NCL Escape with a 1 yr old

[Lisalk12]

We will be heading out for our first cruise with a 1 year old in March. Needing advice on:

1)baby friendly shuttles (NYC) to get to the port area

2)Escape nursery services and practices 

3) any tips to cruising with a little one!

 

we have cruised many times with older children so this is a brand new adventure 😍. Thanks in advance CC friends! 

[ikreroma]

Following because I'm taking my 16 month old on the Escape in February. Was going to take an uber to port until I remembered I'd need to bring the car seat, which I am desperately hoping to avoid. Thanks for asking these questions!

[cathi007]

1 hour ago, Lisalk12 said:

We will be heading out for our first cruise with a 1 year old in March. Needing advice on:

1)baby friendly shuttles (NYC) to get to the port area

2)Escape nursery services and practices 

3) any tips to cruising with a little one!

 

we have cruised many times with older children so this is a brand new adventure 😍. Thanks in advance CC friends! 

We will be sailing with a 1y/o and 3y/o in two weeks on the Escape. It's our grand children and we are sailing with my DD and S-I-L (parents). I will post back on here after our trip, we get back 2/3. It is our first time sailing with such young children, but since we have a good adult:kids ratio, I think it'll be fine 

 

[cathi007]

7 minutes ago, ikreroma said:

Following because I'm taking my 16 month old on the Escape in February. Was going to take an uber to port until I remembered I'd need to bring the car seat, which I am desperately hoping to avoid. Thanks for asking these questions!

We are taking a limo/van, and they will hold the 2 car seats for the 2 week cruise. I hope they remember to bring them back when they pick us up, lol

[Umwakichwa]

2 hours ago, ikreroma said:

Following because I'm taking my 16 month old on the Escape in February. Was going to take an uber to port until I remembered I'd need to bring the car seat, which I am desperately hoping to avoid. Thanks for asking these questions!

You can request an Uber with a child seat. I’m pasting a link for Uber car seat NYC because the op mentions that city but the option exists in major cities all over. https://www.uber.com/info/nyc-car-seat/

[ikreroma]

35 minutes ago, Umwakichwa said:

You can request an Uber with a child seat. I’m pasting a link for Uber car seat NYC because the op mentions that city but the option exists in major cities all over. https://www.uber.com/info/nyc-car-seat/

Thank you. I'll be coming from NJ which doesn't offer it, but you're absolutely right, it may be best option for the op. 

[Lisalk12]

4 hours ago, cathi007 said:

We will be sailing with a 1y/o and 3y/o in two weeks on the Escape. It's our grand children and we are sailing with my DD and S-I-L (parents). I will post back on here after our trip, we get back 2/3. It is our first time sailing with such young children, but since we have a good adult:kids ratio, I think it'll be fine 

 

Have a wonderful cruise!  Let us know how things go. We have my husband and I with our 3 boys (17, 12 and 1) so lots of hands but we never cruised when the big boys were this little.  So many things I just never thought about!

[Lisalk12]

1 hour ago, Umwakichwa said:

You can request an Uber with a child seat. I’m pasting a link for Uber car seat NYC because the op mentions that city but the option exists in major cities all over. https://www.uber.com/info/nyc-car-seat/

Thank you!  Never even thought about an Uber having a car seat. We come from a tiny town where I believe we have 1 Uber driver for the entire town. 😂  Have you ever heard/used KidMoto?  

[Umwakichwa]

I haven’t used kidmoto, maybe others can chime in on that one? 

[Umwakichwa]

1 hour ago, ikreroma said:

Thank you. I'll be coming from NJ which doesn't offer it, but you're absolutely right, it may be best option for the op. 

Mommy poppins has a list of car services with seats in New Jersey, pasting link below. It’s from a yearish ago, and many are limo/town car companies but we use a limo company in Orlando because they offer car seats and they’re cheaper than cabs so maybe worth checking into? https://mommypoppins.com/new-jersey-kids/family-travel/family-friendly-car-services-with-car-seats-in-nj

[cb at sea]

Bring whatever "comfort" items (blankets, stuffed toy, etc...) that  will make your little one happy.  Don't over-schedule yourself, as baby rules, as you might already know.  If they get tired, let them nap...take a break on your balcony (which is fabulous, if you have nappers, or "early to bed" kids!)

Don't be afraid of the dining room...it's MUCH easier to be served, than trying to serve you AND child in the buffet!

Relax and go with the flow....pretend there is no schedule and you'll be fine.

[cathi007]

On 1/6/2019 at 6:10 PM, Lisalk12 said:

Have a wonderful cruise!  Let us know how things go. We have my husband and I with our 3 boys (17, 12 and 1) so lots of hands but we never cruised when the big boys were this little.  So many things I just never thought about!

I will definitely let you know how we made out. And thanks I'm sure we will have a wonderful cruise 🙂

[Lisalk12]

On 1/7/2019 at 6:01 PM, cb at sea said:

Bring whatever "comfort" items (blankets, stuffed toy, etc...) that  will make your little one happy.  Don't over-schedule yourself, as baby rules, as you might already know.  If they get tired, let them nap...take a break on your balcony (which is fabulous, if you have nappers, or "early to bed" kids!)

Don't be afraid of the dining room...it's MUCH easier to be served, than trying to serve you AND child in the buffet!

Relax and go with the flow....pretend there is no schedule and you'll be fine.

Thank you for the tips!  All great reminders!

[kitkat343]

We took our son's crib sheet from home with us, and packed it in our carry on.  That was really helpful on the first cruise, in which the crib was built but there were no sheets in it when we first boarded and needed to get him down for a nap.  Its also helpful for some children to have a familiar crib sheet with them.  

 

Also, on the first breakfast go to the buffet and take a bunch of cereal boxes, fruit and yogurt containers.  You always want there to be food in your room for snacks when your kids get hungry.  Also, you can take the sealed cereal boxes (not fruit) off the ships so you always have a snack when you go on excursions.  I'd offer my son cereal choices when he started getting tired, hungry or bored and having the ability to choose something always distracted him and staved off meltdowns on excursions.  

 

If you are traveling to various cities, then private tours are absolutely necessary.  You can control the itinerary and stop whenever your child gets whiny and feed them.  We were able to see all the highlights in st petersburg with a 3 year old because we stopped and fed him whenever he needed a break, and stayed at museums longer when he was interested.  My signature line includes a lot of details about traveling with kids (I was pregnant with my first in Alaska, but all the other reviews were with kids).  But they will be more useful if you are visiting Europe or cities like Cartagena instead of beaches, since I can't help with planning that kind of a vacation (ship tours might be fine if they are just taking you to a beach.  otherwise you want to avoid them like the plague since you cannot wait around for others to show up and line up for a bus.  you will waste all your kids patience on that, and there will be nothing left over for the actual tour).

Edited January 9, 2019 by kitkat343

[Lisalk12]

18 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

We took our son's crib sheet from home with us, and packed it in our carry on.  That was really helpful on the first cruise, in which the crib was built but there were no sheets in it when we first boarded and needed to get him down for a nap.  Its also helpful for some children to have a familiar crib sheet with them.  

 

Also, on the first breakfast go to the buffet and take a bunch of cereal boxes, fruit and yogurt containers.  You always want there to be food in your room for snacks when your kids get hungry.  Also, you can take the sealed cereal boxes (not fruit) off the ships so you always have a snack when you go on excursions.  I'd offer my son cereal choices when he started getting tired, hungry or bored and having the ability to choose something always distracted him and staved off meltdowns on excursions.  

 

If you are traveling to various cities, then private tours are absolutely necessary.  You can control the itinerary and stop whenever your child gets whiny and feed them.  We were able to see all the highlights in st petersburg with a 3 year old because we stopped and fed him whenever he needed a break, and stayed at museums longer when he was interested.  My signature line includes a lot of details about traveling with kids (I was pregnant with my first in Alaska, but all the other reviews were with kids).  But they will be more useful if you are visiting Europe or cities like Cartagena instead of beaches, since I can't help with planning that kind of a vacation (ship tours might be fine if they are just taking you to a beach.  otherwise you want to avoid them like the plague since you cannot wait around for others to show up and line up for a bus.  you will waste all your kids patience on that, and there will be nothing left over for the actual tour).

Wonderful ideas!  I had never even thought about being able to take sealed cereal from the buffet for excursions. We are sailing in the Bahamas but I will be reading your reviews. Thanks so much!!