Itchy&Scratchy

no, it's not mandated, but the - we never had a problem with using 2 lower separate twins and 1 upper berth. They can always ask the cabin attendant to move two lower beds together, but it also makes it more difficult for him to make up the upper berth.

in the Caribbean?

I would rethink late November if you can help it. It's a school break time for many students in the US (Thanksgiving), so prices will be sky high and cruises will be super full. The first two weeks of December are better in that regard - that's when we used to travel when DS wasn't in school yet. Also, it's prime time for flu season. And, you know, covid is still in full force and spikes pretty badly after the holidays. Essie's mom is right - you will be charged for the kiddo, unless it's a Kids Sail Free promotion and the kid is the 3rd or 4th passenger in the cabin. I can't think of any ships which will have activities for a 19 month old. I mean - some puppet show here and there, and maybe, a splash zone (you have to look for ships with that) for little kids. I think some RCI ships have a play area on them, where parents can play with kids. The carousel on Harmony and Allure was nice. Yes, people will not believe that your 19 mo is fully potty trained. Heck, mine wasn't there until well after 3. And, yes, both DH and I are originally from Europe. The poor crew members may not say anything, but other passengers might.

very true. But since I was the one sleeping on the sofa it was not a problem. That said, it was much easier to access the balcony under the pullman bed. And the kiddo loves pullman beds... I liked the way the sofa bed was positioned on RCI's Harmony and Allure - much better access to the balcony:

I have a Princess agent, but it doesn't preclude me from booking my own cruises on princess.com. She recently called me back within an hour when I had a slight problem. I also book our own hotels and air. Just because your friends are helpless online doesn't mean that it's Princess' fault. Perhaps, Princess customer service rep thought that your friends booked through a non-Princess TA. They could still do that, you know. Use a TA.

mine walked over to the bar on the pool deck (within sight) and ordered a soda. The barman simply gave it to him for free, probably assuming that the kid has a package. That was on Regal Princess in 2019, on a medallion cruise. imho, they won't or they won't care even if they do.

it's about what we pay every time - $499 - for the 3rd passenger. KSF didn't apply to any of the cruises we could go on.

just wanted to say that this package will cost considerably less than Princess Plus. Don't know if the 6 yo needs it, but my 11 yo is thrilled. This is the first year when we purchased a beverage package for him. He put it to a very good use on RCI's Allure, but they do have the freestyle coke machine. He is really looking forward to using it on Enchanted and getting all the mocktails. The Keywest Cooler was the best mocktail we've ever had... This was one of the reasons we booked Princess Minus, because paying $40 per day for our kid's Princess Plus isn't justified. He doesn't need wifi and he doesn't drink alcohol (being 11). We don't need any beverage packages, but I bought our kid the Sodas/Mocktails package for about $11/day. I do believe that at the time of my booking (months ago) the Princess Plus rules said that the extra $40/day applied even to children in the same cabin and would not be prorated even if the child is underage and cannot drink premium beverages.

don't look at brands. Look at ingredients. The same brand can make both mineral (zinc oxide) based and other chemical based sunscreens.

nobody ever checked what kind of sunscreen we brought with us at any of these locations. https://savethereef.org/about-reef-save-sunscreen.html zinc oxide SPF lotion will make you look like this: but it's a sacrifice you should be willing to make. 🙂 as a mom of a redhead, I have a question - what about the face? We all wear rashguards and wide-brimmed sunhats, but the face still needs sunscreen.

I booked the Deluxe on Regal on purpose because their regular beds were simply awful prior to them getting new mattresses. I am a fairly large woman with a very bad back. I found the sofa to be acceptable. IMHO, Enchanted is newer than Regal and should have better mattresses be it a regular bed or a sleeper sofa.

it's reasonably comfortable. I slept on one on Regal Princess, on the old sofa bed (which was only marginally better than their old beds). It was the exact same size as the other regular beds. Enchanted will have much newer beds and mattresses, so it won't be bad at all.

you can look through the other threads on this subforum for more information on car seats. I know I've written quite a few posts about them lately. You just have to remember that vehicles in other countries may not have locking seat belts like US cars and they may not have latch/isofix either. In this case, the parents should look into bringing a small seat belt locking clip and practice installing a seat at home before the cruise. https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NOE6651373 https://www.amazon.com/Sungrace-Metal-Lock-Silver-Pack/dp/B0797KBGD5 or take cruise ship excursions which tend to use buses of some kind. Sure, you'll be like sardines in the bus, but at least you won't have to bring a car seat with you. For a 2 yo I'd go with an Evenflo Maestro for forward facing or Cosco Scenera NEXT for rear facing. Cosco Finale is a good option if the child is over 30# and is not overly tall if they want to use the seat for a couple more years.

I'd start reading this entire subforum, starting with the latest threads, and then ask specific questions. You will get a lot of general info just by reading.

look at what you use at home and bring enough for 1.5 times the time period. Keep in mind that unless you are traveling to Puerto Rico or some other US or Canadian spots, you will most likely not be able to replenish your stash of diapers or medications.

I said it - we wore masks on the plane (to and from), at the airport, in taxis/ubers, at the terminal, inside the cruise ship (unless actively eating in MDR or buffet - we even put masks on when getting a second helping or dessert at the buffet), during all the shows, etc. And we still got covid on the cruise (June 2022). We hadn't gotten it before this cruise. We didn't get it on our Nov 2021 cruise when most people wore masks on the ship when indoors. Considering that you said "I have read most of this tread" on page 2 of the (so far) 7 page thread, it looks like this thread barely started when you said that.

wow. We once had $500 for the 5 of us... That's the most we've ever had. Is yours refundable in any way?

exactly.

we did in 2019 and prior to that, and it never worked.

bring all of your meds with you, in case you get stuck somewhere. Bring all the cold meds with you, and ibuprofen+vitamins+zinc+cough meds+diarrhea meds in case you get covid.

I don't have much info on kid's clubs because our kid refuses to use them. He used to have moderate stranger and separation anxiety and only tried the kid's club twice since he started sailing at 3. He is 11 now and adamantly refuses to go to the kid's club. Are you sure Milo will want to stay with a bunch of strangers? We tried it on RCI and NCL ships. Many years ago RCI ship had a pager for us and they paged us to come get DS because he was inconsolable. I am not sure how it's done now, but I am sure you can find the info in the reviews of travelers with kids on the line's pages. NCL ships tend to have a more active, sports and outdoor oriented kid's club. On Princess it's more indoors and crafts oriented for younger ages. Our friends' kids love going, and at some point the kid's club becomes the all you can play video games (for older kids), so they were there from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to sleep. Did you do a search of this board and this one https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/ with the word "autism" and "kid's club"? I also recommend doing so on the major line's subforums. Good luck with your search - I hope Milo loves cruising.

check the info for these cabins on Regal and Royal Princesses. We were in E504/502 and E332/322 on Regal and they were quiet. They are above the boats. You can see the outline of the boats on the deck plans. Of course, Regal has Crooners where Enchanted has Bistro Sur la Mer...

someone here reported not ordering the medallion, which held up his status. Once he ordered it, the line changed to green. Ours is green now.

when I bought a beverage package, Princess charged it to the card, not OBC.

Antigua was replaced with St Kitts 2 days before the cruise, so I am of no help...