Caribbean Excursions w/ Infant

[TropicalSnowflake]

Our son will be 8.5 months when we sail on NCL Dawn from NY on 11/28. We're looking for relaxing, beach outing, snorkeling or low-impact eco-hike excursion recommendations for the following ports. (note: not looking for sailing, boozing, submarine, motorcoach or shopping tours).

- St. Thomas
- Antigua
- Barbados
- Grenada (or St. Vincent, not sure which we're stopping at yet)
- Dominica
- Tortola

I'm concerned most about what to do in port and his naptime. We have the Sit-N-Stroll (car seat/stroller combo) but are wondering if it would be OK for him to sleep in? He is currently 28.5 inches long and 22 pounds, so the BabyBjorn is not an option (he's too heavy!) We considered taking the bigger Graco from our travel system because it reclines but think it's too big for the ship...would it be OK for excursions?

What about frame backpacks? Are they worth bringing if we do hiking/walking tours?

Thanks for any thoughts on this!

[dianelevene]

In St. Thomas we took our two young daughters to the beach. The cab driver recommended that we go to Sapphire beach. It was a nice outing and there were plenty of shady spots so that we did not get burned. We stayed a couple of hours and the cab driver returned to pick us up at the time we had set with him. Have a fun cruise!

[cjalphonso]

In St. Thomas I would recommend Megan's Bay. Very pretty, lots of palm trees, rated one of the top 10 beaches by travel channel. My wife and I will be cruiseing with our 6.5 mth old in two weeks. We too are not sure about naps. My current plan is to go to beaches, find shade, lay out towels or blankets and let him nap there. I purchased a covertible stroller that changes from a stroller to a back pack. Its very narrow and I think it will work good for the ship and shore excursions. My son seems to love to ride in it because he sits upright rather than reclined. Two companies make them that I know of. InStep and Kelty. InStep sells for about $60 and the Kelty for $160. I bought the InStep and think it will work for me.

[tricialee]

I bought a frame backpack for my first child when we travelled to Japan when he was 6.5 months old. We did a lot of travelling and walking on that trip and it worked out perfectly. It was even nice in the airports cause I would take it right thru. He ended up sleeping in it a lot (I guess the walking motion would put him right out). He looked a little uncomfortable, so we would roll up a T-shirt and put it under his head when he fell asleep.

[elaineo]

i would take the bigger stroller. we had guests who folded and left outside cabin in hallway. your son will sleep a lot. on deck by the pool, while you are eating, even at the midnight buffet!!! my friend had a 10 mth old and she used the reclining stroller a lot. we also bit the bullet and took a pack and play with us---and just popped it open at the beach---strollers are no use b/c of the sand---you have to have 2 people to carry the stroller thru the sand---with pack and play---one can backpack baby and other can carry pack and play

[savdoc2]

We bought an umbrella stroller that has a basket and reclines. It is called the Chicco Tuscany (from Baby's R Us). We plan on taking it on the cruise for our 15 month old. I also recently bought a Sutemi Pack baby carrier ([url]www.sutemigear.com[/url]) for carrying her. It is a very comfortable carrier and we will use it in ports when a stroller is not practical.