March 09 with 8-month old twins

[JEDIKNIGHT]

(I'm also thinking of doing a cruise with a 10 month old in March...never done it before. Right now we feel it's an accomplishment just going out to lunch :)

 

You said you didn't want the car seat. You'll take the shuttle to the ship...I thought about doing something similar but by law, and for safety, doen't the baby HAVE to be in a car seat, be it in a shuttle or a taxi?

 

Thanks

[JEDIKNIGHT]

When you rent a car, is the baby car-seat PRE-INSTALLED by the rental company?

 

Thanks

[TupeloHoney]

We cruised last March with our 3.5 month old. We brought our infant carseat and were so glad that we did! We had to race across Manhattan to catch our ship - which we missed - but I was so glad he was safely in his carseat. It's easy enough to install them with just the seatbelt - at least it was with ours. Anyway - because we missed the ship we flew to San Juan the next day and had to wait two days for the ship to show up. We ended up renting a car and driving around Puerto Rico - so again, we were really happy to have the carseat with us! And really happy we had gotten travel insurance!

[crusinmama06]

You said you didn't want the car seat. You'll take the shuttle to the ship...I thought about doing something similar but by law, and for safety, doen't the baby HAVE to be in a car seat, be it in a shuttle or a taxi?

 

Thanks

 

Yes, by law, in the US, a baby does need to be in a car seat when riding in a car. ;)

 

In Miami, they do ask where your seat is at the airport taxi desk. :)

 

So you are 100% correct. ;)

 

I have some more info on that topic here....

http://cruisingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html

 

I am waiting to hear back from the Joey Safe people that I mention in this article.

[Jayhawk]

I haven't read all the posts, so I'm probably repeating.

 

We took a 9 month old (just one) and it was a perfect age. That was NCL - they provided baby food each night (let them know in advance) and you can stock up on cheerios at breakfast for snacks throughout the day. We packed a ton of food for her we never even used!

 

Here are two things I'd recommend. Unfortuantely, you might not have either and it would be a $200 investment. BUT, you could resell the first for close to full price and the second I SWEAR you will use for travel over and over again in the next 4 years.

 

1) Get a backpack carrier. Oh, guess you'd need two. That was nice when we wanted to carry them on hikes and such. I'm attaching a picture.

 

2) We broke down and purchased, in addition to our duroglider that held 2 carseats, this stroller through Eddie Bauer. It ROCKS! Simply the most compact double I've seen (our girls were 2 and 3 1/2 at the time. I swear it's not much bigger than a large SINGLE umbrella stroller and folds up that small. It was great for the cabin - fit under the bed. You roll the twins all the way to the plane itself, gate check it, and it's there when you get off. You don't even have to carry them that last 100 ft! Yes, it's $140, but you can probably find it cheaper and it lasts forever and bet you could resell it cheap. We took it to Disney the next year and it was a life saver - the kids were 3 and 4 1/2 (attaching a picture of the 4 year old passed out in the front).

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04988720000P?vName=Baby&cName=Gear&sName=Strollers&psid=FROOGLE01&sid=IDx20070921x00003a

 

Have a great time!

[SimplyAddicted]

This will be my first cruise with my daughter this March (she will be 11 1/2 mo.) I would never even think about leaving my stroller at home. I could def. not carry her all over - she is already 22lbs. Plus, she can fall asleep in it anywhere!

 

I am not, however, taking the carseat. We will have it in the car on the way to the airport, but she will be in my lap on the plane and on the Disney transfer bus. From what I understand, the buses don't even have seatbelts, so the carseat would be useless. We are only going to Castaway Cay and Nassau, so we will only be going places we can walk to onshore.

[boating girl]

I admire all of you who bring babies on cruises. You have to really want to make it work. There will be a lot of fellow passengers who will not be happy. But, do what works for you and have a good time.

[rebeccalouise]

I don't agree that there will be alot of unhappy fellow passengers. I have never heard a crying baby on a cruise. I am not saying this doesn't happen but infants do very well on cruises.

 

Having said that, there was a 10 month old onboard with us that wasn't as content as my then 6 month old. So every month brings new challenges.

 

Personally I think traveling with an infant is much easier than traveling with a toddler.

[Volunton]

It seems I opened (yet again on this board I'm sure!) a can of worms regarding car seats in FL/US.

 

Still, does ANYONE have experience using a limo./transport service from MIA to the Port of Miami that they pre-arranged car seats with and didn't cost 'an arm and a leg' to use another expression.

 

We found two umbrella strollers on sale for $20 each yesterday (Saturday) at Zeller's (for you Canadians thinking about them).

 

NOW, we've read about clips to put them together and just need to find out where to get them. I guess we can try a baby-related or safety store for that.

 

Comments?

 

THANKS ... again.

 

P.S. We'll probably drive our car to Pearson (with the car seats) and take the shuttle the five-minute drive to the terminal.

[boating girl]

I don't agree that there will be alot of unhappy fellow passengers. I have never heard a crying baby on a cruise. I am not saying this doesn't happen but infants do very well on cruises.

 

Having said that, there was a 10 month old onboard with us that wasn't as content as my then 6 month old. So every month brings new challenges.

 

Personally I think traveling with an infant is much easier than traveling with a toddler.

 

There will be unhappy passengers who have the cabins next door to crying twins or the table next to them. Yes, some babies do not cry as much as others but the likelihood with twins is double. Just because they don't say anything does not mean they will enjoy having infant twins in close proximity. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and this is my opinion.

[rebeccalouise]

I understand that the passengers in the adjacent rooms may be disturbed but with 26 cruises under my belt I have yet to hear anyone in the next cabin- except for on Constellaton where our room had a connecting door to another couple. I could hear their tv and they could hear our conversation.

 

The point I was making was that I have seen babies on cruise ships and they were doing fine and weren't bothering anyone.

[Baxter]

There will be unhappy passengers who have the cabins next door to crying twins or the table next to them.

 

And there will be unhappy paagengers who have the cabins next to the drunk couples who stroll in at 4am, slam their doors, and proceed to party (loudly) in their cabin. Given the ratio of adults to kids, you are far more likely to be bothered by obnoxious, drunk or otherwise annoying adults than you are by crying kids. Just my statistically-based opinion ;)

[AgVball]

I was just going to post something similar to Baxter - I've been pretty annoyed by adults on some of our cruises.

 

Volunton: do you have BabiesRUs near you? we got connectors for our umbrella strollers. When you connect them, they work just fine when going straight, but if you need to make a turn, then the inside wheels kinda run into each other. However, its a nice option when you are by yourself and you need to push them both. Oh! I just found them on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Lionheart-6550-Stroller-Connectors/dp/B000056J23

[wrangler4u]

Your umbrellas will be a lot better than the duo glider IMO. Don't get me wrong as a mom of twins, the duoglider was my best friend for 4 years, however, on our cruises we always brought our umbrellas, with the clips, I think we got them at babysrus.com

 

You will want to be sure to have the car seats. You just wouldn't want to risk it and even if you don't use them on any excursions you can stash them in your closets on the floor or under your beds. Heck, my girls just liked sitting in them in general they were so cozy. You will have a great time on your cruise and don't let some other posters comments make you feel apprehensive. I am sure your family will have an excellent time!

[Karysa]

There will be unhappy passengers who have the cabins next door to crying twins or the table next to them. Yes, some babies do not cry as much as others but the likelihood with twins is double. Just because they don't say anything does not mean they will enjoy having infant twins in close proximity. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and this is my opinion.

 

Don't believe the "double the trouble" stuff. When my twin teens were babies they slept through the night at home or when we traveled from the time they were three months old. To this day I think that if they woke up at night, they lifted up their little heads, saw that their favorite person in the world was right beside them and this made them feel content and they went right back to sleep. My DH and I only remember one time when one of them was teething that we ever were up with them past midnight.

Now if the teen years could just go that smoothly.

Karysa

[Kerry's Girls]

[quote name='boating girl']There will be unhappy passengers who have the cabins next door to crying twins or the table next to them. Yes, some babies do not cry as much as others but the likelihood with twins is double. Just because they don't say anything does not mean they will enjoy having infant twins in close proximity. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and this is my opinion.[/quote]

Not sure what the point is here...there are ALWAYS unhappy passengers. They don't like the old people, or the scooters, or the smokers, or the teenagers, etc., etc. Personally, I don't like the complainers, but they're still welcome to sail on the same ship as me and my twins - they just won't have as much fun :rolleyes:.

Best,
Mia