Cruising with 3 babies

[laurenliz]

We’re planning to cruise on an Oasis class ship this fall. I’ll be traveling with my 11 month old twins and my sister will be traveling with her infant daughter. I’m looking for any tips and tricks to make this vacation go as smoothly as possible. We will be staying in separate cabins with 3 other adults (my husband, my mother and father). We’ve all cruised in the past, but never with children. It should be an adventure for sure. TIA! 

[Homosassa]

Try asking in this forum:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/

[death_star]

Having taken our DD on Allure when was just over a year old my first thing would be not to worry. There are so many things to do onboard to entertain them from the playroom by Adventure Ocean to the nursery, to the stuff on the boardwalk and water play areas. Don't try to push them too much and you will probably be following their at home schedule. One person will have to remain behind while they are sleeping so that means early nights for some adults (or all of them if you get up early with the kiddos).

 

Hopefully they can snooze in their strollers so you can be out and about on the ship during the day.

 

You will see lots of other parents following a similar little kid schedule and in the same places you will frequent. It is an entirely different cruise than it is with adults only but as long as you accept that you will find lots of great moments with them.

 

 

[Grankm21]

You will have a great time!  If you’d like some adult time, I would definitely suggest utilizing the nursery.  The staff have always been great!  If u plan to use the nursery and pick up during nap or bedtime, be sure to bring a stroller that allows the child to lay all the way back.  It makes the transition from the nursery crib to the stroller much easier.  The nursery also has toys that you can check out and play with in your room, at least they used to before the shut down. 

[loman]

You are courageous in my book . I didnt travel with my kids until the youngest was 6 years old . I didnt need the challenge . lol 🙂

The plane ride should be interesting . The air pressure is hard on ear drums. 

Little ones dont know they need to swallow to relieve pressure .

 

This article might help.

 

Tips to Prevent Your Child’s Ears from Popping when on a Plane (kidmoto.taxi)

 

Good luck . 

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, laurenliz said:

We’re planning to cruise on an Oasis class ship this fall. I’ll be traveling with my 11 month old twins and my sister will be traveling with her infant daughter. I’m looking for any tips and tricks to make this vacation go as smoothly as possible. We will be staying in separate cabins with 3 other adults (my husband, my mother and father). We’ve all cruised in the past, but never with children. It should be an adventure for sure. TIA! 

On embarkation day, check in with the kids club. Check to see how "full" the ship is with babies and make reservations, as needed. You pay by the hour (more at night), but can use the facility while on shore, out for dinner, or just in need of some mommy/daddy time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[laurenliz]

I will absolutely do this. I would imagine the kids clubs fills up pretty quickly. I might be worth it to plan ahead for shows and dinner reservations. We’ll have a better idea of when we’ll need a sitter. 

[MaryZ]

We had to push back our Oasis cruise because our grandaughter was not yet 1.  Apparently their island is considered a sea day.  So under 1 yrs old, they cannot sail with 3 consecutive sea days.
So we are towards the end of July now.  Under 6 months they can't sail at all.

I knew about the 6 months but I didn't know about the 3 sea days.  Just in case you didn't know. 

Edited March 26, 2022 by MaryZ

[LilBlackDress]

I never traveled with little ones. But I have read some posts here and there. 
If you get a small blow up pool, put it in the shower and you have a makeshift bathtub to bathe them in 

[joeyancho]

I would ask grandma to babysit.    Everyone will be happier.   Just my opinion.  

[MommaBear55]

16 hours ago, joeyancho said:

I would ask grandma to babysit.    Everyone will be happier.   Just my opinion.  

I'm always amazed at this suggestion. Many people don't have family they can rely on and many people actually really like and enjoy their kids. 42 years after the birth of our first one and we still often travel with our kids because we still enjoy each other. 

[Grankm21]

I couldn’t agree more. We don’t have “Grandmas” who can watch our kids.  We find cruises to be an excellent option because of the children’s activities.

[topnole]

20 hours ago, Grankm21 said:

You will have a great time!  If you’d like some adult time, I would definitely suggest utilizing the nursery.  The staff have always been great!  If u plan to use the nursery and pick up during nap or bedtime, be sure to bring a stroller that allows the child to lay all the way back.  It makes the transition from the nursery crib to the stroller much easier.  The nursery also has toys that you can check out and play with in your room, at least they used to before the shut down. 

I agree on the stroller reclining.  But I will add to this that you need to plan out how you will store it (or them).   Since traveling with family, maybe someone else is willing to fold it up and store it in their cabin at night.  You will not be able to keep it in the hall and regular rooms are very tight.  
 

If you are in a suite or ultra spacious family cabin you will be fine.  But with twins you are obviously going to plan ahead on the stroller storage issue.  Our double strollers are big and quite frankly eat up a  lot of space open or closed.  We not had one in a stroller any time we cruised.  But we’ve cruised often on oasis  class with our kids this age.  It is different and harder, but to me totally worth it.  

[topnole]

16 hours ago, LilBlackDress said:

I never traveled with little ones. But I have read some posts here and there. 
If you get a small blow up pool, put it in the shower and you have a makeshift bathtub to bathe them in 

We brought one the first time.  Didn’t really work well for us.  Never bothered with it again.  Just showered them with us.  No problem.  

[topnole]

16 hours ago, MaryZ said:

We had to push back our Oasis cruise because our grandaughter was not yet 1.  Apparently their island is considered a sea day.  So under 1 yrs old, they cannot sail with 3 consecutive sea days.
So we are towards the end of July now.  Under 6 months they can't sail at all.

I knew about the 6 months but I didn't know about the 3 sea days.  Just in case you didn't know. 

Apparently no unvaccinated on TAs this year.  But pre Covid you had to be 1 to do transatlantic or transpacific type trips.  Not sure it was just the 3 day rule or partly due to how far away from anything you are.  FYI, if you are close in age, you can request an exemption on the 1 year old issue.  At least you could pre Covid.  

[MaryZ]

1 hour ago, topnole said:

Apparently no unvaccinated on TAs this year.  But pre Covid you had to be 1 to do transatlantic or transpacific type trips.  Not sure it was just the 3 day rule or partly due to how far away from anything you are.  FYI, if you are close in age, you can request an exemption on the 1 year old issue.  At least you could pre Covid.  

Does the Oasis do TA's?  We are going out of NY to the bahamas.  The OP mentioned she might be doing a fall cruise, so I figured maybe she hadn't booked yet.
Just sharing some info that I found out. 

I, myself, wouldn't take kids on a TA.  7 days is long enough for kids to have lots of fun but not get bored.

And no, they absolutely would not book us until after her birthday.   So we pushed back to nearly the end of July.  We don't usually travel in the summer because it's our boating and beach season here on Long Island.

[topnole]

33 minutes ago, MaryZ said:

Does the Oasis do TA's?  We are going out of NY to the bahamas.  The OP mentioned she might be doing a fall cruise, so I figured maybe she hadn't booked yet.
Just sharing some info that I found out. 

I, myself, wouldn't take kids on a TA.  7 days is long enough for kids to have lots of fun but not get bored.

And no, they absolutely would not book us until after her birthday.   So we pushed back to nearly the end of July.  We don't usually travel in the summer because it's our boating and beach season here on Long Island.

It certainly does TAs but I doubt they are booked on that.  I was just adding on to your comment with additional info some may not realize.  

[topnole]

35 minutes ago, MaryZ said:

Does the Oasis do TA's?  We are going out of NY to the bahamas.  The OP mentioned she might be doing a fall cruise, so I figured maybe she hadn't booked yet.
Just sharing some info that I found out. 

I, myself, wouldn't take kids on a TA.  7 days is long enough for kids to have lots of fun but not get bored.

And no, they absolutely would not book us until after her birthday.   So we pushed back to nearly the end of July.  We don't usually travel in the summer because it's our boating and beach season here on Long Island.

We did a TA with our daughter several years ago.  They made an exception.  It was a great time and we spent time in Europe with her too.  She was far from bored.  In fact, quite the opposite.  
 

Sure, there may be other reasons not to bring a 1 year old, but boredom isn’t it.  But if you have a one year old, you either bring them or you don’t go.  So the options were pretty limited once we decided we wanted to go. 

[MaryZ]

13 minutes ago, topnole said:

We did a TA with our daughter several years ago.  They made an exception.  It was a great time and we spent time in Europe with her too.  She was far from bored.  In fact, quite the opposite.  
 

Sure, there may be other reasons not to bring a 1 year old, but boredom isn’t it.  But if you have a one year old, you either bring them or you don’t go.  So the options were pretty limited once we decided we wanted to go. 

Well that's quite true for a 1 yr old.  lol  .  A baby is the perfect child to take on long trips.  Our kids flew all over the world with us as babies. 

But my 10 yr old grandson would probably not be as easy. 
 

Edited March 26, 2022 by MaryZ

[laurenliz]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. My mother offered to take care of the littles so my hubby and i can have a good time. She a lot more paranoid about having "strangers" care for the kids than I am. I don't want her fun to be cut short because she's babysitting our children. While I appreciate her offer, I thinks she deserves to have a vacations of her own. We plan to book the Ultra Spacious or the Junior Suite so that we have space to fit all of the baby things. I don't see any way for us to all fit in a smaller space. 

 

I'm wondering how folks handled the airport to cruise port transportation situation? If there is anything that would make me want to cancel all together, it's the thought of hauling and storing car seats. 

 

 

[laurenliz]

On 3/25/2022 at 10:17 PM, joeyancho said:

I would ask grandma to babysit.    Everyone will be happier.   Just my opinion.  

My mother did offer, but I couldn't do this without offering to pay for a portion of her trip. She would never accept cash for babysitting, but I would need to find a way to repay her. 

[kitkat343]

14 minutes ago, laurenliz said:

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. My mother offered to take care of the littles so my hubby and i can have a good time. She a lot more paranoid about having "strangers" care for the kids than I am. I don't want her fun to be cut short because she's babysitting our children. While I appreciate her offer, I thinks she deserves to have a vacations of her own. We plan to book the Ultra Spacious or the Junior Suite so that we have space to fit all of the baby things. I don't see any way for us to all fit in a smaller space. 

 

I'm wondering how folks handled the airport to cruise port transportation situation? If there is anything that would make me want to cancel all together, it's the thought of hauling and storing car seats. 

 

 

Precovid, Princess allowed children under the age of 3 to attend their kids clubs with adult supervision.  We sailed on a cruise with only 11 children (we sailed with a 2 year old in January, after kids were back in school) and because the kids clubs were empty they were able to help our son participate in all the activities.  If this is still their policy, that might be the best solution for your mom - she can bring a book to the kids club and read while someone else takes care of the grandchild.  

[crochetcruise]

Laurenliz, re something for the grandmother-maybe a hair treatment or pay for her meal in a Pay For venue. I've never sailed Royal Caribbean, but I do know there are some For Fee venues. Would she like that? 

[death_star]

7 hours ago, laurenliz said:

 

I'm wondering how folks handled the airport to cruise port transportation situation? If there is anything that would make me want to cancel all together, it's the thought of hauling and storing car seats. 

 

 

You can take a bus like or large van shuttle without seats. Helps if you can wear the babies. Otherwise there are actual taxis and shuttles with car seats you just need to ask for them. A few years back leaving port everglades we asked the taxi/ shuttle stand for something with a car seat. One of the big vans had one and put it in for us. 

You can also arrange it with the shuttle/ car service company ahead of time especially since you have multiple ones. That would probably be your best bet. 

 

There is also Uber car seat in some cities but again I doubt any will have multiple car seats. 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by death_star
Edited for clarity.

[Jasukkie]

If you book connecting cabins then one adult can stay behind in the evening and watch all three kids without having to move them after they are asleep. 

 

I'm a big believer in leashes so kids can get out and walk in public spaces. Highly controversial lol but do what you want on that. 

 

It's more to pack but I've seen parents use backpacks quite happily onboard. Lets the kids have a better of view than the stroller.

 

If you need actual refrigeration for breast milk or formula, contact special needs to get a medical grade fridge. The standard room mini-fridge is not adequate for that.