13 Month Old on Carnival Glory - Activites On and Off the Ship!

[MaryGladys]

I know there may be answers in here somewhere but I have been reading the threads for about 2 hours and they have been very helpful so if I repeat questions that have been answered elsewhere, please point me in the right place!

 

First, my mother and I are going on the the Carnival Glory to Cozemel, Costa Maya, and Belize for 7 days with my son who will be 13 months at the time. I was wondering the following:

 

1. Does Carnival have any activities for a 13 month old?
   
2. Also, what sort of excursions would you recommend?
   
3. Do the excursions allow for me to bring an umbrella stroller?
   
4. What about transportation to the excursions? I mean, will my son need a car seat for this?

We really look forward to trip! It is MUCH needed! Haha!!! I booked a suite with a balcony because I know we will need the room, and as far as food/dining goes, several people have posted great things to help me out there! And toys, yes TOYS!

 

My big concern is having activities for him on the ship and off.

 

Thanks again!

[crusinmama06]

Carnival does have a few set times for under 2's at Camp Carnival for babysitting. Some say it's at night, some say they have hours during port days. So definatly look in the caper when you board and figure out the times.

 

You can do the Build A Buddy (Build A Bear) with him. They have family times to do this on the ships. The cost is $19.99 and he can leave with a snuggly camp carnival friend.

 

 

I haven't been to Belize or Costa Maya yet but we were in Cozumel in May. We did the Playa Mia Beach Break, I don't recomend it. There is a current discussion on the Carnival board talking about the BEST beaches in Cozumel and so far it looks like "Paradise Beach" rates pretty high.

 

At 13 months, he *may* be a little young for the dolphin encounters in Cozumel. My girls started doing those at age 2, but not before.

 

Yes, all excursions (that he would be allowed on) allow you to bring an umbrella stroller. No problem

 

Car seats and transportation is a hot topic around here. The excursion buses do not allow car seats because there are no seat belts. So you would have to hold him. There are portable car seats you can buy, but the transportation would need a seatbelt to lock it in. And it's hard to tell which will have a seatbelt and which won't.

 

You'll love the suite. My favorite time on ANY cruise is putting the kids to bed and heading outside on the balcony for some quiet time with the hubby. :)

 

Have a great cruise!

[MaryGladys]

Michele,

 

Thank you soo much for the reply! I have to admit, I have been reading these threads and they have been so helpful, some funny, some heated, but mainly helpful!

 

So far, I have been looking at doing the Bannister Island in Belize. I emailed the tour guide and he said manatee watching and beach would be good. I really wanted to do the airboat thing but I have to hear back on that. Yes, ironically, my son has already been on one. We live here in Florida and my brother has an airboat. Yeah, I guess that sounds redneck putting a baby on an airboat, but if we aren't going for speed and you have a capable driver, it is not scary. Hahaha.

 

So, I am left with figuring out what to do with Cozumel. I dunno if I want about day at the beach, as we will be doing that in Belize and Costa Maya, but I understand they have a glass bottom boat and a submarine.

 

I think it is so cool you bring your kids with you and your posts have been helpful! We will do the build a bear thing for sure. And I will look into the Camp Carnival for his age group. To be honest, I wish the age limit was more varied. I have oticed that he also just loves kids of all ages. He is the youngest kid in my extended family so he digs older kids.

 

I guess that he can get that interaction even outside of the Camp, though. I remember seeing kids throughout the ship :-).

 

Thank you again for the post! I am glad to hear the mixed reviews on the beach in Cozumel...it helps to limit my choices!

 

Regards,

[timmy1958]

Paradise Beach in Cozumel is a god idea - plenty of water activities for the kids, and parents can just relax under an umbrella on the beach if they want. There is even a climbing "rock" in the water for the kids to climb on - I think it was a $5 charge when we were there last year.

[GApeachcruiser]

Hi!

 

We just finished cruising the Carnival Legend with a 13 month old! I enjoyed embarkation because they let me sit with him while my husband stood in line. The lady turned my chair so that I could see my husband and when it was time for me to meet him and get our cards, I just went up then. That was really nice of them!

 

We did the Western Carribean so we went to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Costa Maya. In Cozumel, we went to Paradise Beach. There were 10 of us (my mom and dad, hubby and 13 month old, brother sister in law and their 2 1/2 year old, and two brothers). We purchased wrist bands (so that we could kayak, use the water trampoline, and rock climb). The chairs and umbrellas were free and they just ask that you purchase 10.00 worth of food/beverage. With 8 people getting wrist bands and brothers that can drink their weight in alcohol, our total bill was only 200, which I did not think was bad because we had also purchased the wrist bands so that was 72.00 of the 200! Our son loved playing in the sand and I liked that there were really no waves, that part of the beach was more like a bay, so he could play in the water. There was a big group of us and we went in a van, so we did not even have to fold up our stroller! We did not bring our car seat with us, we just held him on our lap. There are a lot of excursions where he is free if you hold him on your lap (there is a bottle next to those on the Carnival website).

 

In Belize, we did not even get off the boat. Our group went cave tubing and since my father is recovering from cancer and we are 2 1/2 months pregnant, we just stayed on the boat and hung out at the pool. Belize is a very long tender. Most tender ports you can see where you are tendering, Belize you tender I think 2 1/2 miles (someone asked and that is what they were told). We brought our son a life jacket for tenders, but the only time we would have used it would have been Grand Cayman because we did not get off the boat in Belize.

 

In Costa Maya, we went down town (to Tequila Beach and Cat's Meow) I would next time just stay in the little place right off you walk off the boat. Our son had more fun running through the fountains and the downtown was so hot! Of course, this was July, but it was hot, hot, hot and we were worried about him getting overheated since there was really no place to find air conditioning in the downtown area!

[GApeachcruiser]

We did not use Camp Carnival while we were there because we had so many family members around and our son goes to bed at 8, so really one of them would just hang out on our balcony while we explored the ship or went to see a Comedian. There were certain hours on sea days (I believe 1-3 p.m.), then at night 10-3 a.m. and port days were like 8-12 p.m. The sea days were family play days where you could go in and play, the last day we went in to build a bear with our 2 1/2 year old niece and they really had neat toys to play with so we stayed and played for a while. Then we did the cookie decorating. Our son loves other kids, but he is having a lot of trouble with separation anxiety right now so we did not even try him at night. The problem with Camp Carnival on Port Days is that if you were to do an excursion, most of them were not back by 12 and you would still have to pick up your little one. The other thing is they give you a beeper so you would have to be able to get back to the ship rather quickly.

 

We did have a crib in the room. It was kind of squeaky, but they had it all set up for him when we got there. We just brought his blanket and crib things (stuffed animals) to put in there.

 

Oh, and be prepared, they love little ones on cruise ships! Everyone! By the end of the week we had passengers and crew members calling our son "baby Blake." There were lots of people on the ship that worked there that have to leave little ones, our little ones ages, at home. So they would always make a big fuss over him! We ate in the dining room 5 out of the 7 nights, two of the nights he was napping through dinner and I was a little nauseaous, but he did well during dinner and we went to the dining room for breakfast a few mornings.

 

I will see if my husband remembers anything else to include!

 

Lindsay

[MaryGladys]

We did not use Camp Carnival while we were there because we had so many family members around and our son goes to bed at 8, so really one of them would just hang out on our balcony while we explored the ship or went to see a Comedian. There were certain hours on sea days (I believe 1-3 p.m.), then at night 10-3 a.m. and port days were like 8-12 p.m. The sea days were family play days where you could go in and play, the last day we went in to build a bear with our 2 1/2 year old niece and they really had neat toys to play with so we stayed and played for a while. Then we did the cookie decorating. Our son loves other kids, but he is having a lot of trouble with separation anxiety right now so we did not even try him at night. The problem with Camp Carnival on Port Days is that if you were to do an excursion, most of them were not back by 12 and you would still have to pick up your little one. The other thing is they give you a beeper so you would have to be able to get back to the ship rather quickly.

 

We did have a crib in the room. It was kind of squeaky, but they had it all set up for him when we got there. We just brought his blanket and crib things (stuffed animals) to put in there.

 

Oh, and be prepared, they love little ones on cruise ships! Everyone! By the end of the week we had passengers and crew members calling our son "baby Blake." There were lots of people on the ship that worked there that have to leave little ones, our little ones ages, at home. So they would always make a big fuss over him! We ate in the dining room 5 out of the 7 nights, two of the nights he was napping through dinner and I was a little nauseaous, but he did well during dinner and we went to the dining room for breakfast a few mornings.

 

I will see if my husband remembers anything else to include!

 

Lindsay

 

Lindsay,

 

Thank you so much for both posts! It will be just Mom, me, and the pea! He actually knows how to swim so I will try to get him to XCaret. I went there about 10 years ago and loved it. I am sooo glad to hear that he will be treated well on the cruise ship.

 

I think the irony I see is how many people hate to see children on board and don't see why people take them on board. Well, I never saw any harm on people bringing kids....I think it is good to expose them to many experiences young.

 

Sorry about that. I was just reading a couple ugly threads really going off on parents who bring kids. It upsets me that people can be so ugly over something pretty trivial.

 

Anyhow, thank you for the advice. I think we will do the build a bear thing and I am glad to hear about the toys. Hmmm, we will check it out. And to the chagrin of those who don't like kids, he will be going to the formal dinners. Haha. However, he is a food junkie so as long as he gets to fill his tummy or smile at folks, he is really pretty good.

 

Ok, enough of my rambling!

 

Thanks again! We are SOOOO looking forward to it!

 

Patty

[mommy2gabriel]

We are taking our son (will be 15 months old) on the Carnival Glory in May 2008. When are you going?? You'll have to let me know how things go!!

[MaryGladys]

We are taking our son (will be 15 months old) on the Carnival Glory in May 2008. When are you going?? You'll have to let me know how things go!!

 

We are going in another month (late Sepetember) on a cruise around the western Caribbean. I will let you know how it goes. I have heard that they treat kids like royalty which means my son will eat that up.

 

Ok, take care!

 

Patty