Would like to try Royal but...

[cruzinlisa]

But I have a question about camp and child care options. I would very much like to try a cruise on Royal next year, but our dd will only be two (and we ARE bringing her not leaving her at home). It does not seem like Royal has camp options for children that age, except on ships with a pay nursery. Or am I missing something. I know carnival starts camp at 2, so I may just have to do another carnival cruise next year, but I wanted to try other lines. I am not looking for round the clock care, but a chance for her to spend some time playing and get a break for a couple of hours to have a romantic dinner or even to just spend some time in the sun without chasing after a little one. Am I better to wait a few more years?

[sredish]

The Adventure Ocean, which is mostly free, does not start until the age of three and they MUST be potty trained. There are no exceptions to the rules.

 

Paid babysitting is any age, but again...it's paid. We used the in-room babysitting in the past for a quiet dinner alone and it was well worth it. The girl was fantastic and came equipped with bag full of age-appropriate toys and games. If you're only looking for a few hours, then I'd go for the paid babysitting.

[luvbrady]

They are strict on the A/O 3 and trained thing. Should you choose the in-room babysitting option you will want to arrange it as soon as possible. It is first come first serve.... Our kids were old enough and had to be dragged out kicking and screaming from A/O....even at 12:o

[bajathree]

The Adventure Ocean, which is mostly free, does not start until the age of three and they MUST be potty trained. There are no exceptions to the rules.

 

Paid babysitting is any age, but again...it's paid. We used the in-room babysitting in the past for a quiet dinner alone and it was well worth it. The girl was fantastic and came equipped with bag full of age-appropriate toys and games. If you're only looking for a few hours, then I'd go for the paid babysitting.

 

They are strict on the A/O 3 and trained thing. Should you choose the in-room babysitting option you will want to arrange it as soon as possible. It is first come first serve.... Our kids were old enough and had to be dragged out kicking and screaming from A/O....even at 12:o

 

But I have a question about camp and child care options. I would very much like to try a cruise on Royal next year, but our dd will only be two (and we ARE bringing her not leaving her at home). It does not seem like Royal has camp options for children that age, except on ships with a pay nursery. Or am I missing something. I know carnival starts camp at 2, so I may just have to do another carnival cruise next year, but I wanted to try other lines. I am not looking for round the clock care, but a chance for her to spend some time playing and get a break for a couple of hours to have a romantic dinner or even to just spend some time in the sun without chasing after a little one. Am I better to wait a few more years?

 

Yes....Oasis/Allure and ships that have been enhanced...like Liberty, Freedom, Radiance, Splendor and Rhapsody have Royal Babies and Tots....it covers kids 6-36 months old.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/category.do?pagename=onboard_cat_kids_teens_and_families&tab=3

[sredish]

Is the Royal Babies and Tots free like Adventure Ocean?

[reallyitsmema]

Is the Royal Babies and Tots free like Adventure Ocean?

Did you click the link? No, there is a charge.

At our colorful Royal Babies & TotsSM Nursery, littlest guests (ages 6-36 months) are cared for by trained professionals while enjoying specially designed programs. Daytime and evening drop-off is offered; hourly fee of $8 applies.

 

[Russ Lomas]

We sailed in March with RCCL and our 3 year old twins. They enjoyed the program and are looking forward to using it again next March.

 

We sailed with Carnival last year when our twins were only 2 years old. Yes, there program is free, but the girls hated the program and screamed and cried like crazy when we tried to drop them there. We ended up having them with us almost all of the cruise. On our Carnival cruise, the councellors refused to take the twins if they were upset or crying. They told us to try back in 1/2 an hour if the kids had stopped crying by then. (Great...stand in line another 30 minutes to see if it would work that time).

 

The experience on RCCL this year (and NCL) in the past was very different. They encouraged us to leave our children if they were crying and said they would contact us in 30 minutes if it did not stop (they always did stop 5 minutes later). Now maybe out twins were just not ready for the program at 2 years of age, but they were ok this past year when they were 3.

 

I just mention this to make sure that you are aware of what may happen if your 2 year old becomes upset when you try to drop them off at Camp Carnival. Maybe we just had a single bad experience and this is unusual, but was enough to have us switch over to RCCL and we are sticking with them now mainly due to how much the kids preferred them to Carnival.

[bajathree]

Did you click the link? No, there is a charge.

 

The fee is just for the nursery.

[reallyitsmema]

The fee is just for the nursery.

Correct, they call it the Royal Babies and Tots Nursery. There is a charge for that, Adventure Ocean is free other than late night.

[sredish]

Did you click the link? No, there is a charge.

 

Well...that was friendly.

 

The OP was asking for free kids clubs, like Carnival. So when you posted this as a solution I assumed you meant it was free.

[bajathree]

Well...that was friendly.

 

The OP was asking for free kids clubs, like Carnival. So when you posted this as a solution I assumed you meant it was free.

 

The parent/child classes for the tots are free;)...the nursery charge is $8/hr...which is not bad anyways...how long is dinner...3hrs max...so that's $24....so how many times in the week ya going to do that...even if you did it 4X you are still only talking 100 bucks...and it's an AWESOME service...much better than a group free service for a child that age...so just throw another 100 bucks into the formula and you are good to go....better alternative than Carnival kids club IMHO.

[reallyitsmema]

Well...that was friendly.

 

The OP was asking for free kids clubs, like Carnival. So when you posted this as a solution I assumed you meant it was free.

The OP never asked for a free club, you mentioned free in your first post. I did not post the link, I pointed out the link, that was posted directly before your question, that stated the nursery was $8 per hour. I am glad you found my answer "friendly", I really hate when people answer my questions too.:rolleyes:

[reallyitsmema]

The parent/child classes for the tots are free;)...the nursery charge is $8/hr...which is not bad anyways...how long is dinner...3hrs max...so that's $24....so how many times in the week ya going to do that...even if you did it 4X you are still only talking 100 bucks...and it's an AWESOME service...much better than a group free service for a child that age...so just throw another 100 bucks into the formula and you are good to go....better alternative than Carnival kids club IMHO.

The biggest issue with the nursery is the limiting of hours that you are allowed to book for the week. They will only allow you to book a small number of hours in the beginning so that all families with babies eligible will have an equal chance at using the service. They will allow you to get more hours later in the week if others are not using the service.

[GTMoose]

We sailed in March with RCCL and our 3 year old twins. They enjoyed the program and are looking forward to using it again next March.

 

We sailed with Carnival last year when our twins were only 2 years old. Yes, there program is free, but the girls hated the program and screamed and cried like crazy when we tried to drop them there. We ended up having them with us almost all of the cruise. On our Carnival cruise, the councellors refused to take the twins if they were upset or crying. They told us to try back in 1/2 an hour if the kids had stopped crying by then. (Great...stand in line another 30 minutes to see if it would work that time).

 

The experience on RCCL this year (and NCL) in the past was very different. They encouraged us to leave our children if they were crying and said they would contact us in 30 minutes if it did not stop (they always did stop 5 minutes later). Now maybe out twins were just not ready for the program at 2 years of age, but they were ok this past year when they were 3.

 

I just mention this to make sure that you are aware of what may happen if your 2 year old becomes upset when you try to drop them off at Camp Carnival. Maybe we just had a single bad experience and this is unusual, but was enough to have us switch over to RCCL and we are sticking with them now mainly due to how much the kids preferred them to Carnival.

 

 

This may not be of much help to the OP, but I just wanted to second this post. Our DD enjoyed the Adventure Ocean much more than the Carnival kids program. AO was a lot more organized and actually did things with the kids. I'll add that all of the people that worked there that we spoke to had a college degree. The Carnival program did not have as much in the way of activities, and they appeared pretty disorganized. DD was a lot more reluctant to leave at pickup time from AO versus Carnival. I would not go as far as to say Carnival is terrible, but from our experience, RCL is clearly better when it comes to their kids program, and the kids just seemed happier.

 

One cute anectdote: Our niece did the program several years ago on the Explorer. One night at dinner, they dressed all the kids up as pirates, and marched them down the Promenade to the MDR up to the Captain's table, and told him that they were taking over the ship! It was really cute.

[cruzinlisa]

Thanks for all the information. If we do a cruise next year we may have to do Carnival and save Royal for when she is three. DH and I love AIs, but I really like what the cruiselines offer so the next few vacations will probably be cruises.

[Maryscooking]

Will this be your daughter's first cruise? Or has she had a good experience with Carnival before, and that's why you want to stick with them?

 

Because honestly, at that age, I wouldn't count on her wilingly going or staying at the kid's club. My DD, when she just turned three, was used to travel and used to daycare, but really didn't want much to do with Adventure Ocean. I think all the other older kids intimidated her.

 

They didn't have the Royal Nursery option then, but I would definitely choose that for a two year old if I could, even at a cost. The care is going to be more personal (because of a lower caregiver to child ratio than in the older kids clubs), and likely a much less intimidating environment than putting a two yr old in with 3,4, and 5 yr olds.

 

Aside from that, RCL's ships with the Royal Nursery option as a whole really beat anything Carnival has to offer, IMHO.