Cruising With 1 Year Old

[MistyRo76]

Not sure where I originally heard about the strollershed not being allowed in the dining room however I'll call Carnival to find out from the horses mouth and let everybody know what they say. Our night activities sound lots like yours...no clubs or casinos but a comedy show for me and a production show for the wice. We can always split up for that to make logistics easier. Outdoor movies, eating, strolling around, eating some more etc. The extra half bath with tub in the oceanview was a no brainer for us and I'm sure it will be worth every penny.

 

The stroller in the dining room is not an issue at all. Once we got her in the high chair, the waiter would store the stroller out of the way and retrieve it when needed. Some nights if she was sleepy, we'd just pull her stroller right up to the table between us and move the high chair outta the way. The wait staff couldn't have been more helpful and accommodating.

[ugagal07]

We took DS at 16 months and will be taking DD at 18 & 24 months. Cruising with a baby is different, but still fun. Here are a few things we figured out.

 

Bring LOTS of diapers, wipes, cream, and baby meds. Prices on board are really high and they have a very limited selection. Bring plenty of the little plastic table covers. Easy to stick to the table and let baby feed himself. Bring extra sippy cups/bottles. Look for local options in ports, easy things. We did beach days. Get off the ship, walk to the beach, play, walk back. Go to the open play time at Camp Carnival. TONS of toys and they are all 'new' so kids love it. If you don't want the hassle of a stroller all the time, Carnival rents them. Money well spent for us. Used it for port days and didn't stress about ours. We also babywear and that was a huge help. Bring some 'new' small toys and books. Not a huge worry if they get lost but can easily be pulled out and put away. We went with a balcony for the first time. SO WORTH IT! (If you can swing it.) We took the inflatable tub for the shower and as a balcony pool and never used it. He loved the shower. The balcony was great for naps and early bed times. Someone would go grab a snack and we'd enjoy adult time. Balcony was also great for bubbles, toy cars, animals, coloring, etc.

[CruiseBride926]

I just posted the following on another thread concerning babies on board. While it will upset some, have a read:

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

 

Okay, I'm going to upset a lot of people with my opinion:

 

 

 

I would never bring a child on a ship who is not ambulatory and who does not have basic speaking / language comprehension ability. Crying in public or diapers in a pool do not concern me, but evacuation does.

 

 

 

Why?

 

 

 

The unthinkable, think of Costa Concordia, or a similar calamity that could strike the ship, and the need to evacuate quickly, sometimes not as you might imagine it during the muster drill.

 

 

 

How might you carry your baby if forced to climb down a "Jacobs" rope ladder down the side of the ship? You had best have a back harness to put your baby in. Never assume that you will always get into an assigned life boat. What if you have to enter the water before climbing on to a boat?

 

 

 

Yes the chances of this are very slim, but it is worthy of serious thought.

 

 

 

Otherwise, look up the names Titanic (obvious), Empress of Ireland, Morrow Castle, Andrea Doria, Prinsendam, Oceanos, Estonia, Sun Vista, Achille Lauro, and the list goes on and on. On some of these babies, not to mention entire families were lost. On some, all were saved, but to put a baby through that?

 

 

 

Never assume that in a calamitous situation that other passengers, many in a panic, or the crew will give you priority over others. Sad, but true.

 

 

 

Sorry to take a different tack on this, but I feel it should be mentioned.

 

__________________

 

 

 

To say this is a huge reach would be the understatement of the century. This same logic could be applied to any situation so by your standards we shouldn't leave the house ever.

 

 

 

 

 

Although I will now bring my baby carrier just in case [emoji23]

 

 

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[loubetti]

To say this is a huge reach would be the understatement of the century. This same logic could be applied to any situation so by your standards we shouldn't leave the house ever.

 

Although I will now bring my baby carrier just in case [emoji23]

 

 

I made my comments figuring I would receive no agreement and apples/oranges comparisons to boot, which are irrelevant. Planes, trains and cars being the same as a ship with thousands on board, are you kidding? Crew training? You never know how crew members will react or act when the s---t really hits the fan. Always be prepared to be the sole person(s) responsible for your safety under such circumstances.

 

Oh well, at least I was not let down with the responses- exactly as I predicted! :cool:

[duchessuta]

I'm planning on taking my LO three days after he turns 6 months. I am so glad to read this thread. I was planning on asking the same thing. :)

[cruiseondude]

I just posted the following on another thread concerning babies on board. While it will upset some, have a read:

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Okay, I'm going to upset a lot of people with my opinion:

 

I would never bring a child on a ship who is not ambulatory and who does not have basic speaking / language comprehension ability. Crying in public or diapers in a pool do not concern me, but evacuation does.

 

Why?

 

The unthinkable, think of Costa Concordia, or a similar calamity that could strike the ship, and the need to evacuate quickly, sometimes not as you might imagine it during the muster drill.

 

How might you carry your baby if forced to climb down a "Jacobs" rope ladder down the side of the ship? You had best have a back harness to put your baby in. Never assume that you will always get into an assigned life boat. What if you have to enter the water before climbing on to a boat?

 

Yes the chances of this are very slim, but it is worthy of serious thought.

 

Otherwise, look up the names Titanic (obvious), Empress of Ireland, Morrow Castle, Andrea Doria, Prinsendam, Oceanos, Estonia, Sun Vista, Achille Lauro, and the list goes on and on. On some of these babies, not to mention entire families were lost. On some, all were saved, but to put a baby through that?

 

Never assume that in a calamitous situation that other passengers, many in a panic, or the crew will give you priority over others. Sad, but true.

 

Sorry to take a different tack on this, but I feel it should be mentioned.

__________________

 

While I don't agree with you - you do raise a good point - to think about and plan for. When I travel with my children - car/auto/plane - I know or think I know, what I would do in the case of an emergency. I can say, I need to have my game plan for cruising with the girls and the lifeboat. So thank you for that - but like others, I would never travel without my girls again.

[TrinaLC]

I just posted the following on another thread concerning babies on board. While it will upset some, have a read:

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Okay, I'm going to upset a lot of people with my opinion:

 

I would never bring a child on a ship who is not ambulatory and who does not have basic speaking / language comprehension ability. Crying in public or diapers in a pool do not concern me, but evacuation does.

 

Why?

 

The unthinkable, think of Costa Concordia, or a similar calamity that could strike the ship, and the need to evacuate quickly, sometimes not as you might imagine it during the muster drill.

 

How might you carry your baby if forced to climb down a "Jacobs" rope ladder down the side of the ship? You had best have a back harness to put your baby in. Never assume that you will always get into an assigned life boat. What if you have to enter the water before climbing on to a boat?

 

Yes the chances of this are very slim, but it is worthy of serious thought.

 

Otherwise, look up the names Titanic (obvious), Empress of Ireland, Morrow Castle, Andrea Doria, Prinsendam, Oceanos, Estonia, Sun Vista, Achille Lauro, and the list goes on and on. On some of these babies, not to mention entire families were lost. On some, all were saved, but to put a baby through that?

 

Never assume that in a calamitous situation that other passengers, many in a panic, or the crew will give you priority over others. Sad, but true.

 

Sorry to take a different tack on this, but I feel it should be mentioned.

__________________

 

Sorry, and I know you mean well, but this is just silly. Same "concerns" would apply to elderly persons and frankly any child under the age of perhaps 6 or so would be unable to handle climbing down a rope ladder.

 

And I'm sure that statistically one's odds are far worse putting a child in a car seat and heading off on the road.

[Micahs Grandad]

We have taken our young grandchildren on cruises several times now and we do take precautions and hope to do another one with them next year.

[CruisingKittens]

I didn't see this mentioned above but if your child likes to be worn (in a baby/toddler carrier), that might be a better option rather than a stroller. Strollers are harder to navigate between narrow hallways, crowded buffets and theaters. We will be sailing this Fall and will be wearing our two year old when he would prefer not to walk.

 

Also, there's nothing wrong with being aware of your surroundings and having an exit strategy in case of an emergency. Just have a safe plan in case something bad happens and share it with your family ahead of time.

 

Hope y'all have a great time!

[DebJ14]

Maybe I'm just a crotchety old fart but I don't remember any of the family vacations I took when my kids were tots as being much fun. Lugging all that baby paraphernalia, crying tired babies who are off schedule, trying to fix formula bottle in hotel, diaper changes....it got to where by the time the last kid arrived I opted to just stay home till they were much older. I can't even imagine lugging all that stuff and a baby on a cruise ship. But to each his own. My kids were rather homebodies in that they really always much preferred to be at home. Maybe I just got defective non traveler kids. [emoji6]

 

I agree with you. It was like moving the Army to the Russian Front to go anywhere when the kids were little. When I grew up I stayed with my grandparents when my parents went away together. We always had at least one family vacation every year, either in Florida or the Jersey shore.

 

Thankfully, my parents kept our kids. starting when the oldest was 3. for one week every year so that we could have our adults only vacation. We always took the kids away for a week for the family vacation (Disney, Sea World, a family cruise etc) so they were not deprived. Unlike your kids, ours traveled well, just required lots of "stuff."

 

Our boys grew up thinking it was perfectly normal for the kids to stay home while their parents went on vacation. Besides, it strengthened their relationship with their grandparents. I am not sure who looked forward to it more, the kids or their grandparents.

 

When our GS was a year our son and DIL asked us to keep him so they could take a cruise. We happily complied, and have kept the grandkids at least once a year for the past 12 years so their parents could have a vacation together.

 

We firmly believe that the vacations have strengthened our marriages. My parents were married 64 years (until death did them part). We have been married 42 years and the "kids" have been married 17 years.

 

We also believe that having the grandkids by themselves has strengthened our relationships with them. We have further strengthened the family bonds by having all 3 generations vacation together. We rent a house together each summer and every year we either take a cruise together or go to an all inclusive together.

[CruiseBride926]

I made my comments figuring I would receive no agreement and apples/oranges comparisons to boot, which are irrelevant. Planes, trains and cars being the same as a ship with thousands on board, are you kidding? Crew training? You never know how crew members will react or act when the s---t really hits the fan. Always be prepared to be the sole person(s) responsible for your safety under such circumstances.

 

 

 

Oh well, at least I was not let down with the responses- exactly as I predicted! :cool:

 

 

 

I'm not sure why you quoted me seeing as how I didn't completely disagree with you. My point isn't that the things you could describe could never happen just more so that you can't let the "what ifs" keep you from doing things with your children. Like I said there are risks with everything. Maybe not the same type of risks but risks none the less.

 

 

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[MCFTJCH2V]

I just posted the following on another thread concerning babies on board. While it will upset some, have a read:

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Okay, I'm going to upset a lot of people with my opinion:

 

I would never bring a child on a ship who is not ambulatory and who does not have basic speaking / language comprehension ability. Crying in public or diapers in a pool do not concern me, but evacuation does.

 

Why?

 

The unthinkable, think of Costa Concordia, or a similar calamity that could strike the ship, and the need to evacuate quickly, sometimes not as you might imagine it during the muster drill.

 

How might you carry your baby if forced to climb down a "Jacobs" rope ladder down the side of the ship? You had best have a back harness to put your baby in. Never assume that you will always get into an assigned life boat. What if you have to enter the water before climbing on to a boat?

 

Yes the chances of this are very slim, but it is worthy of serious thought.

 

Otherwise, look up the names Titanic (obvious), Empress of Ireland, Morrow Castle, Andrea Doria, Prinsendam, Oceanos, Estonia, Sun Vista, Achille Lauro, and the list goes on and on. On some of these babies, not to mention entire families were lost. On some, all were saved, but to put a baby through that?

 

Never assume that in a calamitous situation that other passengers, many in a panic, or the crew will give you priority over others. Sad, but true.

 

Sorry to take a different tack on this, but I feel it should be mentioned.

__________________

 

Although this obviously is worst case scenario, most people don't go around everyday life thinking all case scenarios around their very existence.

 

I would never NOT do something because of all those challenges that are gnawing at our heels, but I've also come to realize that should an emergency arise ANY WHERE, that my best interest is definitely NOT on someone else's mind. To many people are killed because they listen to other idiots in time of crisis.

 

"Return to your desks" many were told on 9/11.

 

My blood boils when I see the foolishness of the Costa disaster. My ass would have been at the muster station the minute after that ship struck bottom. But I learned a valuable lesson. Going to your own muster station meant nothing that night. It was definitely unorganized chaos.

 

But I'm not going to not cruise because of it. We hold our own drills. And not only on a ship. Again, I don't expect anyone coming for me. I am responsible for my family's safety.

[Kevin]

Good morning everybody. I am a new member to this forum. I was a longtime lurker in the late 2000's however I never joined and it's been 5 or 6 years since I've lurked. I figure now is a good time to join as I am looking for advice for an upcoming cruise. So I am not new to cruising...I have about 12 cruises under my belt however my upcoming cruise on the Magic is going to be a first of sorts for me. So my wife and I haven't cruised in a few years...we have been busy building a life together, starting a family...yada yada yada. Well we now have a 6 Month old son and have booked the Magic on January 14th. Our little guy will turn 13 months old on the cruise...and as I'm intimating...we've made the decision to bring him with us. It's been a while since we have last cruised and we both need a week at sea. So that brings me to my question...for everybody that has cruised before with babies and small toddlers...do you have any advice or words of wisdom for a couple experienced cruisers looking to take a 13 month old on his first cruise?

 

We understand that we won't be able to do everything we want and the daily routine of taking care of the little guy doesn't go away however despite that I'm hoping we can have a good time. It will certainly be a new experience!

 

I welcome any advice and all opinions. Thanks!

 

We never stopped cruising when we had kids but it did definitely change how we cruised. When we had small kids we always tried to bring the grandparents. Even as the kids have gotten older it is still a very different experience cruising with them vs how we cruised when it was just the two of us but starting around 6 years old the grand parents were no longer a requirement, just a nicety. Once they became teen agers we started having to get a second cabin. Now cruising is not much different than when we were just a couple.

 

With the grand parents with us, we could get a little alone time and the grandparents could get some time with the kids. Our kids were never ones who liked to spend ANY time in the kids program. It did not matter the cruiseline, Disney, Princess, or Carnival. Even an hour there was similar in effect to beating them with an iron pipe.

 

My suggestion is to bring the grand parents.

[JMKreno]

We took our oldest daughter on her first cruise when she was 19 months old. She is now 9 and has 5 cruises under her belt. We had a fantastic time. In fact, we had such a great time that all trips compare with that first one to this day! It was a lot of work, but it was LESS work than going to Disneyland when she was 3 - rental cars, installing carseats, in-out of cars, shuttles, long long days of walking and not being able to go on most rides, huge lines for food, etc etc.

 

Now, we are going on the Vista for 11 days with our 9 yr old and our youngest daughter who is going to be 17 months at the time. We picked up this umbrella stroller which folds up VERY small and can fit in the overhead bin/trunk of a small car or under a bed (http://www.toysrus.com/buy/luxury-strollers/gb-qbit-lightweight-stroller-aqua-10aw1g-aqu2u-46909856). Not cheap but this thing folds down with 1 hand, can be carried easy, weights about 12-15 pounds, has a bag that can be stored under the seat (with strap), has storage, recline, smooth motion, etc etc. It's fantastic.

 

We are also going to stay at a hotel pre-cruise right next to a Walmart/Sam's Club and a Costco nearby so I will bring enough diapers to last the few days pre-cruise and then buy a medium box of diapers before we go an check it onto the ship. Since we have FTTF we should hopefully get the diapers pretty early so we can just put them away. We are also going to St Thomas & San Juan and worse case I buy more...

 

We also have lots of family going (both my parents and in-laws are going) so that is helpful. We also got a balcony so we can enjoy any down-time in the cabin enjoying fresh air.

[MistyRo76]

I didn't see this mentioned above but if your child likes to be worn (in a baby/toddler carrier), that might be a better option rather than a stroller. Strollers are harder to navigate between narrow hallways, crowded buffets and theaters. We will be sailing this Fall and will be wearing our two year old when he would prefer not to walk.

 

Also, there's nothing wrong with being aware of your surroundings and having an exit strategy in case of an emergency. Just have a safe plan in case something bad happens and share it with your family ahead of time.

 

Hope y'all have a great time!

 

I personally didn't have any issues with our stroller on our cruise. We took our DD just about everywhere in her stroller. She was 14 months old at the time and very, very active. She definitely needed to be contained. Now, I would NEVER bring a full-size stroller on a cruise. But our umbrella stroller worked perfectly. We got the Summer Infant 3D Lite (between $70-80 at most retail stores or online). It was durable, folder easily with one hand and could be stored in the corner of our cabin, had underneath storage, a canopy for shade and a cupholder. It was sleek enough to fit through the cabin doors and wasn't too obtrusive in the ship's corridors. It was also very easy to get her in to and out of quickly. The only issue we encountered was try to get into elevators before or after dinner. But since we would only have to go down or up a couple of stories, many times we just folded up the stroller and my husband carried that using the shoulder strap while I carried our daughter. It wasn't that big of a deal. I could have even carried both the baby and the stroller if I had to.

[CruiseBride926]

[quote name='MistyRo76']I personally didn't have any issues with our stroller on our cruise. We took our DD just about everywhere in her stroller. She was 14 months old at the time and very, very active. She definitely needed to be contained. Now, I would NEVER bring a full-size stroller on a cruise. But our umbrella stroller worked perfectly. We got the Summer Infant 3D Lite (between $70-80 at most retail stores or online). It was durable, folder easily with one hand and could be stored in the corner of our cabin, had underneath storage, a canopy for shade and a cupholder. It was sleek enough to fit through the cabin doors and wasn't too obtrusive in the ship's corridors. It was also very easy to get her in to and out of quickly. The only issue we encountered was try to get into elevators before or after dinner. But since we would only have to go down or up a couple of stories, many times we just folded up the stroller and my husband carried that using the shoulder strap while I carried our daughter. It wasn't that big of a deal. I could have even carried both the baby and the stroller if I had to.[/QUOTE]



We got this stroller to use for our upcoming cruise. Haven't really used it much yet other than going on the occasional walk so I'm really glad to hear that it worked out well.


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