Anyone cruised Royal Caribbean with a toddler?

[Ms B]

So Denmark as a family did not work out because we cannot get The Biscuit's passport in time. DH will be going by himself for work for five nights and we will be staying home. :(

Now we are looking at getting away as a family somewhere warm in January/February and were thinking about a cruise. Royal Caribbean has a number of 5-7 day cruises out of Galveston/New Orleans/Tampa/Fort Lauderdale/Miami that could work for us schedule-wise.

They advertise a "Royal Tots/Toddlers" program on some ships as having a nursery where we could drop The Biscuit off during the day sometimes to go on a shore excursion by ourselves, as well as private in-room babysitting, so that we could go to a dinner or a show or two by ourselves. The nursery also is supposed to have toys and room for The Biscuit to play supervised by us, which might be a good way to meet other parents and get him some room to run.

Is this a crazy idea? Will we go mad sharing a cabin with a toddler (although we would spring for a smaller suite so that we can have a tub to bathe The Biscuit and room for the Phil & Ted Traveler, an umbrella stroller, etc.)? And does anyone have experience with cruising this line with a toddler and using the nursery or sitters?

Thanks in advance!

[Mermanaid]

Not crazy at all. We went on Rhapsody out of Galveston when DD was 2.5. At that time they did not allow kids younger than 3 into the nursery so you definitely have more options than we did.

We hired an in-room babysitter two evenings so we could go to shows. Mallie actually loved her babysitter and asked for her several times. I think it helped that we always ate dinner together before the sitter came so there was always continuity for her.

We also met with the Fisher Price playgroup every day. Now I understand you can "borrow" a bag of toys to take back to your room.

As for the bathing, I took a small blow-up tub to use in the shower. She loved it. The cabin was a bit small with her in the PNP but we pushed it to the corner.

ETA: We took a Maclaren fold up stroller. Worked out great ... we even used it on our shore excursions. BTW, I personally would not feel comfortable doing an excursion and leaving DD on the ship. I was terrified that something would happen and we wouldn't make it back to the ship in time, etc.

[kaharris83]

We cruised with DS1 at 18 months. He had a blast and asks to go on the boat weekly since(this was in January)!! We had family with us so we didn't use the nursery or the onboard babysitting. We did do the playgroup though. We got a corner balcony room on the aft of the ship and it was AMAZING!! The balcony was HUGE and the room was suite sized but we didn't pay for a suite. We were able to hang out on the balcony while DS1 slept for naps and at night. We had such a fantastic time that we have already booked our cruise for January 2014 when DS1 will be 3y6m and DS2 will be 13 months old. The staff was incredible with DS1 as a lot of them have kids back home and they love to cater to the little ones onboard. It was so much fun I think of it daily with a smile!! We cruised Royal Caribbean. I highly recommend the Cruise Critic Family Forums for tons of helpful info on what to pack, expect, and they will have info about the nursery and babysitting programs as well I'm sure.

ETA: We cruised the Navigator of the Seas out of Fort Lauderdale. I think next year it is out of Galveston maybe. Great ship!!

[ged]

Have a great time! We went on the Mariner of the Seas with a 6 and 1 year old. At that time, we had no nursery option, only the playtimes in the AMs ( I think they were only on sea days, but I could be wrong). Not sure what you are looking for on a cruise, but in our case, I was just happy to not cook and clean, and see some amazing places. This was not so much about having alone/couple time, but a fun family adventure. We loved it!

[Mermanaid]

Have a great time! We went on the Mariner of the Seas with a 6 and 1 year old. At that time, we had no nursery option, only the playtimes in the AMs ( I think they were only on sea days, but I could be wrong). Not sure what you are looking for on a cruise, but in our case, I was just happy to not cook and clean, and see some amazing places. This was not so much about having alone/couple time, but a fun family adventure. We loved it!

Ohhhh we are going on the Mariner in Dec. I can't wait to explore her!

[karstmama]

ds was 3 1/2. they said in the brochures/web pages that there were drop-off care areas for children over 3. well, yeah, if they're also potty trained! no mention of that ANYWHERE until we were on the ship trying to drop off. so i was highly annoyed about that. the fisher price thing was pretty nice, we used a peapod in a regular (teeny) room, & took showers with him & handed off to the non-showering parent for drying/dressing. an inner room goes totally dark with doors closed/lights off, which was great for naptime.

in the end, we had a good time, but nowhere near as good as i had hoped. read: i only had one adult beverage the whole time because i was always 'on' as babysitter. :(

[Tondi G]

Ohhhh we are going on the Mariner in Dec. I can't wait to explore her!

We've cruised on the mariner twice and she is a lovely ship!