pyropoodle

our cruise isn't for another year, so I reckon anything can happen, but it sure is scary

sorry if this is a double post, I'm just seeing the news...

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article229341009.html

"Travel to Cuba will now be limited to family visits, restricting those deemed as “veiled tourism,” said a high-ranking official who spoke on condition of anonymity. That could signal the end of cruises, which started to operate during the Obama years because of an expansion of the categories of travel allowed."

we have a cruise booked for next year, so not sure what's going to happen with that. 

between graywater sanctions and travel restrictions,  this quarter is looking iffy for carnival corp. 

anyone have any thoughts?

I'm not sure of the size of it for a 1 year old, but for our (at the time) 2 year old, we bought a Safe Rider.  we used it for transportation from the airport to hotel in Miami, then in a mini van in Cozumel...and again transport from port back to airport.  then the taxis in NYC.

they may have a small size for a 1 year old, it's worth checking out.  it doesn't take up a lot of space and gave me an insane peace of mind

my son went on  a cruise when he was 2 and he barely remembers.  now that his sister is turning 2 and he is turning 5, I've been letting him watch youtube videos of the kids clubs to show him the kinds of places/ things he'll be doing and showing him videos of the ships on the water.  he is just as excited as I am about our cruise.  

I will never be going to any art auction or discussion and i'll never go to any sales pitch for green gold by the inch. 

I've never had more than 1 booked at a time...until now. i have 3 in the pipeline. my husband thinks i've lost my mind

33 minutes ago, April42749 said:

The last schedule I see is May 2020.

Oh...well, time to make a contingency plan.

They are still selling my August 2020 sailing as Cuba, so maybe it's safe 

Just now, summersigh said:

Our October 2020 Sunshine stills shows Key West and Cuba ... keeping my fingers crossed.

mine still shows cuba too. hopefully they'll get it all worked out.  fingers crossed for sure.

2 hours ago, grandmarnnurse said:

We all know that ports can be changed or canceled for any number of reasons.

totally different when you specifically call something a Cuba Cruise.   and sell it for cuba prices. it's not like a hurricane rolling through at the last minute. I think you realize this is a different and unfortunate situation.  it's not like missing Grand Cayman.

This is scaring me because I have a Cuba booked for next year.  it still says cuba in my cruise manager, so I hope they aren't going to cancel it.  it's literally the only reason I booked that cruise

... also, in Grand Cayman, there is a provider for the StingRay city tour that takes children under the age of 4 for free.  Moby Dick tours.  they are great. 

regarding car seats.  I live in NYC, so i invested in the Safe Rider.  It's like a little harness thingy that you use with the car's back seat seat belt.   I took it with us on our cruise out of miami and used it in the cab ride from the airport to the hotel, from the car rides on various islands and the car back to the airport from the cruise terminal.  it doesn't take up that much space and for me, it is peace of mind!   car accidents don't care if you are in Mexico, and i will choose safety over inconvenience every time.   

I don't know if this is still a thing (maybe someone who has cruised more recently can tell me, or maybe it was just the ship i was on), but when we cruised when my son was 2 1/2, they did change diapers, but said that they wouldn't change the poop diapers if he had any.  they gave us a cell phone and said they would call for any issues, including poops.   He never pooped in camp carnival, so we didn't have to worry about it, but wondering if that was still the case.  

and to stay on topic, i highly recommend Playa Mia in Cozumel if you have little ones.   My son LOVED Buccaneer's bay. it's like a pool that is just around a few inches to maybe a foot deep and filled with little kid sized slides.   He spent most of the day there. wore himself out.  We are going again the next time we are in Cozumel and taking our daughter.  She will be 3 when we visit and he will be 6. 

We are booked on the Radiance 500 days from now, and it is a looong wait. we have a cruise coming up this August, so i'll dwell on that and then i'll start the year pining for the Radiance .

i have cruised on the Victory and it was one of my best cruises, so the updates can only make things better.   I'm very much looking forward to it (and to the Sunrise this August)

I second checking the roll call.  i made some very good friend through various roll calls, some i still keep in touch with even though our schedules haven't aligned for us to be able to sail together again.   it really is a great way to start a cruise, getting on board and feeling like you already know someone is very comforting (i'm an introvert as well, but get to know me and i kinda explode with too much personality)

i love the idea of cruising instead of large parties or gifts.  my kiddos are still really little, but we are doing a NYE sailing next year (2020 into 2021 when my son will be 6. ) we will open gifts on christmas morning and santa will have brought us plane tickets and cruise tickets , we'll fly out on christmas day and set sail the next day. i hope he loves it so much that we can continue (not necessarily expensive holiday time) but continue to replace big parties and gifts with this one of memories.   fingers crossed. 

Does anyone know if it is still true that they only sell around 30 FTTF per cruise? or was that a rumor? or has it expanded? 

I have never had more than once cruise booked at a time...until recently. i just snapped! i currently have 3 coming up!

hubs is making me wait until after our august cruise to book another....we'll see how THAT goes.. muahahahahahahahaah😏

...and i just checked because i am on an 8 day this august out of NYC and the FTTF is $99.95.   we are in a suite and we live in NYC, so i'm not in that much of a hurry. only got the FTTF out of miami because it's just a regular balcony and it will be our last cruise before turning Platinum, so i won't need it after that.   i have been curious to try it, so at $89.95 it seemed like a good deal since there are 4 of us.  i think when it first came out, it was like $50 or $50.00 per person, but it was just me and hubby back then and we didn't have to deal with two sniveling, um, i mean, 2 really well behaved children....

Just now, JaxsMama said:

How many days is your cruise?

7 days

I just got it for my Decebmer 2020 out of miami and it was $89.95 iirc.   is it port specific that they charge $119?   i don't think i would pay more than what i paid for it.   i had to talk myself into that. 

6 minutes ago, lovetotraveltx said:

What ship/sailing are you on?

We are on August 19th on the Sunrise out of NYC.

just adding that Camp Carnival is usually open until 10PM at the included rate, and then night owls goes to around 2am with a per hour surcharge. 

We are sailing out of NYC this August.  they have a kids club starting at age 2 and probably goes up to older teens, so that age range should be covered.   Their kids staff is the best, so the kids should be very entertained.  We will be taking our 5 and 2 year old

150 days.  

I'm looking forward to cruising on her in about 153 more days.   we booked when it was still the Triumph, before the announcement, so I wasn't worried then. I'm even more excited now that we'll get to experience some new features.  I can't wait.

2 hours ago, sprint180 said:

 I always make luggage tags for who is going with the pics of our last cruise on them and the info of where we are going and date on the back as a keep sake so that is what I am doing now.  300 days out.

awww, that's a neat idea