My daughter, 2 grandsons (20 months and 5 years), and I took a 4 night Royal Caribbean cruise from Sept 17-21 with stops in Nanaimo and Victoria. We stayed in 2 inside cabins, which were next door to each other.
I have seen hundreds of commercials where RCI promotes its cruise line as family friendly but RCI did not meet our expectations for the following reasons:
a) We did not expect activities for the 20 month old, but there were few activities a 5 year old could do. We wanted to experience the cruise with the children and not offload them to Ocean Adventures, which is a drop off daycare-like activity. The RCL website says there is a "kids aqua park" on the Explorer of the Seas. There was absolutely no "aqua park"--only 5 foot deep pools, a depth that would make our 5 year old uncomfortable. There was nothing a 20 month old could enjoy such as a splash pad or even a hose with running water. The rock wall is limited to kids 6+, which we knew in advance. Why isn’t there a mini-rock wall for smaller kids too? The wave runner was not applicable. The kids have had a better time at a playground at our local park. The arcade was grossly overpriced and almost always empty. $10 bought us about 8 minutes of entertainment. You could buy 1 life on a Mario-type game for $1.50. (That was 2 seconds of my life I’ll never get back.)
The cabin was small, quiet and comfortable. The Pullman bed worked well for the 5 year old and a pack n play was provided for the 20 month old.