Royal Princess with a Toddler

[PrincessCatarina]

This is a review of the July 29-August 12 sailing on the Royal Princess from the perspective of a family cruising with a toddler (23 months). Prior to our sailing I had been following this board but did not gain that much insight into how the family travel experience would be on this new ship from Venice to Barcelona (by now many more comments have been shared). I hope this will help someone in their planning (I'm also attaching the Princess Pelicans activity program for our sailing).

 

We were a party of 7 on this cruise travelling from 4 different locations and meeting up in Venice the day prior to the sailing. My husband and I had the longest flight together with our baby girl, as we travelled all the way from San Francisco. We timed the cruise just prior to our baby turning 2, which entitled her to travel as a lap child on airplanes. We used miles to fly United Global First, but still had to pay 10% of the full fare for our daughter. This was our first lesson learned (at the time of booking last January), as we had only flown domestically with our daughter before and there was no charge. The flights went well and connecting in Frankfurt was fine, with the only challenge being Lufthansa struggling to produce the infant boarding passes both ways for the connecting flights to Venice and from Barcelona.

 

We forgot to take her stroller with us and noticed it 20 minutes after leaving our house. We decided to either carry her or have her walk...not easy to do with a diaper bag and many other bags in tow :eek:.

 

We arrived in Venice after about 20 hours....it was extremely hot and humid at the Marco Polo airport. We knew about needing to have Euro coins to grab a luggage cart, so we easily detached one, loaded it up and had our daughter ride on top of the luggage (with her dad holding on to her of course) all the way to the water taxi landing area. We were definitely feeling exhausted at this point, and stepping into the little water taxi felt a little scary. That moment I regretted having opted for a cruise departing from Venice, as I think there would have been some ground transportation options for us from Port of Venice to the Venice airport had we taken the Barcelona-Venice cruise instead. The water taxi ride itself was quite fun and a new experience for our daughter. There were no seat belts or any other restraints, so I really had to hold on to her tight in the fast-moving boat. In less than 30 minutes we arrived at our hotel, the Hilton Molino Stucky, and met with the rest of our party. The hotel was o.k. What was scary was no guard rails on the pier or anything to keep a little one from falling into the water. You just could not let a kid go anywhere near without carrying and holding them.

 

The first night we were exhausted, but our daughter woke up for 2 hours in the middle of the night and wanted to play. Somehow we made it through, but were extremely tired on the embarkation day. My husband and I took the Hilton shuttle boat to St. Mark's Square and checked out the major sights between 9 and 11 am despite feeling so tired. Jet lag continued to be an issue for a number of days.

 

We asked at the Hilton what the best way to transfer to the ship was, and they advised us to take the water bus stopping right in front of the hotel. Otherwise the other option was to take 2 water taxis to accommodate us 7 and all our luggage. That was great advice, and we reached the Royal Princess in just a few minutes shortly after 12 pm. She was beautiful! Once we reached the port area, we faced a logistical challenge of a) no luggage carts in sight and a fairly long walk to the terminal and b) we did not have the baby's stroller as already mentioned. We also had a 70-year-old grandmother with us and she had a hard time with the long walk to the terminal in the heat. I had assumed it would be similar to Fort Lauderdale or Brooklyn, but this really was quite a hike. If there were porters, we did not see any. We walked to a luggage drop-off point and then to the terminal....dripping with sweat and being so ready to board!

 

The terminal itself was o.k. We arrived after preboarding on purpose, so we could board right away. We were again surprised by the relatively long walk to the ship and I regretted not having requested wheelchair transportation for the grandmother. I was disappointed to see the background they were using for the boarding photo - it looked very cheap (a sunset background). Once on the ship, catching an elevator was the next challenge due to several elevators being offline (for other purposes I assume). We had to watch our daughter carefully to make sure nobody stepped on her in the crowd.

 

We had a mini-suite, which was perfect for a family of 3. We could easily bathe our daughter in the tub, and there was adequate room to play in. We did not want to crowd the room with a crib, and requested side rails instead for our king size bed and had her sleep with us in the middle. This worked perfectly. We also did not suffer from noise or other issues, apart from the ship losing power one night for about 20 minutes (my husband went out to find out what was going on and the purser's desk confirmed we were without power) and the room starting to get very warm right away....luckily power was soon restored and most guests slept through that. Our daughter still enjoys having some warm milk in the morning, so we used the ice bucket for that by filling it up with hot water and placing the bottle inside for a few minutes to warm up evenly. The refrigerator in the room was convenient for snacks, apple sauce etc.

 

Muster drill was scheduled at 10 p.m. on embarkation day! This was horrendously inconvenient for young children, but I guess the only other option was to get everyone up at 6 a.m. for the drill to allow for early sail-away.... The baby had to put on her infant life jacket as well, and there was no place to sit in our muster station area. Some of our fellow passengers looked a little annoyed to have an exhausted toddler run around them in that crowded space, but what can you do. We were so tired after the muster drill that we slept until noon the next day. I missed the Venice sail-away and only got to experience it through my husband's photos.

 

As for the 12-day cruise itself, overall we had a great time. Our daughter stayed on the Royal Princess the entire time as we had brought her grandmother and a nanny along so we could take some excursions at the ports.

 

Some of the positives:

 

The staff was wonderful with our daughter, treating her like a true princess! E.g. in the main dining room they prepared mac & cheese for her every night and brought apple juice without asking. She sat through the long dinner every night without complaining (we did bring an iPad for entertainment when she got a little fussy).

 

Exploring the ship was safe and fun, and toddler-friendly food options were plentiful.

 

The Royal Princess is the first Princess ship with a dedicated toddler area. It was very nicely decorated with plenty of toys.

 

Lots of kids on this sailing - over 800! It was fun watching kids from all over the world interact with each other.

 

There was no kids' pool, but they did turn the dancing water fountain on for a couple of hours in the mornings on port days, which our daughter very much enjoyed. You just get splashed with water vs. going into the pool.

 

Very easy disembarkation in Barcelona, and the terminal was modern. Our daughter did not fuss at all. We had booked Princess transfer to the airport, and that was smooth as well.

 

Lots of visual interest and musical performances, our daughter also enjoyed watching some of the acrobatics in the piazza.

 

It's a new ship, so high chairs, side rails etc. were all nice and clean...we had disinfecting wipes with us, but noted how clean everything was compared to some of the hotels and restaurants we had been to.

 

Some of the negatives:

 

The Princess Pelicans staff had a strict policy that only one adult can accompany a child. They said it was due to them feeling otherwise "overwhelmed". I pointed out that the toddler area was empty, with no other child playing there or an adult in sight and the person relented. I was hoping to let the grandmother, who was too weak to lift up our daughter or take care of her as the main care-giver, watch her grand-daughter play while the nanny served as the primary care-giver. She only gets to see her once or twice a year, and we had booked this trip as her 70th birthday present. We had to work this out with other members of the staff as well, but once they got to know us they let the 2 adults in with the baby. Other kids also showed up, but it was never too crowded in the toddler area. The outdoors play area looked interesting, but it was simply too hot to enjoy it. One night they made special pirate sword balloons with the older kids, and also gave those to the toddlers. That was a nice touch.

 

Princess Pelicans hours of operation were somewhat limited. They would sometimes stay closed all day on port days, even though the schedule stated otherwise. They said toddlers were welcome in the older kids' room and brought some toys over. It was loud there though and not as easy to play. We were disappointed they did not arrange for adequate staff given they had known to expect over 800 kids and knew how many toddlers there would be (about 50 under 3 years old we heard), many of whom would not be going on the port excursions. It felt like Princess was cutting corners there.

 

Sometimes I smelled cigarette smoke near the Princess Pelicans area, as the smoking section was at the same end of the ship. That seemed like an odd choice for a location? It was no problem for indoors play, just wondering what will happen on the winter sailings when kids may actually use the outdoors area.

 

Small selection of kid items in gift shops, I recalled having seen more clothing options for babies and toddlers on the Emerald and Ruby. I found one t-shirt for her (My 1st Cruise).

 

Sometimes she woke up from her nap in the middle of the day when they broadcasted the captain's announcements also inside the rooms. She would not go back to sleep.... This is all part of the cruise experience.

 

Overall we had a wonderful family cruise. However, the need to negotiate 2 adults into the toddler area with every new staff member made it a little stressful. I understand the need to limit the # of adults when it's busy, but not if there are 0-2 other kids around.

 

I hope this review or the attachments help someone in planning a perfect cruise vacation on the Royal Princess!

Pelicans Royal Princess Part 1.pdf

Pelicans Royal Princess Part 2.pdf

[Pam in CA]

Thanks for your review. It sounds like the negatives are more related to poor advice from your hotel and limited toddler facilities. I know from my roll call that transfers to hotels and then to the ship have been discussed constantly and in great detail. It's not easy if you want to do it independently and as cheaply as possible. You might have been better off booking the Princess pre-cruise hotel which while expensive, would have taken care of you from airport to hotel and then to the ship.

[Mom33]

Thanks for your review:D You provided some good information about travel with a toddler which should be helpful to other parents. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.:D

[sunsetbeachgal]

Glad it all worked out.

 

We did the Royal in the other direction, starting in Barcelona, which was a much easier place to begin our trip. I had been to Venice several times and was aware of the "challenges" in logistics getting around. We also had two young children in our family group and decided to stay outside of the historic area post cruise, and used private car and driver from ship to hotel, and then from hotel to airport.

[CI66774]

Thank you for your review for those of us with toddlers. One question - I'm going with my four year old next year on a 26 day transatlantic/Baltics cruise. Some of the Princess-sponsored excursions are 10-12 hours. Will the kid's club stay open until the tour returns? I've heard they do, but can you confirm? Thanks.

[NorCal123]

Thanks for the review and Pelican Activity docs. I'll be having my 2 y/o grandson joining us on the Grand to AK next June. I know we will be able to take him into Pelican Club for play as long as an adult stays with him. Did you discover if your toddler was able to join in any of the organized activities, crafts, etc. that were outlined in the program guides?

[capriccio]

What was scary was no guard rails on the pier or anything to keep a little one from falling into the water. You just could not let a kid go anywhere near without carrying and holding them.

 

 

My now 30 year old daughter spent the first 4 years of her life in Italy. She is on a leash (pink - her favorite color) in all our pictures :p. It was the only thing that kept her safe in Venice from the water and everywhere else from cars that thought nothing of driving/parking on sidewalks. I was just going thru pictures of her first trip to Venice at the age of your child -- in addition to the leash we had a backpack (we knew a stroller wouldn't work on all the bridges with steps up and down) and her grandpa carried a full size play pen (before the days of play and pack or whatever those portables are called) to use in the hotel as a crib! In Italy things just don't change quickly :D.

[PrincessCatarina]

One question - I'm going with my four year old next year on a 26 day transatlantic/Baltics cruise. Some of the Princess-sponsored excursions are 10-12 hours. Will the kid's club stay open until the tour returns? I've heard they do, but can you confirm? Thanks.

 

Lucky you! That will be a great time I'm sure. I have not heard about the kids' club schedule being dependent on tour schedules at all on Princess ships. Maybe someone else knows. What the Pelicans experience taught me is that they reserve the right to change their hours of operation, so the hours posted on the PDFs I posted were not always correct (or they had a note on the door saying come next door -- it just was not as easy to play there with a toddler). I plan to always bring someone along who is willing to stay behind on the ship as necessary, in case all else fails...

 

I'll be having my 2 y/o grandson joining us on the Grand to AK next June. I know we will be able to take him into Pelican Club for play as long as an adult stays with him. Did you discover if your toddler was able to join in any of the organized activities, crafts, etc. that were outlined in the program guides?

 

My toddler was very excited to see all the other kids, so it would not have been practical to try to have her sit down and not try to touch their crafts projects etc. However, the staff noticed she was curious and were willing to share crafts supplies. When they made the kids 3+ balloon swords they also gave one to our baby. She kept on saying "pirate" for the rest of the night :). I can't confirm this 100% and think it depends on the staff working there, but I got the sense that it was o.k. to get close to the 3+ group and join in the songs etc. for as long as it didn't become a distraction and there was an adult supervising the toddler at all times.

[PrincessCatarina]

My now 30 year old daughter spent the first 4 years of her life in Italy. She is on a leash (pink - her favorite color) in all our pictures :p. It was the only thing that kept her safe in Venice from the water and everywhere else from cars that thought nothing of driving/parking on sidewalks. I was just going thru pictures of her first trip to Venice at the age of your child -- in addition to the leash we had a backpack (we knew a stroller wouldn't work on all the bridges with steps up and down) and her grandpa carried a full size play pen (before the days of play and pack or whatever those portables are called) to use in the hotel as a crib! In Italy things just don't change quickly :D.

 

Very true! For a nation that loves their bambinos they did not have many safety measures in place. This was my 5th trip to Italy, so I was somewhat prepared and had some anxiety in advance over the water taxi transfers. We also bought a leash specifically for this trip but did not end up using it as we did not let her close to the water except for the moments we had to step on and off the boat. Oh year, in boarding the water taxi I had to hand her to the driver first so I could stay balanced. In the end it all worked out.

[NorCal123]

My toddler was very excited to see all the other kids, so it would not have been practical to try to have her sit down and not try to touch their crafts projects etc. However, the staff noticed she was curious and were willing to share crafts supplies. When they made the kids 3+ balloon swords they also gave one to our baby. She kept on saying "pirate" for the rest of the night :). I can't confirm this 100% and think it depends on the staff working there, but I got the sense that it was o.k. to get close to the 3+ group and join in the songs etc. for as long as it didn't become a distraction and there was an adult supervising the toddler at all times.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I was hoping they wouldn't mind some discrete participation with the other kids.

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.