Cruising with an infant

[Kerry&LuAnn]

Anyone who has cruised with an infant (one year old), what has been your experience, tips, advice, etc.? Best cruise line for family with a baby? Thank you.

[cb at sea]

A 1 year old really isn't an "infant"!

If a pool is important for your and your toddler, then make sure the ship you choose has a splash area for diapered kids...not all do!

Most cabins only have showers, so either get your child used to spraying water, or bring a blow-up tub for bathing.

Bring all the diapers, wipes and other paraphenalia you will need....ships seldom have much for sale, if anything.

The dining room will puree food, so start getting your child used to table food....it makes life easier if you don't have to bring special jarred foods!

Cruising with your child is a family vacation....different from vacationing as a couple, but will fill the bill for your family!

[Woodmnky]

Sorry, I see that you didn't get much help on the Princess board. It amazes me how many people just assume that you want to spend your vacation without your child.

 

I have yet to cruise with a 1 yo, but I will be cruising for DS's 1st birthday in December. I have sailed Princess exclusively up to this point and really do love their product, however, I purposefully did not choose to sail with them with DS. As others have pointed out the facilities are very limited for LOs.

 

I can't comment on every lines policies and availability for little one's, but I will share why I chose Royal Caribbean. Several of their ships, including Freedom of the Seas, have the Royal Babies Nursery as well as a splash zone for those in diapers. The Royal Babies Nursery provides childcare for little ones during specified hours at an extra charge ($8 an hour I think). You have to reserve hours at the nursery, so you can't just drop little one off whenever you want, but there is the option to have some time without baby. Several of the Royal ships also have the Dreamworks characters doing parades, breakfasts and other appearances.

 

I also understand that there is an area where parents can go and play with their kids when the nursery is closed (and maybe open, I'm not exactly sure on this one). The nursery also offers age appropriate Fisher Price toys that can be checked out and taken back to your stateroom. When little one tires of the assortment you can exchange them for another bag if one is available.

 

I have also heard positives about Carnival's & Disney's programs for your smallest traveler.

[crusinmama06]

Woodmnky is correct - I thought you had already selected Princess as your cruise line. If you haven't, then the two most INFANT/TODDLER friendly cruise lines are Royal Caribbean and Disney

 

And they are for the reason that Woodmnky noted.

 

Both have Baby Water Play Areas - they may not be HUGE but they are there. On RCI, its on Freedom, Liberty, Indy, Oasis and Allure

 

Both have either nurseries or In cabin baby sitting for that age. They are fee based services but it is better than nothing.

 

RCI has toy lending programs and play groups for moms/dads & babies

 

Disney has fireworks and Disney characters

 

RCI has dreamworks characters on some ships

 

I WISH that Carnival, NCL and Princess would add some baby water play areas - but as of today - it hasn't happened. :(

[Kerry's Girls]

If you are booked on Princess, the one up-side for under-3s on Princess is that you can go with your child to the kids club and play there any time it's open. My one-year olds loved it - lots of toys and other kids to play with. Princess is not a great choice if you're looking to be able to have breaks from your child, but I sailed them a number of times before my twins were 3 and we always had a great time - we just had to be together 24/7.

 

Best,

Mia

[Marksmom]

We cruised on Carnival when DS was 11.5 months. We had a great time, my parents did go with us but it wouldn't have ruined our trip if it had just been DH and I. We didn't do any babysitting, once I took DS to the kids club for under 2 play time.

 

We had a great trip, would recommend a balcony at that age. We did all of our swimming in ports. We took a large jogging stroller, most people will advise against this but it really worked for us because DS napped in there a lot and this allowed us to stay out on the decks for nap time etc. A city mini might be a better option because of the easy compact fold.

 

We had a great trip with our almost 1 year old and would do it again.

[blitznbobs]

I went on Princess with a one year old and we had a fab time... yes there was not specific facilities for him but there were also no other children on board. This meant by the 3rd day he was a celebrity and almost all the crew and most of the PAX knew him by name... I think we were on the video at least 8 times!!

 

This was my introduction to cruising and if I had a one year old I wouldn't hesitate to cruise with Princess. As a Brit we tend to cruise with P&O now as the departure ports are more convenient and with a slightly older child (he's 2 1/2) then the need for kids clubs becomes more apparent but at this age I'd go against the crowd and go for a less family orientated ship as there are less kids and he/she will love all the attention.

 

BnBx

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Princess she was 1 years old, the play are was great

[mrsalexb]

We took our 9 month son on rccl last year and we had so much fun. My tip that I would like to share, that worked very well for us, is to feed the child at the buffet, then walk around the ship for about an hour and half...our sons bed time is 730 and with all of the stimulation and a normal bedtime schedule put him right to sleep in his stroller. we would place a blanket over his stroller and head over to the main dining room. The white noise of the restaurant kept him asleep and we enjoyed a nice adult dinner every evening. Here's hoping we can do the same next week when we take him at 20 months

[cantw8togo]

we would place a blanket over his stroller and head over to the main dining room. The white noise of the restaurant kept him asleep and we enjoyed a nice adult dinner every evening. Here's hoping we can do the same next week when we take him at 20 months

 

On our first cruise with our then 6 mos old son, we had hoped to enjoy a quiet meal while he peacefully napped beside us in his stroller... ha!...at age 11, he is still a night owl and likes staying up late. At that fateful dinner where he not only didn't nap, but he fussed the entire time; the maitre d' came over and asked if he could help and proceeded to cut up my DH's dinner so that DH could hold our infant and eat with one hand.

 

In hind sight, we should have insisted on the early sitting when we boarded. Now we know to be flexible with the dinner plans, go to the buffet, order in room service, or go for a walk outside if they start to fuss too loudly.

 

If there is one thing that I have come to expect when it comes to raising kids, is once you think you have them figured out, they will go through another phase and completely surprise you again!

 

Have fun with your 20 mos old on your upcoming trip!

[cherrycola]

We just came back from a cruise with our 15 months old to the caribbean.

We had a great time! Our son had a great time! He actually just started walking about 2 weeks prior to our trip. During the cruise he get to practice walking all over the hallway and the deck.

 

The crew really likes him, always wanting to say hi to him.

We cruised with NCL and they have what they called 'Under 2 Zoo', a place where kids under 2 can play with toys, but a parent must be present to supervise. We bring our son whenever he looks bored, and he usually enjoy playing with the toys there.

 

With NCL we couldn't bring him to the pool, but it wasn't a big deal.

We got a balcony room that has a sofabed. We let him sleep in the sofabed, he didn't seem to have trouble sleeping there. (He started sleeping through the night at about 12 months old, BTW)

 

He's on formula as he is allergic to homo milk. We make sure to bring enough formula powder. We get hot water from the buffet, they're always open.

 

Since there's no bathtub, we just use the shower handle to shower him.

 

Mealtime is quite tricky. The first few days, he's still somewhat confused with the new environment, and not too used with being with so many people. So he was able to just sit quiet and observe while we had our meals. We managed to eat at couple specialty restaurants and main dining rooms without problem. Toward the end of the cruise, he got bored with the environment and wanting to leave, so what I did was go to the main dining room and ask if I could have the food delivered to the room. And they allowed me to do that. (I didn't like the selection from room service menu)

 

We make sure that he get his daily naps (twice a day) to ensure that he's in good mood. When he naps, one of us stay in the room, and the other get to do whatever. We're also quite lucky that he is a good sleeper. When he sleeps, we could still turn on one of the bedlights and talk in low voices. We went to see 'Elements', an acrobatic and magic show with lots of loud music and bright lights. He still sleeps through that!

[kayakstef]

A little tip that has helped us: you can put extra diapers, toys, formula (if needed) and baby food in a separate box (we used empty diaper boxes - they have handles and are quite sturdy). NCL limits you to 2 pieces of luggage per person, but didn't count the extra box. We would recreate the luggage tag and tape it on to the box. We've done this on NCL and RCCL.