Review of cruising with a 5 month old

There is already lots of great information on this board about cruising with an infant, but I thought I would share our experience in cruising with our 5 month old. My wife and I have both done a fair amount of cruising, but this was our first vacation of any kind with our daughter. My mother and a friend of hers also joined us on the cruise. If possible I would recommend bringing along "grandma" so that there is someone else who can watch the baby to give you a break!

We choose a 7 day Alaska itinerary on the Oosterdam out of Seattle. Our main motivation for choosing this trip was that we didn't want the hassle of flying to complicate our first trip with our daughter. We live bout 15 minutes from the port in Seattle so this cruise was an obvious choice. We choose HAL for a couple of reasons, but primarily because their minimum age was only 3 months. Princess was the other line we considered, but they did have a firm 6 month minimum age. Also, we had been on HAL and the Oosterdam before so we knew the line and ship would be a good fit for us.

We ordered a crib (pack-n-play) from the cruise line ahead of time so that would be one less thing to have to bring. Unfortunately it was not in our room on the first night and it took a couple calls to the front desk before it was delivered. The Graco pack-n-play was quite stained and had obviously seen a fair amount of use. We wiped it down thoroughly before using it. The cruise line did not provide a fitted sheet for it, but instead wrapped the pad with a regular bed sheet. Fortunately we had brought our own fitted pack-n-play sheet which we quickly put over the sheet they provided. We were worried that our baby would not adjust to sleeping in the pack-n-play or in a strange place, but she had no issues and slept through the night the whole cruise. We brought a small Fisher-Price play yard along with us that she could have slept in if needed. She played in it a few times, but I would leave this at home next time as she slept fine in the crib they provided.

As far as a stroller we ended up bringing our McClaren Quest along with us. It worked great both on the ship and in port. It is a bit bigger than a regular umbrella stroller, but also not nearly as flimsy or uncomfortable. The best decision we made was to leave our large Grace stroller/car seat travel system at home! It would have been unwieldy trying to maneuver the thing around the ship, particularly in crowded place such as the buffet and dining room. Plus our balcony room was already very cramped with the addition of a crib and all the other baby gear. We considered bring the larger stroller because the car seat would have doubled as someplace for baby to sit during meals or in the room. What we did instead was to take apart her "bouncy chair" and pack that into one of our suit cases. I then assembled it again in the room and she was able to sit in that.

One of the things we were really worried about was taking the baby to the dining room in the evening. We decided to just give it a try the first night and see how she did. Fortunately it worked out great and she sat quietly or slept in her stroller every night in the dining room. The only time she had an "issue" was during the Baked Alaska parade. We had a table for 4 and just pushed the stroller up to the end of the table. We usually took her out of the stroller before desert and took turns holding her. They did have high chairs and booster seats, but she can not quite sit up on her own yet so those would not have worked for us. The staff in the dining room was fantastic and enjoyed playing with the baby. We had late seating dinner which worked out really well. We fed the baby before diner and then by the time we were done she was just about ready to eat again and go to sleep. We brought bottles with disposable liners so that we didn't have to spend our whole trip washing bottles. This was a big time saver!

As far as ports go we took the Mendenhall Glacier and Gardens tour in Juneau. Baby did fine on this tour and seemed to enjoy the bus ride to the glacier and golf cart ride at the gardens. We did have to give her a bottle on the bus as the tour went longer than the 3.5 hours advertised. We brought our stroller with us and stored it under the bus, but only really used it for walking around the trails at the glacier. We checked with the tour desk on the ship ahead of time to verify that infants were ok on this tour and that there was no charge for them. Sitka and Ketchikan we just walked around town and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Sitka was a bit interesting because we had to take the baby on the tender to shore. She didn't have any problem with this. We didn't get off the ship in Victoria as we had been there numerous times before and it didn't work out well with the baby's schedule.

The one thing we did sacrifice was attending really any of the shows or entertainment on the ship. Between feedings and naps we ended up spending much more time than normal in our stateroom. Having a balcony is a definite must in my opinion, especially with a baby. We knew going in that there would be some stuff that we would miss and had this been our first cruise we might have been disappointed in that. But, since we had cruised and been to Alaska before we didn't feel like we were missing out on anything.

On the last day of the cruise I stopped by the front desk to enquire about the automatic tips for a 5 month old. They said that they are automatically charged to all passengers, but that many people remove them for infants. We opted to remove the auto tips for the baby and then distribute that money in cash to the staff who had really gone out of there way to accommodate our baby during the cruise. The front desk assured me that the staff would get to keep anything extra we tipped them and that it didn't have to be turned in to a pool.

Overall the trip really couldn't have gone better and we will definitely be cruising with her again soon. Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to help with what worked well (or didn't work well) for us.

Thanks for the review! We are in the planning stages of our Family Cruise #2 for next September, and by the time we cruise, my oldest son and DIL will be bringing a 10 month old and a 20 month old. We are going with our eyes open knowing that there will be things we will miss, and things we will not be able to do.

On the other hand, we will be spending a week with our 3 boys, 2 DIL, 1 fiance, and 2 grandchildren. Not a bad exchange!

My question to you is this: You said that you cruised to Alaska before, so it was okay to miss a few things. We are debating repeating the itinerary that we all took 2 years ago to the Eastern Caribbean, or go to a new itinerary with 2 ports that are new for us.

I am leaning towards repeating the itinerary for the reasons that you listed, and wait till the kids are a bit older to go to the new ports. On the other hand, it sounded like you had some great days just getting off thr ship and walking around the ports.

Any advice?

My DH and I cruised for 10 years solo before our DS came along. Our DS cruised for his first time at 5 months as well. He is now 4 1/2 and has been on 6 cruises. He loves them! He loves AO!! Which has certainly changed our cruising a bit!

It is harder cruising w/a baby, but on the same hand, you are all together! I always tell my DH that being on Vaca w/DS still is work for me... but again, I won't go w/out him!

When he was little, I made a blanket that was regular cotton blanket on the top and I used the vynal table cloth material on the bottom, so I could lay it out anywhere on the ship o(or the airport). I could wipe off the underside w/ a wipie - no germs!

And he was still protected by the soft blanket on top! That was my 'brilliant' travel w/my baby who didn't want to be held all the time anymore idea!

I hope you continue to cruise w/your DD we have and it just keeps getting better and better!

DaisyGirl55,

I think I would recommend going with the repeat itinerary. For us it was nice having some familiarity with the ports ahead of time. It just took one of the unknowns out of the equation for us and we didn't feel like we had to run around and see everything. Instead we were able to go at our own pace and enjoy the time with our daughter.

I don't know what ports you are considering, but having been to the Caribbean many times there are a few that I wouldn't want to wander around with a baby. One that comes to mind is Ocho Rios; my wife and I had a great time there on our tour to Dunns River Falls, but I don't think I would feel comfortable walking around Ocho Rios on my own, especially with our daughter.

We are looking at a Caribbean itinerary for early next year that includes a port we have never been to (Grand Turk). From what I have read on the boards I don't think we will have any problem there with a baby and a stroller.

Whatever you decide I am sure you will have a great trip with your family!

Thanks c-cruise! I spoke with my DIL and she agreed to do a repeater of our cruise 2 years ago. So, we will be back on the Carnival Glory going to St Thomas, St Martin and Nassua.

We were also thinking of the cruise going to Grand Turk, but we will save that for when the kids are older....and stick with the familiar for now.

Thanks for your response!

Thanks for posting your review! We will be taking our son to Alaska next season, just before his first birthday. What did you use for a car seat? Did you just hold the baby in your lap? We're planning to take at least one private tour that involves transportation on a shuttle to a helicopter. I know we'll just hold him on the helicopter, but would love to hear how you (and others) handle rides in shuttles, taxis, etc.

Thanks!

Sorry for the late reply, but have been really busy and not checking the boards.

We actually decided at the last minute to leave the car seat behind. Obviously we used it to get to the ship, but we just left it in the car. The tours we took were on large busses and we just held her in our lap. Incidentally they didn't charge for infants on these tours as they knew they would not be occupying a seat. We knew that we wouldn't be able to take her in a car/van tour without the car seat and just planned accordingly.

We are taking our daughter to the Caribbean in March and are going to have to bring the car seat on that trip for use on the plane and the rental cars.

Aaklang,

We are also planning to take our DS with us on a helicopter ride to dog sledding, and may be also on a float plane to view Misty Fjords. Our DS will be 10 1/2 months old when we will be traveling.

How are you planning the Helicopter ride? I know we can't bring any extra bags but we were thinking of a bottle and at least one toy, if he needs it?

Yankee123,

I haven't figured out all the details yet. I realized I said helicopter ride in my last post - we are actually doing the Misty Fjords floatplane (don't know if we will have any helicopter rides). I am hoping you are at least allowed a small purse or camera bag. I would definitely bring a bottle and/or snack for him. Not sure about a toy. I guess I will have to see what his attention span is like by then. Right now, he is often happy to just look at scenery and observe - hopefully he will still like that in the spring! It sounds like the tour is only two hours, so I don't think I will bring too much.

Glad to hear there are others out there with kids about the same age. Sometimes I wonder if I am crazy for taking a cruise with him but I am so excited that I'm sure we'll make it work.

Aaklang,

We are really glad to see that there are more of us out there trying this out. We personally think, that you make the best of the situation presented. I think we would love to enjoy everything with our child.

We will be out on the NCL Pearl in June next year, how about you?

We are sailing on Infinity (X) on May 16. Still trying to decide what other excursions we want to try with a baby. I'm sure the trip will be great no matter what!

we are going on the Pearl for Christmas this year with a 14 month old. Sometimes I think they are easier at 6 months.(they cant run!) So we will be doing a lot of chasing!

We will be on the Infinity on May 23 with our DS who will be 35 months and our DD who will be 15 months and my parents and hopefully my in-laws as well. We think cruising is a great family vacation.

hi!!!

I love your idea of making the blanket with the vinyl bottom!!!

Where did u get the materials?

Did you sew it?

I wanna make one!!!

Thanks for such a great idea,

Marnie