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Thanks Chrystal. These tips are going to be sooo helpful on my cruise with LO this summer. Now I just gotta see if grandma can come along :D:cool:

Haha! I hope she can come along with you! A great way to make some happy memories :)

Anymore updates coming? This review is so good & helpful I don't want it to end. I don't think you mentioned where you purchased the car seat carrying bag from? It looks like I'm going to fly down to florida for our cruise so I'm definitely going to need one of those. Thanks.

I got the bag from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009RNXNA/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The link to each product is located in the product's name on that list ;)

Crystal!!!

 

It's great to read your review again! Isaac is off the charts adorable:D, can't believe how big he is. Thanks for posting the royal baby's program info, I'm thinking about taking my god daughter with me on my next trip.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of this review!

Hey Ronda! Thank you so much! I can't believe he'll be a year old next month! What a great godmommy you are! I hope the review is helpful as you make your plans :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this review. We are headed on the FOS with our 2 year old in March so this review makes me feel so much better about bringing a young one! I have also been looking at your Allure review because I'll be 20 weeks pregnant when we cruise.

 

One question, was the pack n play that Royal provided a standard size or was it smaller? Our son is on the smaller side and fits ok into a regular size pack n play but I don't know how he would do if it was any smaller. Thanks!

Awesome! Cruising while pregnant and cruising with a baby are both very enjoyable as long as you go with the flow and take your time. Enjoy your cruise!

The pack n play was a standard size. :)

Good Morning Everyone! I'm so sorry I haven't been here for a few days to continue the review. Work and some family emergencies have taken up all my extra time.

We're very experienced in moving a pack-n-play (5 kids and now 7 grandchildren) and will also do it ourselves...Just wanted to know if the cabin steward was notified and how that went?

 

No chance to change cabins, the adult kids/grandson are in connecting OV's deck #4 and we're in a true corner aft on deck #8...Our ship (Radiance, Alaska northbound May 30th) is almost completely sold out.

He saw us moving it and laughed as we joked about how excited we were to have a full night's sleep. He offered to help but we were fine. No issues at all. :)

Any problems with the cabin steward about having the baby joining family members overnight ?..We're hoping to do this when we cruise RCI to Alaska in May with our family and 17 month old grandson..Our cabin in located on another deck from that where our grandson is booked.

No issues at all. We moved Isaac's pack and play ourselves since the breakdown and assembly were so easy. We were a couple doors down. If you can move closer, it's worth the ease of moving the baby's crib.

I am learning so much here! Thank you for the recommendation for Tourplaza. It's great to know that they can provide a cooler and a carseat. This will be VERY helpful! And the photo of the taxi rates is a Godsend.

 

Your dessert photos made me gain weight :eek:

I'm so happy to know the review is helpful. Please do consider Toursplaza. They've been consistent in giving us great tours around Cozumel.

Totally counting down the days. We've nothing booked still weighing up Greek Islands on Splendour or heading back to where it started in the Caribbean. Thinking of going big and looking at Allure!!

 

 

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Oooh tough choice, either one sounds great!

Great review so far, can't wait to hear and see the rest!!!

 

 

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Thanks Poorplaya! :)

Chrystal, this is a great review and Isaac is so adorable!!

 

Too bad we couldn't connect on the Allure cruise but I see that little man has been keeping you busy LOL will definitely be following along.

 

 

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Hey Virtopia!! :) How are you? Yeah this little guy definitely keeps us busy! I see you're sailing the Quantum next year. I think we're going to do the 12-night cruise on her. We can't wait!

Great review! Thanks so much! Your little guy is adorable!!!

Thank you! :)

Loving your review!!!!:D:D Isaac is such a cutie!!! I honestly think he looks JUST like your hubby!!!! Same facial expressions....lol

Anxiously waiting for more......

LOL! Thank you! Yeah he takes after Wes with those expressions. Knowing my husband, I can imagine what Isaac must be thinking! :)

Seriously this is such a gift being able to read this. It was so nice of you

To

Document it with photos knowing you

wanted to share it with us. I now know I have to go back to this place with my husband. The last time we went was our

Cruise the week after we

Got engaged in 2004. Part of this trip will be celebrating my bday but also it will be just past our 10th anniversary.

 

 

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My pleasure! Enjoy your time at Portofino! Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary! :-D

We too hired Gerry(a few years ago). He was awesome! He really took care of us. Highly recommended!

I agree! He's a great tour guide :)

Ok Chrystal I was just going to ask about the milk. I still feed DS my milk and wondered how to keep it cool during the shore visit to Cozumel or any hot environment for that matter. Normally, when we go out we pack an ice pack in his diaper bag. How did you store it at the beach? I imagine you no longer had the cooler.

Actually, Gerry kept the van nearby and waited for us while we were on the beach, so the cooler stayed in the van the whole time. If we didn't have that option, I probably would have used a nice pack, or frozen a bottle or two of milk, leaving two more bottles of milk in there to keep cool. Same as what I did for our flight, and it worked well for us.

Our first stop was at a local market for some cool drinks. Gerry bought some ice for the cooler he had in the back of the van. We bought some large bottles of water, and two beers-one Dos Equis and a Mexican beer that Gerry recommended. I only had USD, so Gerry gave him pesos, and I gave Gerry the cash.

 

A nice touch- Gerry knew we wanted to shop for some vanilla. He brought us some real vanilla, in the actual pods. It smelled amazing :)

 

Our plan for the day was to spend some time sightseeing Cozumel with Toursplaza. Our tour was scheduled to start at 9 AM. I can't recommend this company more highly. I toured with them when I sailed the Liberty in 2012. You can see how we spent our day then in my Liberty review, in my signature. Booking with them is so easy, and the drivers are so personable and thoughtful. I was excited to learn that Toursplaza recently decided to supply car seats to their guests with children. No need to lug ours off the ship- woohoo! They have two, so if you book with them, book early and be sure to request the car seat right away.

I think Cozumel has so much to offer, and I didn't want us to spend the entire day at a beach since it might have gotten too hot for Isaac. We wanted to visit Playa Bonita for lunch and Playa Palancar for beach time. The rest depended on how we felt that day.

Walking to the taxi area:

We walked through the shops in the port area, and met our driver, Gerry. He was waiting for us with a sign. Once he met us, he asked us to stay right where we were while he went to get our van, which was about a block away. He couldn't wait in the taxi area with the van- the taxi dispatchers' rules.

We took some photos while we waited.

 

 

 



 

 

Cozumel taxi rates:

We ate our room service breakfast in bed this morning. And yes, I did bring my own hot sauce. I planned to use it in Cozumel. It livened up those breakfast potatoes nicely!

After breakfast we were on our way! I packed three (4 oz) bottles of milk, and 1 (4 oz) bottle of water for Isaac. I actually filled the water bottle with ice first, then added more water, to be sure he had some cold water during the day. I applied the sunscreen I bought for him on his skin while I got him dressed.

The Brilliance of the Seas was docked with us today, and the Carnival Freedom was nearby. We saw the Brilliance from a distance as we docked, and she pulled in about a half hour after us.

 



 

We stopped by Mom's room to meet her and Aunt Avis. The gangway was on Deck 1.Getting off the ship in port was easy with the baby. He stayed in his stroller; we just needed to let them scan his Seapass like the rest of us.

 

 

 

Cozumel never disappoints :)

I woke up early to find us in the final stages of docking in Cozumel. We backed into the port. I looked forward, and noticed Mom watching the process from her balcony too.

 

 



 

 

 

Loving your review! I can't wait to have a coconut frozen mojito in May. You're making me feel a lot better about taking our 2 year old on a cruise. We will be using the nursery though.

Thank you! I'm glad the review is helpful. You'll have a great time on your cruise with your little one. It's cool seeing everything onboard through their eyes :)

Hi Everyone! I want to thank you all for your advice here on the Family Board. My husband and I just took our 10-month old son on his first cruise, on Royal's Liberty of the Seas. We chose the Liberty because it was a nice, short cruise to see if Isaac would take well to cruising, and the ship had a Baby Splash Zone so he could cool off and enjoy the water on the pool deck.

We flew from Philadelphia and stayed overnight in Fort Lauderdale one night pre-cruise and one night post-cruise. I figured it might be helpful to some new parents out there if I posted our experience here, in case you don't frequent the Royal Board.

We had a fantastic time! We're already booking our next two cruises. Cruising with a baby is totally doable and a fun trip. It's very different from cruising with just your partner or friends, but it's still a whole lot of fun if you're prepared.

If you want to know how every leg of our journey went, I'm doing a moment-by-moment photo review, here's the link.

Here's an excerpt from the review where I listed the most helpful products during our vacation:

Most of us are familiar with what to pack when we go on a cruise. When planning our trip, I felt like a newbie all over again. I spent hours researching to find the right products for Isaac- and for us. Let's face it, we need to make life as easy as possible for all of us when we're traveling with a baby. :rolleyes::D

First off, if at all possible, bring family along with you. I can't begin to describe how grateful my Mom and Aunt were with us on this cruise. They were really helpful, keeping Isaac occupied if we needed to take care of something. We asked them well before our departure if they felt comfortable taking Isaac once in a while so we could be alone, and then taking him into their cabin overnight one night of the cruise. Isaac still wakes up once or twice per night. In general, he goes back to sleep quickly, but we can have an 'off' night once in a while. We were so happy to have some uninterrupted sleep. Just the thought of that sleep made us so happy as we counted down the days to the cruise. I'm sure you new parents can relate. :D

Here is a list of items that really helped us make things as smooth as possible. I'm providing links to each in the name of the product in case you want to buy them yourselves. You'll see them as we go through the review:

1. Cosco Scenera Convertible Car Seat: We were initially going to have Isaac fly as a lap infant. As I did some research, I came to understand that the best possible place for Isaac on the plane was in his own seat, in his carseat. We had a pretty bulky car seat at home, and we needed one that would fit in the narrow plane seats, and one that was light enough to schlep around with us. This car seat is wonderful for travel. It only weighs about 8 lbs. We flew Southwest, and the seat fit nicely on the plane. It even left the person in front of him some space to recline. It was easy to install. We're so happy with this purchase.

2. The First Years Ignite Stroller: Perfect for travel! It's compact and gives baby a smooth ride. Nice storage for a jacket or blanket underneath, and a cup holder on top. A nice canopy to keep baby out of the sun. The stroller didn't take up too much space in the cabin closet.

3. High Sierra Curve Backpack: This was a nice, lightweight backpack that replaced our "baby bag" on this trip. No complaints.

4. JL Childress Gate Check Bag for Strollers: We used the stroller to get Isaac to the gate in the airport, and used this bag to check the stroller at the gate. Easy to use, easy to roll up, stayed in one piece through both flights.

5. Diaper Genie on the Go Dispenser: Totally needed these to keep the room smelling fresh. They worked. Enough said. :rolleyes:

5. Burnout SPF 30+ Kids Sunscreen: Soooo gentle and kept my little guy safe from the strong sun. You do have to rub this in quite a bit, so I applied it to his skin as I got him dressed in the morning. I mixed it with a little bit of his Aveeno moisturizer to apply it to his face. He has eczema and sensitive skin, and he didn't break out with this one at all. I was relieved.

6. JL Childress Ultimate Car Seat Travel Bag: A lifesaver! Wes was able to carry our carseat like a backpack. Mind you it was pretty large, but it wasn't all that heavy. I was surprised at the number of parents awkwardly lugging their car seats throughout the airport. We were also able to put our heavy winter coats around the car seat in this bag, so it's great for additional storage. It still looks like new, after this trip.

7. Tiny Love Take-Along Arch: We use this on car rides; Isaac loves it. Brought it with us on the flight and it kept him occupied until he fell asleep.

Feel free to post any questions you may have. I'm happy to help you plan in any way I can. I'm grateful for your help would love to pay it forward!

Hoping you will show dessert menu too as you mentioned you were not as impressed with MDR desserts which is a little disappointing :) also want to hear how cupcakes were it you tried them

 

 

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The desserts at Portofino were delicious! I didn't try the cupcakes on the Liberty, but I did on the Allure. I didn't like the flavor I got (Manly Breakfast)- it was a little strange to me. But the texture of the cake and the icing were perfect. I should have tried a vanilla cupcake...oh well, next cruise! :p:)

Looking at the Portofino menu is making my mouth water. :p I don't know how I never ended up in there on my past Royal cruises. Won't make that mistake again!

Please do have a dinner there, it's totally worth the splurge! :)

Oh Chrystal I knew there was a reason I liked you! I have those same shoes and I've worn them on my last 3 cruises because I can walk all over the ship and not feel like my toes are being pinched. They go with all my black & white stuff which is what I tend to wear on vacation to make packing easier. Btw, Isaac is a cute lil munchkin!

Wearing my shoes hanging out in front of Blaze on Oasis - June 2012

Haha! Thank you so much. Aren't those shoes the best?! They go with everything and are perfect for travel! You look great! :)