Sailing with a 6 Month Old - an Anthem OTS Review

[jbr5049]

My wife and I are in our late 20's and have sailed multiple times in the past. After welcoming our son to the world 6 months ago, we decided we needed a vacation to celebrate. So we decided on the March 17th, 2018 7 night from Bayonne to Port Canaveral to Coco Cay to Nassau to Port Canaveral.

 

We had sailed Anthem in 2017 when my wife was in her 2nd trimester, an uneventful trip from Bayonne, to Bermuda to Boston. I did a review on this one, so feel free to check my profile if you want to read it.

 

We booked a D5 Superior Ocean View Balcony for about $2300 plus $300 OBC for Dad, Wife, and Baby (Did not include Gratuity). We opted for Traditional Dining @ 5:30 each night, and booked all of the main shows in advance. The wife and I also opted in for the Ultimate Beverage Package for a little more than $800 all said and done. Typically we opt fo premium dining, but because we were sailing with the 6 month old, we did not pre-book any specialty dining. We got a free specialty dinner from our Travel Agent, so we decided to book on board.

[jbr5049]

So our typical embarkation day was to rush on board, and hop from bar to bar drinking and stashing bottles of water away in a back pack for later use. Cruising with a baby completely changes everything. You are no longer cruising for your own pleasure, but more so to enjoy relaxation between feedings, dirty diapers, and play time.

 

Speaking of embarkation, we arrived to the port around 10:30am. The drive took about an hour, and ends with a glimpse of the ship and then a long line around abandoned warehouses before you are directed to ditch your gear to the porters and are funneled into a parking garage within a short distance from the terminal. Parking is 20$ a day and you should take your ticket with you as you are expected to pay via cash or credit before you get into your car to leave after you disembark.

 

They had already started boarding the ship when we got into our security line, which although was long moved quite steadily. The only excitement getting through security was the confusion as to what a Medela Pump is, if you aren't a parent feel free to google it. My wife had to explain what the heck it was and why it was not a prohibited item. They did not question the few bottles of water or bottles of milk in the backpack.

 

Our checkin was done via iPad once we got through security. The Royal reps were friendly and happy to see such a small baby. We did not have to fill out any health questionnaires, they simply asked us if we had been ill recently. They re-took our photos and were instructed to use the Suite Entrance to begin boarding.

 

From Parking to Boarding, I would estimate a total of 30 minutes which all in all is rather efficient as we were on board right around 11:00 am.

[jbr5049]

After getting onto the ship we had a few missions. Mission 1 was to secure our premium dining for our comped night. We were able to go to Wonderland and make a reservation for Jamies on the 3rd Day (Port Canaveral). On our previous cruise we did 5 nights of premium dining and knew that you could go to any premium dining venue on board to make reservations for other restaurants. There was a short wait of others in front of us, but the line moved quickly. We already had a paper printed with our stateroom, and preferred time/date.

 

We were not able to get North Star or I-fly reservations when booking online, so after we got our dining we shot over to the theater to make reservations. There was a long line of people, some of which seemed to have done no planning what so ever. A woman in front was making reservations for every show for a group of 12 people, this took a long time. When it was our turn we were met with very friendly and helpful staff more than willing to offer several different times and days to make our reservations. Without issue we were able to secure the days and times we wanted. If you get stressed that you can't make reservations online for something on Anthem don't fret. YOU will be able to make reservations onboard as long as you show up relatively early on embarkation day.

[jbr5049]

After our dining and shows were taken care of we shot up to Adventure Ocean to register our son. You fill out some short paperwork and we were allotted 10 hours for the entire cruise. Their nursery is small but clean. The staff was friendly and constantly engaging the children they were in charge of. The fee was around 7$ an hour before around 7pm, after that it increased to around 9$ an hour. If you pay for daycare domestically you will appreciate how low these rates are. We blocked 3 3 hour increments, but were told that they could be re-scheduled as long as we called an hour before our scheduled time.

 

Right outside of the babies Adventure Ocean is a moderately sized Free Play area which is not staffed and a play at will, they had a small slide, many different toys and nice soft gym mats for those that sit or crawl.

 

After all of our reservations were made it was time to relax (Finally). We shot down to 270 for assorted sandwiches and some comfortable chairs next to the bar.

[ChickonRules]

Following. This will give us insight if a cruise is still enjoyable with a baby haha.

 

 

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[pasodancer]

Following - sounds like you are already having a good vacation - glad everything is going as you hoped it would!

[Rebecca_gilby]

Following! We are taking our 18 month old in June on Oasis! Great review so far!

[jbr5049]

Embarkation continued:

 

We hung out in 270 quietly sipping some cocktails (One of us was drinking milk, can you guess which one?) until around 1:00pm when they announced our rooms were ready. We packed up the little one into his baby sling and trotted up to Deck 12 to take a look at our room.

 

 

- Side note - we decided to check the stroller with the porters. We know that we are going to pack on the unhealthy food when we cruise so not having a stroller means that you HAVE to take the stairs. We opted for a one shoulder baby sling, think one large swatch of fabric that fits through a locking ring which you can adjust for tightness. Although we had the full blown baby harness (Think Hangover with baby Carlos) it was cumbersome and took up way too much room so we left it in our room.

 

 

Our room was about a 2 minute walk aft of the aft stairwell/elevators on the starboard side. The stateroom was clean and thankfully had the setup where the bed is closest to the door, this meant that we could setup our pack and play to the right of the bed, blocking the couch closest to the balcony door. If we stumbled out of bed late night to use the bathroom, no chance of tripping over his pack and play. Speaking of which, we brought our own. My wife suggested we trust that the one we would be provided by royal would be clean, but my germaphobic nature kicked in and because we were driving we opted to bring our own. If any of you have used the cribs from Royal, please chime in I'd be interested in hearing how clean you felt they were.

 

 

All of our luggage was outside our room when we showed up, so we took the opportunity to let the little one nap while his parents put away the vast amounts of clothing and to setup a baby changing area onto of one of the dressers. We would have used the couch for said purpose, but the pack and play would impede this. Side note, bring some sort of foldable organizer to keep your wipes/diapers/butt cream to make sure they are easily accessible when changing a diaper at 3 am on a rocking ship. After we unpacked, I wandered away to get a pre-muster round of drinks and ran into our room steward. Recently we have given a portion of our room steward's tip upfront, in this case $20 to "Thank you in advance". We do not ask anything special or extra of the stewards (We pass on the ice buckets and the robes for some reason) but hope for a clean room and plentiful towels. He was very gracious and we talked about his family in Jamaica for a few minutes before he wished me well and I was off to the bar.

[jbr5049]

So the Wife and I were moderately relaxed when we were interrupted by the requirement to assemble. We slowly gathered our thoughts and baby and headed to our muster station outside of Jamies. Once you are scanned in they attempt to wrangle everyone together, but we wandered over towards the side of vintages for some fresher air and some space to not feel so trapped. They played their new cruise safety video which is interesting to say the least. After mustering we shot against the current of people to 270 to snag some chairs and enjoy the sail away inside.

 

Being our first cruise with a baby, we had never previously paid attention to cruise ship public bathrooms for baby changing stations, now oddly enough, we pay attention to that sort of thing. Although royal has SOME family bathrooms, most male or female bathrooms do not have a facility to change a diaper. We wandered aimlessly throughout the cruise trying to figure out which bathrooms were baby friendly and which were not. After exhaustion several times on the cruise we found a quiet area and changed the baby in a public venue. I know, feel free to flame, but we used a changing pad to cover the floor and the baby. Dirty diapers were immediately disposed of in the restroom and everyone was sanitized. I was really shocked at the lack of changing stations as it was a frustration throughout the cruise to change the little one.

 

So after some baby naps, diapers, and a few drinks it was time to head to the room for everyone to take a nap before getting ready for our traditional dining. We slugged up the stairs and everyone took a short nap before dinner.

 

So from here on out I will chunk the review into topics and elaborate solely on that topic instead of a play by play, feel free to ask questions as I post more!

[parrotfeathers]

Very nice review! And your use of paragraphs is wonderful.

[Ashland]

We've actually used the RCI provided pack-n-play a couple of times for little toddler grandchildren on our family cruises. We found them to be in great condition and after a quick wipe down with our sanitized wipes we felt good with using them. We all must fly to cruise so to bring one with us isn't an option we felt we wanted to make. However we do bring our own fitted size sheets for the p-n-p's.

[jbr5049]

DINING:

 

So we are now going to lump some similar themes together:

 

Wind Jammer: We did breakfast here all but one day. Most mornings around 7:30-8:00am we hopped up 2 decks to wash our hands and stuff our faces. At this time it was always quiet and filled with many helpful staff more than willing to say hello and ask how they can help. Our first morning I wore the baby sling and sat down at a quiet table near the aft of the ship while my wife filled her plate. An employee walked up and asked if he could bring a high chair, I told him no thank you, he then asked what I would be eating this morning because he wanted to bring me a full plate so I did not have to walk with the baby. I was astonished of the hospitality and willingness to go the distance, I politely declined, but was still astonished.

 

The WJ breakfast was standard fare of eggs, pastries etc... All of the food was hot and plentiful, any soft boiled of fried eggs oozed in the oh so pleasant way you expect them to which was a pleasant surprise. The real secret on Quantum Ships is the Gluten Free section in the aft of the Windjammer. They have a gluten free kitchen with various offerings and an oh so lonely person that does MTO gluten free crapes and MTO Omelets. I am not G-Free, but I hate lines, so I was sure to venture back there for a fabulous no wait Omelet each morning.

 

There is also a nice Indian/Asian section if you are feeling some Miso Soup or some Fried Fish to start your day, Smoked Salmon and Capers are on the Port Side where you see all of the breads for those interested.

 

Lunch in the WJ was tasty, Burgers, Fries, Pasta, again all of the standard fare. The food was plentiful and tasty, my only complaint was that the Chicken burgers were on the dry side, but who eats those anyways.

 

We did not do Dinner in the WJ, but certainly had considered it because of the plentiful offerings, tasty items, and amazing service.

 

There are 2 bars in the WJ one is starboard and one is centrally located when you walk in (it is camouflaged as a coffee bar, but they do serve alcohol. If you paid for the ultimate package, why would you not drink with each meal in the day?... Tip: if you have the package and like mimosas, ask for the FRESH SQUEEZED Orange Juice, otherwise you get the OJ mix from their soda gun. They will happily put in the good stuff if you ask. (Same thing happens if you order a drink from the pool bars, specify your specific alcohol or you will most likely get "Well"). The coffee bar made wonderful espresso cocktails, I highly recommend the Royal Delight which is a double shot over ice with a few different boozes mixed in.

[jbr5049]

We've actually used the RCI provided pack-n-play a couple of times for little toddler grandchildren on our family cruises. We found them to be in great condition and after a quick wipe down with our sanitized wipes we felt good with using them. We all must fly to cruise so to bring one with us isn't an option we felt we wanted to make. However we do bring our own fitted size sheets for the p-n-p's.

 

Ashland thanks for the note, we are doing Brilliance out of Tampa in October, so we have to fly and I hate lugging around the Pack and Play, good to know you felt comfortable using it, you will save me some $$$ in checked bag fees.

[Ashland]

Ashland thanks for the note, we are doing Brilliance out of Tampa in October, so we have to fly and I hate lugging around the Pack and Play, good to know you felt comfortable using it, you will save me some $$$ in checked bag fees.

You're very welcome...I would suggest you reserve one and have it noted on your booking...some ships have a limited number of them. When you get into your cabin if it's not there already remind your cabin steward.

[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

I am enjoying your review. We just got off the Allure with our 2.5 year old and 6 month old. I have written a review but I hesitate posting it because it is rather wordy. Maybe your review will give me that confidence boost needed. We had a great cruise, but it was way different with the kids in tow.

[paper1122]

I am enjoying your review. We just got off the Allure with our 2.5 year old and 6 month old. I have written a review but I hesitate posting it because it is rather wordy. Maybe your review will give me that confidence boost needed. We had a great cruise, but it was way different with the kids in tow.

Please post it. DW and I are cruising without our 2 and 4 year old in a few weeks on Oasis but I imagine we will cruise with them in a few years.

[JH31115]

Thanks for the review! We sail on anthem this summer with our now 3 year old twins. Debating whether we get pack n plays for them or let them sleep in a big kid bed.

We cruised once before with kids when our twins were 16months on Allure. Pack n plays were fine. They don’t have fitted sheets but we my kids didn’t mind. Only issue we had was one of the two pack and plays they gave us was broken! Glad we checked them out right away because that would have been bad if we discovered after dinner. We notified our cabin steward and he immediately got us a new one.

Another tip a fellow reviewer gave was to bring magnets and ask for an extra bed sheet to create separation.

 

 

 

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[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

You asked for it...it's up and it's LONG lol

 

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[Laurin612]

I am enjoying reading your review. It brings back memories! My kids are now 16 and almost 20, but my husband and I started traveling with them when our daughter was 6 months old-- and we haven't taken a vacation without them since! Traveling with babies and small children it's all about planning ahead and anticipating what you (er, the baby) might need. If baby ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! ;p

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

[KellyABelly]

You asked for it...it's up and it's LONG lol

 

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I used to be able to click on a member and then see all their posts but it's not working with the new app update. Is there another way to do it?

 

 

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[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

Does this work?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2619445

[Mom.to.2]

duplicate

Edited April 3, 2018 by Mom.to.2
duplicate

[Mom.to.2]

Does this work?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2619445

 

You seem very calm about almost getting left in Nassau. My heart is racing after reading your review!

[Ashland]

Thanks for the review! We sail on anthem this summer with our now 3 year old twins. Debating whether we get pack n plays for them or let them sleep in a big kid bed.

We cruised once before with kids when our twins were 16months on Allure. Pack n plays were fine. They don’t have fitted sheets but we my kids didn’t mind. Only issue we had was one of the two pack and plays they gave us was broken! Glad we checked them out right away because that would have been bad if we discovered after dinner. We notified our cabin steward and he immediately got us a new one.

Another tip a fellow reviewer gave was to bring magnets and ask for an extra bed sheet to create separation.

 

 

 

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It may be a concern that the pack-n-plays may be too small for 3 year old's and that there will actually be enough room in your cabin to put two of them.

[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

You seem very calm about almost getting left in Nassau. My heart is racing after reading your review!

 

It's actually not the first time we were almost left. We were in Bermuda in 2011 running late from a jet ski excursion we took on our own when we were almost to the ship when my husband decided to drop to one knee and propose right there at moon gate by the pier. My dad was with us and caught it all on camera. It was cute. Quick but cute. We made it back on board shortly before the Captain decided we would stay in port another day because a storm was brewing. That was a great cruise. We got an extra day in port and an extra day at sea because he took us south and followed the storm from behind.