Carnival with baby

[Despegue]

Hello,

 

I am looking into potentially booking a Carnival Legend cruise in 2024.

we will have a 9-month old baby then and are wondering if the ship has special baby food (pureed fruit/vegetables etc.), baby milk powder, bottle heaters, microwave etc. Available? Sister line Aida has all these items and also a baby (diaper) splash zone, but we would like an English speaking vessel as our oldest is now of kids-club age .

 

thanks for the advise!

 

 

[Essiesmom]

No, none of those on Carnival.  They will be happy to purée food.  EM

Edited June 25, 2023 by Essiesmom

[Despegue]

Just now, Essiesmom said:

 O, none of those on Carnival.  EM

Seriously? I thought that Carnival was child friendly?

How can we appropriately feed our baby in this case?

[MMfan14]

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3668/~/traveling-with-infants-and-toddlers

[vwrestler171]

27 minutes ago, Despegue said:

Seriously? I thought that Carnival was child friendly?

How can we appropriately feed our baby in this case?

You bring what you need.

[klfrodo]

27 minutes ago, Despegue said:

Seriously? I thought that Carnival was child friendly?

How can we appropriately feed our baby in this case?

The same way my grandkids got fed. They researched and found a company that would deliver a 7 day supply of baby needs. It was a few years ago. Unsure if they delivered to the ship or to the hotel and then the parents had to carry it onto the ship.

[pcvtmom]

Hot water is available all day on the Lido deck. It can be used with powdered formula you bring. If, instead, you bring liquid formula, the hot water can be used in a large cup or vessel to warm the cold formula. You supply your own pureed baby food, if you choose to bring it.

[Elaine5715]

3 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

No, none of those on Carnival.  They will be happy to purée food.  EM

They will not puree food

[lazydayz]

1 hour ago, icft said:

As noted in other posts, none of those things are available on U.S. cruises. Americans would be horrified if adults were not fed and had to bring their own food. Carnival will bend over backwards to meet the dietary needs of adults with every real or imagined food allergy or digestive problem or diet choice. Millions of terabytes are taken up with discussions of food quality or the lack thereof for adults on Carnival cruises. But even asking about food for infants is apparently considered entitled. What? You expect infants to eat? How entitled.

 

It's a cultural thing.

 

 

I think it is more that Carnival doesn’t want to encourage people bringing babies on board. It is a risk for the child, if an emergency were to occur.  And the parents will be pretty occupied just taking care of the baby.  As these are a necessity for your lIttle one, I would recommend sticking with the cruise lines that cater to that age group for now. All the best to you and your growing family. 

[kdr69]

16 hours ago, Despegue said:

With respect , but other lines of the Carnival Group DO provide these items , and for free. As Carnival is supposed to be a family cruise-line, I was hoping that we did not have to bring all these items onboard. It seems that European  cruiselines are more child-friendly than their American sister lines in that regard.

which one is it you want? Family friendly or child friendly? As for belonging to Carnival they are all distinct lines in their own right so you will not find things the same from line to line. What one line does has no bearing on what another line does.  It would be best to stick with the line that does offer you those items for now if you do not wish to pack all those items to bring with you like you would have to do on a land vacation with your litte one.

[staceyglow]

6 hours ago, lazydayz said:

I think it is more that Carnival doesn’t want to encourage people bringing babies on board. It is a risk for the child, if an emergency were to occur.  And the parents will be pretty occupied just taking care of the baby.  As these are a necessity for your lIttle one, I would recommend sticking with the cruise lines that cater to that age group for now. All the best to you and your growing family. 

The fact that Carnival charges the regular fare for babies probably keeps most of them off the ship.

I think it is more about the fact that a) it's not that difficult to bring a week's worth of baby food onboard., and b) if you think adults are picky about their food, it's nothing compared to many parents of babies. They will demand organic food only,  certain brands of baby cereal, etc. And is Carnival also expected to stock the dozens of types of formula?

 

If you really want Carnival to feed your baby, you can bring a hand-crank food mill and make your own baby food from what Carnival serves. 

[Phanlee91]

20 hours ago, Despegue said:

Seriously? I thought that Carnival was child friendly?

How can we appropriately feed our baby in this case?

I would probably bring your own baby food and formula just in case.

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, Phanlee91 said:

I would probably bring your own baby food and formula just in case.

It’s not a just in case situation, they will need to bring their own food and formula. Powdered would be easiest, just add warm water (by the time I had #4/#5 I just used room temperature water and served food room temperature, so easy).

[Despegue]

Thank you all for the replies.

As we would need to fly, packing a 10 day  supply is very impractical but alas, we might have to adapt.

 

Aida has on their ships a special Family buffet, with attached a baby corner where you can find high quality formula, high quality, and  a large variety of infant food, bottle warmers, microwaves, etc.

when you book an  infant ( mostly free by the way), they will also supply the cabin automatically with a bottle warmer and diaper bin , and also a cot obviously.

the ships have a splash zone, especially designed for diaper wearing infants.

 

We were of the idea that US family cruiselines like Carnival would take similar care to their youngest guests. 
We are Very experienced cruisers, mostly on Celebrity and HAL, but since we have kids, we  obviously had to change our way of cruising, we prefer US cruiselines due to the English used onboard.

[mjkacmom]

1 minute ago, Despegue said:

Thank you all for the replies.

As we would need to fly, packing a 10 day  supply is very impractical but alas, we might have to adapt.

 

Aida has on their ships a special Family buffet, with attached a baby corner where you can find high quality formula, high quality, and  a large variety of infant food, bottle warmers, microwaves, etc.

when you book an  infant ( mostly free by the way), they will also supply the cabin automatically with a bottle warmer and diaper bin , and also a cot obviously.

the ships have a splash zone, especially designed for diaper wearing infants.

 

We were of the idea that US family cruiselines like Carnival would take similar care to their youngest guests. 
We are Very experienced cruisers, mostly on Celebrity and HAL, but since we have kids, we  obviously had to change our way of cruising, we prefer US cruiselines due to the English used onboard.

I’ve never heard of any US cruise lines providing those items, besides a pack and play and high chairs.

[ProgRockCruiser]

17 minutes ago, Despegue said:

Thank you all for the replies.

As we would need to fly, packing a 10 day  supply is very impractical but alas, we might have to adapt.

 

Aida has on their ships a special Family buffet, with attached a baby corner where you can find high quality formula, high quality, and  a large variety of infant food, bottle warmers, microwaves, etc.

when you book an  infant ( mostly free by the way), they will also supply the cabin automatically with a bottle warmer and diaper bin , and also a cot obviously.

the ships have a splash zone, especially designed for diaper wearing infants.

 

We were of the idea that US family cruiselines like Carnival would take similar care to their youngest guests. 
We are Very experienced cruisers, mostly on Celebrity and HAL, but since we have kids, we  obviously had to change our way of cruising, we prefer US cruiselines due to the English used onboard.

While you may have experienced all that baby/infant friendly stuff on those European cruises, unfortunately Carnival doesn't offer them.  As noted "Family-friendly" does not always equal "baby/infant-friendly".  Carnival is thinking 3 years old and up, I suspect, as their target "minimum age child".  And since they (seem to) charge full price for the infant cruiser, I'm guessing they are passive-aggressively trying to push that type of client elsewhere.  A quick look at Norwegian and they don't look any different.  Have you looked at Disney?  A lot more cost involved, but maybe they have what you are looking for?

 

This appears to be one of those "how the US is different from Europe" situations.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

28 minutes ago, Despegue said:

We were of the idea that US family cruiselines like Carnival would take similar care to their youngest guests. 

even the US as a country is not all that friendly to the babies and kids in general, so I am not sure why you would assume that a US cruise line would be. 🙂

[Despegue]

3 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

While you may have experienced all that baby/infant friendly stuff on those European cruises, unfortunately Carnival doesn't offer them.  As noted "Family-friendly" does not always equal "baby/infant-friendly".  Carnival is thinking 3 years old and up, I suspect, as their target "minimum age child".  And since they (seem to) charge full price for the infant cruiser, I'm guessing they are passive-aggressively trying to push that type of client elsewhere.  A quick look at Norwegian and they don't look any different.  Have you looked at Disney?  A lot more cost involved, but maybe they have what you are looking for?

 

This appears to be one of those "how the US is different from Europe" situations.

We looked at Disney, but they close down most of the lounges and bars after 21:00h for -18’s, which we do not agree with, as our 3 year old loves to “party” till at lest 22:30 on holidays ( yes, we currently live in Spain where this is normal). 1 or 2nlounges fine, but making half of the ship off-limit on a Family vessel is simply ridiculous 

[Elaine5715]

32 minutes ago, Despegue said:

Thank you all for the replies.

As we would need to fly, packing a 10 day  supply is very impractical but alas, we might have to adapt.

 

Aida has on their ships a special Family buffet, with attached a baby corner where you can find high quality formula, high quality, and  a large variety of infant food, bottle warmers, microwaves, etc.

when you book an  infant ( mostly free by the way), they will also supply the cabin automatically with a bottle warmer and diaper bin , and also a cot obviously.

the ships have a splash zone, especially designed for diaper wearing infants.

 

We were of the idea that US family cruiselines like Carnival would take similar care to their youngest guests. 
We are Very experienced cruisers, mostly on Celebrity and HAL, but since we have kids, we  obviously had to change our way of cruising, we prefer US cruiselines due to the English used onboard.

FYI-Babies in diapers can not use splash zone, kiddie pools or swim pools on Carnival ships 

[Elaine5715]

18 minutes ago, Despegue said:

We looked at Disney, but they close down most of the lounges and bars after 21:00h for -18’s, which we do not agree with, as our 3 year old loves to “party” till at lest 22:30 on holidays ( yes, we currently live in Spain where this is normal). 1 or 2nlounges fine, but making half of the ship off-limit on a Family vessel is simply ridiculous 

Carnival closes some ventures to minors also in the evening

[MommytoAsquared]

I've never been on AIDA cruise lines, but the "baby corner" concept is interesting to me.  For me, it would be more of a turn off to cruising that line. because it would encourage more babies and small children on board  My one trip on DCL was frustrating with all the small (screaming) kids and the parents using their strollers as battering rams.

 

OP - I hope you find a baby friendly cruise line and have a wonderful vacation!

[Essiesmom]

The simple solution is to fly in a day early and collect your baby food and formula powder at WalMart of another supermarket.  This includes diapers and wipes, too.  EM

[Despegue]

1 minute ago, Essiesmom said:

The simple solution is to fly in a day early and collect your baby food and formula powder at WalMart of another supermarket.  This includes diapers and wipes, too.  EM

Thanks, we might have to do just that . The thing is, and this sounds maybe stupid, but since I was a kid, I always wanted to sail onboard a Carnival ship. I was, as a 7 year old, obsessed with the Joe Farcus interiours, the fun atmosphere and now I am in my 40’s with small children, the time is finally ripe to sail my Carnival 😎 (as a couple, we preferred the adult oriented lines)

[crazy4themouse]

2 hours ago, Despegue said:

We looked at Disney, but they close down most of the lounges and bars after 21:00h for -18’s, which we do not agree with, as our 3 year old loves to “party” till at lest 22:30 on holidays ( yes, we currently live in Spain where this is normal). 1 or 2nlounges fine, but making half of the ship off-limit on a Family vessel is simply ridiculous 

 

Being a "family vessel" or family-oriented cruise line does NOT mean kids-everywhere-all-the-time, THANK GOODNESS. And I say that as a mom. There are plenty of kid-friendly places on every ship I've been on where it's appropriate for kids to be. Bars are not among those. As grownups, we deserve (and need) spaces that are gloriously kid-free to escape to.

 

[787cruiser]

IME this has far more to do with American vs European attitude/friendliness/services available for infants and babies. America is just not as accommodating, this is not just a Carnival "thing".