Help planning cruise with toddler

riseagainstthemachine wrote: ↑So first off, yes I am doing my own research but I wanted to get some advice and tips for anyone who has done a cruise before.

We want to go on a 4-5 day cruise out of Florida on royal Caribbean so we can have a day at their cococay island. We have never been on a cruise and it would be me, my wife and 2 year old (turning 3 in april).

I had the idea of driving down to buffalo to save money on flights as the flights seem much cheaper. Her is my plan so far, feel free to suggest anything.

1. Drive from Toronto down to Buffalo and book a stay and fly hotel for one night. we are both fully vaccinated so entering shouldn't be a issue.
2. fly down to orlando or miami (which port is better or any other suggestions?) and stay a night near the airport (is there a better option)
3. get a shuttle the next day to the ship. we dont want to take a car seat so it would need to be a shuttle bus.
4. get on the ship and enjoy our cruise.
5. here is where I need the most help, what do we do when the cruise is over. I assume we would need a hotel again and take the shuttle from the cruise to the hotel, then fly out the next day.

When we land in buffalo I can book a walgreens for the rapid test and stay the night and drive home the next day.

Another added question, I get seasick... I always have. I use dramamine but the thought of taking that for days on end isnt a good idea. I hear of a patch I can get a prescription for, does anyone have any comments on that? I read that booking a room near the middle of the boat on a lower floor is a good idea, comments?

Other then that I need to pick the actual cruise. W really wanted to go by the end of march or early to mid april because I have vacation time to use.

What other hidden costs am I looking at? I see when its time to book it just includes some fees and the room but I see no mention of drink packages (we dont drink alcohol) or any upgrades, gratuities. How does all of that work?

Also, for the actual booking, is it best to do it myself through their website or use costco or a travel agent?

I know this is a long post and someone will come and say "why dont you do some research before asking"... I just want to get more advice then anything from people that live the cruise life... because we have never done it. anyway, thanks for the help I really appreciate it.

dolfan1980 wrote: ↑ A few thoughts:

I would fly from Toronto, the Buffalo plan won’t save you that much for two people and if an added hotel and parking costs are involved it likely isn’t worth it. Orlando to Port Canaveral is a bit of a hike. Getting there the day before whichever option you pick makes a lot of sense.

In terms of cruises and cruise lines, IMO there's not a huge difference between Royal, NCL and Carnival. As a non-drinker, I think your idea of going with Royal, particularly for a short cruise makes a lot of sense.

For seasickness, perhaps Miami gives you slightly better odds of calm seas over Orlando, but no real difference.

I haven’t cruised with toddlers in 10 years so I’m not sure which kids program is better, but beware that at least some are not running right now. The cruise critic forums are a great resource for cruise advice and information.

Take the plunge, cruising is great!

Edited to add: if I have extra time, I like it before the cruise. When the cruise is done, I want a 1-2pm flight home same day. Going to another hotel and half unpacking again is really not worth it in my opinion.

riseagainstthemachine wrote: ↑ this is great advice thanks for that. I saw that even my toddler needs a pcr test now to board the boat. I need to look further into the testing requirements for her.

getring a flight home the same day is a good idea and would save another night of hotel. bit how would the testing work to get on the flight, where can I get that done when i get off the ship? anyone know the easiest way to get the testing done?

riseagainstthemachine wrote: ↑
Another added question, I get seasick... I always have. I use dramamine but the thought of taking that for days on end isnt a good idea. I hear of a patch I can get a prescription for, does anyone have any comments on that?

riseagainstthemachine wrote: ↑
2. fly down to orlando or miami (which port is better or any other suggestions?) and stay a night near the airport (is there a better option)

riseagainstthemachine wrote: ↑3. get a shuttle the next day to the ship. we dont want to take a car seat so it would need to be a shuttle bus.

riseagainstthemachine wrote: ↑5. here is where I need the most help, what do we do when the cruise is over. I assume we would need a hotel again and take the shuttle from the cruise to the hotel, then fly out the next day.

riseagainstthemachine wrote: ↑What other hidden costs am I looking at? I see when its time to book it just includes some fees and the room but I see no mention of drink packages (we dont drink alcohol) or any upgrades, gratuities. How does all of that work?

Also, for the actual booking, is it best to do it myself through their website or use costco or a travel agent?

i6s1 wrote: ↑ I've done 7 Carnival cruises out of Florida/Galveston, one RC, plus 12 on the West Coast with Princess/Celebrity.



Orlando to Port Canaveral is an hour. Fort Lauderdale Airport is super close to the cruise terminal, but getting into the port can be a nightmare. Miami airport is about 20 minutes away and they've just redesigned it. Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports are close enough that you can fly into one airport and cruise out of the other's terminal.

I've also flown into PBI airport because it was significantly cheaper at the time.

Don't base your decision on this alone, consider the ships and routes, and if the best ship/route for you is out of Port Canaveral, then go for it. But all else being equal, I would probably stick with one of the Southern ports.

As you can imagine, there's hotels everywhere. There's no way to make a good recommendation since hotels are always a price/value tradeoff. What I paid for one hotel might be totally different than what the price would be on the dates you're going.

I always fly in at least one day early, it's too risky to fly same day from Canada.



Consider bringing one, especially if you have a convertible booster. It will allow you to rent a car and use Uber. I bring them on most trips I go on. Alternatively, you can rent a seat. Miami has a train right to the rental facility, and Alamo/Enterprise/National have a shuttle bus to/from the port. (Or at least they did pre-covid.) I usually fly in a day or two early, rent a car, drive around with it, get wine/last minute stuff, then return it to the airport, and take the National shuttle to the port. Sometimes reverse on the way home if I'm staying a day or two.



You'll get off the ship fairly early, around 10am at the latest. There's not much need to stay at another hotel as long as you can get covid testing done. I like to stay and relax a day or two, but I've also gone home the same day. Depends on how much vacation time I have, flight times/costs, etc.

But bear in mind that rumors have the government dropping the test requirement on March 30.

Carnival Kids club is currently vaccinated kids only. I'm personally holding off cruising until my 3yo can get into kids club, either by getting vaccinated or Carnival allowing it. (Looking at Horizon in Nov.)




There's gratuities. They'll automatically bill you the recommended amount and distribute it. This is what I do.

If you're happy with water/juice/coffee/tea, then there's no need for a drink package. They have soda packages and alcohol packages. I used to buy the soda packages but it's gotten too expensive and it's usually garbage. The fountain soda from the bar is usually terrible. The bartenders don't care about people with soda cards. They care about people who are tipping on each drink, and I'm not going to pay $1US as a tip for each pop when I can bring cans on myself. In some bars they have cans, but they don't refrigerate them. The cans sit in the hot sun all day, they open them, dump them upside down over ice. They're so warm the melt the ice instantly, so you get cool, watered down pop.

The exception is RC's ships with a freestyle soda machine, which obv allows for self serve. But it's a pain to go all the way down to where it is.

Carnival lets us bring on 12 cans per person, so I just do that an put them in the in room fridge.

You can usually bring a bottle of wine each.

There's onboard fees for some activities, and the specialty restaurants. I don't eat at the specialty restaurants, since the main dining room is so good, and also...kids.

Most things are included. It's pretty easy to cruise with no extra cost beyond gratuities.



I've started using Costco because of the kickback. Don't see any point to a regular travel agent.