Graco Travel System on Carnival Pride?

[Twiggie]

We will be cruising with our 7 month old and 6 year old. Has anyone taken their whole travel system (folding stroller and infant carseat) on the cruise with them? How did it work out for your? :confused:

[Kerry's Girls]

I had my large Graco Duoglider (double tandem stroller) on our cruise on the Pride and had no problem except that the stroller needed to be folded to get into the room. But since you can pop the seat out to fold the stroller, that shouldn't be a problem. I know others prefer the lightest stroller possible, but I always liked the more heavy-duty one that would provide the most comfort and be easy to handle.

 

Best,

Mia

[lulabelle522]

My daughter was 2 1/2 so she was obviously too big for the car seat but we did take the stroller from her travel system! Most people take the little umbrella strollers, but we opted for the bigger stroller for many reasons. If she fell asleep, we could lay the seat back and let her sleep while we still got to do what we wanted to. It also had lots of room in the storage area under the seat for a bag of stuff for her and a great place to stow things we purchased while in port. And the sunshade of course helps protect little one from the sunshine that we all look forward too :-) We found a corner to prop it up in while in the cabin but never had any problem getting around the ship with the stroller when we needed it. There are plenty of elevators!

 

Our son will be 16 months on our next cruise and we don't plan to take the car seat since we don't need it, but his stroller from his travel system is definitely making the trip! My girlie is 5 now so she'll be hoofing it this time lol. And daddy is always willing to give a piggy back ride if she gets tired. I have a dual stroller, but its not a side by side and when she's in it, it's way to hard to push around.

[jmspk19]

We were just on the Pride in December. We always always prefer to take the biggest stroller possible b/c of the length of the trip. We want our daughter to be as comfy as possible, plus it provides more storage options for the longer days on shore.

 

We took her in her stroller all over the ship, and there was little to no problem anywhere.

 

If you have a standard room, you will have to fold it to get it into the room...but once you get the system down, it's not that big of a deal.

 

Have fun!

[Twiggie]

Thank you all for the advice!

Another question: has anyone used one of those Baby Bjorn carriers on excursions in lieu of or along with a stroller?

[Kerry's Girls]

Thank you all for the advice!

Another question: has anyone used one of those Baby Bjorn carriers on excursions in lieu of or along with a stroller?

 

You may want to bring both. As long as baby wears a hat, that would solve the sun problem, but then you still need to carry a bag with all the stuff you need (water, snacks, diapers, etc.). I love the stroller just as a rolling diaper bag :) but if you're doing an excursion that isn't stroller friendly, the Bjorn is a good back up.

 

Best,

Mia

[QTMichele]

Thank you all for the advice!

Another question: has anyone used one of those Baby Bjorn carriers on excursions in lieu of or along with a stroller?

 

Another vote for both! Each one has benefits depending upon the terrain. I took my 14 month old (at the time) on the Freedom - I have a link to my review in my sig if you want to learn more about our travels with a baby. :)

[jac1976]

Thank you all for the advice!

Another question: has anyone used one of those Baby Bjorn carriers on excursions in lieu of or along with a stroller?

 

Yesl And I actually prefer it. It is so nice to not have to worry about steps or if doorways will be wide enough, etc. Although I do not recommend the Baby Bjorn. It does not distribute the weight as well as other soft structured carriers. For a 7 month old I would look at either an Ergo or a Beco Butterfly II. I went on a cruise in March and wore my 3 yo in a back pack for our excursions. It was great!

[Mack2]

My kids are out of the stroller age... but I remember taking the whole stroller system with us on our first Disney Cruise with all 3 kids...

 

While the full sized stroller was comfortable, it wasn't as convenient... it's a lot to lug around... So for things like the elevators (after show times and dining times) we would sometimes wait a little extra for less crowded cars... that type of thing. Also, the hallways can be narrow, so the turning radius of the stroller was a minor issue... Being able to easily do a 360 vrs rolling backwards.

 

It's not too different than if you had a nice car seat frame (e.g. Graco Snugrider), or fancy umbrella (e.g. MacLaren Quest)... but... it can be a lot of stroller to lug around.

 

 

Of course, this was 5-6 years ago... better stuff has come out since... but if you've got the 6 year old and the baby, go with the easiest thing for you. After that first Disney cruise, we found it easier to bring the umbrella strollers... but the kids were much older by then.

 

Have fun on your cruise with the kids! They'll love it!

[Twiggie]

Such great advice. Thank goodness I found this forum. :)

[092306]

We just got back from a cruise on the Glory with our then 11 month old and we brought the Chicco Liteway stroller in lieu of the travel system stroller and it was such a great decision. We wanted something more substantial than an umbrella stroller that could recline and not have to deal with the bulky and very heavy travel system stroller. The Chicco Liteway stroller is so light (under 15lbs), fully reclines and has a large canopy to shade the baby or block out noise. We remarked when we rolled the stroller into our cabin that we were so thankful we brought it because the other one never would have fit through the door or stored easily in the room. Think about how annoying it will be to have to move a sleeping baby out of the stroller in order to fold it up to get it into the room. It's now our go-to stroller for everyday use.

[nemard]

My husband and I got engaged on the pride and we'd like to go back and I was thinking about doing it in december out of baltimore since only 1 hour away. that being said we now have a wonderful addition to our family and our girl will be 7 months at the time I am thinking. Twiggie: can you tell me how your cruise experience goes when you get back? We would book balcony and wondering has anyone done the babysitting in the room or late hours to have some time alone? We are not going to be bringing grandparnets, thought I'd like to very much I'm not sure it will be do-able and if we just brought 1 we wouldn't want to share our room and that makes it too expensive! Any thoughts? thanks everyone. Just signed up today.