It’s been a
few weeks since my last post…and for good reason. We packed our bags 2 weekends ago and headed
south for the winter. We (ok…I) wasn’t
quite ready to go somewhere without Sassafras for an entire week so we decided
to take her along for the ride. Choosing
a vacation spot with a little one is a delicate process…adult time, child
friendly, budget conscious, and somewhere warmer than MO in the dead of
winter. We decided on a Royal Caribbean
cruise (Liberty of the Seas) that sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL and stopped
in Belize City, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico (two ports we hadn’t been previously). We sailed on a sister ship 5 years ago and
loved the experience. The company’s
website touted their family friendliness…even for children under 3…all things
considered, we thought we found a real winner.
In my mind
the experience was going to be fantastic…the ship had a pay-as-you-go daycare
so Little Bit would enjoy time with qualified caretakers when JPug and I wanted
to have a nice dinner or hit up the gym.
We were hoping for the perfect balance of spending time as a family and enjoying our time as a couple. In
reality, the experience was so-so for a multitude of reasons. So mediocre, in fact, that this was the first
vacation I can honestly say I would have rather stayed home.
The Pros:
- Our stateroom attendant was AWESOME. She was ridiculously helpful and really catered to us (although she had a number of other rooms she was responsible for). The only way Royal Caribbean has to recognize an excellent team member is to provide them with an additional tip (which we did)…too bad for Heather from Trinidad & Tobago that we couldn’t shout it from the rooftops.
- The entertainment on board was really first class. We saw a number of shows and I would rate them all somewhere between good and great.
- Our port excursions were excellent experiences! We took a private tour with the director of the Belize Zoo (in a Jaguar’s cage, up close and personal with Toucans, etc.) and joined a local Cozumel Chef for a culinary tour. Both excursions were booked outside of the cruise line and were fabulous.
- The weather! Can’t beat 75 and sunny when KC is below freezing and under a foot of snow…literally!
- Pay 3rd person rate for a 3rd person no matter the person’s age…14 months or 50 years.
- Although the ship touted being family friendly, they didn’t offer changing stations in any bathroom or cups with lids in any dining area. Seriously?! Aren’t those two of the top things you’d be sure to have on board if you’re going to welcome children under 3?
- We also had a lot of difficulty getting a high chair (waited more than 10 minutes) in both the main dining room as well as the buffet. The issue wasn’t lack of availability, it was lack of service.
- Special programming for children under 3 was not as advertised. The website shows special developmental programs for families to enjoy together but they didn’t seem to exist.
- The Food! I couldn’t even believe it…5 years ago our dining experiences were top notch. Unfortunately, this time around the food was some of the worst we’ve ever had.
- In two instances, family members added shipboard credit to our account so we could enjoy the ship’s amenities at no additional cost to us. In both instances, the Royal Caribbean representative on the phone asked what they would like their notification card to say but we never received the information. Talk about sounding ungrateful when you recap the trip and have no idea credit was given as a gift.
- Available elevators were hard to come by. Carrying a 20-lb toddler up 10 flights of stairs isn’t feasible so the alternative was to wait a LONG time.
I’m sure I
seem ungrateful for our experience and that’s absolutely not the case. My problem is that the service and experience
should be commensurate with the price of the trip and therein a major
discrepancy lies. We relied on
information provided by the cruise line to choose our vacation and the “caring
details” for children under 3 were all but forgotten. At least we’re wiser for the future and I can
say with certainty that we won’t make the same mistake twice. I did send a letter voicing my concerns to
Royal Caribbean and will provide an update if I receive a response.
You may be
thinking the least I could do is provide a few pictures of our trip. Well, on the last day we (most likely I)
misplaced JPug’s phone…which was on airplane mode (no find my iPhone). Unfortuately, all of our vacation photos were
lost with the phone. Also, no iCloud
backup because wifi on the ship is $0.85/minute and we would have never thought
of the downstream ramifications of losing phone…airplane mode…no iCloud backup…no
vacation photos. Yes…I may never forgive
myself for that one! I had a handful of
photos on my phone…below is Little Bit playing in the pool on our first day.
Given our
experience…do you have any recommendations for successful vacations with toddlers?
