Cruising with a baby...

[lidolovers]

We've enjoyed cruises as a couple for the past several years, but now have a baby. We're thinking of cruising with him on the Celebrity Eclipse when he's about 8 months old, but are wondering if we're crazy to consider this option!? We obviously know that our cruise wouldn't be the same as if we were baby-free and that we'd have to pass on a lot of the luxuries we enjoyed (lounging by the pool for hours, late-night shows etc), but we'd love to hear from those of you who have cruised with a baby around this age... How was the overall experience? Still enjoyable? Would you do it again? Were you able to go to the dining room or did you stick to Lido Deck alternatives? If you have any tips to make the experience better/easier etc, we'd love to hear them...

[mrs.mobster]

We cruised with DD a few weeks before her 1st birthday, and we LOVED it. She LOVED it. It was a fantastic time for us all. Like you said, we knew it would be different, and we were realistic about what we would be able to do, and how the cruise would be with a baby. We took early seating for dinner, we were in the cabin by 8pm so DD could sleep, and we just hung out on the balcony/ played cards/ talked etc. We didnt go to shows, or go crazy withe excursions. We are taking her again this late jan, just over a week before her 2nd birthday. :)

[mikesteg]

Different but just fine. Now is a good time to go, before they get too mobile. We took ours at 6.5MO and it was quite nice. As Mrs. Mobster said, no late shows, and in fact we only did sit down dinner twice. That had as much to do with the not so great staff we happened to have as the babies.

 

One thought: this time about we had booked Splendor, without thinking about the timezone. That would have made a very early night (and morning) for us. With the move to Miracle, their bedtime will now be at 9 or 9:30, and we may actually get to "sleep in" until 7:30 (ship time).

 

FWIW, we would never consider cruising without them, and we really don't have anybody to leave them with if we did. We aren't about to stop cruising, so there you go... :D

 

BTW, no reason you can't lounge by the pool, you just need to do it in the shade. If you have a good sleeper, it turns out that a towel-covered deck chair is a great place to nap. ;) For the baby, that is.... :o

[WeatherGeek]

I can't say that I've cruised with a child that age, but I hope I can still respond. We like to take 2-3 major trips each year and we started vacationing with our DD when she was 2 months old. The best thing I've learned is to go at the child's pace - it sounds like you already know this, but I can't stress it enough. If it's naptime, then go for a nap. If it's time to eat, then eat. I've found it's so much easier to acclimate to their schedule than to do it the other way around. And I have to say I actually prefer to vacation this way. It allows us to slow down and smell the roses so to speak. Plus, when we go at DD's pace, it ensures that she's in a good mood and well fed/rested at all times, which will make the experience much more pleasant! I suspect you will have a wonderful time and make sure you cherish all of the memories you make. He won't remember them, but you will!

[mrsalexb]

We just got back from a cruise with a 9 month old. It was great. He loved it, we loved it. I would highly reccommend taking the late seating for dinner (if its not freestyle). At 7pm we would put the little guy in the stroller and he would fall asleep about an hour later. Then we went to dinner and we were able to enjoy our grown up dinner. BTW my son has never fallen asleep in the stroller before....on the first day we could see he was in a zone so we put a thin blanket over the top of the stroller and he was asleep almost immediately.

I would also reccommend a good umbrella stroller like the chicco liteway. It is small enough that it maneuvered well through the ship. It also fully reclines with a great sun shade.

We had an inside cabin and had the stewart push the queen size bed against the wall and then had him set up the pack and play next to the bed. We had to scooch ourselves off the bed but it was a much better option that putting the pack in play in front of the sofa. The room was already 30-40 square feet too small to manuever around the pack and play. The room stewart did not want to push the beds against the wall because he was worried that he would not be able to make the bed look perfect...we told him that we were on vacation and we were ok without a perfectly made bed.

 

Next cruise we will make sure to either book a ship with larger interior cabins or upgrade to a balcony. While the inside cabin was doeable it did get a little stressful sometimes.