Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 5 (Johnny Rockets and Fisher Price Toys)

Posted in Cruise, Holidays by jahbella

After our little ice-skating adventure, we decided that it was time to eat (AGAIN!) Yes, I think our helper wanted to faint from the frequency and size of our meals on the cruise. We didn’t head to the usual lunch spots like Main Dining Room and Windjammers for our lunches onboard so I will not be able to attest to the quality and menu there. However if like me, you have kids who can survive on fries alone and don’t mind a chocolate milkshake or ice-cream ;P then Johnny Rockets would be the place for them (and you). We went there for all our day meals and those meals were perfect for a nap after. At Johnny Rockets, you basically pay a flat fee of $5 per adult and get to order anything from their menu. Items on their menu include burgers, fries with different toppings and desserts. Beverages are charged separately but that didn’t stop us from purchasing their yummy milkshake. As Joel and I were on the drinks package, our beers and soft drinks were covered and our yummy milkshakes were 1 for 1, for Crown and Anchor Society members. Super duper yummy!!! Jah was also introduced to the smiley face ketchup at Johnny Rockets where they asked if he wanted ketchup and they would draw a smiley face on a plate with ketchup. He started asking for a smiley face at every meal after that (the staff always obliged :p). Thank goodness he hasn’t asked for it since we got back. Johnny Rockets is the perfect place for some casual American dining plus a little entertainment from the dancing staff. 🙂

Burgers are awesome!

Yes super awesome!

Performance!

Just around the corner from Johnny Rockets, you would also find the Babies Club for little ones from 6 months to 36 months. Babysitting services are offered there and we saw that some parents had avail themselves to this paid service. We, on the other hand visited the Club for an entirely different reason. The Club also offered a toy rental service for kids below 3 years of age. You are allowed to take ‘home’ to your cabin, 1 set of Fisher Price toys which you can either choose to keep for the entire length of your stay or return the next day and exchange for another set of toys. As these toys are available on a first come first serve basis, we would recommend you hop over early to select your toys. When we got there at 8pm on the first night, most toys were already taken up and we were very fortunate to have found something that Jah liked. We almost had a meltdown when he realized there were no more cars or train related sets. The Fisher Price toys were pretty fun and came in very handy in keeping the kids occupied in the room. Now if only our kids could be occupied with just one toy at home. Apparently kids understand the concept of making do and making the best of it. :p

Playtime!

I have to say that this toy rental service came in very handy for us during our first cruise trip with Jah and now even more so with two kids. No more lugging toys on holidays to keep them occupied! Although I will probably have to figure something else out once they both of them hit the 4 year old mark….

JahBella’s Mummy

29Jan2015

Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 4 (Ice-Skating and a Parenting lesson for me)

Posted in Cruise, Parenting decisions by jahbella

I have to say that I was super proud of Jah during this cruise trip. Not only was he a lot nicer to his sister and really attempted to take care of her. He had even at some point during the trip, asked that they take a professional photo together and said that he would hold her hand. (That shot was almost successful until the photographer asked them to step back alittle and then his sister fell backwards into the backdrop :x)

That aside, Jah made his first attempt at ice-skating! Well ok mummy and daddy also made their first attempt at it and honestly it was a mean feat for 3 people with no experience in ice-skating to hold onto each other while ‘skating’ around the edge of the rink. Jah showed us his determination and perseverance in wanting to do more rounds despite it being a pretty scary and difficult first try around the rink. We could tell he was giving his best even though his legs were all jelly by the time he got through round 2.

First session of the morning (there were 3 one-hour sessions in all)

Skaters getting fitted out for their session

Waiting for our session to start (can barely contain his glee!)

Jah’s first attempt at ice-skating also taught me a very important lesson in parenting. The first thing he said to me at the end of the session was “mummy? I’m not very good at ice-skating.” That statement shocked me at first and then my heart broke alittle. I didn’t quite know how to respond immediately. I realized that somehow along the way, my 3 year old was starting to feel the pressures of today’s society, to perform and excel at everything he does even if it was the first time he was attempting something. Trying hard was not good enough. He had to be very good at it.

I was thankful for this insight in his thoughts. I almost instinctively replied no, you are awesome at ice-skating which he would definitely have figured for a lie. Instead I told him that yes, just like him, mummy and papa were not very good at ice-skating too but it was our first try. The most important thing was the fact that we tried our best and maybe next time we will be better at it or maybe we won’t be. He is good at a lot of other things and as long as he enjoyed himself earlier, it really doesn’t matter.

I could see the relief written all over his face after that and he perked up and said that he wanted to try ice-skating again next time. 🙂 Phew for mummy too!

A point to note for those who would like to attempt ice-skating onboard the ship, do remember to bring socks and be dressed in long pants. Helmets, ice-skates and knee guards will be provided. Oh yes and a sweater especially for the kids would be helpful (it was freezing!).

Pirate Photo shoot opportunity after our breakfast

More photos with the Pirate to occupy the 1 hour waiting time outside the skating rink

Little sister not as impressed as the brother..

Next Up…Johnny Rockets and the Madagascar Parade

JahBella’s Mummy

20Jan2015

Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 3 (Dreamworks Breakfast Character Dining)

Posted in Cruise, Holidays by jahbella

Our non-stop eating adventure continued the next morning when we all woke up bright and early and was at breakfast at 8am. This was not just any ordinary breakfast! It was the Dreamworks Character Dining Breakfast which Jah had been looking forward to, for the past few months. I had envisioned that we would be eating in our PJs, given that the breakfast started at 8am but the kids had no problems getting up early and dressed for this special meal.

For families who would like to bring their kids for the Dreamworks Character Dining Breakfast, I would recommend that you sign up online prior to your cruise. Alternatively, you could do your booking once you board the cruise but I hear that it is rather popular. The breakfast is chargeable at $10 per person. Honestly the breakfast option looked good on paper with a specialized menu but the food left much to be desired. We didn’t quite touch it and I was alittle envious of the other tables in the main dining room who were having the regular breakfast. Although I suppose they were probably also envious of us and the time we had with the characters.

Dreamworks Character Dining Menu

Shrek Ears for all the kids 🙂

We met 3 of the Dreamworks Characters (Shrek, Kungfu Panda and Fiona) during our breakfast and they came around to each table to take photos with us. We were supposed to attend the breakfast on the following day as well but Jah decided that he didn’t want to attend if Alex the Lion was not attending. We were told that 3 other characters (Puss in Boots, King Julian and Gloria the Hippo) would be at the next day’s breakfast. On hindsight, we should have probably just attended for the fun of it but oh well Jah had his wish and met Alex at the separate Meet & Greet session so I decided not to put everyone through an early not so yummy breakfast again.

Oh and do note that the photos below were taken by their photographer and purchased as part of the photo package. The photos are not included as part of your breakfast cost. You can get the staff to help take pix with your camera/ handphone if you don’t intend to purchase the package. 🙂

So yes a must-do for parents with kids especially those who are fans of Shreak or Madagascar. 🙂

Next Up – Jah’s First Ice-Skating attempt and a Parenting lesson for me

JahBella’s Mummy

15Jan2015

Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 2 (Giovanni’s Table)

Posted in Cruise, Food, Holidays by jahbella

While most meals onboard the cruise are free of charge and pretty decent, we decided to give one of the specialty restaurants a try. Our meal at Giovanni’s Table (Italian Speciality Restaurnt) would be JahBella’s First ‘Fine-Dining’ Experience. The meal cost us an additional US$20 per adult and we were allowed to order any item in any quantity off the menu. We could either order individual portions or dine family style. We chose to dine family style which meant that we could order a few starters, entrees and desserts and they would prepare portions which were just enough for our family. The kids also had their own special kids menu to choose from and non-alcoholic tiramisu to boot! 🙂

What I love about the dining service on the cruise is that they are always ready to accommodate and customize for the kids. Jah was somehow on his fries only diet and they were more than happy to prepare a special portion of handcut fries for him.

Happy as long as there is food

Hmm…do you think I will be able to get these special fries at every meal?

My photos really do not do the food justice but it was awesome! I especially enjoyed the lamb chops and risotto! I have not tasted such good risotto since….since I’m not quite sure when. I was very tempted to return the subsequent days just for another taste of the risotto.

At the end of the meal, there was also a extensive dessert table to select from and you can totally see Bella just eyeing the table very deviously. Again, I apologise for the photo quality as they were taken with my handphone in a romantically lit dining room. 😉

One thing to note, do buffer at least 2 hours for the entire meal. We initially thought that this was a bit of an exaggeration but the entire meal really took 2 hours! In fact we had to rush alittle towards the end as we wanted to make it for the Welcome Show at 730pm. All I can say is don’t rush and just enjoy the meal especially if your kids are doing ok and in no hurry to go anywhere. Ok totally missing the risotto now….;/

Next Up – Dreamworks Breakfast Character Dining….

JahBella’s Mummy

11Jan2015

Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 1

Posted in Cruise, Holidays by jahbella

This year we spent our Christmas break on the Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Sea Cruise. You might recall that we had been on a similar Boxing Day cruise 2 years ago when I was pregnant with Bella so I can guess you can consider this our 2^nd cruise as a family? See Post Here

We were especially excited or at least Jah was especially excited because his favourite Madagasar characters were going to be on the cruise. 🙂 There is truly a huge difference cruising with a 1 year old as opposed to a 3 year old.

We arrived at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre at about 11am (check-in process and boarding would start from 1130am). We dropped off our check-in bags at the kerbside, settled our long term parking package at the Info Counter and proceeded through the security check-point. Our check-in process at the counter was fairly seamless and fast as we were allowed to use the Priority Check-in line for Crown and Anchor Members. Note that you are eligible to join the Royal Caribbean loyalty programme as long as you have been on at least 1 cruise. Joel was given a little coloured card and we were told to proceed to the boarding gate once our colour was called which happened less than 5 minutes later. Yay!!!

The cabins were not ready for us yet as most of the pax from the previous cruise would have just disembark between 8am to 11am. We were ushered to the Windjammer café where a buffet spread awaited us. To be honest, I was dreading the Windjammer café after our experience on Legends of the Seas, 2 years ago. However the Windjammer Café on the Mariner of the Seas was a very different experience. I found the café very organized, well air-conditioned and there seemed to be a lot of seating and space available. We found ourselves a window seat and the kids were more than happy to enjoy the view and the food. Joel and I took this time to purchase our drinks package. We chose the middle range package which gave us unlimited soft drinks as well as wine and beer (below US$9) from the menu during meal times and at all the bars. It cost us about US89 per person for the entire 4D3N cruise. Another tip for families would be to pre-purchased their Evian Water package so that you will have bottles of Evian water waiting for you at your cabin. We needed the water to make milk for our kids and to fill their water bottles. (12 bottles of 1L Evian Water for about US$45?) Definitely cheaper than buying ad-hoc but make sure that you really need that many bottles.

Enjoying the view

Very good mood

I’m going to pretend to sleep but I think the cookie is giving me away

We entered our cabin at 1pm and I honestly don’t know how the housekeeping staff do it but they are able to turn around all the cabins in just a few hours. For this trip, we got ourselves two balcony class inter-connecting cabins. The cabins were a lot more spacious than what I remembered from our previous trips. Its almost like everything is upsized in this trip.

Queen sized bed

2/3 of the room – the cupboards, doorway and bathroom was behind me

Our personal view of the ocean

We quickly got the kids to take their naps because we were expecting a compulsory Fire Drill at 430pm. Yes I know, seems like a waste to head onboard and then head straight for bed but as the Chinese sayings goes rest is needed if you want to go the distance. :p

The kids woke up happy and refreshed in fact Jah was so happy that he was extra sweet to his cranky sister and kept wanting to hug her!

I love you meimei, I want to hug you!

We headed to our assigned fire drill station and I don’t know if it was because of the rain or if the protocol has changed but we were ushered to a lounge area for our fire drill. Definitely a lot more pleasant than our last experience on the deck and one of the reasons I was very apprehensive about attending a fire drill with two young ones.

We still had some time before our 545pm dinner reservation so we decided to take the kids on a short tour of the ship which was essentially a quick photo on the rainy deck and then a quick introduction to the world of old school arcades. We would be spending a lot of time here in the coming days, thanks to Jah. :p

A quick tip for those who want to bring home decent family photos at the end of your cruise. There are many photo opportunities with professional photographers during the entire cruise and you can purchase each photo for S$25 each (yeah pretty pricey I know). However if you purchase the unlimited photo package on the first night, you will receive $50 off the package price which means you only pay $200 for unlimited photos and soft copies. We bought the package on the first night and went crazy taking pictures after that (we took home 56 photos in total!!).

Here are some of the professional photos from the first night..