Two infant questions!

[rskalko]

Hello all...

 

We are set to leave on Feb. 8 for our cruise on the NCL Spirit.

 

So first... We were wondering what to do for baby's bottles... my son will be just over the requisite 6 months old and we will be feeding a mix of formula mixed from concentrate as well as jarred baby food. We are planning on bringing all the food with us, but we will need water.

 

I know that bottled water is not regulated which means it can often be worse that tap water (sorry if some didn't know this). It is not tested to the same degree that regular tap water is. Also we are not sure about the ship's water. It is fine for us of course... but how okay is it for baby? At home we still boil all of the tap water before mixing it for our lil' man (don't worry, we let it cool down ;)).

 

What have other's done? Have you brought a small kettle to boil water? And if so, have you used the ship's water? Or bottled?

 

Please let us know!!!

 

Next question... we are set to use the crib provided by NCL, with our own sheets from home of course. We were also thinking of bringing our playpen...

 

Do you think that it would be safe to have the playpen on deck? I know that no deck chairs get blown over the side... but my DW is worried about the playpen getting picked up. Any thoughts/success stories??

 

Thanks for all the help,

 

Recently new Daddy Ryan

[cb at sea]

The ship's water is fine---it's totally purified. At 6 mos., the "sterilization" really shouldn't be needed.... Most ships won't allow things like kettles--I guess you could order hot water from room service or get it at the buffet...

As far as a playpen being blown off the ship---never heard of such a thing! It'd be more of a question of where to put it---the pool deck can be crowded!

[PattyW]

We brought a gallon or two of nursery water with us on board (comes in gallons - usually has a picture of a baby on it) and used that with the powdered formula. We used the same at home, so it was no different on the ship. If you are really concerned, you could go with ready to feed, which is more expensive, but definitely trustworthy.

 

The playpen would be fine if you are concerned about it being blown over, but at six months (usually the sitting, but not going anywhere phase), I would think that a cushion of towels on the ground or a stroller would be simpler.

[calikak]

You could bring along your own distilled water (you can buy some when you get to your embarkation city rather than bringing it on the plane if you're flying) if you're really worried about it, but we had no qualms about giving our little guy the tap water on the ship. Obviously we didn't let him near any water in the ports (we were in Mexico) but we weren't worried about the ship's water.

 

We never used a pack'n'play out on deck, it just never occurred to us. They can't be any lighter than a deck chair, though, and those are usually OK. And you're not going to want to park yourselves someplace so windy that it might blow away, I mean, if it were me I'd pick a more sheltered shady spot by the pool where I wouldn't be as worried about sunburn.