TheCruisingKids.com

They sometimes can accommodate changes. On our Explorer of the Seas cruise a few months ago they combined the groups together (except the 3-5 kids stayed separate).

As far as getting a younger child into the older group - it's probably not going to happen. However, they did say when I went with my (almost)2 & 3 year olds on Allure last year that my 3 year old could go down to the "baby" group but I would pay for both of them which was $6/hr per kid. I chose not to do that and only paid for my almost 2 year old to go for a few hours.

We just did Explorer of the Seas from Seattle to Alaska a few months ago. It was AMAZING. Our 2&3 year old girls came along and loved every minute of it. My older one has said it was her all-time favorite cruise so far.

Explorer is a nice ship but does NOT offer Adventure Ocean of kids under 3 like many of Royal Caribbean's fleet does (as other posters have mentioned). They may, however, offer in-room babysitting for a fee depending on availability.

I will be posting our videos of our Explorer cruise within the next few weeks to our YouTube channel so keep an eye out!

Bring more than enough diapers, wipes, and any medications! My 1 year old got a slight fever on our cruise last year and I hadn't thought to pack baby medicine. Lesson learned and now Children's Tyleonol or Motrin is a must-have for us when cruising. Bring extra sunblock and extra changes of clothes. For the soiled diapers we brought doggy poop bags to tie the dirty diapers up. We also tipped our stateroom attendant well as she worked hard cleaning our stateroom, disposing of diapers, and setting up and taking down the pack and play each day.

I would explain the process to my stateroom attendant and give a good tip $$$ on day 1 and sit back and be surprised to where the elf ends up each day :)

You can try to email guest services ahead of time but there's no guarantee if you'll hear back prior to your cruise date. I'm sure a quick google search will product the email for your ship's guest services.

Just like previous poster stated... Go to guest services on day 1. Do you have a suite with concierge or a Royal genie? If so, you can coordinate with them prior to your departure.

Check out my blog and YouTube channel about cruising with kids and babies! We used our double stroller last year for our 1&3 year olds. We had a city select in a balcony room on Allure of the Seas. It was a life saver! We also brought the ergo baby carrier which came in handy.