1st time cruiser with 2 year old

[gacruiser1]

So glad I found this site. My DH and I are planning a cruise for Dec-looking at Carnival Inspiration-7day Western Caribbean. We will be bringing our two year old. Been reading a lot about Camp Carnival, so far seems like mostly positive experiences. Do you guys think 7 days is too long. DH really wants to do 7, I am leaning towards 5. Also, am very concerned about sleeping. My DS has always slept in his own room in a crib, and DH is a bit of a snorer:( , any thoughts on a way to partition off the room--I know they are small but if my son sees us, I'm afraid he'll be up and want to play. Do you think its necessary to pay for two adjoining rooms? Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated!:)

[crzfrnds]

Why don't you delay your cruise and join me and my husband who have custody of a sweet just turned 2 year old. Just kidding.

 

I'm with you. If you've never cruised before, I'd do a shorter cruise just in case your son doesn't have his sea legs. I wouldn't get two separate cabins and I've heard very good things about Camp Carnival too. Look at it this way too: would you get a separate hotel room for him? I just traveled to VA with my mom and granddaughter. She's usually a great sleeper but she was excited to be having a "slumber" party. Finally, my mother, the experienced mother of five, totally "encamped" the crib and she fell asleep!! Don't forget one other thing which we did: if there is a special musical item that they fall asleep with, take it with you!! If you have one of those small portable beach tents, I highly recommend taking it on the cruise too. The heat in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, etc. may be way too much for your son. We live near the NJ beaches and we barely went this summer because we felt it was just too hot for her, umbrellas and all, not to mention the hot sand. We know way too much about skin cancer now than when we were kids.

 

One more hint for you too: We pack our camera equipment in a soft side cooler that has a hard plastic liner. When we get to our cabin, we take the camera equipment out and our steward keeps it filled with ice cubes and whatever beverage we like. This way you also have it to take with you to the beach with you when you port. Water, toddler cups, drinks, etc. Heck I'd even consider taking a case of juice boxes (but buy the hard plastic protectors for them so that they're not squirting all over the place). Also, take a stroller. Don't take the big bulky one. McLaren (or something like that) makes an awesome lightweight stroller. Much better quality than an umbrella stroller. I saw someone with one of these when we were getting our shuttle in October 2006 at Orlando.

 

Finally, if you go on Inspiration, is that the five or seven day cruise and will it be revamped by then? Otherwise, I'd find another five or seven day. We weren't impressed with Inspiration (except for our waiter Julian) in May. I went with the girls!! Because of that the cruise itself was a blast.

 

Thanks for your post. It's given me some great ideas while I've been responding. Let me know what you do. Bon Voyage!

[hooked-on-travel]

We got an inside cabin for our 20 m/o DD's first cruise (7-day). She sleeps better in the dark. It was always dark!

[Paleochick]

So glad I found this site. My DH and I are planning a cruise for Dec-looking at Carnival Inspiration-7day Western Caribbean. We will be bringing our two year old. Been reading a lot about Camp Carnival, so far seems like mostly positive experiences. Do you guys think 7 days is too long. DH really wants to do 7, I am leaning towards 5. Also, am very concerned about sleeping. My DS has always slept in his own room in a crib, and DH is a bit of a snorer:( , any thoughts on a way to partition off the room--I know they are small but if my son sees us, I'm afraid he'll be up and want to play. Do you think its necessary to pay for two adjoining rooms? Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated!:)

 

I'd vote for the longer cruise and adjoining inside cabins...if money is no object.

[crusinmama06]

We cruise in balcony cabins so that I can lay the kids down and head "outside" while they fall asleep. If we had to stay in the cabin while they went to sleep, they would never sleep.

[Julienatul]

We have stayed in both inside and balcony cabins with our DD who was 19m on our last cruise. She will be 2 on this next cruise. My husband is also a terrible snorer and DD is used to sleeping in her own room/crib.

 

She slept fine each time we cruised with her, never once woke from the snoring or anything else! I think she was sooo exhausted from the day that she just crashes each evening. She has always slept better on a cruise than at home. We have done 5 day and 7 day with her and she does fine on both. I'd say go for 7.

 

As the last poster mentioned, we did have some trouble getting her to go to sleep a few times, we just turned out all the lights in the cabin and pretended to sleep ourselves and then when we knew she was finally out we turned the lights back on.

 

Julie

[katyf]

We took our DD on a cruise last year (she was 12 months at the time) and are planning to take her again this year.

 

I'm with you on the sleeping thing. What we did (and will do again) is partition off a portion of the room using string, some of those 3M hooks, and a black sheet held up with clothespins. Worked perfectly.

 

You could also consider a white noise machine to drown out your husband's snoring...if needed.

[neya]

Hi:

 

If money is no object and your daughter still takes afternoon naps consider booking a balcony. You can relax in your balcony while she takes her nap. We booked an inside cabin last year and I wish we had a balcony to go to while my daughter snoozed. We took a 7 day cruise and she did just fine. Just plan well, have patiences and most of all have fun!!!!

 

Neya