Royal Caribbean Cruise with a Toddler or Baby: The Need to Know!

If you’re planning to cruise with a toddler or baby, you’ll want to be prepared. You can have a great trip, but if you don’t properly prepare, you might end up with a very stressful trip! This post will outline everything you need to know before taking a Royal Caribbean cruise with a toddler or a baby (or both like us!) From what to expect for check in, to if you can bring milk on board, how to navigate dining with kids, and more – you’ll find it all below!

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Packing for a Royal Caribbean Cruise with a Baby

What to pack for a Cruise with a Baby

Packing appropriately for your Royal Caribbean cruise is VERY important when traveling with little ones. With many cruises, you won’t have access to baby items while you’re on the ship. They do have some basic items in the store, but there’s a good chance they won’t have what you need for your baby.

On our Alaska cruise, we visited very small towns. It’s not likely you will be able to pop into a Walmart or easily find baby items. Plus, you definitely don’t want to spend your day in port searching for items.

The best way to make sure you don’t forget anything is to make a list ahead of time. Continue to add to the list up to the day you leave (and make a last minute items list!)

Make sure you have a good list, here is our full guide!
How to Pack for an Alaska Cruise with a Baby or Toddler: Tips and Printable PDF Checklist

Which Baby Items Can I bring On Board?

And if you’re wondering about what you can bring on board, there are several baby/toddler items you can bring on the cruise ship that will make your life easier.

• Car Seats: We brought car seats because we had a car rental for one of our port days. Both car seats fit nicely into our closet (in an interior state room)
• Baby Bottle Cleaners/Warmers: these may be allowed onboard on a case by case basis. Email Special_needs@rccl.com to get approval
• Baby Monitors: Not allowed to be used onboard due to concerns of the radio signal interfering with the ship navigation systems.
• Breast Milk: You can bring milk onto the ship for your baby! However, there are reports of the normal room fridges not being cold enough for milk storage. You can request a medical fridge.
• Snacks: You can bring a reasonable amount of non-perishable food for snacks for your baby or toddler
• Non-alcoholic drinks:  You can bring up to 12 standard cans, bottles, or cartons per stateroom. You are allowed to bring milk for infants/toddlers on the ship.
• Wine: Each adult is allowed to bring a 750 mL bottle of wine or champagne aboard the ship. This can be a great option if your kiddo has an early bedtime, but you want to enjoy a drink in the room!

Royal Caribbean Cruise Check-in

If you haven’t cruised before, the check-in process may seem a bit confusing! Once you’ve done it, it’s actually quite simple and we found it to be very streamlined on Royal Caribbean.

Checking in Before Departure

Royal Caribbean requires that you check in on the app at least 3 days before departure. However, you have quite a bigger window of when you can do this so if you want to check-in very early you can.

The check-in process on the app consists of taking photos of each passenger, watching the required safety briefings, entering passport information, and answering a few brief questions. It’s a quick and easy process! You also will be asked to complete a health screening questionnaire closer to the day of your departure.

You will also choose a time to board the ship. It’s recommended to choose the later afternoon times if possible. This way you will avoid some crowds, you won’t have to wait as long to get your luggage, and you will be able to explore the departure city before boarding! Trust me, you’ll have plenty of time to explore the ship during your cruise.

It’s also time that you can sign up for your dining time. This can be very important with kids – so make sure to read the dining section below!

Arriving to the Ship

Depending on which port you depart from, the transportation will be slightly different. However, you will likely have to take a shuttle and pay for parking during your cruise. Make sure to factor that in when you’re budgeting for your cruise.

You can also read about other hidden costs to look out for on your Royal Caribbean cruise!

When you arrive to the cruise ship with your luggage, you can tag the bags you don’t need immediately and check them in. I would highly suggest using this option so you don’t have to drag all of your bags through the check in process and to your room. They will later be delivered straight to your room. For our cruise, we received our luggage at about 6 PM.

Royal Caribbean Cruise with a Toddler Dining Tips

One of the best parts of cruising is the food! Here are your dining options and how to navigate them with young kids.

The Buffet (Windjammer Cafe)

The buffet actually has good food and a big variety of options so it’s worth checking out for some of your lunches and/or breakfasts. I did find it pretty difficult to eat at the buffet with two squirmy kids, but here is what worked for us.

• Divide and conquer – if you have a partner, take turns going up to the buffet while the other person watches the kids at the table
• Pick a few foods for your plate that you know your kids will love. At least this will keep them busy while you eat some food.
• If your kids are a little older, let them have some say in what they want to try! This could be a fun opportunity for them to try some new foods. Try to minimize portions unless they know they like the foods to avoid too much food waste.
• Grab a high chair! There are some available in the buffet dining room for your use.

Main Dining Room

The main dining room has EXCELLENT food and service. The menu is a three course meal, and it’s well worth taking your kids if you can make it work. The price is included with your cruise ticket so you might as well enjoy the delicious food.

Here are a few tips to the main dining room with young kids:

1. Choose a dining time much earlier than bedtime! We mistakenly did my time dining, which started later than some of the reservations and was still cutting it a little too close to bedtime to expect good behavior
2. Find a waitstaff that understands kids. Our first server was really taking their time between courses and to bring out our kids food. Normally, we’d be fine with that, but keeping our kids in their chair for longer was hard. We found a second team that brought our kids napkin animals, danced with our kids, brought our kids food out ASAP, and really helped to keep our kids happy during dinner.
3. They have a kids menu that includes dessert. Bribery with ice cream helped us keep our kids in the chair (sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!)
4. Consider using the daycare options during dinner if you want some peace! More about the daycare below.
5. Order quickly after you sit down. The less time you have to have your kids sitting in their chair, the easier it will be for you.

Free Casual Dining Options

The casual dining options will vary from ship to ship. However, I would highly recommend mapping out the ship and finding your quick dining options. We had a few times that we needed food for our kids ASAP and it was so easy to go grab a quick slice of pizza at Sorrentos before the hanger set in.

• Two70 Cafe
• Cafe Promenade (open 24 hours)
• Sorrentos Pizza
• Dog House (Hot dogs)

Room Service

Room service is a great option if you want to be able to eat in the comfort of your room while the kids play. There is a ~$8 fee for ordering room service + gratuity, but it can be worth it to enjoy your meal. There is a complimentary room service for certain breakfast items, but not hot foods.

Dress Code for Dining

There will be a few formal nights (the number depends on the length of your cruise) on your trip. I was a little stressed about this because the thought of wearing formal wear while chasing my crazy toddlers was not appealing to me.

However, if you’re like me – don’t fret! The formal wear is optional. I didn’t feel out of place at all in my jeans and a sweater outfit. Feel free to dress up if you’d like, but don’t let that scare you away from grabbing dinner those nights.

Snacks for Kids

Snack foods for kids are not readily available on Royal Caribbean ships. If you’re looking for a grab and go granola bar, fruit snacks, or crackers, you’re not going to find it easily on the ship. I would highly recommend packing whatever snacks your kids like in your bag and bringing them on port days and in the diaper bag around the ship. This is especially true if you have picky eaters!

Is Taking a Cruise with a Toddler Safe?

Yes! The cruise felt very safe for both our baby and toddler. I was slightly worried about the top deck before going on my first cruise, but it felt very safe. I think our 1 year old MAYBE could have squeezed between the edges if he really tried and no one was watching him.

In general, my kids are very active and so I’m used to never taking my eyes off of them. We spent most of our time at sea on the top deck running around. We were never in crowds big enough that we were concerned about losing them either.

Additionally, at Adventure Ocean you are supposed to get them a wristband so if they get lost, people know where to return them.

Minimum Age to Cruise

Babies have to be at least 6 months old to cruise. And they have to be at least 1 year old to cruise if the cruise has 2 consecutive days at sea. This rule is in place because medical staff on the ship is not equipped to deal with medical emergencies for very young babies.

The Royal Caribbean Nursery and Daycare

Did you know that Royal Caribbean has a full nursery and daycare service on your cruise? This was definitely one of the perks of cruising and we used it several times to get a little peace and quiet.

Read our full review of the Royal Caribbean Nursery and Daycare (Ocean Adventures) and everything you need to know about the cruise daycare!

Other Things to Know for a Royal Caribbean Cruise with a Toddler or Baby

Royal Caribbean felt like a really kid friendly way to cruise. From the activities on board, to the incredible staff, to the fun little highlights around the ship for kids – your little one will be busy on your cruise.

Look for the Ducks!

It’s a Royal Caribbean tradition for cruisers to bring rubber ducks of different varieties to hide around the ships. We found several while walking around, and we had some friendly cruisers who gave our kids a duck when they needed a little extra comfort! So keep your eyes peeled for ducks on your next Royal Caribbean cruise. More about the silly rubber duck game here!

Gratuities for Kids

The gratuity is a fee that you can pay up front when you book the cruise, or it will be automatically charged to your account when you’re on your cruise. The fee for our cruise was $18 per person per day. And it was actually added on for our 1 and 3 year olds as well. The Royal Caribbean staff is absolutely incredible and they deserved a huge tip for their amazing service. However, we did talk to guest relations about removing the gratuities for our kids. They did so willingly and we left a little extra cash tip for the staff members who really helped out and made our experience special.

Swimming With Young Kids

It’s a public health regulation that kids who are not potty trained cannot swim in pools or hot tubs onboard cruise ships – even if they are wearing a swim diaper. They do monitor this pretty closely, so I would recommend finding another activity for your little one instead of trying to sneak them in the pool.

It was a bit of a bummer to be able to swim with only one of our kids! So if this is something that will be a deal breaker for you, you might want to put your cruise off until your kids are a bit older.

Find the Hidden Gems

On our ship, the Ovation of the Seas, there was an interactive screen full of butterflies that kept our kids busy for a VERY long time. Keep a lookout for fun things like this on your ship for your kiddos!

Reserving a Pack n’ Play

Royal Caribbean does have a limited number of Pack N’ Plays available for your use on board. We did call ahead of time and reserve one to make sure they didn’t run out. However, we still had to ask for one. Just know that they do have them and you don’t have to pack this unless you need something special.

Your Room Attendant

If you’re going to become best friends with one person on the ship, it should be your room attendant. Our room attendant, Arleen, was so incredibly sweet and made our experience so special. Room attendants are super helpful in getting you want you need and just being a familiar face around the ship. If you have any questions at all, I would recommend asking them and they can point you in the right direction.

Get off the Ship as Early as Possible on Port Days

If you want to maximize your time in port, you’ll want to get off the ship as early as possible. This way, you will get some serious exploring in before you have to worry about naps, lunchtime, etc. Having a limited time in port is definitely one of the tough parts about cruising with little kids.

If you’re looking for some honest reviews of cruising with a baby – check out 17 Reasons Cruising with a Baby is Hard!

Getting Off the Ship

Leaving the Ship on Port Days

Getting off the cruise ship on port days was actually really quick and easy. Remember to bring your ID and your SeaPass card, and you’ll be set. There weren’t any lines for any of our port days.

Departure Day

Our departure day did not go very smoothly! We were very tired from spending a week on the cruise and we were ready to get off the boat. However, we ended up waiting for hours after having to be out of our rooms to be able to get off the ship.

It was tough to keep our kids occupied running around in the auditorium while we waited. While the onboarding process went very smoothly, getting off was several hours behind schedule. So be prepared with some extra snacks or toys to keep the kids busy during this waiting period.

Do you have other questions before you cruise with a toddler or baby? Leave a comment and we’ll answer any of your questions that we can. Happy Travels and check out some of our other guides for an Alaska cruise!

• The Victoria, BC Cruise Port: One Fun Day
• Things to do in Sitka, Alaska From the Cruise Port with Kids
• 14 Fun Things to do in Skagway, Alaska From the Cruise Port
• What to do in Juneau, Alaska From the Cruise Port in One Day