Cruising with a toddler

[RSLeesburg]

RS Leesburg, I find my kids want it more if it's on MY plate :) but I know not all kids are that way.

 

He was SO that way at 18-24 months. Now, he asks what's that? But he shows no interest in eating or trying it...lol. Although, they tell me at his school, today he ate broccoli, or today he ate salad. Really! I am hoping that if he is in the MDR, and maybe if we sit with other people, maybe he will be more curious and try a few new things. It would be great if we could sit with another family with a slightly older child - he loves to copycat an older kid. Maybe I can find one to bribe :rolleyes:

[Akitkat118]

I would not want to be in the cabin next to a screaming toddler or baby.

 

 

then I guess I shouldn't have taken my 14 month old on any vacations in hotels.. and I guess i should buy my neighbors a case of wine to apologize for when he decides to have a tantrum at home - and their house is next door 20 feet away.

 

it is not right to shelter children because they may get upset every so often - if they are not exposed to life, they won't grow up well rounded.

 

we are taking my son on his first cruise in december. he will be 20 months old. he is generally a good kid, but this will be new to him and I am sure he will have a few moments of being upset. and hopefully one cabin next to us understands since our friends with a 19 month old will be traveling next door to us!

[Aorlmac]

Forgive me if these have already been mentioned (got discouraged reading all the kid hating posts) but we found these items useful when we took our 10 month old with us: clothespins - to attach the sides of the curtains together for nap time, blue/green painters tape to 'lock up' the drawers, an over the door shoe hanger which holds and organizes tons of knick knacks, a blow up tub- $12 Walmart for bath time or others even say they make a mini pool for their little ones on ships were the non potty trained kids are not permitted. The advice to go with the flow is sage. Our cruise was nothing like the others we have been on but it was much better in some ways. We loved it and so did our little guy!! Also, you will find cruise staff will adore the little ones. So many have kids of their own that they don't see because they are working so hard on the ship.

 

 

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[aznluv82482]

I'm so excited to bring my 9mo old and my 4 year old! Great tips everyone!

 

My advice for the kid haters are ear plugs!!!

 

 

The Phan Family

Cruising on Allure 9/1/13-9/7/13

[JDinGA]

Looking forward to sharing a cruise with 2 year old grandson in September.

Seeing and experiencing a cruise through his eyes will be a blast.

Also gives me an excuse to have more naps!!!!

 

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[bplazo]

I'm so excited to bring my 9mo old and my 4 year old! Great tips everyone!

 

My advice for the kid haters are ear plugs!!!

 

 

The Phan Family

Cruising on Allure 9/1/13-9/7/

 

How about duct tape for the noisy toddlers :)

[Scarlettmama]

I'm so excited to bring my 9mo old and my 4 year old! Great tips everyone!

 

My advice for the kid haters are ear plugs!!!

 

 

The Phan Family

Cruising on Allure 9/1/13-9/7/

 

How about duct tape for the noisy toddlers :)

 

I'll bring some duct tape for those noisy drunken adults ;)

 

How about some tips since this thread is called Cruising with toddlers.

I will be proudly cruising with my family which includes a toddler and a 6 year old. If they wanted to keep the children off of the ship they wouldn't have charged me close to an adult fare for each of my children and provide camp or baby sitting services.

 

Anyway, I am definitely going to bring a tiny bottle of laundry detergent and dish soap so I can wash sippy cups and clothes in the sink. I will use the laundry services for messier items, if you know what I mean.

 

 

 

 

[aznluv82482]

I tried to wash my bathing suit once in my sink and I couldn't get the soap off so the room below me thought we were having a leak from it being on so long. The called a maintenance guy on us. I will just bring extra from now on.

 

 

The Phan Family

Cruising on Allure 9/1/13-9/7/13

[Scarlettmama]

I tried to wash my bathing suit once in my sink and I couldn't get the soap off so the room below me thought we were having a leak from it being on so long. The called a maintenance guy on us. I will just bring extra from now on.

 

 

The Phan Family

Cruising on Allure 9/1/13-9/7/13

 

That's funny. I'll try to do the wash in the shower.

 

 

[BDsquared]

For us, it took us a few days to get in the swing of things. Vacationing with a little one is very different than when it was just us. We were on vacation, but we were not on vacation from being a parent! :eek:

 

We did lots of tag teaming, saw shows separately, etc. But it was totally awesome and worth all the effort! My 2 year old daughter had a blast and we are looking forward to cruising as a family again!

[traveling monkeys]

... goes a long way :)

We always have a back-pack for each little person; it contains their favorite blanket & teddy, water bottle, a few healthy snacks ie. granola bars, PLUS some new surprise treats; new books, colour/puzzle/maze/connect the dot's books with a few special crayons/pencil crayons.

NOTE* make sure water bottles are empty going through airport security and then fill them at the water fountain once you are through.

Also always have a device loaded with music (in multiple languages) that we can sing to and learn at the same time.

Playing games such as 'I spy' are also a fun, interactive way to to pass the time and talk about sights we are seeing.

In a pinch there are some childrens learning programs loaded on devices for viewing but our preference it to limit screen time whenever possible.

With these tricks (works for all sorts of travel) we managed a recent road trip of 7+ hours each way without resorting to the iPods/iPads - pretty proud of that one :rolleyes:

[Livemad]

I tried to wash my bathing suit once in my sink and I couldn't get the soap off so the room below me thought we were having a leak from it being on so long. The called a maintenance guy on us. I will just bring extra from now on.

 

 

The Phan Family

Cruising on Allure 9/1/13-9/7/13

 

Your babies are beautiful! God bless them! :)

 

Sorry I had to comment off topic.

[traveling monkeys]

...

For sleeping, our room steward had a great idea instead of having a big pack and play taking up the entire room, he suggested turning the couch around so that it faced the wall. He made it up like a bed each night and it worked perfectly.

 

GL!

-

 

Ok, now that is a brilliant idea to save dad's backs lugging those huge pack-n-plays! Thanks for sharing this "couch turn-around" tip

[aznluv82482]

Thanks @Livemad

 

 

The Phan Family

Cruising on Allure 9/1/13-9/7/13

[derosafamily]

We traveled with our son at 14 month old last year and we are traveling on our second cruise this nov he will be 26 months.

 

Cruising with a toddler is indeed different but still a remarkable experience to be blessed enough to take them on a cruise.

 

My son is an extremely picky eater and was last year as well he eats no lie two things only, and so eating was a huge headache. I hope this time he will try more things but i highly doubt it since he wont at home.

 

We made sure we brought snacks he likes,sippy cups,toys, bibs, ipad, dish soap, bottle brush, diapers wipes, extra clothes, medicines etc. We also every night after dinner would go to the lido deck and ask for milk for the room because room service took a long time to come in an emergency of a cranky toddler.

 

I would recommend to just go with the flow dont set expectations. We had some days we spent hours in the room so nights we didnt get to stay the whole dinner, but we were ok because we didnt set expectations.

 

Also We asked to be sat alone at dinner so we didnt disturb others incase he got cranky but he did good. Just in the beginning he didnt do well because we initally got our dinner reservations messed up and were assigned late dinning.

 

Our son slept like an angel on the cruise i think the motion of the boat helped soothe him, and we had no issues with sickness. It was an overall great trip, we also took an itenary that we did previously incase we did miss out on anything we would not feel like we missed out.

 

I hope we have another good time this year, but you know if you never try you will never know how it will work.

 

I wish you luck and ignore the negativity people have.

[CanadianDee]

Except I am the grandparent. So I really appreciate the tips. We are sailing to Alaska and it is truly a family trip. We will be able to share the joys of sailing with a 22 month old with the rest of the family.

 

LOL. We're the grandparents, too. We're leaving our granddaughter's parents behind. She's 4 and we take her everywhere her parents allow us to. She's very little trouble, perhaps because she has two grandparents doting on her the whole time.

 

We have an old first generation iPad loaded with her favourite television shows and movies. When/if we want quiet time to talk at dinner, she curls up with her "MyPad" beside us and all is well. I'm betting even the 22 month-old will be hypnotized into quiet by Dora. :-)

 

We also travel with colouring books, stickers, and markers ("crayons are for little kids"). But on the odd occasion when she's in a mood (or we are), we're prepared to pack up and leave.

 

Aren't grandkids the best?

[Av8tor]

Aren't grandkids the best?

 

Well, we think ours are!! We're sure all of yours are too. Thanks for the tips...

[aznluv82482]

Your babies are beautiful! God bless them! :)

 

 

 

Sorry I had to comment off topic.

 

 

Thank you!! I just saw this!

 

 

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[alane10]

We traveled with DS at 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 16 months, and it has been interesting how different it has been each time.

 

We don't need to pack his food anymore, which has been great. We ordered off the adult menu to have him try new things, which is lots of fun. We do bring our own milk, since we are trying to keep him on organic milk when possible. I'm sure most would find this completely unnecessary.

 

We pack multiple bathing suits so he wouldn't have to put on wet ones (when there is a baby pool anyway). I also find it easiest just to leave on my own bathing suit after pool time and giving him a bath in the tub with me (instead of trying to kneel over the big tubs).

 

We like to find places on the ship to let them "loose" during the day. DS loves being able to run around on a dance floor during the day. Some ships will have open play areas, which are great for this.

 

We bring my mom along to watch after DS in the room once he is asleep, so DH and I can spend some quality time :)

 

Almost all of the crew is happy to see a LO, and will try their best to accommodate whatever is needed.

 

 

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[PhotoGal07]

We cruised with our DD when she was 18 months, again when she was 4 and our DS was 1.5, and will be going again now that they are 6 and 3.

 

You know your child best but my advice has always been stick to your normal schedule. If that means they are in bed at 7pm, then they are in bed at 7pm on the ship. It does mean that you miss the evening entertainment, but it's better than the meltdown that occurs when your child is overtired.

 

The other thing that really helped us was role playing "airplane rules" and "restaurant manners" with our kids. By the time our DD was 18 months, she knew that she was expected to sit quietly through dinner, put her napkin on her lap, etc. she also knew that if she behaved well during dinner than she'd receive a special dessert at the end. Did it always work? Nope! She was still a toddler, but she did really well most of the time, and when she didn't, one of us would take her back to the room, while the other had our leftovers boxed up.

 

If we wanted to dine in specialty restaurants (assuming they didn't have any restrictions on small children), we would eat right when they first opened, so that we would be out by the time most other diners were coming in for the quieter and more upscale ambiance.

 

We made sure to bring snacks, stickers, and a small toy with us to dinner to keep them occupied. And we arranged for our server to bring her dinner out with our appetizers, and her dessert out with our meal. Then we'd have our dessert boxed up, or just order something from room service.

 

Having a balcony or suite was also really helpful, so that we had space to hang out while the kids napped. I'll be honest, I personally wouldn't cruise with a baby or toddler without a suite with a separate living area. I'd chose a land based vacation where I could get a cheaper suite style hotel for the first couple years. But of course every family is different, and plenty of families make smaller cabins work. It's just not my cup of tea.

 

If you are flying in early consider having Amazon or diapers.com deliver baby supplies/snacks to your hotel so that you don't have to pack them all.

 

In the end, as long as you realize that the vacation will different, and set the right expectations for yourselves you'll have a wonderful time.

[CanadianDee]

 

We bring my mom along to watch after DS in the room once he is asleep, so DH and I can spend some quality time :)

 

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Great tips, Alane! I have to admit I smiled a little at the above one because I'm the mom our children bring along to watch the Littles. For me and for my husband, coming along to watch the grandgirls is the very definition of quality time for us!

[alane10]

Great tips, Alane! I have to admit I smiled a little at the above one because I'm the mom our children bring along to watch the Littles. For me and for my husband, coming along to watch the grandgirls is the very definition of quality time for us!

 

 

Well, you are very much appreciated :)

 

We were actually calling DH and I's alone time as "adulting" while on the cruise...we drank wine in Vintages at our leisure :)

 

Pretty sure I couldn't spend an entire cruise without my LO though!

 

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Edited September 21, 2016 by alane10