Taking kids on the Triumph?

[KJCruiser13]

My husband and I loved to cruise often before we had kids, but haven't taken our children yet. Our last cruise was on the Dream this past April by ourselves and I started to consider taking the littles with us. They are ages 3 and 1.5.

How is the Triumph for children? We haven't been on it in over 10 years and at that time I wasn't concerned about kids' activities. Is a suite necessary for the space with four people in a room? Are there kids options in the MDR? Any advice on length of cruise (is 4 days good enough or will we want more time? would 7 days be way too much?).

[kyboymom]

I can't speak for the Triumph but we were recently on the Paradise with our 2.5yo and 10yo. I had very high hopes of the 2.5yo would have this amazing time and just be in awe of everything and love the Kids Camp and all the fun activities they offer. It couldn't have been further from that in reality. He was freaked out from the beginning. The nightmare started at the Port. He was full on tantrum from going through Check-In at the Port to getting on the Boat. He was completely overwhelmed. Things I didn't think about completely freaked him out. Like the elevator. He had never been in an elevator before...lost his mind. Then getting on the boat going in the little tunnel freaked him out..you know it's not well lit in there so he kept screaming turn the lights on turn the lights on. Once we finally got on the boat I breathed a sigh of relief. We didn't point out that we were surrounded by water b/c we were afraid he would loose it all over again. We did finally get him acclimated to the elevators after about 2 days of complete breakdowns while we were on them. We tried the Kids Camp and the Staff couldn't have been more accommodating. However he wasn't having it. I think he made it for about 30minutes before we got a call from camp (they provide you a cell phone while on board when you have little ones). They had pulled our 10yo out of his camp and our 2yo was perfectly fine as long as Big Bro was right there but freaked out when he wanted to go back to his Camp. So that was it with the Camp. He wouldn't have any part of it the rest of the time. There are kids options in the MDR...chicken nuggets, pizza..and the staff was great about bringing his food out very quickly. We did a 6 day 5 night Cruise. It was definitely not a relaxing vacation with having the 2yo with us. We have decided that we won't be taking him back on any more cruises until he's at least 5yo. I felt like it really took away from our 10yo as well b/c we had these plans of having a quiet dinner with him while the 2yo was in Camp and that never happened. Instead it was us just trying to keep him quiet and occupied while we finished dinner. Also, I know on the Paradise that kids can't go to camp if they are under 2. They do have open play times where the Parents go in with the kids and have to stay but the kids can run around and play with all the toys for the kiddo's under 2yo. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer...just wanted to share my experience that we had b/c I definitely thought it would be more enjoyable for him and us than it was.

[KJCruiser13]

Thanks!!

I was hoping to use the Camp Ocean option, but I did just see its only for 2 and older and the 1.5 year old will turn 2, two weeks after the cruise. I've always been the mom that said she'd never take little kids on a cruise, but since the cruise is cheap in comparison to other vacation options, I've been considering it.

Our 3 year old isn't scared of much, but the younger one does freak out a little. She did get a little nervous on her first elevator ride a few weeks ago now that I think about it. I'll have to think about everything that happens on a cruise and see if she'll be ok. Did you take yours off of the ship at port at all?

[kyboymom]

We did go off of the ships at both Ports. That was another experience in itself with the 2yo..lol.. So in Cozumel I wanted us to go to a Beach Resort. So we of course had to get a taxi. The 2yo completely freaked out in the taxi. Which once again I never thought about how he would react. He was freaked out b/c there was no car seat and of course he had never just ridden in a car before without his car seat. He had a break down for a while but it was better on the way back from the resort. He hated the sand and ocean and didn't want to have anything to do with either of them. The Resort did have a pool and he finally did get in the pool a little. In another Port we were doing a Mayan Ruins tour which we had to get on a large passenger van for. So as he did the first time in the taxi he had a complete break down b/c of no car seat, etc.. Thankfully we were able to settle him pretty quickly so everyone wasn't having to listen to his break down the hour ride to the Ruins. Then at the Ruins there were of course physical limitations he couldn't do with climbing them and stuff that my hubby and 10yo could. So then I'm just trying to keep him satisfied with strolling him around and it's 100+ degrees and he's hot and I'm hot and it just wasn't a good situation. You may already know this but on the Boat the little ones can't get into the pool unless they are potty trained, no little swimmers permitted. I don't know how yours are with routine but we are big about our routine/schedule at home. I thought that by taking a good long nap in the late afternoon that he would be able to push his bedtime back. That wasn't the case. In the MDR every night he would start saying " it's time to go to bed" and he wouldn't stop saying it until I took him back to the room and put him to bed. So that really limited us with what we could do in the evening. My husband and 10yo would finish dinner and go do some things and there I was in the room at 7pm with him sleeping and me wishing I was out enjoying all of the fun on the ship. Oh something else that sent him off was the wrist bands the kids MUST wear if they are in the Kids Camp. They are for the Muster Stations and are required for all kids under 12yo to wear. So he took his off almost immediately when we did the Muster Drill. I was originally worried about him being able to be quite in the Muster Drill since they are sticklers about that. He thankfully fell asleep so that wasn't a battle. When we took him to Kids Camp they said he had to have it on or we couldn't leave him it was just a rule they couldn't bend (which we completely understood). So of course that was another break down trying to get him to keep that on while in the camp (which of course only lasted 30mins).

I understand about it being such an affordable vacay...I was the same way. Which with your kiddos being so close in age you could have a different experience b/c they both like the same things and probably have the same routine, etc. Where as I feel we were split up a lot as a family b/c the 10yo is ready to do all of the fun things after dinner and the 2yo is ready to go to bed. So there wasn't ever a happy medium with all 4 of us being able to do something together. Something that's probably just a weird thing with my child...but he has only don't bath's..never a shower. Of course that's not an option on the boat, shower only. I thought he would be fine since I could take the sprayer off of the shower and spray him with it. No he had yet another breakdown over this. I just didn't think about how something like a shower could turn into a breakdown. So this trip definitely opened my eyes to being more realistic about how 2yo's see the world from their perspective and not ours. I don't want to discourage you at all but maybe some of my experience can help you so your little one will have a better experience than our little guy did. He said he's not going on vacation anymore he will stay with his Nanna...lol...My 10yo said that on a scale of 1-10 the vacation was a 12 and if we didn't have the little one with us it would have been a 14.

[Aggiebuttercup]

I would choose a ship with a splash pad. I took a 3-year-old on a Disney cruise, and cruised RCCL with friends and their 1-year-old. They both loved the splash pads on those ships, and we spent a lot of time there.

 

Our 3-year-old had a great time (although he ran away from me once during dinner - slid out of his seat and took off out the main doors while I was talking to the waiter. I almost had a heart attack but found him standing outside the elevators.) He was, however, absolutely terrified of the toilets. He was very newly potty-trained, and he literally did not use the restroom for the first 18 hours of the vacation. It took a lot of coaxing him to convince him the toilet wasn't going to eat him. I ended up bribing him with the promise of a stuffy of his choice in the gift shop.

 

The wait staff is usually good at bringing special things the kids will like at dinner - a fruit plate waiting for you so the kids have something to snack on while you order, a special order of veggies (the only veggie my kid liked was peas; they served him peas every single dinner even if it wasn't on the menu), etc. With the one-year-old, we requested a table in a corner. When the baby got restless, we could let him out of the high chair to play on the floor in the corner, where he wouldn't be in the way of other diners or the wait staff.

 

Our excursions were pretty much limited to the beach. We'd take a taxi to a local beach and play in the sand for a few hours. I brought a few plastic buckets and sand toys from home (in giant ziplocs, so the sand didn't get everywhere from port to port).

 

I highly recommend a balcony. You'll want somewhere to sit while the kids are sleeping - and they'll sleep hard, because the ship is so exciting. Mine had outgrown naps, but he still took one every afternoon.

 

We didn't use the kids' club much - the 3-year-old was afraid of being left there - but we did take advantage of the family play times.

 

I'd bring little kids on a cruise again in a heartbeat - just choose a ship that has features that appeal to your littles, and, if possible, bring help (each of those cruises we brought a grandmother and friends with kids, so we could pass the children around and give each set of parents a break.)

[john91498]

I took my newly wed wife on a short 3 day cruise to see if she liked it. She did. I did the same for our children, a short 3 day to see if they liked it. They did.

So, now we go on 7 days or longer. Almost any cruise ship will have water parks and/or pools just for kids.

[KJCruiser13]

Thanks! This makes me feel a bit better. I don't believe triumph has a splash pad, but it's the only short trip ship out of New Orleans, our home port, and we're trying to do something without having to fly.

 

That's great to hear about dinner. We do take the kids out regularly to eat at home and they behave pretty well.

I had thought about sitting on the balcony during nap times. That's a great point. We're actually looking at the junior suites so we can have a tub. I've tried getting them to shower at home and it's a nightmare, so I think that'll be one less thing we have to worry about. And great point about the potty. I wonder if we can bring our Mickey Mouse seat. Maybe that'll be less intimidating.

Did anyone do the Seuss at Sea stuff? How was that? Did you find there was enough other stuff to keep the kids occupied? I've read they have to be potty trained to go in the pool and our youngest may not be yet so that'll be a bummer

[SadieN]

The Family board has lots of info about traveling with little ones.

 

 

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