Cruising with 14 month olds

[Bottlenosedolphin]

I am considering cruising with my twins who will be 14 months at the time of sailing. Has anyone sailed with little ones? How did it go and do you have any suggestions?!

[smeyer418]

NCL provides limited services for under 2 year olds...no babysitting and no children program-they do have something called the under two zoo where the under twos can play under their own parents supervision. Other than that they will provide cribs and the crew will love having a small child on board.

I just got off the ship with my 2 and half year old grandson(sans parents) and he had a blast.

[DMH15]

NCL provides limited services for under 2 year olds...no babysitting and no children program-they do have something called the under two zoo where the under twos can play under their own parents supervision. Other than that they will provide cribs and the crew will love having a small child on board.

I just got off the ship with my 2 and half year old grandson(sans parents) and he had a blast.

 

 

One suggestion: take grandma :)

 

You know I'm kidding (sort of).

[RYPERO]

Our daughter was on her third cruise by 14 months. Cruising is a great family get away since everything you need is right there. The one thing you will realize is how different cruising is with kids. Much more walking and playing and a lot less lounging and attending shows. Go and have a great time.

[newmexicoNita]

I am considering cruising with my twins who will be 14 months at the time of sailing. Has anyone sailed with little ones? How did it go and do you have any suggestions?!

 

Everyone has his/her own idea about this and there is no right answer. I have talked to people on many cruises and have had clients who have traveled with little ones, under 2. Some will say never again even if you have grandma with you, other say it is a wonderful family experience. My own daughter would never had considered it, nor would my granddaughter. I think it depends on what you want; do you want to enjoy a little free time, see shows, have a quiet dinner, sleep in a few mornings? If your answer is yes, leave them with grandma or aunt Suzie. If you want to have pretty much an all inclusive vacation and expect to give up any private time, take them. I think the big thing is to remember, there are no childcare facities or services provided for kids under 2.

 

Nita

[drmark50]

I will be cruising with our daughter who will be 19 months at the time of the cruise. We are bringing grandma and grandpa (plus uncle) - she is the first grandchild and grandparents live 4 hrs away, so there won't be any shortage of babysitting! However, we have never cruised with her before and are curious about traveling in port (i.e. cabs, buses, etc.). I was planning on buying a travel car seat - something light and portable. Do others do this? Will cab drivers let me use it? We are driving to port and staying in a suite so room/packing would not be an issue. Also, does anybody have any recommendations about travel car seats? Thanks for any input!

[Kidsgoneletscruise]

There was a fantastic couple with a small set of twins on our last cruise. They did a great job tag-teaming the twins and their needs. I think if you work together your family can have a great vacation. :)

[Arwenmark]

another thing to consider is no un potty trained children in the pools. you have to bring a small tubby of your own and fill it. Check out the family section of the forums for more advice.

[CaribeDiver]

Took our son on his 1st cruise when he was one. We didn't see a single show, spent no time by the pool, and quickly learned when taking him to the buffet is to have one go ahead by a few minutes and get a table picked out/set up and be getting food while the other comes in. Otherwise he went nuts seeing all the people eating around him and having to wait. Also, we went on an RCI ship so, they had babysitting services which we hired for a couple of hours at night. So, just plan ahead, know your way around the ship and since there's no babysitting you won't get to do the nromal things you would do while cruising. We ended up taking another cruise 5 months later without him to do all the things we missed out on. By the way, we're taking him on the Spirit for his 3rd bday in January.

[Bottlenosedolphin]

Thanks everyone! I have cruised before but just wanted to make sure it was safe for little ones. Now I just have to convince the grandparents to join... and maybe upgrade to a suite! (As for the car seat questions- I wasnt going to bring one. Was planning on taking tours through the cruise line so I was hoping to put the kiddies on my lap. Hope it works!)