Carnival or Princess for 18mo and 5 year old?

[dsj22]

Hi. We want to take a Mexico cruise this winter and would prefer to leave from LA. We have cruised Disney and RCI in the past, but neither sail in January from LA. Our options include Carnival or Princess or NCL. What would you suggest? Do any have a water area for a 18 month in diapers? Thanks for your advice!:p

[Kerry's Girls]

Princess will have no babysitting at all for your toddler, but you'll be allowed to bring your toddler to the kids area and play there together any time it's open.

 

Carnival offers limited babysitting for under-2s - I think after 10:00 pm and maybe at other limited times during the day - someone else here will know better.

 

I've been on both the Carnival Pride and Princess Sapphire and if it were me, I'd choose the Sapphire since I like to go with my kids to play, but if you want to be able to have babysitting, as limited as it would be, Carnival would be the choice. I'm quite certain neither has any water area for non-potty trained kids, but you could bring a small blow up pool.

 

I don't know anything about NCL.

 

Best,

Mia

[dsj22]

Thanks for the reply, that's helpful information. The babysitting isn't a big deal for us as much as access to a play area would be. I had two other questions:

1) Would you choose the fixed dining time or freestyle/open (if available)?

2) If we were to choose a balcony stateroom, where would the two kids sleep? Currently the 5 year old sleeps in her own bed and the 18 month old in a crib or pack and play. Bring a pack and play? Enough room?

Thanks again:) !

[nyfamily]

Free style. They will provide a pack and play - you need to request it through your TA.

[dsj22]

Thanks.

[Cruisin' Chick]

You may want to note that the weather could be on the cool side (50s to 60s and often rainy) in LA and off the coast for the first day or so of the cruise. People from other areas get surprised that it's not warm and sunny all year round here. The water by the beaches will be cold. We do sometimes get an occasional heat spell when the Santa Ana winds blow from the desert.

 

You may get some high 70s or 80s when you get closer to Mazatlan. But the last sea day will often be chilly.

 

If you're thinking about going on Princess, the Sapphire Princess has a pool under a retractable roof that is nice for less than perfect bathing conditions. But a toddler in diapers would not be allowed in the pools, so the inflatable pool for your balcony would be a better bet, but for the warmer days.

[sdfamily]

When we were on the Coral Princess our 18 month old slept in the closet area. We squished our clothes to either side and the pack and play fit right in there.

 

It was like having a separate bedroom! LOL

 

That way we were able to put him to bed and still be up. Our 8 YO slept on the upper pullman and our 6 YO slept next door with Grandma and Grandpa:=)

 

The pack and play in the closet area worked just fine for us and kept it out of the way.