Help! What food can we bring for baby onboard?

[SammySH]

We are going on Carnival Sunshine in a little over two weeks and my friend has a one year old baby. She wants to bring a cooler with yogurt and few other of his favorite food items. He's a picky eater so we were wondering if that was allowed. They will be in an inside cabin so I don't think they will have a fridge. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Miller_KC]

A small cooler is allowed and I've never heard anyone have any problem bringing food on. In many ports you cannot take food off unless it is sealed, prepackaged commercial foods. We went to Hersey PA before a cruise out of Baltimore and carried several hundred dollars of chocolate on and no one said anything. We also took it off again when we returned to Baltimore with no issues.

 

We had balcony and interior cabins on the Sunshine, neither had a refrigerator. I hear that some of the newer cabins that were added on have them but I can't confirm that.

[hftmrock]

Here are the rules about bringing on food

 

Food Items must be pre-packaged and unopened; homemade items or pre-cooked foods will not be permitted onboard. Limitations on permitted food items are directly related to concerns for food safety and contamination prevention. We are unable to provide food preparation, refrigeration or storage for personal food or beverage items.

[SammySH]

Thank you both for the information. I'm curious @hftmrock, was this information on the Carnival website?

[Namelocg]

You can get yogurt every morning from the buffet. Ask your cabin steward for a bucket of ice and you can keep it cold that way.

[cb at sea]

They will have all kinds of "baby friendly" foods...yogurt, cheerios, mashed potatoes, applesauce, bananas, puddings, veggies to mush up....the child will NOT starve...guaranteed! Even "picky" eaters will eat if they're hungry enough!

[hftmrock]

Thank you both for the information. I'm curious @hftmrock, was this information on the Carnival website?

 

yes

[Elaine5715]

I would not trust the stateroom refrigerators to store any dairy products at a safe temperatures.

[SadieN]

Thank you both for the information. I'm curious @hftmrock, was this information on the Carnival website?

 

 

It's based on the laws of the countries visited. Ecosystem destruction is a big part of it. Cheerios (boxes can be found at the buffet) can be brought of but not apples. You do not want the cute dog sitting next to you in port.

 

Boxed cereal, Cereal Bars, gummies can be brought off. No fresh fruit, liquid dairy or meat.

 

****

Here in Southern California we've been invaded several times by foreign pests. In the late '80s/early '90's we had the Mediterranean Fruit Fly. Whole cities were crop dusted with Malathion. After the third time I got very efficient in wrapping and washing off the swing set.

 

Every country has its own rules. For example here are the rules of what can be brought into the US

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/82/~/travelers-bringing-food-into-the-u.s.-for-personal-use

Edited January 21, 2016 by SadieN

[Micahs Grandad]

I would not trust the stateroom refrigerators to store any dairy products at a safe temperatures.

 

If you leave the wooden door to the frig open all the time food will be nicely chilled.

[zqvol]

We are going on Carnival Sunshine in a little over two weeks and my friend has a one year old baby. She wants to bring a cooler with yogurt and few other of his favorite food items. He's a picky eater so we were wondering if that was allowed. They will be in an inside cabin so I don't think they will have a fridge. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

She can bring all the food she wants, but she can't bring a large cooler since those are not allowed through security.

 

Coolers: Small, personal-sized coolers no larger than 12” x 12” x 12” for the purpose of housing small quantities of non-alcoholic beverages and/or medications are permitted as carry-on luggage. https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2261/kw/cooler

 

The specified cooler is about teh size of a six pack of soft drinks, so not a lot of room.

Edited January 21, 2016 by zqvol

[hftmrock]

She can bring all the food she wants, but she can't bring the cooler since those are not allowed through security.

 

this is not true according to Carnival Rules (see my post above)

[zqvol]

this is not true according to Carnival Rules (see my post above)

 

 

My experience is that they don't care what you bring at embarkation, as long as you don't try to take it off. We always bring homemade goodies and have never been questioned.

[thomarvin]

Hi, I have an autistic child. We joke that we are the only ones that cruise with a whole suitcase of food. I have boarded with a stop and shop bag with five loaves of bread. I bring "his" favorites. PB & J included. He also takes lots of meds for various things that has to be in "his " yogurt. We have never had a problem.

[RuthlessBoss]

They will have all kinds of "baby friendly" foods...yogurt, cheerios, mashed potatoes, applesauce, bananas, puddings, veggies to mush up....the child will NOT starve...guaranteed! Even "picky" eaters will eat if they're hungry enough!

 

Not just hunger, but by bringing just favorites, doesn't that hold back the introduction of all foods?

[tkportersat]

I brought baby food, formula, some snacks. You can order rooms service each day and I would get my son bananas, dry cereal. You can also get yogurt and dry cereal at the Lido buffet as well.

 

Thank you both for the information. I'm curious @hftmrock, was this information on the Carnival website?

[hftmrock]

My experience is that they don't care what you bring at embarkation, as long as you don't try to take it off. We always bring homemade goodies and have never been questioned.

 

that might be your experience but since the rules are clear, I would not tell anyone to bring whatever they want. I would hate for that family to have to throw out all of their home made baby food because someone from cc said it was ok. the rules are clear and probably should be adhered to

[Schoifmom]

It's based on the laws of the countries visited. Ecosystem destruction is a big part of it. Cheerios (boxes can be found at the buffet) can be brought of but not apples. You do not want the cute dog sitting next to you in port.

 

Boxed cereal, Cereal Bars, gummies can be brought off. No fresh fruit, liquid dairy or meat.

 

****

Here in Southern California we've been invaded several times by foreign pests. In the late '80s/early '90's we had the Mediterranean Fruit Fly. Whole cities were crop dusted with Malathion. After the third time I got very efficient in wrapping and washing off the swing set.

 

Every country has its own rules. For example here are the rules of what can be brought into the US

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/82/~/travelers-bringing-food-into-the-u.s.-for-personal-use

 

OP was asking what she can bring ONBOARD, not what she can take off.

[chengkp75]

My experience is that they don't care what you bring at embarkation, as long as you don't try to take it off. We always bring homemade goodies and have never been questioned.

 

I don't question your experiences, but it is a violation of the USPH sanitation rules.

[SadieN]

OP was asking what she can bring ONBOARD, not what she can take off.

 

 

If her friend is bringing on food for her picky 1yo, assuming she'll be bringing it onshore isn't that big of a leap. You'd be surprised what we've seen taken out of people's bags onshore.

 

Many times things to be spelt out specifically to people.

[LilMissScareAll]

Urgh. I wrote out a long response and the Internet ate it.

In a nutshell. We brought some squeeze pouches of food for my 19 month old on our last cruise. Bring the shelf stable ones and she won't have to worry about a cooler. We had a mini fridge but only used it if he didn't finish the whole pouch (rare)

There are lots of baby friendly foods on board. My son ate fruit, bread, and pasta almost every night for dinner. Along with bites off mom & dad's plate.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

[elainmir]

I don't think I'd trust the temps on the fridge in cabin either. They are consistently not cold just cool.

[Billfrompa]

We are going on Carnival Sunshine in a little over two weeks and my friend has a one year old baby. She wants to bring a cooler with yogurt and few other of his favorite food items. He's a picky eater so we were wondering if that was allowed. They will be in an inside cabin so I don't think they will have a fridge. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

They don't need to bring much of anything. We've had two infants onboard (our sons now 6 and 12.) we simply asked our dining room waiters to " make baby food" and they made all kinds of good stuff right off the menu. My mother was with us,who raised a healthy little boy in the 1960's(me). She reminded me that We didn't have a lot of baby food; she made mine in a blender. By the way my kids loved every bite and it didn't even have additives or preservatives!!😊 Happy cruising! Bill.

[zqvol]

that might be your experience but since the rules are clear, I would not tell anyone to bring whatever they want. I would hate for that family to have to throw out all of their home made baby food because someone from cc said it was ok. the rules are clear and probably should be adhered to

 

The cruise contract is also clear that you cannot bring cameras. You think they enforce that one?

[hftmrock]

The cruise contract is also clear that you cannot bring cameras. You think they enforce that one?

 

 

 

you cant bring cameras in your baggage. And I am not against that rule. They have that rule so if it becomes missing or damaged, you cant blame Carnival because you should not have packed the camera. They also prohibit money and documents for the same reason.

 

They enforce it to the degree that if it goes missing... you are out of luck and will not get 1 penny in restitution. Their rules say no cameras in your luggage

 

I still maintain that if there is a rule, people at cc should not be telling new cruisers 'no problem, just ignore the rule'. If they know the rule and choose to ignore it, its on them.

Edited January 22, 2016 by hftmrock