Just sailed Allure of the Seas with our 12 month old

[moohaha]

Just came back from a fantastic cruise on the Allure of the Seas with our daughter who just turned 12 months old. It was a really easy, great vacation...and I just wanted to offer any tips for anyone else who might be going on this (or the its sister ship, Oasis of the Seas, which is probably similar) anytime soon. Couple of things to note -- we vacationed with my parents and got a regular, oceanview balcony stateroom:

 

 

• there were changing tables in every restroom on board -- and many of them had Huggies wipes to use if we wanted to! Good to know in case we were to ever run out of wipes
  
• the baby splash pool was small and I was worried about it feeling crowded but it never did feel that way
  
• the Royal Tots & Babies nursery was awesome -- we dropped off our daughter twice. They gave us a cell phone that we could use onboard so they could reach us if needed (or vice versa). They gave her snacks, milk, etc..
  
• There was a HUGE play area next to the nursery that we took her to. It had a bunch of fun toys (i.e. exersaucer, blocks, slide, push n rides, etc.)
  
• The wait staff was accommodating at helping give us foods she'd like. Our waiter would prepare a bowl of fruit and cut up chicken for dinner every night
  
• Whole milk was available everywhere
  

Happy to answer any other questions!

[jlrn366419]

Can you tell me anything about stroller rental if you used it or recall any details?

[moohaha]

Hmm, sorry don't know. We brought our own umbrella stroller. I only noticed wheelchair rentals but all the strollers I saw seemed to belong to the parents. The strollers I saw being used ranged from basic umbrella to big, Revolution BOBs (man, I don't know how they stored that)

 

We brought an Uppababy G-Luxe and it worked out great for us.

[IttaBit]

Where did baby sleep? Our daughter will turn 1 just before our sailing next summer and I am wondering if it's worth the hassle of getting a crib or pack and play since we'll have our other kids in the room too.

[moohaha]

I requested a Pack n Play from Royal Caribbean and they provided one in the room. It was a Graco brand one and it looked perfectly fine. All they provided was the PnP and some soft blanket thing that went on top. When I asked for a PnP sheet, they just gave me a regular flat sheet which I had to fold over -- so I'd recommend bringing a PnP sheet to use if you worry about the sheet getting all scrunched up (our daughter moves around a lot in her sleep and the flat sheet ended up not being a problem as we folded it a bit)

 

Here's a picture of it --- we moved our bed over towards the closet (and removed one of the side tables) in order to fit the PnP perpendicular to our bed. We preferred this as it gave us much more room in the "living room" area.

[moohaha]

Just for fun, here are pictures of the play area next to the nursery which you can go to all day until 8pm:

[luvhubandbabys]

What a gorgeous child you have!! AWWWWW...

 

 

I requested a Pack n Play from Royal Caribbean and they provided one in the room. It was a Graco brand one and it looked perfectly fine. All they provided was the PnP and some soft blanket thing that went on top. When I asked for a PnP sheet, they just gave me a regular flat sheet which I had to fold over -- so I'd recommend bringing a PnP sheet to use if you worry about the sheet getting all scrunched up (our daughter moves around a lot in her sleep and the flat sheet ended up not being a problem as we folded it a bit)

 

Here's a picture of it --- we moved our bed over towards the closet (and removed one of the side tables) in order to fit the PnP perpendicular to our bed. We preferred this as it gave us much more room in the "living room" area.

[figgyva]

Were there any "diaper rules" that families should be aware of? My wife and I are taking Allure for our first cruise with the kids in July (but are experienced otherwise) and our two year-old may not be potty trained by then (fingers crossed that she will be).

 

Thanks for the pics! They were great to see as we're building up to our cruise.

[moohaha]

The only diaper rules I know of:

 

Baby Splash Pool -- if your child is still wearing diapers, they have to use the baby splash pool. The whole kiddie pool is HUGE but only potty trained kids are allowed.

 

Adventure Ocean -- in order to participate in the Adventure Ocean program, the child must be potty trained (although I think there's an age minimum too but I can't remember...2.5? 3?) Otherwise, they'll have to go to the Royal Tots & Babies nursery. There was a mother there asking about "incidents" as her son is potty trained but wears a diaper for sleep and she was wondering what to do if she dropped her child off for a later time. They sounded pretty stringent that they wouldn't put him in a diaper if he fell asleep for night time....they also cited some "3 strikes" rule they had, implying that if they peed 3 times, maybe they aren't allowed back in the program?

 

Otherwise, in the nursery, diaper changing isn't a problem as far as I know. There were changing tables in the restrooms throughout the ship so it made it really easy.

[figgyva]

Thanks for the insight! Our little one has learned to stop holding it in (after a week of various levels of unhappiness), but is now blessing just about every room she can. Hopefully, we won't have to worry too much about it come July. She'll be too young for AO, but we're really hoping that she'll get to experience more than the baby splash pool.

[moohaha]

Here's a picture of the the Baby Splash Zone rules if that helps:

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

Thanks for the review & photos!! I'm considering & looking into booking a cruise on Allure for next year. The ship appears to have a lot to keep toddlers busy, which is nice! :)

[jt20]

Thanks for the info and pics! How about the specialty restaurants? Like the samba grill? Are infants allowed? And how about bathing the infant? Did you bring an inflatable tub?

 

One more thing..about the excursions when docking? Any ideas on what to do on the islands with an infant?

 

Thanks so much for all the info

 

 

 

Just came back from a fantastic cruise on the Allure of the Seas with our daughter who just turned 12 months old. It was a really easy, great vacation...and I just wanted to offer any tips for anyone else who might be going on this (or the its sister ship, Oasis of the Seas, which is probably similar) anytime soon. Couple of things to note -- we vacationed with my parents and got a regular, oceanview balcony stateroom:

 

 

• there were changing tables in every restroom on board -- and many of them had Huggies wipes to use if we wanted to! Good to know in case we were to ever run out of wipes
  
• the baby splash pool was small and I was worried about it feeling crowded but it never did feel that way
  
• the Royal Tots & Babies nursery was awesome -- we dropped off our daughter twice. They gave us a cell phone that we could use onboard so they could reach us if needed (or vice versa). They gave her snacks, milk, etc..
  
• There was a HUGE play area next to the nursery that we took her to. It had a bunch of fun toys (i.e. exersaucer, blocks, slide, push n rides, etc.)
  
• The wait staff was accommodating at helping give us foods she'd like. Our waiter would prepare a bowl of fruit and cut up chicken for dinner every night
  
• Whole milk was available everywhere
  

Happy to answer any other questions!

[moohaha]

Specialty restaurants -- depends on the restaurant. I actually think that when you book online, you can tell whether or not children are allowed. I never went to the Samba Grill so I don't know...but for example, we definitely couldn't bring her to 150 Central Park (we put her in the nursery) but when we ate at Giovanni's Table, she sat with us no problem.

 

For bathing, we did bring the inflatable Munchkin duck tub which I'd been recommend on this site as a good tub to use. It fit perfectly in the shower. In retrospect, I don't think it was absolutely needed as half of the time, we just held her while taking a shower ourselves (with help from my spouse to take her when done)...but it was convenient..and if you have the luggage room, go ahead and do it. Here's a picture of us giving her a bath in the shower using that tub:

 

For itinerary, we had the Western itinerary:

 

Labadee, Haiti -- we brought her to the beach and had a great time. We took our umbrella stroller with us and it was easy to get around.

 

Falmouth, Jamaica -- we walked around the town a little with her. We also took the 20 min shuttle ride to the Rose Hall Shoppes and just held her in our lap for that ride which we were fine with (there are many ppl here who would rather bring a car seat---I respect that and it's each family's decisions whether to bring a car seat for transportation. We chose not to)

 

Cozumel, Mexico -- we left her with my parents that day. They went shopping with her around the port (tons of shops at the port) and then they went back to the boat. In retrospect, had we decided to be with her that day, I think we would've been comfortable holding her in our lap for a short taxi ride to one of the beach resorts. The one we went to was only about a 10 min cab ride and we passed many along the way.

 

Hope that helps --- I think you'll need to decide whether or not you want to bring a car seat and how that impacts whether or not you choose to do anything that may require transportation of some sort; otherwise, you will be limited to activities that are within walking distance at the port. Again, totally a personal decision and there are many many threads on this topic on this board if you'd like to research it further.

[jt20]

Thank you so much for the info!

[IttaBit]

Great info! Thank you so much. Did you use the babysitting services at all?

[moohaha]

No, we only used the nursery and never the in-room babysitting (we were traveling with my parents so didn't need to). From what I understand, it's like $12/hr and there's always 2 people that come.

[JMB22]

This was an awesome review! Thank you so much. :)

[tri1406]

Great Review!!! Quick question about specialty restaurants. When eating at one of the fee based locations will they charge an 18 month old?

[moohaha]

Sorry I don't come here as often and just saw your question -- I will tell you that when we took our daughter (12 months at the time) to the Italian restaurant, they did NOT charge for her.