Things I learned from my recent CCL Liberty cruise with kids & kid-centered review

[Paleochick]

We just returned from our cruise on Carnival Liberty (category 8C – cabin 8240, 10/21 sailing). We’ve cruised before, but not with our kids (3 and 1). I decided to write a review and post it in the family forum since it will benefit people traveling with small kids more than anyone else.

 

 

 

Pre-cruise:

We stayed 4 days at Loews in South Beach Miami. If you have to have kids with you in SoBe, stay at Loews. Enough said. It was great for kids.

 

Boarding:

We boarded at Port Everglades. The lines were somewhat long, but because we had a 3 year old and a baby in a stroller, they pulled us out of the line early and sent us through with the wheelchair passengers. What a deal! We breezed through the entire process in under 15 minutes. We had all of our pre-boarding info filled out, and passports in hand so we didn’t have to dig for information once we got to the counter. The stroller really was fantastic. When my kids are teenagers, I’m taking them in strollers so we can get through the line faster. :p We purchased passports for our kids even though we really didn’t need them. It cut down on processing time for sure, and the peace of mind in foreign countries was priceless. Our cruise docs suggested we arrive at the port between something like 1 and 3. We got there about noon, and I’m glad we did. The lines were more reasonable then, and we were able to enjoy a nice lunch on board while the other passengers who arrived after 1 stood in a very long line. Our cabin was ready at 130. Definitely arrive early and start the vacation early.

 

Muster Drill:

The lifeboat drill was fairly painless and lasted about 20 minutes. It started about 415 on deck 4. We were asked to carry our life jackets to and from the drill (not wear them). That was nice. We didn’t even make our baby put the jacket on during the drill. We tried it on her before the drill to make sure it fit. We had to call and call the front desk prior to the drill asking for kid-size jackets. They kept telling us they’d be delivered by our steward by 3pm. After 3pm and no jackets, we continued to call since we hadn’t seen our steward yet. I’m glad I kept calling. We got the jackets right before the drill. Some people say they are never delivered child-sized jackets. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Insist and insist on pint-size jackets to fit children and infants. One thing really bothered me about the muster drill. At the drill they put an arm band with the muster station on it on all arms of kids 12 and under. I didn’t know that they put my 3yo’s band on too tight for 3 days! He isn’t a big complainer, so I never thought anything about it. One night during a bath, I was trying to wash under the band and I couldn’t even rotate it on his arm. I became a little concerned and told my dh to quickly cut it off. Under that arm band all of the top layer of skin was GONE. It looked like he had been burned, and there was flaky skin everywhere. I’m not sure if he had a fungus growing under there in the moisture or what, but I feel really bad because it was painful and itchy after that. We still may take him to the pediatrician if the burn look doesn’t go away. I guess what I learned is that at the muster station, make the staff member apply the arm band slowly and make sure it isn’t too tight.

 

Cabin:

Our balcony cabin was very organized and spacious. We put our 3 year old in a Pullman fold-down bed on the wall. It had a rail. Even with a little tossing and turning I was never worried about him falling. We had to get an extra blanket for our 3yo since they only made the bed with a sheet and a blanket. The room was cool, so ask if you need more blankets! We asked for a crib for the baby. It was delivered to our cabin about 415pm, while we were at the muster drill. It was a standard white crib on wheels like you see in hotels. I brought a crib sheet from home for comfort and a blanket. I’m glad we took our own blanket because the best they could offer was a folded up twin size blanket from a regular bed. The lock on the balcony door was higher than my head. No normal 3yo kid would be able to unlock that door. The railing on the balcony was quite high. My ds stood on the chair a few times to look over, but even then, it would have been difficult for him to fall over. He was only allowed on the balcony with us there. Because cabins only have 1 outlet, usually located on the desk, I’m glad we took an extension cord with 3 outlets on the end. We took a small travel fan for white noise. The extra outlets were very handy for the fan, charging cell phones, charging the phone Camp Carnival gave us, charging camera batteries, etc. I got my extension cord at IKEA for next to nothing. It was a great thing to have. I’m also glad we had the fan. One night room service tried to deliver food to us…we hadn’t ordered anything. My kids slept through the whole thing, and they are light sleepers. I took one of those over the door shoe organizers this time…the first time I have taken it. I can’t tell you how handy that purchase was. We hung it on the closet door on the outside. I put all sorts of things in there. Some things had to be out of my 1yo’s reach…I put those things on the top. Just off the top of my head, the things I stored in the pouches were diaper cream, room keys, camera, sunglasses, disposable bibs, sunblock, Camp Carnival phone, etc. This thing was fantastic. I didn’t have to stack all of that stuff on the desk. We had 4 people in a cabin and we weren’t cluttered at all. My 3yo played on the Pullman a lot, and my baby played with her toys on the floor or on the couch under the Pullman. The crib fit at the foot of out bed. We had oodles of space.

 

Bathroom:

The bathroom was a standard cruise ship bathroom…small with no tub. We brought the PERFECT inflatable tub…even my 3yo was able to use it. It’s called the Snug Tub Deluxe. I think I bought it online. The beautiful thing about this little tub is that it’s bigger than some tubs, sturdy, and large enough to use on deck for a diaper-aged kid. It has a little drain plug in the bottom, so we used it as a swimming pool for our 1yo. We found 2 deck chairs with a deck drain between them. We placed the tub/swimming pool between the chairs. When we were done, we pulled the plug and the water went straight down the drain. We didn’t even have to use a bucket to fill up the tub on deck…My dh just took it to the pool, filled up up 1/3 of the way, and carried it back to the space between our deck chairs. I highly recommend this tub for dual purpose use.

 

Camp Carnival:

My 3yo absolutely adored Camp. I think Camp was by far the best part of our cruise. It was far more professional that I expected. It was organized, safe, amazing. I could go on and on. You have absolutely nothing to worry about sending your kid there. The first night they have a registration time, but in our case it wasn’t in the camp itself (there were 400 kids on our sailing). I’m very glad we went to the camp right when we boarded to show my 3yo where he’d be going to “school.” They let us come in with him and show him around. We stayed about 5 minutes max, but it really helped the next morning when he went marching in and didn’t look back. If you’re worried about dropping your kid off and not being able to go in with him or her, take them there after you board on the first day. Ask to look around. We weren’t the only family doing this and it made it EASY! They didn’t have a tip bucket set up the last night, so I just handed them some cash and asked the counselor to share with the people who worked with my son.

 

My 1yo even used Camp a few times (with our supervision) on sea days. Camp was open from 12-2 for kids under 2 on sea days. She loved the play time. They even let us take our 3yo in since he was a sibling of a baby playing in Camp during that time. It was great to go and sit back and not worry too much about what they were getting into.

 

Stroller and car seats:

I am so glad I invested in a nice umbrella stroller with a sun shade. Some people on our cruise had huge strollers. I kept thinking, where do you store that thing? If you are storing a huge stroller, where is your luggage? Where is the car seat you brought aboard? Definitely don’t bring a double wide stroller (good luck getting down the hallways with a double), and remember that you have to store it in your cabin and you can’t store anything on a balcony. My little stroller folded up nicely and fit in the closet with one car seat. The other car seat fit out of the way on one side of the bed. Easy! Also remember that your stroller may have to go on a tender boat.

 

Dining room:

We were seated at a table for 4 in the kid section of the Silver Dining Room (early seating). I’m so glad we had our own table. My 1yo had a hard time adjusting to the time change, the hot weather, and the busy schedule. She was difficult at dinner and we had to take her out on walks a lot. Our table was immediately next to an exit. It was perfect. There were so many families in the kid section the first night at dinner. On subsequent nights, many didn’t even show up. I think a lot of people opted for the buffet with small kids. That’s too bad since they missed the best food, but I totally understand. My 3yo doesn’t like to dress up, but he got the picture by the end of the cruise that we dress up in the nice dining room and we use our best manners. The cruise was so good at helping us train him for nice events. The food on the kids menu was appropriate for kids. Some nights we ordered off the main menu for my 1yo since she loves food and will try anything. It was a great experience. I now know a few more foods I can prepare at home that she’ll eat. My 3yo only wanted french fries and fruit each night. Occasionally he’d try the pizza or the chicken nuggets. He’s less willing to experiment.

 

Other foods:

The buffet on the Lido deck had enough options for my picky eater and for my open-minded eater. No complaints.

 

Room service:

Room service didn’t really offer many foods my kids would eat. They had cookies and peanut butter sandwiches and veggie sticks, but nothing hot. Each evening we either went to the buffet right before bed or brought something back to the cabin from the buffet. My 1yo likes to have a little snack before bed to get her through the night.

 

Other gear I couldn’t live without:

2 way radios. The only way my dh and I could enjoy some free time (free of kids) was to take turns having alone time. For this, we found 2 way radios were ideal. We got a set with about 20 channels from Walmart for about $19, I believe. One of us could head to the gym or the buffet or a show during nap time. The other could page him or her when the nap was done. We used these radios a lot and didn’t have any trouble finding a channel that wasn’t being used by another family. We used them several times a day. I will always cruise with them.

 

Disposable bibs. Especially for formal night.

 

Travel alarm clock. I found a cool alarm clock at LLBean. It was inexpensive. When my baby would wake up in the middle of the night in a dark cabin, I just had to tap the clock to see what time it was. It was easy to change the time in each new time zone.

 

Post-it Notes and a Highlighter. I used the highlighter several times each day to highlight events in the daily newsletter and in the Camp Carnival schedule for my kids.

 

What should I have taken?:

A dim night light for my extension cord. We used the bathroom light for a night light and closed the door. Enough light seeped out to give us a little light. The problem came when one of us needed to use the bathroom at night. We’d have to turn off the bathroom light before opening the door so the bright light wouldn’t wake the baby (who is a light sleeper). When we pushed the button to turn off the light, the loud CLICK woke the baby up every time. UGH! If we left the light off, my 3yo got too nervous. So, we had a tired and cranky 1yo who woke up a lot at night since daddy insisted on drinking lots of beer with dinner:cool:.

 

What did I take that I didn’t use?:

A bungee cord for the balcony. Why would anyone with kids want to prop a balcony door open? It’s asking for trouble. Why didn’t I think about that until I got on the ship?

 

 

 

Way too many diapers...I was afraid of running out.

 

 

What service did I love best?:

Near the end of the cruise, the steward put a bag in my room. They laundered anything I could fit in that bag for $15. I got almost all of my kids clothes cleaned before we went home. What a deal.

 

What did they sell in the gift shop?:

We spent a lot of money in the gift shop. Each day I bribed my 3yo for some reason or another. They had a few toys (activity toys, stuffed animals, souvenirs), some small packages of diapers (I didn’t notice the size), wipes, basic over the counter meds and toiletries, shirts, etc. I was glad I had shopped at the Dollar Store before leaving. Each day I pulled a few bucks worth of toys out of a suitcase. My kids thought it was great. I left a bunch of them in my cabin when we left…no room in the suitcases with all the new treasures. I didn’t mind leaving $7 worth of cheap toys behind.

 

Overall:

Overall we had a good time. My 3yo had the best time…because of Camp Carnival. Did dh and I relax like we used to on other cruises pre-kids? No way. We gave each other breaks and took turns taking care of the baby. I REALLY wish Carnival would offer in cabin babysitting. My light sleeper couldn’t ever go to group babysitting at night because she wouldn’t sleep. That meant I didn’t ever go to an evening show. I always took the night shift with baby. Did we know this going in? Yes. We knew we had to adjust our expectations of a cruise. Am I glad we booked a balcony? Oh yes! Since I spent a lot of extra time in the cabin (this was a new cruising experience for me…who spends time in the cabin?!) during naps, I’m so glad I had a balcony and a view. I would have gone mad without it. We planned port activities that were appropriate for our kids. In Key West we took the Trolley Tour. In Grand Cayman we didn’t get to see the rays…we went to Boatswain’s Beach and Turtle Farm (fantastic, by the way!!!) instead. In Jamaica, we hired Marva Shaw to take us on a private tour ($120/day for 4 of us in our own private bus!). They were so flexible with us. It was GREAT not to be on a particular set schedule. When the baby needed a nap, we asked the driver to take us to a shopping area that was safe and hassle free so we could push her in her stroller. We LOVED Marva Shaw. I think we’ll cruise again after my youngest can fully attend the camps. It was a lot of work taking care of her out of her normal environment. I know a lot of babies are more laid back than mine, so if you have an easy baby, I highly recommend cruising. For others, I’d recommend waiting until age 2 if you want to fully enjoy your cruise.

 

I hope this kid-centered review helps someone. I am more than happy to answer questions about traveling with kids of this age or about this ship or even about the ports. I have pictures of several of the things I mentioned if anyone is interested. I'm sad our cruise is over. Now I'm off to plan our next adventure.:D

[crusinmama06]

What did I take that I didn’t use?:

A bungee cord for the balcony. Why would anyone with kids want to prop a balcony door open? It’s asking for trouble. Why didn’t I think about that until I got on the ship?

 

LOL! Yeah I have never needed to pack a bungee cord. That balcony doors needs to stay locked or my 3 year old would be playing spiderman. :D

 

I am so glad you had such a nice time. You are right about Camp Carnival...the program is great for kids.

 

Welcome back and have fun planning the next one.

[abba_dabba_doo]

Great 'kid-centered' review...thanks! And glad to hear you had a good time.

 

Bathroom:

The bathroom was a standard cruise ship bathroom…small with no tub. We brought the PERFECT inflatable tub…even my 3yo was able to use it. It’s called the Snug Tub Deluxe.

 

Did you use the tub in the shower?

 

What service did I love best?:

Near the end of the cruise, the steward put a bag in my room. They laundered anything I could fit in that bag for $15. I got almost all of my kids clothes cleaned before we went home. What a deal.

 

Anyone know if RCI does this as well....that would be great at least wash the kids clothes before we go home.

[Paleochick]

Great 'kid-centered' review...thanks! And glad to hear you had a good time.

 

We did use the tub in the shower too. The shower head is removable. We put the tub in the bottom of the shower and filled it with the shower head.

 

I'm going to try and attach my first picture ever...let's see if it works...if not, I'll attach a link later. :D

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2760377330102433347rdmyDH]

[crusinmama06]

Want an easier way to post pictures?

 

Go to www.photobucket.com and register for free. You can password protect your albums. Upload the picture, then click on the IMG code under the picture. Copy/paste it here.

[abba_dabba_doo]

We did use the tub in the shower too. The shower head is removable. We put the tub in the bottom of the shower and filled it with the shower head.

 

I'm going to try and attach my first picture ever...let's see if it works...if not, I'll attach a link later. :D

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2760377330102433347rdmyDH]

 

 

So cute! And what a good idea. If I was bringing a baby I would definitley consider doing the same thing, but my littlest will be 4 and can handle the shower......she's always asking me at home to take a shower, but baths are just so much easier and faster! :) .

[rdy2cruz07]

Thanks, very helpful and gives us an idea of what to expect...I am glad to hear of others who have taken children on cruises and lived to tell about it. You are right you just have to be prepared to make adjustments and realize that it is not going to be like it was pre-kids. Would love to hear more about how you handles ports (lots of browsing with them in stroller?)

[larronry]

Great review. Our next cruise will be Carnival or RCCL. I just don't know if I could put my then 3 year old (assuming it will be next Dec) in a Pullman. Just watching the way he sleeps now I know he'll fall out.

 

Looks like it will be mom climbing up there. LOL Now let's hope he'll be ready to be potty trained as soon as he turns three.

[Giggles2007]

Since I have decided to take my kids on my next cruise (2009) I have really been oin this section alot. Although my kids will be at the time of cruise: DS 14 1/2, DS 13 and DD 11, I still find all family threads very interesting. My group will also consist of very little ones so this thread will be of some help to their mom once I pass the info along. Thanks for posting your review.

[Paleochick]

Great review. Our next cruise will be Carnival or RCCL. I just don't know if I could put my then 3 year old (assuming it will be next Dec) in a Pullman. Just watching the way he sleeps now I know he'll fall out.

 

If your 3yo is a squirmy sleeper, I'd avoid the pullman for sure. I'll post a picture (hopefully :rolleyes:) of my 3yo on the pullman. I'll also include a few others of the cabin and the crib.

 

(I hope that works...if so, thanks for the tips, CruisinMama).

 

Another poster asked how we managed the ports and the excursions. I avoided taxis for the car seat issue. In one port, we took a tour on a tour bus/trolley. It stopped at several stops...we could get on or off. If the stops were kid friendly (and stroller friendly) we got off. If my baby needed a nap, we pushed her in the stroller. At another port we took a ship excursion to a turtle farm. It was perfect for kids this age. There was lots to look at and it was easy with a stroller. In Jamaica, we booked a tour company and asked them to take us to kid friendly places (we had arranged this with them ahead of time via email...we knew exactly what we were getting). They even found us a lunch spot with french fries. Mom and Dad wanted Jamaican Jerk. My 3yo wanted fries.

 

On the ship, we spent our days at the buffet or at Camp or walking the ship or watching out the windows or at the pool or in the shops or napping or rushing to our early dinner or participating in a Camp-sponsored scavenger hunt or participating in the Halloween costume contest for kids. We were NEVER bored.

 

I hope this helps. :)

[Paleochick]

We did use the tub in the shower too. The shower head is removable. We put the tub in the bottom of the shower and filled it with the shower head.

 

I'm going to try and attach my first picture ever...let's see if it works...if not, I'll attach a link later. :D

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2760377330102433347rdmyDH]

That should work now.

[larronry]

Thanks for those pics. Yes he's a squirmy sleeper. I've seen the One Step Ahead blow up rail which would work with a pullman but it still would have me nervous. I'll decide as time gets closer and as someone said on another thread he can try it at nap time.

[fligster]

Thanks for posting this. We are going on Carnival in January and Royal Caribbean in May, both with our 3 year old. It was great to hear what it was like since we have only cruised solo, never with our child before. I was concerned about the dining room and camp Carnival for a 3 yr old, but feel better now.

[Paleochick]

Thanks for posting this. We are going on Carnival in January and Royal Caribbean in May, both with our 3 year old. It was great to hear what it was like since we have only cruised solo, never with our child before. I was concerned about the dining room and camp Carnival for a 3 yr old, but feel better now.

 

OMG! The only tears you'll find at Camp Carnival are the ones when you have to drag the 3yo out of there at the end of the day. Make sure you go visit on the embarkation day. Dinner was great with my 3yo. My 1yo had problems, but my 3yo was great. Take lots of activities. Enjoy your cruises.

[fligster]

Does the kids menu or buffet have Mac & Cheese? It is our lifesaver when we go out to restaurants.

[Paleochick]

Does the kids menu or buffet have Mac & Cheese? It is our lifesaver when we go out to restaurants.

 

My kids are the same way. We had a hard time finding it. There was always a pasta on the dining room menu. Our ship had a pasta bar at night where they'd make alfredo, but with a noodle of their choice. The kids menu on the Liberty didn't have it listed...we didn't ask if they'd make it. I would imagine they might if you asked, but it might look more like alfredo.

 

The Camp Carnival dinner that they served nightly didn't ever have it listed...I just checked Daily Activities and it wasn't there. My ds was SO glad to get back home and have a big bowl of Kraft Mac N Cheese. On our whole trip he kept getting white cheese and noodles...it wasn't quite the same shade of fluorescent orange that he's used to. If you're going to Grand Cayman, go to Boatswain's Turtle Farm. Their restaurant had GREAT mac n cheese.

[gacruiser1]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post all of that. We are on the CCL Legend in Dec and it is my DH 2nd cruise and my first. We will be bringing our 2 year old and your post has put me at ease with lots of issues. The pictures were very helpful--I knew a balcony was a must given the nap situation:rolleyes: . I am so hoping my DS will take to the Camp Carnival experience--it will make the whole thing so much better! Great tip for Grand Caymans-we were thinking of stingray city but will check out the turtle farm. Also-GREAT tip about the extension cord. Would have never thought of it. Glad you had a great time-

[Paleochick]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post all of that. We are on the CCL Legend in Dec and it is my DH 2nd cruise and my first. We will be bringing our 2 year old and your post has put me at ease with lots of issues. The pictures were very helpful--I knew a balcony was a must given the nap situation:rolleyes: . I am so hoping my DS will take to the Camp Carnival experience--it will make the whole thing so much better! Great tip for Grand Caymans-we were thinking of stingray city but will check out the turtle farm. Also-GREAT tip about the extension cord. Would have never thought of it. Glad you had a great time-

 

We really wanted to do the stingrays in Grand Cayman, but with our 1yo, we didn't want the hassle of the deep-ish water and a clingy 3yo at the same time. I'm sure we wouldn't have even gotten in the water. I think there's a tour that does Stingrays and the turtle farm, actually. If you go to the turtle farm, don't eat at the cafeteria at the entrance...go to the restaurant on the property. There's a cool tank in the middle of the property with sharks and other fun sea creatures in it. It's cool. There's also a beach area...man-made within the park/farm. I wish we had added an hour or so and played at that beach. You can swim and snorkel in it with their fish. It's really nice and well worth every penny.

 

Other things I was thinking about today...I'm glad we took our portable dvd player. It was great on the airplane. The Liberty's tvs had jacks on the front so we could have plugged the dvd player into the tv if we had taken our cords. The dvd player was most used at times when we were getting ready for formal night, etc. in the cabin. We took new movies of their favorite characters (Thomas, Wiggles, Teletubbies). It was great! We also took a Leapster. It was great for my 3yo during down times.

 

I thought of another thing that really helped on this trip...a lanyard and a card/badge holder. I wore my Sign and Sail card around my neck during the day. I didn't have to dig for it when I needed it and I didn't have to carry a bag with me when I went out on quick trips around the ship. I loved that thing. I bought it on Ebay. I can find the link if anyone is interested. You can also buy them on the ship. I can take a picture of it if anyone wants to know what it looks like.

 

FYI - Here's a shot of my ds at Camp during one of the open times. It will give you a little bit of an idea about what's there. This is only one section of about 5.

[Paleochick]

Oh, and don't forget to leave extra space in your luggage for all the stuff your kids will make at Camp Carnival (t-shirts, bags, several stuffed animals, papers, maps, hats, ...). I am so glad we packed 3 regular suitcases, but also 3 collapsible duffel suitcases. Because storage space is hard to come by, we were happy that the duffels could be stored inside the regular suitcases under the bed. That way we had 6 suitcases stored under the bed! Duffels are GREAT on a cruise.

[fligster]

Again, Thanks for the great info. It sounds like you took full size car seats on the ship. What did you do about excursions? Did you take the car seats, or was all transportation on buses? Were you able to find out before hand what the transportation would be?

[abba_dabba_doo]

Anyone know if the railings on the pullman bed are open like that on RCI (Mariner) too? I'm looking at that pic and thinking my little one would roll right thru that!

[Paleochick]

Again, Thanks for the great info. It sounds like you took full size car seats on the ship. What did you do about excursions? Did you take the car seats, or was all transportation on buses? Were you able to find out before hand what the transportation would be?

 

Yep, we took full size car seats, but not on excursions. In Jamaica we arranged for the tour operator (Marva Shaw) to rent car seats for us for her tour bus. She told us her tour bus had seat belts...and it did. That was great. She didn't charge us extra for the car seats. In Key West, we did a lot of walking. When we took the trolley tour, no one had belts...it's a trolley/bus. I was okay with that. In Grand Cayman we had a huge tour bus...no seat belts. We avoided taxis. I wouldn't put my kids in taxis without car seat...taxis wouldn't win in a collision with a large bus.

 

If you're on a ship-sponsored tour, don't ever count on seat belts. We only did one ship-sponsored tour and I was sure that one would be on a large bus. Booking through a private tour company that you can call ahead of time about these issues worked really well for us (in Jamaica).

[larronry]

Anyone know if the railings on the pullman bed are open like that on RCI (Mariner) too? I'm looking at that pic and thinking my little one would roll right thru that!

The only thing I would suggest to be on the safe side is this travel item from One Step Ahead:

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=6780&cmSource=Search

[abba_dabba_doo]

The only thing I would suggest to be on the safe side is this travel item from One Step Ahead:

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=6780&cmSource=Search

 

Thanks.....how does that strap to the bed? Hard to tell from the pic.

[larronry]

Thanks.....how does that strap to the bed? Hard to tell from the pic.

It has a strap.