chaddarack

Looking forward to kind people giving helpful responses. 

I have a 7 year old son who is about 0.5 inches short of 48" going with me to Coco Cay in about a week! Most of the slides require 48" tall. Before I spend a little less than $100 per ticket, I wonder how strict they are at measuring.  He is a good swimmer and still may not be interested in the scarier slides. So I don't need lectures from people without kids about safety. I just want to know if he will get on the slides we want. I mean maybe some water shoes would add a quarter inch and we could fluff his hair. 

What I want to know is from people who have been there, do they reject kids that are that close, or are they pretty easygoing about it? 

Thanks for all the great ideas! The mini golf area would be a great place for him to explore. I think maybe I felt confined to the dining room before since everything else on the ship was closed down.

Self disembarkation with luggage valet sounds wonderful. We normally take our time getting out of the room, even though they turn off cable tv and broadcast departure instructions on all channels. Maybe the do not disturb sign will keep them from constantly checking on us to leave our state room. Then we like to have breakfast in the dining room and take it slow there too - little guy sometimes takes a while to eat anyway.

Even getting down to the dining room has proven frustrating because the elevators and lower hallways are so crowded. When I was on Liberty, people were even waiting in the stairways and it was like a slow moving line just to get down the stairs to go to the dining room. Then we waited in another part of the dining room for a while (I think we were in one of the last groups because we never told them our flight times). Eventually we got worried about making our early afternoon flights and just walked off earlier than our luggage tag group. Nobody checked for our group number by then.

I wonder if they do check group numbers at all. Anyway thanks for the tips. Gonna need an extra dose of patience waiting on elevators that day with the stroller I guess. Is self disembarkation a cattle drive? Sounds rough with the toddler. I'm strongly considering the self disembarkation at my own time idea, however controversial it may be. Thanks again.

Jan 26 will be our 5th cruise on RCL, but our first cruise EVER with a toddler! I have read some helpful pages about tips for toddlers on a cruise, and we are looking forward to some of the amenities that are available for tots on the Independence.

One thing I can't seem to find out is how to manage disembarkation with a stir crazy toddler. He will be 17 months old at the time of cruising and sitting patiently will NOT work at any time. I remember that we sat and waited in the dining room on deck 3 or 4 when we disembarked the Liberty of the Seas, since they did not allow us to linger in our state rooms. I can't remember if they would allow us to wander the other decks at this time. Does anyone know if we will be allowed to let him wander and explore a less crowded deck like the Lido, while the hordes of anxious passengers mob the lower decks?

Any other tips for disembarkation would be great too...??? I HATE disembarkation with a purple passion.

We are considering just getting a hotel the night of disembarkation so we don't have to rush. And then getting the first flight out back to home from FLL to ATL the next morning. If there is no way to have a reasonable disembarkation experience, maybe I should just push through it and try to walk off with luggage and get on the earliest flight I can get to? Waiting for 3-4 hours in a crowded airport also seem cumbersome with a clumsy toddler. I hope to book flights tomorrow. Thanks!

Sorry I didn't get back with you in time. I'll use the excuse that I ran out of my budgeted minutes in the on board internet cafe. I know you have already been to Cozumel, but I thought I would add my two cents for those who may read this post later.

We wound up being the only people who booked with Eduardo when we arrived, and so our tour was actually a private tour. Their boat will only carry about 6 - 8 people plus a Eduardo the dive instructor, and the 'Captain' Manolo, so you are guaranteed to not be herded around like cattle on this excursion.

I have to say I was a lot more nervous about scuba diving than my wife was, but I was counting on the fact that Eduardo is very trained, even in rescue diving. I have taken in a couple lung fulls of salt water while snorkeling in the past. Glad I didn't see that training pay off, but he was very patient with all my questions as he trained us how to use the equipment in the boat before leaving the marina. Then he took us to a beach nearby where we practiced our skills in the surf. The waves were a little high that day and it was somewhat difficult keeping balance while practicing in the shallows, but once we got under water things started getting easier and easier.

We did two dives after training, and on the first one after leaving the beach there, a huge school of bar jack fish slowly swam past us. He led us as we followed them slowly. They stopped and we crept towards them as they parted swam around us, and grouped behind us. It was like the school of fish on finding Nemo - thousands of them it seemed. He pointed out several other fish and mentioned their names after the first dive.

On the second dive, we saw more coral formations, and he pulled out a magnifying glass for us to inspect this spiral looking underwater flower thing. He showed us how it would disappear into its shell when you touch or get close to it, and waited for both of us to try. We didn't see as many fish, but he said that seeing a school of fish like our first dive is not very common.

Both dives were on Paradise Reef, between the two main cruise ports. I heard there were better dive sites, but being a little nervous, I asked Eduardo to take us wherever he thought it would be safe to learn.

Next time I will go back and get certified and check out some more advanced and more spectacular locations. His rates were really reasonable, especially when you consider it is basically a private dive. During the second dive, I looked up and saw a herd of snorkelers passing 20-25 ft above us. I know they were jealous!

Anyway I'm very glad we went with Eduardo and Cozumel Sports. It was the best excursion I have ever taken from a cruise boat.

P.S. when you read Tripadvisor reports or reviews, notice how many contributions a reviewer has made. If they have only made one or two, and they are both from the same travel destination, you can suspect them. If they have made many contributions from several destinations in multiple continents . . . that's not a tour operator pumping up his business. You'll find my report there.

Chad

I'll be taking this Discover Scuba with Eduardo a few days before you so I could let you know. I generally trust TripAdvisor's reviews if the person submitting has made several contributions(reviews) in other locations than the port I am looking at. Almost sounds too good to be true huh. Anyway I made my deposit. Would love to hear more too if anybody else knows.