Cruising with a 2 year old - Long Review

[Lizziekris]

Review from Ruby Princess cruise dated 11/27 – 12/4: I learned a lot of valuable information from the cruise boards before heading on our cruise with our 2 year old. My husband and I love Princess cruises, so we knew going in that our 2 year old son wouldn’t be able to go into the kids program unless he was with a parent. We were fine with this. Our first day was on Princess Cays. The tender ride went very smooth. Since we had the toddler in a stroller, they directed us to an elevator to go down 1 more level and helped to carry the stroller onto the tender and off of the tender. We went with my in-laws and booked a Cabana so we would have someplace air-conditioned to go into to cool down if it was too hot outside. It was also nice, because it had a table and 4 chairs to sit and eat lunch. It had 4 lounge chairs too and a tree in front for shade. The island had a play area for the kids with slides and a pool that was only 2” deep. My son loved playing in the pool.

I would highly recommend a stroller. We bought a cheap umbrella stroller for $20 and it was a lifesaver. Not only for while we were in port, but also around the ship. We went to St. Marteen, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk. We docked at every port after Princess Cays and they would always carry the stroller down the gangway so we didn’t have to worry about pushing it. St. Marteen we just walked outside around the cruise ship and didn’t take a tour because we had already been. St. Thomas we took a cab to downtown and shopped and ate lunch at Tavern on the Waterfront (highly recommend). Grand Turk we just spent the day at the beach and pool at Margarittaville. Both at the private Island and Margarittaville our toddler could use the pool with a swim diaper. The Ruby Princess did not have a splash pool or pool outside the kids area.

As for the ship itself, we had the best time. The staff was wonderful with our son. The waiters and staff in the dining room made sure to bring his food when we were eating appetizers. We brought our I-phone and downloaded Finding Nemo and some other Disney movies for him to watch. He never made a scene and we received a lot of compliments on how well behaved he was. He did eat off of the kids menu, and enjoyed the food. They made special things for him when we asked such as a side of broccoli or peas and even a grilled cheese sandwich.

We had an inside stateroom and it was perfectly fine for us. We did what others have recommended and kept the TV on the Bridge Cam so we knew when it was light out, and had a little bit of a night light in the room so it wasn’t too dark. My in-laws had a mini-suite, so we were able to use their balcony and extra room to play in sometimes. We brought several toys for our son to play with and he was quite happy spending time in the room with us. Nap time was easy, because either my husband or I took turns to stay in the room and slept with our son, because we were tired too. Night time, he would stay up till 8:30. One night my mother in-law stayed in our room with him and read her kindle so we could go out for a little while. The next time he stayed in their room so we could see a show and go to the casino.

We took him to the kids club one day in the club for 3-7 year olds. It was wonderful. They had a large slide with obstacles to go through before getting to the slide. They had tons of toys, video games, etc to play with. The craft they made the time we were there was to write the child’s name on a piece of paper and then put their hand prints on it (at the top of the paper was Ruby Princess 2011). They even let our 2 year old participate once the older kids were done. We would have taken him other times, but we just kept too busy otherwise.

Hopefully this review will let others with young children know that it can be done and be an enjoyable trip. We loved every minute of it, and will be doing another in the future when we can get more time off work.

Let me know if there are any questions, and I will be happy to reply.

[HALrunner]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a great time!

[crusinmama06]

Welcome back! Sounds like you had a wonderful time! :D

[lrowe70]

Thanks for the review. I appreciate the tips about having the bridge cam on and downloading some vids to our I Phones.