Allure with an 18mo?

[eskamo]

Can anyone Give me tips, tricks, advice, etc for cruising with a toddler? Tell me war stories?

She doesn't travel well, so I'm worried about how(if) she'll sleep in our cabin. Thanks y'all!

[cb at sea]

You'll need to bring all of her "stuff", as the ship doesn't have things like diapers, meds, etc....for sale.

 

Booking a balcony cabin is best...that way, you have some place "to be" when you've put her down for a nap or the night!

 

If your cabin catagory doesn't have a tub, bring a blow-up tub for bathing.... most tots don't like showers!

 

As far as sleep...most kids sleep well....with the motion of the ship. And yes....even on such a large ship, there will be motion!

[Brianne4409]

eskamo- when are you traveling? my husband and i are taking our soon to be 17mth old on his first cruise Oct 20th on Royal Caribbean's Allure. We chose this cruse because they offer a nursery for kids 6-36mths. We want to be able to enjoy this trip as a family and have as many special moments as possible but mommy and daddy need a break too. ;)

I'm also worried about sleep time! we do not co-sleep and hes always slept in his own room by himself. We booked a balcony room with the hopes that when hes napping we can either slip in for a quick shower or out on the balcony for some quiet reading. If were sitting in the room with him he will never fall asleep. also were taking alot of disposable things such a paper bibs and place mats. i have no desire to lug around moldy bibs for a week or hand my crazy son a breakable plate. also before we board the boat we plan to hit up a grocery store in town to stock up on diapers, quick baby snacks/ soft foods etc. no point in paying to ship those items.

[flhokie]

We did Allure with DD in May (she was 28 months). We had planned on having her sleep on the sofa bed, but she didn't like it (& it took up a lot of room). The cabin steward made a little bed on the floor using the linens from the sofa bed. This worked well. She napped on the sofa. We took her favorite blankets & stuffed animals.

 

We took disposable bibs & placemats and inexpensive ($ bin at target) toddler utensils. We never really ended up using any of these. We also took disposable sippy cups.

 

We would grab milk at the buffet for nap/bed.

 

Make sure to check out a bag of toys on embarkation day. They have several different bags to choose from. Also, register for the nursery--they will issue you a phone that works on the ship (so they can get in touch with you when kids are in the nursery).

[eskamo]

eskamo- when are you traveling? my husband and i are taking our soon to be 17mth old on his first cruise Oct 20th on Royal Caribbean's Allure. We chose this cruse because they offer a nursery for kids 6-36mths. We want to be able to enjoy this trip as a family and have as many special moments as possible but mommy and daddy need a break too. ;)

I'm also worried about sleep time! we do not co-sleep and hes always slept in his own room by himself. We booked a balcony room with the hopes that when hes napping we can either slip in for a quick shower or out on the balcony for some quiet reading. If were sitting in the room with him he will never fall asleep. also were taking alot of disposable things such a paper bibs and place mats. i have no desire to lug around moldy bibs for a week or hand my crazy son a breakable plate. also before we board the boat we plan to hit up a grocery store in town to stock up on diapers, quick baby snacks/ soft foods etc. no point in paying to ship those items.

We're on the December 8 of allure. We also chose it for the royal tots program. I hadn't thought about disposable bibs and mats, great idea!

 

We still rock dd to sleep, so I'm worried about that, where a crib will go, etc. ahh so much stress ;)

 

When y'all get back you'll have to let me know how it went :)

[flhokie]

The crib will be a pack n play. Others have suggested taking your own sheets for it.

 

The nursery has rocking chairs saw a staff member rocking a baby when we went to pick up DD). Unfortunately, for security reasons no adults other than employees were allowed past the front desk of the nursery.

 

Btw...the dining room has high chairs. We didn't use them, but they were nice (hard plastic). The servers always had a fruit bowl waiting for DD when we got to our table.

 

There is a small playground (stuff to climb & a small slide) next to Rita's on the Boardwalk. It's kind of hidden. Also, at miniature golf they have a toddler area with a couple holes, clubs their size & big soft balls.