single mom with 3yo

[betty]

hi everyone, i'm new to this site and i think its awesome. i'm planning on booking a cruise for 2006 with my then 3 year old. a friend my go but i may end up alone with the baby. do you think this will be too much alone? how well do the toddlers do on the ship? any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rsjj]

you will have a great time, w/ your 3 yo! our boys were 2 & 4 at the time. they both loved it! you can take your 3 yo to the mickey pool, he can stay at the club if he likes. he can see all those disney characters! there's just so much to do...and you can do it all together w/ your 3 yo, or if you need a break, he can go to the club for an hour or so.

our 2 yo was too little to go to the club, but our 4 yo did. and we looked at the navigator and had him pick & choose the activities that he wanted to go to.

what cat are you looking at? when we booked our first cruise, we went w/ a verandah, cuz our DSs still took naps...and we figured, while they're napping, we can hang out by the verandah. we just didn't want to be "cooped up" in an inside room, for an hour or two. why not enjoy ourselves too?

any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

[Buddy Bear]

For ages 3 - 7 the Oceaneer Club is a child's paradise.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a parent say, "I went to the Oceaneer Club to pick up my daughter/son and they begged me to stay".

Don't worry, DCL has the best kids programming in the cruise industry and that is rarely disputed by anyone so you can spend as much time as you want with your 3 year old or they will be happy to play with their new friends at the O.C.

Have a great cruise.

 

[betty]

thanks rsjj. i'm not sure which cat yet, i'm still looking them over but i'm sure i want a verenda. what did you guys do in the evening? stay in with the kids or did you use the babysitting?

 

[rsjj]

we are not really "night people"...so we didn't leave the kids at the club/nursery to hang out w/ other adults. and since they both had to go to 2 separate places, and the nursery, you needed to reserve a spot & pay, we just hung out with the kids, and retired to our room around 9 or so. which is really late for our DSs, since their bedtime is 7:30/8:00. one night, we were at studio sea & did karaoke (which they loved!), one night we just roamed around the ship everywhere (was an adventure!). by the time we got back to our stateroom, we were just so tired from the day's events/adventure, we just wanted to sleep!

however, this time around, since our youngest is 3, and can go to the club, if we wanted to do adult stuff, we can just leave our 2 DSs at the club (same place, yay!), and pick them up a bit later...maybe 10?

any more questions, feel free to ask!

 

[CM_Mom]

Betty, once you decide on a cruise, be sure to jump on the Cruise Meets thread for the cruise you choose. It's a great way to meet folks before the cruise so you'll have some friends to hang out with on the ship.