WAHOOOOOO!!!! We finally got back on a cruise ship. It's been over a year and a half since we cruised last and I've been looking forward to taking Max on his first cruise for a long time. We decided to go on a quick 3 night cruise to the Bahamas to test the waters (hahahaha - get it?) and see if it would work to go on a "family cruise". We love to cruise and ultimately I hoped that could be something we could do as a family because I wouldn't want to do it as much if it always meant leaving part of my family at home. We got some good advice before we went from a friend. She said that vacationing with a child will be different from any vacation we've ever taken before and to just expect that. So I kept that in mind and enjoyed it for what it was.
Early morning ride from the parking lot to the airport. We had to fly to Ft. Lauderdale to catch our ship.
We had one stop and Peter took advantage of that time to place our kid in the overhead bins!
Max thought it was a great idea.
Want to come down?
Nope! Happy to stay here!
This lasted maybe 30 seconds. Then I couldn't take it any longer and begged Peter to get him down. I was worried we'd get in trouble or Max would get hurt on something in that bin.
Max did a good job on the plane. It was much tougher nursing a 15 month old in such a small spot. Again I was so grateful to have Peter there with me so we could pass Max back and forth between us and neither of us had to entertain him the entire time.
All done with the paperwork at the pier - take us to the boat! We got a little umbrella stroller just for this trip.
Max had his own sea pass card.
:) So excited for our new home for 3 nights - Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas.
Max exploring our cabin. (The little bit of space there was to explore.) We also went and explored the ship.
Then it was time for a nap. So this is what I saw for the hour Max was sleeping. Because we have an inside room, when you turn the lights out for Max to sleep, there is no light left. While Max slept, I played games on my phone and Peter went to go explore the ship some more on his own. This was one of those differences cruising with a child. When he sleeps/naps then someone needs to stay with him. So our schedule definitely wasn't as flexible as we were used to in the past.
Max during the muster drill. This was at the beginning of the LONG drill. We were standing on a dance floor waiting forever for it to be over. Max wasn't this happy for long. As more and more people crowded into the small space, and his parents wouldn't let him down to roam, he got more and more wiggly. The people around us were kind and tried to help keep him entertained. At one point he was jabbering, loudly, and one of the cruise staff motioned to Peter to quiet our child. Excuse me??? This is a 1 year old, not an 8 year old. You try and stop him from talking. Not only that, wouldn't you rather the sounds of a happy child versus a screaming kid??? NOT the funnest part of the cruise.
At dinner
Max chilling once we sat down.
He actually showed interest in coloring with the stuff we got on the airplane - yeah! Something that's entertaining him!
That didn't last long. He quickly bored of that. If you haven't cruised, let me explain. The formal dinners are awesome. You get like 5 courses, exceptional service, and the meal takes easily 1 - 1 1/2 hrs. It's one of the many things we enjoy on a cruise. However, it wasn't a good fit for a 1 year old. He doesn't have the attention span to sit happily in a high chair for that long. He didn't want to eat what we ordered for him. We eventually let him out of the high chair and Peter tried entertaining him with the cell phone while I ate and then we would switch. Then we tried entertaining him with the camera. He just wanted to run around and that was a bad idea in a dining room where we were next to the balcony (imagine how awful it would be if he threw something down 2 stories to the unsuspecting people below!) AND people around us were wanting to enjoy their meals. We made it through the entire dinner without totally (I hope) annoying those around us but it certainly wasn't very enjoyable for us or Max.
After dinner we walked around for a little bit until the "Family Disco" started. The ship was great at having plenty of family activities going on.
It was windy up on deck! Max loved the wind.
Having a good time though.
We weren't sure what to expect at the family disco. There was only one other family there but there was fun music playing and toys to play with. Max had fun playing with the balls and hula hoops.
It was a great day!!! Neither Peter nor I wanted to hang out alone so we both hung out in the dark room and ended up going to sleep at a reasonable time... AFTER we enjoyed another perk of a cruise - ROOM SERVICE!
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