Cruising with my 3 year old twins

[twinmom08]

I am going on a 5 night Bermuda cruise out of Bayonne, NJ on Explorer of the Seas on 4/9/2011.

 

This is my current plans - feel free to offer advice or additional suggestions!

 

1. We are in a Grand Suite. I am not comfortable with them sleeping on pullman beds and they are too old for pack and plays. I have 2 toddler air mattresses for them and we will be bringing their own sheets and their blankets...more like "home".

2. One is potty trained and the other is hit or miss. I am going to leave that one in pull ups and she will still be going to the camp with her brother. It is only for a few hours in the morning and afternoon and if it is a "changing emergency", they can page me.

3. Dinners - we will be having dinner with them 3 out of the 5 nights, main dining room early seating. The other 2 we are going to Portofino and we will feed them before in the Windjammer. We will be using in room babysitting. That will be the first thing we do once on board - reserve a sitter. We figure we will stay with them the first night all night and then use the sitter for the remaining nights.

4. In Bermuda - one day we will go to the beach (weather permitting) and one day to the museum/aquarium/zoo.

5. I am bringing our lightweight umbrella strollers that fold up flat.

6. Swimming - I think for the few minutes she will be in the pool, the not fully trained one will be fine. I can tell when she has to "go". I am not bringing swim diapers.

7. I ordered some kids' stuff from RCCL - the beach chairs and sand toys, crayola color wonder kits and the decorate a cookie kits - in case we need some in room activities while we are getting ready for dinner or whatever.

8. I am going to bring my laptop so they can watch their DVDs in the room before bed - not sure if the rooms have DVD players.

9. I am planning on keeping milk, juice and water in the room.

[reallyitsmema]

Sounds like you have it very well planned. Just a couple of things though. The GS have a sofabed not pullmen so if the kids are okay sleeping together than you wouldn't need the air mattresses.

 

Adventure Ocean will not take your child in a pull up. They have to be fully trained. If she has an accident, it is three strikes and you are out. No need for swim diapers as they aren't allowed in the pools anyway. If she isn't trained, you may want to leave swimming to the beach and not the pool.

 

Have a great cruise.

[twinmom08]

Thanks. I am pretty sure they'd kick each other all night long if they slept in the same bed! The toddler air beds are so light weight and roll up small and since we don't have to fly, it is pretty easy for us to bring them.

 

As for the pull ups - I am just afraid that if she gets nervous being around new people she doesn't know, then she will have the accidents. They just turned 3 and are going to be the youngest of that group. If her pull up is wet for an hour, it doesn't bother me. They will probably go to AO after breakfast, around 8:30 until lunch, around 11:30-12. Then I will keep them with me for their naps and maybe bring them back from 2:30 till 5 ish.

[reallyitsmema]

Just understand that they don't allow pull ups so you might end up with one child allowed in the program and the other not allowed. If she does go to AO without a pull up and has an accident then after three accidents she will not be allowed back.

[gerif]

As for the pull ups - I am just afraid that if she gets nervous being around new people she doesn't know, then she will have the accidents. They just turned 3 and are going to be the youngest of that group. If her pull up is wet for an hour, it doesn't bother me. They will probably go to AO after breakfast, around 8:30 until lunch, around 11:30-12. Then I will keep them with me for their naps and maybe bring them back from 2:30 till 5 ish.

 

I don't think you're getting it - no pull ups allowed - period. And, after three "accidents" she's out for good. Better to be aware of this now than to be disappointed later. Children are expected to be totally trained - no help will be given with dressing/undressing/wiping.

 

For the safety of others, please do not let her in the pool if she is not trained. One small accident will completely close the pool down. Enjoy the beaches in port.

 

Also, in-room babysitting is on an "as available" basis since they get volunteers from other areas of the ship to do this. If there are no volunteers, then there is no sitting. Just mentioning this as others have reported unsuccessful attempts to obtain sitters.

[jhdoublin]

Is this your first cruise with kids?

 

If it is- then you better be ready for your ideas not to work out as planned.

 

Kids tend to have their own ideas that aren't quite what we're expecting.

 

The Explorer will be a fabulous ship for them to be on- they have a parade almost everynight on the promenade deck.

 

Ditto on the babysitting ideas from others.

 

Also - your kids might not even like the kids camp- my 2 year old loved it but he didn't like sitting and doing group projects - he would rather run around and play with the toys- so that was a problem last cruise.

 

He is now 3 so we will see how it goes.....

 

Julie