Celebrity for a 3.5 year old that probably won't go in the kid's club

[packyourpixiedust]

Hi there. I have a cruise booked on the Reflection for when my child will be 3.5. He should obviously be potty trained by then. We will have 4 port stops in the Caribbean to get off the ship and go to beaches, etc. But what will we do with him on board during the sea days? I doubt he will go to the kids club without us. For a little background- he has been on 5 cruises already. His first was on Celebrity- we are elite and well versed. We did take him to toddler time in the kid's club once during that cruise. He has been on RCI once where they had a toddler room for toys set up most days. And then Disney where they have a million activities for toddlers as well as pools designed for kids and a splash pad. So back to Celebrity- I cannot recall how many open house times there were at the kid's club. Were there any activities for the whole family to do- crafts, etc. My son goes to Day care now and loves it, but isn't good with change. (Like when he moves from one classroom to the next as he gets older, it stresses him out.) I doubt he would let us drop him off and get him later, and I am not leaving him to cry for a few minutes until he gets more comfortable.

 

I don't really want to cancel this cruise as it was booked a while ago and we have the perfect cabin, plus gratuities included, the drink package and like $650 of OBC. And I'm elite so we get those inclusions. But are we going to have a hard time entertaining him? He isn't an infant where it is fun to just crawl anywhere...

 

Long post- that have done Celebrity specifically- how was it? Thanks.

[cb at sea]

What do you do with him at home, for entertaining? That's what you'll do on the ship, too! As long as he's potty trained, he can use the pools with you...and your could bring books and games...

Once a child is old enough to go to the kid's clubs, I don't believe there is any "family play time"....

 

Hopefully, he will be outgrowing his separation anxiety soon....

Edited December 11, 2015 by cb at sea

[Keith1010]

I am sure you can still have a nice time with him both on and off the ship. Yes, you will have to focus on him quite a bit as you would if you went to a resort hotel.

 

Keith

[packyourpixiedust]

Thanks for the responses. We talked about this at dinner tonight actually before I read your responses and we realized we could just bring a small suitcase of little things for him to do.

 

We will be in a good sized suite so he will have lots of space to chill in the room.

[fuinseog]

We did a Celebrity cruise with our 2.5 year old, so she was too you to drop off at the kids club. Honestly, she loved just walking around the ship. There is always somewhere that is deserted, and we would just go to an empty space and let her hang out and play. She is rather introverted, so empty spaces are her jam. She loved going to Cafe al Bacio in the afternoons and getting milk and cookies, so we did that just about everyday. She also liked to dance to any live music that was playing, so we found an out of the way corner and let her (quietly) go to it.

 

She also really enjoyed the lawn. I think it was just something about being able to go barefoot in the grass, and when we went after dinner, we were usually the only ones up there, so we didn't feel bad allowing her to run around.

 

The few times we were in the dining room, they did bring her dinner right away, so it was nice to have her eating ASAP.

[Syrreal]

I wouldn't rule out the kids club before getting there. You can always sign him up and if it ends up not working out, no big deal. Even if it doesn't work out the first time, you can always try another time when it may be more/less busy depending on which your kids prefers.

As for what to do if you don't use the kids club- pretty much whatever you'd do when he was younger or what you enjoy doing. As other have mentioned, you can take him dancing at the music venues where he can cut a rug on the dance floor, enjoy snacks at Cafe al Bacio, ice cream, swim, chill out in the cabin (just bring some of his toys), etc.

 

Tip- make a checklist on your phone with all of his toys that you're bringing so that you can make sure they all make it back home too.