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.



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

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.