Should I bring my own Pack and Play?

[Chocochip]

We're first time cruisers, and although our TA put us in for a crib, she was recomending we bring our own pack and play. I've rented before on vacations and have seen a few rickety cribs. I also don't think it's very easy to clean the walls of a pack and play (and I wonder if anyone even tries), and our baby snuggles up against the wall. I don't really want to have one more thing to lug along but I'm thinking it might be smart. Any thoughts?

[myraid]

We brought our own pack and play so that our 20 month old would have something familiar to sleep in. We actually carried it on, which was a pain, but we figured it wouldn't arrive to our room in time for his afternoon nap. I think he really appreciated something familiar on his cruising adventure- we even brought an extra mattress for it which we just folded up and put in a suitcase. He slept wonderfully in it!

 

We actually did order a pack and play/crib for our room because we weren't sure at the time of booking whether or not we would bring our own. It wasn't in our room when we got there (Princess)- luckily it didn't matter, but I wonder if we would have gotten one given the limited number of them available.

 

That's just our experience! Whatever you decide, have a great cruise!:)

[vetgirl]

We are bringing ours this time. Carnival's portable cribs are smaller than a pack n play, plus the familiarity of her own I think will make all the difference in her sleep. What's one extra thing to pack when traveling with little ones?? LOL!:p

 

Happy cruising!

[deemk]

we got a crib from carnival. were already packing so much stuff for the baby that we didn't want to bring one more thing, and we were glad. they crib is a bit smaller than a regular one, but a bit larger than a pack n play - at least the one we got. (carnival victory) the one thing i would've traded it for is one of those travel pea pod beds - it's like a baby tent. i think that would've taken a lot less space, and would've been real easy to pack. and i think next time around we'll try that. i didn't like the fact that the crib didn't have rails that come up and down and the mattress was so low in there, it was hard to get the baby in and out. - and no bumper pad so she got her hands stuck in the rails some times...

[GoBlue522]

We just got back from a cruise with our 7 month old on Royal Caribbean (Monarch of the Seas). We had thought about bringing our own PacknPlay but ultimately decided to go with the one provided by Royal Caribbean (we had requested it upon booking, and it was all put together in our cabin before we checked in). It worked out great...while it was a little smaller than his regular PacknPlay, it was just fine, very clean (we had brought PnP sheets but didn't need them either - the cruise lines' sheets were also fine, in fact they looked new).

 

I'm glad we didn't lug around yet another piece of luggage, but we did get lucky. I'm sure people's experiences with this varies, depending on the cruise line and different ships. Still, I'd probably risk it again to save lugging that thing around, at least on RCCL...

[Lady_Gamecock]

GoBlue522,

 

Thanks for the update! We're taking Baby_G on a cruise in March (Legend) and our TA requested a P-N-P for her. Thanks for the update regarding the sheets, too. I'll probably bring her blankie, but other than that, sounds like RCL has their act together.

 

We figured if the P-N-P didn't work out for her, we'd just let her sleep with us - even though she no longer sleeps well with us in the bed (Thank God!).

 

Lady_G