Back from 13 night cruise with 14 month old

[viking30]

We did a 13 night cruise on the Granduer, with our two kids, 5 and 14 months. This was our 7th cruise, my daughter's 3rd, and my son's first. I usually don't write reviews but I had scoured the boards for info on cruising with toddlers so thought others might be interested in our experiences.

 

We had a blast! It was so much fun. Many on these boards seem negative about bringing babies/toddlers - don't worry, with a little planning it is a great vacation for everyone. A few comments that hopefully will help others:

 

- We did the in-room babysitting for my 14 month old, had used this in the past when my daughter was a toddler with great experiences. We had the same babysitter every night of the cruise (actually they don't do it the first night, but the next 12 nights we did!) She was from Jamaica and was absolutely wonderful, she came each night at 7:15pm and would have my son happily asleep by 8pm. (we always checked on him, and gave her a walkie talkie so she could contact us)

 

- My 5 yr old LOVED the kids camp, she wanted to be in there every waking moment. There were only 42 kids on this cruise under the age of 13, so this made for very small groups which is good for the little ones. The good thing about Royal Carribean is they run the full kids camp no matter how many kids. They did combine the 6-8 and 7-10 age groups.

 

- We fed both kids in the buffet in the Windjammer early, then took my daughter to the kids camp when it opened, and after the babysitter came we would go have drinks and then did late dinner just us. This was GREAT, because, we got much needed "alone time."

 

- Our 14 month old was treated like a PRINCE on the cruise, by everyone, other passengers and esp the crew. No negative comments about bringing a toddler on such a long cruise at all. Everyone wanted to hold him and play with him, from the cabin stewards to the waiters.

 

- They were strict as predicted about no swim diapers in the pool, but many parents just kept putting their toddlers back in and would wait to get kicked out again. And I saw a few on Day 1 just take the swim diapers off (YUCK) to get around this and keep their little ones in the pool. This really wasn't a problem for us, as it was a fairly port intensive cruise. We did use the Snug Tub up on deck a couple of times, but honestly our son was content to just run around and I would cool him off every once in a while with water from the shower by the pool, etc, or just quickly dip in his feet.

 

- We used the baby backpack in every port, my husband carried it. Our son loved it and never got fussy in it, would occassionally even fall asleep in it. We also took the Zippy stroller, a high end umbrella stroller, and this was great to get him to fall asleep in - I would take it up on the top deck and walk him around until he fell asleep, then settle into a deck chair and order a drink! : )

 

- We took both kids on excursions - I was a little nervous about how my son would do but it was fine. We did the Lord Sheffield sailing trip in St Marten (we were the only ones on the boat with 2 other people!), the Jolly Pirate sailing trip in Aruba (FUN!), the Nativeways trip in Grand Cayman, and found good beaches in Bermuda, Tortola, Cozumel.

 

All in all it was a blast!

[VPIcruiser]

Thanks for the review. We had a wonderful time with our 14 month old DS on the Zenith in Bermuda in September. You are right, with a little planning, you can have a great cruise with a toddler. We were very happy with the in-cabin babysitting. The pools were not an issue for us either because DS was so happy to walk around the inside of the ship. I got in some pool time during his naps (my DH doesn't like hanging out by the pool so he was happy to take a nap in the cabin).

[kclcruise]

Thank you for your review. I have a question for both of the previous posters. How do you make the in room sitting reservations? I plan on traveling in September with a 1 year old and I am trying to pick the best cruise line. I want to make sure the babysitting will not be all booked because we will need some adult time. Any info is appreciated!:)

[finnegan14]

Thanks for the great review!!! We're going on Serenade next month with our 17 month old and 3 month old. You've really made me look forward to this trip even more!!

[vickihd]

Thanks for the report. We just booked a 7 day Eastern Caribbean on DCL and will be taking our son on his first cruise. When we sail he will be 19 months old. So anything I can do to make it easier on all of I will. DH and I have cruised before but this is the first with our new baby boy,