Just back from CC with a 6 month old...

[miksilver]

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you. I know I turned to this forum to get us ready before our cruise :) . We did use the group babysitting, so I can answer questions about that as well.

 

My daughter, BTW did wonderful and loved cruising. She loved the attention, lights and even the motion of the boat! We are planning another cruise in 6 months and feel very confident because she loved it so much :p .

 

Kim

[gisi102]

HI

I am glad you had such a great time :-)

I will be traveling in June in W Caribean with CC with our son, he will be 1 years old.

Where did your CC cruise go to? Did you take any excursions with the baby?

Any recomendations?

 

I was thinking about using the group babysitting one or two days we are in port. Is it true they only watch them from 8A-12A? I wanted to do an excursion without the baby but it seems all the excursions are longer than the time alloted.

 

THanks

Gisela

[kitty9]

Yes, the group babysitting on port days is open from 8am until 12 noon.

[miksilver]

I was on the Triumph from Norfolk, VA to the Bahamas (Nassau and Freeport). My DH and DD and I went on two bus/taxi excursions. I was a little nervous at first just holding her in the bus without a carseat, but there's no other way to do those excusions. It was nice to see the Islands that way and DD was wonderful. It was very hot though.

 

Just be sure you have enough water and formula with you. I took some small 8oz. cans of pre-mixed, popped it open, poured into her bottle and she was good. I didn't have to worry about mixing at all. It was great for off the boat. On the boat, I mixed her formula. Just make sure you bring enough.

 

I thought about going to the beach with her, but I didn't want her eating the sand and having sand everywhere! I could just imagine a so-called relaxing outgoing going wrong really fast -- at least for my family. Maybe next cruise we'll hit the beach :cool: .

 

We didn't use the babysitting during the day. In fact, it was not even in the capers that there was babysitting during the day, or a sign-up sheet for it. We just used the sitting at night. I'm sure though if you asked the Camp Carnival girls about it they could tell you more about it. It might also depend when your cruise is and how many kids are on board. There were very few kids on our cruise and probably not must demand for it -- at least for the under 2's.

 

Anyway, I didn't want to be away from my DD when she was awake and enjoying everything so much. My DH and I orginally thought we would want to do a snorkling trip by ourselves, but as the cruise got closer, we changed our minds. We just didn't want to be away from her :rolleyes: . It worked out great and DH and I will probably snorkel next cruise ;) .

 

Hope some of this helped...

 

Any other ?'s....

 

Kim

[Jen516]

Thanks for the post. We are sailing in 2 weeks with our one year old son. How was the evening babysitting? We plan to be with our son during the day and to get the babysitting at night to give us some adult time. Thanks!

 

Jen

[Jen516]

ps. Forgot to ask... who were the babysitters? Waitstaff? Anything you can tell me would be great. Thanks!

[miksilver]

It's the Camp Carnival staff who are the babysitters at night. Don't worry, from the minute you board the ship, there will be crew members fawning all over your baby. They miss their own children at home being away for so long and all.

 

Even before I made it up to my cabin a Camp Carnival staff member was giving me a flyer about the first night meeting with the Camp Carnival staff. I replied, "I know my DD isn't old enough to attend yet". She said, "It'll also tell you about babysitting and have you fill out the forms needed." That's all I needed to hear to attened that meeting :rolleyes: .

 

At the meeting we filled out the necessary forms (just one page, front and back with mostly the parents information) and leave early because they address the 2-teen age that Camp Carnival caters to. If you have a specific question, just ask a Camp member and they are more than willing to answer you. :)

 

BTW, my husband and I loved the "adult time" on the ship. The first night we brought her, she wasn't asleep yet (so excited). We signed out a pager (which we kept throughout the cruise) so we could be reached at any time throughout the night if anything happened. In fact, the staff members encouraged us to call back whenever we wanted to by using any house phone. It made us feel so much better that we were welcome to call to check in whenever we wished. :rolleyes: I do have to say the next few nights we brought my DD to babysitting, she was fast alseep and never woke up -- "Easy money" as my DH said. Just to make sure though, we made sure to sign her up on the sign-in sheet hung outside Children's World (Camp Carnival) each night. That way the staff members knew we needed a crib. :)

 

The babysitting made my DH and I have a wonderful vacation with some "adult time".

 

Kim

[vetgirl]

Kim~

We too will be cruising with our baby this coming weekend on CCL. Thank you for sharing your positive experience with CC babysitting. We plan to utilize this service in the evenings, as well. Our DD is 10 months old and is a very easy going, laid back baby. I hope our experience goes as well as your did! How many babies per counselor? Was bringing her in awake that first night an issue? I plan on bringing her asleep....not sure if she will be crazy about a stranger trying to put her to sleep. Hopefully, by 10:00, she'll be zonked out, though. Did they have a crib waiting for you in your cabin when you arrived? Thanks in advance and I'm so glad you had a nice time and are ready to do it again so soon!:)

[miksilver]

There weren't many children aboard our cruise, so there always seemed to be more than enough staffers. I would say at least 4-5 each night.

 

They loved it when we brought my DD in the first night and she was awake. They immediately grabbed her up and started to play with and cuddle her. They asked if she was a crier, and I said only when she was really tired, like now. They also inquired if I had brought a diaper bag with me, I had. It was very simple. And when you have an infant, they let you come into Children's World. The rest of the parents have to stay outside.

 

There was a crib waiting in my cabin when we arrived. You should make sure when you get your cruise doc.'s your child is listed as INFT (infant). That way, the staff knows and can prepare properly.

 

Hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise!

 

Kim

[mkdawnt]

Okay silly question. We have cruised MANY times but never with our new infant. He will be 9 months when we cruise, do they charge for him? What do they provide, crib? Do we need a larger room?

 

Thanks

[kitty9]

Different cruise lines have different things as far as infants go. They will provide a crib and a high chair for the baby. They will not provide baby food of any kind, so unless your child is already into some solid food, you must provide it all. They will warm any infant food for you in the dining room. They don't provide diapers either. Most cruise lines do not provide in cabin babysitting, only group sitting in the kids club and that only begins at 10pm, nothing earlier. Some cruise lines will change diapers, but most don't do that---you will be called when your infant needs changing. Some cruise lines will make you pay the full third person fare, and some will only charge port taxes, while still others will make you pay the full adult fare even if they are sharing the cabin (this is the luxury lines only).

[lmran]

Thank you so much for all this information. I have found it hard to find info on this subject so your help is greatly appreciated. I was wondering what its like inside where the babies sleep. I know they call it a slumber party, but for the babies who are sleeping, is it quiet? My DD will be 16 months and I am hoping to get at least one adult night, but I am nervous about whether or not she'll be able to sleep. Any description about this would be helpful.

[vetgirl]

We cruised a couple of weeks ago with our almost 11 month old. Camp Carnival babysitting is unbelievably fabulous! It is nice and quiet in there at night. They have the TV on low and have sleeping bags laid out for the kids to relax. My daughters pack and play was off to the side so she wouldn't be disrupted of her sleep. The first night we brought her in already asleep but as soon as we laid her down, up came that head and she was awake!:rolleyes: The counselor urged us to go ahead and have a good time. About an hour or so later...I popped my head in(without her seeing us!) to see how things were. She was up and quietly playing with her counselor at 11:30 at night! Wow....we don't do that at home!:eek: At least she wasn't crying....so we went on with our night. We figured....I guess it's her vacation, too!;) We picked her up around 2:00AM(snoozing hard by then!) and got a full report on how she did. They said she fussed a bit before drifting off to sleep but they didn't want to page us for something so minor. They did a wonderful job with her and we were very pleased with how caring and thorough they were. For 6 dollars an hour...I wish we had such wonderful babysitters here at home! By the way, she had never been left with somebody she didn't know and did fabulous! Highly recommended and I can't say enough good things about them!:)

[lmran]

thank you so much! Its so comforting to hear that!

[Eskwire]

We will be taking our almost 9 month old at time of cruising (caribbean princess). How did everyone clean/sterilize their bottles on the ship? Also, my son likes a WARM bottle. How did everyone heat their formula bottles? Last part to question: :confused: are you better off with ready to feed cans or powder?

[vetgirl]

Eskwire~ We had a bottle cleaning "kit" which had a bottle brush, small container of dish detergent and a bottle drying tray. We use powder and home and it was just as easy as ready to feed since my DD likes her bottles warm as well. I brought a 16 oz. tupperware bottle to mix it up in one bottle at a time(no need to refrigerate extra). I would just heat up 8 oz. of water in the cabin sink filled up with scalding hot water. It only took about 5 minutes to heat up. Yes...sounds like alot of work...but I realized quickly on this last cruise that is definitely time consuming cruising with a baby! But.....I wouldn't have it any other way!;) Have fun cruising with your little one!

[vetgirl]

Imran~ We cruised on the Fantasy too! If you put your little one in Camp Carnival....make sure you request Luminita as your counselor. She was so sweet to our daughter! You will love her!

[miksilver]

I also brought along a bottle washer (with suction cup on the bottom), and small container of dish soap. We just used the extra towels to dry our bottles on. My DD is not that particular about warm or room temperature bottles, but if we did heat one up we just poured hot water in the sink as well.

 

The one thing that worked out great for us was the 4oz. individual packets of formula. I just kept them in my diaper bag for on the go feeding. I just filled a bottle with plain water and mixed the formula on the go when I needed it. I didn't have to worry about it going "off" being pre-mixed in the hot weather. I also had 2 cans of small formula with me. I only went through one, but since you can't buy formula on the ship, I wanted to make sure I had enough.

 

I also packed 3 8oz. cans of ready to feed formula. I used these when we were on excursions on the Islands. They were a lifesaver. I didn't have to worry about mixing, bathrooms, sinks or anything. One time I even fed her in our taxi while on an excursion.

 

Also, if you are going to be in hot weather, don't forget water. I always had a bottle of just water ready for her. She gulped up the water in the hot weather and it made me feel better that she wasn't overheating and getting in her liquids. She also looked so much better when she drank that water :) .

 

It was a little annoying to have to wash the bottles, but no different than when at home. At least I didn't have to do laundry, cook, go to work, etc... It's a vacation with my family and I wouldn't have it any other way, more work or not. :p

 

Kim

[lmran]

Thanks again vet girl. Another thing we have in common is the last cruise my dh and I went on was our "baby making" cruise. This is our first cruise since.

[Eskwire]

Milksilver--did you use the water from the tap to mix the powdered formula or did you purchase bottled water?

[miksilver]

I brought on a whole bunch of those small 8oz. water bottles with me, but after I ran out of them I just used the water from the tap. I usually use my purified tap water at home for her and this water seemed even purier than that. I think it's the ships many filtration systems... Anyway, she didn't have a problem at all with the ships water.

[Eskwire]

Thanks, miksilver!