Baby Pool Question

[NewSalt]

A poster on one of the cruise line boards asked for tips about travelling with small children, and I replied with the suggestion I read here about bringing a small inflatable pool. You would have thought I suggested washing dirty diapers in the pool! "There's no room around the pool!" "Where would you dump the dirty water?" And others I was too traumatized to remember :D.

 

They scared me into rethinking our plan to bring one for DGS (14 months) on our cruise later this month.

 

Is there room for a very small (32-inch) inflatable around the pool? Is putting it on the balcony feasible? DD is bringing a sand pail, which we thought to use to empty the pool. Will this work?

 

Anything suggestions/tips/recommendations I haven't thought of?

 

Thanks!

[boulders]

I know that some on the Family board advocate blow up pools, but IME there is no room for them near a pool, especially something as large as 32 inches. If you want to use one on your balcony or in the shower, go right ahead. A blow up bathtub - that is only slightly larger than the child, would be more suitable for the pool deck.

[cb at sea]

Most folks use that "inflatable duck" pool/bath....that's large enough for a small child to splash, but doesn't take up much more space than the child itself. Empty into a floor drain. If you don't put alot of water in it, you can pick it up to empty.

[crusinmama06]

Oh my yes, I LOOOOVVVE those threads. :D Because on every single one of those lovely little threads where they say there is no room, I post a picture of a wide open deck. ;)

 

boulders is correct, in a way, that you just don't prop them near the busiest place at the pool if you are in the way.

 

You find an out of the way place.

 

New Salt -- haven't you learned that you never ask a baby question off of the family board? On the cruising boards, babies are the hot button items - NEVER to be discussed! :p;) LOL!

[mikesteg]

We found a great spot on Conquest:

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2832764810101336718eABZQr

 

It's in a little corner and the pole prevents that area from being too useful for traffic. A 36" pool or the duck style would probably fit in that corner such that somebody would have to try to walk into it. This area is under cover so has shade at least part of the day, and you can't see it but there is a floor drain under one side. The fountain also entertained the babies at times. Also notice the beer bucket on the ledge: we borrowed that to fill the pool. ;)

 

 

Somewhat ironically, on this cruise there was a lady with 5 kids ... one of whom was still in diapers... and they were happily playing in the corner of the pool nearest us. :rolleyes:

[B_Mc]

There is absolutely room! How silly of people to suggest there isn't. We had no problem with our little splash pool on deck and on our balcony.

 

We used a beer bucket to fill it (from the hot tub, not the regular pool) and just poured it directly over a drain when finished.

 

 

ETA: We were also on the pool deck during the less crowded times, for sure. We were up early and back in the room for afternoon naps when the deck was packed. We also took advantage of port days to explore and play on the ship.

[Katiebug430]

What an absurd statement, that there would be no room! We brought our Go-Pod activity seat and there was plenty of room to set it up next to our loungers on deck.

 

However a 32" blow up pool is a bit large and I would recommend getting the smaller inflatable baby tub style that several others have posted. It's not that much bigger than the little one and I don't think any of your fellow cruisers would object to the size of it. There is a Munchkin brand duckie tub that we brought to use as a bathtub in our cabin and for DD to maybe splash around in. Our plan was to fill it with water from the hot tub and then empty it down a deck drain.

 

The duck tub was great for bathing the baby. We just kept it blown up all week and left it in our shower unless one of us was actually IN there showering. We brought her swimsuit and several disposable swim diapers just in case we were able to have her splash in the duck tub on deck, but it ended up being much too windy and cool on this cruise. :)