NJfoodie

Until my kids are older, I tend to look for ports where I won't be heartbroken if we have to skip the day's activities in case of cranky or otherwise unwell little one, and things we can walk to or get to on toddler-friendly transportation. We aren't doing any of the more adventurous excursions since toddlers are too young and depending on the age, might not be ready for cultural excursions like museums or building tours. We've done FL/Bahamas, Canada, and Bermuda with my older DS when he was 14m, 2 and 3. I'd be fine with doing other Caribbean islands as long as I can arrange beach days that ideally can be walked to with a stroller or can use bus/ferry. There are activities in walking distance from the ship in St. Thomas, San Juan, Bermuda and Nassau, but I don't personally know about the other ports.

I'm saving Europe and Alaska for when all of the kids are old enough to carry their own stuff, take their own photos and remember the trip.

To each his own and people have different priorities and budgets. We're on the Gem in 2 weeks and we have 5 of us so we have to either book 2 connecting rooms, or the 2 bdrm family suite. When we booked, pax 3-5 were in a "sail free" promotion so the non-haven family suite came out to about $6K. the haven family suite, for effectively the same room, the same overall perks, and access to the haven pool and sundeck were $8K. Two connecting balcony rooms, with 4 people paying full fare was also about 6K. Sure the haven is nice but I can't justify an extra 2K for a pool and some nicer deck chairs. But having suite perks for the same price as 2 rooms was a no brainer.

We were on the Jewel with my son when he was 14 months old for his first cruise and we were in a balcony room. We were on the Jewel, sister ship to the Gem.

It's been a few years so I don't remember exactly but I think the shower heads are detachable (if I'm wrong, someone please correct me). My kid was terrified of the shower head at the time, and at age 7 still hates showers. We brought a little $5 blow up pool (the family cruising board often recommends the munchkin inflatable duck tub, i had whatever was the tiniest pool I found at target) that we stuck on the balcony since it was warm out and used it as his bathtub and splash area for a couple days with about a kid's beach bucket worth of water. Poured the water out into the shower stall after each use and hung it on the clothesline in the shower stall to drip dry. It was a pain in the butt for us but made DS happy as a clam. I would also consider soaping up a young toddler in the shower stall and just using a bucket to rinse off if you don't want the hassle of the inflatable tub.

Sorry....forgot to include email address. I thought there was a way you could contact me via CC but I guess you can't do that anymore. Here's my email:

kittykat7409@gmail.com Hopefully I'll be able to send you the dailies via email.

Can you send them to me too? I will sent you an email. Thank you!

We cruised with my son who had a milk allergy as a baby/toddler (3 yrs ago) so his meals needed to be completely dairy-free and we needed soy milk. We eat meat in general, but the lack of dairy and egg have had us looking at vegan and kosher options in his foods. It was not a big deal to have him accommodated. I would agree with contacting the special needs desk, but also see the restaurant manager when you first board. He will have a staff member go through the menus with you and determine which items can accommodate the dietary request, and what other options that might not be on the menu can be done, like if the vegetarian dish was pasta with a cream sauce, they could potentially sub garlic and olive oil for her plate, or whether they can make sitrfried or steamed veggies as a side for any meal. They usually had us order his meals the day before and let them know where we planned to dine so that they would be delivered to the appropriate restaurant. Soy milk wasn't out on the buffet, but if you ask someone behind the counter, or ask a server in the restaurant, they will get it for you. I have found the staff will bend over backwards to ensure their guests enjoy their meals as long as they have advanced notice whenever possible and you are courteous with your request.

Thank you for posting - your photos look amazing!

I know it doesn't really affect you in a suite, but I'm wondering how much are they enforcing the no food out of public areas rules?

We have young kids and end up in the room a lot while they nap and go to bed early. We regularly would have one parent get the kids down for naptime since they tend to do so around noon, so we take turns going up to fix ourselves a plate from the buffet, and then have lunch on our balcony while LOs sleep.

It technically won't affect us on our next cruise because we're in a suite so sure, we could get room service from our butler but it's so much faster to just grab a plate since naptime doesn't last long enough to wait for room service and I don't really want someone else coming into our room possibly waking the sleeping kids. Same thing in the evening. Kids go to bed, we often will bring back dessert, or have dessert wrapped up from whatever restaurant we had dinner in order to have it in our room.

NCL changed their kids program 3 years ago and the drop off program minimum age is now 3. They do not need to be fully potty trained though - they will page if your child needs a diaper/pull up change. They have more parent-baby programs for the under 3 set, but no drop off options.

We have the same two strollers and I was wondering the same thing. I have a feeling we will go with with the city select or use 2 umbrella strollers since I remember the halls being really narrow. I'm glad at least the select isn't as long as other tandem doubles. I love how much easier the mini is to fold and open and it's my usual go-to, but I think it'll be too wide for the hallways. The other advantage of the city select is for uneven ground or beach in ports, it'll be easier to move around since the wheels are bigger.

We have a lightweight maclaren volo umbrella stroller and it was a lifesaver on 3 cruises with DS1 at 15 months, 2, and 3. It weighs next to nothing and folds up with a carry strap which made it easy to carry when DS wanted to walk, or we were on a bus or shuttle. Folded, it took up very little closet space in the room and was easy to fold and carry when we got tired of waiting for an elevator and decided to just pick up the baby and take the stairs. I definitely agree though to bring the smallest stroller you can get away with using though because the halls on a ship can be really narrow, or you have to navigate through a crowd. Another great option is if you babywear, to bring a carrier and avoid needing a stroller.

For our next cruise, we'll have 3 little ones and will need some sort of double stroller. I'm not looking forward to figuring out how to fit that...

I know it seems a shame to have to do dishes on vacation but it is what it is when traveling with a baby. My oldest was 15 months old on his first cruise and still took bottles. Later, we would still need sippy cups for him since he wasn't ready for an open cup. He had a dairy allergy so when I weaned him from nursing at 12 months, we had him on soy formula until he was 18 months. My usual routine was to pack enough for one day's worth of bottles so we wouldn't have to wash them in the middle of the day. I brought the tub of formula since that lasted us a week and a few small ziplock bags. We would generally have the diaper bag with us all the time whether out and about on the ship or in port, had portioned out scoops of formula into bags for each bottle, and kept clean empty bottles in the diaper bag. If you have other cups or dispensers for powdered formula, that would work too. You could also pre-portion directly into the bottles if they are well sealed (ours were missing their caps). We didn't want to pre-mix and have a bottle sit out in the caribbean heat all day. We used the ship water, and would fill a reusable bottle for port days. We packed a small bottle of dish soap, and the bottle/nipple brushes. At the end of each day, after DS went to sleep for the night, I'd take a few minutes to wash the day's bottles. We would just lay them out on the sink counter on a wash cloth to drain and dry. Before going to bed, I would prep the next day's pouches of formula and reassemble our bottles so we were ready to go in the morning. Oh and definitely have a way to tether the bottle or any pacifiers and toys to your baby or stroller - one of ours is a thrower and would not be a happy camper if she realized she's not getting her bottle back because she managed to pitch it overboard!

Most ships dining rooms can prepare purees for your little one, or cook veggies until really soft which was great for my 15 month old. Friends of ours cruised with us when their DS was 7 months, and he loved gumming thinly sliced cucumbers and the staff offered to puree whatever vegetables were available that evening. For my son, we packed single-serve sizes of his favorite snacks for port days since you can only take pre-packaged food off the ship and we needed to accommodate his allergy. We also found the small boxes of cereal in the buffet in the morning to be a handy snack for him. For my friend's infant, they packed pouched baby food and got him accustomed to eating from the pouch without a spoon. It's so much easier than using tubs/jars and having to bring spoons everywhere. Other feeding implements that were handy were disposable bibs, and we packed a couple disposable bowls and lids (Take n toss ones). We figured DS was able to self-feed to a degree but was not ready for real dishes, they got washed with the bottles at night, but I wouldn't be upset if any were lost. We also used disposable adhesive placemats on high chair trays so that he could eat off the tray directly.

Enjoy your trip with your little one!

It probably varies by concierge. We were not in a suite but were extended suite perks by NCL on one of our sailings as a group event organizer on the Jewel. I had talked to the concierge since we were traveling with family in 3 staterooms across from each other and I wasn't familiar with what the concierge could and couldn't do in general. I'd never had access to one before. I just asked for clarification, I did not ask for him to include the other two rooms. He let us know that he would make dinner reservations for all of us, and that they could come with us for tendering and disembarkation. I didn't ask about cagney's and we weren't in the Haven ourselves so only could go up the night we were invited to a cocktail party with the captain that was probably for suite guests.

Tell your PCC or TA that you need a PnP for your child. They will put it on your reservation and it should be waiting in your room when you board. If it isn't, ask your room steward and it will be taken care of.

We're booked on the Gem out of NYC for end of May 2016 so I'm assuming all is ok. I looked at the NCL site and searched for cruises on the Gem out of NYC for march through june of 2016 and they're all there, including the 10 day caribbeans throughout the month of april.

I've sailed on Carnival Legend and Glory, and NCL Dawn, Jewel and Star. I have never had a bad cruise and service was always exceptional on both lines. We prefer NCL overall but I'd be willing to consider any of the lines for the right price, itinerary and ship.

The biggest difference for us was the dining - I think the food quality was comparable but we are not big on formal sit down dinners that are 2 hours long with entertainment from the servers. And with our kids being young, they didn't care for a 2 hr dinner either. I know carnival now has a more flexible dining plan from a seating time perspective and on our last carnival cruise, we requested it but were assigned a regular seating time. I prefer time flexibility to eat when suits our schedule, appetite, or kids that day. We also felt we had more flexibility in seating arrangements on NCL. When traveling with a group, some days we chose to all eat together, some days we split up, sometimes we met new friends on board and would like to have a meal together. I felt that was better accommodated on NCL. You also have more choices for different cuisines on NCL in specialty restaurants though there is a fee for them. Chocolate melting cake on Carnival wins for best dessert though! And we did the chef's table on both lines and while both were amazing meals with generous wine pours, I think I preferred Carnival's. Buffet set up varies by ship. I like the ones on NCL where there are multiple counters and action stations rather than the cafeteria style line, and the outdoor buffet areas that NCL has on some ships.

I found overall the onboard activities to be comparable on all of my cruises. We encountered chair hogs on every ship, we have never had any problems getting pool towels on any ship, we've always still be able to find some quieter spaces to relax. I haven't been able to make use of the night-time entertainment as much as we've been sailing with a toddler who goes to bed early but I liked that NCL often has 2 show times each night of the same show which again gives more flexibility. I think their shows are a little better than Carnival's.

We aren't smokers and have always avoided the casinos and bars in which smoking is allowed as I have asthma and second-hand smoke is a trigger. We found NCL to be more comfortable as public area smoking seemed more restricted and the casinos on the ships we were on were not in the center of the ship where it is open to other decks or have to cross through to get to other areas. However, I understand the newest NCL ships (breakaway/getaway/escape) have a central casino and the concerns we had with second-hand smoke on Carnival ships may be an issue on these ships as well.

Cabins - For regular cabins, I felt like Carnivals were just a tad bigger. We sailed in balcony cabins on every cruise except our last on the Star where we had a suite. NCL's cabin always just felt a little more cramped. I like the bathroom set up on NCL though where the toilet was a separate stall with a door and the shower had a door as well instead of a curtain. However, NCL's suite perks can't be beat. One point in favor of Carnival is access to laundry facilities - DH usually prefers to pack lighter and throw in a load when we have some down time, rather than have to pay more for them to pick up and deliver laundry on their schedule. That helps a lot too when traveling with young children as we do.

Kids programs - both have good kids programs. I can appreciate that Camp carnival takes 2 yr olds and sometimes offers for fee babysitting in the mornings for infants under 2. NCL revamped their program 2 yrs ago raising the age to 3, but adding more parent-baby programs for the 2 and under set. My son had fun in both kids programs but I think he enjoyed NCL's more.

NCL also has historically been very responsive to the cruise critic groups. I've participated in roll calls on both carnival and ncl and NCL seems to really go above and beyond for the cruise critic meet and greets. Carnival at the time indicated that they don't do anything for our group and we would have to have an informal M&G on our own. NCL reserved a time and space for us, provided snacks and coffee/juice, and always have a few ship officers, the cruise director, and some entertainers there for the group to be introduced to and for Q&A. I felt in general the executive staff on NCL were more available to us for feedback or problem resolution as we usually leave the M&G with their business cards and direct phone extensions.

For us, we just are more comfortable ultimately with the dining concept on NCL. If you prefer traditional dining with the same server every night, which there is nothing wrong with that, you can certainly ask to be seated in a favorite server's section, and make reservations for the same time. If you're sailing in a suite, NCL wins hands down. Otherwise, we have an enjoyable cruise regardless of which line we're sailing.

What did you all do about getting around in pets and car seats. My main concern is Bermuda which we would ride the bus so not really placement for a car seat and getting to maho beach in St. Maarten for our older son to see the planes. We will have a 14 month old at the time.

Car seats are required, even in cabs, anywhere in FL and I wouldn't want my kids in a car without them anyway. We rented a car in FL and rented the car seat with it. The rental agency basically had several seats for us to inspect and choose from and we installed it ourselves. In the bahamas, we arranged a private tour with a car seat reserved as well and again, we inspected the seat and installed it in the tour minivan. In bermuda, we used buses and ferries and rode with my son on our laps on the bus and in his stroller w/ brakes on next to us or in front of our seat on the ferry.

 

 

 

The red highlight above is not correct. The only time that ships pools are not chlorinated is if the pool is salt water, and the ship is more than 12 miles from shore, and are in "flow through" mode where sea water is pumped into the pool and then overflows back to the ocean with no recirculation. All pools, whether salt water or fresh water, must be in "recirculation mode", or drained, when the ship is within 12 miles of shore. All pools on recirculation, salt or fresh water, must be chlorinated. In fact, ship's pools are chlorinated to higher levels than public pools ashore.

 

We have only cruised on itineraries that spend several sea days heading across the atlantic so it may be more my own experience that we were not within 12 miles of shore, and they were always saltwater pools.

That being said, regardless of chlorine or not, please for the safety of all in the pool, including your own child, follow the rules!

Most lines charge the same 3rd/4th pax fare, which is typically less than pax 1 and 2, regardless of whether the extra person in the cabin is an infant, child, or adult. The only line I've seen differentiate in any way is NCL will discount for an infant under the age of 2 - you only pay taxes/port fees for an infant.

We've always aimed to be at the terminal around 10-10:30, coming from NJ, for either our NCL or CCL cruises out of NYC. It usually gets us a reasonable line for check in and security (<30 min). Then we wait for a little while settling into the many rows of chairs until we are called to board. I don't think we've ever waited more than an hour, whether we had any priority boarding perks or not, and usually onboard before noon.

It will depend on the service. We've traditionally tipped extra in the specialty restaurants (~$5pp, including for our kid since for our past cruises DS1 was still free at any restaurant), knowing it was covered by the DSC, because service was usually extraordinary, not that it wasn't good at the MDRs, but in the smaller setting, it was often even more personalized. And the amount of attention my son would get from the servers was amazing. If that level of service continues, I wouldn't hesitate to tip. For our next cruise, we have the UDP as a bonus perk so we won't be charged the auto-grat, so we'll likely continue to tip. If we didn't have the UDP, they'd get the 18% auto, and extra for exceptional service. I also keep in mind that although the 18% is for the cover charge for my husband and I, they'd also be serving and cleaning up after 3 young children who don't get charged a cover because DS1 generally prefers the kids' menu and DS2 and DD will be 3 on our next cruise. When on land, we keep the same thing in mind - our total check often does not reflect the number of people the server took care of as the kids share our food, order less expensive kid portions, etc. We also often take advantage of discounts when we eat out (kids eat free nights are awesome when you've got 3 kids!) and tip on the pre-discount bill. Given their ages especially, they are a lot of work and I wouldn't dream of stiffing a good server who takes care of our family. When service is lousy though on land, they get a standard tip around 15-18%, and if it's exceedingly bad, we'll speak with a manager. I don't know how we'd handle it on a cruise only because I've never had bad service on any of the 5 cruises I've been on.

Our oldest had 3 cruises under his belt by the time he was 3. The key is to know what the child needs to be happy and comfortable, and everyone will enjoy the cruise more. Every kid is different. Your mileage may vary.

Some can sleep anywhere in a stroller, or stay up till whatever time and be fine. Mine needed his bed at his usual time or he would be a hyper bouncy crabby-as-all-heck second-winded baby for his dad and me to suffer the repercussions. He was great at napping on the go though in the stroller so we could be out all day long and he'd be fine so long as we were back in the cabin for bedtime. It sounds like it might make most sense on evenings where you are babysitting to stay in the parents' cabin until they get back unless you're ok with your granddaughter staying in your room overnight and having her parents pick her up in the morning. It's probably easiest to not have to move a sleeping toddler. Whatever sleeping arrangements they have in their room (pullout bed or PnP) can probably be arranged in your suite as well if you ask the steward in advance.

How does she handle eating and meals? If there are certain snacks she absolutely has to have or will certainly make life easier to have, bring it with you. Prepackaged food can be taken offshore, but nothing else. Cereal boxes from the buffet in the morning were also handy to take with us for snacks during the day. Our son had a food allergy so we packed his snacks and drinks for port days, and worked with the restaurant directors as soon as we boarded to have his allergy accommodated (both CCL and NCL were fantastic with this!). He did great with meals in general and has a good appetite, but he got bored during a 2 hr formal dinner. We did much better with flexible meal times on NCL. Tailor your meal times around when she needs to eat, and with the style of meal that won't be too much of a challenge for her. I've found the servers on any of the cruises we've been on to be very accommodating with little ones and will work with you to make the dining experience as enjoyable as possible, whether it's knowing to have a plate of fruit out for him as soon as we're seated, to playing little games with him through out the meal.

Others have already given good advice on packing extra diapers (they fit well in the outer pockets of suitcases), medications, pedialyte, etc. Pack ziplock bags - they are useful for keeping messy clothes contained, organizing kids' stuff, I've heard some parents pack a ziplock with basically each day's supplies so that on port days especially, you can just grab the pouch and go. You'll find all sorts of occasions for wanting to keep things dry or keep wet stuff from contaminating the dry. Bring a few toys that you won't be upset if they don't come home (think little things of the happy meal toys variety). Bubbles were great for entertaining my toddler, whether blown on my balcony, or at the beach in port.

Enjoy your trip and enjoy the time with your kids and granddaughter!

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones in this senseless act of violence that they find peace and justice, with the passengers who were injured for a speedy recovery, and with the passengers and crew of the ships that were there when this happened.

I don't care if other pax are sunbathing topless/nude on their balcony, on an adults only deck or right next to the main pool. It's not my business to be looking at them! I've said the same for moms nursing their babies in public. My kids have seen plenty of breasts considering it's how they were fed for the first year of their lives and they are certainly not scarred for life. It's not my personal preference to be in the public eye, but it doesn't bother me if someone else is. Bodies are not solely sex objects and if anyone has a problem with seeing others' bodies, then they should just turn the other way and not look.

Are the SJs the oceanview suites at the front of deck 12? Since they are OV and don't have a balcony, when we sailed on the Star a couple years ago, the fare wasn't a great deal more than a regular balcony and the difference in space is huge. They are usually the least expensive suite option and include full suite perks. There are beds for 6 with each bed having an optional curtain to pull around it, and a dining area. Where you lose the balcony though, you gain floor to ceiling windows looking out the front of the ship. It is a gorgeous view. You're also just steps away from the pool deck so while you don't have private balcony space, you're certainly not far from fresh air and sunshine.

We were in a 2 bdrm family suite on the Star which was a significant cost difference from the balcony but it gave us a lot more privacy within the suite since the bedrooms have doors and we were traveling with another family. We had a balcony and a living/dining room separate from the bedrooms.

We used the potette for DS1 and will likely bring it back out when it's time to potty train DS2 and DD1.

http://www.amazon.com/Kalencom-2-in-1-Potette-Plus-Red/dp/B0016KV73W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425353828&sr=8-1&keywords=potette

It can be used as both a standing potty by folding the legs into a standing position, using bags instead of a pot, and a seat topper with the legs parallel to the seat. We also brought a small folding step stool (the plastic kind that folds flat) to help him reach the sink in our cabin.