Warrior85

That's the beauty of having 2 theatre showings, one of us would pick our daughter up from the nursery then watch the 10/10:30pm show 😀

The night nursery is really good, just need to get little one settled before taking them in, then you get a pager so if you are needed they'll buzz you. Our daughter had impeccable timing, she'd be fast asleep then as soon as we sat down to watch the show, the pager went off! The nursery is good in the daytime too, you can go in and play with the toys. I agree with it being easy to get around with a baby, there's loads of space.

Thanks, that's handy to know

We are travelling with our friends on Ventura in October and there'll be 8 of us in total. They are on a separate booking to us, is it possible for us to all to sit together in the MDRs by the virtual queue or would it be a case of turning up and hoping for the best?

Out of interest, who did you tell is was your anniversary? Its our 10th in a couple of weeks and we'll be on Azura.

We were on Iona in October and came back from breakfast on a couple of days to a towel elephant, maybe our cabin steward wanted to please our kids, but it was a nice touch.

They do get booked up during school holidays, but my wife is quick off the mark as soon as the spaces are made available each day, so i think we've only been caught out once. Even if you don't get a space at first, people may cancel if their plans change so you could always check with the staff on the doors to see if there is any room ad hoc.

Yes that's still going, it was great when our youngest wasn't quite old enough to be left in kids club. Her timing wasn't great though, the amount of times we were paged just as the show was starting!

You can register them for the clubs shortly before you go away, which saves you a job when you're on board, then each morning the release the slots for the following day's sessions, 10am -12noon, 2pm-5pm and 6pm-11pm, the morning session is only available on sea days. Sessions are booked through the "My Holiday" 'app' (intranet page). Parents/guardians will scan the kids in and out during those sessions, it's all worked really well for us.

Our two, aged 3 and 6 would sooner stay in the kids club, we have to ration their time in there 😄 There's no issues around them being in the bars, we took them to the silent disco and they loved it. I think they're OK on the dance floor during performances as long as they're with somebody, and keeping clear of the stage. We did new year on the maiden voyage of Arvia and New Year's Even was amazing, big disco around the pool with dancers in costumes designed by the Masked Singer designers apparently. If you're on board during school holidays they should have a kids entertainer doing family shows and a panto. We've done all the family ships in the last 18 months (except Azura, ticking that one off next month!) and haven't got a bad word to say about our experiences, the kids club staff are great, from what we've heard the young teens seem to enjoy their club - nobody is forced to take part in yhe organised activities, they can just go and hang out. They have a kids tea each evening, and the kids menu is available in the main dining rooms. What ever you/they choose to do I'm sure you'll all have a great time.

Yes they are strict on ages, my eldest is 6 and goes to Surfers, youngest has just turned 3 and is in Splashers. I think they age group is based in age at the time of embarkation, so even if they enter the next age range during the cruise, they stay in the kids club they started in. They have themed days in both, unfortunately I don't have a copy of a schedule to share, but often you have pirate days, space day, dinosaurs etc, but if they don't want to take part in the organised games they still have air hockey, PlayStations and other games they can help themselves to. I'd have been made up if I had that on holiday when I was 8 or 9, in fact I'd be quite happy on the games consoles now at 38 😂

We did the Northern Europe itinerary in October half term with our 2 children. I can't answer all your questions because my wife organises everything and I just turn up 😄 Generally, other than the theatre show, you can show up at any of the venues at any time, although finding a seat might be a challenge, we didn't have a problem, we managed 3 shows some nights going from the Clubhouse to theatre to Skydome. With the theatre we did book in advance, but if it wasn't full 10 minutes before the start time they will let you in. There's one Celebration per week on Iona and I would say the majority dressed up, I don't do black tie myself, just a business suit but plenty gents did do. Restaurants are a matter of what food you prefer. We enjoyed Sindhu which is contemporary Asian food. Keel and Cow do good gastropub meals, and is good value. Don't overlook Olive Grove, most meals are included in your fare but there are some items available at a supplement. If you want something more laid back, but a step up from the buffet, the Quays is good, quality fish and chips, American Diner food and curries, more like a food court.

You might find the day nursery a nice place to spend an hour or so in, I think it's stay and play and occasionally a 'Reef Ranger' might help do some activities, if I remember rightly it's for ages 6 months to 2 years.

We went on Ventura last October with our then 5 year and 2 year old. We couldn't have a queen set up because the eldest had a fold down bed, but for the youngest the wardrobe area was perfect for a cot, she isn't great at sleeping in the same room as us, but that set up made it feel like a separate room. At the time the nursery was first come first served but it was really good, although the little one kept waking up meaning mummy and daddy being paged and having to pick her up! Also with drinks packages my wife and I were able to get the soft drinks package just for the 2 of us, our eldest doesn't drink much other than water, so it would have been wasted on him. We always take the little extra strength squirty cordials in case he does want some flavour. If you've any questions about cruising with, let me know, our eldest was 6 months on his first cruise too.