T minus 15 days till cruise with a 19 month old!

[Akitkat118]

Hi all - in 15 days I will be embarking on my cruise with my 19 month old (who will turn 20 months while aboard). I have religiously been following your advice on here.

I have been on a ton of cruises but this will be lil man's first. I will report back when we come home to let you know how he did along with any tips I might have to pass along. We're on Royal Caribbean's Independence.

 

Stay tuned!

[charliegirlac]

Enjoy!! We are t minus 10 days with a 13 month old!

[Ashland]

Please both of you above posters ... come back and tell of your experiences...We are going on a family Alaska cruise May 2014 and our grandson will be 17 mos. at that time...Thanks so much and enjoy your cruises :)

[Gardeneroflove]

dd was 14 months on her first cruise, she did great! We have less than 30 days till her second. I'm suddenly nervous, even though we've done this before, I feel like with each new age, everything is 'the first time' again. Last cruise we didn't need any toys or books, oddly, but this time dh thinks we will. Though I always keep bubbles, stickers and a small toy with me.

 

I spent the past few months teaching her the Disney characters, and started talking to her today about the 'long, long, long no baby cry' car trip. I think I've spend more on stuff to keep her entertained/bribed in the car than I have on Christmas. The car trip last year was hell.

 

Tips-Go with the flow. Expect the young ones to eat and sleep more, mine was on one nap but took two or had quiet time.

 

Plan downtime. My kid needs downtime. I'd leave her be to play with a ball and my flip flop on the balcony. Let them lead the way at times.

 

We skipped all big shows, but did catch a short in between show, that was perfect!

 

I'm more laid back on vacation, I'm very anti tv and junk food at home (dd never had juice will pt'ing at 19months!) But on the ship, uh, whatever, I'll let her have ice cream or cookie as a snack, maybe juice in the am or at port (esp if in a line!)

 

we do early dining, dd was passed out by 8pm if she didn't have a nap before dinner. I'd be willing to do room service but dh is mdr all the way.

 

Switch off/take turns. Dh would walk with dd, then I would, after dinner he'd take her to play and I'd sit and enjoy coffee and dessert. We never go out at home, but we actually made it through every meal in mdr (I think we had a few casual lunches). I'm not sure we'll be that lucky this year.

[katiedidthat]

We're getting off from our first cruise with our 13 month old and it went surprisingly well.

We were seated alone at early seating and after the first night- the wait staff would bring DS's food with our starter and were always stopping by to play with him. We were both able to sit and enjoy each meal. I do recommend trying to "meal train" your toddler beforehand though. We would go out to dinner at somewhere family friendly (Denny's, Red Lobster, Bob Evans, etc) and ask the server to take their time. This gave us a chance to get DS used to sitting in a high chair and being quiet for long meals and helped us develop ways to keep him from making a mess.

We went to all the big shows, the only things we couldn't do with him were the comedians because he would get bored and make noise. He actually fell asleep in each show and would wake up after to go to the night babysitting for a few hours, giving us time for adults only stuff.

We had a balcony room and spent more time in the room this cruise than in the past since we went there to let DS down to play. We brought a back pack full of little cars and balls but found out that we could have borrowed a few toys from Camp Carnival. There were only 7 kids under 2 on our sailing, which meant the morning play time was almost always empty. We did say that in the future we will stick to a RCI ship though for the babies and tots program since carnival was aimed more to older kids.

[crusinmama06]

Come back and let us know how it went - we LOVED Indy!

 

Here is a pic of the Baby Splash Zone for your toddler :) This will be the area that you will be looking for.

 

[Akitkat118]

thanks!!! we're excited... justa few days to go!!!

we're expecting to be go with the flow. he is very scheduled at home.. .but i am also a very lucky mama that he likes to sleep in his stroller for naps so i expect he will pass out anywhere for his nap and my dh and i can just continue to walk around or what not.

my biggest "fear" is bedtime. at home he goes in at 7:45 and we're hoping to stretch him without making him overtired.