Joy to Bermuda with a toddler, advice and general recommendations?

[dbdb]

I'm thrilled to be heading on a pretty last minute 7-day cruise to Bermuda with my family of 5 adults and a 20-month-old toddler aboard the Joy. While we've been to Bermuda before, this will be our first time taking a cruise with a baby, so I'm looking for any advice or tips you might have. It's also been many years since a family cruise, so I have a lot of general questions as well.

 

• Can we get water delivered to our room with the Free at Sea Premium Plus package?
• Is it possible to get a crib in a balcony room? Bring our own?
• Will we need a car seat? We're within Uber distance of the port, and we plan on taking a Taxi to and from Elbow/Horseshoe beaches in Bermuda. Do we have a choice?
   

Our only plans in Bermuda is to go to the beach for a few hours on 2 of the days. Our little one usually sleeps at 7:30 pm and takes a nap around 1:30 pm for one to two hours. As such, we want to plan our activities around her schedule to avoid any cranky moments. We've got 4 specialty dining nights to spend, and it looks like early times have been booked already.

 

• What are your thoughts on pushing naptime to accommodate beach days?
• What are the chances that walk-ins for dining are accepted? 

 

On the last cruise we went in 2018, we had an unlimited connection and shared wifi through a wifi hotspot device in the room which was great for mornings and nights. I have to find the one we were using. We've got two unlimited packages this go around, is there any updated recommendations? Will the wifi splitter work and are there any recommended devices?

 

Lastly, do you have any other advice or tips for traveling with a toddler on a cruise?

 

Thank you all in advance for your help!

[acct1975]

My son, now 8, is a cruise pro and cruised as a toddler. I think one of the best things we brought along was a lightweight umbrella stroller to use on ship. If you're child is a good sleeper and doesn't need PERFECT silence to sleep, let them nap on deck (under shade if you can get it). You get the benefit of being out and a breeze and they get the sleep them need. You might even be able to relax in the Observation Lounge too and not feel like you're "stuck" in your cabin with nap time.

 

We also would take 1 or 2 extra cartons of milk from the buffet and kept in in the cabin mini fridge for later night/ in between feedings. Ask the room steward to empty the fridge so there's room. You can also do the same with fruit or other goodies from the buffet.  

[kitkat343]

3 hours ago, dbdb said:

I'm thrilled to be heading on a pretty last minute 7-day cruise to Bermuda with my family of 5 adults and a 20-month-old toddler aboard the Joy. While we've been to Bermuda before, this will be our first time taking a cruise with a baby, so I'm looking for any advice or tips you might have. It's also been many years since a family cruise, so I have a lot of general questions as well.

 

• Can we get water delivered to our room with the Free at Sea Premium Plus package?
• Is it possible to get a crib in a balcony room? Bring our own?
• Will we need a car seat? We're within Uber distance of the port, and we plan on taking a Taxi to and from Elbow/Horseshoe beaches in Bermuda. Do we have a choice?
   

Our only plans in Bermuda is to go to the beach for a few hours on 2 of the days. Our little one usually sleeps at 7:30 pm and takes a nap around 1:30 pm for one to two hours. As such, we want to plan our activities around her schedule to avoid any cranky moments. We've got 4 specialty dining nights to spend, and it looks like early times have been booked already.

 

• What are your thoughts on pushing naptime to accommodate beach days?
• What are the chances that walk-ins for dining are accepted? 

 

On the last cruise we went in 2018, we had an unlimited connection and shared wifi through a wifi hotspot device in the room which was great for mornings and nights. I have to find the one we were using. We've got two unlimited packages this go around, is there any updated recommendations? Will the wifi splitter work and are there any recommended devices?

 

Lastly, do you have any other advice or tips for traveling with a toddler on a cruise?

 

Thank you all in advance for your help!

Please note that NCL has been having some supply chain issues.  There were no bananas on our cruise in January, and they ran out of the skim milk boxes 3 days before the end of the cruise, and kid cereal boxes 2 days before the end of the cruise.  You might want to bring or store in your room whatever supplies are cruicial for your child.

 

Bring the cereal boxes with you in Bermuda so you always have an easy snack for your toddler (fresh fruit is banned, and I'm not sure if you are allowed to take yogurt, but its good to have some in your room so your toddler always has access to food (and note that with their supply problems it's good to have some stored)

 

At the first breakfast, bring a bag to the buffet so you can bring cereal, yogurt, hardboiled eggs and fruit back to your room.

 

I'm not sure about Bermuda, but I took pancakes off the ship in Puerto Rico to feed to the stray cats that live in the streets.  It turned out the restaurant my husband's friend chose took 45 minutes just to bring us a few small appetizers, so those pancakes wound up being lifesavers as emergency food for my kids.  

 

I'm not sure how legal this is, but whenever I snorkel I use pancakes to attract the fish.  

 

I don't know about your ship, but on the Getaway in January they were short staffed, and while the waiters tried to do their best, the food was often late and cold, even in specialty restaurants, so please be prepared for the possibility of long dinners.  

 

Dining reservations will open up onboard.  Preload the NCL app on your phone, and you can try in the terminal while you are checking in.  This may or may not work (some people have reported it works sometimes on these forums; in January it didn't work at NY harbor, but it costs you nothing to try).  We had a late check in, and could access the app as soon as we boarded and made the last reservation we couldn't get ahead of time.  

 

8 years ago NCL provided us with a pack n play (our kids were too big for them on most recent cruise, but I believe you can still get one).

 

In Bermuda, I don't know the local car seat laws, but another option to consider is that the ferries are supposed to be quite lovely (we didn't have time for it because we were there in the off season and had a timed dolphin swim and then a timed zoo backstage visit).  But if you are there overnight you can see if the ferry schedule works for you.  The ferry is walkable from the port.  I believe NCL has a free ferry to St. George, or else the public ferry isn't expensive and is supposed to be nice. 

 

 

In Bermuda, we took a private tour of the Bermuda zoo which you can arrange by emailing the zoo directly. If your children like animals, this is an excellent tour to consider. They recommend scheduling private tours during feeding times, and you will have lots of opportunities to get close to the animals and feed them, including visiting injured animals who are being cared for before they are released. The only downside is as of August, they were enforcing mask mandates closely on the tour, which impedes your ability to take nice photographs with the lemurs in the open air exhibit. You can usually return to the exhibit at the end of the private tour by yourselves (we were in Bermuda during an unseasonable and highly unusual heat wave in August and our kids got overheated and needed to leave immediately after our tour, but usually the weather in Bermuda is quite lovely and you’d be able to revisit exhibits at the end of your tour). The zoo isn’t crowded, so it is likely if you wait you can find a time to take off your mask without risking any other visitors.

 

A short walk from the zoo is the Village Pantry, an excellent seafood restaurant with an outdoor area with picnic tables and toys. They also offer food to go. Reservations are recommended if you’d like to eat outside near the play area, since it is quite popular with families visiting the zoo.

 

You'd get to the zoo by either taking the ferry to a bus or a cab.  The zoo can probably tell you if car seats are necessary in cabs in Bermuda.

 

In terms of the nap, it depends on your kid.  When I took my 3 year old to the Baltics, he loved the kids club so much we put his nap schedule around their closing times.  We had a bunch of time changes there, so everyone was a bit zonked.  Some kids can handle pushing an-time and others will struggle.  Best of luck to you.

 

 

 

[dbdb]

Hello again, everyone! 

 

We've just returned from our trip and I must say it was fantastic! We're already daydreaming about the next one. A big shoutout to the staff on board, who were simply excellent throughout the journey.

 

Adjusting nap time was indeed a challenge. Since most sit-down places open up at noon and our little one's nap time falls within the 1230-230pm range, we had to make some compromises. Additionally, some dinners, especially in the Manhattan room, ran a bit long (>2 hours) and really pushed our kid's patience to its limits. To be honest, we caved and gave in to more screen time than we typically would at home. 

 

One unexpected highlight of the trip for our toddler was the elevators and sliding doors - he simply couldn't get enough of them! As for sleeping arrangements, we were able to fit a Graco Pack and Playyard in our balcony room. It was a tight fit, but manageable once we arranged the beds towards the balcony and asked the room steward to set up the sofa bed without sliding it out. However, we found ourselves needing to rock the baby to sleep as he was not accustomed to others being in the room at bedtime.

 

For our beach days in Bermuda, we visited Snorkel Park and Coco Reef. While Snorkel was a bit windy and rocky, Coco Reef offered a peaceful and isolated setting, complete with pool access and lunch options. During the cab rides, our baby sat on our laps. We had brought a car seat but ultimately decided to leave it on the ship. For strolling around, we found the Minu to be the perfect size travel stroller.

 

Meal times were another aspect we had to juggle. Our early riser meant we spent most mornings at the Garden Buffet, where we would also stock up on milk cartons and snack foods - real lifesavers on several occasions. The Free at Sea Premium Plus package also allowed us to bring back large cartons of water each time, which was great.

 

We had the opportunity to enjoy specialty dining on three of the seven nights. Upon boarding, we were fortunate enough to secure early reservations at Teppanyaki and Le Bistro. Additionally, we managed to fit in a visit to the Food Republic later in the week, taking advantage of some rare openings. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to utilize all of our specialty dining packages. Due to challenges in coordinating a reservation that could accommodate our group, we regrettably let an extra four packages expire.

 

As for internet, we had two packages split between three people, which worked out well. We had to bump each other off the login every so often, but it was fine for our messaging needs. We decided to forego the WiFi travel router this time.

 

To sum it up, our experience has underscored how sensitive our little one is to changes in his sleep schedule. In light of this, we're resolved to prioritize his rest in our future travel plans. We were extremely lucky to have other family members on board who were willing to step in and take over some of the night shifts when needed. Had it been just us and the baby, we would have had to turn in at 7:30 pm each night, which would have considerably limited our ability to enjoy the evening entertainment and activities on the cruise.

 

Thanks again for all the advice and tips everyone provided. This cruise was a great experience and I hope our experience will be of use to others planning a similar trip!

[kitkat343]

1 hour ago, dbdb said:

Hello again, everyone! 

 

We've just returned from our trip and I must say it was fantastic! We're already daydreaming about the next one. A big shoutout to the staff on board, who were simply excellent throughout the journey.

 

Adjusting nap time was indeed a challenge. Since most sit-down places open up at noon and our little one's nap time falls within the 1230-230pm range, we had to make some compromises. Additionally, some dinners, especially in the Manhattan room, ran a bit long (>2 hours) and really pushed our kid's patience to its limits. To be honest, we caved and gave in to more screen time than we typically would at home. 

 

One unexpected highlight of the trip for our toddler was the elevators and sliding doors - he simply couldn't get enough of them! As for sleeping arrangements, we were able to fit a Graco Pack and Playyard in our balcony room. It was a tight fit, but manageable once we arranged the beds towards the balcony and asked the room steward to set up the sofa bed without sliding it out. However, we found ourselves needing to rock the baby to sleep as he was not accustomed to others being in the room at bedtime.

 

For our beach days in Bermuda, we visited Snorkel Park and Coco Reef. While Snorkel was a bit windy and rocky, Coco Reef offered a peaceful and isolated setting, complete with pool access and lunch options. During the cab rides, our baby sat on our laps. We had brought a car seat but ultimately decided to leave it on the ship. For strolling around, we found the Minu to be the perfect size travel stroller.

 

Meal times were another aspect we had to juggle. Our early riser meant we spent most mornings at the Garden Buffet, where we would also stock up on milk cartons and snack foods - real lifesavers on several occasions. The Free at Sea Premium Plus package also allowed us to bring back large cartons of water each time, which was great.

 

We had the opportunity to enjoy specialty dining on three of the seven nights. Upon boarding, we were fortunate enough to secure early reservations at Teppanyaki and Le Bistro. Additionally, we managed to fit in a visit to the Food Republic later in the week, taking advantage of some rare openings. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to utilize all of our specialty dining packages. Due to challenges in coordinating a reservation that could accommodate our group, we regrettably let an extra four packages expire.

 

As for internet, we had two packages split between three people, which worked out well. We had to bump each other off the login every so often, but it was fine for our messaging needs. We decided to forego the WiFi travel router this time.

 

To sum it up, our experience has underscored how sensitive our little one is to changes in his sleep schedule. In light of this, we're resolved to prioritize his rest in our future travel plans. We were extremely lucky to have other family members on board who were willing to step in and take over some of the night shifts when needed. Had it been just us and the baby, we would have had to turn in at 7:30 pm each night, which would have considerably limited our ability to enjoy the evening entertainment and activities on the cruise.

 

Thanks again for all the advice and tips everyone provided. This cruise was a great experience and I hope our experience will be of use to others planning a similar trip!

Glad it all worked out - once your little one hits 3, cruising will be amazing with the kids club breaks.  Please note that most newer/refurbushed RC ships and all disney ships have daycare available for kids under 3 for a fee, and Carnival and Cunard accept 2 year olds in their daycare.  Precovid, Princess let children under 3 attend with parental supervision and their kids club is amazing (you'd need to check if they are still doing this because I haven't had a chance to sail them since covid plus my kids are all over 3 now).  This might be the perfect solution for many under 3s, since some of them have a hard time with drop off care.  Try to sail when school is in session, since that cuts down on the number of kids in daycare and they'll have more time for the little ones.