Freedom's "new" baby/toddler programs - please help.

[QTMichele]

I just posted the following on the Royal boards, but thought I'd post it here too. :) TIA for any and all info you can give. I'm really ready to jump out of my skin with anticipation and excitement!!! :D

 

In just over a week we'll be on board the Freedom of the Seas!!! I've been patiently waiting over the past year to get to this point - I'm so excited!!! :D

 

I will be travelling with my children, including a 14 month old. I understand that RCCL has a "new" baby/infant program (stroller walks, toy lending, etc.). If you have used this program, or know first hand how it is going, then please give me more information. :) (BTW, I do know that I must be present at any programming they hold for the kids under 3. :) )

 

Thanks so much for any info you can send me way. :D

[crusinmama06]

Is there something newer (is that a word? lol) than what they had this past February? I'll post the schedule here...let me know if there is something more than this. :D

 

[Canadian Tyler]

Thanks for posting that!

Do you know if they have similar programs on every ship? My daughter would love those on our April Mariner cruise!

[QTMichele]

Is there something newer (is that a word? lol) than what they had this past February? I'll post the schedule here...let me know if there is something more than this. :D

 

Thanks for reposting this, Michele. I'm sure there are a lot of people that have no clue or appreciate the reminder. :) As for having anything newer (yes, that's a word, but doesn't it look funny?! lol), not that I'm aware of, but I was hoping to get some recent first hand feedback about the programs. My post wasn't too clear about that - sorry. :o

[crusinmama06]

Thanks for posting that!

Do you know if they have similar programs on every ship? My daughter would love those on our April Mariner cruise!

 

Yes it's fleetwide. :) It will be available on Mariner.

 

Thanks for reposting this, Michele. I'm sure there are a lot of people that have no clue or appreciate the reminder. :) As for having anything newer (yes, that's a word, but doesn't it look funny?! lol), not that I'm aware of, but I was hoping to get some recent first hand feedback about the programs. My post wasn't too clear about that - sorry. :o

 

I thought that was what you were asking. :D Grab us some schedules and please post them when you get back. Can never hurt to have some updated ones. Enjoy your cruise!

[QTMichele]

Will do, Michele. :) My DH thought I was crazy grabbing all the compasses on our Mariner cruise, but I knew how much people would appreciate them. :D Gotta love Cruise Critic. :)

[leighi123]

I took my son (almost 2.5) to the toddler program on Freedom, and it was basically an ad for fisher price/crayola. Just a pile of plastic junk toys on a mat, with a guy talking about how they would all make awsome christmas gifts (insert full name of every single toy right here, plus all the features).

 

Pretty pointless I thought. My son had far more fun watching people, swimming in the pools, going to shows, reading books from the library, playing with other kids, etc.

[QTMichele]

leighi123 - thanks for sharing your experience. I don't need any more toys, that's for sure. ;) We'll just go with the flow and do what we feel like while we're there. Like your son, mine is very interested in water and people. :) I'm looking forward to the cruise regardless of everything else. :D

[chalupa]

I was on the Dec 13 FOS with my dd (9 months). I was looking for the 'compass' that crusinmama06 had originally posted but they didn't have one. They just listed activities with the regular compass. There always was a Royal Babies activity at 9:00am-9:45am and Royal Tots one at 10:00am-10:45am. I can only comment on Royal Babies as this is what I attended.

 

Like I read in a previous post somewhere on CC, it depends on who is running the program & I attended most days with this in mind. For our week, most days were attended by Kenny, one of the AO counsellors. Each morning, the Royal Babies program involves kids playing with Fisher Price toys (seeing that FP is the sponsor of the program). Though I've read mixed reviews about the program, I wanted to socialize my daughter with other babies and let her play with toys she doesn't have at home. The first one I went to was on Day 3 (Labadee). My dd was the only one there, so she was able to play with anything she wanted. Kenny told me that he normally doesn't run the RB/RT program. It's usually run by one person all week long, but this person called in sick that week + the AO staff were short another person for that week, so the others would be rotating. The theme for that morning was "How's that Work?". There is a manual that the counsellors follow that explains the purpose of each toy and what skills can be learned (fine motor skills, shape & colour recognition, textures, etc). Some of the toys included the Rock-A-Stack, Stack & Roll Cups, a few more stack-type toys, shape sorters. Since FP gave RCI the toys for 'free', they've written in the manual where the toys can be purchased (Kenny actually read the shameless plug from the manual).

 

Day 4 was "I love animals!".

Day 5 was "Baby gymnastics" (didn't do this one as we went on an early excursion in Grand Cayman).

Day 6 was "Cooking Up Fun". A toy kitchen was setup with different toy foods (cookies, eggs, celery, corn).

Day 7 was "Come to my House". The toy kitchen was setup, along with a toy vacuum and other items. If you attended the last day, you were given a FP music CD & activity DVD along with a couple of water paintcolour sheets.

 

My dd had fun on each day & it really comes down to what you make of it.

 

On Day 2 & 7 (sea days), there is also a Crayola Beginnings program from 3:00pm-4:00pm. The age group listed is 6-36 months, though some of the items were a bit too 'advanced' for my 9 month old, but we had fun anyway. The first day, we had the option of decorating on a paper butterfly or a paper crown using paint, makers & stamps. The second day, we did fingerpainting on the Color Wonder sheets, where the fingerpaint is a clear gel, but shows up as colour on the 'special' paper.

 

As for borrowing toys for play, you could go to the AO area and sign out a bag of toys, which we did mid-cruise. The toys aren't the same as the ones in the FP program, but a mix of different stuff. Except for a pair of maracas and a toy boat, most of the toys were not age-appropriate for my girl, more suited for a 2-3yo. They'll write down your name & cabin number. You can hold on to the bag for the whole cruise, or when you're done with one bag, you can bring it back to AO & exchange it for another one. All they ask is that you return it before the end of the cruise.

 

One thing I would recommend is bringing along baby wipes so that you can wipe your dd/ds when needed & any toys that they may come in contact with. Also handy when playing with markers & paint on the Crayola sessions...

 

Hope this helps. Before our trip, I didn't find much info on these programs so I wanted to pitch in my 2 cents when I returned. Any other questions, let me know. :)

[QTMichele]

Awesome info, Chalupa!!! Exactly what I was looking for - a first-hand account to give me a better idea of what to expect (and to figure out if it would be worthwhile). Thanks so much!!! Good to know that there is a toy lending program too. I really don't want to pack everything and the kitchen sink (I feel like my packing list is almost there as it is!), so this will help tremendously. I'll bring the "baby and Clorox wipes" - for the exact reason you suggested. :)

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post.

[Canadian Tyler]

I second that! Thanks Chalupa for the thorough information. I feel much better knowing that my daughter will have something to do on days at sea to stimulate her.

[shortm]

I'm so pleased I've just read all this, we're thinking of taking our DD (who will be 16/17 months at the time) on our first cruise so knowing what to expect with regards to this is brilliant. I'm loving that there will be somewhere she can just go and "do playing" as she loves that.

 

Do you know if they are very strict on the ages for the sessions ? There is no way she's going to be up and ready to play for 9am which is the time of the morning sessions for her age group whereas the later one from 18 months would be perfect timing.

 

I know we are very, very lucky to have a baby that sleeps until 9am but it's so disappointing when everywhere seems to start activities early.

[bigpuma]

I'm so pleased I've just read all this, we're thinking of taking our DD (who will be 16/17 months at the time) on our first cruise so knowing what to expect with regards to this is brilliant. I'm loving that there will be somewhere she can just go and "do playing" as she loves that.

 

Do you know if they are very strict on the ages for the sessions ? There is no way she's going to be up and ready to play for 9am which is the time of the morning sessions for her age group whereas the later one from 18 months would be perfect timing.

 

I know we are very, very lucky to have a baby that sleeps until 9am but it's so disappointing when everywhere seems to start activities early.

 

I don't believe they will care about his age especially since he will be close to 18 months.