Cruising with Infant

[CanadianEh!]

I posted this on the general question board not getting a lot of response but i found this section and these look like the people i want to talk to :)

 

My wife and I did a 7 day cruise in jan of this year and i guess the short of it is we are addicted. In april we had a baby girl and we are thinking about going on a cruise in Jan of 09.

 

she will be 9 months old and she is a very good baby right now :) she sleeps throught the night she is barely every fussy.

 

We are thinking of doing the NCL sky from Miami, to freeport, Nassau and Grand Stirup Cay.

 

We were thinking balcony room but we might have to go to a suite because grandma might come with us (Built in babysitter :))

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

we were thinking this cruise because of the following reasons:

 

1. No sea days which we found to be the most boring and the most movment of the ship.

2. 2 words Freestyle dinning we like the idea of not being told when to eat espically with the little one.

 

Yes i am aware we will have to bring everything with us such as diapers and food. But that is not an issue i can pack light :) honestly how much room do you need :)

 

I know that some people will think we are of our rocker but we want to share these wonderful times with our daughter.

 

and yes i strongly agree if we are at dinner and she crys it doesnt make much effort to duck out of the resturant for a few min till she calms down.

 

can anyone else share some info, i would like to hear good and bad?

[Ldyandrea]

I posted this on the general question board not getting a lot of response but i found this section and these look like the people i want to talk to :)

 

My wife and I did a 7 day cruise in jan of this year and i guess the short of it is we are addicted. In april we had a baby girl and we are thinking about going on a cruise in Jan of 09.

 

she will be 9 months old and she is a very good baby right now :) she sleeps throught the night she is barely every fussy.

 

We are thinking of doing the NCL sky from Miami, to freeport, Nassau and Grand Stirup Cay.

 

We were thinking balcony room but we might have to go to a suite because grandma might come with us (Built in babysitter :))

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

we were thinking this cruise because of the following reasons:

 

1. No sea days which we found to be the most boring and the most movment of the ship.

2. 2 words Freestyle dinning we like the idea of not being told when to eat espically with the little one.

 

Yes i am aware we will have to bring everything with us such as diapers and food. But that is not an issue i can pack light :) honestly how much room do you need :)

 

I know that some people will think we are of our rocker but we want to share these wonderful times with our daughter.

 

and yes i strongly agree if we are at dinner and she crys it doesnt make much effort to duck out of the resturant for a few min till she calms down.

 

can anyone else share some info, i would like to hear good and bad?

 

I'm planning a family cruise on the Crown Princess for next February that currently has 12 people, 2 of which are small kids. Princess also offers Anytime Dining so that you can eat whenever you like, also it's my understanding that the cabins are bigger than NCL and the food is better.

 

I can't offer much more input than that on the kids thing.....I'm still trying to track down more info myself! :)

 

Good luck!

[FOURunderFOUR]

I am eagerly awaiting some responses here too. We are due with #5 (in as many years) in october and are cruising on MSC in January. So ours will be about 4 mos. On our last Caribbean cruise we saw several couples with infants, and all said their experience was fine. I know it will not be the same as cruising alone with my husband, but I am sure that experiencing all the excitement through my (older) kids will make things exciting for us too. I have not even started to think about all the things we will need, other than diapers. I will be breastfeeding, so I won't need to worry about food yet, and luckily my others aren't too picky. I hope someone here has some advice for us!

 

Jera

[mandyq]

We went cruising with a 5 month old. She was sleeping through the night before the cruise but not after so that was kind of a bummer. We ended up co-sleeping for the cruise so that may be why she was waking up. She traveled very well for the cruise. We had our travel system with stroller and carseat which she napped or played in. I also brought a sling which was very useful for the tender ride and nursing on the go. I didn't have to worry about formula or food since she was exclusively breastfed. My parents went along to help out since we also had a 23 month old and 4 yo.

[cantwait2cruize]

If gramma goes on the cruise I think you will have a great time. It's a different but fun vacation with children. I think I would suggest is pick a different iterary NCL's private island sucks and so does Freeport. JMHO:)

[CanadianEh!]

Thanks for the advice one thought that just came to my mind is how have people transported an infant IE: From the airport to the hotel or cruise terminal did you bring car seats with you? what about on excursions?

 

You mentioned a change of itineraries any other thoughts then that would fit the bill of a 4 night?

 

we already did Grand cayman, Belize, Cozumel, And Roatan this year.

[CanadianEh!]

what about the carnival destiny? i read they have a splash pool that the baby could play in the NCL didnt have is this correct?

 

also the price is cheaper without taking th ebaby into account so i dont know how much carnival will charge for her i know NCL only charged 100 dollars.

[tania7424]

We're cruising with Princess in Septemeber with our ds, who will be almost 8 months at the time. From what I understand, there are no pools that babies can go in. Not even the splash pool, unless toilet trained. We're doing the Vancouver-LA Coastal repositioning and I'm not sure if it will really be pool weather anyways then, but we are taking a blow up bathtub for the pool deck for ds to play in as well as bathe in on our balcony. What I've learned is that they all pretty much provide pack and plays for the babies to sleep in, but we're bringing our own.

 

As for transportation, we're Vancouver residents so my FIL is driving us down to the terminal with our van and our carseat. Once in LA we're not renting cars, we're taking shuttle buses so no need for the car seat there. It wouldn't work on a shuttle bus anyways. We're also bringing a good quality umbrella stroller (Maclaren, Chicco, Combi), as most airlines require that a full size (Graco, Evenflo, etc) be checked with your baggage. I really don't want to have to carry ds through security, etc in LAX.

 

As for food, by then your baby should be on a variety of foods (if not exclusively bf to 1 year), and there will be plenty of foods that are easily choppable and soft enough for them to eat. DS is 5 months now, and already eating all first food veggies and cereal (he's a hungry boy! LOL), so I'm sure we'll find lots for him to eat.

 

There's a thread back a page or two that I started for info on cruising with a baby. HTH.

[mcfam5]

Thanks for the advice one thought that just came to my mind is how have people transported an infant IE: From the airport to the hotel or cruise terminal did you bring car seats with you? what about on excursions? You'll definitely want to bring your carseat, someone posted a link several days ago about a strap you can purchase that allows you to carry a car seat like a backpack.

 

You mentioned a change of itineraries any other thoughts then that would fit the bill of a 4 night? If there is a change in itinerary you may not know until you are on the ship . . . could be a different port or an unexpected sea day. What ever the captain determines to be the best choice for the safety and comfort of the passengers.

 

we already did Grand cayman, Belize, Cozumel, And Roatan this year.

 

It's funny, our family L~O~V~E~S sea days. We get so little time to slow down at home, I definitely enjoy some time just knocking around the ship with my kiddos and hubby. To each his own!

[notentirelynormal]

We just did Australia/New Zealand with a 6 MO. The car seat was the best. Ours fits on the stroller which was a 2 person (also had a 3 YO) and snapped into place. On the excursions she had a seat on the bus for relaxing. The rocking of the waves was great for sleeping. Brought her to dinner in the car seat and she attached to the high chair. Bring what ever food you want her to eat, traveling is not the time to experiment with new food unless you are for sure at that point. Lots of diapers and all her medicines and you should be fine. Laundry on board. Its like being at home, except they are sleeping in the same room with you, taking up all the floor space and you are lugging everything around. :D

[Julienatul]

We started cruising with our DD at 7 months and now she will be on her 6th cruise at almost 3 yrs of age. I am pregnant with #2 and will be cruising with both as soon as we are able. I dont think you are "off your rocker" at all. A cruise is a great way to travel with infants/kids because everything you need is right there. If your child is tired you can just go back to the cabin for a while, hungry?-food is always available, need laundry done?-room service or most ships have laundry facilities. We eat in the dining room every cruise and have never had to remove her. At 7 months we did late seating and just took her asleep reclined in the stroller. From then on we did early seating and she did well. We lucked out when she was a year, Carnival placed us at a table with another 1 yr old so it was great dining with other couples with kids. We have had to skip some late night shows or activities we normally would have done if she was cranky but hey thats all part of parenting a child. We are flexible and our expectations are not too high. There will be plenty of cruises when she is older that we can enjoy the things we used to pre-kids. We are happy to share these vacations with her.

 

We have also done land based vacations, we took DD to Hawaii at 9 months (yes we are nuts but we had family living there to visit) and found that to be much more stressfull than the cruises. Having to travel from place to place and go to restaurants to eat or to get anywhere etc. You will have a great time on a cruise. Different than cruising pre-kids but definitely fun.

 

We brought the carseat when we didnt drive to the ports- we use the PAKBACK (back pack carrier for carseats) by Cheeky Monkey http://www.onestepahead.com/pwr/product-reviews/4815/Vacation-Travel-Solutions/Cheeky-Monkey-Designs-LLC/p/11798-The-Pac-Back.html

 

 

Julie

[CanadianEh!]

It's funny, our family L~O~V~E~S sea days. We get so little time to slow down at home, I definitely enjoy some time just knocking around the ship with my kiddos and hubby. To each his own!

 

in reguards to the change of itinerary i was talking about does anyone have an other ideas about nice itinirarys that would fit as one other user commented that NCL itnerary was really boring. Sorry should have been more clear.

 

:)

[crusinmama06]

Well since you have an infant, THAT itinerary is all you need...lol.

 

I have been to all of those places and they are all VERY family friendly. In Freeport, you can actually do the dolphin encounter and there is NO minimum age to do it. When we were in Freeport, my youngest was 2 and there was an infant in the group on the dolphin excursion.

 

Also in Freeport is "Our Lucaya" beach. You just take a taxi (something like $5-$6pp) and tell them to take you to "Sheraton Our Lucaya". You walk through the hotel and out the other side and there is a BEAUTIFUL beach. And there are bathroom facilities there. You just can't use the pool unless you are a guest. All they ask is that you spend money at their pool side bar/snack bar.

 

Nassau - well if you are a beach person - you can go to Wydham at Cable Beach for $15pp day pass. Or if you like a little more adventure, you can do the water slides at Atlantis.

 

Great Stirup Cay - very relaxing beach day.

 

You won't be bothered AT ALL in Freeport by anyone. In Nassau, you might only be approached by locals at places like the straw market. Both ports are very safe.

[gkrnjlr]

We're getting ready to sail with our 9 month old daughter. I am glad you posted this thread because I had a lot of the same/similar questions.

 

Like you, we're light packers, so I can't see how we'll be overwhelmed with TONS of stuff packed for a baby. I do plan on taking an entire pack of diapers, and we've been slowly feeding her a lot of table foods, but I do plan on bringing several jars of her food....just in case there's not something on the menu that we can chop or mash.

 

As for itineraries....I'm not much help because I think that any port can be fun for all of you, baby included!

 

I AM curious to what other's responses are about taking a car seat off the ship for a day in port. If we plan on taking a taxi to a beach or something......how would that work?

[CruizinMom2c]

 

Like you, we're light packers, so I can't see how we'll be overwhelmed with TONS of stuff packed for a baby. I do plan on taking an entire pack of diapers, and we've been slowly feeding her a lot of table foods, but I do plan on bringing several jars of her food....just in case there's not something on the menu that we can chop or mash.

 

 

 

yeah i remember bringing the baby food and formula the last times... I am glad that we don't have to bring those..more room for other stuff.

 

 

 

but the dining room does have yogurt...fruit and other stuff that your baby can eat...

[CruizinMom2c]

We took a water taxi over to atlantis in nassau and just walked over to the free beach...it was fun and easy since we didnt need a car seat..just brought the umbrella stroller

[CanadianEh!]

I think we will just do all beach days for all of them. This will be our just kick back and relax holiday. But not really sure which cruise to do yet. And still waiting to find out if grandma can find someone else to come with her because both cruise lines charge full price for a single and i dont think i can survive having grandma 3 feet from me while i sleep :)

 

thanks for the info crusinmama06.

 

Does anyone else have any other thoughts on excursions :) The only problem is i am going have to do both crusises again so i can do all the really fun aggessive stuff like 4x4 since cant do it this time with baby and on our other cruise mamma was pregnant so she couldnt go either :)

 

still not sure what to do with the Car seat issue. I assume Baby will be out of the car seat that goes with her stroller. Does anyone have an expersince with this? Now on Buses but i want to try and avoid taxis and am actually thinking of doing mostly ship excursions this time just to make it easier.

 

thanks for all the feed back everyone uess i am just rambling now :)

[gkrnjlr]

As for formula.....we've purchased about 4 of these boxes (single serve packets....each packet goes into 4oz. of water)

 

http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100713&id=prod395699

 

Taking them out of the box, its all really flat and will take up no space in the suitcase.

 

I totally forgot about the yogurt in the dining room! Yay!!! What about oatmeal? Think it'd be "do-able?"

[danrenne1]

DH and I have been on several cruises but this time we will be going with our kids that are 2 1/2 and 6months with the grandparents. I found a thread that was called baby packing list, just use the search and you will find it. Lots of good info. We are bringing a blow up pool since Carnival does not allow infants in pool with diapers. The 2 year old should be potty trained by then and she will be in camp so the 6month old will use the pool and I have read that people just bring it out on deck and fill it with the water from the shower. We are looking forward to sailing with our kids.

[CruizinMom2c]

As for formula.....we've purchased about 4 of these boxes (single serve packets....each packet goes into 4oz. of water)

 

http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100713&id=prod395699

 

Taking them out of the box, its all really flat and will take up no space in the suitcase.

 

I totally forgot about the yogurt in the dining room! Yay!!! What about oatmeal? Think it'd be "do-able?"

 

 

I *think* they have oatmeal...I honestly cant remember

 

 

 

that formula is really handy! our son was on similac isomil advance...I wonder if they had those packets... I would of definitely used that instead of the big cans that we had to bring.

[notentirelynormal]

My DD packed the formula in every suitcase so that in case one got lost, there was still formula in the others. Just something to think about. And if there is a food item they love, bring it if you can. For example, my 3 YO GS wanted a peanut butter and jam sandwich and root beer. After the first night peanut butter couldn't be found - and root beer in Australia is a challenge. The funny thing about that is that I don't think he'd had root beer more the one or two times before but he really wanted it that cruise.

[Julienatul]

I *think* they have oatmeal...I honestly cant remember

 

 

 

that formula is really handy! our son was on similac isomil advance...I wonder if they had those packets... I would of definitely used that instead of the big cans that we had to bring.

 

 

We packed those single serving formula as well as a large can just in case. I also just pre-measured her baby oatmeal into single serving ziplock snack baggies and stored them in a larger baggie in the suitcase. That way I could just mix it with warm water and we would have oatmeal anytime. They did have oatmeal on RCCL when DD was 7 months but it was thicker and made her gag so Im glad I brought my own that she was used to.

 

Julie

[gkrnjlr]

Packing the oatmeal might be a good idea for us, too. It weighs almost nothing. They even have the screw on lids for the small boxes!

 

Isn't that formula great? Especially for traveling!

 

Thanks for your input!

[gkrnjlr]

My DD packed the formula in every suitcase so that in case one got lost, there was still formula in the others. Just something to think about. And if there is a food item they love, bring it if you can. For example, my 3 YO GS wanted a peanut butter and jam sandwich and root beer. After the first night peanut butter couldn't be found - and root beer in Australia is a challenge. The funny thing about that is that I don't think he'd had root beer more the one or two times before but he really wanted it that cruise.

 

EXCELLENT advice. I hadn't even thought about that! Formula in every suitcase it is!

 

Thanks!

[CanadianEh!]

EXCELLENT advice. I hadn't even thought about that! Formula in every suitcase it is!

 

Thanks!

 

the internet sure has made travel a little easier hasn't it :)

 

Great info everyone thanks so much. I think we have decided that we are going to do the carnival destiny over the NCL cruise. Now i just need to figure out do we get grandma her own room (My suggestion :)) or my wife says why not get a suite it is bigger and just split it three ways. anyone able to back me up on this?

 

Gkrnjlr what excursions are you doing on your legend cruise? we did that one this year loved every minute of it.