Many questions / Need Advice

[Howie74]

We are talking about taking a cruise with my 2 yr old daughter (will be 2 months shy of 3 when we go). She is potty trained. My parents are also coming along. We are looking at ships on both Carnival and Royal Caribbean, and have sailed both before, but not with a child. So, here are some of my questions:

 

1. What do you do about a car seat on the transports? (I am pretty confident that we will have to fly with this.)

 

2. If possible, is it worth paying for a balcony instead of and interior room if you can get joined rooms?

 

3. Carnival Waterworks vs. Royal Caribbean H20 Zone: Any opinions on which on will be more fun for her?

 

4. Is there anything else in regards to ship that we should be looking for specific to her?

 

I really appreciate the input. We love cruising, and are really looking forward to her taking her first cruise.

[Essiesmom]

Carnival will accept her into their kids program, Royal will not until she is three. EM

[TheCalicoCat]

I think that both of the water things might be for bigger kids. (Not sure - not my thing so I have not looked at it that closely - I think they have some height restrictions.)

 

RCCL she has to be 3, not almost 3. Carnival she has to be 2.

[jlrn366419]

We are talking about taking a cruise with my 2 yr old daughter (will be 2 months shy of 3 when we go). She is potty trained. My parents are also coming along. We are looking at ships on both Carnival and Royal Caribbean, and have sailed both before, but not with a child. So, here are some of my questions:

 

1. What do you do about a car seat on the transports? (I am pretty confident that we will have to fly with this.) There is a lot of controversy on this issue, just offering up what I know or have read about in doing my own research. If others have more insight, I'm sure they will provide it. You can take a carseat for the plane and transfers. You can rent or buy a CARES harness for the plane as an alternative to a car seat (for the plane only). You can try to arrange ground transportation that involves a shuttle bus or bus vs. using a taxi or car service without a carseat. Shuttle busses and busses get in accidents too but they absorb the impact better than a car. You can take the car seat with you everywhere you will need ground or air transportation. Last time we cruised with a 15 month old we lugged a carseat around.

 

2. If possible, is it worth paying for a balcony instead of and interior room if you can get joined rooms? Probably worth it with a 2 year old. You will want to have somewhere to sit and relax while naps are in progress. Oasis class ships have the interior balconies that face either central park or the boardwalk neighborhoods. Cheaper than an balcony cabin generally speaking. I wouldn't do the boarwalk view balcony again due to the noise. Central Park is supposed to be quieter.

 

3. Carnival Waterworks vs. Royal Caribbean H20 Zone: Any opinions on which on will be more fun for her? I don't recall what Carnival had to offer, its been a few years. I do recall a water slide but my guess is she wouldn't be able to use it that young anyway. The kids play area on Oasis was amazing.

 

4. Is there anything else in regards to ship that we should be looking for specific to her?

 

I really appreciate the input. We love cruising, and are really looking forward to her taking her first cruise.

 

Royal does offer for fee (last time it was $8/hr not sure if it changed) childcare in the royal babies and tots nursery. It was very nice and it is a service offered on the Oasis and some or all of the Freedom class ships. Maybe someone can confirm which Freedom ships offer it.

[cb at sea]

I think a balcony is worth it's weight in gold....while your daughter is napping, or down for the night, you'll have a place "to be"...so you aren't sitting in a darkened room! Depending on the ship, there are even some cabins that have a balcony that connects to an interior cabin....so you aren't paying the "balcony price" for both cabins.

[B_Mc]

I can only help with #1 and 2!

 

Car seat - we've used the (pricey) RCI transport to avoid taking a car seat. They aren't used on the big buses so that's the way we go! We have also avoided using taxis and such in port without a car seat to save us the trouble of dragging the giant thing around!

 

Balcony - totally worth it. Not only is it wonderful to relax and read out there during nap time or early bed times, but DS has LOOOOVED when we set up a splash pool out there for him to have his own private pool deck!

[NJfoodie]

1. What do you do about a car seat on the transports? (I am pretty confident that we will have to fly with this.)

 

For the flight, you can use your carseat, or a harness diesigned for airplane seats. For ground transportation, you'll want to check what your options are in the ports where you'll be. In FL, an infant/toddler has to be in a carseat in any car or taxi, but I believe not in a bus/shuttle van. If you're departing from FL and flying into this state, keep that in mind. Laws may vary in ports but it's rare that a carseat is required. That being said, you have to determine what you are comfortable with. Most buses and shuttles will not have seatbelts that a carseat could be secured with. What we did when we sailed with DS at 14 months was we arranged to rent a car in FL w/ a carseat, and a private tour in the bahamas where we were able to arrange a carseat for him in the van. Last year, we did ports where we'd walk everywhere, and this year, we'll be using buses and ferries in bermuda.

 

2. If possible, is it worth paying for a balcony instead of and interior room if you can get joined rooms?

Definitely worth it! When you're traveling w/ a toddler, you may find yourself spending more time in the room than you would if it was just adults as the little one goes to bed earlier, and may need a nap during the day so a more comfortable room is great to have if your budget allows for it. It means less creeping around the room trying to not disturb a sleeping child or being stuck in the dark, even during midday.

 

3. Carnival Waterworks vs. Royal Caribbean H20 Zone: Any opinions on which on will be more fun for her?

 

no idea here.

 

4. Is there anything else in regards to ship that we should be looking for specific to her?

 

This varies by family. For us, having the option of using a kids program was a big deal to us when we're sailing w/o other friends or relatives like we did last year. There's no guarantee that we would use it or that DS would be willing to go, but at least we knew it was available. He wasn't potty trained yet so we didn't really consider pools. This year, we did look at whether the pools are small-child friendly as he is mostly trained. He's still too little for any other activities onboard as far as things like bowling or rock walls go. Having activities for toddlers w/ their parents would have been a great to have, again to have options for him. A couple lines do things w/ TV characters so if that's something your daughter would enjoy, it's a factor to consider. We look at how child-friendly the itinerary will be - we have been sticking to lowkey itineraries that are easily explorable on foot/public transport, have child-friendly activities, and stroller-friendly.

[LOVINCRUIZIN]

when my DD was around that age we purchased a travel car seat from one step ahead. It packed flat and is a legal seat for toddlers. We used it for a few other occassions as well.

[SadieN]

Water areas are no-go for non-potty trained kids. The exceptions are areas designated especially for them.

[sandytoes03]

Water areas are no-go for non-potty trained kids. The exceptions are areas designated especially for them.

 

OP said her daughter is potty trained.

 

I would not do Royal, your daughter won't be old enough for the kids club yet.

[PattyW]

My two year old loved H2O Zone on Freedom of the Seas. It was great for me, too because I didn't have to practically have a hand on him the entire time like in the big pools that have the big drop off. We've never been on Carnival, so I can't compare the the two. Royal Babies and and Tots looked like a ton of fun, but our child cried when we dropped him off both times - that's not a slam on the program; that's just him - so we couldn't take advantage of it.

[lrn2cruise]

My two year old loved H2O Zone on Freedom of the Seas. It was great for me, too because I didn't have to practically have a hand on him the entire time like in the big pools that have the big drop off. We've never been on Carnival, so I can't compare the the two. Royal Babies and and Tots looked like a ton of fun, but our child cried when we dropped him off both times - that's not a slam on the program; that's just him - so we couldn't take advantage of it.

 

 

I will 2nd FOS. The H2O Zone is 0 depth and a lot of fun! There is a little splash area for swim diaper babies too.

[Mom2B&Z]

1. What do you do about a car seat on the transports? (I am pretty confident that we will have to fly with this.)

***There are multiple posts on this issue, try searching "car seats" on this forum and see what comes up. My own position is that I only travel with appropriate restraints for my children, and make arrangements so that they can be used. Yes, I have quizzed many people on seatbelts over the years :) It comes down to the simple facts that the laws of physics do not change when on vacation, it is physiologically impossible to hold a child on your lap (in a car, van, bus or airplane), and I trust my car seats more than the health care systems in most places we visit. If this is important to you, it can be done. Just post your itinerary and the group here will be more than helpful in finding optionsn to enjoy your port while keeping your children safe.

 

2. If possible, is it worth paying for a balcony instead of and interior room if you can get joined rooms?

***We love having a balcony, some of our best cruise memories are waking up in the morning and all rushing out to see the ship pull into port! Plus DH and I love sitting on the balcony at night after the kids are asleep to chat, read, or whatever...we're on NCL after all lol!

 

3. Carnival Waterworks vs. Royal Caribbean H20 Zone: Any opinions on which on will be more fun for her?

***No idea, never been on either line, but lots of people here have and will give great ideas.

 

4. Is there anything else in regards to ship that we should be looking for specific to her?

***Yes...flexibility, especially for eating times. We often found we just couldn't make our daily plan work because we all fell asleep, took longer getting ready, got distracted on the way to dinner etc. Having flexibility for where and when we ate was key to an enjoyable vacation for us. I wouldn't get too caught up in the kids club option, while my boys love kids club, they don't live there and we could have easily done without it when they were 3 and 4 yrs. A place to splash around in the water is nice, especially if you have sea days in areas that will be warm.

[Gatrcruzer]

Howie,

Some other things to consider: on some RCI ships (definitely Liberty, Freedom, Oasis and Allure - maybe a couple of others now?) they have the Dreamworks characters, including free character breakfasts, parades and such. Some young kids love characters and others are frightened of them - you might want to take this into account. My daughter wound up LOVING the characters, especially the Madagascar lion. She wants to go back on a cruise to see her friend the lion :) However, it could just as easily have gone the other way, but it wouldn't be too hard to avoid the characters if you wish. I also found the entertainment to be interesting for a young child - she loved the ice skating shows.

 

One more thing to consider: does your child take a bath as opposed to a shower? Most rooms on both lines are shower only - you need to get a high category (JS or higher on RCI, probably same on Carnival) to get a tub. Some people work around this by bringing blow up tubs.

 

For what it's worth, we took my daughter on Liberty of the Seas when she had just turned 2, and found a 7 day cruise to be a little long (then again, we were by ourselves, and she was a new 2). The following year when my daughter had turned 3 we went back on Liberty and took a 5 day cruise. Doing the 5 day was very comfortable for that age - just enough time, but not too much. Because it was shorter, we found we were able to afford a JS with a tub, which made for an especially comfortable cruise.

 

I will agree with other posters - there is no guarantee your child will wish to attend the kids club. My daughter wasn't that into it with grandma there :)

 

Hope you have a great cruise!