Babymoon12

Thanks for the review wagtail_sydney!

How on earth did you fit 5 people in an inside stateroom?! I'm just considering booking one room for our family of 4, but can't get my head around how/where everything fits. Do you happen to have a photo of the layout? TIA

I recognize that restaurant. Can't remember the name but it used to be pretty good.

Yep - it's the Salthouse. We were there for high tea :)

Your daughter is the cutest! Love her hair.

 

Great suggestions.

lol Thanks :) Her hair is crazy!

Rhapsody seemed to arrive a little late into Cairns yesterday after detouring around Cyclone Marcia but all looked fine as she sailed away just now!.

Some pics!

My husband and I (early 30s) travelled with our daughter (13 months) on RCI’s Rhapsody of the Seas to the South Pacific over New Years.

Ok, this isn’t really a review. I have posted a ‘normal’ review in the RCI folder, but I wanted to include some toddler specific comments here. Some of my comments are stolen from other posts within this (frickin’ awesome!) forum. I’m repeating them for completeness.

Packing

1. We packed an outfit for each day for DD, and then some. She gets dirty and baby clothes don’t take up much room so I just did it. :D This included a number of dresses for dinner and 3 pairs of swimmers. I also packed 2 Grobags for sleeping.

2. I used 6 packing cubes for my suitcase. It had all my stuff as well as DD’s so it was FULL. When we arrived I simply popped the packing cubes in the draws. So easy and fast! Then my massive suitcase went under the bed.

3. We packed 15 nappies for the flight and the day before then picked up a box of 90 from Coles in Sydney as well as 2 packs of wipes. That was enough for the trip though the wipes started to get low.

4. I had disposable changing pads and bibs but didn’t use them. I found the changing pads annoying so just used a designated hand towel to lay DD on.

5. I packed every type of baby medicine and what not and I would do the same again. I used her suncream, baby wash, shampoo and nappy cream. I didn’t use the Neurofen, Bonjella, moisturiser or Euky Bear.

Flight

6. I took toys and food for our flights from Cairns to Sydney and fed DD on take off and landing and we had no screaming. She actually spent a lot of time looking out the window!

7. I had a Baby B’Air (a US baby vest for flights) but wasn’t allowed to use it for take off so it stayed in hubby’s bag.

Stateroom

8. I booked a cot (aka pack n play) but it was not in our stateroom when we were allowed in. Not a problem, I called and it was delivered within 20 minutes.

9. We stayed in stateroom 3502 which was all the way forward. It was longer than usual and had a fabulous bay window which the cot fit in. I had brought a shower curtain to hang from the ceiling (this was a brilliant idea I got from CC) but ended up hanging it over the portholes, then the room curtain closed between us and her so it was like she had her own room. (I’ll post a pic) I hung the shower curtain from the tv in our pre-cruise hotel.

10. I took a pack of 6 tea lights as night lights. They gave a perfect low glow and the battery life is impressive!

Equipment

11. I used a Baby Jogger City Mini pram. I love it. It is light weight but handles like a charm and has room underneath. Also, it fit through the stateroom door. I used it around the ship at times so I could do trivia or chill while DD slept (rather than being stuck in the stateroom which we did for the first few days). I also used it on shore a few times (but not when we were just going to park on the beach).

12. I used a Baby Bjorn Carrier One for travelling in taxis and walking around the Nanda Blue Hole at Luganville and the Cascade Waterfalls at Port Villa. DD actually fell asleep in the taxis – it was probably the wind blowing in her hair! I brought a chilly pad to keep us cool, but never used it since I didn’t carry her for long and/or it was usually windy.

13. DD wasn’t allowed in the pools which was a bummer, but I had a blow up pool. I took the pool to the towel guys on deck 9 and they got a pump and helped blow it up and then got a bucket to fill it with water from the spa. When DD was done, I dragged the pool to a drain in the deck and stood on the side for it to slowly empty. I left the pool inflated until the last day so we only had to get water on subsequent ‘swims’. This was a fantastic CC idea and worked wonderfully! Having said that, it might be nice to chose a ship with a H20 zone next time, or wait til she’s toilet trained.

Meals

14. The wait staff are fabulous with toddlers. They always came to talk to DD and make sure she was entertained.

15. At dinner each night (early sitting, 6pm) DD had a bowel of fruit within minutes and her dinner shortly after. I had packed some Rafferty’s Garden pouches as a precaution, but ended up just ordering from the kids menu. She ate spaghetti, fish, chicken, vegies, mash whatever!

16. I made a point of teaching DD to eat normal food and drink water from a cup before our cruise. This was really helpful at meal times! She still insisted on throwing food all over the floor though >.<

Royal Babies and Tots Nursery

17. The nursery had drop off time until after lunch and at night, and it had parent/child play time in the afternoon. They had a different theme of toys each day (eg music, animals, transport etc). We dropped DD off for a morning so we could snorkel and at night for New Years. We went for the parent/child play time a few times for something to do. She loved it.

18. The toy lending program is great too. You can borrow a bag of toys for a long as you want and take them wherever you want! We used the toys in the stateroom, at dinner and on deck 5 (for safe play and roaming). We switched toy bag about 4 times for variety.

19. We also used the in-room baby-sitting one night so hubby and I could go to the adult comedy show. It’s not a guaranteed service as it requires an employee to do it in their spare time. They had called during the day to confirm someone had volunteered, but that person got tied up and there was a delay getting a replacement. I called after 10 minutes and the replacement arrived 5 minutes later. We were 5 minutes late to the comedy show. DD was asleep so there was no issue there. It wasn’t a big deal, but just be aware it’s not a guaranteed service.

Other

20. Muster drill was painful. DD was in need of a nap and we were standing in direct sunlight. So, she cracked it. People were fairly understanding though and a lovely young man offered his shady spot for me.

21. I had an ID wrist band and one of those kid leash things but didn’t use them. She’s walking but we just took turns following her around so it was fine. I was initially worried about DD falling overboard, but we watched her near the open rails and the rest was glass or flat metal so it was fine.

22. DD has found her voice so did a bit or random yelling from time to time but didn’t have any meltdowns (aside from cracking at muster drill) and slept and ate with ease. I was actually really proud of her behaviour and felt like I have been doing at least some of this mummy stuff right. Phew!

23. I found CC and http://www.havebabywilltravel.com to be invaluable resources!

She won’t remember her first flight or cruise or South Pacific island, but I took heaps of pictures for when she grows up! 

Day 22 Dismbarkation:

And suddenly, it was over and we had to get off. 

Disembarkation was smooth and fast. Much better than our experience in Port Canaveral. We were off the ship before 9am and caught a train to the airport to fly home. Our flight was 1.10pm so we had ample time to arrive, check in and do some more shopping.

Final Thoughts

Our second cruise experience was very different to our first because we had a toddler but we had a good time. I thought 7 days on Freedom was too short and felt that 12 days was better.

We are definitely looking to cruise again and will probably do so with RCI.

I hope this review has been helpful. Feel free to ask any questions or for more pics (I took A LOT!).

Day 10 and 11 At Sea:

Again, we spent sea days trying to relax, but chasing a toddler. We did more exploring, trivia, bingo and shows etc.

Hubby’s birthday was on Day 10 so for dinner we had decorations and cake!

Shot of the centrum just çoz

Day 9 Isle of Pines:

My favourite port! We put DD in the nursery and got on an early tender and headed straight for the postcard area – not the front beach, walk through the trees a bit til you reach water on the other side of the island. That sounds far, but it really wasn’t. Follow the sign that says ‘Kanumera Beach’. Beautiful area, trees, sand, water, fish. Bliss! We decided the shallow water and calm sea would be good for DD too so at 11am we collected her, had lunch and went back! We took some bread to feed fish and they weren’t shy at all!

Day 8 Lifou:

This was a lazy day. We just spent some time at the beach near the tender pier. It was high tide when we arrived, so there were only a few flat spots. Later on, there was more beach, but no shade. Hubby went snorkelling, and says he wasn’t that impressed (although I had 38 pics on my underwater camera!).

Day 7 Port Vila:

Another early start and we were off the ship by 8.30am looking for a taxi to the Cascade Waterfalls. There were a LOT of taxis around and some boards showing their pricing (which was ridiculous), but we spoke to a guy which seemed to be acting like a facilitator between passengers and taxi drivers and he hooked us and another couple up with a taxi driver to take us there, wait then return us to town for AU$30pp (DD was free) plus AU$25pp entry fee. We were all happy with that.

As we were already aware, the walk to the top of the falls is long and has stairs and water crossings. We wore reef shoes and hubby carried DD in a Baby Bjorn and we found the walk pretty easy. It was certainly worth the sights and the swim at the top! The crowd was starting the head up as we were leaving so being early is key!

We spent the rest of the day doing some duty free shopping (the alcohol is very cheap) and looking around. And we caught a water taxi back to the ship

Day 6 Champagne Bay:

We left DD in the nursery for the morning so we could snorkel together and relax. The beach, water and coral at Champagne Bay are beautiful! We were there early again but by 10.30am the beach was packed! We had a look at the markets and got back on the ship to collect DD and have lunch.

Day 5 Luganville:

We got up early (thanks DD) and were off the ship by 8.30. We decided to get a taxi to the Nanda Blue Hole. We paid AU$50 for the taxi and AU$5 each entry fee. It was about 25 minutes drive each way and we spent about 40 minutes there. The blue hole was gorgeous but OMG cold!!

On the way back, our driver asked if we wanted to do anything else. Given we had heaps of time, we decided to check out Million Dollar Point. We paid an extra AU$50 and AU$5 each entry fee. It was a windy and rough day and the snorkelling was poor so we didn’t stay long.

Day 2, 3 and 4 At Sea:

We spent sea days exploring the ship and doing trivia, game shows, bingo and playing in the nursery/room/deck 5. The activities on Rhapsody were fantastic and the guest entertainers were very good but the RCI shows weren’t quite to the standard of Freedom.

We didn’t spent a lot of time by the pool since DD wanted to walk around constantly so we had to chase her. I did bring a blow up pool for her to use which she enjoyed, even if only temporarily.

New Years Eve was a formal night and there were decorations, hats, horns etc on the tables and the cooks and waiters danced around and sang so there was a great party atmosphere. The party continued all around the ship. We put DD in the nursery and headed to the Shall We Dance Lounge and then to the Centrum for the countdown.

Day 1 Embarkation:

We arrived at the OPT about 12.30pm and were on board 20 minutes later. We are only Gold Crown and Anchor Society members but we had a special shorter line which helped.

Our stateroom was 3502 which is waaaaay forward on deck 3. It was a larger outside stateroom with a sort of bay window and 2 small portholes. This was brilliant as we put the cot (aka pack n play) in the bay area so it didn’t use up any of the floor! Bonus! Being that far forward, there was a fair bit of movement throughout the cruise, but not enough to make any of us sick.

Muster drill with a 13-month-old is stressful! It didn’t help that we were in direct sun but people need to get their butts there on time so it can be done and we can all go!! Ok, rant over.

For sailaway, we stood aft on deck 9. We had an amazing view of the harbour bridge, opera house and CBD as we left. It was great!

Background:

My husband and I (early 30s) travelled with our daughter (13 months). I’ll do a separate post in the family cruises section on all the detailed baby stuff.

We live in Cairns and we flew to Sydney the day before to spend the day shopping – hello post-Christmas sales! 

This was our second cruise (but first as parents). Our first was a Western Caribbean on Freedom of the Seas in Dec 2012 which we loved.

We chose Rhapsody of the Seas because we liked RCI and the itinerary and (importantly!) it had a Royal Babies and Tots nursery. It was obviously smaller than Freedom, but was still big enough to feel like a big ship and there was plenty to do. Those wayfinder touch screens are the best!! I used them constantly. I also had my highlighter for the cruise compass which I read over each night.

We did dinner in the main dining room each night because we loved it and had great tablemates. There were 3 formal nights, 2 tropical nights and the rest were casual.

Second cruise. Second review. Fingers crossed I have figured out photobucket this time!...

Just off Rhapsody OTS with our 13 month old DD.

Each afternoon the nursery was open for parent-child play time. Generally, 2ish to 5ish. They had a different theme of toys each day (for example music, transport, animals). Hubby and I went with our DD to let her play and roam safely for an hour or so and she had fun.

The RCI channel on the stateroom tv actually indicated they were guided or assisted play sessions with an employee facilitating songs or games but it was only ever us and other parents and bubs in the nursery. I was ok with that.

We also made use of the toy lending program (which was fantastic) so DD had different toys for playing elsewhere.

Loving this review! You have a way with words!

We'll be on Rhapsody in December this year. Glad to hear your comments and really appreciate the details and pics.

*Wave* from my air conditioned house in Cairns! Sorry about the heat (according to our local paper, tourists are all complaining about the heat to which I say do your homework before booking people and/or dress and act accordingly)! At least it's not raining! :D

24 days til we board FOS!

First cruise - sooooo excited!!