Cruise Vacation with a 2 year old - First cruise for baby!

Cruises with a two year old!
This is helpful information, photos and tips about our successful and fun cruise with our 2 year old daughter for the first time. Including costs, things we'd do differently and what to pack and what was worth the money. It should be noted that we have cruised numerous times in the past and were really familiar with the cruise line, room accommodations and on board amenities. It was our first cruise on this particular ship and our first cruise with a small child. Which if you're a young couple without kids, you rarely pay attention to what's available for kids until you have them. So for me, I felt I needed to research the trip as if I was new to cruising! I searched the cruises website for activities for kids, ages, costs, availability, procedures and policies regarding boarding, eating, participation in activities, poolside policy, luggage, storage, and more. But I found it was not much help, I was still filled with anxiety about either missing out on something, not being prepared and/or not being able to enjoy myself because something was going to go wrong or was difficult. 

This is us getting to our room! We traveled with other family too.

However, with this article, I hope to answer and address all the concerns of new traveling parents. I hope it will set your mind at ease that it is possible and really fun! Cruising can be overwhelming for anyone, especially newcomers but our cruise went much better than expected and we've gone again.
We choose Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines  (RCCL) because we are members of the loyalty rewards program. Note: that with your child's (or spouse) first cruise, that person will automatically be given YOUR highest membership level! A huge benefit!! And RCCL also has the "DreamWorks" experience on board for children, which includes meeting the characters, photos with characters, DreamWorks movies played in the rooms, in the theater and up on deck at the outdoor amphitheater. Character themed breakfast, live entertainment, parades, merchandise and activities in the kids programs.

Us at the character breakfast with Alex the Lion from Madagascar.

 RCCL also has a contract with or a partnership with Fisher Price. This meant they had a plethora of Fisher Price toys, activities and programs; such as coloring pages, a Fisher Price "Birthday Party", crafts all during the "Adventure Ocean Youth Programs" and a small child activity room that was full of toys! I felt RCCL exceeded our expectations and meet our needs at every level. They made us feel more comfortable regarding safety than I ever imagined and we all enjoyed ourselves so much, I had no regrets about traveling with a small child!

The room with a million toys!!

RCCL offers a range of age separated and appropriate programs:
But before I go into detail here are some bullet points of the best kid and parent friendly accommodations.
- A very clear schedule of events/activities for both adults and children delivered to your room the night before.
- Babysitting options for almost all hours of the day, for almost all ages and during the ships dock time. So you can go on excursions and safely leave your child on board.
- For parents of children under 3, you are given a special Satellite phone for staying in contact with the ship and vice versa. More charges apply for babysitting but they are reasonable.
- For older children the programs, activities and events increase and are more interesting. My daughter made slime, a chefs hat, a pillowcase, a pirates outfit...they have a range of themes for each day and rooms for activities such as an art room,  a science lab, a kitchen and more! They even went on "field trips" around the ship to the carousel, the doughnut shop, the cupcake shop, the bridge to see the captain and some crew, and visited with some of the entertainment behind the scenes. I realize these activities will vary per ship. 

On the carousal. Tip: In order to get dressed in a timely manner for dinner, I often bribed her with going on the carousal before dinner. It was right up stairs from us, on the way to dinner. If you can plan where you stay on the ship to be closest to the dinning room and an elevator. It makes for easy access and less distractions. Long halls can be a hassle if you have to wait on or carry a young child!! Plus kids LOVE elevators, it was also a trick I used to get her to move along.

- Signage that is easy to read, clear and helpful resources for all activities, on board places (restaurants, pools, children's center, events and excursions), including wait times, busyness and hours of operations.
- FREE on board: Carousel, 3D movie theater, doughnut shop, a LARGE splash pad/kiddie pool, a soft serve ice cream machine at the pool, kid food at every meal and in every restaurant, kid slide and play place at amphitheater, large Fisher Price padded play room, DreamWorks character encounters, such as a character breakfast, a character parade and shows staring the characters.

The kiddie splash pad and pool.

-FREE in room: bag of Fisher Price toys which you can switch out every day, movies and shows on the TV, fridge for storing kids food and drinks, crib if needed.
-Diaper genies, baby wipes and changing tables in all the public restrooms

Playing at the beach, on excursion with some of the toys we got from RCCL.

TIPS:
1) You can bring your own case of bottled water with you and store it in your room if you have a medical condition, which includes small children (formula, etc)
2) You can ask your room stewards to clear items from your mini fridge to make room for your items  (we'd store our water bottles, fresh fruit and milk cartons we took from breakfast)
3) You can also ask the steward to store large items that might take up room in your stateroom. I.e. carseat or strollers (varies per ship)
4) If at least one person takes a hot shower before bed, it will leave the room with a bit of moisture in the air which helps with the kids (and sometimes adults) stuffiness! I make sure it's on long enough to steam up the mirrors.

5) Look online such as Pintrest or on Facebook for packing and cruise tips. i.e. taking and hanging a shoe organizer for shoes, toiletries, and other items for easy access and keep them visible. Sometimes small baby shoes are hard to keep track of in a tiny room!

6) We always take a white noise machine - or these days we loaded a white noise app on our iPad for baby's nap and sleep time to drown out the ships noises, as well as our noises from sleeping in the same room.

7) Except for a couple favorite toys, or something to keep the kids busy on the plane trip or while waiting to board, there is NO reason to over pack on toys!! I always like to have one new toy that I buy and give to them on the plane but there were so many toys to play with between what was provided, what was on the ship, and so many activities, plus the pool, kept her plenty BUSY!! These days a rented movie or new app could keep the little just as busy!

This is her at diner. Although we did bring some easy kid food and snacks, and a couple sippy cups from on the go - we needed very little. She got milk, chocolate milk or juice at dinner. And ordered fruit cups, chicken nuggets or speghetti and ice cream at dinner. Although she did eat and try other things

When on a cruise, even before kids...it was always my favorite time to get in family pictures! Your dressed up, having fun and there are so many opportunities, you'll have plenty of photos to pick from.

She enjoyed the characters but also liked "dressing up" with daddy and mommy! It took a lot of planning but I planned out in advance our themes. You don't have to do that, because you might only be interested in one family photo or formal. But I wasn't sure how many would turn out. In this case. I loved them all and it worked out. We had a Black tie night, a Purple night, an ASU sports causal night, Orange tropical night and a Grey/White casual night. We also pack outfits for boarding day. They take this great Boarding picture with your ship and its name and the date on it. I love making that the first picture in our scrapbook. We usually wear nautical colors, like strips and R/W/B - But make it your own and have fun!