Mariner-what to expect with two small children

[rkcjj]

We are going on Mariner of the Seas next month! :D

We have 2 small children (3 year old and 1 year old). I am looking for input on the weeks events with two small ones on board. I am not sure my 3 year old will enjoy AO, I hope he does. But, if not, what have others

experienced and done to occupy the kids without going crazy themselves! Parents with young ones should understand what I am saying!!!!!!!!!!!

[katiel53]

I haven't traveled with young children, but I have been on many cruises with young children. From what I have seen, your 3 year old should love AO unless he has not been to daycare or something similiar. I say that because most of the young children gravitate towards others their age unless they have only been home with Mommy. I think initially he might be a bit apprehensive, but then will love it. (We babysit for our granddaughter who is 18 months old and she loves other kids, even though she isn't around them at home etc.but I think that's because she isn't at home with just Mommy.)

 

For your 1 year old, I don't think there is much to do except for 45 mins a day when they have something for little kids. So, you will do as you do with him/her. He/she can't go in any pools, so that might be a problem with seeing your older child in the pool, whom I assume is potty trained, but perhaps one of you parents can entertain him/her while the other takes the older child to the pool.

 

There is babysitting in room at night, so that would give you a chance to enjoy yourselves as well.

 

The waiters/waitress dote on young children so I can't imagine you will have any trouble in the dining room. Really, I have to say, most people love young kids and smile and try to entertain them too. I know that's the experience we have with our grand.

 

I don't want to seem like this cruise is going to be a piece of cake, because it will be work for both husband and wife, but it will be rewarding also. When my grand is 3, I hope to take her on a cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise, and sorry I couldn't answer as a now parent.

 

Katie

[solly4]

Thanks for the question!! I will also be on the Mariner next month (21st), and we also have smaller children. This is our first cruise, so I was pretty curious myself.

[powelweb]

Just sailed Mariner 11/26 with a 3 year old- actually sailed with Katiel53...

 

She went to AO for some time on Monday, but we were paged at 11am on Tuesday because she was in tears saying she missed us.

 

The rest of the week, she wasn't interested in returning to AO, even when we read her the compass activities.

 

Before the cruise, she's spent 2 days a week at my friend's home for daycare, and she started a 2 morning preschool class in September, so she is used to being aware from us and with other kids.

 

The rest of the cruise, we probed to see if something happened at AO, like perhaps a conflict with an older child (she's 3 and a 1/4 and was in the 3-5 group), but never heard any specific issue.

 

However, when we returned home, she started with similar complaints about daycare and preschool ("I don't want to go"), so we now think she's just entered a controlling phase to test her boundaries.

 

The AO counselors were really good, and she seemed to have fun while she was there (we peeked in a couple of times)

 

The in-cabin babysitting was also good. as she could stay in our room and watch her favorite disney videos. Very easy to arrange with guest relations.

 

Our wait staff was outstanding with her- Mihai our waiter even provided his own washable markers for her and our 4 yr old tablemate to play with during dinner.

 

Overall, we still had a great cruise- just had to adjust our expectations mid-week like most parents are used to doing with young children.

 

Ask any questions and I'll try to answer them.

 

Happy sailing,

Wendy

[rkcjj]

Thank you so much for the input. We are traveling with other family members (4 more adults), so I am sure they will help out with the kids as well. Just a little nervous that our vacation will not be a vacation........just a lot of 'no no's' to the kids and a lot of anxiety.

Glad to hear that the staff enjoy children. I just cringe thinking that my children will misbehave and ruin others around us!

 

I am a stay at home mommy.....so I kind of doubt my 3 year old will enjoy AO. But, who knows. He surprises me everyday!

[luvmy2redheads]

We just went on the Mariner in Nov. with our 3 kids we also were on the same cruise as Katiel53. Our boys are ages 8,4 and 11 months. So I know where you are coming from about it being a no-no trip. I really tried to plan ahead so it would not become that way.

My 8yr old loved the AO but we could not get our 4yr old to stay so he went with us. Our baby loved being on the cruise and he was the talk of the ship everywhere we went people were saying ohh look at the redheads( all 3 are redheaded). I brought toys from home that they like to play with and we even took a few to dinner w/us. Also at dinner we took a sippy cup w\juice and a snack so he would not get impatence waiting for the food to come I tried to always have something to pull out when he would start to get fussy to occupy him. And I would time his naps around activities that we wanted to do so he would sleep while we did whatever was going on (shows, iceskating etc.)

And for my 4yr old he is a good boy and not much trouble and is happy doing just about anything we do so he loved the mini golf and ice skating just about anything we did he was happy with. Oh and he loved to swim they all did. We took a blow-up pool for the baby but could not find anything to put the water in it. But they do have these outside showers to rinse off in and we just took our baby in there to cool him off and to play in the water for a moment and he was happy with that.

Sorry to go so long on this this was our 4th cruise but our first with a under 1yr old so we were a little nervous but it was great and we all had a great time and none of us wanted to go home when it was over.

Let me know if you have anymore questions that I might beable to answer. I also had gotten a baby\toddler packing list off here that someone had emailed me let me know if you need it it was a lifesaver for me and it had lots of tips for cruising with babies.

APRIL:rolleyes: