Our Royal Caribbean Cruise (Part 1)

Over my birthday this year, we went on a cruise! My first cruise since I had kids, and my first cruise from Singapore.


The kids wake early – so we caught dawn every day

We only saw the clouds turn rosy, and the sky gradually lighten… no ramen egg sunrise…

pink clouds

We had a mother-and-daughter only stroll on the top deck as dawn broke.

Contemplating the rock wall.  Not for us this time around.
It was fun to walk on the 10th storey open deck… strong wind blowing, panorama of endless sea and sky…



shades and still more shades of blue



It was a really beautiful large ship, very well-maintained, clean and spacious.

 If air-conditioned comfort is your cup of tea, this area around the indoor swimming pool is ideal. Read a book, have fruits, yogurt, drinks from the nearby cafe (all complimentary, or rather, all priced into your ticket and taxes already) and just chill.

I spent one of my best hours on the ship alone at one of these deck chairs, reading and journaling. Bliss.

For ages 0-3

We appreciated the kids’ facilities on board.  For the wee ones, there was the Royal Babies and Tots room.

I have a weakness for “Little People”

They partner with Fisher Price, so there was an amazing variety of toys to discover during their free-play sessions. Even I had fun playing, haha.  There was a rack of some 15 books too, but with so many toys available, only Mummy was reading those books.

B had fun playing during their ‘free play sessions’ – one adult to accompany.

Babysitting option was available at the fee of $6 an hour. Pretty reasonable if your baby is the kind that can be left in someone else’s care (i.e. not mine).

They had a great toy loan service too – wide variety of some 30 sets (of Fisher Price, once again) to choose from. All sterilised before each loan, exchangeable once a day, and all for free!  We loaned a bag every day, and had loads of fun in the comfort of our little room.


Mermaid and vanity set
 I later realised that some of these sets retail for more than S$100 each!  Pleased that the girls got a chance to play with them, and entertain themselves whilst we packed, etc.
For the older kids there was Adventure Ocean Club, which is a complimentary drop-off service that usually operates from 9am to 9pm – they will even take care of the children’s meals if you wish! The children will be brought to the Windjammer buffet cafe for lunch and dinner. Parents can even go on land tours without their offspring – not that we utilised this service, but it did sound wonderful.
Different face paint at every session

 Initially, K didn’t want to go, which was in keeping with her slightly more timid nature.  But after much cajoling, she finally decided to give it a try, and loved it! The first session she went for was on Superheroes, where she made a paper ‘cape’ to wear.  There was another session on being a Princess, where she had a crown painted on her forehead.

The final session was Pirate-themed, and she got to paint a cool large cloth bandanna (I forgot to take a photo argh!) and join a Pirate Parade around the ship (alas, we didn’t know, and didn’t bump into them – must have been so cute!).

There were also family craft sessions – we joined a scrapbooking one! I was quite impressed that they had tied up with a manufacturer to produce a mini-kit that was Royal Caribbean themed, with their logo etc.

 K and I had a good time cutting, pasting and arranging… instead of a single layout, I decided to convert the two 12×12 inch papers into a 6×6 inch mini-album.  Ta-dah!

Since it was Easter weekend, there was also a family-oriented Easter Egg Hunt.  It turned out to be a lot more challenging than we expected!  We thought it would be for the kids to hunt in an enclosed area, but it turned out to be an Amazing Race type thing, which required us to hit stations all around the massive ship, and get new clues from bunny eared station masters after answering a simple question.

Needless to say, we came in second last! But it was a good workout, and I had to carry B at many points.
These were just a few activities amongst the many offerings on board… in the next instalment, we talk about the other legendary aspect of the cruise – the Food (including what we had at our Penang stopover!)… …
Thankful for the opportunity to travel with the family!

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7 Comments

  1. This looks real fun! My hub has been talking about bringing the kids for a cruise. Looks like we should really go for it one day…

  2. Wow! I never went about checking on their facilities till now upon reading what you shared… this is so appealing to me (especially on the drop-off service & babysitting part! lol) ^^ Looking forward to your part 2 post!

  3. Looks really fun! I’ve always wanted to try cruise but the husband always dissuade me by saying its really boring lar, nothing to do lar, blah blah blah.. and RCB always have promotions going too right? Maybe I’ll try to persuade him again LOL! But it really looks very fun and very family oriented with all the baby and children sections! Can’t wait to see the food! ;p

  4. oo, royal caribbean sounds a lot of more fun than star cruise! tho i must say that the last time i went on a cruise was more than 10 years ago. the toy rental is simply awesome.

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