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I think you will miss the suites mainly because you congregate more easily.......maybe also the suite perks. But that second bathroom is going to be a game changer. 

Our family has always sailed in suites. DH and I in Jr Suites before we starting letting the kids tag along, and then the 2 bedroom grand every time the kids have been with us. We really love, and need, the extra space of the separate living room. DH is up without an alarm by 4:30 every morning, and he needs a place to go while the rest of us sleep until a more decent hour. DD is on the spectrum and needs a place to really move around to process the activities of the day before heading out to dinner. Being spoiled in the suite lounge has been a big perk for us too. We're budgeting to replace a car and living room furniture soon though, so we decided to try out connecting balconies for the next few cruises. We're almost diamond plus, so the drink vouchers help take care of what we are missing in the suite lounge, but we sure will miss the service and breakfast in Chops or Coastal Kitchen! 
Along for the ride: Myself, DH, DD (15), and DS (12)
Rooms: 12150 and 12152 - pretty far forward for us aft facing dwellers. 
Itinerary: 7 day Western Caribbean - Galveston, Sea Day x2, Roatan, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Sea Day, back in Galveston.
Pre cruise purchases: soda packages for the kids, 50 photo package (pared down from our usual 100), 24 bottle water package, 3 device internet.
We have MTD with reservations at 6:45 each night. I would do 150 Central Park, Jamie's, or Sabor, but we were in a star class room a year ago on Allure, and didn't eat in the MDR. Since we have only had the new menus on our Liberty cruise this past fall, we will most likely stick with the MDR this time. Who knows, maybe DH and I will have a date night and just send the kids to the WJ. I'm sure we will do Johnny Rockets once for lunch - it's kind of a tradition, and the kids have already been asking about it.
What else... I booked all our entertainment. I want to say it opened up about 45 days out. I meant to make a note, but forgot. I also was able to book Escape the Rubicon about a month ago. It's still showing on my calendar, and they haven't refunded my money yet, so hopefully it is opened back up.
We have a little bit of OBC that will find its way to the casino from the RC card - we redeemed the points on the Bank of America site about 30 days out and they posted to the cruise planner just a couple days later. 
That's all I can think of for now - let me know if you have any questions, and I will try to answer them along the way.

Day 3 was pretty slow.  Woke up at 9:27 so missed our breakfast for the first time on this trip.  Had to go to you-know-where and was NOT happy about it.  On EX, they use Chops as overflow seating for the WJ so that’s where we sat.  I just got some fruit and a bowl of grits.  Happy to get in and out quickly.  it was a zoo.
I did my usual morning routine - up to the CL for a cappuccino, then down to the computer lounge, which is right around the corner from our room on Deck 8.  Rozel always cleans our room while we are on our morning walk-about but she got a late start today since we totally dicked up her schedule by sleeping in.  I’m sure she was cursing us but still all smiles when we saw her in the hallway.  I don’t deserve such good service. 😓😓
Today is a sea day; on our way to Falmouth.  Since it’s the first (of 2) sea day, it is the traditional day for the Top Tier event.  For some completely unknown reason, EX has the TTE at 5:00 !  What a lame time to do it !  Early diners have dinner at 5:00.  We totally missed the TTE on the first leg but went today.  I’m guessing there were maybe 20 people there ?  It was embarrassing, TBH.  They usually have the TTE on the first sea day at 10:30, followed immediately by the TT (Cheers with an officer) luncheon.  That makes SO much more sense than doing it like they did it here.  Of course, no luncheon on this shorty 5 night cruise so I really just DO NOT understand doing the TTE at 5:00.
We visited both the CL and the SL during Happy Hour today - first time on this trip.  The CL was D.E.D.  The SL was much busier, which surprised me.  I thought it would be reversed.  Shows how much I know…. I took some pix but, as you all know by now, must wait for the pix to populate on my iPad.  Gigi, the Suites Concierge, is leaving tomorrow in Jamaica for vacation.  Not sure who will be taking her place.  
No casino today or tonite.  I won a little at Ultimate last night but are being lazy today and staying in.  Kinda nice, actually. We went to the ice show last night.  We always enjoy the ice show no matter which ship it is.
Sorry…nothing really interesting to report - oh wait !  I met @JustMeJoe last night !  That was very cool.  Looking forward to chatting more since we also have the next cruise together. 

Thanks for giving your thoughts on Hideaway.  I think I will keep to my plan of checking it out for an hour or so next month.  But I am going to cancel my September reservations for Peter and myself.  

Thanks for giving your thoughts on Hideaway.  I think I will keep to my plan of checking it out for an hour or so next month.  But I am going to cancel my September reservations for Peter and myself.  

I get that… although the MDR is the one place I don’t actually eat a lot. I wouldn’t want to sit with randos anyway.
Looking forward to his eating exploits & obviously your shenanigans!

27 days to go.......
Since I made my brother prime, he gets a nice number of monthlies. Usually, they match with mine but of lesser value. Most of my offers are OVs and my brothers are interiors or "1 complimentary guest." It works out the same for us moneywise, but gets us double point, so we booked 2 sperate rooms for the first two sailings as the upgrade option is just OV when you combine. I hate OV so I will often just take the interiors, in this case the first two sailings are GTY. I normally prefer an aft cabin and to pick my own, but I also like a cheap sailing. I really spend minimal time in my room, so location takes a backseat to savings. My brother was excited about his first B2B and then he decided it would be nice to bring our mother along. She of course is sharing a room with him 🤣😂. But she didn't have enough vacation time to do all three, so she will just join us for the first two. We are gifting this as her Mother's Day present.
For the first cruise, check-in opened on the 28th of March I believe. The earliest slot was 11am, which wasn't a big deal because we are flying in the day of......first flight out as usual. I never recommend this, but I have insurance and live in hub city, meaning there are usually 3-4 flights after mine that will get me there. Which brings me to a side rant: there used to be more flights. I remember when there were flights between 8pm-10pm that went to Mia, MCO and FLL. Now the last flight is often around 6:45 to 7pm, which is not ideal when flying with my mother who has church until at least 3pm and requires another couple of hours to be ready. So 5am flights are what I have to deal with, and the sucky part is my preferred airline makes those the most expensive flights. So even though I complain and say I hope to never fly them again, I am often stuck with SWA...... and their crappy boarding procedure 🤣. 
I don't know if 10/10:30 opened up, I didn't bother to check. We will be on the ship for 11 days so I can care less about getting an earlier time. Plus, there are no reservations required for Freedom class entertainment.  My brother brought his own snorkeling gear, the price for snorkeling all day at PDCC is like $50 on sale now 😱. No ecursions are planned.
I used the barcode trick as soon as I checked in and I was able to see our room assignments. For the first leg we are on deck 3 in rooms #3253 and 3251. On the second leg we are on Deck 2 in rooms #2567 and 2569. I chose my own room for the last leg with deck 9 and room #9391. I was happy that the rooms were assigned so close to each other. We have traditional dining for all three legs at 8:30.........which will probably be 8 in most cases. Since the reservations are linked, they should sit us together at a smaller table, if we are assigned to an 8-top I will request a different table. My brother doesn't want people judging him as he eats all his meals. 
I will not be pre-purchasing anything. I get 2 free days as D+ and then can use my prime discount on the remainder. I will also be using my BOGO. There will be the B2B'rs lunch so I will take advantage of that to avoid the WJ. Plus, we will do embarkation day lunch at Playmakers. 
I plan to prepack each leg in its own packing cube. I am also bringing a ton of casino-friendly snacks as I have a 2025 S2S2S or B2B2B to plan. I am following @AshleyDillo advice and bring specific clothes for the casino, so the rest don't get smoky. 

It is time for the shenanigans!!!!
It seems like I haven't been on a cruise in forever, but it's actually been like 90ish days 🤣.
These 11 days of cruising are actually 3 shorties combined. It is a 4n, then a 3N, and then another 4N. They are all casino comps in some capacity. The first two are monthlies, which are random offers the casino sends out either through mail or email. The last one was earned on Wonder. I only paid taxes, fees and gratuities for them. Which amounted to a whopping total of $595.05 for all 3, making it only $54/N. I have OBC on some and Freeplay on all. 
Itinerary: Nassau and PDCC X3, I never get off in Nassau and PDCC is a casino day. 
People: myself, brother and mother x2, myself and my brother x1
Flights: SWA and AA
Extras: Chocolate birthday cake $25.99
My brother's birthday is on April 27th and mine is May 21st. I ordered the cake for the 3n to split the difference. My 39th birthday, hence the title name 🤪, is on the second day of the last 4N cruise, and we will be in PDCC. This is the first time ever that I will be on a cruise for my birthday. Normally its work or Vegas. I mean truthfully, I don't really celebrate it, but I do acknowledge it. It is also the first time I will be sailing in May, my normal window is September through April, excluding March and Easter sailings. So, I am thankful it won't be too hot but warm enough from Chicago to not have bulky outerwear. 

Thanks for your assessment of Hideaway. I watched a YouTube video of it and the creators' opinion was that Oasis Lagoon was not as happening now that Hideaway was open and took over that vibe. I guess we'll see as we don't have any plans to go back to PDCC after this cruise so we're going to try it. 
And I'll get out my rosary beads again. Either that or you stopped wearing your red underwear? 😆

Yes.  Funnel cake.  😵‍💫😵‍💫

Funnel cake? If it was actually a ball they screwed it up, lol. That sounds more like a munchkin from Dunkin or a messed up beignet.
EDIT: @Ampurp85 beat me to it. 🤣

So things really did pick up at Hideaway after my last post. By the time we left the place was packed.  The music finally got to me….and I tagged out.
Will I go back ?  Probably not.  There is very little at Hideaway that I could not get elsewhere on the island for -0- $$.
1. Hideaway pool is heated.  I liked that…but I was still chilly when I got out of the water.
2.  Dan said the choice of alcohol was better at Hideaway.  E.g, he likes Grey Goose for his Bloody Mary and he said he couldn’t get that on the “regular” side.  I have no idea since I’ve never had a [alcohol] drink at PDCC
3.  Padded chairs and couches.  I don’t recall seeing that outside of the Beach Club.  Maybe they are somewhere that I haven’t seen.
4.  No kids
Other than these few things, the “regular “ side and Hideaway are the same (to me).
We each had a crispy chicken/mozz sticks sandwich and I had 1/2 of a fried dough ball with powdered sugar on it (can’t think of what it’s called).  Pretty tasty.

That was our conclusion, even when we could get $19.99pp. But we also don't care about kids being around (they always are since we sail during school breaks), love the standard included food, and my wife wouldn't even try the new offerings at Hideaway anyway so for us that $40 (plus tax) is better spent on a specialty meal (or pocketed).
Your $40pp plus tax pays for most of a specialty meal, even a nicer one (or a full one at BOGO). Everyone values things differently though. That was just how our decision went.

That’s exactly where I am right now !  I have to stay out of the sun and the loungers are not for me so I am in a nice comfy couch with cushions next to the bar.  I actually loathe toes in the sand so I’m happy to be missing out on that.   Agree that I’m not pleased with the loud music but my butt and back are thanking me for choosing this spot !  😂😂🤭   Dan abandoned me and found a lounger in the sun.
This place is much bigger than it looks from the ship.  The bar is huge !  So far the only disappointment (for Dan, not me) is that it doesn’t appear that there’s any real ocean access for snorkeling.  Maybe there is and we just haven’t found it yet.
We are here with Wonder and nowhere near capacity.  Maybe that will change later.  It’s a bit breezy but that will probably turn into a blessing as the day goes on.

No recommendation either way yet.  My inclination at this early stage would be a “yes” if it’s cheap.  More on a recommendation, later.

I actually find the seas rougher during the winter than hurricane season.

half of my family is in south florida and october is my favorite month to visit.  snowbird season hasn't started yet, at the very tail end of hurricane season, weather is nice and warm everyday, ocean is very comfortable.  here's a table of nassau ocean temps, which is a good comp for PDCC and you can see october is 10 degrees warmer than feb (mid 80's vs mid 70's) mid 80s is perfect, but it has to be a very hot day to enjoy or even get into 70 degree water (that or i need to p** pretty badly) 
 

I know for Aruba (which is far from coco cay) October is their peak ocean water temp. There is a thermal lag between air temp and water temp by about a month or 2. Even in New England, peak ocean temps are usually in September.

This is an excellent tip. Thank you!! I just purchased it.

WRT #3: Are you cruising alone? If there is someone else cruising with you, purchase the daybed (if price drops) under the other person's name to ensure you get it, then cancel yours. Only one person on a reservation needs to purchase a cabana or daybed.

Short answer... anything could go on sale so if you see a price you find acceptable, book it. If you see a better price, you have to cancel for a refund and re-book... no price adjustments.
The one time you have a pretty good chance of seeing a good sale (which may or may not include what you want to purchase) is Black Friday.

The wife and I will be there this weekend.  Going to check it out for a possible place to take the grandson in Dec.

One thing I found great (that was on Brillance) is that we were able to borrow toys from the nursery to bring to our cabin. We could rotate as we pleased. We brought our own toys, but my youngest was more interested in the 'new' toys.
I always pack magnets. They are a big hit as it sticks to the walls of the cabin and it's easy to bring. 
My spouse and I rotate the naps/bed time schedule so we can both enjoy the ship and activities. I will admit that I love to nap so I don,'t mind staying in the cabin for my youngest's nap. If not tired, I have my Kobo to read. They are getting older now (3&6 years old) so we may be able to enjoy the evening shows and etc. as a family this time around. My youngest was about your LO's age when we first cruised with them and everything went very well! 
 

This is what I intend to do on Monday.  We booked flights through Air2Sea in Dec. 2023 for a Sept. 2024 cruise.  Original departure time was 1:45pm, which we liked.  After 5 changes by the airline (one in Dec, three in March and now again today), we now depart at 5:14pm and arrive at 10:22pm instead of 6:53.  Of course September is still a few months away, so who knows how many more changes this airline could still come up with?!!  So aggravating.  It makes no difference what you select initially, it seems that it will always change and not in ways you will like.