I cruised with TWO toddlers...

[settingsailsoon]

...And lived to tell about it! (Parents, bring on your questions because I might have the answers.) ;)

 

We just returned from a family vacation with 22 people July 11-18th on the Mariner of the Seas to the Mexican Riviera. It was an amazing trip. (But keep in mind, as far we are concerned, it’s not where you are that matters as much as who you’re with.)

 

Our group had 11 cabins: 7 were inside cabins on the 7th floor, 3 were balconies on the 8th floor and 1 was a last minute addition so it was an inside cabin on the 9th floor. It was cheaper (and more spacious) to book rooms of two, so each toddler roomed with Mom and in our case, my husband shared a room next door with his sister since her hubby had to stay home.

 

We had the second seating dining and needed 3 tables to accommodate everyone. Some nights we took one, two, or zero toddlers to dinner. Our son was perfectly fine with the timing of things since he took 3 hours naps in our very dark inside-cabin. (I thought it was great! He often told me it was too dark.) We brought plenty of quiet activities to do at the table since he wasn’t really interested in the dinner they served. (Kids menu is pretty basic, chicken tenders or macaroni and cheese or pizza or hot dogs, etc.) If he didn’t go with us, he and I ate dinner at the Windjammer together and if he fell asleep I would put him in the stroller and take him downstairs with me and have dessert with the family in the dining room while he slept. Our cousin used the sitter services a couple of times and felt comfortable with that. (If you use the service, you will have two adults in the room and you must pay in cash, $12/hr I think she said.)

 

We brought some toys, bought some toys and borrowed some toys through the Royal Babies/Tots program. We participated in the program some days and others we toddled around the ship. We brought gear (stroller, monitor, baby carrier) and used gear (pack and play/playard) and problem-solved minor situations like storing a little food in the room for the really late night/early morning tummy rumbles.

 

We got off the ship and stayed on the ship and we did some of the shows. Unbelievably, my son slept through the Love & Marriage show in my arms and Quest in his stroller. Both toddlers were so unbelievably good during the entire trip. And there were SO MANY children everywhere!

 

We ate in the specialty restaurants, dining room, café and buffet and had varied experiences. We all had different opinions on the service, but for the most part nearly everyone went out of their way to assist us or learn our son’s name and request high-fives.

 

I could go on endlessly because it was a great trip, but I would rather just respond to any Mariner/traveling with toddlers questions that are looming. :D

 

 

Erica

[hnelson]

We leave in 12 days for a Carnival cruise to Alaska with 6 adults and my two little ones. They are 6 months and 17 months. Did u find it hard to keep the toddlers busy on the ship. My 17 month old loves to run and hates being stuck in a stroller. Carnival only has play time for a few hours for under two, so I worry about keeping him happy without driving me crazy. I appreciate any suggestions you may have. :confused: Thanks!!!

[settingsailsoon]

We leave in 12 days for a Carnival cruise to Alaska with 6 adults and my two little ones. They are 6 months and 17 months. Did u find it hard to keep the toddlers busy on the ship. My 17 month old loves to run and hates being stuck in a stroller. Carnival only has play time for a few hours for under two, so I worry about keeping him happy without driving me crazy. I appreciate any suggestions you may have. :confused: Thanks!!!

 

 

No need to worry. I felt like I was on my feet and exhausted at the end of the trip. My son didn't want to ride in the stroller, but I was able to put him down in it when he would fall asleep. Since he's 30+ pounds these days, that was a huge help.

 

The biggest hit was the day we stopped in Puerto Vallarta. We bought our son a soccer ball and our cousin and I sat on opposite ends of the hall and let the two kids chase the ball back and forth between The Mommies. They giggled for 30 minutes straight.

 

I would not leave home without an inflatable beach ball or something to roll around and chase. The hallway worked out great.

 

I would definitely inquire about toys to check out. Royal Caribbean had a deal with the Adventure Ocean program so you get to take a pillow case and fill it with toys and take it to your room. They have a partnership with Fisher-Price so we could have borrowed all sorts of toys like Little People fire trucks, pirates, etc.

 

My son really just wanted to walk around and explore the ship. They had an arcade that he liked to go to. We never put a single dollar in the machines, but he thought he was playing with us or next to us. And the game intros were long enough for his attention but then he was on to the next item, especially if an older child had just been playing with something. He would follow the bigger kids around the room. Even though my husband and I play video games, we're not big "gamers" and I'm not at all happy about introducing my two year old to the concept of guns or mummies. So, when he would try to explore the ones with the guns we would let him pick it up, and then we would say "oh look, your favorite one is open right now. Let's go get it! Hurry!" and he was off the ones we didn't really want him to play. The zombie ones were pretty graphic, but even those I could say "Mommy doesn't like this one but I do like to drive! Let's race cars" and he was done with zombies.

 

The pool wasn't as much a draw as I thought it would be with him. But he sure knew where the ice cream was on the ship. We also bought him a pet-at-sea, but he probably would not have ever even noticed it was there and been just as happy with a towel animal from the ship's logo shop. That would have been smaller and cheaper, too.

 

Regardless of boys or girls, I would suggest matchbox cars. They have new ones that have characters on them so they're even more special and they're nice and small for a diaper bag. Also, I love the triangular crayons that are out there now. I don't pick them up off of restaurant floors anymore!

 

One activity you could do is pick a color every day (maybe based on the outfit he's wearing?) and find everything RED, BLUE, YELLOW, etc. Or go on a "safari" and see how many animals you can find on the ship in the artwork.

 

And since you're going with 6 adults, have them do the photos available and then go to the photo area and "find" your family members on the wall. My son was really great at spotting a couple of family members. It also helped him to learn the names of the people he doesn't see all that often.

 

Do go to the playgroups because you'll find other friends to help entertain each other the boat. We often ran into our "new friends" around the ship and that made for more fun.

[DMJZA]

Unbelievably, my son slept through the Love & Marriage show in my arms and Quest in his stroller.

 

Erica

 

My DH and I are traveling with my 21 month twins in September and I thought we'd never get to see a show because of bedtime - I never thought about bringing them with us!! Did your son sleep at the shows every time you tried? Or did you have to give up a few nights?

 

Thanks - I'd be happy for any advise - this will be their first cruise!

 

MJ

[settingsailsoon]

MJ,

 

Someone on the forum posted the Daily Compass for the full week for our cruise so I mapped out our entertainment options for the whole week beforehand. As long as we stayed flexible knowing that it wouldn’t be exactly the same during our cruise, we had an easier time planning our week around toddler moods.

 

I would suggest that you start by “ranking” the nights you want to go out. Hubby and I agreed that our #1 night out choice was Quest, and our #2 was Love & Marriage.

 

Love & Marriage was set up in a theater and he was asleep in my arms before the lights dimmed. Quest was a lot louder, but even that just took a few minutes of rocking before he finally put his head of my shoulder and zonked out. I couldn’t “participate” in Quest with him on me, so he had to lie down in the stroller that night.

 

I’ll confess though that our “normal” nighttime routine is dinner, bath, and relaxing on the couch with hubby and me. One of us ends up rubbing our son’s feet/legs and he just curls up next to us or on our chest/lap and falls asleep. We carry him off to bed about 15 mins later. So, sleeping on us or near us is his norm. If your children need a quiet room with no interaction, then they may have a harder time being held in a loud environment. You could see how they do if you take them to a movie theater or concert. I imagine that it would be a similar reaction as to the events on the ship.

 

The rest of the week, we didn’t really push his limits. He would go to the dining room with us. He ate room service while I got dressed or we took him to the Windjammer and just let him have ice cream at the table while we ate dinner. (If you email me at erica {dot} Melissa {at} gmail {dot} com I will send you the links for the best quiet travel toys I ever bought. They have become my standard birthday gift now!)

 

I would take his pjs to the dining room and change him after dinner/dessert. Then we’d walk around until it was time to go back to the room. My husband went out with the family other nights, but I was usually too tired because I was getting up early with our son. Hubby was in the room next door with his sister – we were sleeping two to a room and we figured our son would do better sleeping in bed with me anyway.

 

On the topic of strollers.... I don’t think I’d bother taking a double stroller if it’s two-seats wide. The cabin doors are so narrow and heavy that you’d never get it through with kids in the stroller. If you have a tandem stroller, that might be better but it will still be a challenge. My City-Mini BARELY squeaked through the doorway.

 

I’d be happy to troubleshoot more with you, so feel free to pester me more by email or message board.

 

Erica