Reflection Review w/9 Month Old Baby!

We just returned from the 1/2/18 6 night sailing with our 9.5 month oldLeo on the Celebrity Reflection. I was able to track down a reasonable amountof info. about cruising with a baby on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Disney butnot a lot about other cruise lines that do not cater directly to children. Forthis reason, I decided to write my first ever cruise review!

About Us: I am 34 and my DH is 40. We have been on 15 cruises,primarily on Princess, Celebrity and Holland America. Our son is 9.5 months and very active butgood. We cruised alone, just the three of us, no grandparents or other helpers.

Why Celebrity instead of a “child friendly” cruise line? Because wehave 9.5 month old baby not a child that can enjoy activities. Although he goes to day care full-time we weren’tready to leave him in a cruise ship nursery or with an in-room babysitter so wedidn’t need a ship with those facilities. On our next cruise, we willdefinitely consider a ship with those facilities when he is a little moreindependent, walking and doesn’t take a bottle any longer. Celebrity is ourfavorite cruise line, Solstice class ships can’t be beat in our opinion. We figured this was really our last chance tocruise Celebrity before we have to move on to something more family friendlythat also suits our kids.

Celebrity was much more child friendly than I thought from pastcruises. Although there were a lot ofkids on-board given the time of year and shorter 6 day itinerary. We have onlytaken a 9nt, 10nt and 14nt on Celebrity pre-baby so those probably weren’t bigdraws for kids.

I also want to address all the negativity regarding cruising withchildren I have read on CC, especially on the Celebrity board. If you are an aware parent who generally doesn’tlet their children run amuck at the expense of others then you will not receivea single ounce of ill-will from guests or staff (or at least we didn’t). In thecourse of 6 days I estimate hundreds of people talked to Leo. Every single person was friendly, positiveand welcoming. I did not receive asingle rude stare, eye roll, negative comment, etc. It was a great experience! DONOT let people on these boards who don’t know you or your child discourage youfrom cruising! Oh and the staff LOVED him. I talked to more staff members on thiscruise then all our others combined. It waswonderful talking with them about our son and their children back home.

Pre-Cruise: We traveled from Chicago to FLL the day before the cruiseand stayed at the W Ft. Lauderdale. Thisis not necessarily the most family friendly place in the world but theyprovided a crib and we used Starwood points to book the room. Would probablychoose the Westin next time. Justpersonal preference, W is a beautiful hotel.

Packing: one of our main tips is disposable everything. We planned touse Playtex bottles with disposable liners too but Leo never got used to them beforewe went so we abandoned that plan.

· Travel Stroller

· Ergobaby

· Formula (32 oz/day x 9 days) – this was overkill since we were gone for 7 but piece of mind is worth a lot!

· Baby Food (3 packets/day x 9 days = 27) – again overkill. He ate a lot of non-baby food.

· Snacks

· Diapers, Day (8/day x 9 days = 72) – a goodamount in case you need extras

· Diapers, Night (2/day x 9 days = 18) – over kill

· Diapers, Swim – for port days – I know babiesare not allowed in the pools!!!

· Wipes – 100 pack + 2 diaper bag packs – over killbut piece of mind in case of lots of dirty diapers

· Diaper Garbage Bags

· Aquaphor

· Diaper Rash Cream

· Bath Soap

· Blow-Up Bath Tub – planned to use as a pool tonour balcony and/or in the alcove we rented but it was not really warm

· Sunscreen

· Tylenol

· Nose Frida & Filters

· Powdered Pedialyte

· Thermometer

· Nail Clippers

· Tooth Brush

· Disposable Bowls (3 meals/day x 8 days = 24) –awesome! Can feed baby anywhere!

· Disposable Placemats (3 meals/day x 8 days = 24)– awesome, used every morning in buffet but brought way too many as you don’t needthem in the dining room with table clothes

· Disposable Bibs (3 meals/day + snacks x 8 days =24) – awesome, secured better than some of our real bibs at home, he couldn’t ripthem off!

· Disposable Spoons & Forks

· Dishwashing Soap

· Travel Drying Rack

· Bottles

· Pacifiers/Pacifier Clips

· Crib Cover

· Crib Sheets – I brought 4, needed 1.

· Toys – I brought all small hard toys that couldbe sanitized if needed

· Travel Sound Machine

· Jammies

· Dinner Outfits

· Dinner Shoes

· T-Shirts/Onesies/Tanks

· Shorts

· Pants

· Sweatshirts

· Swim Suits/Shirts

· Sandals

All in all, I think I packed like a rock star for Leo. We had everything we needed and not that muchstuff we didn’t need. We didn’t use the medicine, thermometer, pedialyte(fortunately!) but I wouldn’t travel without it so definitely not wasted space. I over packed on baby food and crib sheetsand brought a few too many onesies. Wewere lucky and only needed one change of clothes but I planned for one change everyday just in case! We did not have that warm of weather on this cruise so couldhave used an extra set of pants and sweatshirt for Leo but we made do with whatwe had. Fortunately he is not that messy of an eater!

My expectations going into this cruise were non-existent becausealthough we planned A LOT, I still wasn’t sure what cruising with a baby wouldbe like. We were so happily surprised!He loved and we loved sharing our favorite way of vacationing with our newestfamily member! IT wasn’t the same as our prior cruses but in some ways it wasbetter. It also made us really excitedfor when Leo is older and can so all kinds of fun excursions and activitieswith us!

Embarkation: We left the W at 10:45 and arrived at the dock at about11:00. Drop-off was at Pier 18 which isn’tmy favorite was disorganized. There wasa long line for luggage drop-off but a porter walked up to us and took our bagsover so we just went with it. Got through security, check-in and was on theship by about 11:45. Rooms were ready about 1:15.

Cabin: 8162, hump balcony. Greatlocation close to the elevators, very quiet. Bed by the bathroom. I was anxiousto get to our room to ensure the requested pack and play has beenprovided. It was there. We brought our own sheets as well as a cover playfor the pack and play (https://www.coverplayard.com/). I bought one on-sale for $30.00. This gave metotal piece of mind in using the ship’s pack and play. Combined with our sheet, Leo never touchedthe actual pack and play. I know sounds crazy but gave me piece of mindregarding germs.

The other thing we brought for the room was a cheap (but dark colored)shower curtain from wal-mart and magnetic hooks for the ceiling. Read this tip beforehandand it was really helpful at night. Leo sleeps in his own room at home and I didn’tthink he would go down at night if he could see us. We pushed it aside duringthe day and brought it back out at bedtime every night. This also gave theillusion of a tiny bit a privacy, even though there is none. Would definitely recommend doing this.

Unpacking: There isn’t a lot of room left after the pack and play isset-up (which we knew) so Leo and I went on a walk around the ship with theergobaby while DH sanitized the cabin. When the sanitization efforts were complete,DH and Leo went for a walk while I unpacked. Once we were organized and everythingwas put away we all felt much better about the space in the cabin! J My tip is to try yourbest and keep everything put away at all times. This help us stay organized andnot feel so cramped. We bring a mesh laundry bag for dirty clothes which wekeep in the closet and I also brought a plastic target bags for any of Leo’sclothes that were soiled. Only oneoutfit went in the bag!

Dining: We decided to try early seating traditional dining at6:00. At home Leo sits in his highchairfor about an hour. He plays toys while Imake dinner and then eats a little of we are eating while we eat. I thoughtearly seating dining met Leo’s needs the best and still gave us the chance tobe served at dinner and not be running around the buffet all the time.

We requested a high chair from the dining room manager when we boardedand she assured us one would be at our table. It was not but that’s ok, our great waiter got one right away and madesure it was there is advance the rest of the week. I cannot say enough goodthings about our waiter. He LOVED Leoand gave him all sorts of nice attention which Leo LOVED! He brought a bowl ofveggies, bowl of fruit and bowl of ice cream for Leo each night. Leo ate snacksand veggies/fruit slowly through dinner and loved the hustle and bustle of theMDR. We never took him out of the highchair but he was used to that from beingin one at home during dinner time. We were extremely lucky, he was great andnever cried once in the dining room the whole week! We sat at a table for 4,just the 3 of us. We normally so anytimedining and never share tables so I wasn’t about to start with a baby! Lots of peoplestopped and talked to us (mainly to Leo) but I am sure they didn’t want to sitwith him for their whole meal.

We ate bfast in the buffer each morning and since we were in therearound 7:30 before the crowds were always able to find someone to grab ahighchair really quickly. Might have been more difficult at peak times. We atelunch in our Alcove almost every day except the last sea day when we went tothe MDR since Leo had been so good for all our dinners. I will review the Alcoves in part 2 of the review.

General Evening Schedule: Leo is on a decent schedule at home but wewere flexible on vacation depending on how late he slept and how henapped. Before the cruise my plan wasthis:

6:00 – dinner in MDR

7:00 – 7:15 – diaper change/pajamas

7:30 – ?? – walk around the ship and enjoy entertainment and afterdinner drinks until Leo was ready for bed. Usually 9:00pm which is much later than at home but he really loved allthe people and commotion around the ship.

9:00 – bottle and bed

We basically stuck to this successfully every night. This was OK by us because we don’t stay uptoo late so although it was going to be a little earlier than usual, we didn’t mindbecause we were up by 6:00 every day! J

More to come: daytime schedule, excursions and what to do with a babyaround the ship all day!

Great overview, especially great tip for the cover of the travel cot. I wasn't aware you could buy such a genius item and as a mom of 2 under 4 we've used our fair share on different holidays the past 4 years and despite anti-bac'ing each one you always have the mom guilt that they aren't quite clean enough.

Sounds like Leo thoroughly entertained his fellow passengers and had a ball, can't wait to read more :)

It’s wonderful to read your review. I’m very happy you had such a positive experience!

Very nice review! Thanks for taking the time.

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Thanks for the review. You did a great job.

Our son was about 9 months old when we took him on his first cruise. He is 20 now and has been sailing with us ever since. It's his favorite vacation besides Disneyworld. We also were prepared. Admittedly not as prepared as you were. We encountered the same type passengers and crew. Crew members loved him and would pick him and dance with other waiters. Passengers always interacted with him. It was great fun. I wouldn't discourage anyone from taking a baby on a cruise.

As he got older we sailed Royal Caribbean - so totally kid friendly. He loved it. We never saw him. It gave us some alone time.

Next year will be our first Celebrity cruise and our first cruise without him. Also sailing on the Reflection 10 night Southern.

What an extensive list of travel gear, quite impressive! Thanks much,

Excellent report.

You might want to post this on the Family Cruise Line Board as I think people would find this very helpful.

Keith

This link will take you to the Family Cruising Board:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=49

Keith

Great review so far! And also a great idea about sharing your tips with the Family Cruising board. So many new cruisers with little ones would benefit from them.

I can’t wait to read about how the three of you enjoyed your days in the Alcoves. I hope they worked out great for you. Fingers crossed!

Edited: Because I can’t spell before coffee.

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My spouse and I loved your review. We are grandparents and loved to take our grandchildren on vacations with us.

Splurge of the Cruise: Alcoves! One of the mainreasons we picked a Solstice class ship for Leo’s first cruse was the LawnClub. I knew he would love crawling on the lawn and it has never been heavilyoccupied on our other cruises so I hoped he could play up there withoutbothering anyone. To add to our comfortwe decided to splurge and book an Alcove for the week. It was super nice tohave a dedicated space for all our stuff and for him to play when he wasn’tcrawling around on the grass. He alsosleeps well in his stroller so he took 2 hour naps in his stroller on 4 of thedays so DH and I enjoyed cocktails, lunch and rest while he slept – a littleglimpse into our pre-baby cruising life!

The Alcoves themselves were being replaced indry dock this week so the cushions and furniture were a little old but reallynot in bad shape. Will be excited to see the new Alcoves that are installedthis week. On the Celebrity website itlists a lot of perks for the new Alcoves installed on the Solstice so I will beinterested to see if those perks transfer to the Reflection now that they havethe new ones. We received a fruit andcheese plate and bottled water. On sea days we also received a bottle of Proseccobut you have to ask for it which I wasn’t thrilled about. If it is an included perk you should get it withouthaving to ask for it multiple times. You are also supposed to get an iPad touse but we didn’t have an internet package so we never asked for it. Again,they never asked us if we wanted it. The service was very mediocre. We are verylow maintenance and got all our own drinks, food and towels but the one time wedid ask for drinks from the bar the waiter seemed more than annoyed. The waiters for the Alcoves are the guys thatwork on getting the lawn club set-up for lunch and dinner service so they arebusy. Again for the cost, I think Celebrity should have someone more available.We paid $99 for port days and $249 for sea days. We were refunded $99 discountfor booking the whole week. Although Iread on CC that it was supposed to be 20%. This discount was also confirmed on the phone by Celebrity but I havelearned those guys do not know a thing and never to believe what they tell youon the phone. Also the canopy ripped and broke on our last sea day about11:00am so they ended up letting us cancel at 11:30 for the day since we didn’twant to use it without wind, sun and rain protection. They did not give us any hassle about cancelingwhich I really appreciated. We ended up spending a nice afternoon on ourbalcony which was on the non-windy side of the ship for most of the day and sowhen it was raining a bit the balcony was dry!

Leo loved the lawn and this is one major reasonsI would recommend booking a Solstice class ship for a baby. There is always some section of shade andwide open space for playing. This might not be great for toddlers who need moreactivities to occupy them but our guy was happy to crawl around unrestrictedand play with the few small toys we brought with. On some mornings the grass waswet from rain or from being watered but even on the days when it wasn’t thebest weather it dried really quickly. He has never really crawled on grassbefore because he wasn’t crawling yet before the weather got cold in Chicago!In general we love this feature on the ships because we aren’t always poolpeople and love another large area to be outside without have to lounge at thepool.

What else to do with a baby on a cruise ship?Well to be honest there isn’t a lot but that’s really all cruises unless youtake one with a baby drop-off nursery. We did receive a sheet from the kidsclub on the first day with designated play times when you could take your babyto the kids club and play with them and they even had some organizedparent-baby play classes where they did songs and other stuff. We did not takeadvantage of this but it was at least 90 minutes each day, port days had amorning and afternoon time. I’ll be honest, I am a bit of a germaphob and myguy was finally healthy after being away from daycare for a bit so I didn’t wanthim playing in a daycare type environment. #firsttimemom

We did walks around the track and went tolisten to the different music around the ship in the eveings before and afterdinner. Leo loves attention and loves commotion so since he is still young enoughto accept being in his stroller a lot this really worked for us.

Daytime Schedule:

6:00-7:00 – wake-up and have bottle in thecabin

7:00-7:30 – Dad and Leo take a walk to get mom coffeewhile I rest for another ½ hour – DH is a great Dad and Husband!

7:30-8:30 – leisurely breakfast in the buffet.Our cruise must have had a lot of late sleepers so we have no problem getting atable and the staff wasn’t too overwhelmed and always found us a highchair.

9:00 – head to alcoves and get settled for theday

9:00-11:30 – take walks, play on the grass andplay toys in the alcoves – have another bottle

11:30-12:30 – figure out lunch

12:30-3:30 – nap time and more play time dependingon how long his nap was

4:00-:5:00 – showers and getting ready fordinner

5:00-6:00 walk around ship, listen to music andpre-dinner drinks. Leo enjoyed this time in his stroller because there was lotsof commotion

Leo takes two naps at home but seemed happy tobe on this one nap schedule. We didn’t plan this but it worked out reallygreat.

Unfortunately I do not have a lot ofinformation on excursions.

Key West – missed port. L Planned to do Key West Food Tours. This is a 3 hour walking/foodtour around downtown Key West. Leo likes walks so we had hoped he would be goodand maybe even sleep part of the time. I guess we have to wait until next timeto find out.

Grand Cayman – we planned to rent a car andhead to Rum Point. We ended up tendering on the other side of the island due towind. We ended up taking a taxi shuttle (12 passenger van) to Royal Palms. DHwore Leo in the ergobaby on the tender and in the shuttle (with seat belt overthem both). DH is a police officer and this was not his first choice at all. Ifeel bad about how unsafe it was but it work out nice and they didn’t charge usfor the baby. On the way there we got a free Celebrity shuttle to Georgetownand took a $4/pp ride to Royal Palms. On the way back they took us directly tothe ship on the other side/end? of the island for $6/pp. We have been to Royal Palmsbefore and it is nice atmosphere with a good restaurant and clean facilitiesand NO vendors. I hate beaches that allow vendors that don’t leave you alone. We got two chairs and an umbrella on the endof a row so we had extra room for the stroller.

Stroller note – take a travel or umbrellastroller. We highly recommend the City Tour by jogger baby http://www.babyjogger.com/en-US/city-tour%E2%84%A2. This is a new stroller and folds up amazing for plane travel as well. Couldfit in the overhead bin but we have gate checked on all of our 6 flights wehave been on with Leo. Saw about 10 familieswith their full sized stroller/carrier combos. It looked very hard to navigate around the ship! And I cannot imaginewhere they stored them in their cabins. Ours folds super easy and fit under thebed! Oh and this stroller lays back pretty far so that’s how all these strollernaps were possible!

Cozumel – planned to get off and shop butweather was iffy and Leo ended up taking a 3.5 hour nap so we took advantage toenjoy the Alcove with a long lunch and drinks and a nap! Oh and we also tookturns getting massages on this day! J

In truth, we cruise for the ship and a fewhours here and there at the beach or snorkeling. We love cruising and relaxingon the ship so this cruise met our needs even though we didn’t get a lot ofport time.

In summary, we had a GREAT time and lovedsharing this cruise with our baby. We are looking into Royal Caribbean to seeif they might suit us for a future cruise when we are ready to use the nursery.As a cruiser I have to admit I am very curious about the Oasis class ships. Notsure they have enough other open areas for us in case Leo doesn’t like the kidsclub but they do have a little splash pad that allows un-potty trained babiesso that is a plus for when he can walk and wants to be in the water.

I am happy to answer any questions! Thanks forreading!

Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone! Hope this review can help some family travelers!

If every parent was as conscientious as you, with the well behaved toddler as a result, there would be no child bashing on these forums!! I don't blame misbehaving children....I blame bad parenting. I'm always happy to see a cheerful happy baby, toddler, child. So glad you had such a wonderful experience!! And I don't think you overpacked, per se, as you said, you packed what gave you the needed piece of mind to enjoy your vacation.

I hope everyone can see the full review. I can see it on my desktop but only parts on my iPhone app. I'm guessing from some of the comments that you can but I'm really not sure what it up with my app!

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If every parent was as conscientious as you, with the well behaved toddler as a result, there would be no child bashing on these forums!! I don't blame misbehaving children....I blame bad parenting. I'm always happy to see a cheerful happy baby, toddler, child. So glad you had such a wonderful experience!! And I don't think you overpacked, per se, as you said, you packed what gave you the needed piece of mind to enjoy your vacation.

I second that! The OP and her DH sound like awesome and conscientious parents.

So glad to read a positive review about traveling with a baby!!

We just got back from that same sailing, I think I might have actually talked to you guys. We have a 2 year old daughter so we went to a lot of the kid-related activities. I love Celebrity much more than the other so called "kid-friendly" lines. Their service is always amazing and so it the food and, once the kids are old enough to go to the kids club, they are very happy there. We started taking my son on Celebrity cruises when he was a year old and now he is 10 and never had a bad time at the club. While we very rarely meet people onboard who are making negative faces and remarks about kids, most of the time guests onboard have been nothing but nice about my kids. We actually had many people dance with my 2 year old daughter on Deck 3 or try to entertain her during dinners. Just so you know for future, Celebrity can provide you with baby food if you need it, just request in advance. But yes, my kids have always eaten from the menu as there are many kid friendly options.

Tikcho, I see from your signature that you tried carnival recently? Did you do a review? I'd love you know how you thought it compared. We love celebrity and are worried we will be disappointed elsewhere.

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Also I just saw your blog and your daughter loved our son! And I think you were in front of us boarding the ship. We talked to your daughter and husband at the silent disco. She was so sweet.

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Yes but in all of this, did you as a couple have a good time? did you have a holiday?

I dont want to bash Carnival but we personally hated it. We went in March on their newest ship, the Breeze. It was FULL of people everywhere. My daughter was only a year old at the time and we could never find even a single chair by the pool. There actually was not even a place to stand by the pool. We had a balcony cabin and a little blow up pool for my daughter so we spent a lot of time on the balcony. Food could not even compare to Celebrity. Buffet was similar to cheap Vegas buffet. There was an awesome sushi place for an extra charge so we ate there at least once a day. There were a lot of activities so for people with older kids/teens it may be good but with young kids you don't really want very crowded places. My son liked the kids club but not more than Celebrity. Cabin was comparable in size and decor but service not so much. I have to say that I have been pretty spoiled by Celebrity so every other cruise line seems worse. We tried Norwegian Epic when my son was younger and even though we liked it, I would not go again with a young kid, those mega ships are just too crowded and they rely heavily on venues that cost extra like specialty restaurants.

Yes, I was pretty sure that was you guys :) I remember you at the silent disco. We just booked the Silhouette for Jan 2 2019.

Was your son the one with the curly hair who got his picture taken? If so i met you at the silent disco too lol!

Great review. Pleased to hear that you enjoyed your family cruise.

Was your son the one with the curly hair who got his picture taken? If so i met you at the silent disco too lol!

Yes, he was! Thanks for your kind comments when we met :)

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Yes but in all of this, did you as a couple have a good time? did you have a holiday?

We were able to enjoy time together while Leo napped and fortunately he takes nice long naps. The goal of this vacation though was to be a family vacation as we aren't just a couple anymore, we are a family of 3! We both work demanding full time jobs and we were delighted to spend a week of uninterrupted time with our son.

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