Toddler on Grandeur?

[vegas82]

Hello all

We are big RCL cruisers (got married on Allure), but are currently booking our first cruise with our baby - he will be just under 2 at time of sailing (taking advantage of the free flight haha).  We are looking at Grandeur out of Barbados, as we LOVE the itinerary (Jan 2, 2022 - ABC islands), and we also adore Barbados.  Grandeur is probably my least favorite ship (and not that baby friendly haha) but its small and intimate, so we figure a good place to start. Plus price is awesome!

 

We are booking connecting oceanview (deck 4, midship) right now, but I'm really struggling with if this is a good idea.  My mother will be in the connector as my thinking is that my son can go to bed, and whoever is staying 'home', can still be up in the other room safely. We would love to do the Spacious OV, but they do not have a connecting option and I would not leave him asleep in a room alone.   The price to jump up to BAlcony is astronomical, but we will do it if a baby in a regular OV is a bad time, LOL.

 

Looking for any advice from families who have cruised Grandeur with a toddler, or anyone with insight about the connecting OV cabins.  I do know that we will not have a sofa - which sucks as the chair is probably just going to be in the way haha

 

Thank you!

~K

 

[Ourusualbeach]

If one of you doesn’t mind an inside you could get a balcony with an inside across the hall.  Baby can sleep in the balcony room while whoever is staying behind can sit on the balcony. The inside would pretty much just be for sleeping. 

[OnTheJourney]

My hat is off to you and anyone that is ambitious enough to do this. It's surely the type of vacation that I wouldn't have even dreamed of attempting when our daughter was that young. Times have changed. Our thought was always...what will she get out of it? However, nowadays people fly and cruise with their babies / toddlers so, if it works out well, certainly go for it!  I'm just thinking of all the crying, overheated, unhappy-looking babies I've seen on past cruises and other sorts of trips. We basically did a week's vacation at the beach, and some of those far more basic trips didn't exactly come off glitch-free!  With your Mom along, sounds very workable. Balcony is still my favorite room category, especially if spending any decent amount of time in the room - which you or your Mom might be in terms of your baby taking naps, etc. (?)  Best of luck...

Edited March 14, 2021 by OnTheJourney

[Mapleleafforever]

We had connecting balcony cabins on our last 2 cruises with my parents next door. 2 years ago we took along our then 15 month old and last year with our now 27 month old and now also our 6 month old. We had them remove the balcony divider so we were connected 2 ways and it worked out great!! Conecting cabins are sooooo convenient and with all 4 doors open made for a great running track for the toddler to burn off steam. We were on Harmony and Allure so lots to do for kids but not so sure about Grandeur. 

[Mapleleafforever]

15 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

My hat is off to you and anyone that is ambitious enough to do this. It's surely the type of vacation that I wouldn't have even dreamed of attemtting when our daughter was that young. Our thought was always...what will she get out of it? However, nowadays people fly and cruise with their babies / toddlers so, if it works out well, certainly go for it!  I'm just thinking of all the crying, unhappy-looking babies I've seen on past cruises and other sorts of trips. We basically did a week's vacation at the beach, and some of those far more basic trips didn't exactly come off glitch-free!  With your Mom along, sounds very workable. Balcony is still my favorite room category, especially if spending any decent amount of time in the room - which you or your Mom might be in terms of your baby taking naps, etc. (?)  Best of luck...

After taking only a few trips with us and also wiith my brother and his wife and kids my parents regret not taking us on more travel adventures when we were young kids. Mind you, their grandkids are way better behaved than their kids ever were. 

[OnTheJourney]

As I said, times change. Surely no offense meant, and hopefully none taken. It's just how we approached it. We did alot of day trips, etc. with our daughter as a baby / toddler, but nothing like a cruise or flying, etc. It's partly a product of how you're brought up. Back in the day, in the early 60s, nobody I knew ever talked about flying out of the US or taking a cruise, or at least in the middle-class neighborhood and friends I grew up in and with. Also, my wife and I were both teachers so the only time we ever got off was during summer. Would have never had the opportunity to take a trip in winter, fall, or spring. But, during my teaching career I'll bet a week didn't go by that one of my students wasn't at Disney (staff used to refer to it as the "non-stop Disney odyssey"!  And not just for a week...but sometimes for two weeks. Funny...even if we would have had the chance, once our daughter was in the older grades she would not have even wanted to take too much time away from school..often said so. 

Edited March 14, 2021 by OnTheJourney

[Mapleleafforever]

26 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

As I said, times change. Surely no offense meant, and hopefully none taken. It's just how we approached it. We did alot of day trips, etc. with our daughter as a baby / toddler, but nothing like a cruise or flying, etc. It's partly a product of how you're brought up. Back in the day, in the early 60s, nobody I knew ever talked about flying out of the US or taking a cruise, or at least in the middle-class neighborhood and friends I grew up in and with. Also, my wife and I were both teachers so the only time we ever got off was during summer. Would have never had the opportunity to take a trip in winter, fall, or spring. But, during my teaching career I'll bet a week didn't go by that one of my students wasn't at Disney (staff used to refer to it as the "non-stop Disney odyssey"!  And not just for a week...but sometimes for two weeks. Funny...even if we would have had the chance, once our daughter was in the older grades she would not have even wanted to take too much time away from school..often said so. 

No no, nothing even borderline offensive there.....I was just making a joke. Well, according to my parents it's not really a joke though because my brother and I were pretty crazy as kids apparently (I remember being an angel though). 

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, vegas82 said:

Hello all

We are big RCL cruisers (got married on Allure), but are currently booking our first cruise with our baby - he will be just under 2 at time of sailing (taking advantage of the free flight haha).  We are looking at Grandeur out of Barbados, as we LOVE the itinerary (Jan 2, 2022 - ABC islands), and we also adore Barbados.  Grandeur is probably my least favorite ship (and not that baby friendly haha) but its small and intimate, so we figure a good place to start. Plus price is awesome!

 

We are booking connecting oceanview (deck 4, midship) right now, but I'm really struggling with if this is a good idea.  My mother will be in the connector as my thinking is that my son can go to bed, and whoever is staying 'home', can still be up in the other room safely. We would love to do the Spacious OV, but they do not have a connecting option and I would not leave him asleep in a room alone.   The price to jump up to BAlcony is astronomical, but we will do it if a baby in a regular OV is a bad time, LOL.

 

Looking for any advice from families who have cruised Grandeur with a toddler, or anyone with insight about the connecting OV cabins.  I do know that we will not have a sofa - which sucks as the chair is probably just going to be in the way haha

 

Thank you!

~K

 

I think connecting Ov cabins would work great for your family.   Having the connection will make easy back n forth between cabins. 

While doing an interior cabin across the hall from a balcony would work nice, just not as convenient as a connecting, balconies do cost more than double for some sailings on grandeur.

I'm sure you will have a great time!

We are booked on a b2b on grandeur sailing out of barbados for february. 

[Sunshine3601]

I wanted to add to my post from last night.  As cabins are a bit smaller on grandeur you may want to go with spacious Ov even though they do not connect having the extra 40 sq' per cabin will be very helpful knowing toddlers come with lots of extras such as strollers and/or crib.  Looks price isnt too much different than a standard Ov for your sailing.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

For us, connecting cabins would be worth more than space. To have any one of four people that could stay back, go to bed early, etc. is worth more than a few extra feet of space. However, each person’s preferences are different.

And the second bathroom. 

[cb at sea]

I think that's a great option!

 

[sjb317]

We went with our son and his family which included our 14 month old grandson on a 11 day cruise on Grandeur in 2016.  We all had a great time, especially Eli.  We had connecting OV cabins which worked out well.  I would do again on a heartbeat.

 

Sherri🙂

[rimmit]

We did a 12 night souther Caribbean on the Grandeur with a 2 and 7 year old.  No issues.  It was fine.

 

The only thing is the nursery on the grandeur is closed during the midday, but that won’t be an issue for you because you have grandparents.  We did it with an inside cabin for 4, and during nap time one of us would just read a kindle or watch the iPad while the little one slept.

 

Prior to Covid we’d do the grandeur at least once per year.

 

The nursery is open for open play midday while the nursery is closed for actual child care.  Only annoying thing is food options on the grandeur aren’t the greatest for little kids, but you can always scrounge up something so it’s not a big issue.  Have a great time!  Our family loves the Grandeur and will miss it when she moves to Barbados.  Not so excited about enchantment.  Didn’t really enjoy her as much the last time we were on her.

 

The DL on Grandeur is nice because it is right next to schooner in the aft where it carved out a piece of the lounge.  Overflow was so easy as it just expanded into the nearby lounge.  Enchantments DL is TINY with no views except of the ceiling....

[CntPAcruiser]

One thing to note about Grandeur. The ocean view cabin we had on our last cruise did not have a "refrigerator" (the cooler formerly used as a minibar), so you would have to use ice to keep cold anything you wanted to have on hand for the little one, like juice or cold snacks. You could probably bring a small soft-sided cooler that would be easy to fold up, and ziplock bags for ice.

 

To add to Rimmit's comments on the Diamond lounge, just above, it is a lovely lounge and was great during the day. In the evening, we were frustrated that once the early seating people left for dinner, they practically packed up and ignored the remaining guests. The food was left to sit untended (and sometimes unreplenished), and drinks were hard to come by. Instead of having a bar setup at a table in the lounge or actually using the bar in the overflow area, they had servers take orders and run to the back for drinks. It was spotty, slow service with many mistakes. The cocktail hours were really disappointing, and I hope they will have made improvements when things restart.  

 

The bar service in general that we had on Grandeur was the worst we experienced in 14 sailings on Royal. In spite of tipping, service was poor, slow, and sometimes incompetent. Many of the bartenders didn't know how to make pretty basic cocktails properly. Sorry to get off track, and hopefully with the restart of sailing, they will have well-trained staff and things will be better.

[Roger88]

Just now, CntPAcruiser said:

One thing to note about Grandeur. The ocean view cabin we had on our last cruise did not have a "refrigerator" (the cooler formerly used as a minibar), so you would have to use ice to keep cold anything you wanted to have on hand for the little one, like juice or cold snacks. You could probably bring a small soft-sided cooler that would be easy to fold up, and ziplock bags for ice.

 

To add to Rimmit's comments on the Diamond lounge, just above, it is a lovely lounge and was great during the day. In the evening, we were frustrated that once the early seating people left for dinner, they practically packed up and ignored the remaining guests. The food was left to sit untended (and sometimes unreplenished), and drinks were hard to come by. Instead of having a bar setup at a table in the lounge or actually using the bar in the overflow area, they had servers take orders and run to the back for drinks. It was spotty, slow service with many mistakes. The cocktail hours were really disappointing, and I hope they will have made improvements when things restart.  

 

The bar service in general that we had on Grandeur was the worst we experienced in 14 sailings on Royal. In spite of tipping, service was poor, slow, and sometimes incompetent. Many of the bartenders didn't know how to make pretty basic cocktails properly. Sorry to get off track, and hopefully with the restart of sailing, they will have well-trained staff and things will be better.

I will always pick Grandeur over anything just because of the ocean view. I hate it when there is no refrierator in the cabin either. In any case, the cruise can be enjoyable for as long as you set your mind to it right =D 

[vegas82]

Thank you so much for all the replies!!!!!

We really did consider the balcony + interior, but I'm too nervous to leave babe sleeping in one room, while the adult is in the other.   I'm definitely gonna watch prices, but I think we'll end up sticking to the connecting OV. Maybe someday they will make a few spacious ones connect LOL.

 

Thank you also for the info about the fridge!! I never would have thought of this.  We won't need formula or anything, but will definitely want to have snacks on hand.   As for the DL access, we are only platinum right now but hopefully get to emerald in the next year or 2!  Be a long while before we hit Diamond haha.  We're Canadian so not easy for us to jump on a cruise.  The double points program ends before this cruise but still wouldn't have gotten us to platinum, we sit at 39 points right now.  I look forward to enjoying those benefits someday though!!

We are huge travellers so my thinking is to start bringing him with us early, he is a super chill 1yr old  (hopefully stays this way) and has already flown across the country 3 times, so fingers crossed the more exposure the better he will take to being  a traveller like us :)

 

Thanks again all! Hopefully see some of you on Grandeur.

[Ourusualbeach]

32 minutes ago, vegas82 said:

We really did consider the balcony + interior, but I'm too nervous to leave babe sleeping in one room, while the adult is in the other.   I'm definitely gonna watch prices,

Have the baby sleep in the balcony cabin while the adult relaxes on the balcony. 

[OnTheJourney]

21 hours ago, Mapleleafforever said:

because my brother and I were pretty crazy as kids apparently (I remember being an angel though). 

Uh-huh....lol.  I like to go around saying I was the better behaved brother also (actually true...but don't tell my older brother I said so!)    😃

 

One thing about this thread that wonders me though - I thought Grandeur was leaving the fleet? We had a cruise booked on her that was canceled 3 times now and will hopefully take place next spring only on the Enchantment out of Baltimore. So....is Grandeur staying under RCCL and thus still available for booking? We were so hoping to sail on her one last time but figured that it's never going to happen after the announcement of her going to Pullmantur starting this spring. 

Edited March 14, 2021 by OnTheJourney

[shippmates]

Yes Grandeur is staying in the fleet but will sail out of Barbados.  She was one of our favorite ship and crew.  Hope the Enchantment replacing her in Baltimore will not disappoint.  Enchantment was our first RCCL cruise.

 

13 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Uh-huh....lol.  I like to go around saying I was the better behaved brother also (actually true...but don't tell my older brother I said so!)    😃

 

One thing about this thread that wonders me though - I thought Grandeur was leaving the fleet? We had a cruise booked on her that was canceled 3 times now and will hopefully take place next spring only on the Enchantment out of Baltimore. So....is Grandeur staying under RCCL and thus still available for booking? We were so hoping to sail on her one last time but figured that it's never going to happen after the announcement of her going to Pullmantur starting this spring. 

 

[Sunshine3601]

4 hours ago, vegas82 said:

Thank you so much for all the replies!!!!!

We really did consider the balcony + interior, but I'm too nervous to leave babe sleeping in one room, while the adult is in the other.   I'm definitely gonna watch prices, but I think we'll end up sticking to the connecting OV. Maybe someday they will make a few spacious ones connect LOL.

 

Thank you also for the info about the fridge!! I never would have thought of this.  We won't need formula or anything, but will definitely want to have snacks on hand.   As for the DL access, we are only platinum right now but hopefully get to emerald in the next year or 2!  Be a long while before we hit Diamond haha.  We're Canadian so not easy for us to jump on a cruise.  The double points program ends before this cruise but still wouldn't have gotten us to platinum, we sit at 39 points right now.  I look forward to enjoying those benefits someday though!!

We are huge travellers so my thinking is to start bringing him with us early, he is a super chill 1yr old  (hopefully stays this way) and has already flown across the country 3 times, so fingers crossed the more exposure the better he will take to being  a traveller like us 🙂

 

Thanks again all! Hopefully see some of you on Grandeur.

Excellent!  You will enjoy Grandeur and the great itinerary.

That's great that you are travelling with him.  Have fun!

[Hogbay]

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Have the baby sleep in the balcony cabin while the adult relaxes on the balcony. 

That is only 4 nights of babysitting!  2× 750ml wine /bubbles per stateroom. 😇

[OnTheJourney]

On 3/14/2021 at 7:32 PM, shippmates said:

Enchantment was our first RCCL cruise.

Same here!  2011...out of Baltimore. We've only been on Grandeur once, so was hoping to get on her at least one more time (in Baltimore).