Cruising with 6mo on NCL Getaway

[ggooglyboogly]

Hey everyone,

 

We're taking our little man (ETA Feb 2016) on the Getaway in September. He'll be 6 months old and I was wondering if anyone has done a cruise on the Getaway (or even Breakaway I suppose) with a child around that age?

 

If so, a couple of questions:

 

1. What did you do with the baby during sea days?

 

2. What sort of excursions did you do in port, if any?

 

3. Do you have any experience with the Guppies area onboard? I know this is an activity area for parents AND kids to do activities together, but if you have a run down of some of these activities it would be appreciated.

 

This will be a completely new experience for my wife and I, but i'm excited to share cruising with my son. My parents had me on the SS Norway when I was just a couple of months old and I've been cruising ever since!

 

We are going to spring for an aft balcony, and will also have an umbrella stroller / inflatable tub in the room, but if you have any other baby cruising tips in general i'd love to hear them.

 

Thank you in advance!

[gymbomb]

My first advice is to make sure your reservation is at least 6 months plus a few weeks after his due date so he will still be at least 6 months if he comes 2 weeks late. We sailed with a 10 month old on Epic and had a great time, though we were very glad we had his grandparents with us so we had a few hours here and there to take a break, have dinner alone, and do an excursion we couldn't have taken him on.

 

I browsed this forum before our first cruise with baby and there are lots of good lists and suggestions if you scroll down some :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited January 1, 2016 by gymbomb

[cb at sea]

That's right...if they aren't 6 mos. on sail date...you'll be turned away! As far as what to do with your child...you'll do on the ship as you would at home!

Edited January 2, 2016 by cb at sea

[ggooglyboogly]

Oh yeah! I'm well aware of the 6 month date, i've built in a few weeks of cushion into the cruise dates we're looking at.

 

We're doing a "test vacation" by renting a beach house on Long Beach Island in August for a week! Planning to keep notes on items we may have forgotten/things we could do better so we don't make the same mistakes on the cruise.

 

I've found some good info on the Guppies program as i've been browsing the last few hours - there's a room on deck 16 fwd open each day from 9am-9pm for open play, nice thing is they have a different theme each day (transport one day / balls and blocks the next etc...), and they have some coordinated activities with edible paint made from veggies on others. Really appears to be a thoughtful program.

 

Still welcoming any tips/stories for people who may have traveled these vessels with a similarly aged child - you can never have too much information. Appreciate the responses so far!

[Maverick!]

Congratulations on the baby !

 

We are avid cruisers (before and after kids) and took our son on his first cruise at 7 months. He's now 3 and on his 4th cruise coming up, along with his baby sister who will be 7 months on this one, which will be her first.

 

We've been on the Getaway and their Guppies program was alot of fun along with the toy room for my then 1-and-a half year old. We did the organic finger-painting, bubbles-blowing, reading and singing - the toddlers' staff was very nice, qualified and provided quite a few activities during sea days.

 

I would suggest that your son at 6 months may be too young to participate in some of those activities since he may just be beginning to sit up independently but would enjoy mixing with the other babies who would sit together on the mat and babble together. My daughter is 6 months old right now and although she's advanced physically, she is only rolling, sitting, bouncing while being held and toy-holding. We'll likely bring her once or twice just to socialize a bit.

 

He may like sitting on a mellow beach under an umbrella, swimming in your arms and feeling the wet sand between his toes for the first time, which was what my son did on his first cruise. On port days we did a mix of excursions - mostly beach days (example, Ochos Rios, Cozumel, St Thomas & St Marten), an impromptu island tour to Hell and around Georgetown in the Cayman Islands, and strolling around Nassau.

 

We brought a blow up tub the first cruise but didn't use it. He mainly sat on my lap on the deck chair for a bit. We didn't spend a great deal of time around the pool that first cruise since it was a bit loud and chaotic during sea days. That was usually the time we went to do the toy room or activities.

 

It was also the first cruise where we had to adjust our expectations about what we could do and most likely not get to do when cruising with baby. We found out we most likely would miss most of the shows (since it would fall between dinner and bedtime) although we did manage to catch portions of shows on the last couple of evenings while baby slept in stroller walking around the ship. We didn't bring the stroller into the theaters because of the lights and volume of the music. Our morning routine getting off the ship also got longer along with the list of things to bring... for baby - cereal, prepared purees, travel size dapple, baby tylenol just in case, toys to occupy him during dinner, change of clothes, baby carrier, car seat, sun paraphernalia including a beach tent for nursing, organic sun block (that if accidently got into their mouths was ok), sun hat, rashguard, baby banz sunglasses :) which he actually used and liked, and diapers for a week along with all the change station paraphernalia. To be super organized, I prepared a checklist to cover what I would need and how many/much - on the ship during the day and at night, while out in ports, and a couple of what-if situations - which I found helpful for packing and preparing. As a first time parent, I brought alot of gear, but other than the tub, I used everything. In subsequent cruises, I learned to relax a bit and accept that if I forgot something here and there, just MacGyver it on the ship; it wasn't the end of the world.

 

Have a great cruise - it's a new kind of enjoyment with Baby ! You'll enjoy the special time when they are little. I find they grow up so fast !

Edited January 3, 2016 by Maverick!

[ggooglyboogly]

Wow! Thank you Maverick!

 

Appreciate the effort you put into writing this, read it aloud to my wife and we were both very thankful for the information provided.

 

Enjoy your cruise with your new baby girl!

[gymbomb]

Oh yes, definitely take a baby carrier if your LO will ride in it. I used our Ergo sooo much on Ds's first cruise! At 6 months he would nap pretty well in it (he has never slept in a stroller) so that could add a lot of flexibility for you. At 10 months he slept in it through an hour and a half excursion in Grand Cayman and through an entire flight from Atlanta to Tucson :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cruisehappycouple]

I also didn't use the blow up tub. I would recommend taking the suction toys that suction to the top of the high chair so he can play with those during meal time. Also as mentioned before, I would invest in a baby carrier I also used the ergo a lot on the cruise although baby slept in stroller mostly. My best piece of advice would be to pack just a little over half the clothes you will need for the entire trip for him and bring enough dreft to wash two to three loads of laundry. Definitely frees up some much needed packing space.

 

Also I highly recommend sleep training and establishing a sleep routine as early as you can. This will be invaluable when trying to put him down in a foreign environment.

 

Most importantly adjust your expectations of what kind of vacation you can expect to have. This id more for your wife. I had to work a lot to keep things in order and everyone happy but I still enjoyed myself. Because hey, I didnt have to cook the whole week! But there is still tons of clean up work involved. Your little guy may not be eating a lot of table foods yet though so you may not have quite the mess this time! Have fun and enjoy the newborn time it goes way way too fast.

[Maverick!]

We also have an Ergo carrier - tried a few and for an infant-size baby, the Ergo was the most comfortable for me and for baby ! It worked well for tenders, and at that age, they are pretty curious and like to look around at all the new places :cool:!

[ggooglyboogly]

We were given a BabyBjorn Baby Carrier One at my wife's baby shower so we'll be going with that one, but that looks to be similar in the amount of positions available. I'm planning on outward facing so he can see all the fun going on around the ship!

 

I do realize the cruising experience will be entirely different with the little one, but i'm excited to share the experience with him (even if he wont remember it ha ha).

 

I really appreciate all the information given here, it's been a great help and I hope you all have great cruises coming up!

[Sparkygirl]

Also, highly recommend having a passport for your little one. Incase something happens and you need to fly home or be medically evacuated from the ship not having a passport can delay access to care. A passport takes up to 2 months to get back and for a baby the picture must have both eyes open which can take a while to get an acceptable pictures.

[ncurcio]

I am sailing in two weeks on the Carnival Breeze with my 9 month old daughter. I have been on many cruises, but I must admitted, cruising with an infant seems a bit intimidating. I will report back with any additional tips I can offer you.

[tinkr2]

Thanks maverick for all the tips.I am grandma and we all cruise alot... but never with a 6 month old lol. I actually thought googlyboogly was my son in law since i told him about cc and he is a huge arsenal fan but no! We are all ready to try this and i was trying to help with the list of baby supplies.We are on the getaway on May 15th.

[ggooglyboogly]

I am sailing in two weeks on the Carnival Breeze with my 9 month old daughter. I have been on many cruises, but I must admitted, cruising with an infant seems a bit intimidating. I will report back with any additional tips I can offer you.

 

How did your cruise go??