Itchy&Scratchy

not at our middle school or DS's sports... Contrary to the popular belief, schools no longer give them out starting at a reasonable age.

is he now? Is that a real tattoo on his arm? If he is old enough to get a real tattoo, he is old enough to apply critical thinking.

at 11? maybe no. At 16+? I'd be a bad parent if I babied him THIS much.

he doesn't look like a child, and he definitely doesn't look young enough to appreciate "a good sport award" instead of a $100. For example, mine is an 11 year old actual child. He cannot buy lottery tickets or grow a beard... We don't let him out of our sight on a cruise. But he is old enough to understand that if he doesn't buy a lottery ticket, he cannot win the main prize or really any prize. Princess offered $100 OBC - that's super generous, considering the circumstances.

who knew he didn't actually win anything because he "didn't buy the lottery ticket", correct?

I am looking into EB Hotel. Seems to have very nice reviews. On April 1 the price is $299 for Deluxe Suite on expedia.

do check the prices. FLL hotels are usually much cheaper, but to my huge surprise (I am shopping for a hotel for our spring break cruise), some hotels are cheaper at MIA airport on April 1. We are sailing out of POM, but we may fly to either FLL or MIA, depending on the ticket prices.

we left our then infant (9m) and later toddler (2.5 yo) at home with nana and grandpa when we cruised. It would not have been a fun or relaxing vacation with him in tow at that age. Also - no need to lug a car seat with us, or a suitcase full of diapers. When he was 3 and fully day potty trained, he went on his first cruise with us - it was a blast, and he cruised with us ever since. He still napped at that time, so I spent that time in the cabin reading or listening to audiobooks. When he was older, my parents came with us as well, but not as built in babysitters. Our kid doesn't do kid's club as he is not a social butterfly, so he is always with us every minute of the cruise. OP, check out this board for more advice: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/ also this: https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling_with_children

OP is not freshly off the ship though.

it does indeed that I have to disagree with - the Pullman berth doesn't obstruct it anywhere nearly as much as the sofa bed. As long as you can duck under it a little bit (and there is no sofa bed opened up), balcony access is a whole lot better than with the sofa bed unrolled. That is, if you are not using the unrolled sofa bed - we travel as a group of 3.... We have been in both Deluxe and regular balcony rooms so we had experienced both... I like some RCI's sofa beds a lot more - they don't unroll way out for the 3rd person.

no, of course not. 🙂

one can be skinny and have COPD.

just take a taxi - it's like a couple of miles ride to the airport, taxis are available all the time, and the ride is super quick. Usually around $20-25.

are you doing them through the cruise ship or by yourself? if through the cruise ship, you will usually be on a shuttle bus, so no need for a car seat. If by yourself, you will need to take a taxi, and in a taxi I would definitely use a car seat, especially in a foreign country. What does your grandson use at home? If it's a big and heavy seat, you may want to look into a travel friendly seat like Cosco Scenera NEXT or Evenflo Tribute. They easily attach to a stroller or a suitcase with a bungee cord. Your adult kid should use the car seat on the plane if they bought a separate ticket for the baby. If they didn't, make sure they gate check the car seat instead of checking it with the luggage. I post a lot about traveling with car seats on this forum, and also this forum is very useful: https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling_with_children Taxis in other countries may not have latch/isofix and the seat belts may not lock like they do in American cars, so it's useful to bring a seat belt locking clip and practice installing a seat with a locking clip at home. Yeah, Costa Maya's port is very nice and has a free pool, a dolphin show, flamingoes, etc. so you don't have to go anywhere. Although, the beach is nice.

may want to enter the zip first, and then it fills in the city/state.

but this was not OP's first cruise with Princess. Princess does send email reminders... I got this one in August 2022 for my Nov 22 cruise titled: ATTN: Hn, Booking Number - First Name Last Name - Final Payment Notice

no, you ask for fresh ones, like I said. When you get a bad meal at the restaurant, do you send it back? Yes. Since you "paid" for these crepes, just ask for fresh ones instead of being passive aggressive. you were very PA about it instead of just asking to cook them fresh, and you still are very PA in your post. Ask and you shall receive. Ask nicely and you get a whole more niceties in return. Be PA and get the same attitude right back at you.

interesting. Maybe, his medallion was attached to his phone? I don't know. 🙂

I haven't even seen anyone with coffee cards on Enchanted, but I got a fancy coffee every morning to burn through some OBC. The biggest line I saw was on disembarkation day and it was about 4 people.

I bet you had to pay for the crepes in Paris, France. you could have just asked for a fresh one instead of being PA. The crepe station was the highlight of our cruise a month ago. We each ate at least 3 Nutella crepes after MDR dinner every night, and they were more than happy to make fresh crepes for us, without even having to ask - probably, because they could tell how excited we were.

that's quite a change from our Thanksgiving cruise on Enchanted. We had Fettuccine Alfredo every day - it was on the every day menu. So was the steak.

Enchanted did. So did the Allure of the Seas.

make sure to bring a night light. I am glad I brought it on Enchanted. I didn't bring it on the Allure and actually crash fell into the bathroom at night because I couldn't see anything (night blind). We previously brought a battery operated one with us, but I got a USB plug in nightlight from shein . com and used the USB charger wall plug-in like this in the bathroom:

which ships do you mean when you say "older Royal Class" ships? Like ancient history or Royal/Regal Princesses? I think Jimmy above is correct: older RC ships have been sailing pre-pandemic, when everything was different from post-pandemic. We were just on Enchanted, which is pretty much identical to Regal Princess (pre-pandemic) - some venues are located in different locations, but in general - about the same ship. We loved both Enchanted and Regal. We get either an inside, a regular obstructed or a deluxe obstructed balconies (not the ones with large balconies). We are pretty happy to just have a balcony, no matter what size they are. My parents' very first cruise was on Regal Princess. They loved it.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2876122-car-seats-in-port/ I post a lot of advice and pics in the Family subforum. Also useful: https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling_with_children