Suggestions for cruising with 20mo old?

[suds74]

For our 2nd anniversary, I am taking my wife and my son (who will be 20 months at the time of sailing) on a 7-day Caribbean cruise on Voyager of the Seas. We will be cruising with two friends as well and we are in a D1 Balcony cabin with early seating.

 

This will be our fifth cruise but our first with little Andrew. Anyone want to share their suggestions for a successful cruise with a 20mo old?

 

He is a great eater so I am not worried about food, though the sitting/waiting in the dining room may be an issue :)

 

Any thoughts on port of call activities - we stop in Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel.

 

Thanks, Bill

[boulders]

As soon as you board, go to the Guest Services desk and book some in cabin babysitting. Have some adult time with your wife and friends.

[cb at sea]

Truly, what you do on the ship won't be that much different than what you do at home....a 2 year old really doesn't care where they are, as long as the parents are happy and relaxed!

Take him to the show...kids LOVE the lights, music and action!

In the dining room, there's so much going on, chances are he'll be quite entertained! Bring some "doo-dads" to keep him occupied, if he gets restless. Plan on early seating.

He'll be fine, you'll be fine!

[ilmoore]

Hi,

We just returned yesterday from the Norwegian Dawn with our 20 month old son. We had a great time except the weather was a little cool. Like your little one ours it an eater and we had no trouble with food. We ate at the buffet and main dining rooms. The waiters catered to him and kept him quite entertained. I did bring along some books and trucks to keep him busy if needed.

 

One tip I picked up on this board was to bring a small bottle of dish soap to wash out sippy cups, snack cups and silverware. This was a blessing.

 

Our stops included Cayman and Cozumel and our son absolutely loved the beach. He could run around and play in the sand. It was great. I packed snacks to hold him over until we were back on the ship and that worked out well.

 

Feel free to ask any questions. Have a great trip!

[QTMichele]

Bring a backpack carrier for your son. This was a lifesaver for us because we were able to go places a stroller either can't go or is too frustating to go to. My son would fall asleep in his when he was tired. I wouldn't travel without one - it really was great to have it on the Freedom!

 

The Voyager doesn't have a baby pool so, unless Andrew is potty trained, he will not be allowed in the pools. You may want to consider getting a small inflatable pool (many on these boards suggest the Target duck). At the very least, get a toy bucket so he can splash around with that (note - you will be running back and forth to keep water in the bucket!).

 

Have a wonderful cruise with your family!!!

[suds74]

Thanks to all for all the wonderful suggestions so far! Keep 'em coming :)

 

I am taking notes on our TO DO list of all the extras to bring. Andrew definitely has a few favorite toys and books that we will be bringing as well as his favorite bowls, cups and silverware. He is using a fork and spoon now and should be very good at it by cruise time. His favorite part of dinner will be the bread - he is a bread freak!

 

We do have early dining so hopefully that will work well with his evening schedule. Eat, party, go to a show, look cute, go to bed, repeat!

[crusinmama06]

A couple other things about Royal Caribbean that you may/may not be aware of. There is a parent/child session called Royal Tots/Infants broken up between parents of 6-18 months and parents of 18 -36 months. I'll post a sample schedule of that below. Some ships have a nice turn out for these programs -- others, not so much. It just depends on ship/time of year.

 

Also, I'll post the kids menu. Of course you can order whatever you want off of the adult menu for him, but there might be some things that you'll want off the kids menu too.

 

I can't stress enough that the crew on the Royal Caribbean ships in the dining rooms and the cabin attendants have been so friendly toward our children. More than on any other cruise line. We have never had any problems.

 

As far as the ports. I won't lie to you. That age is a challenging one for THOSE ports. Many of the excursions are either long excursions which require a lot of travel time or really adventurous excursions that require a high minimum age to paticipate.

 

I can tell you what we did in Cozumel and Costa Maya (never did stop in Roatan). And what we didn't like on our stops in Cozumel. We LOVED Passion Island. It's an island excursion for cruise ship guests only. We talk about it a lot around here so you should be able to find some recent posts about it. Some others around here like Paradise Beach (never been personally) so you might want to check that out. I did not like Royal Caribbeans "Playa Mia Deluxe Beach Break" - wouldn't do it again. It was ok - just not my idea of paradise. ;)

 

In Costa Maya, we stayed in the cruise port area and just let the kids play in the pool there. They have it all renovated for cruise ship guests. There is spraying water, the baby could play there. But no sand - it's all rocky. If I had to do it all over again and my kids were older, I would get out of the port area and do a ruin tour. But those tours made for a pretty long day. I didn't think my kids could handle it.

 

 

[A&Jfamily]

In Roatan, try Gumbalimba park or else Tabayana beach.

[suds74]

In Roatan, try Gumbalimba park or else Tabayana beach.

 

Thanks A&J Family - by any chance did ever of these offer snorkeling or jet skis?