gluecksbaer

What time in the evening are photographers usually out to take pictures?

If you are a family that has to save for years to travel though, the time that those passports are useful to you is much more limited. For kids on a 7 night cruise (divided by 8 considering you are sailing for parts of 8 calendar days) it works out to $6.25 a day for a passport card and $16.88 for a passport book. That's a lot more than pennies per day. For me those per day amounts are worth the insurance, but I understand if other families feel differently.

Having known someone who's passport went missing while he was in another country, I'm not convinced that it would be any more hassle than getting a child's passport in advance. We got passport cards for the kids when we went to Alaska because we could take a train/bus/rental car over the border if we happened to end up in Canada. We have full passports for everyone for our upcoming cruise. I feel more comfortable that way and feel that it is worth it even if it is a relatively low risk of needing them. I was just pointing out that the difference between US and Canadian philosophies on child passports is probably related to the difference in price and hassle to acquire them.

I was looking at child passports since that's the subject of this post. I see that adult passports are pretty similar.

In Canada it appears to cost less than half the amount, take less than half the time, and be less than half the hassle. That probably accounts for at least half the difference.

I'm glad your cousin is doing better. Have a great cruise!

This was my daughter, although fortunately she never found quite the level of danger your husband did. When we went on a cruise when my kids were 4, I had massive anxiety any time we were anywhere near the ships railing and mostly stayed on the interior of the ship. We went to Alaska, so spent a couple days in Seattle before the cruise. We were at the top of the space needle for approximately 30 seconds because there is a toddler sized opening between the bottom railing and the railing that comes down and she was definitely capable of scaling that railing in the time it would take me to handle whatever her brother distracted me with. That was with a leash on her because she was crafty and quick.

I'm curious how early you got there for those first bus seats. We're actually flying into Hobby so our experience may be very different than yours, but my parents' travel agent suggested we get back to the airport around 10am and I'm worried that will be late enough that we will be waiting a long time.

My parents are paying for our cruise in connecting cabins, so I have no idea what promotions were in effect when they booked it and didn't compare myself, but from hanging out on the Royal Caribbean boards I've learned that the rooms that sleep 5 are enough more expensive that it can be cheaper to book two balconies even with kids sail free. So I would price both.

You can also look at connecting cabins with an interior door that opens between them. That also gives you a second bathroom, but is more like one big room if your kids are young enough that you don't want them in their own separate room.

In that case I would just have her create her own account.

The app has an age 13 minimum. I ended up getting internet to message with my kids because I couldn't figure out how it would work without them having their own account.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks, their uniform shorts apparently no longer show up when you just select "shorts" (at least not when I did this it morning or just now). I had to look specifically under school uniforms and then shorts to find them.

Thanks. This was the kind of feedback that is helpful. For those that suggested Target, Walmart, and Kohl's, I know the definition of "decent length" varies. Mine is significantly longer than yours (except that I didn't consider bike shorts because we don't think of those as outwear). Kohl's jumping beans brand are a decent length but she just outgrew their largest size, leaving us with Land's End uniform shorts still available in her size. It looks like that's the route we'll need to go to fit the harness though.

I was hoping there are other parents with girls like mine that prefer skirts who can confirm whether shorts under skirts or skorts is sufficient or let me know if that was an issue when their daughter tried it. I wasn't suggesting a problem with the rule as a whole, just trying to decide if I should pay $40 plus shipping for a pair of shorts my daughter might wear a few times on a zipline.

Given that it's June, that would be this part:

The information on the zipline says no skirts or dresses, but my daughter just outgrew all her shorts and all of the decent length girls shorts sell out before May. Does anyone know if they will let her ride the zipline in a skort? (If you aren't familiar, skorts are skirts that have shorts built in underneath.)

I'm going to second renting a scooter if she is able to cruise. A manual wheelchair is exhausting, especially when you are new at it. Having a scooter feels much more freeing. Special Needs at Sea (one of the companies that partners with Royal to deliver medical equipment) advertises a folding scooter. I haven't rented from them, but a folding scooter would be easier to store in the room without taking up too much space.

Please don't use sprays like this in a public place. I've had someone do this and trigger my son's asthma so fun day at the pool ended up with upset kids going home before we got to swim and the afternoon spent getting his asthma under control.

And doing all of that is fine, including the land line and checks so there's no reason to act as if there is something wrong with how those people live and cruise either. There's nothing wrong with saying "Internet onboard wasn't an option when my kids were teens and here's how we did it." It's really annoying when that turns into: I also grew up without technology, but I also like the ability to have contact with my kids. I don't get why these discussions about keeping contact with kids or other family members have to turn into arguments and people trying to shame each other.

Thanks, I was hoping for indoors but the windjammer isn't the relaxing vibe I was going for so I'll check out the shady spots you mentioned.

Since you are very familiar with Allure, I have a question. My family will be on Allure this summer. My only other cruise was on the NCL Pearl, a much smaller ship. I stumbled on an area that had comfortable chairs and big windows. (I think it may have been a bar at night but they also seemed to do bingo and stuff like that there.) On the Pearl we had a mostly obstructed ocean view room because my kids were tiny escape artists and excellent climbers so I spent most of my free time in that area so I had a view of the ocean. This time we do have a balcony, but I burn very easily so I'm worried spending a lot of time there will turn me into a lobster. I'm wondering if there is a good spot on Allure where I can watch the ocean without getting attacked by the sun.

Thanks. I just checked again and they were ready.