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Cruising with an Infant, 1-7 to 1-15 Review on Freedom

Cjess86

By Cjess86,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Cjess86

Cjess86

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DAY 7 - FRIDAY - AT SEA

 

 

Woke up at the usual 530 and had to stay in bed till WJ opened at 7. Headed out to pool deck about 9 and read for a little bit while DD napped in her stroller. Met DH at the flowrider at about 930 for stand-up surfing which was obviously busier because it was a sea day. We have definitely learned that if you want to get the most out of the flowrider the key is to go when you are in a port. We each took 2 turns and our flowrider mates were very generous in letting us kind of take our turns after one another as they could obviously see that we were switching out with DD. After we had our fun we took DD to the baby splash zone later in the morning.

 

Kind of a lazy rest of the day today as it was very windy out on the pool deck. After our lazy pool day we got ready for our second formal night dinner. After another obligatory RCL photo we made our way to the pub for an adult beverage while DD fell asleep for a cat nap. As everyone knows the second formal night is lobster night. DH’s lobster was very good and mine was a little fishy but still good. I had brownie madness for dessert, which is always good.

 

After dinner we changed DD and drop her off at nursery for the last time. We made our way to karaoke superstar auditions at the on air bar. It was normal karaoke, a wide range of talent/entertainment. After staying there for a while we made our way to the casino. We made a small donation. We then elected to skip the headliner show for the evening which was Once Upon a Time since we had seen it on a previous cruise. It is a very good show but did not feel like seeing it again. We went back to the pub for nightcap and then picked up DD from the nursery. We said our goodbyes to the nursery staff, who were all great, and called it a night.

A couple of last notes on the nursery: If you book the nursery for a certain amount of time and end up not using it you only get charged for the amount of time you use it. This came in handy since we had reserved a couple of nights until midnight but ended up picking DD well before that as we cannot hang as well as we could before becoming parents. Finally, if you need to cancel a nursery session you previously booked you need to cancel 30 minutes beforehand or else you will get charged. I think they are pretty flexible on this policy but worth the warning.

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MikeMA

MikeMA

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That stroller looks like the summer infant delite we paid 50.00 on eBay for it brand new in box. We will be traveling on anthem in May and will use that stroller as it reclines and is a deluxe umbrella stroller

 

 

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Thanks for the tip I'll take a look on EBay. We checked Babies R Us yesterday for this stroller and were told they no longer make it [emoji20]. We were hoping to only spend like $30-$40 just in case the airlines damage it. But if we have to go to $50 no big deal.

 

 

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Cjess86

Cjess86

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Here are some leftover pics from st kitts....

In front of me is where we met Liz at the smoke n booze shop. As you can see it's nice and close to the ships and easy to find

E0CECC27-5A76-4C63-92D1-FE2CD0B17AB2_zpshql0ig53.jpg

 

The view about 45 min up the mountain. A nice one of the ships and that is Nevis in the background

B5827F56-9FDC-4298-A1A5-73B86433DC44_zpsz9vkeyda.jpg

 

Missed DD so we ran back on the ship and got her for some local cuisine......parenting done right [emoji6]

1AD1C3E3-7075-40FA-A0A1-B7F9FF603335_zpsijnfwe5u.jpg

 

 

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Cjess86

Cjess86

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DAY 8 - SATURDAY - AT SEA

 

Crazy how time on vacation flies by. On our last full day we woke up early again and were out of the room to get coffee and a Danish at the promenade by 645. Hung out on deck 5, reading and playing till MDR opened for breakfast at 8. Breakfast was great per usual and we got to the pool deck by 930 for DD's morning nap. We were able to read and relax a little before she woke up and we then headed in the baby splash zone. Unfortunately, for most of the day it was too windy/wavy and the kid's park was not running. Headed to WJ about 1145 and back to room for early to get showered and ready for the rest of the day because Harry Potter trivia was at 2! We thought that we would do well as we are big fans and are old enough to have actually waited for each book to come out to read the series, lol. We split a wonderful wild berry daiquiri as we competed, but, alas, we did not even come close to winning, as there are bigger geeks than us out there....

 

Back to room to start packing . Dropped off the bag of toys we rented from the nursery as it is a $90 charge if you forget ($25 if even one toy is missing) and headed to the pub to get a beer before dinner (again - we FINALLY figured out the nap situation!). Enjoyed a lovely last dinner with our table mates and got some pics of the girls together :) Dinner was good. I was a little disappointed with my appetizer as the scallops with the cauliflower mash usually comes with the big scallops and they were only able to provide us with the baby ones this night. DH had the lamb shank which he liked and I had the alfredo pasta which was good. DH had a frozen strawberry soufflé (not very good) for dessert and I enjoyed my key lime pie. Back to the room for football and to finish packing as it would be early morning departure.

 

DAY 9 - SUNDAY - TRAVEL

 

DH woke up early to check us in to our flight. We docked at about 5AM and were in line to walk off the ship just before 6. There already were about 40 people in front of us. Many of the 40 people were getting very irritated with RCI at this point because they did not start letting people off of the ship till about 645. We heard that some people had 740 flights! I called our transportation company and they ensured that they were sending someone for us. We did make it through customs by 705 and were waiting for our shuttle by 710. We made it to the airport by 720 and to the gate by 8 in time for a quick diaper change and to get in line for family boarding by 815 for our 850 flight!

 

I hope that this review has been entertaining and informative. Please continue to pass along any questions. I will post some more pictures and the remaining compasses later today or tomorrow. Thank you everyone who has read the review!

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Kathie13

Kathie13

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Enjoyed, even though our youngest granddaughter is 16. When our kids were that young we could only afford camping. Took the whole family on our 50th wedding anniversary cruise and it was great to experience through kids eyes ( grands were younger 9&12)!! So happy you all had a great time and thanks for taking us along!!

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
AnthemAJ

AnthemAJ

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We're taking a trip in July with our 2 year old and I found your posts informative and educational. You definitely helped with some anxiety and made me look forward to our trip even more. Thank you very much for taking the time to post such an in-depth review, it is much appreciated.

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Cel_cruise

Cel_cruise

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My SIL is sailing with triplet 2 year olds on the Brilliance in March. I know you were on freedom, but what was the hourly cost of the nursery? I can't find this info anywhere!

 

 

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Does the Brilliance have a Nursery? I thought this was only on the larger ships?

 

 

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jensilverfsu

jensilverfsu

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Hello! Thank you so much for such a detailed review. We sailed with our son over the summer (he was 22 months at the time) and had a great experience with the nursery too. We are sailing again next month on this same ship. I was curious if you had to have a shore excursion booked through the ship in order to use the nursery during the day? On our Alaskan cruise this summer, they required us to show our tickets. Also, our hours of operation were reduced with closing for lunch/dinner for about an hour each. Were you able to use the nursery and go off ship on your own? Thanks!

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