Anthem of the seas with toddlers?

Hello!

We are very fortunate that my parents have booked and paid for a cruise for the whole family this September (lucky I know!) We have never been on a cruise before and really don't know what to expect - especially as we will be travelling with our 2 year old daughter and 18 month old nephew.

I'm concerned about what they will eat and drink - can they eat in all the dining options or only the wind jammer? Will there be cordial or juice available for them? What are the childrens facilities like on board - will they have enough to keep them entertained?

So many questions! Any insight in to what to expect will be gratefully accepted :)

Thanks x

Hello!

 

We are very fortunate that my parents have booked and paid for a cruise for the whole family this September (lucky I know!) We have never been on a cruise before and really don't know what to expect - especially as we will be travelling with our 2 year old daughter and 18 month old nephew.

I'm concerned about what they will eat and drink - can they eat in all the dining options or only the wind jammer? Will there be cordial or juice available for them? What are the childrens facilities like on board - will they have enough to keep them entertained?

 

So many questions! Any insight in to what to expect will be gratefully accepted :)

 

Thanks x

Anthem is a brand new ship, so in order to see what facilities are on board, you should look at any family reviews of the Quantum, which is sister ship to Anthem. Based on the newer RCI ships, I think you can count on two primary facilities for younger children - first, the nursery. This is a place where you can drop off children between 6 months and 3 years old for a few hours (at a fee - I think $6 per hour during day, and $8 per hour at night per child). RCI has qualified staff who will watch, feed, and change diapers of children placed in nursery. In addition, they will also have some time each day where parents cam come in and play with their children at the nursery. The second area is a baby splash pool, where children in diapers can splash around.

I will let others speak to food options.

There is PLENTY of food for kids...they may eat anywhere you want them to!

Yes..there is juice at breakfast..bring a container if you want to save some for later. Other included drinks are: milk, lemonade or flavored water, ice water, (coffee, tea...not so much good for kids, tho!) and juice at breakfast.

Kid's that age don't need much "entertaining"....whatever you do at home, you'll do on vacation!

Bear in mind that only suites have tubs...so bring a blow up tub for bathing, if they don't like showers!

Thank you so much for your replies, it's just souch to think about! I'm super excited now!

We took DD on Allure at 2 years. You will have a great time. We grabbed extra milk at breakfast and they'd have a fruit bowl waiting for her in the dining room after the first night. She ended up really liking the soups & pastas from the adult menu. The only restriction on dining was that they asked for no young children in some specialty restaurants after 6 pm.

I would think the Anthem will have a splash area for non potty trained like the other big ships. DD potty trained right before we sailed so she could use the regular kids area.

The nursery was wonderful!! DD wanted to go back.

You are Going to have an amazing time!

I would say to take your own squash -

My daughter is a real squash drinker and we couldn't get her to drink any of the shops options as she doesn't like juice / water and there is no squash on the ship. We ended up having to hunt for an m and s in one if the ports hoping they would have a food section x

We just booked for April 30th & will be taking my son who just turned 2. Can't wait! Just came on to see/hear about other peoples experience or tips they may have for making thing go smoothly for my little guy. Seeing your post & now that you've gone on your cruise. ...any tips or suggestions for cruising on the Anthem with littles? Thanks

We were on the 2/20 sailing on the anthem and brought our 14 month old.

We did bring our son into the dining rooms in the evening some nights. He did decent, but bear in mind it's a minimum of 1hr and usually closer to 2 for everyone to eat (we did have a party of 8 and that contributed to the length). Some evenings were better than others. Usually hubby or I would take turns leaving early with him. The Adventure Ocean Royal Babies and Tots program was great to use for peaceful dinners, though! They charge $6/hr per child from 9am to 6pm, and $8/hr per child 9pm to 12am. The first 6 or 7 days of our trip, the nursery was receiving a flooring upgrade, so once they opened up we took advantage and booked some time slots (like for dinner). I highly recommend the Puzzle Room, located just outside the Sea Plex. You have to go to guest services to book it, it is free. Kids have to be 14 and up, but we just booked the nursery for that time. We dropped our son off for nearly 90 minutes and they said they'd just charge us for an hour, so they're very generous with time (no fear of being 5 minutes over an hour and getting charged for an extra hour)! I also recommend the North Star, and young children cannot go on that, either - so either get a family member to watch the littles, or book the nursery! The nannies there are great with the little ones. We had good vibes and experience...this coming from a mom and baby who have never done day care! I work seasonally and my sister is my son's nanny, so I have half the year off with him and when I do work, auntie takes care of him. There is a small splash pool area onboard for little ones not potty trained. They have to wear swim diapers if they go in and it has a little fountain, but the water itself is super shallow - maybe 2-3 inches deep at most. Still, my son loved it! Bring a small (I found one 34" wide by 10" tall) blow up pool, it fit in the bottom of our shower for our son to take baths and play in, and we also used it on my parents balcony for him and he loved it! Any other specific questions, ask away!

Anthem is a brand new ship, so in order to see what facilities are on board, you should look at any family reviews of the Quantum, which is sister ship to Anthem. Based on the newer RCI ships, I think you can count on two primary facilities for younger children - first, the nursery. This is a place where you can drop off children between 6 months and 3 years old for a few hours (at a fee - I think $6 per hour during day, and $8 per hour at night per child). RCI has qualified staff who will watch, feed, and change diapers of children placed in nursery. In addition, they will also have some time each day where parents cam come in and play with their children at the nursery. The second area is a baby splash pool, where children in diapers can splash around.

 

I will let others speak to food options.

Unfortunately, the Quantum class ships do not have an "infant only recreational water facility" or splash area where children in diapers can go. Only the Freedom class and Oasis class ships have these.

Unfortunately, the Quantum class ships do not have an "infant only recreational water facility" or splash area where children in diapers can go. Only the Freedom class and Oasis class ships have these.

Which makes no sense to me as my kids loved being in the water at these ages and it would have made a huge difference to me which ship I chose!

I have heard of other families bringing small blow up pools for bathing in the shower and having some time for splash fun

Which makes no sense to me as my kids loved being in the water at these ages and it would have made a huge difference to me which ship I chose!

 

I have heard of other families bringing small blow up pools for bathing in the shower and having some time for splash fun

There is both a construction cost and an operating cost to having these splash areas meet the USPH sanitation requirements. They require additional sanitation equipment (UV sterilizer for one), and the maintenance of the separate equipment. They also require a crew member assigned solely to the splash area while it is in operation.

I assume that RCI decided that the cost/benefit wasn't there when designing the Quantum class ships, based on data from the Oasis class.

And, yes, the blow up tub, not pool, is a viable alternative to give the rug rats a soak.

There is both a construction cost and an operating cost to having these splash areas meet the USPH sanitation requirements. They require additional sanitation equipment (UV sterilizer for one), and the maintenance of the separate equipment. They also require a crew member assigned solely to the splash area while it is in operation.

 

I assume that RCI decided that the cost/benefit wasn't there when designing the Quantum class ships, based on data from the Oasis class.

 

And, yes, the blow up tub, not pool, is a viable alternative to give the rug rats a soak.

LOL, yes, tub being small. After I wrote pool all I could picture was 8 foot wide and 10 inches deep but I couldn't think of the other word.

And I am sure the number crunchers at Royal did their due diligence before deciding not to include a "kid in diaper" area. I just think it is a shame not to provide alternatives.

Splash pool on anthem

Sign for pool

Unfortunately, the Quantum class ships do not have an "infant only recreational water facility" or splash area where children in diapers can go. Only the Freedom class and Oasis class ships have these.

I respectfully dissagree. We got off the Anthem yesterday and there is a swim diaper area for little cruisers.

I respectfully dissagree. We got off the Anthem yesterday and there is a swim diaper area for little cruisers.

Thanks. Good to know. Hadn't heard this reported before, and not surprisingly its not mentioned in their FAQ's.

We took our 2 year old on Anthem this February and she had a great time. We brought some bags of pretzels and goldfish to help avoid meltdowns and brought crayons and stickers to have on hand at dinner. She's a picky eater but was always able to findsomething at every meal. Chocolate milk was a little harder to find at dinner but was always able to get. Although we didn't do the nursery, we did do the toy exchange and there were plenty of fun things to try. The little baby pool area was perfect since she is still in diapers (and the wave pool for the kids would have been too much for her). Best tip for diapers is to get the doogy-do bags and use those for the in room garbage and lots of sanitizer to avoid getting sick. Have a great time.