Westerdam 4 night cruise with 7mo old baby?

[honkanen]

My wife and I were wanting to send my mom on a cruise for her birthday and we'd join her with our 7 month old baby (at the time of sailing). We'd be on the cruise from Vancouver - San Diego for 4 nights in Sept. This will be the 1st cruise for my mom. What do you guys think about us bringing our 7 month old baby with us? Disaster in the making or not too bad? He'd probably still be breastfeeding. We've told my mom rav reviews about our Caribbean 7nt Carnival cruise with it's awesome food and great Vegas style shows after dinner. Is the food & show comparable on HAL? Also, with our baby, we might miss out on the scheduled dinner time... do we basically get the same food via room service if we need to stay in our room? (any extra cost?)

 

Thanks!

 

Our other option is a 3 night cruise Vancouver - LA on Princess (Golden Princess)

[LADYLAYLA]

I think the 7 month old onboard should be fine. Food on any cruise line is subjective as is entertainment but I feel the food is better and entertainment maybe not so, it depends on who is onboard

 

You do not have to select a fixed dinner time, HAL does have a dining option in the MDR that allows you to walk in (Open seating). It also has the Canaletto, the Lido and of course Room service. You may order dinner from the Dining Room menu if done I believe within the 1st 30 minutes the MDR is open

 

All of the above is at no extra cost :)

 

Whichever you choose, hope you and your mother enjoys the cruise!

[Hobbsey]

I love kids, honest I do. I'd hope though that you'd be considerate parents. Please be aware of the stoller blocking the passage ways, be aware of others enjoyment in the public rooms if the baby gets fussy, that kind of thing.

 

Also, not sure if you saw the previous thread from a week or so ago, just be ready for lots of oogling from the passengers. If you don't want your baby touched and breathed on then be ready to stand guard.

 

Enjoy.

[kazu]

From a comparison point of view I think you will be happy on HAL. My only concern is YOU won't have much of a vacation watching the little one:D HAL does have some babysitting services. You need to ask when you board. Not sure what the age limit would be, but it might be a nice treat for you to have a couple of hours to yourself if it's do-able;)

 

Just a thought - and you will be fine - folks on HAL are quite nice with children;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

You will be fine -- taking a 4 day cruise is good introduction as to how things will go with the baby and what you can expect if your book other cruises in the future.

[sail7seas]

Cruising with a seven month old is very different than a 2 12/ year old child. :)

If you're so inclined to take baby now, why not? Go for it. You don't say what size cabin you are booking but if Gram is sharing with Dad, Mom and baby, conditions could be a wee bit crowded. :)

 

[honkanen]

Thanks for the great replies. As for the type of cabin, we're hoping to get 2 ajoining "oceanview" rooms. We noticed they have a suite with a pull-out sofa for one person but that might not be so comfortable for gma.

[SadieN]

Thanks for the great replies. As for the type of cabin, we're hoping to get 2 ajoining "oceanview" rooms. We noticed they have a suite with a pull-out sofa for one person but that might not be so comfortable for gma.

 

Just want to make sure you are using the correct wording for the cabins.

Adjoining are next to each other

Connecting have the door.

 

Check out the family cruising boards for more info about cruising with an infant.

 

For the suite confirm what type of sofa. The regular single sofa/beds are fine. The folding sofa bed that sleeps two can be uncomfortable. The sofa in our SA on the Westerdam was not good. We could feel the bar across our backs. (We do not feel the bar in our sleeper sofa at home.)

If there is a pad available someone will chime in about it.:)

[garydm]

Keep in mind this can be a bouncey ride down the Pacific coast.

 

Gary

[JackHamilton]

My wife and I were wanting to send my mom on a cruise for her birthday and we'd join her with our 7 month old baby (at the time of sailing). We'd be on the cruise from Vancouver - San Diego for 4 nights in Sept.

 

We had the same choice and decided on the Westerdam to San Diego. Are you on the Westerdam?

 

I did a Trans-Atlantic in 2009, and one of the other Cruise Critic members had a very young baby. They did fine as far as I could tell. Make sure you register the baby for the Mariner Society - might as well start piling up those credits early!

[cruz chic]

Keep in mind this can be a bouncey ride down the Pacific coast.

 

Gary

 

So true. I had 30 foot waves on one cruise.

[Appygirl]

Keep in mind the boats that do the 3 or 4 days either direction between LA or San Diego and Vancouver are basically party boats. I bumped into a former coworker at the tail end of a repositioning cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver - she got on in LA. 3 nt cruise & one way airfare $399. Also getting on were approximately 1000 passengers under 30. Those kind of prices make it very affordable for the younger crowd. Princess probably made more in their bar tab on those last 3 days than the first 15! Drunken revelers running up and down the hallways getting into fist fights. Security hot on their heels throwing them into the brig. I've never seen anything like it on any other cruise! If this had been my first cruise I'd probably never set foot on another line again! If your mom is a party animal she'll love this shorter cruise. Otherwise you might want to consider a 7 night to Alaska or Carribean for a quieter atmosphere.

[Hobbsey]

Keep in mind the boats that do the 3 or 4 days either direction between LA or San Diego and Vancouver are basically party boats. I bumped into a former coworker at the tail end of a repositioning cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver - she got on in LA. 3 nt cruise & one way airfare $399. Also getting on were approximately 1000 passengers under 30. Those kind of prices make it very affordable for the younger crowd. Princess probably made more in their bar tab on those last 3 days than the first 15! Drunken revelers running up and down the hallways getting into fist fights. Security hot on their heels throwing them into the brig. I've never seen anything like it on any other cruise! If this had been my first cruise I'd probably never set foot on another line again! If your mom is a party animal she'll love this shorter cruise. Otherwise you might want to consider a 7 night to Alaska or Carribean for a quieter atmosphere.

 

Those 3 night weekenders out of LA, or Miami, or where-ever are completely different than one way repositioning cruises. Others can speak from actual experience but I'd not expect a HAL repositioning cruise to be overly populated with drunken revelry.

 

But, as some other folks have mentioned, you can get some dicey weather any time you travel in shoulder season between home ports.

[Nancyquilts]

What a lovely birthday. Would you talk to my kids?:D

[honkanen]

Oh man! Bad weather down the Pacific and tons of drunken 20 something year olds? I'm gonna say this may not work for us. We were looking for a relaxing cruise with some good food and good shows after dinner type of thing. Unfortunately we can't really afford the Alaska cruise. We could do a Caribbean one but I doubt my baby boy will handle the flight from Vancouver to Miami too well.

[JackHamilton]

I'm thinking (and hoping) that there will not be a drunken-20-year-old problem. Three reasons: 1) College will have started by late September, so we won't have the college crowd; 2) HAL tends to draw an older demographic; 3) The one short repositioning cruise I've been on, from San Francisco to Vancouver, did not have any drunken crowds.

 

As for the rough seas, it's hard to say. That repositioning I mentioned above did not have rough seas, and I've heard that northbound is worse than southbound. In any case, there are different kinds of rough seas. I have been in 30+ foot waves on the Atlantic, and it was not nearly as bad, for me, as part of the Inside Passage in Alaska. Even if there are rough seas, they might not bother you.

 

But just in case, you should probably get a mid-ship lower-deck cabin.

[Hobbsey]

Oh man! Bad weather down the Pacific and tons of drunken 20 something year olds? I'm gonna say this may not work for us. We were looking for a relaxing cruise with some good food and good shows after dinner type of thing. Unfortunately we can't really afford the Alaska cruise. We could do a Caribbean one but I doubt my baby boy will handle the flight from Vancouver to Miami too well.

 

The chances of 30 foot seas are not great, The chances of some wind and rain are 50/50 for at least part of the voyage. Luckily, there is a retractable roof for the lido pool.

 

The drunken partyers stay on the long weekend cruises for the most part. I doubt you'll have many that want to embark and disembark from separate cities. I think that if you just realize that this is not a tropical get away but rather a ship board adventure you should be happy.

[JackHamilton]

I think that if you just realize that this is not a tropical get away but rather a ship board adventure you should be happy.

 

Absolutely! We did a 4 night "mini-Mexican" on Princess in December. It rained every day, and there was a lot of wind. We didn't make it off the ship in one port, and only went to the dockside souvenir shop in the other.

 

And we had a great time! No pressure to do anything, no competition for the outdoor swimming pool. Just lots of relaxation.

[sapper1]

As to the 30 ft. seas, I was on the same cruise as Lorekauf and it was pretty rough---the kind of sea that has you flat on your back while it lasts.

 

As to the drunken partying---not a problem on a HAL ship. I can honestly say that I have never encountered anyone whose drinking habits proved disruptive on any of our HAL cruises. That is not to say it doesn't happen but it is not something I would worry about. Most of the passengers are older and wiser.