Adventure Ocean Aquanauts Questions

[tinabinab]

I've read several threads about how wonderful the Adventure Ocean program is! We'll be bringing our daughter on our next cruise and she will be almost 3 1/2 by then. I have a couple of questions about the Aquanauts program that I'm hoping some of you "been there, done that" cruisers can answer:

 

* Potty training. I've read that the staff can't help the kids with any part of this process and I'm cool with that. Are the bathrooms in the AO area kid sized? I'm actually more concerned that she's going to have a problem with grabbing and tearing off the toilet paper by herself. Will they even help with doing that and just handing it to her? Luckily I do have time to work with her on that.

 

* If we did decide to leave her on board on a port day, do they have cots or anything to take a nap on if she gets tired?

 

* Again, if we did decide to leave her on board on a port day, do you have to go on a ship sponsored excursion so that the ship knows how to get a hold of you if need be?

 

Thanks!

Tina

[ritarussell]

Hi there. I have been on 3 cruises with my little ones. My ds was 3 on his first RCI cruise. They will not help them with the bathroom, so be sure that she knows how to go on her own. If she has problems with buttons, snaps or zippers (like mine did at the time) be sure she doesn't have any of that on. She will LOVE Adventure Ocean - they have one day where they do a little parade around the ship and put on a show for everyone. Be sure not to miss that. I didn't leave my kids on port days so I can't answer much about that but I dont' believe you have to go on a ship excursion to leave them. They were open pretty much all day while in port. ENJOY!!!

[BPWJR]

On the two ships had my daughters on, bathrooms were kid sized, can not speak exactly as to where the dispenser was though

 

No cots that I saw, believe there may be mats. Excursions we did back early enough to get them out for lunch at windjammer and then regular naps in cabin. Just brought them back after naps for afternoon events

 

See if doc below helps

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/pdf/Adventure_Ocean_Fact_Sheet.pdf

[bobbie0253]

The only one I can answer is no you do not have to be on an excursion. We let my daughter stay on the ship in Key West once. We went shopping for about an hour and then had some lunch. After that we went back. I was a bit worried about not having her with me, but she was fine and much happier there than walking all over Key West. :)

[Nliedel]

The potties are kid sized. No help will be provided in the bathroom and really, that's the way I would prefer it

[wishtdream]

Your little one will love kids club. Mine does.

 

My 3 year old dd did fine with the potty on voyager. She loved the staff and they were truly wonderful but they do not help with the potty at all. they escort the children to the bathroom and back you are given a pager for the 3-5 year old group and if there is a problem they page you immediately.

 

There are nap mats available for the little ones if they need them.

 

Have a great cruise

[tinabinab]

Thanks for all the responses - they really help alot! My guess on the potty thing is that she is probably more independent at daycare than she is at home.

 

I was initially worried that she would hate going to AO and we'd feel bad leaving her there even for a few hours - but with all the ravings that I've ready on CC, I'm more worried now that she'll want to spend all her time there! :)

 

If you have any other tips for cruising with a toddler, I'd love to hear those as well! We booked a D1, because I read on another thread that it was nice to have the balcony to sit on during nap times. Seemed like a reasonable excuse to book a nicer room than I'd originally intended. :)

 

Thanks again!

Tina

[Rala]

The general concensus here (with a few exceptions, of course) seems to be that parents have to drag their children "kicking and screaming" OUT of AO because they love it so much. From personal experience with 5 yr. old grandson, I know this is the case. I am sure your little one will have a ball! Enjoy!

[chascougs]

Thanks for all the imput. We will be on the 11/25/06 Legend with our 5 year old twins and our 3 year old "baby". It's really nice that the three of them will be in the same grouping.

[CruisinFinsUp]

* Potty training. I've read that the staff can't help the kids with any part of this process and I'm cool with that. Are the bathrooms in the AO area kid sized? I'm actually more concerned that she's going to have a problem with grabbing and tearing off the toilet paper by herself. Will they even help with doing that and just handing it to her? Luckily I do have time to work with her on that.

* If we did decide to leave her on board on a port day, do they have cots or anything to take a nap on if she gets tired?

* Again, if we did decide to leave her on board on a port day, do you have to go on a ship sponsored excursion so that the ship knows how to get a hold of you if need be?

 

Hi, What ship will you be on?

 

We just got back from the Jewel - my son is 3 1/2 too and we have a 6 year old daughter also. The kids LOVED the AO. The staff are not permitted to go into the bathrooms with the kids, so its not like daycare or nursery school where they help them (and know them better too). The kids are definitely on their own. The 3-5 year olds bathroom on the Jewel was all lower sized (the cabin toilets are very high, as are all the other public room toilets - we always had to lift him onto the seat as they were all too high) - but the toilet paper was a bit far - I told him to grab it first and hold on to it - I took him in the first day and had him go all by himself while I watched to make sure he was ok. Sometimes they had my 6 year old go in with him to help.

 

We always took our kids on shore excursions - the AO day according to the schedule takes them to lunch, then has quiet time for an hour, but I have no idea if they actually have them lie down as we never tried it. The phone system / pager DOES NOT WORK OFF SHIP - so see if your cell phone can be set up to work locally - we had two cells along and sometimes only one worked and the other had no signal (different carriers) - so set it up in advance with your cell carrier if you want them to work. Otherwise there is no way to reach you at all. I'm not sure what the staff would do if our child was overtired or hurt or just cranky and we were not reachable - you may want to ask this question before you leave the ship - the first couple of nights our 3 year old was "done" and we were called to go get him for one reason or another. I think that one problem was that he was the only 3 year old and the rest of the group were all 5 - there is a big difference in those ages. I think he often felt a little "left behind" in the games as he didn't catch on as fast as the older kids and got a bit frustrated. Check the sign in sheets to see what the group ages are.

 

Our drivers on the ship sponsered excursions sometimes had cell phones, but when they split us up onto little buses, no one paid any attention to which passengers were on which driver's bus, so I would NOT depend on that as a way to reach you.

 

Enjoy, but leave open the option to slow it down, maybe do different excursions and take your 3 year old along if you have any concerns. Overall the AO was great - the kids loved it and want to go back!! Also, the kiddie pool and waterslide on the Jewel were GREAT for the little ones. Freshwater!! But unless the child is 46 inches or 6 years old, a parent must go down the waterslide with them - it was FUN!!