babies on a first time cruise?

[Linzkane83]

hi everyone!!

 

new here on CC and first time cruiser in sept....

 

My husband and I are planning our first cruise in September(NCL Escape) and my mother in law has offered to watch the kids. I have a 1yr old and a 6 year old we were thinking of taking the older one and leaving the 1 year old with my MIL? thoughts? I think the older child would benefit more on the cruise than my little one, when I travel with my older child around that age he ended up getting really sick abroad :eek: ive been reading that cruises aren't very baby friendly? some say it depends on the cruise. have any of u travelled with babies? was there lots to do for babies? if you have the option of going with just your older child would you?

 

no mean posts needed just some real advice!

 

:confused::confused::confused:

 

thanks!!

[kitkat343]

The Norwegian escape is one of the few ships that have a fee based nursery available for children under 3. At this point, I would only sail on ships in which this is an option. However not all children will be happy with a drop off program at this age, so you need to be prepared for that possibility. The youngest we sailed with our first was 2, and he loved it but that's not very helpful for you. I'm sure other posters will be able to tell you their experiences with kids this age.

[cb at sea]

Cruises ate TOTALLY "baby friendly"...as far as the staff goes. Most ships have nothing for under 2-3 years old, tho...

No pools, no baby care....

 

If you can leave the baby at home, and take the older child, you'll have a much more memorable time. The baby, when they are older, can come later!

[mjkacmom]

I have 5 kids, and every single one of them has been left at home from a vacation with grandma (and were spoiled silly). I don't think cruises are the best vacation for babies/toddlers, even with a nursery. They can't use the pools, cabins are small, and naps could be problematic, hallways are narrow for strollers, shows aren't geared towards little ones...

 

I liked to be able to focus on my bigs. A couple of times, grandma would come on vacations, too. What we really enjoyed was bringing the older kids to specialty restaurants, like Le Bistro, because at home we stick to more casual restaurants.

[phred119s]

I think it depends on what the child is used to regarding trips. We starting traveling with out daughter when she was 8 months old.

 

Her first cruise she was at 13 months. It was awesome. Her second cruise she was just over 2 and not yet potty trained. She could potty when she wanted to, it just wasn't consistent. It got really consistent while we were on the cruise, but we did not let her swim. It was probably our worst cruise ever. About 3 weeks after we returned home she asked to go on another cruise. We told her not until she was potty trained then 10 days later she asked to wear panties and never looked back. We pulled off a surprise cruise (potty training reward) about 9 months later. She had just turned 3 and it was awesome again. Her 4th cruise is later this year.

 

Literally, the only thing that made #2 "bad" was she wanted to swim but couldn't which also kept us from swimming.

 

We drove all over Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming about 4 months after she potty trained and she did really well with it.

 

We are fortunate that she does well with vacations that aren't entirely kid-friendly.

 

If it were me, I would probably take both kids.

[kayhold]

Cruises are very, very baby friendly. The only thing is that there is no child care available before 10PM so if that is going to put a damper on things, consider it.

[Kerry's Girls]

Cruises are very baby friendly and I had a ball on all the cruises I took with my babies. That said, in your situation, I'd jump at the chance to enjoy the cruise with just the older sibling. Such a great chance for him to enjoy his vacation and your attention without having to make adjustments for the baby.

 

Best,

Mia

[JonG717]

If you're comfortable leaving baby at home, I would. We took our daughter on a cruise when she was 1.5. The cruise we were on had no splash pad or nursery options for under 3. It was exhausting finding things to do with her during the day since she couldn't go in the pool, taking her to long dinners etc. In my opinion, cruising is exhausting with kids until they can fully utilize the ship. My daughter is 3 and potty trained, so I'm really excited about our upcoming cruise since she'll be able to go in the pool and kids clubs. I'm sure you'll have a great time either way, but personally think the trip will be more fun/relaxing with just your older child :)

[Gardeneroflove]

Hi,

 

Dds first cruise was at 14months, my twins first cruise will be at 11/12 months, my kids are still nursing at that age, so leaving them behind would never be an option. Plus, cruise is a family vacation. I couldn't leave one /any behind.

 

She had a blast! We have great family memories! We did mdr nightly, just brought stuff- colors and stickers to play with, took turns walking while waiting.

 

We only used stroller during boarding, never on ship. We don't do shows, not our thing at this stage. I don't do pools or sun, but dcl had a splash pad, and she was pt'ing her second cruise. We don't leave our kids in nursary or kids club.

 

We never had a issue entertaining dd. She had fun carrying around my flip flops, or playing with magnets (magnets on the back of big foam puzzles). The clubs/nursary had open house hours we could take her to play with her (haven't been on ncl with kids).

 

She got lots of daddy time, I got lots of me time. We did Disney which has more for littles to do. Rcl and ccl were not as little kid friendly/fun. She was never bored.

 

It really depends on what you want out if the cruise and why you cruise. Dh works & I'm a sahm. Cruises are the easiest vacations for us-I don't have to do or plan anything, everything we need is included.