Cruising with a toddler

[SilentHill]

Hi everyone,

 

My wife and I will be cruising with our son who will be 19 months in November on the Anthem. We've only cruised NCL and never with a child. Any tips?

[Clarea]

You may also find some useful info in the Family Cruising forum:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/

 

 

[spacepotatoes]

We just got back from the Anthem with a 2.5 year old and a 5 year old. Your toddler will be too young for any of the kids clubs but Anthem has a nursery and you can sign up to use that in the evenings. There is also a play space with lots of toys. You just have to stay and supervise as there is no staff supervising the play area, but it is open pretty much all day every day. My little guy really liked it. 

 

I have read that you can ask to borrow a bag of toys to keep in your cabin. We didn't do that, though, so I don't know anything about how that works.

 

The crew onboard was fantastic with the kids. They really love the littles and treat them well. 

Edited August 20, 2019 by spacepotatoes

[njkruzer]

We've had our granddaughter, with her parents,  on 3 cruises,  the first when she was 2.  We has traditional dining and our waiter quickly learned what to bring her before the rest of us got our food.  For our sanity we also got her a tablet (I know probably not good in the long run but we got through dinner).  DIL got her sound limiting earphones and we all enjoyed dinner. On the Quantum we used the nursery that was mentioned. She's now 6.5 and has been on 4 cruises and can run the show!  They usually bring a small stroller,  which carries stuff when she won't get in.

[grod19]

6 hours ago, SilentHill said:

Hi everyone,

 

My wife and I will be cruising with our son who will be 19 months in November on the Anthem. We've only cruised NCL and never with a child. Any tips?

 

We will be on Anthem in Dec with our 17 month old so when you get back hurry and post a review with lots of suggestions

[FreshOffTheBoat]

I have two kids and they are currently 6 and 3. We have cruised pretty much twice a year since they were born.

 

The nursery is great on Anthem we used it almost every day on a 8 night cruise. Just go up to the nursery and sign up for the times you want. It is possible for time slots to fill up (although it can be pretty rare for them to fill up).

 

The anthem has a splash area for toddlers that aren't potty trained. We usually go to the pool right after breakfast when its less busy. The afternoon all the activities begin and everyone is at the pool.

 

If you want to do dinner with the toddler bring some type of entertainment (Ipad). My kids never do well sitting at a table for 1 hour when they were that age.

 

Excursion wise I would just book some beach transfers with Royal. They usually transport you in either a big van or a bus so its safer for the toddler to be in those types of vehicles than a small car with no car seat.

 

We always have a great time. Enjoy your cruise !