Best Royal Ship for Toddler?

[gander24]

We are contemplating going on a cruise with our daughter after she turns 2. Hubby and I have been on a boatload (pun intended) of cruises before her, and are excited to experience a big boat through the freshness of a child’s eyes. We know the vacation won’t be relaxing but hey, neither is life at home these days! But we are looking forward to making some good memories and helping to instill a love of travel in our girl. She did fabulous at Disney earlier this year when she was only just over a year old - we did not expect to have as much fun as we did, but she thrived on the change of pace.

 

I can’t really find any clear-cut answers on what the best Royal Ship would be with a toddler, particularly one that is not potty trained. There is a chance she will be by the time we go, but I don’t want that to be a limiting factor. There is mixed info on the baby splash pad on Oasis vs Harmony, for example. Can anyone share their recommendations or experiences in cruising with a toddler?

[Clarea]

To my knowledge, all Oasis class ships have swim diaper pool areas.

[myacuna]

Anthem had a tiny splash area for the non potty trained. When I say tiny, I mean tiny. And very very shallow. My son could go in the pools but wanted to stay with his cousin. He enjoyed playing with his monster trucks in it but it’s pretty underwhelming.

 

Not sure what oasis class splash areas look like.

 

We’ve been cruising with our son since he was 11mo old. We love it! Ships with a nursery were a must for us and we just kept him away from the pools when he wasn’t potty trained. No issue there

 

 

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[smplybcause]

Saw an article recently that said H20 Zones have more swim diaper area than the Splashaway Bays. The article had a list of which ships had which one. I know Oasis has H20 as we're going on her with my niece who will be 2. Though she's potty training now, so I think her parents are hoping she'll be done before the cruise in Dec.

 

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[PhoenixCruiser]

The Freedom is a great ship for toddlers.

 

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[Norwich Cruiser]

:oFreedom or Oasis class

[Cel_cruise]

We would highly recommend Liberty of the Seas for toddlers (at least compared to Navigator)...don’t know if all freedom or voyagers classes are the same as those to know if the whole class would be good.

 

Liberty will have the royal babies and tots room if you want some paid babysitting, they have a splash pad area that would be good enough for a 2 year old, and the ship isn’t too big that your two year old couldn’t walk some places. I would worry that on an oasis size ship you would need to bring the stroller everywhere...

 

I would recommend a balcony room so that you have a little place to escape if kiddo is up early but you and DH aren’t BOTH ready to get up or a place to go if kiddo is taking a nap/sleeping and you don’t want to be silent..

 

All that being said - I always told myself that if I was cruising with a 2 year old I would look at other lines that offer FREE childcare for a 2 year old..(carnival?)..haven’t done it but if you have a daycare kiddo that would enjoy the kids club activities this could be a real winning vacation feature! 2 year olds are a lot harder to keep entertained than 1 year olds!!

 

(We didn’t cruise until our youngest was 4 so I don’t have any real hands on experience with your question - but we did take multiple trips to Disney yearly when the kids were little so traveling with this age group is VERY familiar!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Cruise a holic]

We are contemplating going on a cruise with our daughter after she turns 2. Hubby and I have been on a boatload (pun intended) of cruises before her, and are excited to experience a big boat through the freshness of a child’s eyes. We know the vacation won’t be relaxing but hey, neither is life at home these days! But we are looking forward to making some good memories and helping to instill a love of travel in our girl. She did fabulous at Disney earlier this year when she was only just over a year old - we did not expect to have as much fun as we did, but she thrived on the change of pace.

 

I can’t really find any clear-cut answers on what the best Royal Ship would be with a toddler, particularly one that is not potty trained. There is a chance she will be by the time we go, but I don’t want that to be a limiting factor. There is mixed info on the baby splash pad on Oasis vs Harmony, for example. Can anyone share their recommendations or experiences in cruising with a toddler?

 

I would recommend the Oasis class. The merry go round and children pool area would be loved. The water park is great for toddlers. You can also use some facilities at the camp with your child. Enjoy.

[NewKansasKruiser]

The aquanauts program on Liberty of the Seas is free, is that correct? Thanks in advance!

[Clarea]

The aquanauts program on Liberty of the Seas is free, is that correct? Thanks in advance!

Correct, unless the child stays past the evening limit, which I believe is 10pm. They will charge an hourly fee at that point.

[Cel_cruise]

The aquanauts program on Liberty of the Seas is free, is that correct? Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

Free and our daughter loved aquanauts programming!! (She was 4...we did pay for her after hours (“Late Night”) a few times as well because that’s ALL she wanted all week!

 

 

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[gander24]

Thank you, everybody! Great information all around!

[BNBR]

The swim diaper splash pad on Oasis/Allure vs Harmony/Symphony is night and day. On Oasis, it's a tiny little circle and your toddler will be crying because they can't play with the "toys". On Harmony, there is a substantial swim diapered area with slides, water toys, etc. It's a game changer, period. Don't even think Oasis and Harmony are comparable in this regard. Not even close.

 

So yes, Harmony and Symphony, without a doubt, are your best option.

 

That said, I would actually sail Carnival. Only Carnival has complimentary, real camp for 2+ non-potty trained toddlers. Royal starts at 3 and must be potty trained, else it's paid nursery. On Carnival, a 2 year old gets all the fun camp stuff. Face painting, all the fun activities, and they'll change diapers, too. After sailing Oasis then the old Carnival Glory with our 2 year old... I would take Carnival ALL DAY at that age since our kids loved the camp so much, which freed up a ton of adult time. Of course the ships are not as nice, but dang, that extra time to just relax and do adult stuff was priceless.

[Clarea]

... That said, I would actually sail Carnival. Only Carnival has complimentary, real camp for 2+ non-potty trained toddlers. Royal starts at 3 and must be potty trained, else it's paid nursery. On Carnival, a 2 year old gets all the fun camp stuff. Face painting, all the fun activities, and they'll change diapers, too. After sailing Oasis then the old Carnival Glory with our 2 year old... I would take Carnival ALL DAY at that age since our kids loved the camp so much, which freed up a ton of adult time. Of course the ships are not as nice, but dang, that extra time to just relax and do adult stuff was priceless.

Does Carnival have a swim diaper area?

[BNBR]

Does Carnival have a swim diaper area?

 

Not that I'm aware of. Not on Glory at least and nothing I've seen. My understanding is that only Harmony and Symphony have legitimate swim diaper areas. After sailing Oasis with a swim diapered toddler, I can say the area may exist on Oasis, but it's so worthless that it may as well not be there. Harmony is different. And it's not just me. Countless parents complaining about the Oasis swim diapered area, I felt bad for the Royal crew member who had to deal with it. Kids screaming and crying, wanting to play with water guns, and all they have is a tiny little circle with 2 inches of water right in the middle of the splash pad.... so try explaining to your 2 year old they can ONLY play in a 6 foot circle of 2 inches of water and can't touch any of the numerous toys and water features... it's a disaster. Which fully explains the major expansion on Harmony. I mean, they put in a huge swim diapered play area with slides, water features, etc.

 

Anyways, if camp is important and you like having some free time, then Carnival is a no brainer. If you don't do camp, then Harmony will offer more than Carnival by far. For us, we like the camps and our boys, including our 2 year old non-potty trained boy, LOVED camp so much that they would practically cry when we picked them up. They would have their faces painted, little craft projects, all sorts of stuff they were doing. On Royal, we had to put our 2 year old in a tiny nursery (on Harmony), we had to pay for it, and it was just 1/10 of what Carnival offers for this age group. It's really just an infant nursery and not appropriate for 2+ years old. Which leaves a major age group not really taken care of by Royal. 2 - 3 years old, without potty training, is just an age that is completely mishandled by Royal with the camp/nursery program. So for us, Carnival BY FAR was the better choice at the time. Now that they are potty trained and 4+, I prefer Royal.

[Cel_cruise]

I’m fairly certain Liberty had a decent swim diaper area even a mini slide (if you were coming from the elevators it was on the left hand side of the splashaway Bay Area)...but it was renovated around the same time as Harmony launched so maybe it’s the same one?

 

 

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[Cel_cruise]

I definitely think the carnival kids club would be a huge winning factor for us! Good luck OP..

 

 

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[Hopetotravel]

AdventureOS also has a shallow swim diaper pool with a little slide. Just be aware that even if she is trained but doesn't meet the height requirement for the other kids pool she will still only be able to go in the swim diaper pool and she will have to have a swim diaper on whether she's trained or not.

[BNBR]

Good info about Liberty of the Seas. They do have a decent swim diaper splash pad. It's great to see Royal taking the lead with this, other lines should take note.

 

It's the area to the right in the picture, separated with the glass divider.

 

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Not on the level of Harmony, but it's a good option still.

 

Harmony:

 

[PhoenixCruiser]

This is from Freedom

 

 

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[BNBR]

This is from Freedom

 

 

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Am I seeing correctly? It's an empty splash area for swim diapers right? Kind of like Oasis. It's a disaster as a 2 year old wants to play with all the toys but can't.