Our Odyssey 2 years in the making! January 29th, 8 Day Southern Caribbean on Odyssey of the Seas with a toddler!

[danp2482]

On 3/2/2022 at 8:38 AM, Abr155 said:

So happy I found this review! We sailed on Anthem in 2019 which sounds fairly similar to Odyssey.  I just booked a NCL cruise for February 2024 (long way away, I know, but wanted to make sure DD was potty trained).  DD will be just over 3.5 at the time of the cruise (exactly how old was Lily?), so reading about your sweet Lily's time on board was very helpful.  We are booked on a 10 day out of NYC (4 total sea days, 2 at beginning with Bermuda in between and 2 back to back on way home). Stops include: Bermuda, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Puerto Plata DR, & Turks & Caicos.  My question will all be toddler specific haha

 

1. We also booked a balcony. Sounds like DD was comfortable on the convertible couch? Did opening and closing balcony doors while she was sleeping wake her?

2. Did she nap everyday?

3. How much did you rely on other adults in your party to help with DD - we are going just us 3, so no extra hands?

4. COVID restrictions aside (hope is everything will be "normal" by 2024), would you have been comfortable taking her to specialty restaurants?

5. Saw where you did Adventure Ocean for at least one later night dinner - how did that work? We'd likely use NCLs Splash Academy a few times for some mommy / daddy dinner dates? Did she play the whole time, or fall asleep?

6. You mentioned grabbing cocktails after dinner and shows, was DD with you, i.e. are little ones allows in/near bars?

7. Did you bring umbrella stroller for walking around ship/ports? Any other "must have" items?

8. I assume in 2 years time my DD will have used a shower, lol, currently still baths.  Did DD have any problems with the shower?

9. Did she need booster seat at restaurants (do they even have them lol)?

10. Can you give typical sea day schedule for DD?

11. Any problems with DD getting motion sick? 

Sorry for bombarding you 🙂

 

Hello! Thanks for following along! I wasn't quoted so I just happened to sea this! (See what I did) Sorry for the delay. I'd be happy to answer questions. Lilly was just about 3.5 when we sailed, although we booked it before she was potty trained, we lucked out by her being potty trained before the sailing. I don't think the experience would've been as positive if she wasn't.

 

1. We also booked a balcony. Sounds like DD was comfortable on the convertible couch? Did opening and closing balcony doors while she was sleeping wake her?

 

She slept like a rock everynight! Could’ve been from the full days of fun but we also threw routine to the wind and kept her up way past her bedtime some nights. We were worried about the balcony door too but it didn’t seem to bother her.

 

2. Did she nap everyday?

 

She didn’t nap every day. We gauged if she needed a nap based on her behavior, attitude and if she asked to nap or said she was tired. Thats pretty much how we are at home now too.

 

3. How much did you rely on other adults in your party to help with DD - we are going just us 3, so no extra hands?

 

Funny story about that! This trip was booked as a family vacation with my MIL and her Husband for that very reason! Leading up to the trip MIL said she’d be happy to take the little one off our hands for us to have mom and dad time on the ship. We said “absolutely! We’ll take you up on that!” She even mentioned it on embarkation day. Not sure if she was saying it to make herself feel good or what but it never happened. It was like we were on 2 different vacations. There were days we barely saw them! Which made things more difficult because the little one couldn’t understand why they weren’t around. Once we realized we weren’t getting help, we adjusted our expectations and still had a great time!

 

4. COVID restrictions aside (hope is everything will be "normal" by 2024), would you have been comfortable taking her to specialty restaurants?

 

I think this is a question about behavior but I’m not sure if I’m reading it correctly. We didn’t do any specialties but I would’ve if we wanted to. We just stayed in the MDR and her behavior was amazing. That being said, if we had specialties booked and I thought her attitude or behavior was going to disrupt others experiences then I would cancel the specialty and dining room and figure something else out.

 

 

5. Saw where you did Adventure Ocean for at least one later night dinner - how did that work? We'd likely use NCLs Splash Academy a few times for some mommy / daddy dinner dates? Did she play the whole time, or fall asleep?

 

The one time she did the entire “block” in adventure ocean, we went to the chefs table. When we went to pick her up at 10pm, she was exhausted but still awake. She seemed to enjoy it but I think she was bummed at the lack of kids (100 total for sailing in all age groups). They were still in a reservation mode as well, although due to the low census, we didn’t need them. She asked to go back a few times but we didn’t want her to miss out on the pool and after we took her to one of the shows, thats what she wanted to do in the evenings.

 

6. You mentioned grabbing cocktails after dinner and shows, was DD with you, i.e. are little ones allows in/near bars?

 

Every ship has a different layout and venues do as well. We were limited to which venues we could be in due to her vaccination status. Schooner bar on Odyssey had some high tops and table along the wall of the entrance. We’d sit at those tables so we were at schooner but just barely. That being said, even if we were there, it wasn’t past 8:30-09:00

 

7. Did you bring umbrella stroller for walking around ship/ports? Any other "must have" items?

 

We didn’t bring a stroller of any type! At this point she is so mobile that all she wants to do is walk/run around on her own. I think she was carried maybe 5 times the whole trip. We were also in the stage where we were not allowed to just walk freely around ports. The one time we got off we did our excursion and got right back on. That being said, if we were allowed to move freely, I wouldn’t have done it differently.

 

8. I assume in 2 years time my DD will have used a shower, lol, currently still baths.  Did DD have any problems with the shower?

 

No issues with the shower! She had showered before the trip and in fact takes more showers than baths at home now.

 

9. Did she need booster seat at restaurants (do they even have them lol)?

 

They have boosters and high chairs but she didn’t need them and she is small for her age.

 

10. Can you give typical sea day schedule for DD?

 

Just as the review said. Wake up, breakfast, pool, lunch, pool, nap (if needed), pool, get ready for dinner. There was obviously exploring and whatnot but you get the gist.

 

11. Any problems with DD getting motion sick? 

 

No issues with motion sickness at all and there was some significant movement the first 2 nights.

 

 

[Abr155]

On 3/6/2022 at 12:14 PM, danp2482 said:

Hello! Thanks for following along! I wasn't quoted so I just happened to sea this! (See what I did) Sorry for the delay.

No apologies necessary, it was my fault! Thank you so so much for responding! So helpful, and we booked 🙂

[danp2482]

23 minutes ago, Abr155 said:

No apologies necessary, it was my fault! Thank you so so much for responding! So helpful, and we booked 🙂

Great! We enjoyed sailing on the Getaway! It’s a great ship!