Cruising with a 15 month old on the Eurodam

[sarahrebel]

DH & I are considering a themed cruise with a singer we both love, that's on the Eurodam Jan. 2-8, 2011 with ports of Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Falmouth, Jamaica; and Georgetown, Cayman Islands.

 

We've only been on one other cruise - NCL to Alaska and loved it, but that was pre-baby! Any advice on traveling with a toddler? Does the HAL have any activities that she will be able to do? Anything we should know about kids on HAL?

 

Also in general, we've only been on one cruise (NCL Sun to Alaska, loved it), so how does HAL compare to NCL?

 

Any other advice about the Eurodam? We'd like to do a balcony cabin.

 

Thanks much!

[traveler1980]

I don't know a lot to answer your specific questions, but just wanted to say we are going to be going on the Eurodam in March with our 15 month old. HAL does not provide anything for kiddos that young. He will hang out with us and the grandparents.

 

I made sure on our last cruise to pay specific attention to children onboard HAL as I was pregnant at the time and knew we hoped to cruise with our child at some point. There were children, probably more so since it was the summer, but probably not as many as you would find on other lines. I didn't ever see children causing trouble or people being disrupted by them.

 

The family cruising board has been very helpful for me. It is also nice for support. Some don't think children should be cruising at such a young age, so when they get me down I go over to the family cruising board.

 

Enjoy!

[EGCruisers]

We took our adult children and our 14 month old grandson on a 10 day HAL cruise to the Mediterranean a year ago. It went very well. We did, however, have 6 adults to one child so there was always someone to help.

There were no programs for him, but the staff in the children's center said that we could bring him to play as long as one of us stayed with him and didn't interfere with planned activities.

You can order off the main dining room menu and have the meal served in your cabin as long as it is during hours the main dining room is open. We had dessert served in our cabin several times when our grandson became fussy at dinner.

Our waiter was great about getting dinner for our grandson quickly.

There weren't many children on the cruise, but for the age of our grandson, that didn't matter.

We are doing another family cruise in January of 2011, and this time will have an olmost three year old and a six month old with us. You just need to be flexible and be willing to change plans a bit according to their needs.

[cruisinggranmama]

I have never cruised with infants or toddlers although we have many cruises under our belts. Don't remember seeing too many toddlers on our cruises.

 

But we do a beach house vacation every year with our kids and g-kids now ages 7, 5, 2.5, 1.5 and 3 months. Having had an 18 month old on these trips 3 times now, I can say that that was probably the most challenging age for keeping them busy and safe. They were difficult when we wanted to go out to dinner and someone was always leaving the table to walk with the toddler while others ate dinner. So it is no different than being at home really.

 

In hindsight, taking my granddaughters on a cruise at 18 months might have been more doable than taking my grandsons at the same age. But I don't think I would consider it anyway. Perhaps your child is better behaved than my g-kids. By the same token, I would not leave them home either. I always liked my children with me. Definitely a personal decision.

[peaches from georgia]

Just wondering if this is a large group organized and booked through this singer, or even a charter of the whole ship, or is it just an entertainer brought on by HAL who will be performing on the Eurodam that week. Who is the singer?

 

EDIT: I did look on the HAL website and the cruise is listed through HAL, but nothing mentioned about being a theme cruise. So it sounds maybe like a group will be on board. Hope OP will provide more details.

[sarahrebel]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I appreciate your thoughts. We've decided against it due to the cost at this point.

 

Peaches: there will be a lot of geeks on that cruise - it's Jonathan Coulton and friends - http://jococruisecrazy.com/

[cruisinggranmama]

Looks like interesting entertainment for sure. Thanks for sharing the website.

 

Isn't cost a bummer! One of the reasons we vacation together in one beach house which is basically the cost of one cabin on a 7 day cruise. A good deal for our large group.