Cruising Questions, specifically out of Baltimore on Royal Caribbean

[Anonymous]

So, my husband and I are considering taking a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Baltimore with our 2 1/2 year old. The ship is the Enchantment of the Seas and it's 12 nights going to the Southern Caribbean. Only $499 a person, plus all the crazy extra fees. We definitely need to go out of Baltimore because we can't afford 3 flights anywhere.

My questions:

1. Are there millions of kids and unruly teenagers running around? I would be departing December 5.
2. How is the sound control between rooms? We'd be in a cheap interior room. Can you hear people talking? Televisions?
3. Is the food good or has the quality gone downhill?
4. For the kid's club, one parent has to be with the child activities if they're under 3. Has anyone done these activities and how frequent are they?
5. Are the activities fun or cheesy? Are enough of them free? I'm having trouble finding out specifics about them from their website.
6. Can you easily get to town in the ports without paying the excursion fees?
7. Does it get super boring?
8. If you tend to get seasick, do you on big ships like this?

Thanks and sorry for so many questions but I don't want to be trapped on a boat for almost two weeks without being fully prepared!

[Anonymous]

Re # 7, I would not recommend your first cruise being 12 nights, that is just a long, long time if you do not know what to expect -- some people just don't like the whole cruise experience. I am pretty sure there are 6-7 day cruises out of Baltimore that you might want to consider. ALso, the interior rooms are small, the bathrooms were about the size of a portapotty (at least on the super-large cruise ship that I was on a long time ago), and that could get tough with a 2.5 year old. And yes, the crazy extra fees really do add up, it pretty much doubled our cruise price.

[Anonymous]

I agree that 12 days is really long for a first cruise. One of the biggest issues with leaving out of Baltimore is that you have to go several days before you get to any ports, so you're really stuck on the ship.

Personally, I would not take my DS on a cruise until he was old enough to go to the kids' club without needing parents (most cruises that's at age 3 + potty trained). There's lots to see and do on a cruise ship, but I wouldn't want to have to be with DS 24/7.

The other big issue with an interior room is that there is NOWHERE to go when DC is sleeping. When you have a balcony, you can at least sit out there and drink/read/play cards while your child is sleeping.

[Anonymous]

I would check with RC... since the ship is sailing soon, I'm sure there are limited rooms available. Each ship only has a certain number of rooms that accomodate three guests (especially interior rooms). We had this problem when scheduling our cruise for next year - these rooms get booked early on.

[Anonymous]

I did a RC cruise out of Florida about a year ago. There were tons of kids of all ages, but I didn't feel like there were unruly teens abound. That said, I've heard that the Baltimore crowd is very different from the Florida crowd. The Baltimore crowd is less diverse and mainly comprised of east coast folk (think Jersey).

The food was actually pretty decent and I'm a food snob. The restaurants that are extra were really good. The ship I was on had an Italian place and a steakhouse and they were both very nice but I think they were like $25 extra per person or something.

Nothing is free except for sitting by the pool. And the soft serve when the machine was actually working.

I agree that 12 days is very long. I'm not really a cruise person so it got old for me, but I liked the ports.

[Anonymous]

We went on a cruise with our toddler and it was a disaster. I would have jumped overboard if it were for 12 days and not 4. Once it's bedtime either you are all going to be in your interior room in the dark and quiet or you are going to be out with a cranky over stimulated toddler or you will be leaving your toddler with a complete stranger that you know nothing about which never was really comfortable for me personally. Or I suppose one of you could go out after bedtime while the other stayed in the quiet dark room. Ours would also not go to the kids club so we never got a break -- they call you after 15 minutes of crying. The ports are free to walk around in, but any excursions are costly. We walked around and shopped in the Bahamas. We did not pay for any excursions. We went at Christmas as well and it was a zoo -- wall to wall people, kids, babies, teens, etc. Very crowded. Food was fine. The waiter was actually super great with our toddler and brought her chicken nuggets every night even though there was no real kids menu for the dining room.

[Anonymous]

Dec 5 will be pretty kid free. Private schools get out Dec 17 for christmas break. MoCO gets out Dec 22.