) and wifi, so it can't all be bad.

I might try Frangelico or Kahlua.

wow, just went online to look at the MSC excursions and realized that MSC changed our port schedules quite a bit, and without a single notification. We would have never made it to the 8:30 am Grand Cayman private excursion even if we were on the first or second tender boat. Went ahead and booked the MSC excursion. Same price as the 3rd party tour, but shorter and only the Stingray city, without 2 other snorkeling stops. 😞 Sad, but it's a short stop and it's MSC in all its uncertain glory, so I don't want to risk it.

to get a better price I'd advise to book farther out in advance. For example, when I booked our November cruise a year ago, the price was around $550 pp for a regular balcony for a 7 night cruise. Now the same cruise is $1,200+ pp for the same balcony. I am looking at March 2025 cruises and right now they are around $550 pp for a balcony (with drinks and wifi). I will, however, wait to book until after our first MSC cruise this November. I know I can book and then cancel, which is what I did with our March 2024 cruise after I read a ton of negative Seascape reviews, but I still kept our November 2023 cruise, because we got a very good deal and a whole family is coming.

that would be a huge problem since we will have a very short stop in Grand Cayman and have a private tour starting at 8:30 am ending at 12:30 pm. All aboard is 2 pm. I wonder if we need to switch to MSC tour....

yes and yes https://www.msccruisesusa.com/on-board/dining-drinks/drinks-packages Book now online your drink package at the lowest price compared to the onboard price! All beverages priced up to 10 dollars are included! Cheers to bottomless beverages all day long! The Easy Plus package includes: Variety of frozen and classic cocktails Fresh fruit cocktails and protein shakes Well spirits, liqueurs and cordials Variety of draught and bottled beers Non-alcoholic cocktails and all non-alcoholic drinks Bottled Mineral Water Wide range of hot drinks 10% discount on bottles of wine purchased on board Selection of wines by the glass Beverage gratuities included The Easy Package covers all the above served in our bars, buffet and main restaurant. What’s more, it also includes Ocean Cay and other exclusive destinations, but does not cover the specialty restaurants and signature venues (Venchi 1878 establishments or Jean-Philippe Maury venues, MSC Virtuosa Starship Club). Valid for cruises of 7 nights and more.QR_Q_BAR-LIST-GENERIC_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1681927896.pdf

mmmkay then. We got Covid on our Allure cruise in June 2022, even though we didn't get it before then. Did we stop cruising because of that? Nope. We then did NOT get covid on our November cruise or the following April cruise. Our neighbors went on a cruise this summer and got Covid. They are going cruising again shortly. We have just gotten Covid at home out of the blue, without even going on a cruise. Do we need to stop living at home because of that? Glad you had a good time on your cruise. But by all means - steer clear.

that's cheap for MCO to/from MIA. You, however, may have been able to rent a car for $120+gas. We paid Uber $150 from MCO to Port Canaveral and it's a much shorter distance.

kind of hard to find this kind of prices nowadays. By today's standards that's not a "fairly good" deal, it's an outstanding deal. Unless, of course, it's an ancient ship during the least popular time. Considering that it's RCI and most people sail with kids during school breaks, they (we) usually have to sail during super popular times.

the Stingray city has choppy waist-chest deep water (depending on height). I found it difficult to stand still and I was 5'6 ~150#. They do ask you not to thrash around so you don't spook the stingrays, so there is no "playing" with stingrays. You can touch them and feed them squid and sometimes they swim UP on you, but no playing. I thought it was Chankanaab or something like that. I am sure the Cozumel port of call board has more info.