Trip Review - NCL Dawn Western Carribbean with Infant

[MamaWals]

We just finished a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise on the NCL Dawn with our 6 month old son and several family members. Stops were Roatan Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya Mexico, and Cozumel Mexico. It was our third cruise with NCL (first with a LO) and second time on that particular boat.

 

Itinerary - I don't think this is the most baby friendly itinerary. Most of the attractions had longer transportation times. Belize and Costa Maya in particular were not great for baby friendly activities. I think our previous cruises to the Eastern Caribbean and Hawaii were probably more baby friendly for shore excursions.

 

Room - we stayed in a balcony room. It was a bit crowded with the pack n play but that can be remedied by folding it up during the day. Other members of our party had an adjoining suite with a large living room so we just used that for floor playtime and left our pack n play up the entire time. If there wasn't an adjoining suite to use then a balcony suite or family suite would probably have been more comfortable options than just a balcony room. Our room had a shower so we also used the tub in the adjoining suite for baths.

 

Sleeping - we ordered a pack n play from NCL but thank goodness we decided to bring our own at the last minute due to my paranoia about germs because they never delivered the one we ordered. I put a mamadoo pack n play mattress pad in it to make it more comfortable, followed by an American baby company quilted mattress pad and a Carters jersey minicrib sheet. LO slept like a stone! 12 or 13 hours each night as soon as his head hit the bed. We also brought his soother (for music) and Graco white noise machine (which was great for drowning out the noise from the spring breakers across the hall). FYI - there's only one 110-outlet in the NCL balcony room so bring battery-operated stuff if you need it. We never ended up using our monitor - I would just go to bed early and read my kindle while he slept.

 

Feeding - we brought ready-to-feed formula and 2 back up containers of powdered formula (I was paranoid about the boat breaking down and LO starving). We normally feed LO powdered formula at home but had brought ready to feed because we thought it would be safer (no need to worry about water safety). However, it turns out that my milk-allergic, refluxy baby does not do well on ready-to-feed formula so we had to just have a bunch of bottled water delivered to our room and use the back up powdered formula instead. Lesson learned - don't try anything for the first time on a cruise! I also brought a bottle brush, small bottle of dawn dishwashing detergent, and a dish drying mat to clean the bottles and that worked fine.

 

Stroller - we ended up going with the Chicco Liteway Plus (you can snap in the car seat). I didn't like this stroller but my husband did so I went with it and I'm glad we got it because it was great! It folds really easily and the option to still be able to click in the carseat made embarking/disembarking so much easier!

 

Diapers - we brought a jeep backpack diaper bag. I cannot recommend this enough. We used little blue playtex bags for the dirty diapers and the room didn't smell. I think the housekeeper appreciated this. They were also great on shore excursions. We ordered huggies from NCL for our cabin and they were there when we arrived. They were the snug n dry 12 hour diapers so they were also good overnight. I was worried about this because we use cloth at home and we had no problems with the disposables on the ship. We brought way too many disposable wipes - you can probably get by with two regular packs or 3-4 travel packs of wipes.

 

Baby Activities - we checked out the Guppies Playroom and while it's nice, there was only one toy our 6 1/2 month old could really play with so we didn't use it much. It would probably be good for kids 9 months and up.

 

Miscellaneous - we brought powdered packets of pedialyte and they were a lifesaver when LO got pukey from the ready-to-feed formula. They were also really good to give him him a small amount of extra liquid at the beach and hotter shore excursions. I will definitely bring them wherever we go again in the future.

 

Let me know if you have any questions. Overall it was really great!

[jethrojam]

Been looking for a review from a parent of a small child on the dawn. We are bringing our toddler next year, and to know to bring our own pack n play is really helpful. I have a question for you. when you took your LO to the guppies play area did they have a small pool area that my son could play in with me and or my wife?

[MamaWals]

They have a T-Rex pool area that is just for kids that has several different little pools, slides, and other kiddie friendly obstacles. However, I don't think they're allowed to use it if they're still in diapers. I only ever went up there during port days and I never saw anyone in it. It looked like it would be a lot of fun for a toddler, though.

 

It is a little hard to find the playroom and pool area. It's on the 13th floor and you have to take one specific elevator to get there. So if you can't find it ask a crew member. You can walk to the T-Rex pool area from outside but not the kids playrooms.

[JordanLovesCruisin]

They have a T-Rex pool area that is just for kids that has several different little pools, slides, and other kiddie friendly obstacles. However, I don't think they're allowed to use it if they're still in diapers. I only ever went up there during port days and I never saw anyone in it. It looked like it would be a lot of fun for a toddler, though.

 

It is a little hard to find the playroom and pool area. It's on the 13th floor and you have to take one specific elevator to get there. So if you can't find it ask a crew member. You can walk to the T-Rex pool area from outside but not the kids playrooms.

 

We are going to Roatan Belize and Cozumel this weekend with our babe who was born 8/26(so 7 months). What did you do in Belize?

[jethrojam]

They have a T-Rex pool area that is just for kids that has several different little pools, slides, and other kiddie friendly obstacles. However, I don't think they're allowed to use it if they're still in diapers. I only ever went up there during port days and I never saw anyone in it. It looked like it would be a lot of fun for a toddler, though.

 

It is a little hard to find the playroom and pool area. It's on the 13th floor and you have to take one specific elevator to get there. So if you can't find it ask a crew member. You can walk to the T-Rex pool area from outside but not the kids playrooms.

 

 

ok thanks :)

[MamaWals]

We did a beach excursion in Belize on an island that was a closer tender than the mainland. We chose it because the shore excursion desk onboard recommended it as kid-friendly. It was kid-friendly (has water trampolines), but probably better for older kids (over 2) because there is practically no shade and a few people were getting bit by sand bugs. We rented the last two umbrellas, which provided little to no shade, and had to keep our son on the beach chairs so he wouldn't get bitten. They do have open-air shaded bar areas that are big and nice but the music is really loud there. The water was nice and warm, though.

 

Belize isn't the best stop for little ones because of the tender - which means you have to pick an excursion with a fixed time. Also, the tender to the mainland is about 45 minutes. I wore my son in a baby carrier on the boat and he slept both ways so that worked well. There was another baby (7 months old) who went on the same beach excursion as us. He was awake on the boat rides but slept the entire time at the beach (the sun seems to make them sleepy). If you do that excursion, take lots of sunscreen and make sure your baby is wearing all SPF 50 clothing including a really good sunhat with a back flap for the neck. If you can, bring something like a stroller with a really good awning (the other family brought a britax b-agile that has a great sunshade) for additional sun protection and rent umbrellas as soon as you get off the tender boat.

 

I think Cozumel's Paradise Island is the better beach for a little kid, though. Lots of umbrellas and cabanas.