Toddler Bedtime

[RCCL Fan]

We're cruising with our 2 year old for the first time and I'm kind of dreading bedtime. She doesn't nap. She's up from 7am to 7pm and sleeps all through the night.

 

We normally put her to bed, and close her door and go about our evening. She laughs and plays and talks in her bed for 15-20 mins before falling asleep.

 

How in the world will we accomplish this in a cabin of a cruise ship?

 

We got a junior suite on the Allure of the Seas but short of making her a bed in the walkin closet or bathroom. We're going to be in the room with her and this kid is never going to want to sleep.

 

 

Any parents have any tips, suggestions, or advice. How did you get your two year old to sleep while sharing a cabin?

[cb at sea]

Actually, the walk-in closet is quite large...you might want to try that! But, if not, go onto the balcony, close the curtains and let her chatter until she conks out! A balcony is the best thing parents of "early to bed" kids can have!

 

On other ships, RCI does have in-cabin babysitting...that might be an option so you won't be stuck in from 7pm onward every night!

[RCCL Fan]

Actually, the walk-in closet is quite large...you might want to try that!

 

I have to look at the size again --- somehow it just doesn't seem right! lol

[crusinmama06]

Can I ask the dumb question of why you are making the closet her bedroom? I know I have seen parents do this for infants. But I have traveled in the JS WITH toddlers (on up) and I can't see doing this with a curious kid. Actually, my kid would have FREAKED if I would have put her in the closet and shut the door - she would have claimed that a monster was after her or something. ;)

 

In our family, we use the walk in closet as a closet.

 

The joy of a JS, is to put the toddler to bed on the convertable sofa/queen bed and WALK OUT the back door onto the balcony. Very simple. :D

 

We spend a nice quiet evening out on the balcony. That's what the balcony is there for. The kids sleep. We enjoy quiet adult time watching the waves.

 

No, in our house, the kids couldn't sleep in the same room as us. But on the ship, the JS works. Just use the closet for clothes. ;)

[crusinmama06]

I have to look at the size again --- somehow it just doesn't seem right! lol

 

It's not right - don't do it! :p

 

CB, when was the last time you cruised with a toddler in a JS? Yep, that's what I thought! :eek:

[RCCL Fan]

Cruisin Moma don't judge!

 

CB at sea isn't alone. A few other friends suggested putting my toddler in the "large walk in closet" or oversized bathroom. I've never been in a junior suite, so I don't know how large or small these closets are.

 

That's why I was asking what others have done.

 

 

This is our first time with the two year old and our first time in a junior suite. I am asking for advice and opinions.

 

Cruisin Momma, you put your kids on couch. Did they go to bed at 7pm?? What did you do all night? Did te kids not try to talk to you while you're up and around in the room. Did you have to pretend to go to bed too?

 

I've never put my daughter to bed and not had her in her own room, so this is new to me.

[boulders]

The bathroom in a JS in NOT oversized by any means. The closet is big enough for a crib and nothing else. Kids are very flexible. You can try putting her to bed later, hiring a babysitter, putting her in the nursery, hanging out on the balcony, taking her around the ship in a stroller or a combination of the above. I've had my kids fall asleep at dinner when they're very tired. It will all work out!

[crusinmama06]

This is our first time with the two year old and our first time in a junior suite. I am asking for advice and opinions.

 

Cruisin Momma, you put your kids on couch. Did they go to bed at 7pm?? What did you do all night? Did te kids not try to talk to you while you're up and around in the room. Did you have to pretend to go to bed too?

 

I've never put my daughter to bed and not had her in her own room, so this is new to me.

 

Oversized bathroom? HAHAHAHAHA!

 

You were on Oasis - was your bathroom oversized? :eek: Take a normal cabin, add a small bathtub, that is the "oversized JS" bathroom. ;)

 

No, she cannot sleep in there. Holy Moly nooooo...LOL!

 

Ok, backing up. YES, my kids have been on ships since they were 7 months old. YES, they are diamond members (in their own right) with RCI. So yes, we have been successful with putting them to sleep at 7pm in a JS on a RCI ship. I am questioning the others you have talked to though.

 

If you don't want to use the queen bed/couch, then put her to sleep in the pack n play set up in front of the couch and WALK OUTSIDE. We always leave the balcony door cracked a little. No, we don't pretend to go to sleep with the kids (that defeats the purpose of not sleeping in the same room). We put them to bed (always early - even now that they are MUCH older, the latest they go to bed is 10pm)

 

We put them to bed and we go outside. The kids fall asleep. Then we tip toe back inside when we are ready to go to sleep ourselves. Yes, cruising with kids is a new experience.

 

If you don't want to be locked up in your cabin at 7pm - drop your child off at the Allure nursery. Let THEM put the child to sleep (at the nursery). And pick up a sleeping child when you are ready to head back to the cabin. :D

 

But believe me, I spent many of my early cruises being in the cabin very early. Its the price you pay for being with a young child. :)

[ckekjhaze]

I didn't cruise when my kids were that age- but I have travelled a lot when my three girls were infants and toddlers- and they adjusted their own schedules on vacation, even though they didn't nap at home. We used to go to AIs in Mexico and the Caribbean, or visited family in Europe and always shared a room with our kids, no suites but usually had a patio or balcony.

Maybe you will get lucky and your little one will surprise you.

We always got up early-ish and tired ourselves out on off-site excurions or running back and forth between the beach and pool playing with new friends.

Then after a late lunch and maybe ice cream or tea we'd head back to the room for a bath and a nice, long nap. Usually I'd read on the balcony but the rest of the family would conk out until 6 or so then we'd get ready for supper and party time. My kids always loved the evening entertainment on the resorts and we'd head back to the room about 11- which seemed to be the norm with many families there- lots of Europeans. Then when we got back home they never had problems getting back into their old routine-except for asking when they could go again!

 

Have a great trip:)

[cb at sea]

I was KIDDING about making the closet the bedroom!!!! Jeez!

 

I suggested letting the child get to sleep while the parents were lazing on the balcony!!!!!

[RCCL Fan]

again -- never seen one --- didn't know. Just asking for advice.

 

We were planning on turning the sofa around so it faces the wall and making that her bed. (another friend suggested that)

 

I'm not worried once she goes to bed, I was just wondering how others handled the "getting to bed"

 

Once she's asleep we don't have to worry, she'll stay knocked out. We could carry her to the casino. lol

 

She just doesn't tend to go to sleep if she sees us.

 

Sorry, I didnt mean to give you a heart attack with these ideas... I was just curious what others experiences were.

[bus man]

Might I suggest taking a weekend getaway sometime prior to the cruise and staying in a standard hotel room, so you can see how your daughter would handle (1) being in a strange room away from home, and (2) being in the same room as her parents.

 

Once you're on your cruise, you might want to try the "divide and conquer" strategy: each night, one parent stays in the cabin with the kid while the other goes out and has some fun. To minimize any potential friction, I would suggest that the goer-outer pick some activity that the other parent would not want to do, so that they won't feel any resentment at being left behind.

[RCCL Fan]

Divide and conquer is the plan for night 1 and night 2. we're planning on in room babysitters the rest of the trip.

[borg1of2]

We leave this Saturday for our 2nd Oasis cruise. Our DD is 27 months old and we are also in a JS. We cruised with her last year in a D1. We thought we would do the balcony, but the problem is the cabin overhears due to no AC and we didnt like that. That because the AC is disabled with the balcony door unlocked and wont run. You can try it, we just felt the room got too hot. We also rigged up a curtain to separate the couch area where we had the pack and play, but in the JS you get a curtain, so that will likely be the best way to put her down, close the curtain and let her go to sleep. You have your space on the. Other side to watch a movie, which we did with headsets on our laptop, we felt the room TV would wake her. One other point to note is some rooms have the main bed closest to the balcony and some have the couch closest to the balcony. It kind of affects the room dynamics.

 

Final thought we are thinking about is to check her in to day care at bedtime, you can put her down and then go o ut and enjoy some of the evening on the ship and then get her later, carry her to your room and tuck her down for the night. Costs a little since she is in the royal babies and tots, but a thought.

 

Scott

[Woodmnky]

Hopefully she will be so exhausted from having a good time that going to sleep will not be a problem.:) Enjoy your cruise and let us know how it goes.

[milton333]

We have had several opportunities to vacation with DS and to visit far-away relatives with him. Each time we had a single room that we shared. We have always put DS to bed between 7 and 8 pm. How that has worked over the course of his life - he has been nursed to sleep, has been rocked or held in a chair (with songs and back rubbing) until he sleeps and then transferred to bed, or one of us has lain in bed with him, usually rubbing his back or snuggling with him until he sleeps. We then get out of bed and either leave the room (if at relatives - we bring a video baby monitor), or out onto the balcony if we're at a hotel/resort. We change for bed and do our grooming within earshot of DS, and once he's out, it's typically not an issue.

 

I should say, you're not likely to get the "leave the child in her room and she'll put herself to sleep" routine if you're still in the room, obviously, and for me personally, I'm not comfortable leaving a waking, mobile toddler alone in a hotel or cruise ship room while I'm out of eyesight. So, you may have to adapt your bed routine to include 15-20 minutes of soothing your little one to sleep before you head to the balcony.

[dforeigner]

One thing we did is right after dinner, we change the little one (1 y/o) into her PJs. We then went to watch the show and kept her in her stroller. She would fall asleep and did not have any issues. The older one would simply tell us that she was tired (2 y/o at that time) and we would tell her to go to sleep. If there were any issues, we would pick her up at take her back to the room.

 

Not sure if your two year old still uses a stroller. My suggestion, bring one just in case.

 

Also, keep in mind that you will be in a different time zone. The little ones do adjust rather quickly but will get up at their normal times the first few days.

[crusinmama06]

I'm not comfortable leaving a waking, mobile toddler alone in a hotel or cruise ship room while I'm out of eyesight.

 

We crack the curtains so we can always keep an eye in. Just a peep. :D They can't see us, but we can see them. We are sneaky. ;)

 

dforeigner - I always love your avatar. It makes me laugh everytime I see it. It's just classic!

[Julienatul]

When we sail with our 2 year-old its always a challenge to get him to sleep the first night. His routine and bedtime are altered and the surroundings are unfamiliar. We usually just lay with him on the sofa bed until he falls asleep. He will still fight it but after the first few nights he gets the hang of it and will fall asleep easier.

[RCCL Fan]

Thank you all for the advice.

 

We plan on putting her to sleep in the bed. pull the curtain shut. and wait for her to knock out, while we hang in the living area. After shes out we'll have the inroom babysitters come.

 

depending on the royal tots nursery, we may try putting her to sleep up there too. and picking her up later. We have to see the setup and what the walk back to our room is like.

 

 

Thanks again for all the opinions.... I'll post pics of her locked in the closet, when we get back. KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dforeigner]

dforeigner - I always love your avatar. It makes me laugh everytime I see it. It's just classic!

 

Thanks! Some people love it, some hate it. I just wanted something different as an avatar. Before anyone asks, that child is not mine. I have no idea who he is. I searched and Google provided me with the image. :D

[crusinmama06]

Thank you all for the advice.

 

We plan on putting her to sleep in the bed. pull the curtain shut. and wait for her to knock out, while we hang in the living area. After shes out we'll have the inroom babysitters come.

 

Thanks again for all the opinions.... I'll post pics of her locked in the closet, when we get back. KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Oasis class might be different. But on Freedom class, the curtain did not extend the whole way across the cabin. Which is why we had to go outside. :D See the curtain on the right...(this is Indy, JS)

 

 

I guess you are back to this... :p:eek: LMBO! (yes I am kidding)

 

 

[sandy18]

This is a great question and one that I've been wondering myself. I have twins that just turned two and so far will only fall asleep if we put them in their cribs.

 

One of them does stay up for a while talking and playing by himself, but eventually falls asleep.

 

We cruised when they were 14 months old...one word...nightmare. My DD would wake up every night between 1 and 3 am. Exhausting. But, then again she didn't sleep through the night until 3 months ago! That time we had adjoining rooms and we would put them in their cribs in one of the rooms, turn off the lights and keep the door between the rooms wedged semi-open until they would fall asleep. Then we would keep the door open.

 

Since they sleep the night through now (mostly) we are trying to schedule a cruise for January and I cannot decide between staying in one room or paying the extra 5 or 6 hundred dollars two get two inside adjoining rooms. My cheap side says to take the one room, but my rational side tells me: "remember what happened on the last cruise??!!".

 

It is great to hear stories from people that had better luck than me with their toddlers. I love cruising and don't want to give it up for a couple of years!

[borg1of2]

We just got back from our cruise on Oasis in a JS. Here are some random thoughts.

 

1. Yes the JS closet is huge and the pack n play would fit. There is more space then what is shown in the pic above because there is no drawer/cabinet on the floor. We actually did think about it, just briefly. LOL

 

2. Our bed was away from the balcony, so we put the pack n play next to the couch. The separator curtain was great and it worked great for our DD. She slept through the night all but two of the nights, which was great. This even after catching a cold on board.

 

3. The curtain does extend all the way across the room. Very heavy for light blocking and sound.

 

4. We only used Royal Babies once, during our stop in Cozumel, but that was just a situational decision and not because of the nursery. They were great!!

 

5. We did bring some hooks to keep the frig closed as she loves to open cabinets.

 

6. She hated the toilets, so potty training took a couple of steps back, but she was great when we were in the pool swimming which was a big step for us. The flush scared her. It was worse at the terminal as that flush was very loud.

 

7. Didn't use the balcony in the evening. Again it was just too hot to be comfortable. Room stayed cooler when we were out during the day and did seem to cool down quickly once the balcony door was closed and locked.

 

Overall a great cruise. Next one is the Disney Fantasy, so we will see how they match up to what the Oasis had to offer.

 

Scott

[Tggrtoes]

I understand your fear of the sleeping arrangements, as it's always a bit dicey for us. We always get a hotel room with a separate bedroom, but can't afford that with cruises. But, it works fine... really. I would not be comfortable with putting a child in the closet.

 

As many previous people have said, this is why we will never cruise without a balcony. I try to keep the bedtime routine as close to home as possible. Meaning, we get ready for bed, read books, DS can pick out 3 books to "read" himself and then I come back in 5 minutes and turn out lights and close the door. On a cruise, closing the door is going out to the balcony with the curtains closed. (I bring a monitor so that I can hear). DH and I have some quality time hanging out on the balcony.... and then after DS is sound asleep, usually DH goes out exploring while I stay and read or conk out myself.

 

Our last cruise, DS was really wound up at bedtime and so I found that I had to lay down with him until he fell asleep. (which never happens at home) We kept him up a little later so it usually didn't take too long for him to crash.