Back from Allure 9/25 with 4 young kids

[meab]

So sad to be back home after a great week on the Allure of the Seas. I searched these boards for tons of information before we cruised, so I just wanted to "give back". I know there are a lot of people traveling with small kids, so that's the perspective I'm going to take.

 

My kids are 10, 7, 3, and 2. We had a FO Family Oceanview room on deck 11. Pretty good location, but I think we were right under the bridge, and it looked like there was some kind of camera mounted nearly right outside our window!!! We second-guessed it after we booked, thinking we should have gone for the Balcony, but to be honest, while the balcony would have been nice, I think we hardly would have used it. The room is HUGE, even for 6 people. The 10 and 7 year olds took the bunk beds in the "closet", and the 3 year old had the double sleeper sofa to herself, while her baby bro was in a pack n play right next to her. The room steward made the bed back into the sofa each day until we left him a note asking him to leave it as a bed so nap time would be more comfortable. Even with the sofa open, we still had plenty of room. It was most definitely the most roomiest room I've ever had on a cruise ship.

 

Adventure Ocean - my older 2 kids loved the kids activities. My 7 year old son would have stayed there 24/7 if we let him. We never let them stay for late-night (past 10pm) because it's just too late for them. As it was, they were up way past their bedtimes, plus being overstimulated all day. We needed to draw the line somewhere! Our two younger ones cried and pitched a huge fit every time we dropped them off. It's understandable, because they are normally with me all the time, don't go to day care/school, etc. I figured if they saw their older siblings go without fuss, plus all the fun things to do, it wouldn't be a big deal. I was wrong. Luckily, both stopped crying within a minute or two of us leaving, and they had fun, so I didn't feel too guilty about leaving them there to play. We only used the nursery in the evenings so we could go to some shows (Chicago, Comedy Club, etc.) The little ones were never there for more than 2 hours or so. I knew they were in good hands. The nursery was fabulous. There was never more than 3 babies or so at a time, and about 3 caretakers, so my son got some pretty awesome attention. On the last night, they took the babies to see the Move It Move It parade (with our permission of course), but otherwise, they stayed in the nursery for the whole time.

 

Dining - we had My Time with reservations for 5:30 every night. And even though we knew what we wanted by the time we showed up, and we'd tell them we have these small kids, etc. service was exceedingly slow. At first, it was novel for the little ones, so they were on great behavior. But by around day 4 or 5, it wasn't so new anymore, and I ended up having to take them out a few times while waiting for the courses to be served. And we quit having dessert around day 3 because we just couldn't sit there anymore. On one or two nights, we just ate at the Windjammer, having noticed that much of the same Dining Room food was on the buffet. On the last night, we let the kids eat with Adventure Ocean/Nursery (no additional fee), and we went to a specialty restaurant. That was really worth it - the only meal I felt able to sit and enjoy with a glass of wine. If you have young kids, you know that dinner generally means work vs. enjoy. If the little ones were happier going to AO/Nursery, I would have loved to do that every single night. Maybe next time when they are older.

 

Pool - another hot topic among diapered little ones. My son just turned 2, but he has been doing quite well on the potty front. We don't push it, so he is self-motivated, and probably the only one of our 4 kids that didn't need any bribery or rewards for using the potty. That being said, I'd hardly say he's potty-trained. At home, he always swims with a swim diaper, but generally, I can tell when he needs to go, and he's out of the pool and onto the potty in time (or at least out of the pool!). So for the cruise, I planned to keep him out of the pools, but thought the H2O Zone was for him. We swim-diapered him and let him loose, telling him he can't go in the "pool" because he had a swim diaper on (he's good at following directions). One pool attendant asked us if he had a swim diaper on, which we said yes, and he told us that our son couldn't go in the H2O zone, and had to stay in the Baby Zone, which is literally a small enclosed circle at the edge of the H2O Zone with one spray thing. Anyone with a 2 year old knows that you really can't "make" them stay in one area like that. It's great for a 6 month old, or a non-mobile baby. Enough for them to enjoy the water and not get run over by big kids. But toddlers are another story. My husband just took our son's diaper off and let him run around. We didn't' have any accidents or cause the pool to get shut down, and he did a good job using the toilet (I kept asking him if he needed to go). It's just a tricky situation. I'd never have taken the diaper off of him if he had no prior potty experience. No flames please!

 

Another note - the pool deck next to the H2O Zone is EXTREMELY slippery. All 4 of my kids slipped and fell at least once, and I nearly took a spill (a few times!) while carrying the little guy and walking over to the bathroom. We complained at guest services. They're all aware of the slipperiness, and they always have a cone up saying it's slippery, and there are people sweeping the water and drying it up... On the last afternoon, my 10 year old slipped and fell pretty bad, crying, saying her back hurt. My husband took her to guest services, they filled out an accident report and she saw the ship's doctor at no charge. It was "just a bruise", but that was Saturday, and it's Tuesday now, and she is still quite sore.

 

Shows (with kids) - we took all 4 kids to see OceanAria on the first night. There are no nursery hours on the first night. Our family is usually pretty psyched up on the first day of vacation, so everyone is able to make it for a late night. I took advantage of that. The show was at 9pm (past normal bedtime), and all 4 kids were totally mesmerized (as were we!). Even the two year old was enthralled and applauding.

 

We took our 10 year old to see Chicago. I had concerns about it being too "adult", but she begged and begged - she is a big musical theater fan, and pretty mature for her age, so I caved, figuring at the worst we could just leave if it was bad for her. She LOVED it, it was her favorite show. That being said, most of the adult innuendo went right over her head. She liked the songs and dancing, etc. and she even caught a rose at the end of the show.

 

Blue Planet - we took the 10 year old because she likes these stage productions - she thought it was great. We also took the 3 year old because I figured the show might hold her attention and she might like it...and I didn't want to fight about sending her to AO. She loved it, and sat quietly through the whole show. So that worked out. Personally, i thought it was a little weird - like it didn't flow right, and the musical selections were too varied. Plus, I kept looking at the performers trying to figure out who was who in Chicago. Not sure if it's because we saw Chicago first, but I thought they all did better in their Chicago parts vs. Blue Planet.

 

How to Train Your Dragon Ice Show - we all enjoyed. But we've also seen the HTTYD movie several times.

 

3D Movies - we all saw Kung Fu Panda 2, and my son and husband saw HTTYD another day. The theater was great.

 

Onboard Activities - My daughter and I were terrible at the Flow Rider at first, but by the last day we were trying some different tricks. The folks manning the FlowRider were nice enough to let my little guys (the 2 and 3 year olds) wait in line with me, and then I'd swap them out with my daughter or husband so I could have a turn. My daughter also loved the zip line (as did I!). Both the 7 and 10 year old loved the rock climbing wall - they did that nearly every day. I took them all ice skating, yes, even the 2 and 3 year old. The 7 and 10 year olds skated on their own. My husband held onto one of the little ones while I helped them take a turn skating around the rink. For both of them, it was their first time on ice skates. They liked it. The 2 year old cried when the session was done.

 

The Boardwalk was a big hit with all the kids. Looking back at the pictures, it seems like we must have gone on the carousel every day, plus the great balloon animals and face painting. A few spare minutes before dinner? Just go take a spin on the carousel!!

 

I think that pretty much covers everything we did with the kids. I'm happy to answer any questions. We were pretty busy morning until night, yet there is so much we didn't get to do. I could see there was tons of stuff to do if you didn't have kids...too bad I didn't get to try all of it!

[lawyerboy5555]

Thanks for the info. Our 2 1/2 yr old daughter (turns 3 at the end of December) will be with us early Dec. sailing - she has some separation issues. AO is only for 3 yrs and up, but the other stuff (the play at your own pace room) is too baby for her (we were on Oasis last September). Any suggestions at all?

 

Also, in terms of dining, she's a picky eater (she's an only child, just like me) - was your 2 yr old able to find plenty of stuff, without a lot of difficulty? Our daughter loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese, and that sort of thing.

 

Were the Dreamworks characters everywhere? I've heard mixed things - some of said they weren't as visible and "out there" as people might have expected...

 

Thanks in advance!

[meab]

The nursery is very good, and very understanding about the separation stuff. They were very caring, even as our son was kicking and screaming! We were given the dect phone in case we needed to be reached (which they never used).

 

We did not eat PB all week, and that was the first thing the kids asked for when we got home. I suppose you could request. The kids found lots to eat, even if it was just a lot of pizza or ice cream cones. Hey, we're on vacation. I try not to make a big deal out of eating (hey, there's 4 kids, so I choose my battles!), so if they just ate pastries for breakfast instead of oatmeal and fruit, I cringed inside, but just let them be...and I took oatmeal and fruit for myself ;)

 

I think the Dreamworks characters were there if you were looking for them. The parade was pretty entertaining for our kids. We did the breakfast too (again, 2 kids ate absolutely nothing!). I was surprised that the professional photographers didn't come around during the breakfast - it was a 'bring your own camera' event. I noticed a lot of those on the compass. On the compass, there were tons of character meet & greets every day. We did not go out of our way to go to them, but if we happened to see someone (like Fiona), we'd stop and take a picture.

 

If you aren't into Dreamworks or characters, I don't think it would be in your face at all, which is nice for people who aren't traveling with kids.

[alexkrn46]

Thanks for your review it was great to read about a family.

[mtsnd1900]

Another note - the pool deck next to the H2O Zone is EXTREMELY slippery. All 4 of my kids slipped and fell at least once, and I nearly took a spill (a few times!) while carrying the little guy and walking over to the bathroom. We complained at guest services. They're all aware of the slipperiness, and they always have a cone up saying it's slippery, and there are people sweeping the water and drying it up... On the last afternoon, my 10 year old slipped and fell pretty bad, crying, saying her back hurt. My husband took her to guest services, they filled out an accident report and she saw the ship's doctor at no charge. It was "just a bruise", but that was Saturday, and it's Tuesday now, and she is still quite sore.

 

We just got off the same sailing and thought the same thing - $1.5 Billion dollar boat and they can not make a non-slip surface which was not scorching hot? And it was only in that area which was really bad. The rest of the decks were just really hot. Lost track of how many times people slipped there.

[meab]

you're right - the decks could get pretty hot too. i'd end up running like crazy, nearly knocking people out of the way because my feet were burning up on the walk between the H2O zone and flow rider. Granted, I probably should have just put some shoes on...

 

I only noticed the slick deck in that one area as well. Not sure if it's because kids are constantly running in/out of the water. I never made it to any of the other pool areas, so I can't say how it compared.

[disney922]

Love the kid review. Did you find rushing to your 5:30 dining reservation?

 

I can relate totally to you on the H2O zone and "baby" splash zone we had same exact problem on the Oasis in March. Definately though the H2O zone was for diapered kids. My 2.5year old was almost potty trained but we still used water diapers and pull ups at night. We did the same as you! No problems at all either!

 

Glad to hear about AO as well. DD will be 8 and DS will be 4 on our next trip. Hope they both love it, we did not use it at all last trip.

[Stich17]

Did you have to stay with your 2 year old in AO?? or where you able to leave him with the staff. How long is it open for the under 3's ? Did you try the babysitting or hear of anyone who did ?

We're going next year with my grandson who will be almost 2. Just wondering if we can pre book sessions/babysitting so we can book restaurants at the same time. Somehow I can't see 150 having a high chair :)

I know my daughters who will be 14 and 17 will practically live in AO

[LuCruise]

Thank you for your review. I'm particularly interested as we'll be travelling with our 10 year old (a few weeks shy of his 11th birthday) and our 6.5 year old (2 months shy of her 7th birthday)....so our kids are similar in age to your older ones.

 

I'm sorry about the pool / H20 zone and kids club issues for your little ones. Can totally relate as we had similar issues when we went on Disney cruise a few years ago (our younger one was 2.5 years at the time). And thanks for the warning about it being slippery. Sounds like they should have made the flooring a better material for water (but too late for that)

 

Great to hear that your 10 year old could see Chicago. I pictured myself going alone ... but i'll be Mamma Mia so won't have that issue anymore. Chicago isn't quite family friendly so good she could enjoy.

 

And how fun that your 10 year old did the flowrider and zipline. She was big enough for the zipline? I don't think my 10 year old will be, but we'll have to see.

 

That's annoying that they couldn't speed things up for you in the MDR. They should adjust when they see smaller kids who can't sit for 1.5 hrs or so.

 

The boardwalk sounds like a blast with kids. Can't wait.

 

How did you find the character breakfast?

 

Overall sounds like a great review. Bet your stateroom was great with lots of space. We'll be squeezing four of us into a regular cabin.

Edited August 5, 2015 by LuCruise

[TheMastodon]

Imagine that... Its slippery by a pool.

[johnstoc13]

.

 

How did you find the character breakfast?

 

We booked ours in advance via the Cruise Planner online...def book in advance, as we tried to do this on Liberty back in April and it was sold out once we were onboard!