Cruising with 9 Month old?

[TheBigSmoke]

Hi all, 1st post here. Thanks for looking; hope to see a lot of responses.

 

My Wife and I are eagerly anticipating our first family vacation. This will include full time care of our (then) nine month old. We've been to numerous resorts and can appreciate many of the pro's and con's of this. Even with having a child with us for the first time.

 

What would the benefits of a cruise be with a child of this age? Can we bring her into the pools with us? Also, we don't intend on leaving her in the care of boat staff, and she'll be with us 7x24.

 

There are many things I'd like about cruising, but not sure if this is the right age to bring our daughter.

 

Have any of you done both? Can you suggest pro's and con's for either?

 

I'd appreciate any feedback.

 

Best regards.

[rebeccalouise]

You will not be able to bring your child in the pool on most cruise lines. Disney does offer a baby pool (one of Mickey's ears) that continually replenishes with water.

 

In my opinion, a cruise isn't ideal with a nine month old but it is no better or worse than a land vacation.

[notentirelynormal]

The benefit will be that you are cruising with your child and you will be together. The drawback will be that you are cruising with a baby and you will be together. :D Just like at home you won't have any alone time, although at that age its not like they bother you that much once they're asleep. But you also won't miss her/him. We're taking our 6 MO GD on our next one. We had planned not to, but once she was born there was no way my DD was going to leave her behind. :rolleyes:

[notentirelynormal]

The benefit will be that you are cruising with your child and you will be together. The drawback will be that you are cruising with a baby and you will be together. :D Just like at home you won't have any alone time, although at that age its not like they bother you that much once they're asleep. But you also won't miss her/him. We're taking our 6 MO GD on our next one. We had planned not to, but once she was born there was no way my DD was going to leave her behind. :rolleyes:

[Kerry's Girls]

I've found that babies are treated much better and with much more enthusiasm on a cruise ship than at any resort - especially in the dining room. Bring a bouncie chair to sit in the shade on deck. There are lots of great tips for cruising with a baby here. Have a great time.

 

Best,

Mia

[sas80]

There's a lot already posted on this board about this subject. Consider doing a search in this forum.

 

Happy Sailing!

[TheBigSmoke]

The only thing that drives me absolutely nuts is that I'd have to pay a fare for her. I mean really, she's 9 months old! I realize that it's a life boat regulation, but doesn't that seem like a bit of a stretch especially at her age; I mean, would we be holding her in the unlikely event of a situation where life boats were required? I'm pretty sure we would.

 

She's completely free at a resort.

[crusinmama06]

The only thing that drives me absolutely nuts is that I'd have to pay a fare for her. I mean really, she's 9 months old! I realize that it's a life boat regulation, but doesn't that seem like a bit of a stretch especially at her age; I mean, would we be holding her in the unlikely event of a situation where life boats were required? I'm pretty sure we would.

 

She's completely free at a resort.

 

Ships can only hold so many "souls" and she is considered a soul on many cruiselines. BUT, you can take her on NCL or Disney for discounted prices. On NCL she would just be port fees/taxes. On Disney she gets a discount and she would have access to the infant water area and Flounder's Nursery.

 

On RCCL you would pay full 3rd/4th rate for her, but you could take her in the "Baby Zone" pool area on Freedom/Liberty or Independence of the Seas (Freedom Class ships only). You would not be able to take advantage of the in cabin babysitting on RCCL because it starts at age 1, but you could take her to "Aqua Tots" sessions. They are 45 minute sessions created by Fisher Price that you attend with her.

 

Also, on Costa kids sail for free on certain sailings.

 

On any other ship, you could just bring a small inflatable tub/pool for her to splash in.

 

Both of my kids started cruising at under 2. My 3 year old is set to go on her FIFTH cruise :)

[costa del sol cruiser]

Hi cruisinmama. We are going on Voyager in a month with our 14 month old, do you know if aquatots is available on this ship??

[crusinmama06]

Hi cruisinmama. We are going on Voyager in a month with our 14 month old, do you know if aquatots is available on this ship??

 

Yep, Aquatots is available on all ships. Here's the info on it...

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/experiencetype/experience/home.do;jsessionid=0000ng2OZKbG1lPUHU91jyQG4Qd:12h3g0fq2?exCode=113

[OnTheBrink]

I've only been on one cruise (another this March). My son was 9 months old on that trip. Honestly, I wouldn't do it again. He wanted to crawl all over. But that meant public areas and lots of people and it just didn't work. He obviously wasn't too interested in sitting through a nice dinner. He was interested in being all over the place. It just ended up being a lot more work than I expected, I guess.

[Kerry's Girls]

The only thing that drives me absolutely nuts is that I'd have to pay a fare for her. I mean really, she's 9 months old! I realize that it's a life boat regulation, but doesn't that seem like a bit of a stretch especially at her age; I mean, would we be holding her in the unlikely event of a situation where life boats were required? I'm pretty sure we would.

 

She's completely free at a resort.

 

I pay full price for one of my twin toddlers and the 3rd person fare for the other, and it's much more fun and economical than any resort vacation we've taken. If I have to leave a meal suddenly because someone is acting up, on a ship I'm not paying for uneaten food, and I can try again in the buffet or order room service. On RCCL there are programs for a 9 month old; on Princess you can take your daughter into the play area where there are lots of kids crawling around and they will provdie baby food; on Carnival I'm pretty sure you can use the nighttime babysitting - so there are activities for her on just about any of the lines. One of the nice things about cruising is that the price isn't based on each specific activity each passenger participates in.

 

I love being able to just put the girls into the stroller and go for a walk, find an empty public room to crawl around in; go to a show; have a dance; and always be close to the cabin. It's certainly more work than not cruising with a baby/toddler, but it's a million times better than being at home - and I think the very best way to travel with a child.

 

Best,

Mia

[larronry]

My son, who is certainly going to be a challenge on this cruise at 26 months, would have been so easy to cruise with at 9 months. I know it seems ridiculous to pay the kind of money you have to pay for such a young child but that is just they way the cruise industry works and you just have to figure out the cheaper lines and find the specials.

 

But as far as the effort of bringing your 9 month old you have to decide for your self how your child is and what the specific needs of your child are. Every child develops at a different rate. Mine was happy if he spent the whole day in his stroller or baby carrier/car seat (not that that ever happened but when we were on vacation he was in the car and in the stroller a little more then normal- actually in and out and in and out of the stroller)

 

If she needs to crawl around are you OK with her crawling on a public area or on the floor of your cabin and if not will she stay on a towel you lay down.

 

If you go on a ship where swimming is not an option for her here is a link to a thread with a picture of a nice blow up pool. It is the same pool that I believe several of us on this board have.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=622880

 

Now as for not bringing your daughter. Last year my son was 14 months old and we left him at home. It was horrible. My DH and I missed him so much. Everyone said we would forget about him or we wouldn't miss him. Well let me tell you they were so wrong. I would have given up doing all the things I got to do just to have had him along. Not a minute went by that I didn't think about him and what he was doing. Different parents have different personalities and the people we are cruising with are leaving their kids at home and never miss them and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. But if that is not who you or your DW are then no one should talk you into taking a vacation without your child.

[crusinmama06]

And I just wanted to add about the resorts. When I try to price out comparable land based trips to resorts, more times than not it's more money for the land based trip verses the cruise.

 

We have 3 favorite places we vacation to on land every year, each one runs $300-$400 per day for the hotel, not including food & entertainment. So that's $2100 - $2800/week just for the accomodations. :eek:

 

That's why although you are paying for the baby, cruising is not always more expensive than land resorts

[TheBigSmoke]

Wow, the picture of that kid in the blow up pool is so cute! This is all really great food for thought, guys. Thank you all so much for providign such thoughtful responses. I appreciate it.

[breanne$5]

What brand is the swimming pool, i'd love to buy one for my grandson, his first cruise will be next march - 10 months old! That one's perfect, I haven't found it online.

[larronry]

If you had gone on to page two of that thread you would have found two links that I posted over there, but that's OK I'll post them here. Unfortunetly it's all in the timing I got it on clearance at target and actually I think that it they might still have it at our Target would be nice if they had one near the port. :(

 

Anyway the brand is Sun Smart which is barely readable in the pictures.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Baby-Hideaway-Marlon-Creations/dp/B00005Q5SR

 

This one has a cushion bottom and you can buy a pump:

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=6792&parentCategoryId=100180&categoryId=100182&subCategoryId=105179

[breanne$5]

thank you! I have ordered it.

[HappyChick]

We cruised w/our 9 month old son last January (and also our 3 y/o son...who we cruised w/when he was 18 months old too). Please keep in mind, this was was a family cruise, so both sets of grandparents and several aunts and uncles and various other family members were there. We don't live in the same city as either set of grandparents, so they are always looking for opportunities to see our kids. That helped a lot, and my husband and I had plenty of free time.

 

I think it will depend somewhat on your child's temperment. Our youngest son is VERY laid back and happy. He loves to be "out and about". Much more laid back than our 3 y/o! We took a SMALL umbrella stroller w/us, and used it some times. But he was small enough to still ride in his Baby Bjorn carrier, which he preferred. So we used it most of the time, and it made it much easier to navigate w/him.

 

We were on the Grand Princess and they have bath tubs in the mini suites, so that solved our bath tub dilemma. Princess will also bring you baby food if you send them a written request in advance of your cruise. We actually didn't use it too much....our cabin was a couple decks below the buffet and we would get him things off the buffet and eat on our balcony or in the room (fresh fruit, yogurt, veggies that we would mash up, mashed potatoes, cereal, etc). We did bring him into the dining room a couple of times. That only worked b/c of the "anytime dining" on Princess. We could go @basically anytime we decided to, the meal didn't last 2 hours, and we could request a table for just our family.

 

In port (Roatan, Belize, Cozumel, and Costa Maya) we arranged our own beach excusions (through shoretrips.com, etc). That worked out well. Our baby loved playing in the sand, etc. Could always nap in the shade,etc.

 

On our earlier cruise w/our older son (who was then 18 months old), we were on Carnival. Even though he was too young for Camp Carnival, they have "under 2 time" from noon until 2pm on days @sea. You can take your child in and play w/them the entire time. He loved that.

 

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. We have planned our next cruise on Norwegian ....mainly b/c the Freestyle Cruising they offer works very well w/having kids (and the fact that the men in our group detest wearing ties to dinner on vacation..."I wear one every day to work, I don't want to do it on vacation" :D )

 

Lisa