Caribbean Cruise

First, I just want to explain why I hated my cruise so much. If you have booked a cruise with toddlers and are now checking the returns policy, remember this was my unique one-off experience and I have heard that cruising with young children is supposed to be brilliant.

We booked a 6 night Royal Caribbean cruise around the Caribbean on board the ‘Allure of Seas’. This was after a 3 week stint at Disney World and was meant to be a relaxing week before returning home. Mistake number one.

When my friends ask why I had such an awful time, it is hard to quantify. It was a mixture of lots of little inconveniences.

I also discovered, whilst staring at the horizon calculating how long it would take me to swim ashore, I am a huge control freak. You have very little control on a cruise ship, which I think is actually what appeals to cruise advocates.

Perhaps we just booked the wrong cruise at the wrong time. It was out of school holidays, it felt very party vibe and one night our daughter was the only kid in kid’s club. Or maybe Americans just enjoy spending time with their children more than we do?

One of the reasons we chose Royal Caribbean is they provide ‘Royal Babies’ nursery, which is a paid service that looks after 6 month – 3 year olds. It costs a reasonable $9-$12 per hour. Our 2-year-old son absolutely hated it but I think the main reason was because he didn’t go to nursery at home so was not used to being left.

Choosing the right cruise cabin for toddlers

The main struggle with cruising with toddlers is the room… or lack of. Cabins are basically a small hotel room.

When researching Royal Caribbean rooms, I noticed that about half the balcony rooms have the adult double bed next to the balcony instead of the children’s pullout sofa bed.

I actually requested this configuration before we left as I think this would give any parent extra reassurance.

Surprise surprise, we did not get this layout but if you go to customer services before unpacking, I believe they can sort this out.

A positive note about the room – when the pull-out bed is open it obviously takes up most of the floor space. Your cabin steward actually pulls out the bed at night and puts it away late morning. You can negotiate a time that works for you when you meet them.

Packing for toddlers on a cruise

The cabins are really small so organisation is key.

I did a lot of research before our cruise and found storage systems like packing cubes, a collapsable washing basket, magnetic hooks and hanging bathroom organiser the most useful tips.

To entertain the children whilst in the room, I packed my usual compact toys that I would for a hotel room stay.

In addition to this, magnets are your new best friend.

The cabin walls are magnetic so whilst researching magnetic storage solutions I thought of packing some magnets for my children to play with and I did not regret it – it kept them occupied for ages!

Activities for toddlers on a cruise

We didn’t do any excursions with our children as really none appealed to us and it felt daunting to be on a 6 hour land excursion with no escape.

The main activity for toddlers on cruise ships is the swimming.

However, if your child is not potty trained, they are not permitted in the main pool or even children’s splash pool.

On our ship, there was a tiny baby pool with fountains that swim nappies were permitted in but I don’t think this is the case for all cruises.

They were also really strict on this!

In the theme of honesty, our 2-year-old was not potty trained so we just did not put a swim nappy on him. I would not recommend for children that can poonami at any given moment – our boy is ‘regular’ so I felt safe doing this.

In addition to the kids club they also had a craft room that was open at certain times for you to supervise your child and help them colour or paint.

We never actually found any kid’s evening entertainment. There was family karaoke one night which consisted of out of tune Taylor Swift songs but other than that we were a bit stuck what to do with them when the sun set.

We attempted to take them to a few of the shows, which were incredible, but had to leave some as they were too long for them to sit through.

Timings on a cruise ship

One of my biggest frustrations with cruising was not being able to do what I want, when I want. Or more accurately – when my kids demanded.

I really recommend doing your research before you go on when areas open or when services are available. As I honestly believe the Royal Caribbean schedule was created by a twenty something partygoer, certainly not a parent.

I don’t need to state the obvious: children are matutinal.

Some examples of these frustrations are going down to swimming after breakfast (around 8.30am) and finding out the pool did not open until 9.30am.

Both kids were in their swim gear ready to rumble and we had to occupy them for an hour before the pool opened.

Another example of bad timing is telling the kids we can go and get an ice cream and nowhere actually being open for ice cream! And this was in the middle of the day.

Dinner and shows were also really late.

We luckily got the first dinner sitting at 17.15 – so make sure you chose this option before you leave.

Enough moaning – the positives of cruising with toddlers

• Cruising is a really convenient mode of transport to expose your children to many different countries.

• The check in process for a cruise is a thousand times easier than at an airport.

• Our children slept really well on the cruise. Perhaps it was the rocking of the boat.

• There is something relaxing knowing that everything is included and this gives you ample opportunity for your child to try new cuisines. Or maybe just different shaped chicken nuggets.

• My daughter actually loved the kid’s club and made and they take care of them whilst you can explore the port.

• In the main dining room, you are given the same waiting staff every night so they really get to know you, your preferences and favourite drink. In addition to having a savvy B waiting for us every night they also gave a bowl of raspberries to my daughter after every meal because they knew it was her favourite.