Oasis Review with an 11 month old

[adidas66502]

We have been cruising before on RC and always had a great experience. This was our first time with our DD and we were a little nervous about how it would go. Now that we have done it, I have to say it was the best decision we could have made for a family vacation!!!

 

DD was just shy of her first birthday. We absolutely loved the RC royal babies and tots program. We boarded the ship as early as we could and headed there first to insure we had childcare the nights we had scheduled entertainment (scheduled online in advance). It was simple paperwork and we recieved a cell phone to use throughout our entire cruise. The phone was very helpful to have when trying to make schedule changes, we could call the nursery right away to confirm they could watch DD.

 

We were really happy we got up in the mornings the first few days and went to the playgroup in the morning. We met some amazing families with kids the same ages. These are the same people we shared the baby pool and nursery with so it was nice to have the time to get to know them. The playgroup was supervised by one of the nursery staff members and it was a nice time to get to know them a little better too. We felt like we really knew the staff and they knew our DD by the time we used the nursery on the second night.

 

We took DD to the nursery on formal nights mostly and a couple of afternoons so we could sit by the pool. We treated formal nights as date nights and did dinner and a show, kid free. We did dress DD up the first formal night and got pictures as early as we could, then changed her clothes and dropped her off at nursery before dinner.

 

They fed her at the nursery and they were great as far as cutting up the food and helping her. They had fresh fruit, a meat, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, vegetables and breads. They let you know what was being served as dinner if you asked earlier in the day. I still always packed a snack in here bag along with her favorite blanket and stuffed animal.

 

The pool for diapered babies was very small but it did the job just fine. There were staff watching to make sure you didn't take them in other pools. They also made sure babies had swim diapers on so make sure you bring plenty. We shared ours with our new Australian friends so their little boy could enjoy the pool also:)

 

Dinners in the dining room weren't as stressful as I thought they were going to be. Our DD is very good about eating in restaurants and the dining room wasn't any different. We brought quiet toys for her to play with and told our waitor what nights DD would be with us. He asked what foods she liked and had a plate of them along with the highchair waiting for us the evenings she was with us. She was a huge fan of the cold fruit soups which we put in the sippy cup. She enjoyed all the attention from the wait staff and they were great with her!

 

All of the bathrooms had diaper changing stations in them. We spent almost the whole cruise thinking only the pool deck bathrooms had them, but come to find out they are in the handicap stalls (pool deck changing station was just inside the door of the bathroom and not in a stall). We brought a a days worth of bottles and sippy cups. We just brought dish soap and washed them in the bathroom sink at night. It worked out fine.

 

We traveled western caribbean to Labadee, Haiti , Falmouth, Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico. We did a day at the beach in Haiti. They had a spash park that DD loved and the beach was nice. They had made lots of improvements there since we last went in 2008. In Falmouth we just shopped and enjoyed the less busy ship. In Cozumel we did a dolphin encounter. They let DD participate and she got to pet a dolphin!

 

It was sad to leave and we made alot of memories! We had a great time as a family!!! So much fun, we are going again with our friends and their DD in May!!!

 

I would love to answer any questions anyone might have!:D

[Julienatul]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! We started sailing with our kids at 7 and 8 months of age and found it to be a fantastic family vacation. They are age 6 and 3 now and beg us to cruise!! My DD has been platinum with Carnival for a few sailings now. Glad you had a good time and are sailing again.

[jessabella]

thanks for your review..can you please give me some insight on what your cabin was like with your LO..what size room did you have and how did you handle sleep times? Did you have in room babysitting if you wanted to go out? Just woundering as we are looking for what cruise line we would like to take our 1 yr old on with us.

[chipperberg]

THanks for your post. I know there are packing lists galore, but anything you found to be a MUST HAVE that may or may not have been mentioned? we are cruising next month with our 10 month old. Thanks so much and so glad you had a wonderful time.

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Glad you had a great experience with your little one on board Oasis..and for sharing such valuable information!! We loved Oasis.

[Kidsx5]

Thanks for your review!