Cruising with little kids

[bangzoom6877]

Hi, I am going on the Norwegian Spirit in April 2006. My son is now 7 weeks old, so he will be 15 months old when we go. My sister has cruised with her kids before, as little as 6 months old. She said it is still a lot of fun.

 

So, how do you make it as hassle-free as possible cruising with a 15-month-old? We will be travelling with my sister, her husband and 2 kids, and my parents also. I am sure my parents will stay with him one night so we can go out. They have done that for my sister before, and I am sure they owuld do it for us too. I don't feel comfortable leaving him with a baby-sitter on the ship. What types of activities can you still do?

 

And when you are in port, are the taxis equipped for carseats? We will be going to St. Thomas, Antigua, Barbados, St. Maarten and Tortola. Any info or advice on travelling with little ones would be greatly appreciated!

[mommiemudd]

See my review on the Spirit and the Sun. Planning is the key! The taxis that I have seen were not equipped for Car Seats. On our first cruise we chose excursions that used a large bus. And we used NCL transportation from the airport to the pier because car seats were not required by law in public transportation. I did purchase a tote n go car seat off of ebay to use if needed. Some people say only do one or 2 hour tours but my child has grown up in a car traveling everywhere, so we were comfortable doing longer excursions with her. Plus, she will sleep anywhere! Go to dinner when they first open and get a window seat. That always kept our toddler occupied for the entire dinner. Use an umbrella stroller. Sometimes she would fall asleep on her way to dinner and we would just let her sleep away and do room service or buffet for her later. It was also handy to take on the excursions. We are going to these ports (except for St. Maarten) in a few weeks. Here is what I have planned:

 

4/18 Barbados. 1-6 Tour with Cameron Reid camireid@yahoo.com. Tour of island(cave and monkeys) and beach time.

 

4/19 Grenada. 7-5 Tour with Pete of Mystique Tours pmistictors@caribsurf.com. Tour of island and beach time.

 

4/20 St. Lucia. 7-5 Tour with Cosol cosol966@hotmail.com. Tour of island and beach time.

 

4/21 Antigua 7-5 GrandPineappleBeach Resort Day Pass. Taxi to resort. http://www.allegroantigua.com/english/Day_Pass.htm. Use this address to make reservations: reservations@antigua.allegroresorts.com

 

4/22 Tortola 7-1 Brewers Bay Beach http://www.bareboatsbvi.com/brewers_bay.html

 

Let me know if you have any other ?'s. Bring lots of snack and juice boxes!

[pengu1n]

If you don't normally eat out a lot, start practicing. It's hard waiting for your food (or waiting for everyone else to get done) if you're not used to it. We always traveled a lot with my kids & they understood how restaurants worked & enjoyed eating out(still do, 'course they're 22 and 19 now!) My friend who never took her kids out ended up with kids who she couldn't take out. Take some "fidgets" to dinner to keep him entertained. As it's been a long time, I can't really remember what interests a 15 month old, but I know my daughter scribbled at around a year, so maybe some crayons & paper. Pennies & a piggy bank kept them busy. You want things that are small, quiet, & portable, with some familiar things & some new things. One of the first things kids learn to do are "put in" activities, which you can make yourself. Something similar to the piggy bank idea, but maybe a 15 month would swallow the coins. You can use any container with a lid, like a Planter's nut can, Crystal Lite tube, Pringle's can, yogurt container, etc. Cut a hole in the lid, & gather some small toys to poke into it (Matchbox cars, kid-friendly coins, Fisher Price little people). You can get cute little erasers at the Dollar Store.

Have fun! At least you won't have to worry about whether or not the bartenders will serve him alcohol!!! :D

[zimmerjulie]

My best tip is to try your hardest to maintain their regular schedule in regards to nap, bedtime, and mealtimes. I know all kids are different, but if mine got too messed up in these areas, they didn't have much of a chance of going with the flow.

 

Don't forget the sunscreen and sun protection. The resorts that we visited had palapas for shade at the beach...that was nice.

 

We have cruised 3 times with little ones and, although we made some sacrifices (adult time, shows, etc.), we still had wonderful, memorable cruises.

 

P.S. We thought the kids menus were wonderful. NCL is great about bringing the child's meal out as quickly as possible so that the kids don't get too hungry and melt down. We had our waiter bring out a tray of the kids appetizers - carrot sticks, olives, celery + dipping sauce. The dipping kept our daughter busy for quite awhile, as did buttering the rolls. One thing that didn't occur to me on the ship, but that I realized at a restaurant back home after our cruise is that they do not bring the kid's food at too hot of a temperature. When the food hit the table, it was at a temperature where the kid could immediately begin eating it. Nice.:)

[bangzoom6877]

I know all about the time thing. My sister has 2 kids, and when we were on cruises with them (from as young as 6 months old), they more or less kept to the same bedtime, and the meals and naps were exactly the same. They normally go to bed at about 8PM, but maybe one or 2 nights they went to bed at 8:30 or 9. Mealtimes are not an adjustment for us. On cruises we always ate at times my son will normally be eating everyday (breakfast early, lunch around noon and dinner at 5:30 or 6). We do this because it's what we're used to at home anyway, ever since we were married. Nap times shouldn't be a problem because we can go back to the cabin any time, and he also has the stroller which I am sure he will be able to nap in (my niece did with no problem, through some of the daytime activities).

 

I will keep it in mind to bring some good toys that he could play with. And I do remember the children's menu being very nice and diverse for the kids. Even my older niece, who was just shy of 3 years old on our last cruise, found things she loved to eat. And she is picky. I remember them having mac and cheese, pizza, burgers, stuff like that.

 

One more thing though...are there refrigerators in the cabins of the NCL spirit? Just curious.