Just back from Celebrity with kid...

[Luxuriate]

We just got off of the Celebrity Mercury this morning. Our son just turned three years-old last week and is not 100% potty trained - Celebrity is serious and strict about this. If your child doesn't totally use the toilet on his own (no wiping, coaxing, or anything) they will NOT let them come to the play area without a parent present the entire time. The child must be wearing real underpants. No pull-ups able to get by.

 

Also, your child will not be allowed in the ball-pit (large area with plastic balls) unless he/she is 100% potty trained, even if you right there. It was really hard on my son to have all of the other kids playing in the pit but him having to stand outside and watch. And of course, no swimming at all for kids in diapers or pull-ups.

 

The cruise was still enjoyable but not anything like cruising was before we were parents (no, I didn't really expect it to be). We will definitely not cruise again with the little guy until he is a "big kid now" (diaper free). That will be fairly soon though (I hope).

 

Celebrity looked to have a fantastic program for kids but if you can't really use it it doesn't really matter. I did a lot of chasing my very athletic 3 year-old around the ship. I am home and exhausted! It is hard worrying about everyone's comfort on the ship. Hard keeping him from running, yelling, playing in inappropriate places.

 

I do have to say that the in-cabin babysitting was WONDERFUL. Albertina from Columbia (she is a member of the housekeeping crew) sat with our son while he slept each night. We hired her from 7:30pm until 11:30pm each night. The charge was $8.00 an hour (I gave her a $10.00 tip each night too). My husband and I were able to enjoy drinks, dinner, and dancing every night.

 

Cheryl

 

Cheryl

[larronry]

Well since I know my son can't stay in the program unsupervised I won't be disappointed there. I have my plans for the basketball court when unused, lounges during the day, and on port days he loves to walk so that is what he will do. I'll bring the stroller in case he gets tired but the only time we used it in Disney was when it rained or when we were in a rush.

 

One question. Are there things on the kids menu other then hamburgers, hot dogs & chicken nuggets? My son seems to be taking after me lately and becoming a vegetarian. I have not encouraged it. He doesn't usually eat pasta with tomato sauce, or butter, or plain, but will eat cheese (especially mac & cheese). I know he'll eat some tomato sauce but it seems to depend on mood. He loves pesto sauce. He loves his vegi's so that is not a problem. I am just not sure how he'll do on the Vegi menu that Celebrity has I can't remember it in detail enough to have any idea how much of it he'll eat. :( Oh and I know he loves Chinese and Mexican too, but with the new style of Celebrity Menus I don't think I'll be seeing that kind of cooking.

[Luxuriate]

Sorry, we never ate in the dining room with our son. We had second seating. He was already asleep by then. He had plenty to eat from the different buffet type stations though. We never had a problem finding fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, breads.

 

 

Cheryl

[Nebr.cruiser]

Well since I know my son can't stay in the program unsupervised I won't be disappointed there. I have my plans for the basketball court when unused, lounges during the day, and on port days he loves to walk so that is what he will do. I'll bring the stroller in case he gets tired but the only time we used it in Disney was when it rained or when we were in a rush.

 

One question. Are there things on the kids menu other then hamburgers, hot dogs & chicken nuggets? My son seems to be taking after me lately and becoming a vegetarian. I have not encouraged it. He doesn't usually eat pasta with tomato sauce, or butter, or plain, but will eat cheese (especially mac & cheese). I know he'll eat some tomato sauce but it seems to depend on mood. He loves pesto sauce. He loves his vegi's so that is not a problem. I am just not sure how he'll do on the Vegi menu that Celebrity has I can't remember it in detail enough to have any idea how much of it he'll eat. :( Oh and I know he loves Chinese and Mexican too, but with the new style of Celebrity Menus I don't think I'll be seeing that kind of cooking.

 

 

He doesn't have to eat off the kid's menu and you can ask the waiters for anything within reason for him, including anything on the regular menu. If he eats mostly veggies, they will provide him with them--and after the first night will have food he wants all ready for him. Our grandson, 3, ate mostly fruit and french fries at this time in his life, and they had a plate of fruit ready for him as soon as he got to dinner (so he didn't have to wait while we all ordered and ate our several courses) and a plate of french fries a little later.

 

We also took the kids to the children's program as soon as they were done with dinner and didn't subject them to a two-hour dinner. The others were 4, 5 & 5. They were anxious to get there anyway and were usually ready to go by the time we were about ready for the main course.

[crusinmama06]

Sorry it didn't work out with him in the kid's club. That must have been hard on him (and you).

 

Welcome back.

[larronry]

He doesn't have to eat off the kid's menu and you can ask the waiters for anything within reason for him, including anything on the regular menu. If he eats mostly veggies, they will provide him with them--and after the first night will have food he wants all ready for him. Our grandson, 3, ate mostly fruit and french fries at this time in his life, and they had a plate of fruit ready for him as soon as he got to dinner (so he didn't have to wait while we all ordered and ate our several courses) and a plate of french fries a little later.

 

We also took the kids to the children's program as soon as they were done with dinner and didn't subject them to a two-hour dinner. The others were 4, 5 & 5. They were anxious to get there anyway and were usually ready to go by the time we were about ready for the main course.

Children's program isn't an option for mine since he is 2. :( And would you believe he won't eat french fries. At Disney world I gave him a Vegi burger with a side of fries and apple sauce. he ate the burger without the bun and the apple sauce and wouldn't touch the fries. I know weird kid.

 

I actually figure one of the first things I'm going to do when I board is check my table location so I will also check the menu at the same time and if I think there might be a problem I might ask at that time for something special. Hopefully I'll see something on the regular or vegetarian menu I think he'll eat

[Nebr.cruiser]

Sorry, I missed that you were on Celebrity. That's one great thing about sailing Carnival with kids; Camp Carnival starts at age two, and they will change diapers!

 

You can ask for anything for him, on the menu or not, as long as it's not truly unusual, and they will provide it; for example, carrot sticks, veggie burger, applesauce, celery--or whatever it is that he loves. A nice perk for a picky eater.

[larronry]

If we had a choice we would have been on Carnival this year because of that. Unfortunetly this cruise is semi free because of a canceled cruise last year (Celebrities famous pod problem) so it's how we ended up taken our son on his first cruise on Celebrity. Although Carnival may not be my favorite cruise line for many reason when it comes to young kids (diapers) it's definetly what I prefer. (I think all cruise lines have good points and bad and there is only one that I will never step foot on again and that would be NCL because they almost left us behind when we were on a ship arranged excursion.)

 

Because although I'm hoping he'll be out of diapers for our cruise next year but can't be 100% sure and maybe we'll be in one of those in between points we will definetly be on Carnival next year because although I will not use Pull Ups during my potty training if he's not 100% independent and I'm worrying about accidents I know I can put them on him and it will be OK. Although I don't know if it will be OK with him.

 

 

With my son's behavior the last 2 days I'm not even sure I'm even going to make it into the dining room anyway. :( Walked out of 2 restaurants in 2 days.

[shellie100]

We just got off of the Celebrity Mercury this morning. Our son just turned three years-old last week and is not 100% potty trained - Celebrity is serious and strict about this. If your child doesn't totally use the toilet on his own (no wiping, coaxing, or anything) they will NOT let them come to the play area without a parent present the entire time. The child must be wearing real underpants. No pull-ups able to get by.

 

Also, your child will not be allowed in the ball-pit (large area with plastic balls) unless he/she is 100% potty trained, even if you right there. It was really hard on my son to have all of the other kids playing in the pit but him having to stand outside and watch. And of course, no swimming at all for kids in diapers or pull-ups.

 

The cruise was still enjoyable but not anything like cruising was before we were parents (no, I didn't really expect it to be). We will definitely not cruise again with the little guy until he is a "big kid now" (diaper free). That will be fairly soon though (I hope).

 

Celebrity looked to have a fantastic program for kids but if you can't really use it it doesn't really matter. I did a lot of chasing my very athletic 3 year-old around the ship. I am home and exhausted! It is hard worrying about everyone's comfort on the ship. Hard keeping him from running, yelling, playing in inappropriate places.

 

I do have to say that the in-cabin babysitting was WONDERFUL. Albertina from Columbia (she is a member of the housekeeping crew) sat with our son while he slept each night. We hired her from 7:30pm until 11:30pm each night. The charge was $8.00 an hour (I gave her a $10.00 tip each night too). My husband and I were able to enjoy drinks, dinner, and dancing every night.

 

Cheryl

 

Cheryl

 

I LOVE Celebrity and you are 100% correct about how strict they are with the potty training. In my experience, Royal Caribbean was equally strict. We went on a cruise on RC right after my son turned 3 (on RC). He was fully potty trained and had been for four months. Not only did not really want to go to the kids club without us, he had a poop accident and was basically banned from going back. My husband persuaded them to give him a second chance, but Tommy didn't want to go back anyway. We had a similar experience with my nephew on Celebrity. I tell people cruising with a barely 3-yr-old boy to assume that he will be with you the whole time, bring DVD players for the cabin, etc...The best advice for people in this situation is to pick a post-intensive cruise. We are doing a weekend-type cruise next month, and every day is a port day and every day we will be going to the beach (along with other activities, such as parasailing, snorkeling, etc). This is perfect for those high energy kids that love being outside all the time.

 

Anyway, thanks for the post, it sounds like you had a nice time in spite of the kids club issue. I think you brought up a good point for parents of young boys to be mindful of.

[shellie100]

One question. Are there things on the kids menu other then hamburgers, hot dogs & chicken nuggets? My son seems to be taking after me lately and becoming a vegetarian. I have not encouraged it. He doesn't usually eat pasta with tomato sauce, or butter, or plain, but will eat cheese (especially mac & cheese). I know he'll eat some tomato sauce but it seems to depend on mood. He loves pesto sauce. He loves his vegi's so that is not a problem. I am just not sure how he'll do on the Vegi menu that Celebrity has I can't remember it in detail enough to have any idea how much of it he'll eat. :( Oh and I know he loves Chinese and Mexican too, but with the new style of Celebrity Menus I don't think I'll be seeing that kind of cooking.

 

I think you'll be very happy with the vegetarian choices on Celebrity. My son started with a fruit bowl every night, followed by a plate of streamed veggies and then whatever "dinner" he chose. There's lots of pastas and such. My son likes soups, so he often had a bowl of soup, too. They were extremely accommodating and, after the first night, pretty much had fruit waiting for him (this was also the case on RC and Princess).

[larronry]

I think you'll be very happy with the vegetarian choices on Celebrity. My son started with a fruit bowl every night, followed by a plate of streamed veggies and then whatever "dinner" he chose. There's lots of pastas and such. My son likes soups, so he often had a bowl of soup, too. They were extremely accommodating and, after the first night, pretty much had fruit waiting for him (this was also the case on RC and Princess).

Yes, I remember being very happy that is the one thing I will miss about not going on Celebrity for a bit after this. The only line that has a separate menu. My little one likes soups sometimes, but being 2 he's in the I can do it myself mode but he also tends to wear his soup. :D:rolleyes: Glad to know there is lot's of pasta hopefully we'll get through this cruise with a happy baby.

[shellie100]

With my son's behavior the last 2 days I'm not even sure I'm even going to make it into the dining room anyway. :( Walked out of 2 restaurants in 2 days.

 

My boy was like that. When I cruised with him at 20-months we didn't get to enjoy dining at all with him. We were always having to get up and walk him outside of the restaurant. But when we cruised at 2-1/2 we wised up and brought a DVD played to the dining room. Yes, I'll probably get ripped for saying this, but it was the smartest decision I made on that trip (yes, I said "I" not "we" because my hubby didn't go on that cruise with us). My "very spirited" boy watched scooby-doo every night and was a perfect angel for the entire dinner. We were of course very respectful with volume, etc. But I will tell you, if I could turn back time, I would have brought a DVD player to dinner on the first cruise.

 

Fortunately, those days are past for us. My son is almost 5, and old enough to sit until being released to go to the kids club, so that sort of distraction at dinner is no longer necessary, and my daughter is happy as long as there is food in front of her. So, I'm good to go on this cruise!

[larronry]

My boy was like that. When I cruised with him at 20-months we didn't get to enjoy dining at all with him. We were always having to get up and walk him outside of the restaurant. But when we cruised at 2-1/2 we wised up and brought a DVD played to the dining room. Yes, I'll probably get ripped for saying this, but it was the smartest decision I made on that trip (yes, I said "I" not "we" because my hubby didn't go on that cruise with us). My "very spirited" boy watched scooby-doo every night and was a perfect angel for the entire dinner. We were of course very respectful with volume, etc. But I will tell you, if I could turn back time, I would have brought a DVD player to dinner on the first cruise.

 

Fortunately, those days are past for us. My son is almost 5, and old enough to sit until being released to go to the kids club, so that sort of distraction at dinner is no longer necessary, and my daughter is happy as long as there is food in front of her. So, I'm good to go on this cruise!

I've already planned to bring the DVD player with me to dinner and a stash of quiet toys from crayons and paper to books to trucks. I bring those with me now. Although what happened to me last weekend (and I don't know whether this is a relief because he was sick or a disaster because he ended up having pneumonia). My son tends to be a bit of a challenge and he had just gotten over a cold but by Sunday afternoon I knew something was wrong. I though his asthma was getting worse pneumonia never crossed my mind.

[melika091900]

Well since I know my son can't stay in the program unsupervised I won't be disappointed there. I have my plans for the basketball court when unused, lounges during the day, and on port days he loves to walk so that is what he will do. I'll bring the stroller in case he gets tired but the only time we used it in Disney was when it rained or when we were in a rush.

 

One question. Are there things on the kids menu other then hamburgers, hot dogs & chicken nuggets? My son seems to be taking after me lately and becoming a vegetarian. I have not encouraged it. He doesn't usually eat pasta with tomato sauce, or butter, or plain, but will eat cheese (especially mac & cheese). I know he'll eat some tomato sauce but it seems to depend on mood. He loves pesto sauce. He loves his vegi's so that is not a problem. I am just not sure how he'll do on the Vegi menu that Celebrity has I can't remember it in detail enough to have any idea how much of it he'll eat. :( Oh and I know he loves Chinese and Mexican too, but with the new style of Celebrity Menus I don't think I'll be seeing that kind of cooking.

 

 

we went on celebrity infinity with our daugther and when she came to dinner with us, they basically got her whatever she wanted...

nothing too elaborate, but if she wanted plain pasta, they got it ,

or a hot dog, or soup . whatever they always offered her many choices that werent on menus..

[larronry]

we went on celebrity infinity with our daugther and when she came to dinner with us, they basically got her whatever she wanted...

nothing too elaborate, but if she wanted plain pasta, they got it ,

or a hot dog, or soup . whatever they always offered her many choices that werent on menus..

Thanks that's good to know. He doesn't eat plain pasta. Wish he did since tomato sauce is a mess. LOL I tried ravioli and stuffed shells this week and he did well. Of course I put spinach in the stuffed shells. :p Actually he likes spinach it's me who doesn't like cooked spinach.

[barryod]

Cheryl,

Thank you for your post and the manner in which you presented it. In most cases, we don't get to pick our children nor do we get to pick our parents, but in your son's case, it sounds like he was blessed. A floating resort has to be very careful today with respect to the potential of sickness on board. Land based resorts can cast blame anywheres but a ship can be literally closed down. You and your husband are to be commended for your understanding. You'll have many vacations, in the future, with your son. Blink and he'll be sending you guys on a cruise as a gift.

 

Barry

[Eclipsepearl]

Bummer Cheryl!

 

But sounds like you still had a good time anyway.

 

Yes, the kids' club was great. My dd was 3 1/2 exactly when we were on the Galaxy last summer. She did have a pee accident and they were super-cool about it. Turns out she simply didn't know where to go. They never even mentioned not coming back.

 

My biggest bummer was...no cartoons! The kids had their own TV but nothing to watch on it.

 

They could never get me an in-room sitter. I was under 24 hours both times and I do recommend sticking by this. They tried but you do need to give them notice.

 

I also had rude comments from the next table. We were on the late seating and my girls wanted to go. They weren't bad but they weren't silent either. I really recommend the earlier seating. We were with friends, a couple with a 14 year old only daughter. They absolutely insisted on the late seating so no choice. :(

 

I'm not fleeing Celebrity. We will simply try another line next time...if we can afford it (now in question :( ). We're kind of stuck with summer cruises in the Med for a number of reasons.

[larronry]

Bummer Cheryl!

 

But sounds like you still had a good time anyway.

 

Yes, the kids' club was great. My dd was 3 1/2 exactly when we were on the Galaxy last summer. She did have a pee accident and they were super-cool about it. Turns out she simply didn't know where to go. They never even mentioned not coming back.

 

My biggest bummer was...no cartoons! The kids had their own TV but nothing to watch on it.

 

They could never get me an in-room sitter. I was under 24 hours both times and I do recommend sticking by this. They tried but you do need to give them notice.

 

I also had rude comments from the next table. We were on the late seating and my girls wanted to go. They weren't bad but they weren't silent either. I really recommend the earlier seating. We were with friends, a couple with a 14 year old only daughter. They absolutely insisted on the late seating so no choice. :(

 

I'm not fleeing Celebrity. We will simply try another line next time...if we can afford it (now in question :( ). We're kind of stuck with summer cruises in the Med for a number of reasons.

 

Although my son is too young for the children's program we too will be eating at the late seating because the couple we are traveling with insists on it (they are leaving their kids at home, but have no issue with my bringing mine) and my husband wants his sushi before dinner. I'm worried about comments because of that. I'm shifting his schedule at home between Thanksgiving and our cruise so hopefully it won't be a problem.

[Dengail]

We too always have late seating and we just make sure the kids eat something at their regular time (at buffet,poolside, anywhere else we can find food) this keeps them happy and then they eat a bit more later on with us.

[larronry]

We too always have late seating and we just make sure the kids eat something at their regular time (at buffet,poolside, anywhere else we can find food) this keeps them happy and then they eat a bit more later on with us.

I can only hope that works for me because if my son is done he's done and it's time to leave the table. A bit more could mean 5 bites and if mom hasn't eaten since 1:30 well or for that matter since breakfast well...

 

I can only hope the toys keep him occupied. He will nap right before dinner so I will try and have him eat something before nap so he won't wake up starving because that's not good either.