Celebrity with a Toddler

[LisaT91403]

Has anyone cruised Celebrity with a toddler?

 

We have been "loyal to Royal" for a really long time, and just did Oasis with our 3 year old. For our next cruise, Mom and Dad were thinking we'd like a "notch up" in terms of food and service...something a little less hectic and a bit more relaxing than RCCL. However, there were a ton of great things for our 3 year old to do on Oasis (carousel, ice skating & aqua shows, great water park style pool, and the kid's club)...and we are concerned he will be bored on X.

 

Anyone have some insight about this?

[junglejane]

We have been on Celebrity with our kids three times. The Fun Factory (kid's program) is available for toilet trained kids who are ages 3-11. Like with most kids programs, the ages are broken down so usually ages 3-5 are together. Celebrity does a great job at the usual kid's program activities: games, sports, crafts, theme parties, talent shows, meet the Captain, etc. BUT -- there are no carousels, water slides, ice skating rinks, rock climbing walls, etc. So if you choose Celebrity, be prepared for a different cruising experience. Celebrity has lots of great live music and lectures, but it's definitely more sedate than you may be used to. Personally, we love it, especially for a port intensive cruise where we want our time onboard to be refreshing and relaxing. The lawn club area is very pretty and the Hot Glass Show was surprisingly fun and entertaining (both are on the Solstice Class ships). But if the ship itself is your main destination, then maybe it's not the best choice with small kids.

[LisaT91403]

Thanks so much for the info. The ship was our destination in regards to Oasis, that's for sure. We were traveling with a group of 21 people ranging in age from 3 to 94. It had something for everyone.

 

But next time, I'd like something more relaxing. The days we are in port, we'd go to the beach. It's the sea days I'm worried about...just not sure if our little guy will want to go to the kid's club during the day or not.

 

Is there a kid's pool on the Solstice class ships? Or is it just one main pool for everyone?

 

Thanks again.

[junglejane]

There are two pools in the main pool area on Resort Deck, one of which is called the Family Pool and one of which is called the Sports Pool. (There's also the adults only Solarium Pool.) Kids were welcome in both the Family Pool and the Sports Pool, but the Family Pool was a bit shallower. Sometimes they did classes in the Family Pool (e.g., water aerobics) so it was briefly unavailable.

 

Take a look at the deck plan: http://www.celebritycruises.com/plancruise/ships/ship.do?shipCode=SL&cS=SIDENAV

 

There's something called the Wet Zone which is sort of a fountain area, but it seemed more decorative rather than a kid-friendly play area. At least on our Equinox cruise, it mostly seemed to be on at night.

 

The Solstice class ships are really beautiful ships, by the way. We're big fans of Princess, too, but the Equinox was gorgeous.

[cb at sea]

I can't imagine a 3 year old would be any more "bored" on a cruise of any kind, than they may be at home! It doesn't generally take much to entertain a 3 year old!

[LisaT91403]

Thanks, JungleJane.

 

And "bored" was probably not the right word...he won't be bored. There just might not be as much to do on Celebrity vs. a ship like Oasis...but Mom & Dad would sure have a much better time :-)

[alj1208]

We were on Celebrity Eclipse last March with our 4-year-old. It's a very classy ship with fine food and an upscale vibe. You and your DH will love it.

 

Our DS liked the Fun Factory and was fine going there for a few hours a day. However, he wasn't the kid who wanted to stay there for long periods of time and begged to go back (as some posters have described).

 

For that reason, the sea days were a little challenging in terms of finding ways to entertain him. The pool and fountains were great, but on the second (last) sea day, it was too rough to use the pool and the fountains. Aside from the kids club, there wasn't much else on the ship for children. Now, I wasn't expecting the ship to have any extras for children, so I was prepared to entertain my son in our cabin when necessary and brought some simple crafts and toys. The portable DVD player also really helped.

 

Keep in mind that your child won't be able to use the kids' club or the pool if he isn't toilet trained.

 

I will also say that DH and I felt like we were missing out on some of the cool bars and nightlife. In some ways, it was a bummer being on such an amazing (and even romantic) ship but not be able to take advantage of all the grown-up fun it offered. If you have the option of a grandparent to care for your child while you go on the cruise with your husband (we didn't), then that would be the optimal time to try Celebrity.

 

Still, I would say that X is family-friendly, as long as you are okay with a more adult-centered experience. In the end, we all had a great time, including our child.

[LisaT91403]

Thanks for the feedback. DS is potty trained, so that's not a problem. But I also think he wouldn't want to go to the kid's club more than an hour or two here and there. I am worried about what to do with him the rest of the time on sea days -- never had that problem when we were just on Oasis, but I can see how it would be on a different ship.

 

I will also say that DH and I felt like we were missing out on some of the cool bars and nightlife. In some ways, it was a bummer being on such an amazing (and even romantic) ship but not be able to take advantage of all the grown-up fun it offered.

 

Were you able to use the in-cabin babysitting in order to see some of the nightlife?

[alj1208]

We did not use in-cabin babysitting. Not judging at all, but we weren't comfortable trying that. However, I have read many good reviews of that service on these boards. As a mom, I completely respect that each family is different. If you think in-cabin sitting is an option for your family, but all means do it, because that would allow you to enjoy some nightlife.

 

The kids club also has a late-night slumber party. Our son doesn't do well past 9pm, so that wasn't an option for us either.

 

Bottom line........ we had a great time and would go with X again. We would be tempted to try Royal for the family activities, but we might have a hard time adjusting after the elegant experience on X.

[GoldenRose]

We did two weeks on the Eclipse last year when our son was 5, so definitely older than a toddler, but he absolutely adored it. He liked playing on the grass lawn, he enjoyed watching the glassblowing demonstrations, he loving swimming in the pool, and he really enjoyed the kid's club for short periods of time. He liked the fountain area, but it didn't seem to be running very often, which disappointed him a little. He's a little shy, and he enjoyed the activities, but he was more interested in spending time with us than with other children most of the time. Some of the night time shows really caught his attention (usually the production shows), and some of them (singers and comedians) bored him. We were traveling with my mom and step-father, and they did spend a lot of time with him. He totally fell in love with the Bistro on Five and wanted to go eat crepes there everyday. (We didn't take him there _every_ day, but we did go 5 or 6 times over the course of the cruise.) He also really loved Qsine (the quirky specialty restaurant), and was convinced to try several new foods there. We really tried to use the trip to broaden his horizons, and succeeded beyond our hopes.

 

He loved the trip so much he came home saying, "Europe is way cooler than Disney World!"

 

We've also taken him on a couple of cruises with RCCL, but he was younger and wasn't yet potty trained when we did those, so those were harder.

 

Honestly, we like both RCCL and X, and will continue to cruise both. They have a different feel, but we enjoy both a more active vacation and a more relaxing, luxurious vacation. We're trying a Disney cruise next year now that we have a second child, since we would like to use the nursery occasionally and they're making it easy for us by sailing out of Galveston. We're considering a second cruise next year, and considering both X and RCCL. I will say, we had such a good time on the Eclipse that we're leaning toward X if we do another cruise next year.