Just back - Alaska/Infinity with 2 toddlers

[VPIcruiser]

We had a great trip with my parents and in-laws. This was the tenth cruise for my DH and me. It was the second cruise for our DS and my parents and the first cruise for my in-laws and our DD.

Thanks for all the help you gave me on this board. I hope this review will help others.

We flew into Seattle two days early. Our 35 month old DS used a Cares harness on the plane to keep him still and in his seat. We took turns holding our 15 month old DD. We did not take our carseats because we had so much luggage. We took the downtown airporter bus to the Sheraton Downtown. This is a very nice hotel and the location is very convenient. I booked it on priceline. From the hotel to the pier we took a ten passenger van and we took the cruise line bus back to the airport.

In Seattle we went to the aquarium while my parents did the Underground tour. The next day we went to the zoo. The zoo was wonderful but we only saw 2/3 of it before heading to the Space Needle. We took the public bus from downtown to the zoo and then on the way back the driver let us off at the closest stop to the Space Needle. We took the monorail back downtown.

Thanks to the information I gained from this board, we put our DS in the overhead bunk. He did great! Our DD slept in a pack-n-play (from the ship) placed in front of the sliding glass door. The cabin steward removed the glass table from the cabin to make room for the pack-n-play.

In Sitka, we walked to the National Park and then to the Raptor Center. This was actually my favorite port. We used a stroller for DD. DS either walked or my husband carried him on his shoulders. After the Raptor Center, DS actually fell asleep while on his dad’s shoulders!

In Juneau, we took a bus to Mendenhall Glacier. We also went up on the Mt. Roberts Tramway. Our kids seemed to like both of these activities.

In Ketchikan we went to the Lumbar Jack Show. The kids really enjoyed this but DD was very restless when the host was talking in between the events. She was enthralled when the events were taking place.

In Victoria, we walked downtown and then took a horse and buggy ride which was great.

We had early seating for dinner. We went through a lot of toys at dinner but we were able to keep the kids entertained the majority of the time. A few times we had to take DD for a walk outside of the dinning room to give her a break.

We had an in-cabin-babysitter the first six nights. She came at 8:30. One time the kids were already asleep and the other five nights they were ready for bed but awake when she got there. Her name is Lenie (pronounced Laney) and she is a pantry server (room service). We liked her and so did the kids. She is very sweet. The babysitting is $8 an hour for a minimum of three hours. We were typically out from about 8:30 to 11:15. We went to all of the shows with our parents and then we enjoyed some time talking and listening to music just the two of us.

There was a thread a while back about kids and Celebrity. We love Celebrity and plan to cruise with them again. People were generally very nice to the kids. In the dinning room, I told the tables around that we were gong to try our best to keep the kids from disturbing them. They were very pleasant to us and the kids whenever we passed in the dinning room. One set of grandparents stopped my in the hall outside of our cabin and asked if they could see the sleeping arrangements because they are considering a cruise with their grandchildren. So, I opened the door and let them look in. LOL. Some people asked me about having little kids on the cruise and this is what I told them, “We have the same behavior challenges at home as we have here (listening, obeying, not running away at times) but on the ship someone else does the grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning.” It was work to help the kids in their on-going process of learning to listen and obey and be respectful of others but it is work at home also. Of course, it is mostly our DS who is working on this as our DD is still very young and fairly compliant.

Next year, we plan on leaving the kids with grandparents while we go on a cruise to celebrate our tenth anniversary but the following year we hope to cruise with the kids again and maybe we will be fortunate enough to get to go with both sets of grandparents again. We all think this is a great way to take a family vacation. Last year we went to Disney World with my in-laws and another couple who have a DD the same age as our DS. We plan on going again with all of them this fall.

[kitty9]

Wonderful report. Thank you. Happy everything worked out great !!

[sas80]

Glad that you had such a great time! Thanks for the report!

[vids1375]

Wow! Thanks for this amazing report - based on your experience, we will plan on taking the stroller at Sitka as well... I wasnt sure if I could use the stroller for walks. How do I make a reservation for the baby-sitter? Is it explained somewhere once u board the ship? I would love to have that option for some days on the ship! Thanks again!

[VPIcruiser]

As soon as we got on the ship, I went to guest relations on deck three and filled out the form requesting a babysitter. We chose to have her come at 8:30 to give us time to get back from dinner and get the kids ready for bed. I think the earliest they can come is 5:45 but they have more sitter available after 8 (after they finish their regular jobs).

 

The trails at the national park and raptor center in Sitka were stroller assessible. Not paved but not rocky either. It worked fine.

 

We didn't use the stroller on the ship because we hate to wait for the elevators and taking the stairs usually helps to counter balance all the extra food we eat. ;)

 

Every day, the Infinity had toddler play from 10 to 11. We went twice and the kids really enjoyed it. They were too young for the ball pit, but our DS was able to climb and go down the really big slide. Our DS mostly liked walking around.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

[vids1375]

Woohoo! Last email before I leave to board our flight to seattle! Thanks again for the info! Will do the same... am really excited! :D

 

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!

[vids1375]

woweee! What a fantastic cruise this was! Thanks for the tips, VPICruiser - we had a baby sitter for one of the nights and did some walking around with our son in the stroller!