Cruise with a 1 and three year old

My in-laws are in their 80s and VERY into cruising. We have done a few family cruises with them pre-kids and had a fantastic time.They surprised us this weekend with a family cruise for next August. The whole family will be going. All four of the kids and all eight of the grandkids are going. DH and I are the only ones with young children. All of the other kids are age 10 and up. My girls will be 1 and 3 years old for this trip. Leaving them home is not an option because the point is to have the whole family together. I am already dreading this trip and it is close to a year away. Those who have cruised with small children please let me know your experiences, tips, tricks etc. I know my sister in law will help out as well as our older nieces but two toddlers on a cruise just doesn't sound like a fun time to me at all.

Re: Cruise with a 1 and three year old

We did it when DD was 8 months and DS was 3. We had our entire family with us and it was a lot of fun. I would go to cruisecritic.com and search their boards. They have some extremely helpful posters there.

Re: Cruise with a 1 and three year old

We did a family cruise with my sister who was 3 at the time, my DD who was a little over a yr and my neice who was 6 mos. It was a great trip.
Your 3 yo dd should be able to go to the kid camp I know my sisters always love that on cruises. As for your 1 yo we just brought our umbrella stroller. It was different then going with no children but hopefully family can help. There were nights my husband and I would go out with dd in the stroller and she would fall aleep so we would get a drink, watch a show etc. We also brought my dd's booster seat which was really helpful in the restaurants

Re: Cruise with a 1 and three year old

We just cruised with our 1 year old (his b-day was on-board!) and it was really nice. We went w/both sets of grandparents so we had a lot of help, which is probably what made the difference. It was definitely WAY different than before though...Here's how we did it:

1) We had a balcony room - IMO it's a must. The cabins aren't big & when it's nap time you'll appreciate being able to go outside.

2) We used the ship PNP & honestly, I'll bring my own next time. It looked old & drooped in the middle. I wiped it down w/Clorox wipes, but it still looked yucky to me.

3) We did Celebrity which isn't really geared towards kids & he was too young for their programs. However, they had a toy chest loaner program so we had toys in the room & a well stocked parent-supervised play area that we visited every day to let him get his wiggles out. We met some other kiddies in there.

4) Celeb has an "Open Seating" dinner option which was fab - we weren't tied down to a schedule & when he slept late some afternoons it was a lifesaver that no one had to miss dinner. I'd recommend checking if your cruise line offers something like that.

We didn't really get to enjoy the nightlife at all - we were in the room & in bed early every night...or at least 1 of us was (he wouldn't really sleep in his stroller & the volume at the show one night woke him up & terrified him so we didn't do it again). We kept trading off who stayed in w/ds & who went out w/the g/parents and we went out twice together when the g/parents babysat (I didn't want to take advantage so we only took them up on their offers once each). DS slept better on the ship than at home - I think that the rocking (even in port) helped w/that lol

It was a lot more work than it used to be, but we had a great time! So long as you expect it to be different I think you won't be disappointed If you have any questions please let me know!

Message edited 10/4/2010 5:38:57 PM.