Cruising with 1 year old on Explorer of the Seas 11/23/07

[MikeNJ1109]

Is it just me, or is this thread getting just a bit nasty...

[Shelli429]

really...sticking to the original topic would be helpful...or create your own thread for hate posts!!

 

thanks.

[TUNE2]

To All You Whinning People, The Only Thing Your Concerned About Is How A Childern On Abroad Might Affect You. The Original Poster Is Paying Her Fare And Her Child's. As Long She Does Not Break Any Rules, Leave Her Alone. She Only Wanted Some Advice. I'm Bringing My 15 Month Old On Explore On 10/12. The First Person Who Looks Cross At My Child Will Get An Ear Full From Me.

[TUNE2]

When one has to lower themselves to name calling, it shows you must be in the "gimme generation". Gimme this, and gimmee that, and the heck with everyone else. If someone with a 1 year old needs to take a cruise, how about trying the Disney line.

DEAR CHASBRAND IF YOU WANT A ADULT ONLY CRUISE WHY DON'T YOU TRY RADISSON SEVEN SEAS. AGE 62 AND RETIRED FIGURES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Avidcruiser]

Rccl used to offer in room babysitting which we used when we took our 18mth old son about 5yrs ago. We had the same girl every night from the housekeeping staff and she was great. Our son was already asleep when she got there and we went to late seating dinner. Made for a nice vacation for us too. They also have the Fisher Price(?) playtime for the youngsters now which they didn't have then.

 

Don't worry about the nasty comments - you will have a great time. We just got off the Explorer and there were a lot of small children. There is room for everybody depending on their needs. You might not do the same things you would if you were without your baby but you will still have fun.

[cheshire999]

When one has to lower themselves to name calling, it shows you must be in the "gimme generation". Gimme this, and gimmee that, and the heck with everyone else. If someone with a 1 year old needs to take a cruise, how about trying the Disney line.

 

I'm just calling it as I see and at least I'm not hiding behind a pseudo-screenname. All the nasty posts in the world aren't going to stop people from bringing their young children on any cruise they choose. If cruise lines didn't want them, they wouldn't be building h2o zones. So I"m sure you can expect more, not less, young children on a cruise. Including my 3 year old grandson this christmas!! And we won't be taking Disney because they don't have casinos! If they did, we probably would.

[steve20832]

Bringing infants on cruises in a pain in the butt. There isn't much the ship will provide for your baby. (Actually nothing!) You pay for a 3rd person and get nothing back for it. You have to bring your own food, diapers, baby toys, stroller, and ALL other baby supplies with you from home or a local grocery store when you board along with your own suitcases and personal belongings. You really need 5 hands to carry it all onboard. (You better not run out or forget something because the ship won't have it and finding baby supplies at ports of call isn't easy.)

You spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, why not give the baby to grandma for the week and go enjoy yourself and not have to look over your baby all week?

[Hafta' Cruise]

I am with the minority. Why take a baby on a cruise? Leave her with a relative or save your money and take her when she is old enough and can remember things. We have been on many cruises and I have yet to see many happy babies or mommies.:o

[katerkat]

You pay for a 3rd person and get nothing back for it.

 

My almost-three-year old is a second person. So I guess he paid just as much as anyone else to be there! ;) And, he eats like a horse, so I think he'll put away almost his fair share of food. Now, my niece is a third-person and won't eat as much...

[bplazo]

Why does everyone suggest leaving children at Grandma's? I do not mind watching a grandchild maybe for an hour or two but certainly not for a week.

 

I guess it is up to the parent if they want to squander money taking a baby on a cruise. I waited until my daughter was older but that was in the old days when taking them to McDonalds was a treat.

[beachchick]

Is it just me, or is this thread getting just a bit nasty...

 

It's not just you. It's sad when such basic questions devolve into rants and name calling.

 

As in consideration for the intelligence of the mother who was the original poster? I'm sure she's not so inconsiderate as to allow her child to poop in the pool. I've owned a pool for 11 years and have had many toddlers swimming in it and all the moms have been intelligent enough to monitor the situation. There's no guarantee that older children will not contract a virus that would cause them to have an accident either. I'm sure that Royal Caribbean took that risk into consideration when they opened the children's area.

 

I'm just tired of these posts that turn into "how dare anyone ruin my vacation" by: 1) bringing a child that they think is too young to cruise; 2) allowing your toddler in the pool and taking the risk that they might poop in it 3) bringing a stroller that might cause a stumbling hazard (even though they're much smaller than the carts left in the hallways by the room stewards) 4) wearing jeans or other inappropriate dress to the dining room where it might be seen by someone who's vacation would be totally ruined by it!!

 

P.S. The children's area (with the exception of the pool which is too deep for any small child to go in by themselves) on Liberty was shut down, drained and scrubbed down every night.

 

Well, I agree with you about the inappropriate rants, but I honestly see enormous differences between your items 1 (bringing young kids) and 4 (wearing jeans at dinner), both of which are either personal choice or not something that affects the health and safety of others, and your items 2 (putting a toddler not fully potty trained into the pools) and 3 (parking a large stroller in the passageway where it might, not necessarily will but might, become a safety hazard), both of which can certainly affect the health and safety of others.

 

Whether someone wants to bring an infant on a cruise is entirely their decision. As long as they use common sense and have courtesy for their fellow pax. It's not appropriate for parents to allow their infant to scream for 2 hours through dinner, but it's also not appropriate for a drunken boor to yell for 2 hours through dinner. Simple awareness of and courtesy toward those around you and following the basic rules are all I really ask of my fellow pax.

 

Thank you to those of you who are providing me with advice and direction. I have cruised before and am a rational, considerate person and while all advice is welcome I am sure I can figure out what is right to do and what is not.

 

Although I understand concerns raised by comments I am not looking for a war on the topic, just more advice about traveling with my 1 year old.

 

Thanks....and great advice so far....any other pointers particular to the ship, getting off in ports, dining, what to bring, etc.

 

Thank you so much.

 

I'm sure you'll have a great time. Do remember that this will be an entirely different "vacation" for you. If you can, it's a good idea to have a "practice run" of an overnight somewhere before the cruise to see how your baby travels. Some little ones are so easy going and take to it well; others do not do well when taken out of their comfort zone and normal environment. Try to stick to some semblence of a schedule to minimize upsets. Also, ask your pediatrician for recommendations on what to bring for upset tummy, ear ache, etc. in case your baby has a need for them onboard--Especially the tummy meds. You might have no trouble at all, but we found it was always best to be prepared when we traveled with our DD when she was young. If you're comfortable with the idea, you might want to use the in-cabin babysitting service one night so you and your DH can have a grownups time. It never, ever hurts to remind yourselves that you're parents, but you're also a couple.

 

Enjoy!

 

beachchick

[MikeNJ1109]

I am with the minority. Why take a baby on a cruise? Leave her with a relative or save your money and take her when she is old enough and can remember things. We have been on many cruises and I have yet to see many happy babies or mommies.:o

 

1) All the relatives will be with us on the Liberty in October, so that option is out; and

 

2) What our daughter remembers or not isn't really relevant at this stage. The bottom line is that WE adults will remember, will have the pictures to share for a lifetime, and will have wonderful memories of an incredible family reunion before some of us are no longer in the picture...

 

Michael

[powelweb]

If you have grandparents who are willing and able to watch the kids at home, great-consider yourself lucky.

 

For my DD's first cruise when she was 13 months old, I had no family to leave her with. I desperately needed a vacation after caring for my dad (at home in a hospice program with terminal cancer) for 3 months while working full time to support my DH and DD. After not having much time with her during Dad's illness, I wanted to have DD with us to reconnect and spend time together.

 

My mom had passed several years before, and while I do have 2 siblings nearby, neither have kids, nor have they ever been alone with their niece (my sister actually asked me if I was getting a babysitter for the baby's first Easter so we could still go to our family dinner, so not exactly a lot of experience with kids).

 

My in-laws live in New Mexico, which is not convenient to drop off a baby from Boston while heading to Fl to catch a cruise.

 

On that cruise, we had my 70 year old aunt and a cousin/her daughter with us, which helped us spread out and enjoy time both with DD along with some more grown-up activities.

 

Since then, we've done one cruise without her (left her with my best friend who is her daycare provider), and we've done one more with her, with another booked for Dec.

 

Were we able to do everything we wanted to do with her on the first cruise? No, but that's the same answer as when we're at home. Just set your expectations appropriately and go with the flow as much as you can.

 

Happy sailings,

Wendy

[jettdt]

I have read this thread with interest as we sailed on explorer in May and also travelled with a baby boy(14mnths) and a 5 year old girl. We asked for advice and got alot of the small minded responses you are getting here, all I can say is thankfully our experiance was a holiday of a lifetime that our children enjoyed so thoroughly we could not get our 5 yo daughter off the ship in the ports!

 

We had quality time with our baby who marvelled at the bright lights of the promanade and the ice shows. The pool issue really was not a problem, he did not need to go into the pools and at the back of the ship there was a small childrens splash pool with small slide. He could paddle in this whilst holding my hand, in a swim nappy, to his hearts content without getting his nappy wet and any danger of the dreaded poo in the pool scenario people seem to get het up about.

 

Yes it is probably best to avoid the actual pool area at that age because we found that our baby was trying to get to the pool and we could not relax, but they are big ships and the area at the back near the kids club offered all the facilities you would need, including areas in the sun and more imortant with the baby pleanty of shaded areas.

 

I took our baby to the fisher price meeting each morning and found that he enjoyed having a play and they let us take any toy away with us even ride on toys so this facility was excellent.

 

With regards to evening meals we used the babysitting service and got a staff member to come to our cabin in the evening, we had second sitting so the kids were settled and this ment we also got quality time with the the two of us on the table where we made some nice new friends. In fact contrary to one post on here the other members of our party were dissapointed we did not bring the children to the meals so we met up for lunch so they could meet them.

 

I cannot recomend the babysitting enough the staff member was extreamly helpful and polite and our daughter loved her, after the first night we made arrangements directly with her for other nights. This was a very safe enviroment for us to holiday espessially with what is going on at the moment with Madeline in Europe and was one of the reason we went for this type of holiday.

 

We encountered no negative comments on the cruise from staff or guests and in fact the staff loved the children and everytime we walked the promanade thier names were being called from every shop and bar to thier delight, it took ages to get from one end of the ship to the other whilst the kids got fussed over.

 

Please do not take these posts to heart, we did, and nearly cancelled our trip. Had we of done so we would have missed what was easily the best holiday we have experiainced as parents and our daughter is nagging to go on 'our big ship' every time she sees one on TV.

 

This really is the ultimate family holiday and your memeories of it are what will be important in yaers to come.

[safari njema]

We are taking our daughter on the Explorer on December 14; she will be 14 months at that time. Last year I created a similar post, a full on brawl ensued and the entire thread was subsequently closed by a moderator.

 

I don't think members should comment on a post if they have no advice to give.

 

Have a great trip and I would love to hear about it. We are looking so forward to our first vacation with our daughter. Wish you were sailing with us so that the babies could have had Fisher Price "playdates" together though!

 

Don't mind the negative responses, believe it or not, they are the minority!

[dublin]

Good Morning,

If you are on the 11/23/07 sailing of the Explorer of the Seas, please join us at the following address:

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=465154&page=24[/URL]

This is group of people who are really going to have a great cruise.

We have a bunch of group activities that we are planning.

Come Join us.

[jzerocsk]

Maybe I'm old before my time at age 28, but I don't see how not wanting other people to poop in the pools makes anyone a "cranky old man."
Otherwise, have fun.

[SLH]

[quote name='Shelli429']This is a 9 nite out of Cape Liberty, NJ. We are so excited for our first vacation with our daughter. Any and all tips for cruising with our 1 year old daughter would be great. We have sailed quite a few times but never with our new addition so advice from cruisers who have would be much appreciated.

Also, lists of what to bring and what to leave home would help too.

If there are forums that discuss already would be happy to read them...just direct me please.

Thanks so much!
Shelli[/QUOTE]
You can hire a babysitter though the pursers desk. They will watch your baby in your cabin in the evening. My girlfriend did this for her 5yr. old twice both times worked very well. You pay the sitter cash that night. I believe it's $8/hour. They read to her and put her to bed.

[cruznsugs]

Wow i'm really shocked on how nasty people are. I've been on quite a few cruises and I've seen families enjoy themselves and some families that looked a bit stressed. So it all depends on your kids temperment. You should know this better than any person on this thread. So if you think that this experience will something that your family will enjoy than who cares what other people think. To be honest most of our negative experiences on a cruise is with adults being rude and obnoxious. So go figure. Anyway you asked for suggestions.

Bring alot of the plastic sandwhich bags they are so useful. You can take a few indiv boxes of cereal from the windjammer and put them in the baggies for when your on the go. same thing with fresh fruit etc.

Lots of baby wipes, brand new toys is also a good idea.

Just FYI they have individual small cartons of milk in the cafe promenade (and it's free) so it's available all the time.

We have a rolling cooler , looks like a small piece of luggage and have the stewart fill it up with ice so you can have cold items in your room all the time.

[knb0504]

[quote name='pcur']Please, please, PLEASE do not encourage anyone to take a 1 YO into a pool. Most children at age 1, even if they are potty trained, don't have the muscle control of an older child. You cannot stop an infant from pooping ANYWHERE, and if they are in a pool, the damage is done before you know there is possible contamination. It's a health and safety issue for the other children and adults.

Anyway, to the OP: there are plenty of threads with great information about cruising with infants.

If you are taking her into the dining room with you, ask the dining steward to have the high chair set up for you and some appropriate finger foods for her, also. They'd be happy to help.

Enjoy your cruise!![/QUOTE]

Maybe it's just me but what is the big deal if they wear a little swimmers diaper? Isn't that what those things are made for? When you cruise with a child that's under 3, they can't go to Adventure Ocean. Children love going to the pool and it's a fun activity for parents too. As long as they have the swimmers diaper on I think it should be fine. I know I'm probably the only one though.

[bplazo]

[quote name='knb0504']Maybe it's just me but what is the big deal if they wear a little swimmers diaper? Isn't that what those things are made for? When you cruise with a child that's under 3, they can't go to Adventure Ocean. Children love going to the pool and it's a fun activity for parents too. As long as they have the swimmers diaper on I think it should be fine. I know I'm probably the only one though.[/QUOTE]

The big deal is that it is AGAINST the rules! A safety hazard! If you feel that your under three child will have a problem not being able to cruise try a different vacation.

[crusinmama06]

[quote name='knb0504']Maybe it's just me but what is the big deal if they wear a little swimmers diaper? Isn't that what those things are made for? When you cruise with a child that's under 3, they can't go to Adventure Ocean. Children love going to the pool and it's a fun activity for parents too. As long as they have the swimmers diaper on I think it should be fine. I know I'm probably the only one though.[/quote]

The "big deal" is because when the swim diaper doesn't work...they have to shut the whole pool down for cleaning. THIS was our only sea day on a Carnival ship this past August. The pool was shut down because a parent thought it was "no big deal" to allow a non-potty trained child in the pool. :rolleyes:

And because some idiot parent thought it was "no big deal"...it became a VERY big deal when my kids couldn't swim in the pool on a sea day.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/babymosmom/CarnivalCruise/878783-R1-02-1A_003.jpg[/IMG]

To the OP (if you are still reading here) - there is a Family Board here where we discuss cruising with infants/children.

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49[/URL]

And as an alternative to using the ship's pools (unless you are on Freedom/Liberty/Independence with a Baby Zone) bring your own inflatable pool.

[dutchess43]

Bring a portable dvd player to dinner. When we traveled with my 14 month old granddaughter last year it was great at dinner time she was into baby einstein. We did not have a cranky child at early dinner. The tables around us could not thank us enough as well. If you have a balcony room the big stroller can be placed on the balcony folded up. Please do not leave it out in the hallway hard to get around it. The blow up pool worked extremely well. If you can get a baby sitter it pays to see the shows yourself no one likes to hear a screaming kid at the shows. The fisher price 45 minute play time was hit or miss, on some days it was great on others so so, it depended on who was running it that day. I highly reccommend the fisher price time. Make sure that once your child gets finished playing wipe your childs hand with a sani wipe. If you want a high chair in your room if you tip your cabin streward you might have a good chance of getting one. On the first day go to the maite D & tell him you need a high chair set up every night that you are dining. Traveling with children is workable just follow the rules & enjoy the cruise it will be a great experience.

[later]

A DVD player may sound good but it still disturbs other passengers.

[It'sRC4ME]

[quote name='later']A DVD player may sound good but it still disturbs other passengers.[/QUOTE]

Use headphones. Also, if possible position the child/player so that the screen doesn't face out into the dining room, which can be a little distracting to those around your table.