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Kids 2-8 : What to bring and what to leave at home?


ihrtcruise
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I take all medicine, puddle jumper (if needed) for any non swimmer although they offer life jackets but my child would be more comfortable in her swimmers, diapers/wipes if needed. Don't forget that if not potty trained then they can't use the main pool but some ships have a small area for the swim diapers. Bring lots of sunscreen and any shampoo, etc if sensitive skin.

 

Now for clothes, I pack a day's worth of clothes (day and evening) in a ziplock gallon size bag and label it with the day. On our first cruise, my kids were on their own to chose and needless to say they'd change into a new outfit every time we went back to the room and then they ran out of clothes.

 

 

Then other things as needed for your shore excursions which may or may not be necessary: swim shoes, mask and snorkel, goggles.

 

 

There is also a family forum that has great ideas.

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Oh good idea on the zipper bags!

 

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I take all medicine, puddle jumper (if needed) for any non swimmer although they offer life jackets but my child would be more comfortable in her swimmers, diapers/wipes if needed. Don't forget that if not potty trained then they can't use the main pool but some ships have a small area for the swim diapers. Bring lots of sunscreen and any shampoo, etc if sensitive skin.

 

Now for clothes, I pack a day's worth of clothes (day and evening) in a ziplock gallon size bag and label it with the day. On our first cruise, my kids were on their own to chose and needless to say they'd change into a new outfit every time we went back to the room and then they ran out of clothes.

 

 

Then other things as needed for your shore excursions which may or may not be necessary: swim shoes, mask and snorkel, goggles.

 

 

There is also a family forum that has great ideas.

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Melkite gave good ideas.

 

I would add sippy cup, if still using. Two-year-old might have a hard time with standard glasses, especially in MDR. I would also take refillable water bottles for everyone. You can fill with water, lemonade, etc. Just make sure you use a glass to fill. You are requested not to put bottles up to the sprocket.

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I would suggest spf rash guards for your kids. It saves a lot of sunscreen and fights with the kids for reapplying. When my daughter was little, I purchased a lightweight, almost full body, one. It was great. It dried quickly and she was protected from the sun and sand. I also swear my the coppertone sport sunscreen. It's lightweight and breathable. I use the spray can and the stick (for ears and face). Knock on wood, she's 12 and never more than a slight pink cheek that lasted about 3 hours.

 

A tablet with games, music, a couple of movies (with headphones) will keep them occupied during any down time. They also make an earphone splitter so you can plug multiples into the same device btw.

Unless your kids need constant stimulation, I let me daughter bring a stuffed animal/doll to sleep with. She's tired by the end of the day.

I also pack a dollar store pump hand soap for our bathroom. The bar stuff just doesn't work for us. I leave what's left over at the end.

I have also found that giving them a camera of their own helps them stay engaged during excursions.

You might need a night light as well.

A highlighter for the daily Compass.

I make sure any drink cups that we bring onboard have a lid and a handle/lanyard. Easier to keep up with ad trips back to the cabin can be a pain.

 

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If it's an option, leaving the actual kids seems like the best idea!!! :')

 

Haha! That was my first thought also! Although I have gotten used to having my dd coming.

 

Also, don't forget kids meds (allergy, fever/headache, tummy troubles, etc.). We also pack in ziplock bags it's so much easier for kids. Then they don't have to unpack you can just grab it from the suitcase under the bed. I also bring an over the door shoe rack so that I can keep everyone's stuff organized. It's great for brushes, and toiletries and such. Oh and hand sanitzer and wipes for ports. You never know when you may not have running water for washy washy!

 

Have fun!

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Specifically kid-related, I bring:

 

-Diapers, wipes and grocery bags for disposal + swim diapers for my non-potty trained toddler

-Tablet or downloaded videos on my phone

-Rash guards and sunscreen

-First aid kit which includes Bonine, Benadryl and Motrin

-A small (kid sized) back pack with coloring book, crayons, sticker book, toys - toddler gets to pick what goes, but it must fit in the backpack

-Sippy cups (2) for the toddler, plus refillable water bottle per person (or rely on soda package cup if buying that)

-Stroller

-My tween also packs his Kindle, my teen is satisfied with his phone

 

But these are things I'd pack for any trip where the kids are coming along.

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Great tips everyone already gave! I have a few to add:

 

- Wetwipes brand wipes (they have a better chance of killing norovirus than standard alcohol Purell)

 

- Children’s Dramamine just in case they get sea sick

 

- garbage bags! These come in super handy for all kind of reasons. (I use the garbage bags as hampers in the cabin. Makes it easy to keep dirty clothes out of the way and super easy to pack for going home!)

 

- small electronic for when it’s needed (my kids love the basic vtech watches - the $35 version on Amazon)

 

- Clorox wipes for the room

 

- sunglasses/hat

 

- a couple of sand toys for beach time

 

 

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Desitin or some other diaper rash cream. Even for kids not in diapers can come in handy for rash from sand in swimsuit in sensitive areas :)

Kid approved bug spray or wipes or bands or whatever you favor to prevent bug bites. Cheap blow up floats/beach ball from the dollar store take up very little room in luggage while in package and can always be left if you don't want to bring them home. Enjoy the trip!

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We’ve taken DS3 on a few WDW vacations and other trips, and while this will be his first cruise in a few weeks, we feel confident in this basic list based on our other travels with him:

 

Two cups - We like the Thermos Foogoo cups, as they keep the drinking straw covered. We bring two so we can alternate use and in case one breaks.

 

Dish soap and laundry detergent (travel-size) - Dish soap to wash his cups, and laundry detergent in case of accidents.

 

Gallon-size Ziploc bags - To hold any yucky or wet clothes as we travel.

 

Clorox wipes - Mainly for the stroller at the end of the day, but we may wipe down a surface or two.

 

 

Folding stroller - We bought a taller, studier umbrella stroller just for this cruise and some international travel we have coming up. Our everyday Britax is awesome and lightweight, but we needed something that folded up smaller for the cabin. We plan to use it around the ship (Oasis of the Seas, which is pretty big) and in port, as we figure he’ll get tired and we won’t want to carry him all the way back to the ship with our beach gear.

 

Favorite snacks - Don’t go overboard , but we usually bring some fruit pouches and Goldfish.

 

Nightlight - It’s good to have a few familiar items from home to help with sleep.

 

Blanket - Same reason.

 

Small backpack he can carry with toys and books - He’s big into cars and trains, so we’ll bring just a few of each. Books are for chilling and bedtime. This backpack also gets used on the airplane. We like his Deuter parrot backpack.

 

Basic medications/First Aid - For us, that’s Children’s Tylenol, cough, saline spray, Baby Vick’s, thermometer, bandaids, Neosporin spray and melatonin.

 

iPad with a couple of movies and headphones - For the plane.

 

Toilet seat - We have a toilet seat that fits over our toilet for him at home, and plan to buy a $10 one at Target before we head to the ship, just so he is a little more comfortable using the toilet in our cabin all week. We don’t want to break ours on the flight, which is why we are buying one when we get there.

 

 

Life jacket - For use in ports. We will use the ship’s in the pools.

 

Hope this helps - have a great cruise!

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Such great responses! We travel a lot with our kids and one thing we've found to be indispensable on a cruise is our white noise machine! We plug it in near the cabin door (and by our daughters crib) and crank up the ocean sounds! It helps us all - especially if we get stuck next to the party cabin or the people that love slamming their doors at 1am! I bought it on Amazon for $20 and it's on 24/7 in our nursery.

 

I also take individual powder pedialyte packets with me, just in case. My son got very sick extremely quickly while doing a land vacation in the Czech Republic at 7 months old. He ended up being hospitalized for dehydration, which occurred over the course of only one day. Extremely scary. Now I don't travel without that...

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Lots of great suggestions here.

 

One thing to add: we bring a plastic travel soap dish full of crayons and several coloring/activity books in a plastic ziplock or drawstring book bag. The bag goes with us to dinner and keeps our son busy while we wait for food to show up.

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If it's an option, leaving the actual kids seems like the best idea!!! :')

 

I was thinking the same! My youngest ds had just turned 4 when he went on his first cruise. He is an easy traveler but the change in routine, scenery, etc..did him in by our last port day. He had a complete meltdown. It’s the on,y time I have ever seen him like that. He is 19now and his advice now is to leave the parents home. :evilsmile:

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Great ideas on here! Just got back from cruising with 3 and 1 year old. I took much of what has been mentioned above. The things that were vital to our success were the hand soap, sound machine, small garbage bags, kids’ tablet and cheap new dollar store type toys we gave them throughout the week. My three year old is potty trained but for the one year old- I way overpacked on diapers, wipes and clothes! I just wanted to make sure I had enough. I did NOT pack enough pouches and other baby snacks for her. My 3 year old was mostly fine but I wish I would have packed him more familiar snacks, too. Oh and I brought a pack of straws- we ordered room service a lot for milk, juices, Waters, etc. and it was nice to have extra straws. Oh and baby powder, sprinkle some on them if their covered in sand and it falls right off- makes changes from swimsuits to clothes on the beach really easy. Good luck!

 

 

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Nightlight, it is dark in an interior stateroom. Mad libs! We played these for hours on our last cruise, my kids were 8 and 9 then, goldfish or small snacks. There is plenty of fruit and veggies onboard but I’ve never seen a lot of chips, pretzels, or goldfish. My small guys could tear up some goldfish. Sun hat, kid sun glasses, books, coloring books and crayons. We took books and coloring books to the theater to keep them entertained before the shows.

Our biggest thing was if they were tired we let them nap even if it meant us staying in our room and missing out on something. A well rested kid is far better behaved and more enjoyable to be around then an exhausted one. We still do that now even though they are older! Enjoy your trip!

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On our last cruise, we only had 3 kids. (haha). They were 1.5-5 at the time. I brought no toys, tablets, etc. My goal was to get all of our stuff in one bag. My husband also had a duffel. I shared one bag with our three kids. I packed them each one outfit for each day +1. (+2 for the freshly potty trained child). I packed them exactly 2 formal outfits. I should have packed one extra for the semi-continent child, as he wet his pants on the way to the MDR on formal night and we had to put him in casual shorts. Each kid got flip flops and shoes for formal night, we ended up buying water shoes on the ship for my oldest for an excursion in Belize. In order to get all of the stuff in the suitcase, I tightly rolled both my boys' outfits for each day and taped them with masking tape. I also rolled my daughter's clothing with her undies. I tried the ziplock bag thing, but couldn't get the clothing to fit properly and it was a slippery mess. Bring a trash bag for dirty clothes. We brought 1 sippy cup. Bring a little thing of Tide so that you can wash stuff in the sink. There should be a drying line in the bathroom. For meds, I brought a lot of stuff. Tylenol, Ibuprofen, dramamine, immodium. I even had scopalamine patches and zofran just in case sea sickness was an issue (it wasn't). Make sure that you get your kids probiotics for a month or so beforehand so that their immune system is prepped as best you can!S-kanMpXSri-5bFimrGQpmaRghTUpmuCWfZybY_7sBo9q_9IhWbY22eXVHz4jYKpaK3R5_QqUr8ahk-tUyK07NOw7oOZoAVtFiaRQrvXi-_Az4iiSFSJAI92XCRIy7icnLWXkACkKYxwI-sD9Po4jmvCJkdo9_VugMZj5naR7xiwpnHirfu257ilMp8lJnKs11ig_nHaHzXzAiy6d4tweuAEG7AncwNRTV8Gm6k8fmuLci9Y6-Apy96nVuRj-mEEsgZFNGsboGNJj4UkiwM1PbovWNf1UCBy1vEwuphOiuZ2uh68ExFXIR3V0CJOViWwMdNNxyE3oeYVsgkFAwvmuxkQ9C-e0dIeLFbuGAhknAmJnhkI2qZyUaWFaITfVa2Jo7pzk5i-CPzwaLbg935E606Z0KRipMXmLpreSjHYE_c1ccif6o6cX0GJvBTfuorA-op8SIdA6f0WuTYsPiV3vCk5U3EVnvWKdFAsJUhX5-bFQ5MEwjg1aNVHSi2SP2C7qf97tvNMYMMjJafhA_-JuWU6gthtblpyARnuulgLZnil-mi9wX80dnvTNyPL3LRcF5xHhJ84RYtmd6_OYPEN79yRPbK2HbAGqdYO2Go=w1376-h774-nobX4W2U0mDys-Iv9k5nFacIb51qIXsqMFk2wH1-oj392k2d67RK6UHQwxCC6SVtyPYNd5CfQUq_xVPTfsv3aB35p7kJwlDHqJN_tqyMl5gymH3IY7kRq5tuiP2DBQqvsXutUeo3HJOJeILrWPyYMPJrEmV_cG2wZPWHzxXc-ZqvQY-t-sYvVXZa_ibhDf0MYCgwVFswvwO-hKHS9ZjcKiRkUs7YrQtYJk5vSN4v14dmiivIfBqVwRFKgEHuNywsDBxEikKq-GW6RSPh9i48i6-QnAkCmBSfQJMOpDApXfnMHycK33XgIoyvsAmsYyrPU-ETx-mrNQJ3gC9rp5AG34U8fE9ZNbAvFQ0-vBCWVvlu4qR7VCBecmWRD8N7MynhsHeLDX99CkaNMGLXtJFqhYzx99usadhyHnzXbAWIrJrtKbg7bbu93mmnJuiylNPh1FZp7J-iCIcB_7PBOPbMIbDaox8EgxVgAs2MyAL9_fe-952e3hf5AaSw5k_z7_aHQsoC-LnvSkGr1H1igE-agESBamfpjvMTkKL11JGUZoVfvbocD7xXxO2TXLcF5T-WyRtdYHd5dH6nLNtqrZtnkqecRGdXhUkRlgETS99rk=w1376-h774-no

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