Sooner-Cruisers

They typically go by the age at the time of sailing. There's a small possibility of an exception, but I wouldn't count on it. They do have a window of time in the morning where she'll be able to play with you in the kids club.

We cruised with our then two year old, she was old enough for the camp, but wouldn't go. We still had a nice time, but she was disappointed to not be able to swim (have to be potty trained.) We went in empty lounges and let her run around and climb. It was fun, but it was even better this year when she was ready for the camp, water slides and swimming.

We walked to the sub in Grand Cayman, we really enjoyed it. It's a good walking around port. I believe some were swimming right there, but I don't recall sand there. I think the nearest sand was cemetery beach, great snorkeling, but no chairs, bathrooms etc. neither of those are probably good beach situations for you.

Playa Mia is great in Cozumel, most cruises do a tour there and probably in a motor coach.

Can you pack some small travel size bottles of sunscreen lotion? Honestly, we used spray for the first time on our last cruise and all got burned. You may be better off with the lotion. Good luck. :)

If you aren't going on a large motor coach I would absolutely bring a car seat. Walmart sells the cosco Scenera really cheap. We bought one just for cruise traveling, it's really lightweight and easy to install. We haven't arranged the tours in advance, we just get in the taxi line and wait for a car with a seatbelt. It hasn't been difficult. Sure, the taxi people can be a little jerky about it, but I don't mind. The other option is to do things in walking distance of the port.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/16932754?productRedirect=true

We have a 3 year old and have taken a car seat with us both times, it wasn't a big deal. We just put it in the bottom of the closet. We also take it with us in port for the taxis.

Our real car seat is a Diono Radian (heavy) so we bought a lightweight one special for the cruise ship, it's a cosco Scenera. Walmart sells it for around $40.

I'm sure your room steward could store it for you if necessary. Have fun!

Ps. A Puddle Jumper life jacket was the best thing we took for our 3 year old, she loves it for the pool and ocean.

Another vote for the puddle jumper, it's fantastic! A little bulky to pack but nice for the pool and the beach.

It took quite awhile last time, I think it depends on who you get. The customs officer in our line took forever and asked us questions about our form. He was nice, but everyone was pretty frustrated at the time he took with each passenger.

We've been out of Galveston many times and hadn't had issues in the past.

I was guilty of this myself, but Camp Ocean shouldn't be thought of as daycare or babysitting, it's fun! My 3 year old loved it, we called it the kid's club, they had tons of fun activities to do all day. Get the schedule and then have your 5 year old choose what to partake in. The 2 & 5 year old will also be in the same class. A word of warning, when my lo was 2, she wouldn't go near camp ocean.

Good luck, I hope you all have a wonderful time. :)

We did an all inclusive, that's a great option with kids.

Here's the one we did in Montego Bay:

http://www.resortforaday.com/Sunset-Beach-Montego-Bay-Day-pass-p/mbjasb.htm

We were just in Freeport in April. We took our car seat. When you get off the ship there is a line of taxi vans, we told the man in charge we wanted a van with seat belts. The first one didn't have any, but the second one did. They made us pay for her, but that's money well spent in my opinion! He acted a little annoyed, but that's his issue. ;)

Our lo was 2 when we first took her, there wasn't a crib in our room. She was climbing out by that age, so I just asked for the crib mattress (really a thin pad) and made a pallet on the floor. We brought her blanket, bedtime story and lovey from home. It worked out good.

If the crib isn't there just make the request right away from your room attendant, so you're sure to get one.

We've been on two cruises with our lo and we bought a lightweight car seat to take with us. It was cheap too, it's called cosco scenera. To be honest, I haven't seen any others with a car seat, but it's important to us. Some of those cab rides are pretty terrible.

I imagine the prospect of taking two car seats is daunting. You could definitely search for things close to port or take a ship excursion on a large bus. Maybe if you talk to the cruise line they can point you towards the right excursions.

We cruised on the triumph with our then barely 2 year old. She wouldn't go to the club and wasn't potty trained enough to go in the pool. We still had a nice time, we did have grandparents along. We made use of empty lounges to let her climb around and camp carnival let us play with her in the club in the mornings. There was also an outdoor toddler friendly play area she enjoyed, it was real susceptible to high winds. I didn't like that on the triumph many of the events were held directly across from the casino, so it was real smokey.

We took our now 3 year old on the Magic and I found it to be a much more kid friendly ship. We loved the waterworks and toddler friendly water slides, large lounges, and it had more activities. I'd consider checking out the magic, we liked it so much we're going again. We didn't even have grandparents along and it was great.

:) Carnival Magic Camp Ocean Review:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2199649

Magic is a fantastic ship for that age! My lo was 3.5, she had a blast. There are smaller slides for the young kids and a big waterworks area. She also loved the kids club. I wrote a review on it, I'll find it and post it for you.

For Cozumel you should definitely check out playa Mia. We bought our tickets through shoreexcursioneer.com.

We used it for the first time on our cruise. In the small cabin it was really smelly and it made the floor in the bathroom super slippery. I'm not sure what the answer is, because I also noticed the smell by the pool and the entrance to the lido was very slippery.

It's really handy with the little ones, but we're going to switch back to the lotion. I don't think it worked as good.

We were just in an ocean view on the riviera deck, no problems at all. In fact, we just booked on it again.

Progresso is a pretty easy port, we took the little bus they offer off the pier and then walked to the beach. It's a relatively new port, so the prices were really reasonable. The beach was plenty nice, we got chaise lounge and umbrella included with ordering a drink. There are vendors, but it wasn't unbearable. There's also cheap massages.

I'd say the beaches in Cozumel are nicer, if you're only looking to do one beach day. I agree that Paradise beach is a good option.

I haven't been on Cunard, but I imagine there will be plenty of people friendly to your child. Reading these boards there is often an ugly attitude about children, but both cruises we took our lo on, people loved her. She was 2 & 3 years old on them. Other passengers remembered her name and spoke to her, it was like traveling with a celebrity. ;) The staff was also fantastic. Just be respectful of others and you'll all be just fine. Have a great time!

We took our 3 year old on the carnival magic. She had a blast. The ocean view rooms have couches and the ocean view deluxe have 2 bathrooms. One has a toilet & sink and the other has a sink a small bathtub.

The kids club was great, waterworks has some toddler size water slides and of course she loved the pool too. The Seuss stuff was also really fun.

I believe it also depends on the rate you booked through. Early Saver doesn't allow name changes, but it may allow rescheduling depending on the time frame.

We stayed on for the first time ever, it's pretty quiet and not a ton going on. Personally, I wouldn't purposely do it again. We got too much sun, and weren't up for the beach day we had planned.

The crew often do drills during port days and bigger cleaning projects.

Progresso is a pretty easy port, we took the little bus they offer off the pier and then walked to the beach. It's a relatively new port, so the prices were really reasonable. The beach was plenty nice, we got chaise lounge and umbrella included with ordering a drink. There are vendors, but it wasn't unbearable. There's also cheap massages.

This should help:

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1061

Carnival does not allow parents to give permission for underage drinking.

We got on the ship around 11:00 I think. Maybe a little bit before. I wasnt paying too much attention to what time it was.

 

We had a great time too! Loved it!

Thanks. When we went they had sent a notice about a drill or inspection, so we didn't get to board until late, I'm hoping ours was the exception and yours is more common. :)