Royal Babies & Nursey

[scarlet4897]

Any info that anyone can provide about sailing with a 15 mo old baby would be so helpful. My DH and I are expecting our first baby 12/2/13 and plan to take our first cruise w/baby in March 2015 on Quantum. We live in NJ so there's no flight to deal with.

 

We will likely cruise with an extended family including both grandmas! :)

 

We're both experienced cruisers but have never cruised with a baby. Any recommendations/help/info/ideas about cruising with young children is appreciated! :)

 

Thanks.

[Tapi]

Read my Allure review (link in my signature). We traveled with our (then) 15 month old son and I wrote a detailed review of the Royal Babies and Tots program. It was wonderful.

[Sthrncrusr]

You will love the nursery. We used it on the Allure. We used the nursery day and night care and both were fabulous. They even let us store our BOB in the nursery so we could make the transfer from the nursery crib back to our room effortless. Used the cruiseline's pack n play and rented the fisher price bags of toys from the nursery and both were great. I'd suggest stopping at a nearby Target or somewhere to walk on with a box of diapers, disposable bibs, dirty diaper saks ( those scented baggies so you don't stink up your room), pack of decent size wipes to send with him to the nursery and a bigger set for the room, small bottle of dish soap and bottle brush to wash out bottles/sippy cups). We bought a stack of the disposable sippys and they worked great. Just wrote his name in Sharpie and sent a water and milk one to the nursery everyday. There will be play groups for you to attend with him too which is nice.

[Meaglesjb]

We took our 15 month old on Liberty last fall. Nursery was fantastic, but ours wouldn't sleep there. Balcony room was critical for us as someone had to stay in the cabin while she napped in the afternoon and when she went to bed at night. I got a lot of reading and relaxing done on the cruise.

 

The dining room staff had a fruit cup ready for her each night when we arrived. A nice touch so she wasn't waiting so long for her dinner.

 

We used the nursery to feed her only on formal night so we could enjoy a nice dinner as a couple.

 

The only major issue was at Belize. We were supposed to go on a half day beach excursion, but rough sea delayed the tenders to the point where we had to abandon the excursion or risk a total meltdown of our little girl. Ended up having a lovely relaxing day on the ship, but wasted a lot of time waiting for our non-excursion to leave.

 

My advice, be ready to change plans when necessary and accept that it will be a different kind of cruise than you're used to. You should have s great time regardless.

 

Oh... One last note. Unless your 15 month old is potty trained he/she won't be allowed in any of the pools... Be ready for that too!

 

 

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[Sthrncrusr]

As for the pools yes non potty trained kids aren't allowed but there is a small little splash area for kids still in diapers. At least that is what they are telling us was added during the revitalization with the h2o zone. I'm guessing it is similar to the allure...big splash area for diaper free kids and small little pond for kids in diapers still. We sail next May on the liberty!

[Meaglesjb]

Yes, there is a splash area for those in diapers. About the size of a standard balcony and surrounded by things that the little one's can't partake in, but look very fun and colourful to them. Darling daughter didn't last very long there since I had a hard time keeping her in the dedicated zone! :-)

 

 

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[southern cruising couple]

My son was 15 months when we went ont eh Allure last year. He had a blast! Anyone who says babies won't enjoy it obviously have never tried because my little guy enjoyed every minute of the cruise. And as with any outing there were moments of it being "hard work" for us parents but it was such a fun family vacation. We are taking him on another one this year at age 2 and he is so excited.

 

We used the Royal Babies program a few nights so that we could go see some nightly shows. He seemed to have a good time and fell asleep each night in their cribs. He also enjoyed it when we took him to the open play area at random times throughout the day.

 

Go the first day to sign up for some nursery hours and they give you a cell phone for you to use throughout the week. We made sure to add my mom to the list of people allowed to drop off or pick him up, which was very helpful.

 

It was a bummer that he couldn't use the H2O zone because it was appealing to him but I understand why he couldn't. He wasn't that interested in staying in the tiny baby pool. This year he is now potty trained so he will get to run around the big kids splash area!

 

We took him to dinner in MDR one night but it was too long for him to make it through calmly. So all other nights we either enjoyed dinner at the buffet or in our suite.

 

I was so glad I brought my stroller. He slept alot in it which alllowed us to still enjoy the ship!

 

If you are going to Labadee, get a cabana! So worth it:)