Looking for advice on travelling with a Toddler

[dianeandmike2004]

We cruised before we had our son and after we had our first son. His first cruise was when he was 18 months old on the Freedom. He is now getting ready to go on his 7th cruise at 6 years old.

 

It was definitely a different cruise having a toddler with us. Not near as much relaxing and definitely less of a carefree mode of vacation. That said, we had so much fun and don't regret it for a bit. We met some lifelong friends on that cruise from England and still travel with them today.

 

As far as sleeping, yes the pack and play takes up a lot of precious space in the cabin. That got old very quickly. What worked for us was to take the loveseat and turn it around each evening toward the wall. It was the perfect amount of space for him and there were no worries about him falling out!

 

The Fisher-Price program is great! Yes, definitely get the family activity planner at the beginning of the cruise. There will be one for the whole week listing things like family activities, parades, puppet shows, etc., as well as a daily list of things happening. The Fisher-Price time would have crafts such as finger paints and crafts along with lots of toys and interactive time. Someone else noted that you can also check out toys, too. Each evening, they also have story time in the library, if your child would like that.

 

The dining rooms have high chairs with nice trays. They can bring the child's meal out quickly. We just skipped dessert in the dining room each night to speed up the process.

 

As far as bathing your child, you will not have a bathtub. We found a great suggestion on Cruise Critic that worked so well for us. We got a little pool float that seats a toddler (the kind that is more like a little boat, not the kind where their feet stick through). I have seen duck shaped ones, but we found one that was a race car. We simply inflated it and filled it with water and bubble bath in the shower to bathe him. We left it inflated for the week and just set it upright to dry.

 

The nursery care program hadn't started when we traveled with him at that age. We used the in-room babysitting and loved it.

 

I hope that this helps! We love traveling with him and letting him experience new things. He may not remember most of it, but we do, and we have some beautiful pictures.

[charliegirlac]

We cruised with our daughter at 14 and 17 months and we loved it! Yes it us a different holiday but as long as you go in with realistic expectations then you will be fine. There is no relaxing by the pool, or sitting in the lounge with drinks, or staying up late but tibia still awesome. Not having to clean a high chair tray for a whole week! Not thinking what to cook for dinner! Not washing a million dishes! Instead using my time to play and interact with our daughter, expeiencing breakfast (we used to stay up late and sleep late - suddenly we were up early enough to have a decent breakfast and lunch!), watching my daughter enjoy seeing new and exciting things and having a ball with staff who miss their own families, playing with new friends who we met in the open sessions at the nursery. We took a small blow up pool with us and filled it with some water from the showers on the pool deck and gave her some toys and she had a ball! Other passengers commented on how well behaved she was and how much fun she was having. We had dinner at around 5:45 and afterwards took her for a walk in her travel stroller, often popping in to the back of a show to have a look and then we had her in her portocot at around 8:30. One of us would go out and another stay in the room. We took our baby monitor on the first cruise with her as well had a balcony and wanted to keep the door closed to keep the air con on. It worked fine for the balcony and hubby tested the range outside the cabin and it went about 7 cabins away (not that we would ever leave her in the cabin alone - it was more his curiosity!) I doubt our daughter will fit in a portocot next cruise so we will be turning the couch around and facing it against the wall. Nursery staff were wonderful and we attended the open sessions everyday and our daughter loved playing with the other kids. Adjust your expectations of a pre-kid holiday to a post-kid one and you will have a great time!

[rimmit]

Our son did a TA at 16 months, 2 seven days at 2 years, and another at 3 years, and we have another TA at 3.5 years of age. He was platinum by his own points by just over three. We love it. You just have to adjust expectations and go with the flow.

 

A bad day on a cruise ship is still a better day than on land. As other posters noted, you arent making meals, constantly cleaning, making beds, etc. I have a very hectic work schedule and one of my favorite memories ever was on the transatlantic cruise and just having 7 straight days at sea that I got to enjoy my son without the distractions of cell phones and work. I felt like a real dad for once, and not always distracted by technology.

 

You aren't gonna be partying it up like you used to and everything might not go according to plan, but we love cruising with our son. He has always been very well behaved luckily, and travels well. We have trained him, to some degree with our constant travel schedule.