jaelae

I was on anthem in June for 9 nights, and stayed in balcony room 8552. We enjoyed it very much. Hardly any noise, we were close to the front elevator/stairs but not too close where we couldn't hear the foot traffic. The ship is amazing, have fun!

Thanks for the info. Good to know, I think newer ships are even better with noise and I am not too concerned - I just want to try to minimize any loud noises where possible. Thanks for the info!

So this goes for most ships in general, but this is the first time cruising with two little ones (3 and 1). Although I originally looked into Disney Magic - financially it did not make sense. I never thought about location too much in the past since my wife and I never had a problem with sea sickness, or had any noise complaints.

However, with two little ones I had some things to consider:

- I am booking a Balcony room so that at bed time we can head outside so we aren't stuck going to bed together too early. This seems like a no brainer since on the Anthem of the Seas the cost isn't much at all. Although we are trying to spend a little more to get a D1 balcony since the ones I found tend to be on the bump with some extra room.

- We are looking around midship floor 8 as it is well below a lot of the floors with ship activities but high enough to guarantee we won't have a lifeboat outside of our window.

- Trying to make sure we are away from elevators, in between other cabins, and away from "white space" on the map to ensure less distractions. Also confirming above and below us are also cabins.

Is there anything else to consider here?

I've bounced around between quite a few cruise lines to see which ones I preferred and just found my time on Royal Caribbean to be the best so opted to go on the Anthem of the Seas for our first "family" cruise. The last Royal Caribbean cruise I was on, I proposed to my wife. The next cruise was Norwegian Breakaway and my wife was pregnant with our first daughter. Now we have a second daughter and are planning to cruise out in December 2017 with what will be an almost 3 year old and 1 year old.

Obviously we are anticipating a crazy busy experience - but still looking to have a lot of fun. We are planning to leverage the Royal Babies program a little bit just for some brief escapism for the wife and I. But any suggestions on what to look to do on the ship for the almost 3 year old? I believe there are some play areas so hopefully she can make some new friends there. Is it worth attending one of the organized roll calls to meet with some others?

Thanks!

So we were originally going to cruise again this year with our now 18 month old daughter, but are expecting again in October and are postponing until next year. So I started looking at some late 2017 cruises since we figured it would be better to bring a 12 month old and almost 3 year old on a cruise at those ages.

I try to look for cruises from September to December in 2017 leaving out of New Jersey or New York to avoid airfare costs. There are plenty of choices but the main ones that lean more towards kid friendly include Disney, Norwegian and Royal Carribean that have rather up-to-date ships. We have spoiled ourselves with Balcony rooms in the past and the added benefit of having a place to escape to while the little ones sleep make those the ideal choice.

I know Norwegian has offers for kids sale free (3rd and 4th guest sale free until tomorrow with their promotion). I found references from them a few years back but I am not sure if they still do this at all. $6000 for a Balcony room on one of their few NY sailing ports is too steep for us though I am sure the cruise can be worth it.

Norwegian Breakaway, which I was on twice, is about $2750 with the promotion which is fantastic. While Royal Carribean is almost $1000 more with no promotion.

- I am tempted to purchase the Breakaway trip today before the end of sale but I wanted to try to have some family join me and this is really short timing (I just started looking today unfortunately). Is this a promotion I should wait a year to buy it when it pops back up? Or will I not find the same rate?

- Will Royal Carribean offer a similar promotion in the near future based on their previous sales? I would prefer to sale the Anthem of the Seas since it would be brand new to us.

- Does Disney ever offer kids sale free or any other promotions? I don't mind paying extra for Disney but paying almost double is out of the question.

Thanks for any feedback! And I look forward to the new experience of cruising while spending most of my time trying to keep my two daughters from causing chaos.

The wife and I decided to go back on the Breakaway (previously went September 2014) on March 2016. At the time she was pregnant and we now have a healthy little girl.

I've read through many concerns over cruising with babies (especially specific to NCL) but with other family and friends going on this we opted to take a chance. I've found a number of things to take note of, what to bring for baby as well as what we can do. It did sting a bit to pay for the little one although it was a reduced rate but since they won't be doing too much at 1 years of age it was a bit of a shame.

I am going to be requesting a pack n play or crib for the room and ordering an inflatable pool due to the no swim diapers allowed in the pools. Is there anything else to be aware of or keep in mind?

Thanks a lot for the feedback on the Balcony rooms. I'll be heading to Bermuda on the Breakway on 8/31. I was debating between the rooms and after going through these forums found that the Balcony might be worth the cost (which ends up being $300 additional for me). Not a tremendous dollar amount and although you do not gain a large balcony, I feel that the fee is justified by the slightly increased living space and my pregnant wife will hopefully agree!