Cruising with toddler

What room would you recommend for a 2yo and why?

I've booked an inside cabin on the NCL Epic, and I considered upgrading to a balcony so we had somewhere to sit and relax while she sleeps, but friends have scared me about the potential of her getting on the balcony and obvious associated dangers!

What have you done and how did it work?

TIA!

Lia x

Very doubtful a 2yr old could manage a balcony railing. We have cruised 7 times with our now 3.75 year old and it was only on the most recent cruise could he have even gotten close.

We have always gone on NCL, always in the 2bdrm suite. If you can afford it, it is well worth the money.

Here is a time lapse video from the latest trip. If you watch until the end you can see him stand up on the lounger. He is a tall boy 41 inches. The railing is still chest high.

http://Http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=WuPiMKu8fgg

A balcony cabin, IMO, is a MUST with kids who will nap or go to bed early! If gives you someplace "to be" while the child is down....

Does your 2 year old attempt to jump off anything high at home? I didn't think so! The railings are HIGH, and its virtually impossible for a 2 year old to open the balcony door on their own, with you within 2 steps of said child (the rooms are NOT that large!!),,You do NOT need to be afraid of the balcony!

I agree, get a balcony! We cruised last fall after our daughter had just turned 3, and it was so nice to have that space to hang out while she was napping or sleeping. I don't know what the balcony doors are like on Epic, but on our ship (Carnival Miracle), the door was pretty heavy, and a small child would not be able to open it on their own.

The other thing I would suggest is to make sure you get a room where the 3rd bed is a sofa bed and not an upper bunk. I believe that the balcony rooms on Epic all come with sofa beds, where the inside cabins do not since they don't have a sofa.

Just to add - this was the first cruise where he was ALMOST strong enough to open the balcony door. Next cruise he will be for sure. But - there is a child lock about 5.5 feet off the ground - so it doesn't really matter. And he is never allowed on the balcony unless one of us is with him. (In fact the door isn't open unless one of us is on the balcony.

I will say though that the cabin door is a different story. At 2.5 he was able to open the door and slip out before we could get to him. For some reason he doesn't have that same urge as of late though.

We did an inside the first time, it was too small. We just got an ocean view with a couch, I'd at the very least get a room with a couch. My lo refused to nap at 2 and no longer naps at 3. Just be prepared for things to be a bit different.

DH and I almost always got inside rooms before DS came along, but we got a balcony room for his first cruise (at 10 months) and were very glad to have it! We won't go back to an inside until he is old enough to sleep on an upper bunk unless we happen to find a ship with sofa beds in inside rooms.

In addition to giving us a place to go and enjoy the cruise while he napped and after he went to bed (early) at night, I am sure that us being out there instead of in the room making noise helped him to sleep better.

We've done cruises with two kids at toddler age, one of them a climber, and I still always get a balcony. I love having the balcony; we can go out and relax on it while the kid/kids are napping or have gone to bed for the night, and it still feels likes we're enjoying our vacation.

The one cruise that actually scared me, we were in a Royal Family Suite on RCCL, and the balcony honestly had open horizontal bars as the railing. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!? We never let our daughter (in the climbing age, but not the age of reason) on that balcony without her backpack that had a leash. She quickly learned to go find her backpack (leash) and bring it to a grownup when she wanted to go out on that balcony.

We've just booked a balcony cabin for our cruise with our nearly 2 yo. I doubt she'll go out much and certainly not alone. I think you'll be fine!

I've only been on three Carnival cruises, but all were in balcony rooms. The railings are tall and glass. The doors are heavy and have child locks.

The room balcony is my favorite place on the ship. Now that I have a toddler, I'm guessing I'll appreciate it all the more.

If you can afford a balcony, get a balcony. Even my much older children have difficulty opening the balcony door. Napping kids in inside cabins just are not fun for parents.