One year old's on Enchantment

Reposting in this forum:

Booked for Enchantment of the Seas, 4 night on November 30th

This is our 3rd Cruise, but 1st with Royal and 1st with a baby in tow

My Dad and Stepmom are taking the whole family on a cruise this year in lieu of gifts (2 Grandparents, 5 Siblings, 5 spouses, 7 Grandkids, and 1 Random Bachelor Uncle)

I know the older nieces and nephews will have a blast, but can anyone offer some tips/advice/ideas for mine and my sister's one year old boys?

Are there any free activities or play areas etc?

Not looking to spend a lot of extra money on an in room sitter (hate the idea of leaving him alone with a complete stranger anyways) or at the Royal Tots (kind of a bummer that some time in there is not covered with the cruise rate).

Thanks for the help!

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They have "mommy and me" type play groups - usually in the morning for about an hour that you can plan to attend. You can also check out bags of age-appropriate toys. Often you can find an empty lounge during the day to let the little ones run off steam as well. Royal Tots is really cheap ($6-8 hr.) if you want some adult time. Don't know why you would expect it to be free though.

Here is a review from someone who took a 15 month old on Enchantment - maybe this will help. Also, I have heard great things about the nursery, so I would not discount that - even if you only use it for a few hours to catch a show or have a nice dinner.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2046306

We brought our 8 month old with us on the Enchantment back in March. Royal tots was great for a few hours during dinner. I felt very safe dropping him off for a few hours.

I think $6-$8 per hour for a nursery is very reasonable, and I'm really glad RC and Disney have nurseries as an option. I can understand people being frustrated with having to pay for a nursery since they are paying for a 3rd person fare for the 1 year old, and not getting very much for that. However, since their baby is taking up a spot on the ship that might otherwise be filled by an 3rd passenger adult in another room who might drink, gamble or book shore excursions I understand why the lines usually charge for kids.

We took my 2 year old grand daughter on the Granduar ( sister ship to enchantment and have sailed enchantment 4 times) and had your same concerns about dropping her off at the kids center ( and feel the fee is unfair - the 3 n up kids program is free so why not 3 n under???) after dd, dsil and dh all checked it out dd decided to give it a try... My grand daughter loved it and we used it a few hours a few times.... We found she loved just walking on the top deck and exploring most evenings. We took a blow up pool with us and let her play in that on the pool deck ( no diapers allowed in pool) not sure if they added a splash zone on the enchantment since they stretched her..... We also brought lots of magnetic things to stick to the doors n walls, she loved playing with them! Enjoy!

A 1 year old won't really give a fig about where they are...if you're happy, so will they be!

Do what you do on a daily basis...bring a blow up tub for bathing...and splashing on the pool deck, if that's your thing!