Tips for cruising with a 3 year old??

We booked our first cruise with DS coming up in a few weeks. He just turned 3.
The last time we cruised was 10 years ago, obviously kid-free so any BTDT tips would be great!! ( things to pack, etc)
We are booked on the NCL Breakaway out of NYC.

Re: Tips for cruising with a 3 year old??

My advice is this, although it is a family vacation, I suggest you take advantage of the kids camp. You don't have to drop him off often or for long, but do it for an hour or so here and there. First off, he will have fun, they do a lot of great activities- just pick and chose what you think he may enjoy. Second of all, use that time to spend some quality time with DH. Feed DS at the buffet, bring him to camp, and have a nice dinner with DH.

Re: Tips for cruising with a 3 year old??

I cruised with NCL with kids earlier this year. Kids were 1 & 2.5

It is a GREAT trip. We will cruise again next spring (already booked). It's very relaxing.

We booked a deluxe room on a cheaper boat. I'd say, if you can afford to upgrade, do it! We spent a lot of time in our room & even got dvds for the kids! They set up a fancy dinner in our room once & it was AMAZING!

Pools: Make sure he's potty trained, this way he can use them. My older one was & it was great!

Kid's Club: We didn't use the kids club (DS at 2.5 couldn't). The majority of the kids in there looked a lot older on the cruise we took... like 7 or 8...

Eating: I found that there was a rush for high chairs during lunch, so I'd say get him sitting in a real chair or do the sit down dinners. You can order adult meals for the kid during dinners. DS and DD liked this a lot more than the kid's selections.

Misc: Tip your room person nicely. You'd be surprised what they an do for you! They also LOVE kids (many have young kids at home). We got a bag full of ice to carry milks to one of the port stops... actually, may not be a bad idea if you are traveling to their private island to bring a cooler bag for milks (they don't have milk, only juice & water).

Excursions: They are very $$$. We did the Disney excursion (not sure where you are going), but it was awesome. There was so many bad reviews about it, we were nervous, but it is an AWESOME way to do a first trip without spending a whole vacation in Florida. It is enough time for a 3 year old.

You can FM me if you have specific questions. I'm going to be going from NY in 2015 with a good friend, her twins & our kids. Never thought I'd be a cruiser