Activities for 20-month old boy

[Angie-Pangie]

We are travelling on the Pearl on 2/25. Our son will be 20-months. I have a few questions regarding what we can do with him.

1- Can we use the facilities of the Kids Club if we are with him, as I know he is too young to sign him up. Or can we sneak him in and sign him up for the club? Is there flexibility in regards to age?

2- What is the situation with the pools for babies who are not potty-trained? Is there a special pool for non-potty-trained kiddies? Not meaning to gross people out but if anyone has tips&tricks for how to get around the issue of getting your kid in the pool, please share!

3- Since we are travelling with a youngster and therefore our patience for line-ups may be comprimised, any suggestions about what time to arrive for embarkation?? If it shows a 1 o'clock embark, should we bother getting there before that? I would be great if we could be on the boat at around 1 and in our room by 2 for a nap.

[Don Haynes]

NCL checks the birth certificates for the kids crew. Your child can visit the kids crew if you stay with him/her. If your child is not potty trained, please for the sake of the rest of us don't allow him/her in the pool. Any booboo, and the pool will have to be closed and drained and sanitizied.

 

Don't laugh about the pool, I have seen it before. Noro virus is the cruise lines worst enemy.

[Guest BeckyThane]

Several posters here have mentioned bringing an inflatable kiddie pool to set up on the balcony, if you have one.

 

I have to agree with Don, though -- please don't take non-potty trained kids in the pools or hot tubs. There are signs posted in the pool areas to this effect since it is a CDC regulation due to Noro.

[Angie-Pangie]

Girl Guide promise not to bring kid in the pool. Never thought about the Noro link, was concentrating on what to do with kid screaming to go in pool. But great idea about bringing blow-up tiny kiddie pool. Any ideas where to get the water to fill it up?

[Guest BeckyThane]

Girl Guide promise not to bring kid in the pool. Never thought about the Noro link, was concentrating on what to do with kid screaming to go in pool. But great idea about bringing blow-up tiny kiddie pool. Any ideas where to get the water to fill it up?

I really don't know how people deal with this -- I've wondered. :confused: I don't know if a gallon jug would fit under the water spigot in the bathroom sink. Or, you could fill up the ice bucket multiple times. This seems like an awful lot, though. Any ideas from anyone else?

[cruisincarrie]

Hi Angie,

 

We are just back from the 1/19 sailing on the Pearl. We had our daughters with us (6 yrs. and almost 2). I can't help you too much with boarding time since we were on the 9 night, and I think your date is on the 5 night (?). We were told that they were hoping to have all of us off of the ship by 12:30.

 

As for the pool information, as others have stated, there are no swim diapers allowed in any pool. In the children's pool area, there is a shower to rinse off before entering the pool (it's just open and has a drain). If you took a small pool, you could fill it up there and your son could still play with the other toys in the area. Have you seen a picture of it? It is all enclosed by glass and is completely shaded. It was nice not to have to worry about sunburns! The only bad part was that it is on the smoking side of the ship and you will get a fair amount of second-hand smoke.

 

I also wanted to let you know that they had an "Under 2 Zoo" onboard. It was in one of the conference rooms and was open from 9-5 on most days. They had Play Hut tents and tunnels set up. They also had puzzles and blocks to play with. It was nice to have another option for a place to go. My DH would take our daughter down there while I got my older daughter and myself ready for dinner. They will not allow the under 2 kids to play in the kids area and the areas are locked when not in use. I was glad for the alternative.

 

Our daughter is potty trained, so we didn't have to worry about the pool issue, but I think you would be able to fill it under the shower at the back of the kids pool area. I'm sure he would still like to play in the other toys in that area and there is a picnic table in there too.

 

Your son will be treated like a king on the Pearl. Our daughters were treated so well. Many of the staff members knew them by name after our first day and always went out of their way to speak to them. We even had waitstaff ask us to request sitting in their area so they could interact with them and make them napkin animals and hats. It was really wonderful!

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions I can try to help with. Enjoy your cruise!

 

Carrie

[Marlissa]

Be sure to check out the Family Cruising section under the Special Interest area of these boards. Here is a link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49. There might be some helpful hints, etc. I believe there is a post(s) over there relating to the blow-up pool.

[Angie-Pangie]

Thanks for the info CruisinCarrie. Very helpful. So glad that there is an "under 2 zoo". Although we may never get out of the kids cafe once he finds out that there are all those cookies for the taking.

[cruisincarrie]

Angie,

 

Just FYI, the Kid's Cafe is only open if there are enough kids on board to warrant keeping food stocked there. On our sailing there weren't. Not to worry, though, you can still use the cute little tables (it was funny to watch all of the older people not realize it was a kids area and wonder why the tables were so low!), and there were always snacks available in the Great Outdoors or the Garden Cafe. We also ordered PBJ, potato chips and cookies from room service and put them in ziplocs to take into the ports. Yes, we are cheap, but more than that, I didn't want to have to try to find food that they would eat that I wouldn't worry about who prepared it and if they would get sick from it. It worked wonderfully! You can even order it at 7am when you are getting ready. Also, we had them empty our fridge so that we could keep milk cold in there for our little one. Our favorite waiter even sent us a carton of her lactose-free milk to keep in the fridge to refill her cup. Make sure you take some of the disposable sippy or straw cups to have them fill in the restaurants. They don't have lids.

[newmexicoNita]

It sounds like you have gotten some very good advise. The inflatable pool is something I too have read about and it makes truely good sense. None of the cruise lines will allow kids that are not potty trained in the pools for health reasons.

 

Have a good cruise and let everyone know how it goes when you retun. NM Nita