Cruising on Celebrity with 2 young children - MANY questions!

[Huxley'sCruisers]

First - I'm not trying to start a debate here - we are fully booked and paid for, and the kids are coming regardless of anyone's opinions.

 

To continue... we are traveling on Celebrity (for the first time) with myself, my husband, my parents and our two young daughters (ages 18 mos and 4). Our older daughter will love the kids club, and we plan to have the little one with us most of the time, she's an easygoing baby and both kids are good, and experienced travelers.

 

We are on the Oct. 31 sailing from Venice for a 13-night Adriatic. This is mostly a surprise birthday present for my mom, who has wanted to visit this region for many years.

 

We get on the boat on Halloween, and I know my older daughter will be disappointed to be missing trick or treating at home with her friends. Does anyone know if Celebrity does something for kids (either in the kids club or outside)? Since we are docked in Venice overnight and don't leave until the next evening I kind of doubt there will be much going on in the kids club or on the boat in general - people will likely be out enjoying Venice. Still, I'd like to try to do something "halloweeny" for her, if possible.

 

Has anyone used the in-room babysitting on X, and if so, have you found it to be pretty available? We are hoping for a few adults nights out with my parents, and can have both kids in our room with a sitter, or have the older one with the other kids.

 

We are traveling to many ports, and I imagine will be doing a lot of walking. We have a couple of strollers and I'm trying to figure out which to bring. On past cruises I've just brought our Maclaren umbrella stroller, but considering bringing a bigger one because it doesn't have the greatest wheels for cobblestones or bumpy roads. We also have a carrier that the little one will go in, but I'd prefer not to have to carry her on my back all day long.

 

Any other tips for Celebrity, the Adriatic or just in general would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks!

[Essiesmom]

I don't know if they will have anything for the kids on Halloween...But Venice is a great place to shop for a mask for her! I hope you are going in a day or two early, you don't really have enough time to see Venice, even with the ON there. Keep in mind that most of the bridges in Venice involve steps, very few have a ramp along the side. You might regret the heavier stroller. We did this same itinerary in May, minus Corfu (did that one last year on HAL). Ours was 12 nights. EM

[Lerin]

Not sure why you thought there will be debate-this is the family board. :)

 

We've done Celebrity with a 1 year old and Venice/Adriatic area pre-child. Both are wonderful, though I'm not sure how an umbrella stroller would've been. I recall lots of stairs and uneven terrain.

 

We didn't use the in-room sitting, but did take him to the family time in the morning. If we had the need, we wouldn't have hesitated to use the sitters.

It was over 4th of July and they had all the kids make posters and hats. Then they had a "parade" around the ship with singing Yankee Doodle, wearing face paint and waving flags. They also had the mdr decorated and had "American" food for dinner(apple pie...)

They will probably do something for Halloween.

Bring your daughter's costume and a bag of candy. At the very least I'm sure you can talk a few people into letting her trick or treat at their cabins or deck chair(especially if you provide them with the candy to give).

You're going to have a great time.

 

Oh, agree on the mask comment! We bought an amazing one our first day there, and a month and 8 countries later got it home in 1 piece! To the OP: if you buy a mask or any glass-diapers make great stuffing. ;)

[dforeigner]

We tried to do the in room babysitting. They asked if we would mind dropping the little ones at the Children's center where they would be cared for and if needed, their diapers changed. We, the little ones included, really enjoy Celebrity.

[scili]

We've done in-cabin babysitting on 3 Celebrity Summit cruises and never had any trouble with availability. You go to Guest Services to fill out a form and they call you to let you know whether they can fulfill your request. Although the form says babysitting is available at all times, I found that if you reserve for after 8:30 pm, they can make it work. Also, they book on hour increments so if you only want 2.5 hours, they'll book you for 3.

 

We went on the first day and booked the days we wanted for the entire trip. It wasn't a big deal to adjust the times later or to cancel on a night that we had previously booked. We've had Fun Factory employees and other departments' workers. On the last trip, we had the same babysitters all the requested nights.

 

My kids loved all of the babysitters we've had, who were great with the kids. They brought them treats like candy when they figured out they like candy and on the last trip, they even brought us a gift--a bottle of wine! We've always found that the Celebrity crew is super nice to our kids, who first started cruising with us at ages 1 and 3.

 

One tip is to try to bring walkie talkies. They work on the ship and allowed us to communicate with each other and with the babysitters.

 

Hope you have a great trip!

[d-train]

We hired the Celebrity babysitters on our July cruise - on two different evenings. One of the first things we did when we boarded was to go to the guest services desk and fill out the form the previous poster mentioned. Very easy to do - They called us later in the evening and left a message telling us they were able to fulfill our request. We had the same two people both nights. That was nice and helpful for our little one to see familiar faces. They were great with him and took good care. Well worth it and we would do it again on Celebrity.

 

We also went twice to the toddler time in the kids club during their posted hours. Only twice because the hours were no too convenient for our schedule. But when we were there our little one had a fun time playing with a couple other little ones and a whole bunch of "new" toys...

 

Celebrity staff was great all around the ship with him ~ always went the extra step to not only be sure my wife and I were taken care of, but our little one too. Have fun and don't hesitate to ask when you need something! :cool:

[Kerry's Girls]

I used a Maclaren in Europe and it was perfect - I don't remember the model, but it was a double and very lightweight but had lots of wheels and handled the cobblestones great, then easily collapsed with a carry strap for when we were headed up & down stairs. Having that sturdy, comfortable stroller allowed me to keep going in port while my girls snacked or napped.

 

Have a great time - I'm envious!

 

Best,

Mia

[Onessa]

We took our DD to Venice for her first time when she was just over 4YO and the umbrella stroller we brought was a life saver -- Venice is a "walking" city and while the bridges are not wheel friendly, it is easier to cox a 4YO out of a stroller for a walk across a few bridges than it is to convincer her to try to keep up with the adults all day :D. For the littler one you may want to consider a frontpack or backpack carrier.

 

Venitians do not practice Trick-or-treat but you will see people in costumes and decorations. Most of the celebrations are on Nov 1 or 2 (all saints day and all souls day). The ship may recognize the holiday but will likely not do too much in the way of organized Trick or treating or whatever. But you can work with her grandparents (and maybe enlist your cabin steward) to make the holiday memorable -- hide a few treats in the cabin (ala the Easter bunny) and give her clues to find them.

[neoncandle]

Firstly you could set up a trick or treat with other people on the cruise. Just bring candy. The kids can make masks and the others with kids aboard could help set that up.

 

Our 3.5 year old did great with the kids activities and we all had a blast!

 

We are the only ones with little ones on our cruise board.

 

Be sure to post a trip report. Sounds like a dream come true for sure!

[neoncandle]

Also we are bringing a deuter carrier to take our 15 mo olds on our cruise. The double bob probably wont fit down the halls.