Cruisin' with littles- what I wish I knew before we embarked

We just got back from our first ever cruise with the kids. It was amazing and the kids absolutely loved the "big boat", but there are a few things I wish I would have known before we left. I did a lot of research on cruising with little ones, but these are some of the things that no one told me and that I never read anywhere, so I'm sharing with you.

1. There are baby clubs-like they have for kids, but for actual babies! Our cruise had a club for 6 months-3 years that was so ideal for a place for my kids to play and not have to worry about being quiet or breaking things. It had hours where parents could take their kids and other hours where it was staffed and parents could leave their kids- FOR FREE. I was always one of "those parents" who said I will never leave my kids with strangers. But the staff was great and it was all glass windows so I could (and did) sneak a peak at them many times and in the mean time I could sit and actually relax and read a book. Win-win! Good for us to have a little quiet time as parents and gave my kids a break from us, too. So take my advice, use the baby and kids club!

2. The public toilets flush LOUD. This scared my newly potty trained 3 year old when it automatically flushed super loud while he was sitting on it. It was definitely a #momfail that I never thought about. But even now that we are back, he still asks when we are out and about if the toilet will be loud. But hey at least he stayed potty trained- so not that scarred I guess.

3. Little ones can open the sliding balcony doors in your room. Everywhere I read said that a) the door will be so heavy little kids can't open the balcony door or b) there is a high enough lock that they cannot reach it; so I was not that worried about it. WRONG. The unlock button on the door was a simple push button that was about waist high (eye level for a 3 year old) that he could easily push and the door was so light that if it was unlocked, my 1 year old could slide it open. It made me nervous, but we did slide all the furniture back and flipped the outdoor table to make me a bit less anxious. But had I known, I definitely would have bought a portable lock to be able to lock the door myself to make me a bit less anxious- next time.

4. My 3 year old loved the music and dancing shows. I thought he would be too busy bodied to sit through the shows, but he loved them. He actually watched and would dance along to all the shows we brought him to. I wish we would have known this earlier in the week, as it was free entertainment for him and us (and bribery for him). So give the shows a chance with your kids and the first one just sit in back, so if it doesn't go well you can sneak out.

5. I already knew the staff was amazing, but I didn't know how amazing they are with kids. Not just our waiter or cabin attendant, but all the staff were so kind to my kids (even when my kids were not the best behaved). They would pick up our kids and love on them as if they were their own. They would take them to look at things on the boat and it was the sweetest thing to see the bond develop the staff and my kids.