MSC Splendida With 16 Month Old

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

My wife and I are taking the MSC Splendida to the Western Med on April 24. We have cruised with our daughter before on Royal Caribbean when she was 8 months old (Scandinavia). That experience was very positive, but I still have apprehensions about our upcoming cruise now that she is older and more mobile. Here are some of the concerns that I have. I hope folks who have sailed this itinerary can help calm my fears:

1) Is there room in the Outside Balcony cabin to put a Pack 'n Play? The agency that booked my cruise said they can do it, but after looking at the layout of the room, I cant imagine where they will put a baby crib.

2) Our daughter has grown into a somewhat picky eater, so we are never sure what she will want to eat on a given day. Will it be possible to bring our own baby foods and milk on board at embarkation? I read that they have a policy against such things.

3) The earliest dinner seating for this sailing is 7pm, which is close to our daughter's bedtime. Did anyone else have this issue and how did you handle keeping your child up through a long dinner close to their normal bedtime.

4) Is milk generally available at the breakfast and lunch buffet? Did anyone bring foods from the ports back onto the ship? We had considered bringing our dinner from the ports instead of sitting through a long dinner.

I know these seem like irrational fears, but I want to make the most of this expensive trip and anything I would like to do anything I can to prepare.

Thanks in advance!

Hi! Welcome to Cruise Critic!

I can't help much, but I do have a suggestion that made a world of difference on our first cruise, when DD was 25 months old. Check out what kind of table you've been put at with the maitre'd on embarkation day. Unless sitting at a large table with others is critical to you - see if you can get a booth. That way, you can try to get your daugther to eat her main course with your starters, then, if she's tired, she can lay down on the banquette, put her head on your lap, and go to sleep. Worked like a charm for us some nights. Other nights DD held in there for the whole meal.

The other advantage to the booth was that she could have some freedom of movement while not risking get in the servers way. She could crawl around, but was contained.

Have the same question you do about the availability of milk at meals. I assume since they charge for most other beverages, there is also a charge for milk?

Not much help, I know....Maybe someone else can do a bit better!

Hi-You may get more informative posts- but in case you don't, here is what I know. We were on the Fantasia this January, which is identical to the Splendida

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

 

 

1) Is there room in the Outside Balcony cabin to put a Pack 'n Play? The agency that booked my cruise said they can do it, but after looking at the layout of the room, I cant imagine where they will put a baby crib.

 

-ANSWER- We had a room like this, there shouldn't be a problem. It will be crowded, but there is room between the board

2) Our daughter has grown into a somewhat picky eater, so we are never sure what she will want to eat on a given day. Will it be possible to bring our own baby foods and milk on board at embarkation? I read that they have a policy against such things.

 

ANSWER- I don't think they really monitor the policy, but it might be worth putting in a special request. You or you're TA could call MSC and confirm bringing baby food on is okay, and then send an email saying- this is confirming our conversation with X agent that we are allowed to bring baby food on, and them bring a copy of the email. I would be pretty surprised if you ever needed it- I don't think you will have a problem, but I know it would make me feel better to have something in writing.

 

3) The earliest dinner seating for this sailing is 7pm, which is close to our daughter's bedtime. Did anyone else have this issue and how did you handle keeping your child up through a long dinner close to their normal bedtime.

 

ANSWER:- I'm thinking that it is actually a little earlier than this. One of the things that I found odd when planning our trip is that we would see inconsistent times listed for 1st and 2nd seating. I am pretty sure I still have all of our daily programmes, and can dig them out and double check, but I think early seating was at 6:30 or 6:45. We didn't cruise with small children, but DH and I actually spent a fair amount of time talking about this subject (we had tried to convince my brother to join us who has 3 under 5, and are hoping he will next time) and observing how different people handled dining with children.

a. You can order less courses at dinner- when you do this things actually come out pretty quickly. When we wanted to eat more quickly we just ordered through the pasta course.

b. You can feed your daughter from your own food/ at afternoon tea,/ or at one of the alacarte restaurants, then take her to the kids program (She might be to young for it- I am not sure of the ages- but we did notice that it stayed open until like 11pm.)

c. You can try and time zone adjust- ie get her up later/ eat lunch later, and have her think that 7 is 6.

 

4) Is milk generally available at the breakfast and lunch buffet? Did anyone bring foods from the ports back onto the ship? We had considered bringing our dinner from the ports instead of sitting through a long dinner.

 

ANSWER: I'm not sure about the milk. In terms of bringing your own food, I think it would be easier to eat at the alacarte specialty restaurants then try and bring dinners on board.

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

 

My wife and I are taking the MSC Splendida to the Western Med on April 24. We have cruised with our daughter before on Royal Caribbean when she was 8 months old (Scandinavia). That experience was very positive, but I still have apprehensions about our upcoming cruise now that she is older and more mobile. Here are some of the concerns that I have. I hope folks who have sailed this itinerary can help calm my fears:

 

1) Is there room in the Outside Balcony cabin to put a Pack 'n Play? The agency that booked my cruise said they can do it, but after looking at the layout of the room, I cant imagine where they will put a baby crib.

 

2) Our daughter has grown into a somewhat picky eater, so we are never sure what she will want to eat on a given day. Will it be possible to bring our own baby foods and milk on board at embarkation? I read that they have a policy against such things.

 

3) The earliest dinner seating for this sailing is 7pm, which is close to our daughter's bedtime. Did anyone else have this issue and how did you handle keeping your child up through a long dinner close to their normal bedtime.

 

4) Is milk generally available at the breakfast and lunch buffet? Did anyone bring foods from the ports back onto the ship? We had considered bringing our dinner from the ports instead of sitting through a long dinner.

 

I know these seem like irrational fears, but I want to make the most of this expensive trip and anything I would like to do anything I can to prepare.

 

Thanks in advance!

Hello Hutch1113. We travelled with our son when he was a similar age. You do not have irrational fears; they are common parent concerns. Here are a few suggestions:

1. MILK: Ask your room attendant to provide 1 or 2 small cartons of milk everynight, if possible. Since they know that their gratuities depend on making you happy, they usually provide them. Remember "if mama is happy, everyone is happy." We usually found the milk containers inside the small refrigerator every night right after the attendants came to make the bed for the evening.

2. MEAL TIMES: I know they are somewhat later in Europe. Just ask (very politely) the waiters on the FIRST DAY that you would like your child's food to come out first, and not wait until your plates/courses are ready. Usually, since my son could eat right away, he would often fall asleep right after that. I became a master at holding him on my arms, and eating courses that I could manage with one hand (pasta, rice, vegetables, etc). It also helps if you could be be sitting at a BOOTH, so your child can lay down after eating.

3. BABY FOOD should be OK to bring onto the ship - if it is sealed. Most cruise companies allow it. Make sure to have some put away in your main suitcases, abut a little available on your carry on for the first day and last day after disembarkation.

You may also want to post your questions on the SPECIAL INTEREST section of this forum, and select the FAMILY CRUISING. You will get a huge amount of information from parents who have cruised to most of the world's ports.

Most of all, do not forget to enjoy your travel experience. Expect that not everything will go as planned; just go along with the minor changes you might face.

All,

Thanks for the very encouraging feedback.

On the last cruise we took, our daughter did have a later schedule. She was waking up at 8 instead of 6 and going to bed at 9 instead of 7. It would be great if she followed that trend again this time. I've decided to at least give the dining room a shot each night and if it is a bust, we can jump ship (so to speak). I'll be on the hunt for a booth when we first get on the ship. After 6 cruises, I dont recall every seeing booths in the dining room.

It truly amazes me that milk would be so hard to come by. I am considering doing the room service early in the morning so we get milk delivered to our cabin. Right now, milk is the only thing our daughter is guaranteed to consume. I will definitely get permission to bring the baby food on, but if we stick some in our luggage, I cant imagine they would confiscate it.

Another question for all you cruisers, do you recommend just having DD on our laps during shuttles and taxi rides between the pier and town? It seems that only one or two of our ports are walking distance into town.

Thanks again for welcoming a new poster!

Well, as to the shuttle/taxi question, let me just say that this is a VERY hot topic on the afore-mentioned Family board. Opinions vary from A) no amount of inconvenience warrants putting my child in any danger to the opposite position of B) you may very well not even be in a vehicle with a seatbelt, so its impractical to lug a car seat around. I'm not going to weigh in here, as it's been discussed in minute detail in numerous threads.

As to the milk, this will be our first experience with an Italian cruise line, but I have found on land trips in Italy, they don't really grasp the concept of giving a child a cold glass of milk. "Fredo" often results in it not being actually warmed, but it's not as cold as the kids are accustomed to. Not sure about a 16 month old (embarrassing I can't remember...), but if you've made the move away from whole milk, it's even tougher. My kids drink 1%, which is hard to get in a restaurant in Italy.

As to food, we've found that, failing all else, a bowl of pasta with some butter almost always worked - clearly not the most well balanced diet, but it's better than no food at all.