Cruise with a toddler (Sapphire Princess)

[derberg]

This is my first cruise w/ my toddler, I have a few questions regards service provided in cabin.

 

1. My toddler needs milk everytime he naps, so either I bring his formula milk powder OR get them to delivery fresh milk to my room. The problem is, he needs his milk to be warm.

a. Does the inside stateroom provide kettle?

b. Are they able to provide fresh milk/hot water anytime I need?

 

2. Washing milk bottles - is this service provided by the stateroom or I have to bring my own dish soup to clean it?

 

3. He is almost potty trained but to prevent any "accidents", does those kids club allow him to wear pull ups or must he wear underwear.

 

4. I make a special request for his birthday in the cruise. What will I be expecting? Can I get a small cake with candle easily in the cruise? Will I be charge for it?

 

 

Internet

5. Do we get charge to use wireless interet or their internet in the cafe?

 

 

Thanks.

[dforeigner]

This is my first cruise w/ my toddler, I have a few questions regards service provided in cabin.

 

1. My toddler needs milk everytime he naps, so either I bring his formula milk powder OR get them to delivery fresh milk to my room. The problem is, he needs his milk to be warm. Your choice.

a. Does the inside stateroom provide kettle? Nope, it is considered a fire hazard.

b. Are they able to provide fresh milk/hot water anytime I need? Room Service will. You may want to bring your own formula mix it yourself.

 

2. Washing milk bottles - is this service provided by the stateroom or I have to bring my own dish soup to clean it? I doubt they will wash your baby bottles.

 

3. He is almost potty trained but to prevent any "accidents", does those kids club allow him to wear pull ups or must he wear underwear. He may wear pull ups but they will not change him You will be paged every time he needs to be changed.

 

4. I make a special request for his birthday in the cruise. What will I be expecting? Can I get a small cake with candle easily in the cruise? Will I be charge for it? Yes you can.

 

 

Internet

5. Do we get charge to use wireless interet or their internet in the cafe?

Yes they do.

 

 

Thanks.

 

I hope this helps.

[karatemom2]

1.You should be able to get milk from room service or the buffet, but I'm not sure about having it heated. Perhaps someone else can answer that for you.

 

2. I don't know the answer for this, although it might be a good idea to bring a small bottle of dishwashing soap and a bottle brush if you need to do a quick bottle wash yourself.

 

3. You mention he is a toddler, but don't specify his age. He must be at least 3 years old when you cruise in order to go to the kids club. They will allow pullups, but will page you immediately if he has an accident. Also, the staff cannot provide pottying assistance, so you may want to ask to be paged if he needs assistance in the restroom.

 

4. If you let the waitstaff know about his birthday they will happily provide a cake and sing to him. Also, your room steward can get balloons for your stateroom doorway.

 

5. There is a charge to use the internet. You can either pay by the minute or prepurchase an internet package for a set number of minutes. On my recent cruise on the Golden it was $55 for 100 minutes.

[Kerry's Girls]

This is my first cruise w/ my toddler, I have a few questions regards service provided in cabin.

 

1. My toddler needs milk everytime he naps, so either I bring his formula milk powder OR get them to delivery fresh milk to my room. The problem is, he needs his milk to be warm.

a. Does the inside stateroom provide kettle?

b. Are they able to provide fresh milk/hot water anytime I need?

 

2. Washing milk bottles - is this service provided by the stateroom or I have to bring my own dish soup to clean it?

 

Thanks.

 

I ordered milk frequently from room service at all hours - never heated, but I'm sure they'll do that for you. I bring a stack of $1 bills, but they'll also let you sign the tip to your account.

 

When I cruised with my babies (on the Diamond), I brought a bottle brush and small bottle of dish soap. It's not something I'd ask the room steward to take care of, but if you do, I'd give him an extra tip for it.

 

If your toddler is under 3, you can take him to the kids area to play together, but you can not leave him there. There will be other parents and toddlers there though - we had a great time cruising on the Sapphire when my twins were 2.

 

Also you can find some great information about cruising with toddlers on the Family Boards here.

 

Best,

Mia

[mwlillie]

Please don't take this the wrong way. But, f you are going to be spending so much time taking care of your child on vacation, when do you get to enjoy your vacation?

 

My DW and I didn't start taking vacations again until my DS was five years old (I.E., potty-trained and willing to eat anything). The only thing we had to make sure of was that he had a few hours to nap in the afternoon. As long as you understand that the vacation has to be paced to your child's needs, and not yours, you should have a good vacation. Or, wait a year or 2 more.

[karatemom2]

Please don't take this the wrong way. But, f you are going to be spending so much time taking care of your child on vacation, when do you get to enjoy your vacation?

 

My DW and I didn't start taking vacations again until my DS was five years old (I.E., potty-trained and willing to eat anything). The only thing we had to make sure of was that he had a few hours to nap in the afternoon. As long as you understand that the vacation has to be paced to your child's needs, and not yours, you should have a good vacation. Or, wait a year or 2 more.

 

Please lets don't turn this into a thread where we pass judgments about how others choose to vacation with their families. This is the OP's very first post and the cruise appears to already have been planned. They have come here looking for helpful advice and asked very specific questions so I hope everyone will limit their answers to the information she is requesting and not turn this into a parenting debate.

 

I have seen threads like this deterioarate very rapidly when people start going off topic and offering personal opinions on when is the right time to take children on vacation. Although I'm sure you are well-meaning in your comments, I would hate to see this posters first thread on Cruise Critic take an ugly turn.

 

By the way derberg, welcome to the Princess board and best of luck on planning your cruise.

[dforeigner]

I agree. Also, take some time to browse through the Family Cruising thread. You may get some ideas to make your sailing go smoother.

 

Here is the link:

 

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

[derberg]

Thanks for all the advices.:) Greatly appreciated, at least I know what to pack in my luggage.

[Pam in CA]

Just to re-iterate, kettles (or heating elements) are a potential fire hazard and not allowed in cabins for safety reasons; they are pretty strict about this.

[Leadft]

I used to heat bottles on the ship by filling a glass with very hot water from the bathroom tap, then setting the full milk bottle inside the glass and letting it soak in the hot water for 5 minutes. That will do the trick.

 

And I cleaned them myself using a toothbrush reserved for that purpose and dish soap I had placed inside a sample-size shampoo bottle.

[caribill]

4. I make a special request for his birthday in the cruise. What will I be expecting? Can I get a small cake with candle easily in the cruise? Will I be charge for it?

 

No charge.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I was glad when I discovered my little one didn't mind her milk not having to be warm. Much more convenient. (her first cruise was at 23 months, a month too long to get into Camp Carnival, but we had fun anyway...so don't let the negative types get to you. You'll see many young ones onboard)

[derberg]

I used to heat bottles on the ship by filling a glass with very hot water from the bathroom tap, then setting the full milk bottle inside the glass and letting it soak in the hot water for 5 minutes. That will do the trick.

 

And I cleaned them myself using a toothbrush reserved for that purpose and dish soap I had placed inside a sample-size shampoo bottle.

 

that's a good idea, i almost forgotten about this method. thanks.:D

[derberg]

Just to re-iterate, kettles (or heating elements) are a potential fire hazard and not allowed in cabins for safety reasons; they are pretty strict about this.

 

 

noted! I will make sure I leave them at homes! :)

[derberg]

By the way, does the cruise provide pool floats? Or can i bring my and get them to pump the air in?

[Dorset Cruiser]

On my recent Sea Princess cruise, along with several other cruise passengers I 'met' on our roll call, I took a small travel kettle together with teabags and coffee to make our morning teas and afternoon coffees. There was no problem at all with it - our steward even washed our cups up on a few occasions:D If there had been some rule to say they were not allowed, then he would have removed it. The only rule about electrical items is no irons allowed. Travel kettles are not a fire hazard - some cruise lines even have them installed in the cabins. The element is completely enclosed and there must be a cut off switch which activates when boiling point is reached.

[Ethel5]

By the way, does the cruise provide pool floats? Or can i bring my and get them to pump the air in?

 

The child will not be allowed in the pool with diaper, pull ups or swim diaper things (I forgot the name). We just got off a 15 night and the 2 yo was not allowed in any pool.

[Toto2Kansas]

By the way, does the cruise provide pool floats? Or can i bring my and get them to pump the air in?

 

I have never seen a large float in the pool, and as crowded as the pools get, I would think it would not be wise to use one there. As for them 'pumping it up for you' the answer is no, they will not do that.

 

On my recent Sea Princess cruise, along with several other cruise passengers I 'met' on our roll call, I took a small travel kettle together with teabags and coffee to make our morning teas and afternoon coffees. There was no problem at all with it - our steward even washed our cups up on a few occasions:D If there had been some rule to say they were not allowed, then he would have removed it. The only rule about electrical items is no irons allowed. Travel kettles are not a fire hazard - some cruise lines even have them installed in the cabins. The element is completely enclosed and there must be a cut off switch which activates when boiling point is reached.

 

I totally agree, our last 15 or more cruises we have always taken a safety kettle or coffee maker that has an auto shut off. The only rules they have ever mentioned about this sort of thing is that anything not 'thermostatically controlled' is banned from in stateroom use. When I asked, I was told it was to keep those from taking those little immersion heaters to heat a ceramic cup full of water, as they said those were very dangerous.

But, we have also been provided a 'kettle' on a Princess ship in the past, too bad they removed them. They were left in the suites when returning from P&O back to Princess, but they weren't there long, by our second sailing on the ship, they had removed them all.

[Kerry's Girls]

By the way, does the cruise provide pool floats? Or can i bring my and get them to pump the air in?

 

I bring small blow-up floats for use in the resort pools we go to, but there's no room in the pools on board. If it's for your toddler, the arm floats or jacket-type floatation vests work great for this (I also use the vests on my twins when we go on tenders). Since one of my girls isn't yet potty trained, we can't use the pools on board, so we end up just doing our swimming at the lovely resorts in port.

 

I've had an amazing time on each of my four cruises with my toddler twins, and we've chosen the Sapphire again for our 5th cruise together, so I think you're going to have an wonderful time.

 

Best,

Mia

[Eskwire]

I have read that some people take the blow ups, add water from the pool into it, and the child can splash away in that on the deck.

 

I don't know about the Sapphire, but on the Crown, there was ONE pool in the back of the ship, outside the kids club, about 1.5 feet deep, that was for NON-POTTY TRAINED children to use. You might want to call Princess to see if Sapphire has this pool.

 

Have a great trip!

[dforeigner]

I have read that some people take the blow ups, add water from the pool into it, and the child can splash away in that on the deck.

 

 

Have a great trip!

 

And what happens to that water when they are done using the inflatable pool? :eek:

[Kerry's Girls]

And what happens to that water when they are done using the inflatable pool? :eek:

 

No worry - there are plenty of drains to pour it down without affecting anyone else.

 

Best,

Mia

[dforeigner]

No worry - there are plenty of drains to pour it down without affecting anyone else.

 

Best' date='

Mia[/quote']

 

Cool, thanks.

[blindrid]

1.

3. You mention he is a toddler, but don't specify his age. He must be at least 3 years old when you cruise in order to go to the kids club. They will allow pullups, but will page you immediately if he has an accident. Also, the staff cannot provide pottying assistance, so you may want to ask to be paged if he needs assistance in the restroom.

 

 

Carnival takes a two year old, that's an option.

[Mercury]

Is it possible to request a kettle for your cabin? Or do you have to bring along a travel kettle that complies with the safety requirements? Surely Princess has some kettles on board?