Cruising with baby-my experience and tips

[hopesicle]

We just returned from a 7-day Caribbean cruise on RCCL's Freedom of the Seas! We, (DH and I) brought our 14 month old baby with us, something I was nervous about, but it ended up to be a great experience. I couldn't find too many posts with details about cruising with baby so I've highlighted some of our experiences, hopefully someone will find it helpful! :)

 

Getting around-I debated on whether to bring the “big” stroller or the umbrella stroller. BRING THE BIG STROLLER! We used it so often, basically all day long, because of the size of the ship and I don’t know what we would have done without the undercarriage storage space and the bag, clips and cupholders. I met one couple who brought their jogging stroller and they did regret that decision. It was a little difficult

Room setup-we had a balcony room, and I know people get by with less but I don’t know how. It was pretty tight with the pack and play set up. My husband fashioned a curtain using a sheet and some string we brought and that was invaluable since DD has had her own room since she was born. We also have a skirt for the pack and play that goes around it and that helped as well. She sleeps with a sound machine set on white noise, so we had that and a fan and that helped block out noise from the hall. She had no problems being seasick and she slept well for naps and nighttime. If I did it again, I would seriously consider upgrading to a junior suite. My parents had this room type and it was GREAT. Full bathtub, plenty of room for her to run around, it was just great.

If you are traveling with relatives or friends and their room is closeby, bring the baby monitor. My parents were 4-5 rooms down from us, and the baby monitor worked perfectly. This was great because after she went to bed, we could visit in their room and we were lucky because they kept the monitor in their room while we went out for late night shows and such.

I brought take-n-toss sippy cups and spoons, and this was great. I brought disposable bibs but didn’t end up using very many. For diapers and wipes, I calculated how many I would need for 7 days—then doubled it and that’s how many I brought. I planned for the worst and this made me feel a lot better.

The one thing I wished so badly that we had brought was a battery powered clip on fan for her stroller. When we got off the boat at St. Thomas, it was just so hot and DD was sweating so much that I was ready to go back after about 15 minutes.

 

About the ship

There are 3 activities offered for babies/toddlers (6-36 months) a morning and afternoon play session, and an evening storytime session in the library. They divide into 2 groups (6-18 and 18-36). From RCCL’s website, I was under the impression there was a Fisher Price room on the ship; however, this is not the case. The staff brings Fisher Price toys and sets them up in a room used at night for games which is fine, just not what I expected. There is ONE changing table on the entire ship and that is in the bathroom on the pool deck, which is also the deck the Windjammer restaurant is on. I think this is poor planning on RCCL’s part, but it didn’t bother us as we changed her in the room or basically when we could find a corner. We had planned to use the in-cabin babysitting service, but because my parents kept the baby monitor, it ended up that we did not. I talked to several other parents and they had not used it so unfortunately I can’t give feedback on that service. As far as swimming, there is a baby splash zone with about 1.5 inches of water, which DD absolutely loved. I do wish there was a way we could have brought her in the pool with us though but apparently the guidelines for swim diapers and such on board a ship are extremely strict.

There is a toy lending program through Adventure Ocean where you can borrow a bag of toys and swap it out for others throughout the week. We only got 1 bag but it had some great toys that DD found very entertaining, this is a great program!

The staff could not have been more accommodating or friendly. EVERYONE spoke to us and tried to make DD smile or laugh. We never had a problem getting a high chair in either the Windjammer or in the main dining room.

If you wonder about germs and sanitization, I just don’t know how they could do a better job. At each play session, the staff had antibacterial wipes. They explained to me their strict rules for having to wipe everything down and that they have procedures for how often they have to clean things used by the babies and such…I had no worries about it whatsoever. Around the ship I constantly saw crewmembers wiping down handrails and basically anything in the public areas. There are hand sanitizing stations all over the ship too, and they got a lot of use!

We ended up having to visit the ship’s doctor because DD had developed a cough that would not quit and was causing her to have trouble breathing, something she’s never had. I was concerned first of all that the Dr. would not speak much English, and moreover that he wouldn’t be skilled in pediatrics or know medication dosages or anything. However, this was unfounded-the doctor, who was from Hungary, was pleasant and gentle with DD, despite the fact that we’d woken him at 1:30am, and was confident about the treatment course, dosages and everything. They had antibiotics for her (he diagnosed her with an upper respiratory infection) and breathing treatments. It was expensive, but between our health insurance and our travel insurance I feel like we’ll get our money back.

DD sat amazingly still and watched intently as we attended the ice show and several other of the evening shows. Cruising with her was definitely different than when it was just DH and I, but it was a great experience-I'd go again right now if I could!

[sas80]

Sounds like you had a great time! what a great report :)

 

One thing we do is bring a mister bottle (same idea as your fan) that way we can mist baby (and ourselves) if it is really hot.

 

Glad you had a great time!

[tinaka]

Great info..thanks hopesicle! Quick question for you...what level of solids is your DD at? We're taking my DS (11.75 months) with us next week on Freedom and I'm trying to figure out what they have available for him to eat. He's still mostly on pureed food, but will take a few bites of regular food (it just takes him forever to eat it). I'm thinking breakfast will be easy with yogurt, oatmeal, pancakes and fruit available, but concerned more about dinner in the MDR.

 

Edited to add: Also, what did you do about getting around CocoCay? I'm guessing the stroller would be useless, but am concerned that my carrier would make him too hot.

[hopesicle]

Unfortunately we weren't able to port in Cococay due to weather. We only had 1 bad day of weather but that was the one so we had to skip that stop.

As far as solids, DD is completely on table food and regular milk (she turns 15 months tomorrow)and eats all kinds of things. For your DS, they do have mashed potatoes every night, as well as different soups (including chilled ones like strawberry and pumpkin) You could probably mash up some bananas and watermelon...sounds like you may want to bring some baby food with you though, I can't think of anything else right now that would be soft enough

[hopesicle]

Great idea about the mister bottle! We'll do that next time for sure.

[BethV114]

What did you do about a car seat for your little one? We are planning on flying into FLL (or MIA depending on price) from NY and will probably purchase a seat for Kelly since she'll be 15 months and I don't think any of us would be very comfortable with her sitting on our laps. We also realize we need a car seat to go to the hotel and from the hotel to port, so I know it will come in handy there. My big question is what do we do with it on the cruise ship? It's one of those rather large convertable models and we've only got a D1 balcony cabin for our Allure cruise in December. Do you think it will fit under the bed?

We can't check it into ship's storage as an option because we're planning on taking a tour in Costa Maya and going to Chakanab in Cozumel and will need it for driving. We've already contacted the tour company we plan to use in Costa Maya and they are aware we'll be traveling with a car seat (and are fine with that and tell me they have seat belts, etc. in their vans to secure it) and will likely rent a small car in Cozumel so that we can just install the car seat for the day and then leave it in the car while we're at the park. So I guess we're covered in those respects. But again, what do you do with the darned thing in your cabin?!:confused:

[tinaka]

What did you do about a car seat for your little one? We are planning on flying into FLL (or MIA depending on price) from NY and will probably purchase a seat for Kelly since she'll be 15 months and I don't think any of us would be very comfortable with her sitting on our laps. We also realize we need a car seat to go to the hotel and from the hotel to port, so I know it will come in handy there. My big question is what do we do with it on the cruise ship? It's one of those rather large convertable models and we've only got a D1 balcony cabin for our Allure cruise in December. Do you think it will fit under the bed?

 

We can't check it into ship's storage as an option because we're planning on taking a tour in Costa Maya and going to Chakanab in Cozumel and will need it for driving. We've already contacted the tour company we plan to use in Costa Maya and they are aware we'll be traveling with a car seat (and are fine with that and tell me they have seat belts, etc. in their vans to secure it) and will likely rent a small car in Cozumel so that we can just install the car seat for the day and then leave it in the car while we're at the park. So I guess we're covered in those respects. But again, what do you do with the darned thing in your cabin?!:confused:

 

The only place I can think that it would fit is in the closet. Put it on the floor under the shelves to the one side. We've always put our suitcases under the bed, but that's about the maximum height of what will fit.

[skoorbnibor]

Thanks! great info!

 

we are sailing July 3 on the explorer of the seas, and I am finding conflicting information about baby splash pools... do the EXOS have this?

 

That is good to know about changing tables... I guess I have 7 weeks to potty train my not yet 12 year old! ;)

[Julienatul]

Great Review!!!

[gerif]

Thanks! great info!

we are sailing July 3 on the explorer of the seas, and I am finding conflicting information about baby splash pools... do the EXOS have this?

 

No, only Freedom class and Oasis have baby splash pools.

[pharmali]

No, only Freedom class and Oasis have baby splash pools.

 

Liberty has a splash zone too.

[CruiseCastaway]

Hi Skoorbnibor,

Just wondering how your cruise aboard the EOS went? We are cruising Dec 11-23 with our 20 month old. How did you find the activities and onboard life? Any tips would be welcome and appreciated :)

[IttaBit]

Great info! We're taking our 12.5 mo old on Oasis of the Seas next July and I'm already thinking (worrying) about how everything is going to work.

[B_Mc]

Great info! Wish I had found this before our first cruise with baby!

[JMB22]

Great info! We'll be taking our 19 month old son on the Freedom in January.

 

Did you use the ships PNP or your own PNP? If you used the ship's PNP, how was it? Clean? A regular size or a "travel lite" size?

 

The sheet idea to make a seperate room sounds great! We were thinking of doing the same. How did you secure each side of the string to the wall?

 

Thanks for your recommendation on the stroller. We have a jogging stroller and a regular stroller, but were considering a lightweight stroller too.

[B_Mc]

 

Thanks for your recommendation on the stroller. We have a jogging stroller and a regular stroller, but were considering a lightweight stroller too.

 

Can I just add that the stroller type really depends on your kid and your family's style.

 

We brought a medium sized but very light one (not umbrella, but just 1 step up) and it worked out perfectly. That being said, we were back in the cabin for every naptime and bedtime - because that's our kid and that's what works for us. If I had a kid who would nap in the stroller than a full size one would make sense. Depends, kwim?

[moohaha]

We took our then-12 month old daughter on the Allure of the Seas and I can offer some of these tips for that particular class of ship:

 

- Changing tables in MOST of the bathrooms. I rarely walked into a restroom that did not have a changing table

- Pretty much all of the restrooms also had Huggies wipes next to the changing table which was great. I ended up using only half of the wipes that I brought!

- Yes, there is a baby splash pool and it's great

- We used the nursery and it was wonderful

- We brought our umbrella stroller -- DD ended up napping in it every single day and it was sufficient for all the stuff we needed. I used a JuJuBe BeQuick bag to carry extra diapers and wipes, leaving a lot of room in the stroller. I personally don't think we would have needed our full size stroller despite how much we used the stroller. That said, I saw plenty of families using full size strollers so it's not an anomaly.

- We used the ship's PNP -- it was a nice Graco one. My only advice here is that they do not have proper PNP sheets -- they literally just bring an extra flat sheet that you'll have to fold around the mattress. If the sheet bunching up gets you a bit nervous, I would bring an extra PnP sheet; otherwise, I found the PnP itself to be clean and perfectly usable.

- on the first day, I asked the cabin steward to remove all of the drinks in our refrigerator. I then would grab lots of milk at breakfasts and just keep them stored in our fridge. (DD had switched to whole milk by then)

[dorito6778]

What did you do about a car seat for your little one? We are planning on flying into FLL (or MIA depending on price) from NY and will probably purchase a seat for Kelly since she'll be 15 months and I don't think any of us would be very comfortable with her sitting on our laps. We also realize we need a car seat to go to the hotel and from the hotel to port, so I know it will come in handy there. My big question is what do we do with it on the cruise ship? It's one of those rather large convertable models and we've only got a D1 balcony cabin for our Allure cruise in December. Do you think it will fit under the bed?

 

it will not fit under the bed. one time we put it in the walk-in closet on our room (JS on RCI) and the other time we just stashed it in the corner of the room (GS on RCI).

[CruiserTK]

We will be travelling with our granddaughter who will be 15.5 months old at the time. Do they have homogenized milk in the Windjammer? (I can't remember.) Also, as we have to fly, we were not considering bringing a car seat. Can you go into a taxi without one?

[crusinmama06]

We will be travelling with our granddaughter who will be 15.5 months old at the time. Do they have homogenized milk in the Windjammer? (I can't remember.) Also, as we have to fly, we were not considering bringing a car seat. Can you go into a taxi without one?

 

Florida law say no child under 4 is suppose to be in a car without one. Many of us here fly to Florida (including Fort Lauderdale) for our cruises. So we take car seats.

 

Why would you not want to? :D

[alj1208]

Good review with useful info for folks traveling with babies. I just want to add, however, that leaving a baby alone in a cruise ship cabin -- even with a monitor on in the g-rents' nearby room -- is not a safe idea. I am not judging you. I can see how it might feel safe.... but in my opinion, it's a false sense of security. You don't know who might have access to the room. An emergency could occur. I would not rely on that monitor, as things can happen very quickly.

[LisaT91403]

Good review with useful info for folks traveling with babies. I just want to add, however, that leaving a baby alone in a cruise ship cabin -- even with a monitor on in the g-rents' nearby room -- is not a safe idea. I am not judging you. I can see how it might feel safe.... but in my opinion, it's a false sense of security. You don't know who might have access to the room. An emergency could occur. I would not rely on that monitor, as things can happen very quickly.

 

I would have to agree with this. It's funny how everyone has different comfort levels about things. For example, we used in-cabin babysitting when DS was 12 months old and 3 years old. We don't use a babysitter at home, but we did on the ship. Go figure! But the though of leaving the baby alone in a cabin would never cross my mind, not even with a monitor in someone else's cabin (unless it was a cabin with a connecting door).

 

We used an umbrella stroller when DS was 12 months old. It was perfect for us. It fit really easily through all the hallways and crowds of people, was very light, and folded up small in the cabin. Again, it's just personal preference, but I would not have wanted our big stroller with us.

 

Great review!

[trevette1981]

Thanks for this review! I just had ny baby and I am already considering a cruise for us (although Daddy thinks it's a waste of money since she'll be 9months!LOL!) I like estimating diapers, etc. As a 1st time mom it helped!