MamatoJack

We have Porter booked for March from YOW to MCO, flying Reserve. Looking forward to trying it out and it was much cheaper for March break than any other flights. We are going Monday to Monday to take advantage of the deals, but since we are not on a cruise for that vacation it worked out. I wish they had announced things earlier, we are flying AC next week and no direct flights so we have to change in Toronto. Direct coming home, thank goodness. I am looking forward to just getting away. A few days at Disney then a 7-night cruise. Where I won't have to worry about how much my teenage son eats. One of the reasons I love to cruise, he can always find a snack, and it's already paid for!

We are going on Mardi Gras in 4-ish weeks for the first time and can't wait! We have gone on Liberty which was what got us hooked, and Magic, which we really enjoyed. I don't think you'd enjoy anything smaller than Dream class, you may want to try that or Vista class since they do have some more interesting itineraries for you. No Bolt but they do have ropes courses and Vista class has Sky Ride. We enjoy the MDR, I don't pay extra for meals, but am looking forward to trying the included options on MG. My son liked the waterslides on Magic, and the outdoor sports area with mini-golf and foosball tables and things like that.

Yes our acceptance emails came on October 19th, but haven't received the new cards yet.

I have not yet received them. I assume they will need to be signed for, but haven't gotten anything yet. I still have 5 weeks until we travel so I hope they arrive before then!

We are flying in a few days before our cruise and will be staying at Disney. In the before Covid times we would have taken the free Disney shuttle back to the airport and caught a cruise shuttle from there, but that is no longer free and it seems like it make sense to just get a shuttle from the Disney hotel. I am having a hard time finding any that actually pick up at Disney, but see that Port Canaveral Connection does. I have never heard of them before, would they be a good choice? It is just two of us and we may have one checked bag or two carry on's. The other option I'm considering is just to Lyft or Uber. But I know it's quite a distance and am not sure if it will be possible, or super costly. I have booked with Cruise Control for the trip back to the airport already. I would prefer to have things arranged before we arrive, but we have used Uber and Lyft before, and will be using them to get to the hotel from the airport when we arrive. Worst case scenario we end up taking something back to the airport and then a transfer from there to the ship but that seems like a lot of extra time (and money). Thoughts on Port Canaveral Connection vs Uber/Lfyt? Thank you

A bit of an older thread but thought I'd update, I applied for my son and I, renewals, in mid-June and just got notified we are both approved, no interviews or new pictures. I assume the new cards are in the mail or something, but good for another 5 years! Kiddo was only 7 or so in the last one, and he is 13 now so looks quite different. I am happy to get them renewed before our December trip though! Good timing. So it was about 4 months for the renewal in case anyone is waiting or wondering.

I applied for our renewals mid-June, should have done it sooner. I am assuming kiddo will require an appointment since I think he was 8 last time and he's 13 now, looks quite different. We are travelling in December and I do hope we'll be able to use the cards even though his expires right before we go, assuming they allow it to be used since we applied for the renewals.

I had an offer a few months ago and just got another one. Then I didn't want to do it but now I'm considering it. I am on Mardi Gras in December and have a cove balcony booked. For $30 more I can be on deck 15. which is what I'm considering. The offer also has premium extended balcony for $226, Spa Balcony or Spa Cove Balcony for $330 or Havanna Cabana for $770. I don't know what a premium extended balcony is though, they all seem to be right at the front of the ship, I'm not sure how I would do with that. Are they worth it? I guess I need to figure that out soon.

Thanks for this info. My son's expires in December and mine in February 2024. I'll renew them after our trip in May (we will be travelling again in December). I am guessing his will require an interview since he was 7 or 8 when he got his and he's 13 now. They did do the iris and fingerprint thing then but his picture would be quite different. If they do extend the expiry while it's being processed though that would be nice. I guess I'll be able to get his free again when paying for mine, but will check that out.

I know, I should be looking at noon or later flights but doing so doubles the cost of the flight or has us not getting out until 6 PM or later. Kiddo is NOT a good flyer and won't eat the day we fly so it makes for a very long day for him. Cruising on Carnival Horizon, debarking on a Sunday. Flight is with United to Newark (and then connecting from there to home). We would carry off our bags as soon as allowed, and probably just take a taxi since I think it's fairly close to the airport. We won't have bags to check for the flight, just carryon, will do check in online in advance, and have global entry/nexus if that helps things. Am I crazy? The flights home for this cruise have been driving me nuts. I have no idea why they are all so expensive, it's May 7th. What the heck is happening that day that has all these flights so expensive? Makes no sense to me. I've been considering cancelling the whole thing and losing the deposit but I really want to cruise, and the ABC islands are on my bucket list. I don't want to miss out.

I'm looking at a cruise on MSC and wondering if it is safe to book a flight at 12:45 from Newark, and also the best way to get from the Brooklyn cruiseport to the airport. EWR is the only New York airport with direct flights home for us. I could book at 3pm but I'd rather be home by then if the earlier flight could work 🙂 I believe Uber or Lyft would be available, and am not sure if MSC also offers transfers. I haven't booked the cruise yet, working out how much trouble it will be first. And we haven't actually made it onto an MSC cruise yet (though I've booked and cancelled a few). Thank you

Stay at a hotel near the airport. It will allow you longer at the parks and be an easy pick up in the morning by Cortrans. I believe there may be one or two shuttle services that will pick up at Disney to take you to the port area but it's likely quite a bit more expensive and the schedules may be more limited

I'm pretty sure it depends on what ship you are on and timing. I paid $110.52 CAD each on my cruise end of May (Oasis). Sadly I know whatever the price my kid will want to go. So yeah, they'll get our money 😞 But it was a lot of fun.

Disney parks require a reservation, in advance. And you need a ticket to reserve the park. Not sure how you could get around that to buy a ticket but I wouldn't want you to be disappointed or go all the way there and not be able to get the ticket. Also keep in mind you will only have a few hours at the park you choose, the excursion to Disney drops off at the TTC so you need to take the monorail to the park from there, probably not getting into Magic Kingdom until 3pm, then having to get back to the TTC for the right time, you'd need to leave by 7 or so.

I hope you get to see Aqua80 (thought I guess you have 4 weeks to do so). I really enjoyed it on our cruise a couple weeks ago. I am probably aging myself but the music is what I listened to growing up so it was fun (and everything was quite well done). I wish I could work from the ship 😞 I am working from home but have to do so from Canada so sadly it's not an option. That would be amazing though. Only 10 years or so until I can retire.

We drove from Ottawa on May 21st, stayed in Parsippany overnight before the cruise. It was an easy drive to the port and very easy once there to drop off bags and then park. We stopped in Syracuse on the way there for lunch but there were plenty of places along the way. It took about 7 hours to get to the hotel (including lunch break and a stop for gas along the way), it was a bit longer coming home, I guess we stopped more often. We avoided all tolls except on the bridges when we crossed to /from the USA. Our experience parking wasn't the same as karebare22 - we were directed to a spot and given a ticket to pay when we returned. We missed the paying at the parking terminal but were able to pay a person as we were leaving. We didn't have to pay a toll to get back to the highways to return home, but I had it set to avoid tolls and while it was a little messy, we managed to avoid all the tolls and get on the highway fine.

We didn't book the VIP package. The food was fine, we didn't buy any additional drinks so I can't comment on costs. We swam and did some snorkeling, the water was clear and nice but there wasn't a lot to see. There was not a lot of shade and we were tired from Coco Cay the day before. After a couple hours we were ready to go back to the ship, we had understood there would be a few tenders running but when we asked about going back we were told first we could leave at 3:30 and then that we couldn't until 4:45. We had originally booked for 9:30 and it was changed to 12:30, I am sure there were people happy to spend the full 4 hours there, but we were not the only ones from our ship trying to catch the earlier tender, they had to announce that our colour bands were not allowed to leave yet. I didn't like essentially being trapped on the island, as lovely as it was. We barely made it back in time to change out of wet clothes to get to dinner, we didn't have time to shower or clean up. Perhaps if we had been able to go at 9:30 as we'd initially planned it would have worked out better? By the time they changed the timing, most other options were booked and I didn't read about Margaritaville in time.

We were on the cruise as well, we spent far more time in the room than we normally would have. My son thought the water slides were "too slow" and the deck was usually quite crowded. We would swim after dinner, when it was much quieter on deck. I had gone to Park Cafe to grab my latte and a breakfast sandwich when this test happened, my son was asleep in the cabin. It's a good thing I got back quickly because he was dressed and heading to the muster station (he heard the horn but not the announcements). I felt bad for him but was also quite pleased he knew what to do and was ready to go! Overall, we enjoyed the cruise, it was nice to be on a ship again for sure (still feels like I am to be honest, always seem to keep rocking for a few days after we get off!). The dining was ok, some nights it was hard to decide on something I'd enjoy. I was lucky to get breakfast in windjammer a few times but could never find a seat so always brought the food back to my cabin. Kiddo didn't get up in time for breakfast once lol. We really enjoyed Coco Cay, he loved the water slides there and did the tallest one about 7 times! I did it once, all those stairs... that was enough for me!. Nassau was ok, we made the mistake of going to Blue Lagoon, and wanted to leave but they wouldn't let us go until "our time" which made us late for dinner. It was annoying. Next time we'll just go to Margaritaville and at our own pace. The ship felt crowded at times, we've never done Oasis class before, I think I prefer the smaller classes of ship. It was convenient to drive and boarding/debarking was super easy.

Can't wait! I've been looking at a cruise on Adventure for August, 9 night I think? I'll be following along to see what the ship is like. Can't wait!

I am honestly not sure how they are doing it now, I assumed it would show up in the app at some point but that may not be the case. I believe it used to be available near the kids club on the ship but I have the sense they aren't doing as many paper schedules now.

I'm excited to follow along! We are doing this cruise on May 22 and can't wait! If there's any chance you see the kids club schedule, or teen club, I would appreciate it but no worries, we'll be on board in a few weeks.

My son preferred Carnival's kids club to Royal's. He is happy as long as there are water slides and ropes course or rock wall on the ship so any will do. We did enjoy Freedom of the Seas before it was "amped" but I think he'd enjoy it more now with the water slides. We went on Carnival Magic after and he really enjoyed the ship, and the kids club. He went only a couple times on Royal and refused to go back.