Please give me all the help I can get. Med cruise with 5yo & 1yo

[scarlett81]

May Celebrity Equinox 11 night eastern Med cruise. Departing from Rome.

 

Not asking to take pity on me! lol-We are looking forward to this...of course with some anxiety too. To me, a good trip = preparation. So I want to learn all I can. My kids are well traveled, for their age. 5 yo has flown at least 30 times, and my 6 month old already 6 times. We live in the nyc area and our 5yo is very used to 'restaurant' behavior, etc.

 

Its my parents 50th anniversary. This is a special trip. My mother is very active (probably more than me), and really wants our children with us. To be honest, to her thats probably more the gift than the trip itself. My Dad is healthy but has some physical limitations with his knees. He has to pace himself, which is fine of course bc with a 5 yo and 1 yo we'll have to pace ourselves too.

 

I have SO many questions. But I'll try to highlight the most important. I also just posted a question in the Celebrity forum regarding cabin size for our type party. If anyone has any comment on that I'd really appreciate feedback. Specific to family cruising-will the baby's crib take up so much room that we should upgrade to a larger room? We currently have a deluxe verandah room booked. We do want lots of ship/room time, not just go go go.

 

Specific to the needs of kids, will they provide high chairs or boosters in the cabin if we need one? Do I bring tons of baby food or can I get that there? Diapers-do I bring everything? Are there diaper/baby services that you can pay to fill your cabin with the needed things? (prefer not to lug 100 diapers to Rome and 20 jars of baby food)

 

Is there a fridge is the cabin?

 

Anyone have any tips on the most compact type of stroller to bring? Is my only option to store it in the cabin or can I check it somewhere else? What about car seats? Can I rent one from the ship for excursions, or when I get in Rome?

 

Any other general tips for cruising with young kids?-Particularly to europe. We are planning on arriving several days early to Rome to get the kids more used to the time change.

 

:eek:

[capriciousc]

I don't have any particular experience with Celebrity, so I can't comment on the cabin size, etc. However, we traveled extensively with our DD when she was still in diapers/on baby food and never had any trouble finding what we needed abroad. You should have no trouble finding baby food, diapers, etc. in Rome. A few things to consider:

 

1) We would usually use on online translator ahead of time to get the foreign language equivalent of what we would be looking for - diapers are generally easy to identify, but sometimes you can't tell if that baby food jar has sweet potatoes or carrots, you know? I usually put the words on an index card so I knew ahead of time what to look for. Another good idea is to convert the baby's weight to metric - diaper sizes are unlikely to be exactly the same, so you'll want to know the weight in kilograms.

 

2) I would call the cruise line to ask about cribs, high chairs, etc. If they have them you should be able to request them in advance. When our daughter was younger, we had something like this:

 

http://comfortfirst.com/p-32933-chicco-caddy-hook-on-table-highchair-w-3-point-harness-red.aspx

 

We used it whenever a high chair wasn't available. If you can find one that folds relatively flat, all the better.

 

3) I know they're bulky, but jogging strollers work better in Europe, in our experience. In very old cities, the streets/sidewalks can sometimes be really uneven and a traditional stroller can be difficult to push. (This is true even in Savannah, GA where we live).

 

I think your plan to go a few days in advance to give the kids time to adjust to the jet lag is an excellent one!

 

Best of luck with your trip - it sounds like it will be a wonderful time!

[Essiesmom]

Celebrity will provide highchairs/boosters in the MDR (dining room), but I have never heaqrd of them providing one in your cabin. If your child eats table food, they will be happy to puree anything on the menu for the baby.

You will have to book a cabin for four, they will not bring a crib into a cabin for 3. The quad cabins have an upper bunk, and a convertible couch. If your 5y/o sleeps in the upper, there will be room for the crib. But if he./she has to sleep in the foldout bed, there will be very little space for the crib.

Another option is to get connecting cabins, put the kids on one and you and hubby in the other. On Solstice class, cabins connect by a vestibule on the corridor, rather than a pass through door between the cabins.

A third option is a family OV/verandah cabin. These cabins are usually held for families of 5 until closer to sailing, but you might be able to snag one. On this class, they have rather small verandahs, especially those on Sunrise deck. And there are only four of these per ship. And, they are all the way forward.

I'm not sure how many Celebrity cruises foll ow this board, so you might want to post on the Celebrity board, too.

Lots to think about. EM

[kitty9]

I can just give you my experience in cruising the Med on Celebrity and with my God daughter. First, you'll probably get a Pack N Play instead of a crib for the baby. I would bring my own set of sheets for that, if I were you. Second, if you can handle it, I would suggest seeing if you can get a FV cabin as those are quite large, will give you some privacy between you and the kids, and will give your little ones a play area if they are tired and just want to be in the cabin. I've not heard of them providing high chairs in the cabins, and unless you have one of those FV cabins, most cabins would be too small to handle all that stuff.

 

Second, you need to bring everything with you as far as diapers, wipes and washes. They don't have those things on the ship and I don't think you want to waste precious time looking in ports for a store. There are lots of foods available for the baby and the kitchen will puree anything that you ask. The in cabin frig is basically a cooler and really can't be counted on to keep things really cold---just barely chilled. Ask your cabin steward to remove all the bar items in the frig so you can use it for your things.

 

Third, the baby must BE 12 months old on the first day of the cruise. Otherwise, there is no group or in cabin babysitting available.

 

Fourth, I'm not sure what itinerary you're on, but if it includes Rome and Florence, be aware that from the center of those two cities, to the cruise port is anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours long. Tours for those two places are a minimum of 10 hours long and not one that is conducive to young children. You might want to look into booking a private car for those two places because with that, you can return to the ship whenever you want. We did that with Katherine when she got tired or cranky. It was much better than riding on those tour buses with a crying child for so many hours.

 

Hope this helps.

[chipmaster]

Keep your port days simple... or leave them on the boat. Europe IMHO is all about the ports and that will be the challenge

[kitty9]

Oh, I forgot a couple of important things. Bathing the kids can be a problem as most cabins only have showers. Some bring a very small blow up tub to put on the floor of the shower to bathe the kids. Also, no pools for diapered kids on Celebrity ships.

[scarlett81]

Oh, I forgot a couple of important things. Bathing the kids can be a problem as most cabins only have showers. Some bring a very small blow up tub to put on the floor of the shower to bathe the kids. Also, no pools for diapered kids on Celebrity ships.

Fortunately my current 6 mo is only used to showers...its just something we've always done with both kids!

 

As for no pools for the baby I knew about that, stinks but understandable. I was thinking of actually bringing a tiny blowup pool-its really a blow up baby tub, so the little guy can splash in something. Do you think that would be ok? Its a small one.

[kitty9]

Fortunately my current 6 mo is only used to showers...its just something we've always done with both kids!

 

As for no pools for the baby I knew about that, stinks but understandable. I was thinking of actually bringing a tiny blowup pool-its really a blow up baby tub, so the little guy can splash in something. Do you think that would be ok? Its a small one.

 

That would be fine. But it might not be all that warm in May, and since this is probably a very port intensive cruise, you might not need it for splashing around.

[Kerry's Girls]

May Celebrity Equinox 11 night eastern Med cruise. Departing from Rome.

 

Diapers-do I bring everything? Are there diaper/baby services that you can pay to fill your cabin with the needed things? (prefer not to lug 100 diapers to Rome and 20 jars of baby food)

 

Anyone have any tips on the most compact type of stroller to bring? Is my only option to store it in the cabin or can I check it somewhere else? What about car seats? Can I rent one from the ship for excursions, or when I get in Rome?

 

Any other general tips for cruising with young kids?-Particularly to europe. We are planning on arriving several days early to Rome to get the kids more used to the time change.

 

:eek:

 

Bring all the diapers & wipes you need (and more) with you. You can fit all you'll need in the outer pockets of your luggage. You won't need baby food for a 1 year old - there is plenty of adult food that will work just fine.

 

Ships don't provide stroller storage or car seat rental. Bring your own car seat and booster for the kids and they'll store in the bottom of your closet. The stroller can be folded againt a wall or in the corner. I suggest a sit n' stand for both of them, or if you're not worried about the older child, a MacLaren is a great lightweight stroller that can handle Europe (I had a double MacLaren that did great in Rome and Barcelona), and was light enough for me to carry when necessary.

 

I learned after my first trip to Europe with kids that I don't worry about the time change - I just let them stay up later and sleep later rather than trying to force an adjustment.

 

I followed the good advice I found here and planned all private tours on our Med cruise. In my opinion, there is NO other way to go with kids. You plan your own itinerary, go at your own pace, don't worry about upsetting other passengers, and, ironically, it's much less expensive than the ship tours. Private tours plus snacks and amusements for the kids for any long drives and we had amazing port days. The only miserable time the whole trip I had was at the Vatican. Carrying a stroller through the infinite corridors, stairs, passageways trying to get my twins to keep going - none of us enjoyed it. Other than that, we enjoyed every other sight. One thing about Europe is that if you cut out the museums, the sights are outside, there are tons of parks and the kids feel like they're in a fairy tale. We got books ahead of time with pictures of what we'd see so they were even more excited when we actually arrived at each one.

 

Best,

Mia

[boulders]

Definitely book private tours. If you go to the Ports of Call board, you will be able to find recommendations for private tours there. I'm going back to the Med this summer and I've just lined up my private tours for Rome, Naples and Athens.

 

The first time I went, my youngest was 4 and the oldest was 14. The kids dealt with the time change MUCH better than I did. We arrived around 3 pm at our hotel after a redeye and a plane change. I ordered dinner and then crashed around 6 pm. The kids were still up! They went to bed at their usual time and got up at their usual time the next morning. They had no problems with the time change whatsoever. Meanwhile, I woke up ready to go at midnight, lol.

 

Most staterooms have small cold boxes. I wouldn't trust them to keep anything chilled for more than a few hours.

 

As a pp mentioned, try to get a family verandah stateroom. Bring the diapers and wipes. Have fun!

[scarlett81]

Thanks SO MUCH to everyone! And keep it coming with any tips :)

 

As for the diaper/wipe issue I fly often and they take up so much room and weight in suitcases. I just found an awesome service, babies travel light-they ship any and all baby products internationally. For cruises you just ship to the hotel you'll be at the night before and they guarantee it arrives in time.

We'll be going 2 nights before to help with the time change, so it won't be a problem.

I priced it out and for 15 days worth of diapers, wipes, disposable changing pads and stinky diaper sacks its approximately $50 more than buying yourself and bringing. So when the time comes, we'll see if bringing another checked suitcase is worth it, or doing this and just not having to worry about it.

[CeleBrat]

Another vote here for private tours in the MED. The tour operators are very flexible, and happy to change their itinerary should your child become tired or cranky. Also, those private tour operators often have "connections" that allow your group to bypass the line at the museums/sights. And, they will go where you want to go--for lunch!

 

We also took our booster seats with use, and used them in the tour vans.

 

There is a link to the MED review in my signature. My kids weren't as young as yours when we went there, but still lots of good info in the review.

 

CeleBrat

[capriciousc]

Miroslav Sasek wrote a wonderful series of children's books about major world cities:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Miroslav-Sasek/e/B001HD307E/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

 

There's one for Rome, and possibly others that might work, depending on which ports you're visiting. We have read these to our daughter in the past before visiting a new city, and it always helps her get excited about the trip.