Oasis with a 17 mo old

[cruisinmama!]

Hi everyone,

 

We just booked a trip on the Oasis in January and will be traveling with our 17 mo old son. I would be very interested in hearing any experiences any of you have with this ship at all, but in particular with regard to the Royal Babies program and sailing on it with a little one that young.

 

We took him on a Carnival cruise earlier this year when he was 7 months old and he was great, so we are confident he will do well. But this is our first time on an RCCL cruise and also the first time he we will be able to actually participate in any of the kid programs (albeit on a very limited basis) as Carnival doesn't do anything at all for babies under 2.

 

So any insights from anyone who has sailed on this ship or used the Royal Babies program would be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks :-)

[cruisegalsince77]

I cannot help you with Oasis, but we were just on the Freedom last week, cruising with our 9 year old son and 20 month old son. We used the Royal babies/tots program for the 20 month old and it was a great experience. The staff was excellent and we booked him at the beginning of the cruise to be there every night from 7:30 to 10 after we had our early seating dinner. Depends on how many little ones are on the ship as to availability of slots. They take only 8 tots at a time on this ship. You have to cancel within 2 hours of your scheduled time if you are not going to make it or they will charge you 50%. It costs $8.00/hour which I thought was well worth it. They had a large screen t.v. in there, and would pull out different toys each day for them to play with/climb on. They give you a cell phone(you can call any extension on the ship with this phone) in case they fuss. We were called twice to get him early and by the time we got there he was fine. There were much younger children in there all crying so we think ours thought that was the thing to do too. We only had to cancel once as he missed a nap and was super cranky before dinner and we did not want to subject the staff to that. We also booked him in there from 10 am to 12 pm on sea days. It gave him something else to do and gave us a break from riding up and down the elevators which was all he wanted to do!

They also had a play area set up in one of the lounges with Fisher Price toys/books/balls that was available 10 to 5 for you to take little one and stay and watch them play. I would bring a book for me to read and let him run around. There was no one else taking advantage of this great service, so we had it to ourselves.

You could also check out a bag of toys to take back to your cabin, but we did not take advantage of this.

I did tip the ladies at the end of the cruise as I felt they took wonderful care of him.

Any other questions you have, I would be happy to answer.

[cruisegalsince77]

Forgot to mention they do have bed mats/cribs if your child needs to sleep and they gave us a bag so we could put in diapers/wipes, milk, water, snacks and change of clothes. They do not supply any of that although they did find milk for our milk monster as he wanted more than we supplied!

[cruisinmama!]

Thank you so much for the info! I feel <much> better about the prospect of potentially leaving him there for a short bit knowing you had a good experience :-)

 

Do you happen to know the latest pick up time they offer? We too were thinking of signing him up around 730 right after dinner, but weren't entirely sure how much time we would have available for shows, etc. on those nights as we have seen times listed anywhere from 10 pm to midnight. He is a very heavy sleeper, so once he is asleep (which is usually at 730 anyway) he wont wake up regardless, so we thought we might take advantage of that a couple evenings and have a "date night"

[Chicky2181]

We used the nursery on Allure when my dd was 7 months old. It was great. We used it twice so that we could enjoy a few hours in the solarium and then twice for when we ate at the specialty restaurants. The staff was very nice and my daughter appeared to be wee cared for. They give you a bag with your baby's name on it so that you can bring in snacks, bottles, diapers, and change of clothes. We booked a few hours when we boarded and then they opened up more hours a few days later. They didn't ever appear to be booked up. I'm not sure about how late they are open. I'm sure they are open late to accommodate parents going to the shows.

[Chicky2181]

http://public.fotki.com/Radio88/oasis-of-the-seas--/cruise-compass-jan-/tot-pg3.html

 

I did a google search and found this link. It has a royal babies nursey compass and details about hours. :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1207857

 

And here's more info found on cruise critic. This thread contains the full compass. Disregard the first link.

[cruisinmama!]

Chicky2181 -

 

Thank you SO much for those links!! I really appreciate it :-)

[cruisegalsince77]

They were open until midnight or would leave shortly after last baby scheduled was picked up. We had early seating for dinner which was at 5:30 and that would take an hour and a half. So, after that, we would take him back to cabin, put him in his jammies, gather his stuff and get him up there by 7:30. It worked out fine. We did not pre-reserve any shows as we felt we needed to flexible with little one, but if something interested us, we would just go. Caught the illusionist act, farewell show and even ice show all without making a reservation.

[Chicky2181]

Chicky2181 -

 

Thank you SO much for those links!! I really appreciate it :-)

 

No problem. I was in your shoes last year. It was our first trip ever with our daughter and I was nervous. Everything couldn't have gone better. Cruising was a great way to get our feet wet with traveling with a baby. CC was a huge help during my planning process.

[adidas66502]

We were on Oasis with our 11 month old last year. It was a great experience! We used the Royal babies and Tots program in the evening so we could go to dinner and sometimes a show. The ladies working there were very sweet and did a perfect job. We were able to leave our stroller there, which made drop offs and pick ups easier when your child falls asleep. Make sure youtake advantage of the toy lending program. It saved us from having to pack many toys. If you have any questions please ask!

[cruisinmama!]

We were on Oasis with our 11 month old last year. It was a great experience! We used the Royal babies and Tots program in the evening so we could go to dinner and sometimes a show. The ladies working there were very sweet and did a perfect job. We were able to leave our stroller there, which made drop offs and pick ups easier when your child falls asleep. Make sure youtake advantage of the toy lending program. It saved us from having to pack many toys. If you have any questions please ask!

 

 

Hi adidas66502,

 

Thanks for the info and reassurance :-) It's nice to hear feedback from people that have been there. Speaking of which, were you on the Eastern or Western itinerary? And did you end up taking the little one on any excursions at all? We are still trying to figure out if there are any he would enjoy...

[adidas66502]

Not sure if you have already sailed or not.. We did Western Caribbean. We mostly did beach days for excursions with the exception of swimming with the dolphins. They let my DD do the swimming with the dolphins. She ended up hating the life vest they made her wear though. My husband was taking her out of the water when they had a different dolphin and handler come to them on the stairs. She got to take off her vest and some one on one time with the dolphin before getting out of the water. It was a great experience overall!