Cheese sandwich

I agree about asking on the Aus/NZ board. I have close family members in Sydney and we've been there in October. They do celebrate Halloween andnkods do dress up but it's not even close to the level it is on North America, it's definitely a newer phenomenon and celebrated by the "younger" generations more (40 and under) than the older currently. But it seems like every year it becomes more and more popular to celebrate it.

This has been my family and my own experience/observation over the last 5 years

It's a big, newer ship and they have kids' clubs for each of your age brackets - splash academy for the older 2 and guppies for the little one. Plus a toy room for the little one where they can play supervised by you in case the kids club is too much for them at that age.

I'd say as far as it compares to other lines, it's up there with Royal and Carnival for stuff for kids to do.

I'm not certain about colder weather because there are the pools, slides and outdoor mini golf/ropes course etc but I'd assume they have movies indoors during the sea days if it's cold?

If you're worried about flying, have you considered driving down to Florida for more options?

We went a few years ago now, in late September 2010. It was on the Caribbean Princess - to date, my favorite ship. The ship left from Brooklyn and was a lovely sailaway. The ports were Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, St John and Halifax.

We had fantastic weather on that cruise. Sunny, crisp fall days all around. Leaving Boston and heading north we encountered 20-30 ft waves that evening and night. By far the roughest waters I've encountered on a cruise. We actually braved the cool night, wind and waves to try to catch a movie under the stars - our little group were the only ones out there and we couldn't hear the sound over the wind. In fact, we ended up watching the water in the pool flow back and forth instead! Not sure why they didn't drain it but it was very memorable and something we still talk about with the group of friends we went with.

All in all, lovely ports of call, beautiful scenery, my favourite ship. It was a quieter crowd than on a southern cruise and the time of year meant it was also an older crowd. Some like that and some don't. One of our favorites for sure - and we were all in our early 30s at the time.

I don't think it's a big deal to dress them up and then change them before kids club. Can you bring their change of clothes with you and change them back to comfy clothes in a restroom on the way to kids club?

I think it would be nice to have photos with everyone a little bit dressed up.

You could always just do dressier shirts if it's boys (short sleeve collared button up) like from h&m or a dressier looking cotton dress if it's girls (something with a bit of embroidery, embellishment, or a dressier cardigan over a simple dress).

As for whether other parents do this, I couldn't say but I know I will be doing this on our next cruise when our kids will be 2,4, and 6. I want the nice photos before and at dinner and I want them to be comfortable afterward if they end up in the kid's club

For me it depends on who I am cruising with. If it's just me and my husband we always choose a balcony. We enjoy spending time on the balcony reading or just taking in the view. We are currently planning a cruise with our 3 young children and are looking at a Jr suite or suite. With 5 in a cabin, space becomes the main concern.

We were in an ocean view cabin once because we got a good deal on a cruise with a huge group of friends.

We've been in an inside cabin twice on cruises with family. Again, price factors in because these cruises occurred during Christmas and New Year's but we find when we cruise with family we spend very little time in the cabin, except to sleep.

I feel like you can adapt to the inside cabin if you won't be spending much time in the cabin. Having sailed in an ocean view and inside, I wouldn't choose an Oceanview over the inside UNLESS they were the same price. In other words, for us, if there is no balcony, we might as well be in an inside as the balcony adds so much to our cruising experience. Being able to take in the water views and just sit out there is a huge draw for us when it comes to cruise vacations.

I am also an introvert though. If you're an extrovert and your cruises consist of being poolside or hanging out at the bars and making friends and participating in all the fun activities then an inside would be great! I will do a little bit of that stuff but for me sea days on the balcony with a book is what it's all about.

Try baby wet bags! As a mom to three young kids, I find reusable wetbags indispensable.

I have an "itsy ritzy" large reusable zippered bag that was under $20 that I've been using for 5 years.

Just yesterday, I put my daughter's went swimsuit in it and threw it in the diaper backpack and forgot about it til I read this post...just checked and the wetness has not leaked through for 24hrs.

Some other brands are skip hop, bumkins and thirsties. Do a search for "baby wet bags" and you can probably find them on Amazon.

They don't come in baby designs, the one we have is a white background with a blue and green pattern that I'd use for myself. Skip hop wet bags are even trendier looking.

They come in all sizes, the large ones are about the size of a large gallon size ziploc.

 

Also, we are in an interior cabin. Is that bad? ����

 

It will be a bit challenging because you won't have a balcony to "escape" to but it will make sleeping easier! We've travelled in an inside cabin before having kids and it is a bit smaller and a lot darker but if your kids aren't too bothered by a bit of light or they're heavier sleepers it could be just fine!

Just try the blackout curtain trick I mentioned one post up.

Our evenings consisted of one of us going to get dessert then eating that on the balcony and chatting then watching a movie on the bed on the iPad using headphones and a splitter.

Thanks for the tips, cheese sandwich! What kind of stateroom did you have? Did you use a pack n play? My l/o will be 17 months, and that's my plan. I'm really hoping to embrace the "family nap" while the 4y/o is in Club Ocean. I know turn taking with DH is inevitable with nap time and the early hours of bed time. We're both super cool with scheduled down time. MDR - idk if we'll make it! �� Will try though. But if it doesn't work out, that's okay.

We had a balcony cabin. We had our son on the sofa and (after trying it out at home before the cruise) we rolled blankets/towels lengthways to create a "bump" and didn't have any issues with that.

I think the pack n play could work well too if she's comfortable sleeping in it. At the time, our son refused to fall asleep any other way except with one of us laying beside him and he'd wake up if he carried him. We don't have this issue with our younger two so would definitely use a pack n play instead.

We also brought a blackout curtain and magnetic hooks and hung that up between out bed and his so we could watch movies on the iPad and the glare wouldn't bother him.

I've only done one cruise with a kid, three years ago when my oldest was 20 months. Now, I've got 3 kids all under the age of 5 so I'm definitely going to be following along on this one :)

As for my own experience, I noticed that my kid got way more tired than usual. Even at 20 months, he wasn't much of a napper but he napped every day on the cruise. Also, he tried all the foods! All the servers were so surprised he wanted the food off of the "regular" menu and not the kid menu. So you may find your kids are way more adaptible than you may realize.

I'm also of the belief that sleep and meals should be as regular as possible for small kids. As soon as you start missing regular meals or bedtimes, it starts a chain reaction. So I'd recommend that if you want to have a late night or a long day or something like that, do it in the first couple of days of the cruise because by the end, they will be pretty exhausted from it all.

Down time in the room is also a must.

Take snacks and water along.

An umbrella stroller or light weight stroller for the little one.

Take some toys but not too many. Maybe some favorites and a couple of new dollar store type toys but not too many.

Adhere to their bedtime routine.. whether it's bath, story, song, noise machine etc. It will add a bit of familiarity.

As for making anyone mad, I think that would pretty hard to do but I'd say a pretty Golden rule of thumb is, if your kid starts acting up (like screaming and inconsolable) during a mealtime, maybe of of you take that kid for a walk to calm down or back to the room and get room service if it's a real meltdown.

It can be fun but exhausting. We now say that vacations (with our kids) is just taking care of them in a different place. We just came back from a land vacation and although it was not relaxing in the way it used to be pre-kids, it was still great to get away and we made some awesome memories :)

It sounds like you've got a good amount! Don't forget a favorite stuffy or blanket also.

Our oldest was 20 months when we took him on his first cruise 3 years ago. We had a few travel toys and those Melissa and Doug resuable stickers but we kept it very minimal and he was way more interested in people watching and playing with things he found around the cabin etc.

We did find the crayons and paper very helpful during dinner and the iPad and a couple of movies/a couple of episodes of his favorite show at the time were nice to wind down during quieter times in the cabin.

I would definitely call the cruiseline or book through a travel agent.

We are in the early planning stages for a cruise in early 2020. Our kids will be 6,4, and 2 by then so same ages as yours and while I've been able to find a way to book a Disney cruise online with 5 passengers in one cabin our plans are now leaning towards another cruiseline and I haven't found any way to book online without booking 2 cabins.

There will be more options over the phone, as time-consuming as I know it is to have to research that way!