Royal Caribbean Build-a-Bear??? and Toy barowing??

[2kiddomommy]

I am going on a family cruise in June with my then 4 year old DS and 20 month old DD. There are many other cousins going on this trip ranging in age from 7 months to 13.

 

I've been trying to search out things to do on the ship with kiddos by reading these boards and searching the website. I came across a kids packages where it looks like you can buy a build-a-bear package from Royal Caribbean.

 

Has anyone done this... and how does it compare to the mall stores?

Is is easily avoidable- or will my kid see it and be interested? (Where is it located on the ship?)

Is the price on the website a better deal than waiting and purchasing it on the ship?

 

Also, I read that RCCL is going to be offering Crayola and Fisher-Price toys. I thought I'd read that you can take toys back to your stateroom for use during the cruise. Does anyone have any information/experience on this?

 

Thanks in advance!!

 

(Any other tips you may want to share on keeping kids entertained would be great!!!)

[kayakstef]

The Build a Bear is right in the middle of the shopping - it is only open at certain times so you could try to avoid the temptation. We waited until the end of the cruise to look into it and unfortunately/fortunately they were out of the animals the kids wanted, so we just purchased the RCCL Bear shirts (much cheaper than getting the bear and outfit) for animals we already had at home. We also used the toy exchange for our 19 month old, it worked out great. He got to play with different toys everyday and we didn't have to bring alot. They also had a pretty good kids book selection in the library.

Enjoy.

[2kiddomommy]

Do you "check out" the toys/books and take them with you? Does this happen in conjuection with the Adventure Ocean, or somewhere else?

 

Thanks for the locale info!

[crzgrl66]

Heres a thread about RCCL Pets at Sea AKA Build-a-Bear. My son won a free pet during a scavenger hunt so I don't know the exact price. It was cute and he got a dragon, but we wouldn't have actually bought one.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1111411

[kayakstef]

Do you "check out" the toys/books and take them with you? Does this happen in conjuection with the Adventure Ocean, or somewhere else?

 

Thanks for the locale info!

 

There was a handwritten log book in the library to check out the books. As far as the toys, we borrowed them after the playgroup and brought them back the next day. I believe the person who ran the group wrote down what we were taking and our cabin number. Nothing was very formal.

[sunrise&set]

The Pets At Sea on FOS was located next to the Cafe on the Promenade. DS didn't notice it but we did. I had not heard of it before so didn't know you could buy it in advance. DS loves giraffes so we had to get one! He LOVES it and really enjoyed stuffing and dressing it! I don't remember the exact cost but we wouldn't have bought it if it was really expensive, maybe $20 for the animal and a little more for an outfit??

[jkneern]

Pets at Sea were $19.95 and the outfits are an additional $10.00 each. They are only open a couple hours each day. If it is something your interested in, do it early in the cruise as they sell out quickly. We did ours on day 4 of our 9nt cruise and the pickings were already very slim. It never seemed really busy and no long lines waiting but they were out of a lot of the animals they offered.

[lwilliams83]

I am going on a family cruise in June with my then 4 year old DS and 20 month old DD. There are many other cousins going on this trip ranging in age from 7 months to 13.

 

I've been trying to search out things to do on the ship with kiddos by reading these boards and searching the website. I came across a kids packages where it looks like you can buy a build-a-bear package from Royal Caribbean.

 

Has anyone done this... and how does it compare to the mall stores?

Is is easily avoidable- or will my kid see it and be interested? (Where is it located on the ship?)

Is the price on the website a better deal than waiting and purchasing it on the ship?

 

Also, I read that RCCL is going to be offering Crayola and Fisher-Price toys. I thought I'd read that you can take toys back to your stateroom for use during the cruise. Does anyone have any information/experience on this?

 

Thanks in advance!!

 

(Any other tips you may want to share on keeping kids entertained would be great!!!)

 

On my cruise in January, I purchased a Build A Bear for my 22 month old DS. He absolutely adores his elephant. Every night he cuddles up to her and sleeps soundly with his arm around her. Seeing him like that makes it worth every penny.

[graceinmelbourne]

On our cruise (Brilliance of the Seas) they were located in a very obvious area but it wasn't opened very often so you could use that as an excuse if you don't want to do it.

 

My kids thought they were pretty lame actually. There wasn't much variety of costumes and it doesn't compare to Build a Bear stores. They didn't think they were that appealing but this may differ depending on the ship. Maybe our cruise had depleted stock as the previous cruise had 500 kids on board and our cruise only had 30 kids so they probably didn't bother.