Hey y'all!
We took a late holiday cruise to two ports in Mexico and just want to share our experience with you all. This was a HUGE deal for us because our two under two went international for the first time and did so great! So I'll also share some tricks we used to make our travel with them a little more manageable.
In additional to this being our kiddos first cruise, this was also our first Royal Caribbean cruise as a family. We went with a group of other family members. The members of our group stayed either in an interior room or an ocean view balcony, but I'll get into the rooms more later. Since we have littles, we decided to travel up with the majority of our family the night before the cruise. We stayed in the Home2 side of a combined Home2/Tru Hotel. Our room was honestly pretty nice. The Home2 is a very minimalist style of hotel in which there isn't a full closet, and the overall room is very simplistic.
After a good nights sleep, or as good as you could image with two under two in a new and unfamiliar space, we headed out to run some pre-boarding errands. Which involved a target and Starbucks run. Once we made it to the port, and went through the easiest check-in process ever! We took a pre-boarding family photo and headed to our Muster Station on the Voyager of the Seas to check-in.
We then headed to our deck, but after discovering that our rooms wouldn't be ready for about an hour, we went over to Windjammers, a bunch-styled restaurant onboard, for lunch. Also to help get the kids nice and full for an immediate nap once we were in the room. Once our rooms were available, we settled in, and unloaded our suitcases (the rooms storage was just enough to have not needed to bring any additional items to help organize our room!) my wife and kids to a great nap and I explored the ship!
Anytime you go on a cruise, or stay in a new hotel/resort, I highly recommend you take a few minutes to explore everything it has to offer. I was able to explore Voyager of the Seas and find all of the casual dining options, bars, specialty dining options, scope out the family and adult only pool areas, complete waivers to do the Flow Rider, check out the library and shopping areas, and even found the kids club areas. Since we have two under two, many of these activities were for my wife and I to do while the kids were in the Royal Babies & Tots nursery. If you've not familiar with Royal Babies & Tots, they are an onboard nursery which provides care to children 2 and under for an hours rate per child. It's really important to plan your activities in advance when considering using this service. They only have so many slots per hours and they can be reserved in advance based on the times you plan to be in what activity and give you guaranteed times during your excursions, as long as you show them your reservation ticket. They provide snacks and have spaces for naps to be taken.
Once everyone in our group was onboard, I visited everyone's rooms. All of these rooms were very nice, my household stayed in one of the older interior rooms, which had plenty of space for the four of us to hangout when we weren't taking a nap or changing between activities. Some of our relatives stayed in one of the redecorated/renovated interior rooms closer to the elevator, although the spacing in this room was the same as ours, the decor touches and undated lighting was a great touch. The rest of our group all chose to stay in ocean view balcony rooms. Once our littles are a bit older, I definitely want to get a balcony room. Just seeing the balcony space and taking a moment to sit and watch the water was enough. I could VERY EASILY spend the entirety of any cruise enjoying that view.
In this 5-day experience, we had three days at sea and two days in Mexico, Puerto Costa Maya and Cozumel. On our sea days, we spent a lot of time with our kids, really only putting them in the Royal Babies and Tots once or twice for some adult only activities. We spent a ton of time eating, as one should while on vacation. We enjoyed participating in some of the onboard games, really recommend the soduko competition (my wife kills at it); spent a ton of time by the pool; watched some of the sport competitions; I did the FloRider, which is this pretty awesome wave simulator on board; enjoyed the ice show; played a board game in the onboard library; and had the occasional drink from the bars around the ship.
Our first stop was Puerto Costa Maya! This was beautiful destination, we started the morning getting in our excursions group. We had a Tequila and chocolate tasting and Avairy adventure set. We were escorted to the Magic Garden where we learned about how chocolate was created then got to taste some very unique tequila and chocolate pairs. The environment was incredible! The Magic Garden is an inside austically decorated walk through experience taking you through different scenes related to the growth of cocoa used to make chocolate, how tequila is brewed, and explains some history behind the pairing of different tequila based drinks with chocolate in Mexican/Hispanic culture. Immediately after the tour, we got a free drink at the bar connected to The Magic Garden and took notice to the delicious foods many of the other patrons had. We then roamed the area to find a good choice for lunch.
After lunch, we went into the Aviary, the second half of our excursion. The Aviary was spread across most of the port and connected by a variety of high hanging rope bridges. You don't know stress until you have to carry your two littles in your arms to help them see the birds while at such heights. But we made it! After a few bridges ours oldest even walked the bridge herself. In addition to given up close and personal connection to a wide variety of beautiful birds, you also get incredibly views of the ocean and the various surrounds of the port. After spending time with the birds, we took in more of the sights, explored the various shops, and grabbed a few souvenirs before heading back to the ship to put the littles down for naps.
After a great nights sleep we made it to Cozumel, our second stop! This time, we were able to hand the littles over to the grandparents and take our own adventure! Similar to our first day, we met in the theatre of the ship to be placed into our excursion group. Once we were grouped up, we disembarked, and went to our meeting point where a guide was waiting to escort us to our ride. The excursion we did this day was a to take an exciting speedboat ride to a small island just outside of Cozumel, Isla Pasión. This was pretty awesome honestly. Although, it was a little more crowded than we'd anticipated, at no point did it feel like the beach was overcrowded. The food and drinks that was included were also really good! It was a small buffet with chicken fajita, shrimp fajita, taco toppings, spaghetti, and some salad options. I really only ate the fajitas. In addition, they had a bar where you could pay for drinks also. They had a variety of different shops for souvenirs, beach front massages, alcohol education and tasting, and even a beach volleyball area. A little further down, they had a closed off beach area with covered cabanas for another cruise line. Oh! They also had some in ocean hammocks, which were amazing to relax in (once I got used to the water). Across they beach they also had plenty of beach chairs, shade covered hammocks and tables with chairs to each at - many of the tables also had their own umbrellas attached too. After enjoying our time on the island, we hopped back on our speedboat and were brought back to mainland Cozumel.
After meeting up with the grandparents to pick up the kids, we loaded back onto the ship for much needed naps. Once we all woke up, we got dressed for dinner and went eat in the main dining hall with the family - since we had our littles, naps didn't work out for us to eat in the main dining hall the first three days. Both of those meals were EASILY the best meals I had on board. Not to mention, they went all out to celebrate our youngest little's first birthday! The manager joined our waiters in bringing out a huge chocolate cake that the 14 of us together couldn't finish. For the remainder of the trip, we relaxed together all over the ship with the exception of the last night. We were able to get the littles dropped off with some of the relatives that they don't get to see often while we went to see the Battle of the Sexes game show - I highly recommend! The was the funniest and most entertaining event we got to attend the whole trip.
Ultimately, this was a great experience for us as a family! Our girls first trip out of the country, a unique way to celebrate one of the kids birthdays, and snuck in some family time with some of the family that doesn't live in our home.
Thanks for taking the time to read about our cruise!
D'Vaughn Delpit
Dreams of Wonder Travel Agency
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