Excursions and Babies

[ginacc]

My son will be 13 months old on our cruise, and I'm wondering how we're going to work the excursions with him. We booked the Stingray Bay tour, and the Snorkeling at Cozumel. Can one person stay on the tour boat with baby while the other person participates, and then switch off? I'm surely not going to take my son around Stingrays that weigh more than he does, but we got these for free, and I'd like to find a way to go on them.

 

any advice would be helpful.

[Kerry's Girls]

I'm fairly fearless with my girls, but I'd be skittish about bringing a toddler on excursions that include boats with no safe interior area. I'd bring a baby that I could wear in a carrier, or keep my girls strapped in a stroller for a tender ride, but it would be hard for me to keep a toddler corralled for an extended period of time on a boat on which it's so easy to fall overboard. My suggestion would be for one of you to go to the beach while the other does the excursion, but you know your child best. I think I've seen posts from people who have done as you're thinking - trade off going in to snorkel. Let us know what you decide and how it goes.

 

Best,

Mia

[kitty9]

You can definitely do the swap thing. That's probably the easiest unless you're comfortable with leaving him on the ship.

[ElsieToo]

We're planning on doing the swap thing for a snorkeling excursion we're doing in Hawaii. It helps that DS's grandparents will be on board with us so we'll each have more time to do the activity. I've been on the excursion we're going on before so I know there's a large interior area that someone can stay in with DS while the others are snorkeling - I don't think I'd be willing to risk an excursion on a boat without an indoor space, like a PP mentioned. If nothing else I don't want DS in the sun without any shade for too long just yet.

[Keith1010]

Yes, you can take turns going into the water to see the Stingrays. Be sure to bring plenty of sun tan lotion for both the parents and of course the child.

 

Keith

[Zeta3]

We took a cruise for my DD first birthday and we did several boat related excursions. I felt comfortable with her being on the boats and tenders because we brought our own life vest and she wore it the entire time whether she got off the boat at all or not.

[ginacc]

Thanks for all your help. I feel better about it now. This is our first time doing any of this so I'm trying to understand how it all works.

 

I'll let you know how it goes!

[sas80]

We're doing the swap thing too.

Piece of advice - go and purchase an infant life jacket for your baby to take with you on the cruise. Leave the tags on.

 

This way, if the cruiseline does not give you the correct life jacket for your baby you will have one and/or you will have a life jacket to take with you on your excursions.

 

We have an infant rated life jacket that we just purchased. We plan on borrowing RCCL's to take on our snorkeling excursions, should they provide the correct jacket for the trip. On the Splendour they gave us the wrong life jacket, and seemed to care less.

 

If RCCL provides us with the right jacket, we will return the one we just bought.

 

Another thing I dont get (and maybe it will make more sense to me once I actually do it) WHY would you leave your child strapped into a stroller while on a tender????? If something should happen, you would have to unstrap your child during all the chaos....

 

Maybe I just havent dealt with the situation firsthand but, I plan on putting my child into a life vest and carrying him on every tender.

[shellie100]

My son will be 13 months old on our cruise, and I'm wondering how we're going to work the excursions with him. We booked the Stingray Bay tour, and the Snorkeling at Cozumel. Can one person stay on the tour boat with baby while the other person participates, and then switch off? I'm surely not going to take my son around Stingrays that weigh more than he does, but we got these for free, and I'd like to find a way to go on them.

 

any advice would be helpful.

 

Yep, we always do the switch-a-roo thing too, and taking turns has always worked out fairly well. And I second (or third?) the life vest idea. We ALWAYS bring an appropriately sized child's life vest on excursions (even beach ones).

[Kerry's Girls]

Piece of advice - go and purchase an infant life jacket for your baby to take with you on the cruise. Leave the tags on.

 

This way, if the cruiseline does not give you the correct life jacket for your baby you will have one and/or you will have a life jacket to take with you on your excursions.

 

We have an infant rated life jacket that we just purchased. We plan on borrowing RCCL's to take on our snorkeling excursions, should they provide the correct jacket for the trip. .

 

I wasn't aware that we're allowed to take the ship's life jacket off the ship for excursions. It's a great idea to have your own just in case. Thanks for the shopping tips - I'm going to check it out.

 

Another thing I dont get (and maybe it will make more sense to me once I actually do it) WHY would you leave your child strapped into a stroller while on a tender????? If something should happen, you would have to unstrap your child during all the chaos....

 

For me, having a toddler strapped into the stroller on a tender is the closest thing to being strapped into a car seat on an airplane in case of turbulence - if the boat bucks really hard (which happens occasionally), it's less likely a toddler will go flying - either on the boat or overboard. Also, for me personally since I'm outnumbered by my toddlers, it's the safest way for me to keep my active girls sitting safe on the boat. If I had one baby, I would probably wear them in a bjorn, but I think with a toddler, even if I had just one, I'd feel safer having them strapped into a stroller (my girls also wear bathing suits with floaties built into them while on a tender, but I like the idea of having our own life jackets).

 

Now, if there were a sudden sinking, you're right, I'd be in trouble! But it's much less likely and as a single mom, I just try to do what's safest while still showing my girls what an amazing world it is out there. If anyone has a way to do this safer, I'd love to know - that's why I come to this site, I've learned so much.

 

Best,

Mia

[sas80]

I wasn't aware that we're allowed to take the ship's life jacket off the ship for excursions. It's a great idea to have your own just in case. Thanks for the shopping tips - I'm going to check it out.Best' date='Mia[/quote']

 

I am going to broach this topic with them once I get on board. My thinking is that I definitely want a lifejacket for any tender that we are going to be on, just in case. I know that I cant assume that we will be taking the same tender back to the ship, since I know they run multiple tenders. I am going to offer to be responsible for the cruise line issued life jacket while we are on shore. If they need a deposit then that is fine, I can give them my credit card number/sea pass whatever.

 

But, for any excursions where we are docking in that port, I am going to SMUGGLE the cruise line issued life jacket off of the ship to use on the excursion.

 

This is only in the event that the life jacket they give me is an appropriate infant rated life jacket. Like I said, we are bringing a backup life jacket, just in case.

 

I have already emailed crown & anchor (for RCCL) and was assured that the appropriate life jacket would be on board.

 

Im going to raise holy hell if it isnt!

[bmgaritty]

I am going to broach this topic with them once I get on board. My thinking is that I definitely want a lifejacket for any tender that we are going to be on, just in case. I know that I cant assume that we will be taking the same tender back to the ship, since I know they run multiple tenders. I am going to offer to be responsible for the cruise line issued life jacket while we are on shore. If they need a deposit then that is fine, I can give them my credit card number/sea pass whatever.

 

But, for any excursions where we are docking in that port, I am going to SMUGGLE the cruise line issued life jacket off of the ship to use on the excursion.

 

This is only in the event that the life jacket they give me is an appropriate infant rated life jacket. Like I said, we are bringing a backup life jacket, just in case.

 

I have already emailed crown & anchor (for RCCL) and was assured that the appropriate life jacket would be on board.

 

Im going to raise holy hell if it isnt!

 

Cruise lines do not let you take their life jacket off the ship......just buy an infant safety vest and bring it with you for your off ship activities. It will fit into a back pack.

 

Why be dishonest??

 

BTW- I've sailed HAL, Princess and RCCL w/ a young one.

[sas80]

Cruise lines do not let you take their life jacket off the ship......just buy an infant safety vest and bring it with you for your off ship activities. It will fit into a back pack.

 

Why be dishonest??

 

BTW- I've sailed HAL, Princess and RCCL w/ a young one.

 

I definitely plan on putting my baby into a life vest when we are on a tender!

 

They can keep the vest on the tender, if they want, and we will wait to take the same tender back to the ship, no problem! BUT, they better keep track of the life vest because I will make them get one off the ship and come back and get me if they lose track of it.

 

I understand that some mothers don't worry about things like this when tendering with kids, and that is their prerogative. Should something happen I want to know that my baby has his life jacket on, period. It's my right to have access to a life vest for the duration of the cruise.

[bmgaritty]

I definitely plan on putting my baby into a life vest when we are on a tender!

 

 

They can keep the vest on the tender, if they want, and we will wait to take the same tender back to the ship, no problem! BUT, they better keep track of the life vest because I will make them get one off the ship and come back and get me if they lose track of it.

 

I'm sorry but they don't allow passengers to take life jackets off the ship. I saw a couple try it on an RCCL ship - the Splendour - they made them give it back.

BTW- I'd love to see them keep track of the vest - can you imagine just 5 or 6 parents trying this? Pretty ridiculus, huh? Just bring your own.

Tenders have their own set of life jackets and supplies separate from the ships. They are in dry safety containers. They do not open them unless it is an emergency. Supposedly there are infant vests on the tenders.

Personally, I always get on the tender with my daughters life jacket already on.....I really don't think it is prudent to wait in an emergency situation or rely on others for my daughters safety. Did you ever notice the tender crew always has theirs on?

Many ports don't allow the cruise line to use their own tenders, they have to use the port's tenders (port moneymaker). I wouldn't depend on those either. I also wouldn't depend on any excursion's vests ship sponsored or not.

I understand that some mothers don't worry about things like this when tendering with kids, and that is their prerogative. Should something happen I want to know that my baby has his life jacket on, period. It's my right to have access to a life vest for the duration of the cruise.

 

No, it is not a "right"- it is a Coast Guard regulation (or whatever country they are following). Please don't mistake the two. If you are really concerned for your child's safety, bring your own vest for tendering and excursions.

So instead of being dishonest and "smuggling" the ships life jacket, bring your own for off ship. Pretty easy and simple. Also,the fit is better because you can try different brands - I did to make sure it fit properly since there are different styles. Takes care of the non-ship tenders and excursions, too.

You probably don't want to read this, I was told by an excursion operator that they did not need to carry life jackets to fit individuals under 50 lbs. and that this met US Coast Guard regs. I called all the excursions operators before I cruised just to be sure of my daughters safety. I didn't even bother to check the regs after the 50 lb thing - just made sure I was responsible for my child's safety by bringing her own life jacket!