Just back Celebrity Alaska with 20 mos old (long post)

[JohannaM]

Hi everyone,

 

Well we made it home safe and sound and I wanted to pop in and say hi. I want to thank everyone who helped with my ultimate planning for this cruise. Your tips and hints were invaluable. The duck tub worked perfect (yes I finally found one), getting the treasure chest of toys from the kids club for the week on the 1st day was a great tip (one I passed on to another greatful Mom), dish soap for bottles and sippies was good tip, and even the idea of bringing plastic bags for dirty diapers was a really great idea. I think our room steward appreciated it.

 

My findings: Our DS was so amazingly well behaved - it was fantastic. We had many people coming up to us and commenting on how well he was doing, and I appreciated people noting that. I was very concerned about being considerate to the other passengers. I also bumped into the people on both sides of our room and at least the one side said they hadn't had any complaints about him being too noisy - so that's good.

 

The baby monitor worked great. My parents' room was 2 doors down, so for nap time and bed time we'd just turn it on and leave. We'd brought a little ipod speaker and ipod with quiet music to play in the room - helps cancel out any noise in the hall or so, and that was good. Bring a power bar.

 

For the pack and play we did bring our own fitted sheet, but the sheets in there were good so we never used it. We also brought some fleece blankets for him, which I think made the bed more comfortable for him. It was pretty crowded in the room (Oceanview - on 8th floor) and I wish we could have had the sofa bed taken out, but I don't think that was feasible - and we managed. We had them lock the mini bar right away b/c DS wanted to play in there. :)

 

Meals- we brought a few toys to each meal and over all that did the trick. Some hot wheels and a small stuffie. The mini dvd player did not pan out, but the staff were so amazing in coming by and playing with him and talking to him, that I don't think it would have made a difference. Each dinner was 2 hours long and he sat through all but one (my parents took him). We were at a really great table and both families were just great with having a toddler at the table. There was also a 6 year old boy and he and our DS took to each other immediately, which was so nice.

 

Kids Club - we brought him there to play I think once - he just wasn't that interested and I found the hours for toddlers were odd - like 12-1 and 5-6 daily. Lunch time and just before dinner - not too practical. We spent a lot of time climbing decks and wandering around. For the record we knew in advance he couldn't go to kids club on his own, and that was fine.

 

Excursions - we didn't go on any. We pretty much wandered through the different ports, but kept it simple to accommodate naps and meals etc... He loved the tender in Sitka though.

 

Staff - the staff was so fantastic to him. Even if they weren't directly invovled with service to us (like the room steward in the next section) he always got a "Hi" and high-5s and they'd slip him chocolates etc...

 

Getting sick - he got sick 2x. Who knows if it was sea sick, teething, food... once was up in the buffet at lunch (ew!) and the other was later in the evening a few days later. We had clothes laundered so they wouldn't sit dirty like that all week, and that was worth the money.

 

Check in - we got sped through all the check in process - short cuts and all, and that was really appreciated. The only reason we didn't get that on check out is that line was just as slow as the others so we opted for a normal line - and it went pretty quick.

 

Stroller - I'm glad we brought our Graco. We almost never used it on board, and it was worth it in port.

 

We had a great time, but I think the reason it worked as well as it did was being able to hang out in the other room at sleep time. He would not fall asleep when we were in the room as he's used to his own room at home. If we were to go again (DH says it will be a while) we would either need to get a suite with a separate bed room, or it would need to be when the kids were old enough to be in kids club for the day as the standard stateroom was too small for everyone to be in all the time.

 

Anyone have questions?

[DaisyGirl55]

Thanks for posting your tips and your experiences. I am getting ready to sail next weekend with my 3 sons, 3 DIL's and 2 grandbabies (19 months and 9 months).

 

I wrote down some of the things you mentioned, like the favorite blanket. I had written down small bottle of soap, but didn't think of disposable diaper garbage bags.

 

Hope our cruise goes as well as yours did.

 

BTW - we sailed to Alaska last year on the Mercury - we had such a great time, we plan on doing it again in a few years!

[crusinmama06]

He would not fall asleep when we were in the room as he's used to his own room at home. If we were to go again (DH says it will be a while) we would either need to get a suite with a separate bed room, or it would need to be when the kids were old enough to be in kids club for the day as the standard stateroom was too small for everyone to be in all the time.

 

Anyone have questions?

 

Yep, that's why a balcony is a necessity for us. The kids won't sleep with us in the same room. It's easier to walk outside and sit on the balcony while they fall asleep. :)

 

Welcome back! Glad you had a terrific time! :D