just back from NCL pearl with 11 mnth old twins

[MOMtoTwins]

I got a lot of info on this board prior to sailing so I thought I would come back and tell everyone how it went and offer answers for anyone with questions.

 

Overall it went very well. we spent 2 nights in miami pre cruise and met up with the grandparents before boarding the ship. first day was long and everyone was tired so we did the buffet for dinner. the last day the babies were also tired so we did the buffet. the rest of the nights we ate in various places on ship including both main dining rooms, teppanyaki, mambos and 1 night no kids at le bistro. all meals went well. I found the non buffet places a little easier to deal with, with the babies. they brought the babies food out faster then the rest and it was easier to find high chairs. I was not completely happy with the choices on the kids menu so we mostly ordered off the adult menu for them. usually off the always available food choices like steak and chicken.

 

for our stops we went to roatan,belize, cozumel and gsc

 

in roatan we did an island tour with vicotr and my hubbie and I did the zipline

 

in belize we did a private ruins tour and w loved it. our guide was wonderful

 

in cozumel we did the all inclusive beach break at mr sanchos and was very happy.

 

in gsc we played on the beach for a while but it was crowded and the water was cold.

 

overall all of us had a good time. I am willing to answer any questions about our experience.

[SaySumthing]

Thanks for posting this. We'll be on the Pearl in May with my now 11 month (13 months at sailing) old and his 3 year old brother.

 

I'm curious that you said that the dining rooms were easier than the buffet. We had thought we'd be stuck in the buffet due to long service times in the dining rooms.

 

What type of room did you stay in, if you don't mind answering?

[MOMtoTwins]

we had a mini suite. we chose that to get the tub, balcony and a bigger room to be able to accomodate 2 cribs

 

the meals were longer in the dining room, but the buffets were crowded. it was sometimes hard to get a high chair. in the dining room we went right after they opened usually and we had everyone running around wanting to do things for them since they were slow and they all seemed to love babies. a few of them even could tell my girls apart and knew their names after just a few days.I always ordered their food right away and it came quickly

[SaySumthing]

That makes me feel better. I told my husband about your experience and he said that it made complete sense to him. I figure that we'll probably end up with fairly early meal times, too, so that shouldn't be too bad. I'm definitely not up for crowds at the buffet, so I'm sure we'll minimize that, too.

 

Thanks for replying!

[seasideny]

Glad you had a good time. I have a few questions. In general - my dd will be 10 months on our cruise next month and I'm just getting her to eat table food and she likes to pick up food like cheerios and puffs - but I'm trying to be prepared for whatever stage she may be in then. I'm sure I'll need to bring some jar food for our port stops.

• Were the highchairs like the ones you see at chain restaurants? Would you recommend I buy a chair cover/table mats? Did you ask them to puree the food or are your girls on solids? and what about milk for the babies?
  
• How were the cribs? Did the ship rock and roll a lot?
  
• Did the girls swim at all?
  

Any info you share will greatly help.

[sailaway76]

I am going on a cruise next month and I have a 9 month old. We have been on many cruises with our other son who is 11. How did your baby do on the ruin tour? That day we wanted to do something special like snorkeling with our older son but we are concerned that our parents (my mom and dad and my husbands mom) might have a difficult time. Did you bring a car seat or just hold them on your lap.

 

I really appreciate it...Thanks

[seasideny]

How much was Mr. Sanchos and how did you book/get there? Any details appreciated.:)

[MOMtoTwins]

ok lots of questions let me see if i can answer them all.

 

high chair- it was more like the ones at home with a plastic tray for putting food on top for them to eat. thy could not always find the trays though. we took clorox wipes to wipe down a table edge if we needed to put food on there for the girls to eat off of.

 

no we never had anything pureed. they were mostly on solid foods cut u0p small or soft foods.

 

the cribs were standard pack and plays in fine shape. nothing special.

 

some rocking on the ship, but not too bad.

 

we swam in cozumel

[MOMtoTwins]

for the ruins tour we did a private tour, so were in a van. our tour guide was great. we took car seats for the babies although they were a little difficult to strap in. but we managed. the tour to altun ha was decent for th e girls. they spent most of hte time in the strollers but we did let them out to crawl around on the grass when we would stop in the shade.

 

if this is being done I highly recommend a private tour, just because you have so much more control over timing.

[MOMtoTwins]

mr sanchos was 40 dollars apiece If I remember correctly. we booked through carrie at *****

 

we took a cab to get there. its not too far