From Karaoke Queen to A Meltdown Toddler: My Chaotic Cruise Night On Board Oasis of the Seas

I really hate these meltdowns my 3.5 year old is having, and yesterday solidified my feelings even more. I officially felt embarrassed with how my son acted last night on day 3 of our Royal Caribbean Cruise. We were out at sea all day, so we tried to make the best of the day by going to different events and activities around the ship. Our day was going well, despite my son quickly sneaking into one of the elevators going down as we waited for one to go up. If it wasn’t for my eldest son who kept yelling out his brother’s name and saying his little brother went down, I wouldn’t have known that he was in the elevator. That’s how quick this kid is. You constantly have to have your eyes on him, and I took my eyes off of him for a second because there was something in my eye that I was desperately trying to get out.

As people waited for elevators to arrive, I could feel the stares and thoughts directed towards me. Finally, an elevator going down came along and I went down each floor from the fifth to the third looking for my son, but with no avail. I’m now starting to get a bit worried and negative thoughts of what could happen to my child are creeping to the front of my head.

After checking and realising my son was not on the third floor, I went back to the elevators to work my way down to the gangway, and as the elevator door opened a couple and their kids came out telling me that my son was back with his dad on the fifth floor. They told me someone who saw him get in the elevator noticed he went in without me and brought him back down to his dad. Can I tell you how pissed, annoyed, embarrassed and frustrated I was with my son, yet relieved that he was found in one piece? When I went back upstairs to meet the family, I stood by the elevator lobby in silence as we waited for an elevator to take us up to the dining hall so we could finally have lunch. However, as we were making our way up to the main hall my baby girl decided it would be fun to move the elevator door with her hand as it was opening. Unfortunately, her fingers got caught in the doors and she cried her ass off as I tried pulling her precious tiny fingers out. Now, I’m dealing with another incident and once again feeling embarrassed as I could feel and see the looks on people’s faces every time my baby girl screamed like a banshee from the pain. At this point, I decided to take a break and reset the family. I quickly pressed the button to the floor we were staying on and told everyone to get off. We just stood at the elevators and I walked away from them as I took a few breaths to calm my nerves yet once again. Everything in the last 15 minutes felt chaotic, uncontrolled and it was becoming overwhelming for me. It took me about five minutes to pull myself together and finally make our way to the main hall for lunch.

I wish I could say that was all the drama for that day, but boy oh boy it got worse that evening when we decided to watch karaoke in one of the lounges on the ship. As we waited for the event to start, I thought it would be cool to go up and sing a song, so I picked a song and got added to the list of singers who would be performing. When it was my turn to go up, my son and his little sister decided to run around and get in my way of my performance. It didn’t bother me too much because I kept ignoring and dodging them through my rendition of, ‘Sweet Thing’ by Refus and Chaka Khan. In the end, and to my amazement, I received an overwhelming ovation from the audience, and proceeded my way back to my seat. My son and daughter decided to hang out on stage a bit longer as I desperately tried to get them off. As my daughter went back to her dad, my son was resisting my pulls to get him off the stage. I later realised he wanted the freakin’ microphone I was singing with, but by now it was handed over to another performer who was getting ready to sing. I tried reasoning with my son, but nothing was working and I could feel and see the meltdown revving up in him.

Then, it started! The yelling, the screaming, the screeching and the hitting. I ended up having to lift my son up and carry him outside of the lounge to deal with his behaviour, to which, more eyes were now on us watching a new show called, “The Meltdown”, starring my son. I remember whispering and pleading with my son to stop, but it only made matters worse, and by now I had given up and gestured for his dad to take the lead.

I was done and fed up. I took the other kids with me and we made our way back to our stateroom as I walked in complete silence. My son was lagging behind with his dad and was screaming right up until they got to our room. By now, all I wanted was to be alone, so I quickly got the kids bathed and in bed so fast that you would have thought I had super powers.

I was so upset at how my son ruined what could have been a good night. I couldn’t even enjoy the compliments I was receiving from the audience that my husband got to hear because I bolted out the lounge to contain my son’s meltdown. I absolutely had it with his behaviour, and all I could do was nothing and eventually head to the gym to let off some steam on the elliptical.

Today was one of those days, but one that definitely made me rethink and doubt this European tour with my family. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.