Cruising with 23 m.o. toddler -what Caribbean cruise would you pick?

[dream_cruiser]

Those of you who cruised with toddler(s) in the Caribbean, please help me pick the cruise! There are too many options and information :), I need some help to sort it all out.

 

First, some info about us:

- 4 people including a 23 month old toddler who is not potty trained and has separation anxiety (will most likely have to be with us and not in the kids clubs).

- we prefer ports where we could find things to do independently, without booking excursions (example: Cozumel with its wonderful Chankanaab beach park). Also, my husband asks for NO TENDERS / YES DOCKING IN PORT (we had a bad experience in Belize).

- we live in Tampa and could leave out of Tampa, Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale or Miami.

- we have cruised before and would be excited to try something new or extraordinary. I am considering Royal Princess, Allure / Oasis of the seas, Norwegian Epic...Celebrity Silhouette is also nice. Disney seems too expensive and too early for our son (he does not watch the TV yet and is not familiar with any of the characters, and I prefer it that way :-)

- we prefer eating in casual / buffet ; who has the best quality food?

 

Thanks in advance!

[cb at sea]

Well...NCL will be the most "casual" of the cruiselines, followed by Carnival. NCL really is a "do it at your own pace" sort of line, so you will have more eating venues available than on the other lines.

 

Excursions....a guidebook would be your best resource on finding the things that interest you. Read one...then decide where you'd like to go, and which cruiseline goes there! When you are looking, be sure to check the itinerary as that will show you if you're docked or tendered.

 

Since your child won't be using the kid's facilities, that shouldn't even factor into your decision. Do bear in mind that few ships have pools for the undiapered set....so if that's an issue, you may want to delay your trip. Of course, he'll be able to swim in ports at the beaches! Allure/Oasis are the exceptions....they have a 'splash" area for diapered kids.

[Lerin]

You may be limiting yourself with the no tender rule. You'll need to look at specific ports that cruises are stopping at to check ahead of time.

[#1TravelMom]

We just LOVE the Epic. Lots of great food options. There is FABULOUS entertainment, but I'm not sure how you'd manage as it would be difficult with a toddler - Blue Man Group - incredible, but very loud. Cirque Dinner Show - really good, but definitely too long and confining with a toddler. Also, Legends - some very good, but again, not sure how your little one would do.

[flhokie]

I'd recommend Allure or Oasis. There is so much to do on the ships. There is a splash area for those in diapers, a carousel, toddler miniature golf and lots to see. There is a toy lending program so you can have a bag of Fisher Price toys in the room. They do not tender in any ports they visit.

 

DD (28 months) at time of sailing loved the aqua shows, ice show & Blue Planet--all were an hour or less--an hour seemed to be her limit.

[larronry]

My son was 26 months old on his first cruise. First I don't think the kids programs would accept him anyway due to age. Most cruise-lines don't take kids until they are 3 or 4 years old.

 

You are most definitely limiting yourself by saying no tendering. Now you can always just stay on the ship instead of going off but you never know if a port with piers due to weather or too many ships has you tender. Also any itinerary that includes a private island will be tendered.

 

I've always loved cruising with my son and our next cruise was something that he begged for (he is now 8). No you may not be able to take in a lot of the shows (they do have earplugs for kids that you can consider).

 

I am not a fan of NCL but yes they are more laid back. Carnival is a great kid friendly cruiseline, and I've never been on RCI but would love to go on the Oasis or the Allure. If your child loves to be in water then I would choose a ship that has a waterpark that allows diapers or has a splash pool for diapers. Nothing worse then walking past that pool a million times and you have to keep saying no. There are so many activities on so many islands from little zoos to under water observatories and so much more. But somehow we frequently end up at the beaches. We have never booked anything since we had our son we just do our own thing.

[flhokie]

Even though Allure & Oasis call at Labadee (private island) on their western itinerary, they do not tender there. The dock was modified to accommodate them. They do not call at Coco Cay since it is tender only.

 

Even though we docked in each port (Nassau, St. Thomas & St. Maarten), we pretty much stayed on the ship in port (walked around port area in St. Thomas & St Maarten). Since we can be at beautiful beaches in an hour we didn't feel a need to do that and DD would have gotten frustrated with sightseeing/shopping. It worked out great as there were no crowds at the pools, etc those days.

 

We liked the windjammer buffet on Allure & thought the food was good (never had dinner there though). There are a lot of dining options other than dining room and buffet--some included (Park Cafe, promenade cafe, pizza, cafe near flow riders) and some cost extra (Johnny Rockets & specialty dining locations).

[Kerry's Girls]

Princess is a nice choice in your situation because they allow a parent to take their underage child into the kids club area to play/use the toys, etc. Princess is also known for good food, though with a toddler I would never do buffet, so you may want to choose one of the large ships that has lots of casual dining choices where you can be served.

 

Best,

Mia

[dream_cruiser]

Thank you for all the answers! I see there are fans of all the different options - no wonder it is hard to make the choice! :-) I was leaning toward the Oasis / Allure, and flhokie's comments about Allure confirmed my hunch. I see that you cruised much with Princess in the past, but are not saying anything about the Royal Princess? ... Allure or Oasis is the most expensive option, is it still worth it? It seems almost double the price of Epic at this point ($950 for inside, $1,230 for balcony)...

[flhokie]

We haven't done Princess with DD so I don't know much about that side of Princess. We did eat in the buffet quite a bit on our last 2 Princess sailings & they often had many of the dining room options on the dinner buffet.

 

Have you looked at ?Freedom of the Seas from Port Canaveral? You might get 1 tender port, but the rest should be docked. They have the toy lending program & some of the casual dining options. I've seen better pricing on Freedom than Allure/Oasis.