cruising with 1-y old

[SEASHELL97]

Hi, i am planning to take a cruise this summer with my 1-year old son. I am wondering how people take shore excursions, or rather to go the beach- do i need to bring a car seat with me? I am going to Bermuda on NCL Dawn- any suggestions? Thanks!

[lolakat]

I was on the Dawn in Bermuda last year with my 7 mo. The day we docked at King's Warf we just walked over to a small public beach area near the dock (Stingray park? Maybe?) The beach was not very nice and I wouldn't let a mobile child walk around on it as there was a lot of garbage around. For my DD it was ok as we just cleared an area and layed out a big towel for her to play on. She was not yet crawling.

We also used the water taxi to go into town which was very easy and did not require a car seat. We didn't bring a carseat on this cruise b/c we knew we weren't going to tour far from the boat. On our previous cruise we did bring one and used in taxis. It is a pain to install and carry but I couldn't see letting our daughter ride without one.

 

We did not go to other beaches but I understand this is easy to do by taking the public buses. If you plan to take the buses you will not need a carseat as they cannot be installed anyway. If you want to use a carseat you could try to find a private taxi and install the seat. I did see some taxis at the port.

 

have a great trip

[SEASHELL97]

Thanks lolakat- where will the water taxi get us? Any beaches?

[lamolesky]

The water taxis take you from the dock at King's Wharf to town. To go to the beaches, Horseshoe Beach is great for the kids b/c there is a little beach to the right that is very shallow and no waves so you can sit at waters edge and the kids can wade and build castles. You do have to take a pink bus or taxi, the bus will drop you off and you walk down hill to the beach (make sure your stroller isn't too big or they won't let you on the bus. You can always take the excursion with the cruiseline too. I have a lot of information about the Dawn, we sailed to Bermuda this past fall with two little boys, with pictures (I am in the process of changing some-they will be complete later in the week), menus, kids schedules, kids menus, freestyle daily's, etc. I hope it will help you out! Have fun!