It's been over 2 weeks since we (DH-38, me-35, DS-almost 3, and DD-5 months) got back, exhilerated and exhausted. I'm just starting to recover now, so I'll do my best to remember what we did, what we would do differently, pleasant surprises and minor disappointments.
We spent 2 days before the cruise in Orlando, one day at SeaWorld and one day shopping. I wouldn't do this again, because we were already exhausted by the time we got on the ship.
The night before the cruise, we stayed at the Clarion Inn on Merritt Island. It was tolerable, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it. The whole area is kind of shabby. While we were there, the motel was full of migrant workers, all hanging out in the parking lot outside our room. Not that we had any problems, but the atmosphere was less than we'd expect for the price we paid.
Departure Day
We arrived at the terminal at 10:35 AM. After showing id at the gate, we were directed to the area with the porters, where we dropped off the luggage. DH and DS went inside the terminal while I went to park the car with DD. A short walk across the street, showed my id again, and then into the terminal, where my carry-on bags were scanned at the door. I had to be wand-scanned, but they didn't make me take off DD, whom I was carrying in a MayaWrap sling, which is probably what set off the walk-through scanner. From there, we went up the escalator, into the beautiful terminal. DS was having a great time exploring the large space.
After showing my face to the CM who was checking us in, I took DS and DD for more exploring while DH remained at the counter to finish checking in. DS kept running to "the door" beneath the Mickey ears, saying, "Open!" He really enjoyed looking at the ship and at the model of the Magic in the middle of the terminal.
At approximately 11:10, a family staked their claim as first in line. I watched to see if anyone else was making a move, but nobody did. We wanted to be near the front of the line, but also wanted to sit comfortably for as long as possible. At 11:25, a second family made their move, setting off the stampede. It was very funny. We were sitting pretty close, so we were able to walk over casually, and ended up being the 6th party in line. Within minutes, there seemed to be hundreds of people behind us. I stayed in line with DD and the umbrella stroller, loaded down with our carry-ons, while DH walked around with DS.
At noon, the CM's started making announcements, and they let us on several minutes later. It was so exciting. We had a little trouble getting our embarkation photo taken because DD wouldn't face the camera. I kept turning back and forth, but she was deternined to look behind us. We finally got everyone facing the same way, but when we saw the photo at Shutters later, we discovered that a man who was walking in behind us ended up in the photo, right in between DH and me, ruining a really good picture.
I was overwhelmed as I stepped on board and the CM asked for the family name. DH and DS were already running ahead. A CM was walking along with me, explaining the lunch situation. I didn't really hear what she was saying because I was trying to take it all in--sensory overload! I was really in awe of how beautiful it is.
We stuffed ourselves stupid in Parrot Cay, and then headed to our stateroom. We had been upgraded from cat 11 to cat 9. DS was enthralled with the porthole, and immediately set up his Hot Wheels in it. Anytime he was awake in the stateroom, he was playing at the porthole.
We decided to go up to deck 10. We walked all the way around, checking everything out. DS was starting to drag (it was past naptime), so DH took him back to the stateroom. I took DD to the nursery to sign up for two hours on Nassau night, and then walked around on decks 3 through 5 to get an idea of where everything is.
When I got back to the stateroom, our luggage was sitting in front of the door. We decided to call to request a diaper genie and a pack-n-play. We ended up having to call back three times, but both arrived and were set up by bedtime. I don't use a diaper genie at home, but it seemed to me that it just had a regular bag stuffed into it. We put it into the closet to keep it out of the way. It was never emptied. This wasn't a problem for us. We were using it for only 3 days, and DD was nursing exclusively, so her diapers weren't too whiffy. I'm sure we could have had it emptied twice a day, if we mentioned it, but we had total odor containment, so we let it slide.
After we all got a little rest, we went back up to deck 10 for the sail-away. DH got a drink for himself and a slice of pizza for DS. We sat on the port side of the basketball court and watched two baby dolphins frolicking next to the ship. Very cool. The horn blew without warning at approximately 5:05 PM. Perhaps I watched too many Love Boat episodes as a child, but I expected the ship to move after the horn sounded. We sat for another 10 minutes, until there was an announcement warning that they were about to sound the horn and that those up top might want to cover sensitive ears. The first time, we had to jump to cover the kids' ears because it sounded without warning. This time, we heeded the warning and covered their ears. After a few minutes, after we had given up and uncovered their ears, it sounded again. We were irritated, but didn't want to let something so minor get our cruise off on the wrong foot, so to speak. Eventually, the ship did start to move. We tried to blow bubbles, but it was too breezy. I wish we had thought to move aft, to see the Mickey-gloves waving, but we were excited to be on our way.
We headed back to our stateroom and found another set of luggage in front of our room. The tags had someone else's name, but our room number. I'm guessing it had to do with the upgrade situation. We called Guest Services and the next time we looked, the luggage was gone. Hope it found it's way to the owners!
We ordered room service because we had the second seating for dinner, and DS had not eaten anything other than 1 slice of pizza all day. He's absurdly picky. The only things he ate on the ship were pizza, pbj sandwiches, potato chips, chocolate milk, Froot Loops, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream. (In my pre-SAHM life, I was a dietician, so you can imagine my horror. My mother claims it's payback, because I was the same way.) That was the only time we ordered room service. I wish I had used it more. Being rather frugal by nature, I found it difficult to get over my room service aversion and remember that it's free, other than the tip and soda/alcohol.
We were in Animators' the first night, but were so exhausted, we didn't enjoy it very much. DH usually gets home from work between 7:30-8:00 PM every night, so we're used to eating late, but we're not used to multiple courses with an overtired, overstimulated toddler. DD was asleep in the sling, so I just ate over her. We were definitely underwhelmed by the "show" in AP. We were also disappointed in the service, which always felt rushed and impersonal. All the servers seemed to be running around like mad. Perhaps we're more sensitive to it because we have so much restaurant experience, but the atmosphere seemed frantic to us. There was a constant flurry of servers everywhere, which detracted from an otherwise very good meal. I don't fault the servers, because I don't see how they could give more personal service, given the pace. I was just disappointed after reading do many good things on these boards. Our servers barely spoke to us (although they were very pleasant when they did, in a robotic kind of way.)
Our stateroom host was also somewhat disappointing. He seemed very timid and unnecessarily apologetic everytime we made a request. That's why we never said anything about the diaper genie. We just gave up making requests after the first day. I will say, however, that my favorite part of the cruise was coming back to a beautifully cleaned room twice a day. He did a great job.
Nassau Day
DD wakes up at 5 AM every day, so I took her out in the Baby Bjorn carrier (working different muscles than the sling, to avoid getting sore) for a walk around the ship while DH and DS slept in. I got to know Baxter at Guest Services over the 3 mornings of the cruise, as there weren't many people to talk to at 5 AM. That first morning, I checked out a Graco stroller ($100 deposit on your account). It was really filthy, grimy and full of crumbs. They all seemed to be in the same condition. We decided to put DD's quilt down in it and use it only for dinner, so DD could sleep without having to be held. It was a bit bulky, but we had several empty seats at our table, so it worked out ok.
After breakfast at BBB, DH and DS headed into Nassau while I napped with DD. We slept several hours while they were gone. When they got back, we went to lunch in Triton's. There were very few people there. Our servers spent almost the entire time at our table, talking and answering our many questions. It was lovely and relaxing. We left them a nice tip, wishing they were our dinner servers.
After a brief trip into Nassau, we tried to catch the Island Magic character show, but DS was terrified by the characters, so we had to leave. We tried to see Finding Nemo later in the afternoon, but, unfortunately, it was in the same theater and he freaked out again, thinking the characters were going to come out. Instead, I took DS to Oceaneers' Club, just to see what it looked like. They gave us visitor nametags, and DS was allowed to stay and play, as long as I stayed with him. He had a great time playing with the trucks, and didn't want to leave.
We went shopping on board before dinner, picking up some souvenirs that proved to be helpful in entertaining DS during dinner in Parrot Cay. This was our most enjoyable dinner. DD slept in the stroller, DS played happily with his new die-cast DCL bus and ship, and we were rested and relaxed. The service was still harried, but it didn't affect us as much.
We had to cut dinner a little short to get the kids to the nursery by 10 PM. Our servers packaged dessert to go for us, which was very nice. In the nursery, I put DD in a crib with her pacifier and blanket, without ever waking her. DS was eager to play with the trains. We were anxious because they've had very little experience with sitters. DH gave the counselors specific instructions to page us right away if DS became upset. 15 minutes later, we were paged, but when we got to the nursery a few minutes later, we could see one of the counselors rocking him to sleep. I told them to give him his teddy and blanket, and he fell asleep without ever seeing us peeking in on him. They put him down on a mat, and we had an hour and a half of quiet adult time. We had intended to go dancing, but chose instead to sit on deck 10, aft, and watch Nassau fade into the distance as we sailed away. It was incredibly romantic and relaxing, just what we needed.
Castaway Cay Day
I really enjoyed my 5 AM quiet time with DD. It was great, strolling deck 10 in the pre-dawn darkness, and then watching the sunrise. At 6:30 AM, I'd grab coffee and pastries from the deck 9 aft beverage station and bring them down to DH while we waited for DS to wake up.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in BBB, and headed out around 9:45 AM. We walked all the way to the far end of the family beach. There were plenty of chairs and umbrellas the whole time we were there. DD loved going in the water, but DS was a little bored because he goes to the beach all the time at home. He's too young to appreciate how much more beautiful it is on CC. We didn't bring any bottled water with us, and ended up buying a lot, because it was very hot. We went to lunch at Cookie's at 11:45. The lines weren't bad and the ribs and chocolate chip cookies were delicious. Did some shopping at She Sells... after lunch. We were getting tired, so when some smokers settled in on either side of us around 1:30, we decided to head back to the ship. After cleaning up and resting, we worked on packing, which was a real bummer.
We dressed for dinner in Tritons. I had hoped to have a nice family portrait taken, but DD fell asleep early, so I never even got a chance to put her in the dress I bought for the cruise. We had a portrait taken without her, because DS looked so adorable in his suit. We really enjoyed walking through the ship, seeing people point him out and mention how cute he looked.
We were really tired for dinner again, and were so full after 3 days of gorging, that we ate only a few bites of our entrees (we had to save a little room for dessert, of course!) After dinner, we had hoped to catch Disney Dreams on tv, but we both fell asleep after 10 minutes! Maybe next time!
Debarkation
We were in no hurry, so we had another leisurely breakfast at BBB, stopped into Shutters to buy our portrait (no lines) and sauntered off the ship. The only problem we had was that DS didn't want to leave. He decided that he wanted to live on "the boat."
Final Thoughts
I can't believe how long this is, considering we really didn't do much. Even though we didn't get to take advantage of any of the entertainment, we still had a great time. With children under 3, you have to make your own entertainment, especially if they're frightened by the characters.
We never saw a photographer, other than the portrait set-ups. I realize it's because we didn't participate in any of the entertainment, but I was hoping we'd have our picture taken at dinner, at least. We didn't take nearly enough pictures. We always seemed to be running somewhere.
We were absolutely wiped out by the time we got home. Two day later, both kids were sick with bad colds. Before the cruise, I was worried they would pick up viruses in the nursery, but I think it was just inevitable, with all the children on board.
Finally, I think the key to a successful cruise with children under 3 is to have as few expectations as possible and to remain very flexible. If you have your heart set on doing specific activities, it would probably be better to wait until the children are older, but if you're willing to go where the moment takes you, you could have a great time.
We spent 2 days before the cruise in Orlando, one day at SeaWorld and one day shopping. I wouldn't do this again, because we were already exhausted by the time we got on the ship.
The night before the cruise, we stayed at the Clarion Inn on Merritt Island. It was tolerable, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it. The whole area is kind of shabby. While we were there, the motel was full of migrant workers, all hanging out in the parking lot outside our room. Not that we had any problems, but the atmosphere was less than we'd expect for the price we paid.
Departure Day
We arrived at the terminal at 10:35 AM. After showing id at the gate, we were directed to the area with the porters, where we dropped off the luggage. DH and DS went inside the terminal while I went to park the car with DD. A short walk across the street, showed my id again, and then into the terminal, where my carry-on bags were scanned at the door. I had to be wand-scanned, but they didn't make me take off DD, whom I was carrying in a MayaWrap sling, which is probably what set off the walk-through scanner. From there, we went up the escalator, into the beautiful terminal. DS was having a great time exploring the large space.
After showing my face to the CM who was checking us in, I took DS and DD for more exploring while DH remained at the counter to finish checking in. DS kept running to "the door" beneath the Mickey ears, saying, "Open!" He really enjoyed looking at the ship and at the model of the Magic in the middle of the terminal.
At approximately 11:10, a family staked their claim as first in line. I watched to see if anyone else was making a move, but nobody did. We wanted to be near the front of the line, but also wanted to sit comfortably for as long as possible. At 11:25, a second family made their move, setting off the stampede. It was very funny. We were sitting pretty close, so we were able to walk over casually, and ended up being the 6th party in line. Within minutes, there seemed to be hundreds of people behind us. I stayed in line with DD and the umbrella stroller, loaded down with our carry-ons, while DH walked around with DS.
At noon, the CM's started making announcements, and they let us on several minutes later. It was so exciting. We had a little trouble getting our embarkation photo taken because DD wouldn't face the camera. I kept turning back and forth, but she was deternined to look behind us. We finally got everyone facing the same way, but when we saw the photo at Shutters later, we discovered that a man who was walking in behind us ended up in the photo, right in between DH and me, ruining a really good picture.
I was overwhelmed as I stepped on board and the CM asked for the family name. DH and DS were already running ahead. A CM was walking along with me, explaining the lunch situation. I didn't really hear what she was saying because I was trying to take it all in--sensory overload! I was really in awe of how beautiful it is.
We stuffed ourselves stupid in Parrot Cay, and then headed to our stateroom. We had been upgraded from cat 11 to cat 9. DS was enthralled with the porthole, and immediately set up his Hot Wheels in it. Anytime he was awake in the stateroom, he was playing at the porthole.
We decided to go up to deck 10. We walked all the way around, checking everything out. DS was starting to drag (it was past naptime), so DH took him back to the stateroom. I took DD to the nursery to sign up for two hours on Nassau night, and then walked around on decks 3 through 5 to get an idea of where everything is.
When I got back to the stateroom, our luggage was sitting in front of the door. We decided to call to request a diaper genie and a pack-n-play. We ended up having to call back three times, but both arrived and were set up by bedtime. I don't use a diaper genie at home, but it seemed to me that it just had a regular bag stuffed into it. We put it into the closet to keep it out of the way. It was never emptied. This wasn't a problem for us. We were using it for only 3 days, and DD was nursing exclusively, so her diapers weren't too whiffy. I'm sure we could have had it emptied twice a day, if we mentioned it, but we had total odor containment, so we let it slide.
After we all got a little rest, we went back up to deck 10 for the sail-away. DH got a drink for himself and a slice of pizza for DS. We sat on the port side of the basketball court and watched two baby dolphins frolicking next to the ship. Very cool. The horn blew without warning at approximately 5:05 PM. Perhaps I watched too many Love Boat episodes as a child, but I expected the ship to move after the horn sounded. We sat for another 10 minutes, until there was an announcement warning that they were about to sound the horn and that those up top might want to cover sensitive ears. The first time, we had to jump to cover the kids' ears because it sounded without warning. This time, we heeded the warning and covered their ears. After a few minutes, after we had given up and uncovered their ears, it sounded again. We were irritated, but didn't want to let something so minor get our cruise off on the wrong foot, so to speak. Eventually, the ship did start to move. We tried to blow bubbles, but it was too breezy. I wish we had thought to move aft, to see the Mickey-gloves waving, but we were excited to be on our way.
We headed back to our stateroom and found another set of luggage in front of our room. The tags had someone else's name, but our room number. I'm guessing it had to do with the upgrade situation. We called Guest Services and the next time we looked, the luggage was gone. Hope it found it's way to the owners!
We ordered room service because we had the second seating for dinner, and DS had not eaten anything other than 1 slice of pizza all day. He's absurdly picky. The only things he ate on the ship were pizza, pbj sandwiches, potato chips, chocolate milk, Froot Loops, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream. (In my pre-SAHM life, I was a dietician, so you can imagine my horror. My mother claims it's payback, because I was the same way.) That was the only time we ordered room service. I wish I had used it more. Being rather frugal by nature, I found it difficult to get over my room service aversion and remember that it's free, other than the tip and soda/alcohol.
We were in Animators' the first night, but were so exhausted, we didn't enjoy it very much. DH usually gets home from work between 7:30-8:00 PM every night, so we're used to eating late, but we're not used to multiple courses with an overtired, overstimulated toddler. DD was asleep in the sling, so I just ate over her. We were definitely underwhelmed by the "show" in AP. We were also disappointed in the service, which always felt rushed and impersonal. All the servers seemed to be running around like mad. Perhaps we're more sensitive to it because we have so much restaurant experience, but the atmosphere seemed frantic to us. There was a constant flurry of servers everywhere, which detracted from an otherwise very good meal. I don't fault the servers, because I don't see how they could give more personal service, given the pace. I was just disappointed after reading do many good things on these boards. Our servers barely spoke to us (although they were very pleasant when they did, in a robotic kind of way.)
Our stateroom host was also somewhat disappointing. He seemed very timid and unnecessarily apologetic everytime we made a request. That's why we never said anything about the diaper genie. We just gave up making requests after the first day. I will say, however, that my favorite part of the cruise was coming back to a beautifully cleaned room twice a day. He did a great job.
Nassau Day
DD wakes up at 5 AM every day, so I took her out in the Baby Bjorn carrier (working different muscles than the sling, to avoid getting sore) for a walk around the ship while DH and DS slept in. I got to know Baxter at Guest Services over the 3 mornings of the cruise, as there weren't many people to talk to at 5 AM. That first morning, I checked out a Graco stroller ($100 deposit on your account). It was really filthy, grimy and full of crumbs. They all seemed to be in the same condition. We decided to put DD's quilt down in it and use it only for dinner, so DD could sleep without having to be held. It was a bit bulky, but we had several empty seats at our table, so it worked out ok.
After breakfast at BBB, DH and DS headed into Nassau while I napped with DD. We slept several hours while they were gone. When they got back, we went to lunch in Triton's. There were very few people there. Our servers spent almost the entire time at our table, talking and answering our many questions. It was lovely and relaxing. We left them a nice tip, wishing they were our dinner servers.
After a brief trip into Nassau, we tried to catch the Island Magic character show, but DS was terrified by the characters, so we had to leave. We tried to see Finding Nemo later in the afternoon, but, unfortunately, it was in the same theater and he freaked out again, thinking the characters were going to come out. Instead, I took DS to Oceaneers' Club, just to see what it looked like. They gave us visitor nametags, and DS was allowed to stay and play, as long as I stayed with him. He had a great time playing with the trucks, and didn't want to leave.
We went shopping on board before dinner, picking up some souvenirs that proved to be helpful in entertaining DS during dinner in Parrot Cay. This was our most enjoyable dinner. DD slept in the stroller, DS played happily with his new die-cast DCL bus and ship, and we were rested and relaxed. The service was still harried, but it didn't affect us as much.
We had to cut dinner a little short to get the kids to the nursery by 10 PM. Our servers packaged dessert to go for us, which was very nice. In the nursery, I put DD in a crib with her pacifier and blanket, without ever waking her. DS was eager to play with the trains. We were anxious because they've had very little experience with sitters. DH gave the counselors specific instructions to page us right away if DS became upset. 15 minutes later, we were paged, but when we got to the nursery a few minutes later, we could see one of the counselors rocking him to sleep. I told them to give him his teddy and blanket, and he fell asleep without ever seeing us peeking in on him. They put him down on a mat, and we had an hour and a half of quiet adult time. We had intended to go dancing, but chose instead to sit on deck 10, aft, and watch Nassau fade into the distance as we sailed away. It was incredibly romantic and relaxing, just what we needed.
Castaway Cay Day
I really enjoyed my 5 AM quiet time with DD. It was great, strolling deck 10 in the pre-dawn darkness, and then watching the sunrise. At 6:30 AM, I'd grab coffee and pastries from the deck 9 aft beverage station and bring them down to DH while we waited for DS to wake up.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in BBB, and headed out around 9:45 AM. We walked all the way to the far end of the family beach. There were plenty of chairs and umbrellas the whole time we were there. DD loved going in the water, but DS was a little bored because he goes to the beach all the time at home. He's too young to appreciate how much more beautiful it is on CC. We didn't bring any bottled water with us, and ended up buying a lot, because it was very hot. We went to lunch at Cookie's at 11:45. The lines weren't bad and the ribs and chocolate chip cookies were delicious. Did some shopping at She Sells... after lunch. We were getting tired, so when some smokers settled in on either side of us around 1:30, we decided to head back to the ship. After cleaning up and resting, we worked on packing, which was a real bummer.
We dressed for dinner in Tritons. I had hoped to have a nice family portrait taken, but DD fell asleep early, so I never even got a chance to put her in the dress I bought for the cruise. We had a portrait taken without her, because DS looked so adorable in his suit. We really enjoyed walking through the ship, seeing people point him out and mention how cute he looked.
We were really tired for dinner again, and were so full after 3 days of gorging, that we ate only a few bites of our entrees (we had to save a little room for dessert, of course!) After dinner, we had hoped to catch Disney Dreams on tv, but we both fell asleep after 10 minutes! Maybe next time!
Debarkation
We were in no hurry, so we had another leisurely breakfast at BBB, stopped into Shutters to buy our portrait (no lines) and sauntered off the ship. The only problem we had was that DS didn't want to leave. He decided that he wanted to live on "the boat."
Final Thoughts
I can't believe how long this is, considering we really didn't do much. Even though we didn't get to take advantage of any of the entertainment, we still had a great time. With children under 3, you have to make your own entertainment, especially if they're frightened by the characters.
We never saw a photographer, other than the portrait set-ups. I realize it's because we didn't participate in any of the entertainment, but I was hoping we'd have our picture taken at dinner, at least. We didn't take nearly enough pictures. We always seemed to be running somewhere.
We were absolutely wiped out by the time we got home. Two day later, both kids were sick with bad colds. Before the cruise, I was worried they would pick up viruses in the nursery, but I think it was just inevitable, with all the children on board.
Finally, I think the key to a successful cruise with children under 3 is to have as few expectations as possible and to remain very flexible. If you have your heart set on doing specific activities, it would probably be better to wait until the children are older, but if you're willing to go where the moment takes you, you could have a great time.
As we speak I am typing w/ my baby in my sling....I know how handy they can be sometimes. Did you use your the majority of the time onboard?
