Parents with young toddlers on board - RCCL

[tropical82]

Can you give me a run down of what your day looked like on sea days. We're only sending the kids to Royal Babies/Tots nursery during dinner.

 

I'm figuring we'll wake up, get dressed, do breakfast with family (grandma and aunt are coming). After that ?? and before lunch (2-3 hours).

 

After lunch we'll do a short play time and then naps (usually 1-3). I can shower and change while they nap. After naps I can get them bathed and changed. After naps/baths ??? (1-2 hours)

 

I don't see this as a relaxing vacation for me but I'll get to spend the week with my munchkins....just gotta figure out what we can do. I figure we can set up the kiddie pool or go play in the nursery with them. Anything else?

[Sooner-Cruisers]

What are their exact ages?

[Kerry's Girls]

We took walks which would turn into some kind of play time - they once stopped to climb/play over lounge chairs for a long time and had a ball.

 

The empty disco or lounges are great areas to let them loose with a blow up ball to run around. The nice thing about ships is there are no sharp edges on the furniture, so less chance they'll get hurt falling down.

 

After lunch - up to the deck for ice cream and a walk.

 

Before dinner (and after) there is always music playing somewhere, so we would go to the back of the lounge and dance.

 

It's not relaxing (except no cooking or cleaning!), but our cruises are most of my favorite memories with my toddlers. The days fly by.

 

We ate every meal in the dining room, which was by far more relaxing than going to the buffet with all the up and down. In the dining room I could interact with my kids while we were served.

 

Have fun!

 

Best,

Mia

[tropical82]

The baby will turn 1 on the cruise and the older boy turned 2 in Feb.

[cb at sea]

What sort of schedule do you have at home? Pretty much you will do about the same things, just on the ship!

[cruisequeen3311]

Following ... I too am bringing my one year old on his first cruise. Splurging for a suite on anthem.

[Sooner-Cruisers]

We cruised with our newly 2 year old. It was the last time she would use her stroller. She's pretty active so keep that in mind. On sea days we woke and got her ready, the grandparents took her and fed her breakfast. We tried camp carnival (it starts at 2) lo wouldn't go. We also found empty lounges and let her run around and climb on the couches. We didn't have any luck getting her to nap the whole 5 days. We packed some new activities to to entertain her during dinner each night. Just having other family members around helped.

 

We just got back with our now 3.5 yr old and it was night and day: loved the kids club, kids water slides, pool, and shows. It's amazing what a difference a year makes!

[Tagong]

Schedule also depends on what ship you're on. I may have missed it but which of RCCL's ships are you sailing?

[tropical82]

What sort of schedule do you have at home? Pretty much you will do about the same things, just on the ship!

 

During the week I work and they go to daycare (grandma's or daycare depends on the day). Weekends we're sticking to the meal and nap schedule and in between we are running errands, going to the park/beach, etc. Just want to see what others are doing on the ship.

 

Schedule also depends on what ship you're on. I may have missed it but which of RCCL's ships are you sailing?

 

Navigator of the Seas

[Gardeneroflove]

Hi.

 

The nursary has open play hours, and toy lending. :-) Perfect for toys in the room and quiet time.

There's the splash pad as well.

 

We've traveled with dd 3 times, different ages. It was relaxful for ME, as dh has her more than me (he works). We don't use nursary or kid's club, dh works so uses vacation to spend time with dd. i use it to to do nothing.

 

each night check the newsletter that's placed on your bed. Note hours for open hours in nursery, they have mats and toys out. parents can play with kids.

 

Ime, my kid sleeps and eats more on the ship. At 14 months, she was on one nap at home, she napped twice a day on the ship and ate a ton!

 

*Note, the above is based on the ship we sailed, yours may be different.

 

Wake up, get dressed go to breakfast, back to the room. change for swimming, play at the pool, just hang out run around, get something to eat.

 

back to the room for quiet/nap time, change out of swim stuff, room service maybe, played with toys, read books.

 

dress for lunch/play/swim/wonder the ship. have lunch, enjoy the ship, golf or music. open hours in the nursary (dd was 3 on rcl, but they let us in, we were the only ones there!) while dh was with dd, I hit buffet for coffee, ice cream cookies, desserts.

 

Back to the room for quiet time/get ready for dinner. We all shower, dress and go to dinner.

 

I pack 'tinkerbell gifts', dollar spot and clearance stuff, small toys and crafts. Color wonder or magic markers, stickers for dinner.

 

We did mdr for breakfast and dinner, somedays for lunch. and room service. Dinner, dh goes down and orders, we head down, app/fruit/bread ready, then dd colors, if she gets bored one of us walks with her. this is perfect for pictures! After dinner dh takes kid, i order coffee and dessert and enjoy. he takes her where ever and they play!

 

Be flexiable. kids may sleep earlier, longer, and eat more/less, depending on your kids. Leave time before dinner for formal pictures, if you want pictures as a family.

[tropical82]

Garden of love - it never occurred to me that DH could go order dinner before we got there!! I'll still send them to nursery for some dinners but that is an awesome option.

 

Room service - completely forgot about room service!

[cruisequeen3311]

Is the nursery during dinner free ?

[tropical82]

No its not, at least not on RC. It's $8 per hour/per child.

[cruisequeen3311]

Thank you. That's what I thought. But you can go in anytime with your child and play for free ?

[RSLeesburg]

Thank you. That's what I thought. But you can go in anytime with your child and play for free ?

 

 

The RCI nursery has open play times, I think over lunchtime - the other sessions are drop off and fee-based.

[Gardeneroflove]

Thank you. That's what I thought. But you can go in anytime with your child and play for free ?

 

no. they have set, limited open house hours. The hours vary based on number of babies IN the nursary. We had more open hours, because very few kids and even less were booked in the nursary during the day. There were no workers in the nursary when we were there, the room was set up and we were free to play. our hours were typically over lunch/nap times

 

The times will be listed in your cruise newletter which is put on your bed each evening or you can get from guest services.