tropical82

I've recently gotten passport for both of my sons and it's only taken 2 weeks to get them back without expediting them.

No its not, at least not on RC. It's $8 per hour/per child.

Garden of love - it never occurred to me that DH could go order dinner before we got there!! I'll still send them to nursery for some dinners but that is an awesome option.

Room service - completely forgot about room service!

What sort of schedule do you have at home? Pretty much you will do about the same things, just on the ship!

During the week I work and they go to daycare (grandma's or daycare depends on the day). Weekends we're sticking to the meal and nap schedule and in between we are running errands, going to the park/beach, etc. Just want to see what others are doing on the ship.

Schedule also depends on what ship you're on. I may have missed it but which of RCCL's ships are you sailing?

Navigator of the Seas

The baby will turn 1 on the cruise and the older boy turned 2 in Feb.

Can you give me a run down of what your day looked like on sea days. We're only sending the kids to Royal Babies/Tots nursery during dinner.

I'm figuring we'll wake up, get dressed, do breakfast with family (grandma and aunt are coming). After that ?? and before lunch (2-3 hours).

After lunch we'll do a short play time and then naps (usually 1-3). I can shower and change while they nap. After naps I can get them bathed and changed. After naps/baths ??? (1-2 hours)

I don't see this as a relaxing vacation for me but I'll get to spend the week with my munchkins....just gotta figure out what we can do. I figure we can set up the kiddie pool or go play in the nursery with them. Anything else?

I don't think families with children are a significant enough group but for us - for the same price of an inside stateroom on RCCL I could get a balcony room on Carnival - same travel week, same itinerary. Yet I stuck with RCCL because of the kids program.

I can actually take my infant and young toddler to a nursery to be watched whereas on Carnival there is nothing offered for such a young age group. That was a deal breaker as I wanted to be able to enjoy dinners. I'll have to pay extra for that service and it's still worth it to enjoy some quiet time and family time on a cruise with my family.

I have been in touch with reservations twice about specialty dining for May 10th sailing... still not open, told me they were shooting for 60 days out now... I've never had to wait so long to book dining

We're sailing on the same date! I'm waiting to for booking to open too.

How far out can you send a request for table location in MDR.

Your daughter is the cutest! Love her hair.

 

Great suggestions.

I love reading successful toddler sailing posts. I'll be sailing with a 2 & 1 yo and need the reassurance it's doable!

We just got back from a 7 days caribbean cruise on Regal Princess and would like to share it with you. This was not our first cruise but it was our first cruise with our boys. It was also their first time flying as well. We went on this cruise with no expectation, just go with the flow, we didn't booked any shore excursions and we realized that we probably won't be able to do much. When people ask me how was the trip, my reponse was "hard." But it was fun to see my boys seeing new things and the time I got to spend with them was priceless. I am a full time working mom, so this bonding time alone make it all worth it.

 

- The flights were just long day of travel to/from west coast, overall I think went well some crying but nothing like a whole flight of crying babies. Out of four flights only one time that we couldn't get that extra seat between us.

 

- We booked a mini suite for extra space and a tub, and we were so happy we did that...end up spending a lot ot time in the room (as we expected), the boys loved going to the balcony and looked at boats, ships, etc.

 

- Have a tub was so awesome, I can bath them together. The one night stay b4 cruise hotel has no tub and it was a nightmare as both of them hates the shower. I did bring an inflatable tub but didn't want didn't want to deal with it a 9pm after a long day of travel

 

- We choose Lido deck stateroom which was another best decision for us. We can just run down the hallway and grab a pizza or a hamburger/hot dog. And the buffet was just a walk across the pool.

 

- I requested baby food ahead of time with Princess and this part was the most disappointing. Although my boys can eat other food but they are picky eater, since they still love puree, so Gerber 2nd stage food were pefect, no worry about getting Noro, no diarrhea, no need to find something they will eventually eat. But baby food were not available as requested, feel like I had to beg the Room Service to bring them. One day she send up 2 pack and a jar of meat...OMG that's is not even enough for a day worth of food for one baby!!!

 

- We choosed traditional dinning at 5.45pm and surprisingly we made it everyday with no drama, eating together as a family (which never happen at home) was so nice. We feed the boys while we wait for our food, and I ordered either pasta or chicken tenders for them while we eat. We did let them watch the "Sound of Music" on our iPad so they were super behaved.

 

- We brought two Britax B Agile strollers, want a good shade when we walk around the port/ship. It was small enough to go everywhere but didn't fit stateroom door so we just collapsed them before enter.

 

- Twice a day we take the boys to the Pelican playroom, and they loved every moment of it. Most of the time we get the whole place to ourselves.

 

- Passengers and crews are generally nice and adored them, except those few. One time a drunk lady stumbled onto the stroller in the hallway unbeliveable. Another time, I was waiting in line to get an ice cream, an older gentlemen in front turn around and hit my stroller and give me this look and just walk away...OMG!! Belive me I didn't park it right behind his uptight a**, he was too busy stuffing those icre cream cone to see the stroller.

 

Well, we hope to enjoy many more cruises together in the future. My husband said next time we need to bring some nannies...ha ha ha.

Glad to hear it went well. We're going with an inside stateroom but my boys are accustomed to showers and do well with. I'll also bring an inflatible for pool side.

Love the idea of Lido deck to be close to food when needed. Did you order room service?

I'm so glad to hear dining in the main hall wasn't a major fail. I'll make sure to keep our tablet charged just for dinner time. I'm planning on sending them to daycare for dinner most nights but those nights I decide to take them with it will help a lot!

I expect I'll be spending lots of time in the playroom too.

How did you fare with naps?

I'll be sailing with a 1 year old and a 26 month old in May - same ports and I'm trying to figure out what to do at each port too.

I think Chakanaab park in Cozumel, Little French Key in Roatan (kids are free, I emailed them), and still not sure about Belize. Maybe just find a nearby beach. I want to wing it but with our group (husband, mom, sister, a kid in a stroller, and a kid in a baby carrier) I kind of don't want to wing it in the heat and be waiting around. I can see a disaster if we don't plan to some degree at least.

Out of curiosity what type of cabin do you have? I keep second guessing our choice of inside room.

Cozumel - I'm liking the idea of Playa Mia especially with the little water park for my 2 year old and they seem to have a shaded kids section for dining. Seems kid friendly enough. I'm not sold on paying $50 per kid though.

I did look into Dolphin Encounter, but for infants you have to call and book? Anyone done this? Price?

Roatan - Little French Key with all the animals would be fun for him too.

Not quite sure about Belize still.

I'm trying to think of things we can do at the ports of call. Preferably close to the ships but not a requirement.

Most of the time will be spent at the beach and I'm sure most are private and we have to pay to get into but there are sooooooo many! I'm interested in something with a glass bottom boat - my 2 year old would LOVE that. I think.

Maybe something with dolphins? Just not sure which activity would be best at which port and which private beach to pick.

Seems like Little French Key @ Roatan has a lot of cool things that would entertain the kids also.

Any experience/insight appreciated.

They will pull you aside and test it. I've had breastmilk and water (to mix with formula) tested by TSA. They just put test it with some type of litmus paper.

What about the shore excursions? Any insight into what you were able to do with a toddler? (I'll also have an infant so I'm sure we'll be further limited). I saw a glass bottom boat on one of the ports so I'm thinking that's easy enough to do with a kid. May just be beach time the other port days but it'd be good to hear about experiences and beach recommendations.

We're going with a toddler and an infant in May so this is great info, thanks!