NCL Gem with 2 year old

I probably should have done some more research, but we are going on the Gem in Dec with my daughter who turns 2 at the end of November. I know she is too young for the kids club, and she is mostly potty-trained, so she can go in the pool, but what else is there to do with her (specifically on the cold days to and from NYC).

We took our older daughter on NCL when she was 16 months old. The kids clubs are 3 and up, so she will not be able to use those. They did have some playgroup type activities (arts and crafts, music) for under-3s, pretty informal and parents had to stay, but a nice diversion.

As you mentioned, all the pools require the kids to be fully potty trained. We took a small blow-up pool to use on the verandah, which might be a good option if she isn't all the way there yet (it was a very long process at our house...)

I think our ship (Star) also had a few playground type features outside the she would play on. Otherwise, sea days were lots of walking around, eating, taking in bits of shows, playing in the room, etc.

We eat at restaurants fairly frequently at home, so our kids are used to that environment, but before cruises I pick up a bunch of small toys (happy meal/dollar store type toys) and will stash a few in my purse each night for dinner along with some snacks, it's helped mitigate quite a few potential meltdowns. We don't usually allow electronics at dinner, but I have also seen that employed quite successfully as a tactic for keeping kids entertained and quiet during a long meal.

MsMercury,

I'm on the Gem as well (December 3) with my daughter who will be almost 2. She isn't toilet trained so won't be using the pool, but she doesn't know what she is missing so won't be bothered by it:)

I understand there are times where the under 3 age group can drop in and play (parent supervised). Someone posted the dailies from a 10 day Gem cruise and it looked like the drop in hours were fairly long for that cruise and there also seemed to be some family activities at set times.

My daughter loves to sit outside at home, so I'm hoping she'll enjoy sitting out and taking everything in.