Requesting babyfood on Princess

[Mercury]

Do you recommend that I pre-request baby food for my daughter? If so, is it necessary to be very specific (eg do you specify that you want 3 bottles of Gerber Chicken and Rice Dinner and 3 of banana etc etc)? Or do you just ask for Gerber babyfood?

 

Also, does Princess provide high chairs in both the formal restaurants and the buffet restaurants?

 

Sorry - I am new to Princess and this will be the first time I am cruising with a baby!

[Baxter]

You have no options (neither flavour nor name brand). You request "baby food" and when you get to your room, you order it from room service...but you only indicate type (2 meat, one fruit, etc). They didn't have any variety when we were there. They only had chicken and rice for "meat", and the only cereal they had was rice cereal (we were looking for something a little more substantial). If we cruise again with a baby who is exclusively eating baby food, we will pack out own to make sure she gets the stuff she eats.

 

No problem getting high chairs in either, but we had a hard time finding one that had the tray. Sometimes they would have to run to another dining room to find a tray.

[PattyW]

That's true - you can't be specific about brands, etc - but we ordered baby food for the next whole day from our waiter at dinner the night before and he was amiable to try to find the veggies/fruits/meats we requested. However, the brand that they have is the brand that you get - our child ate almost exclusively Italian baby food on our week aboard a Princess ship. We had to look at the pictures to figure out exactly what it was. At first I was weirded out, but quickly realized that - Italian babies have to eat, too - and it was fine.

[Kerry's Girls]

Baby food can be pre-ordered before you board, which I highly suggest so you have the choices you want and don't have to count on what they happen to have. They send you a form and you fill in how many jars of meat, how many of veggie and how many of fruit you want, plus how many small boxes of cereal (baby cereal - the oatmeal-ish kind). When we sailed it was Gerber and it was all delivered to my cabin so I could bring what I wanted to each meal.

 

At dinner our high chairs were always set up and waiting. In the buffet or in the dining room for breakfast & lunch, sometimes a waiter would have to run for one (I have twins, so there weren't always two high chairs right there), but it never took long. I always brought the stroller in case there was any wait.

 

As long as you don't need babysitting, I think Princess is fabulous with a baby. Have a great cruise.

 

Best,

Mia

[notentirelynormal]

Kerry's Girls is right. We were told that they buy EXACTLY what you ask for. The brand and the type and quantity. One jar of Gerber apple sauce, one jar of carrots etc. They buy the food specifically for you from your request.

[PattyW]

IIRC, the form basically said, how many of each of these:

 

Meat

Vegetables

Fruits

Cereals

 

There was no space to request a specific brand or specific varieties (peaches, but not bananas - kind of thing). So, yes, Princess will provide what you requested, but it's not like making a specific grocery list where Princess goes to the store and purchases the food for you.

 

Now, I cruised Princess with a baby in 2003 - I fully admit things could be different now.

[Kerry's Girls]

Kerry's Girls is right. We were told that they buy EXACTLY what you ask for. The brand and the type and quantity. One jar of Gerber apple sauce, one jar of carrots etc. They buy the food specifically for you from your request.

 

Sorry I wasn't clear. You get to choose how many meat, how many veggie, how many fruit (not what kind of each). You can not choose a specific brand or flavor.

 

Just a side note - with all the soups, yogurt, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, etc. served at meals, we hardly ended up using any of the jars and my twins ate off the menu at most meals.

 

Best,

Mia

[sharktums]

I just cruised the Grand Princess in December with an 8 month old and went through all the faxes, emails and processes to get her Baby Food. I filled out forms with exact amounts, was told that it would be Gerber products, etc.

 

Everything was confirmed, I got my confirmation and how to do it on the ship. Was told to either go through Room Service or a head waiter in the dining room. NOTHING WORKED RIGHT!!! I was quite angry. Room service didn't want to deal with it, head waiter and maitre 'd told me to deal with room service, they just kept giving me the run around. I went to the pursers desk and they basically had to yell at room service to bring me the food that I had requested and had confirmation of. Got a few random jars of stuff totally different from what I had requested and a whole sampling or brands.

 

Luckily I had planned ahead and brought enough food with me just in case and I ended up using it!

 

So just a heads up to anyone planning on doing this!

 

*Oh, and we never had a problem finding a high chair.

[Baxter]

IIRC, the form basically said, how many of each of these:

 

Meat

Vegetables

Fruits

Cereals

 

There was no space to request a specific brand or specific varieties (peaches, but not bananas - kind of thing). So, yes, Princess will provide what you requested, but it's not like making a specific grocery list where Princess goes to the store and purchases the food for you.

 

Now, I cruised Princess with a baby in 2003 - I fully admit things could be different now.

 

Well, for our December cruise it was the same. We were told that it is whatever they have in stock (but they guarantee they will have enough for you).

[Mercury]

Thank-you all SO much for your very helpful replies. I am hoping my little girl will mainly eat off the menu, but it's good to know I can have the babyfood if it's needed!

 

Many thanks again!