Typing this blog is going to be hard for me because it is going to make me want to go back! And I know I missed a ton I wanted to talk about, so I am sure there will be another post at some point...
Leaving our hotel in Orlando to head to the big boat!
Ahhh....our much anticipated family cruise. It felt like forever leading up to it and just like that, we are back home and into our normal routine. Don't you hate that?! The days leading up to vacation are filled with excitement (or in my case anxiety over everyone staying healthy during this nasty flu season, which I totally jinxed us in that arena, but that is another post for another time) and then it goes by so quick!?! I mean, can't we just vacation forever? Live on a boat? Island hop? How do I get that job? HA!
This was our first cruise with 2 tiny humans. We have cruised many times, mostly as a couple. Mason had been on one cruise with us before Maren came along. Aaron and I love to cruise. We had been on this exact boat, exact itinerary in May 2016 and wanted to take the kids back...or so we thought. Hehe.
Don't get me wrong, we had a great time. Memories were made. We didn't throw each other off the ship and surprisingly, we shared a tiny stateroom WAY better than I anticipated. But I am not going to sugarcoat how hard it can be to cruise with kids. Yes, there is camp. Yes, there is PLENTY to do on the ship like amazing shows, putt putt, ice skating, Bingo, Karaoke (family karaoke too), Rock Climbing wall, Basketball courts, Flow Rider and more. You should NEVER be bored BUT kids are kids. Period.
And honestly, Aaron and were spoiled on our last cruise. We had no one to answer to but US. We laid around all day, drank as much as we wanted, didn't have to worry about when (or if) we napped, when we went to bed, being quiet in the morning so we didn't wake the kids or taking breaks to feed anyone but us. We didn't have to haul kids off the ship for excursions or get them dressed up for dinner that they had no interest in going to in the first place. And we didn't have any little mouths telling us no or refusing to smile when we wanted to take pictures.
That time we cruised solo and hung out in the adults only area the entire time.
So we went into this not really thinking about just how different it would be from our last trip, only that we were excited to take the kids to experience it all. And their faces when they saw the ship, that moment I had been waiting for, did not disappoint. Exploring the boat with them, playing at the pool, seeing the Dreamworks characters, parades and shows, all of it, was amazing. We have memories to last a lifetime from the trip but we are also still recuperating.
Am I bitching? No. Not one bit. We are blessed to be able to travel with our kids and experience all of this with them BUT that does not mean that it isn't exhausting too! Traveling with kids is always a lot of work but I opt to do that work because I love traveling and want my kids to experience it too. Just be sure to have a trip for you and your spouse set up sometime after your family trip so you can really relax. Ha!!
We always joke that we need a vacation from vacation when we get home from family trips to the beach and a cruise with kids is no different!
But enough about that, I just want anyone who has never traveled with kids and is thinking about it, especially a cruise, to realize that it takes work. But the work is SO WORTH IT when your babies are laughing, smiling, getting along and making memories together!
He was the best big brother all week. Even in the car ride down when his sister was getting over being sick (again, another post for another time...). He played with her, held her hand and even shared his milkshake with her, that is true sibling love.
Like I said, with two kids on a boat, I didn't let myself get extremely caught up in an agenda or a strict schedule because I had no clue what our days would look like. I had anticipated them going to camp at least once a day so we could have some adult time but Mason was the oldest in his group so he felt that activities were babyish for him and Maren was being extremely shy (I know, crazy, right?) so they went to camp twice our entire week. And I am ok with that, I mean, it was a family trip, right? And if I have learned anything from traveling with kids is, shit happens. Plans change. Just roll with it. Luckily we had Grandpa and Grandma around for some babysitting so we could sneak in a drink at the adults only bar with our favorite bartender or a date night at Vintages for wine and tapas.
Camp: Mason's age group was 6-8, he is going to be 9 in a couple of months and was one of the oldest kids in the camp. I know that if he would have been able to join the 9-11 age group, he would have enjoyed the activities much more, even I felt like some of them were babyish for his age.
Maren's age group was 3-5. She was fine when we dropped her off but was REALLY happy to see us when we picked her up. She is quiet at first to anyone she meets and takes some time to warm up (unlike her brother who will talk to a brick wall) so camp was an adjustment for her but she didn't cry! Since she was newly 3, they gave us a phone that worked on the ship only to contact us if they needed, we didn't hear from them once. She did have one potty accident and from what I had read from previous cruisers, I was surprised at how well the staff handled it. They have to be 100% potty trained in her age group. I mean, 100%. Get themselves to the bathroom, wipe, pull up their pants and wash their hands. All solo. Apparently, she went into the bathroom, got freaked, walked out and peed in her pants. They threw her in some new shorts that we got to bring home (woohoo for a free souvenier) and didn't give us any warnings when we picked her up. I had read other parents who said their kids were given 3 strikes then they were kicked out for accidents, luckily, we didn't have that issue.
The camp itself is really neat though. The staff was always really friendly and I think next time we cruise, I will send them to camp more often so they can get used to it...and so we can have an hour or so a day to ourselves. ;)
Stateroom: We had a standard stateroom, no family suite. We love the balcony that overlooks the Boardwalk on the Oasis. Not only can you see the ocean out of the back of the ship but you can also see the aqua theatre. It is like the best of both worlds for me. We had a HUGE king bed that was plenty of space for Aaron, Maren and myself. And Mason got the couch (that converted into a bed) all to himself. Each evening the room steward would fold out his bed and make it, in the morning, he would fold it back up. It was perfect.
And had I not done my research or gotten tips from FB friends about ways to use the space wisely when traveling with a family of 4 in a stateroom, we definitely would have not had room for all of us to take clothes out of our suitcases!
Some of those tips are shown in the pics below.
1. A hanging organizer for the bathroom. There is very little counter space (or shower space) so we kept all of our toiletries in the hanging organizer. A lot of people suggest the ones that are bigger and hang over the door, however, your door may not shut and it can scrape them...I didn't want that so I opted for this version instead and it worked perfect. It was two sided as well.
For the closet, we had another hanging organizer where we stacked folded clothes. You only get about two drawers and ours were peeling (probably from wet swimsuits being placed in them) so this was a LIFESAVER! It was from Target and packed folded up in the front zipper of my suitcase easily.
Next up, magnetic hooks. Holy cow, can we say genius?! Perfect spot for wet swimsuits! I would probably get heavier duty ones next time but ours held up to 9lbs and worked awesome!
If you need extra hooks (the shower has 2) for loofas, you can get the suction ones and they will work on the clear door part, not the shower wall itself since it is textured. That wasn't really necessary but I didn't recall having hooks in our shower before so I brought them with us.
We kept all of our suitcases under the bed and we had plenty of floor space when Mason's bed was not out. I can't complain about the space of the room one bit for our family. As the kids get older, we may need a bigger room or maybe even two but for us, now, this was just fine.
Oh and not room related, but definitely have towel clips for your chairs and these cases were awesome for our phones. Your phone works in them so you can take pics in the water, etc. No more $15 water cameras for me! :)
Each night, we would head back to the room, with some pizza and watch a movie on the Dreamworks channel before bed. It was the perfect way to wind down after a long day!
The food...the good, the bad and the ugly.
We consider ourselves food snobs, foodies, etc. We rarely eat at chains and pretty much the only fast food we eat is Chick-fil-A. So trust me when I say, we don't go on cruise ships for the food. :) At least, not the food that is included in the cost of your cruise. The extra restaurants where you have to pay a fee though, those are good! Now, keep in mind, everyone is different and my tastes may not be the same as yours, you could LOVE the food that I find to just be ok. That is the beauty of cruising, it is fits all different molds!
There are many places you can eat for free on the boat. There is a buffet (Windjammer), cafes to get salads or sandwiches (Wipe Out Cafe, Park Cafe, Cafe Promenade), Solarium Bistro is free at breakfast or lunch, Sorrento's Pizza and Boardwalk Dog House...I think that is it. You can do breakfast for free at Johnny Rocket's too. We did that every morning. The main dining room is also included. The pics above are from our dinner on formal night. The last one is a molten cake....but it had no lava. ;) LOL. MOST people are not as picky about food as I am so you may very well love the food offered...but would you believe me if I told you that there is NO shredded cheese on the boat for salads?!! This baffled me last time we sailed on this ship too. How can you not have shredded cheese? Only shaved or grated parm. And the buffet did not set out ranch at lunch, I had to ask for it. Yes, I know, that is something so minute, but it is just so weird to me! I mean, obviously it didn't stop me from sailing on the ship a second time. Oh and room service is free. And you can get chocolate chip cookies delivered to your room at 10pm...but I didn't do that or anything. Haha!!
The specialty restaurants are mostly located in Central Park. There is 150 Central Park, Chops Grille, Giovanni's Table and Chef's Table. There is also Izumi (Hibachi & Sushi), Sabor (my fav), Vintages (wine & tapas), Johnny Rockets and Solarium, which is a healthier option for dinner. We have only tried Goivanni's, Sabor and Vintages. We LOVE Sabor and eat there multiple times when on the Oasis. We tried Giovanni's on our last cruise when the my time dining was an hour wait and wanted to eat right away, luckily they had a table for us. It was really good but way more food than we are used to eating.
On this particular cruise we spent most of our time at Sabor or Johnny Rocket's. The dining room with two kids just didn't work for us. We opted for 5:30pm dinner time. Our bad. Sometimes we were just getting up from a nap at 5:30pm. Again, something I was not expecting with two kids. I thought we would be napped, showered and ready to eat each night at 5:30, but I was wrong! Can't plan everything. :) So we only made it to the dining room twice, on both formal nights. Also, the experience in the dining room takes about 2 hours, not something that was enjoyable for the kids but the camp does offer to come pick them up within 45 minutes of your seating so they have time to eat, then they can go play!
Sabor and Johnny Rocket's are on the Boardwalk, so we had the Carousel, and the bus and boat for them to play on while we waited to eat. Plus it was more casual and laid back, which is more our style when with the entire family.
And don't forget sippy cups if you need them! They do not have kids cups on the boat so we brought some take n toss cups with us...that we didn't use because Maren was good enough with a straw and big cups but had she been any younger, we would have needed them.
Mason has tree nut and sesame allergies and my mom has Celiac's. Unfortunately, I felt like our Carnival ship in the past was easier to accommodate allergies but Royal Caribbean did work really hard to make sure Mason was taken care of (my mom too). The buffet was not something I really trusted for Mason because there were sesame seeds all over the place and tree nuts on the dessert bar, so we only ate in there twice with him and I had the chef prepare his burger and bring it out fresh. I wasn't risking someone cross contaminating on the buffet line. However, Sabor and Johnny Rocket's were WAY easier when it came to making sure his food was safe. I was willing to pay for his meals to know he was eating things that were ok for him. And Sorrento's, he ate A LOT of free pizza.
The dining room actually would have been fine too if we ate in there each night. They ask for your order the night before if you have an allergy so they can prep your food separately but since we rarely ate dinner in there, we didn't do that. Since Johnny Rocket's was right by our room and they offered free breakfast, we went there daily. The dining room would make Mason's pancakes for breakfast and the manager at Johnny Rocket's would pick them up for us every morning and bring them to our table, special, just for him. He was awesome.
All in all, I knew I didn't have to worry about what he was eating, I just wish it was more simplified when it came to people dealing with allergies...but I also know nothing is simple when anaphylaxis is involved. The ship and the staff take food allergies very seriously and they were very knowledgeable
At Sabor, I highly recommend the made to order guac, the Barbocoa tacos (do NOT skip these) and the Grand Sabor Margarita. :) PS - they are totally reasonably priced so it doesn't break the bank.
Aaron and I enjoyed our date night at Vintages. We ate tapas and drank wine in Central Park. It was a nice change of scenery. The staff in there was extremely friendly too! (I really don't think I have ever encountered an unfriendly staff member on this ship.)
I did want to try Izumi on this trip but I caught a less severe version of Maren's virus and you know how you don't want to waste money on good food when you can't breathe out of your nose? Yeah, that is how I felt. Ha! I am sure we will have another chance to try it though because we definitely plan on sailing again!
Shows!
One of my FAVORITE parts of this particular class of ships is the shows they offer. Frozen In Time (ice skating show), Come Fly With Me (acrobatics, singing, etc. in main Opal Theatre) and the show that takes the cake, Oasis of Dreams at the AquaTheatre. I can't even explain how freaking cool the water show is...and how even more disappointed I was that the rough seas kept it from happening MANY nights. They had to cancel the show at least 4x during our trip due to rocky water conditions, rain, etc. Luckily on our last day we caught an 11am show that didn't get cancelled and thank god we decided to go to that one because the 1pm got cancelled from a storm and that was the last one offered. It was one of the BIG things I was excited to share with the kids. When we sailed without them, we got to see it several times as well as watch them practice from our balcony. Typically the show is at night so you can see the cool light effects but given our hit or miss weather, they had no choice but to do them during the day on our last day, but I was ok with that because that meant we actually got to see it! Better to see it durning the day than not at all! And the kids LOVED it. They were in awe of the divers, synchronized swimmers and gymnists. As I was I. It doesn't get old.
On our last trip, they also did a comedy day time aqua show which the kids would have loved but again, as much as I wanted everything to be perfect for our trip, some stuff just doesn't go as planned and thanks to mother nature, a few things on the cruise schedule changed!
Both kids enjoyed all 3 shows that we took them too. Maren was imitating the gymnasts when we took her to the pool after the shows, it was hilarious.
There are way more shows offered like Cats and a Headliner show but let's be real, you can't see or do EVERYTHING in 7 days on a ship this big. You have to choose wisely! Or do whatever fits into your plans for the day. And of course, there is an adults only comedy show most nights too but Aaron and I have never been up late enough to make it to one. HA!
The ship in general is pretty amazing. Tons of bars, shops, and places to hang out. And 4 pools! Even the kids have their own splash pad and pool, how cool is that?! We have had slides on past ships, although this one doesn't have them, you don't miss them...there is still plenty to do!
Here are some views of the pools, Central Park, the Boardwalk, Arcades and the sports area.
Again, there is SO MUCH to do on the ship. With or without kids. I highly HIGHLY recommend cruising at some point. I didn't sugarcoat my blog post because I wouldn't ever want to give the idea that everything is perfect....that would be a load of crap! So yes, I hope the good and the bad of our trip help keep it real for you but doesn't deter you from setting sail in the future. And when you do, I would put the Oasis class ships on the top of your list. I know it is still at the top of ours!
The kids have so much to see and do that they don't get bored...you just have to be willing to change course at any given moment. Ya know, when a meltdown ensues, someone needs a nap instead of more pool time or they decide they only want to look at the Dreamworks characters from afar instead of really take a pic with them. Ha!!
And if you travel without the kids (or get some time away from them), I suggest you find the Solarium, grab a foo foo drink and enjoy some (quiet) adult time and breathtaking views. There is a pool in there for adults only too!
Bottom line, you have to be willing to accept the fact that by the time you get sunscreen on them so they can hurry up and play in the water, then get to yourself, it will be time for someone to eat, pee, nap or it will start raining.
You also have to be willing to make the most of it and create lots of special memories, even if everything doesn't go as planned. Even if the weather isn't perfect. Even if one kid just BARELY made the cut off to get on the boat (fever free for 24 hours without meds). Even if you catch a cold 1/2 way through the trip (moms do not get sick days, especially on vacay).
It is all a part of our perfectly imperfect life. And how we respond to these blips in the road determines our experience. And we chose to enjoy the extra rocky boat (it just swayed you to sleep), the chillier temps (hey, you can lay out at the pool without sweating like a whore in church), the fact that our kids didn't love camp (after all, it was a family trip, so more family time for us, YIPPEE) or eating dinner for 2 hours (no problem kids, I really don't either..let's grab Mexican and a Margarita instead)....all in all, if something doesn't go as planned on a cruise, you have so many other options that there is no room for disappointment, especially when you are surrounded by family.
And my kids are asking to go back and I can't wait to take them.
I call that a family vacation win.
1st family pic on the boat.