Baby food available?

[AmMom]

New to this whole thing, sorry for not using the abbreviations...

 

We are going on RCI Freedom of the Seas in July with an 8 month old. I noticed in some of the threads it was mentioned that they supply baby food from room service and in the dining rooms... is this true for FOS??:confused: I just need to know if I should pack a weeks worth of baby food or not. Baby won't be eating any table food by this point.

 

Also, I thought that babies were not allowed in the pools at all. It is nice to hear that they do have a baby pool. Is if frowned upun to carry her into the H2O zone briefly here and there. I will know if she has a dirty diapie - (she makes if very obvious when she is going ;)

[6rugrats]

Unless your ship has a water play area for babies in diapers, she will not be allowed in the pool, even if you think her diaper is "clean".

 

Many, many threads discuss this, and the baby food question on this board.

[Kerry's Girls]

Someone may correct me, but I believe the only threads you've seen mentioning baby food being provided are on Princess cruises - and that has to be pre-arranged. I do think I've seen that Royal Carib will puree food, plus there's always soups, yogurt, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, etc.

 

Best,

Mia

[wrp96]

On the Freedom of the Seas, there is a small portion of the H20 Zone called the Baby Zone that is meant for children in diapers. Otherwise, your non-potty trained child is not allowed into any of the pools or any other areas of the H2O Zone.

[sas80]

I feel that, yes, you may walk you baby thru the h20 zone. I see nothing wrong with scooping your child up in your arms and allowing them to put their hands in the spouting water/waterfalls.

 

We just held our son and let him play with the spouting frogs and waterfall on the Voyager. His diaper never got wet and he had a great time.

 

As long as the child's diaper is not submerged in the water, in any way, there will be no chance that fecal matter can escape it and pollute the pool.

 

Yes, you can arrange for food to be pureed for your child. We did it on both Splendour and Rhapsody and a friend of ours, sailing with us, just did it on the Voyager last week.

 

About 1-2 weeks prior to sailing, send an email to special_needs@rccl.com letting them know when you will be sailing, departure date, ship, port of departure, reservation number, cabin number and what you will need. they will fax the ship to inform them that the request is going to happen.

 

When we did this we went to the dining room on the first night and spoke with the man at the booth outside the dining room. You can also speak with your head waiter.

 

The way we did it was to have breakfast, lunch and dinner delivered to our room every day at specified times. I asked for 2 hardboiled eggs (for the egg yolk), yogurt and a pureed fruit for breakfast (we brought rice cereal) and I asked for one each pureed fruit, veggie and protein (meat) for lunch and dinner. Breakfast was delivered at 7:30 am, lunch at 11:30 pm and dinner at 5:30 pm, every day. Please consider always tipping a dollar or two.

 

If anyone gives you flack about it being baby food, you can always tell them that YOU need your food pureed because you have sensitive teeth or whatever.

 

Other than that, I would not pack a weeks worth of baby food to bring. Pack enough to get you thru excursions and maybe a little extra. I am sure that there are ports where you could purchase some, if you really needed to. Be sure to save some empty baby food containers for storing some of the room service food. When we found something DS liked, we stored it in the fridge for the next meal.

 

Happy Sailing!

[sas80]

OP didn't ask about pools, she asked about the H2O zone.

 

I may be wrong, and I have never been on the freedom - but isn't that the area with the spouting water and not a "pool"?

[aaklang]

On Celebrity, I had to submit my baby food request 40 days in advance - I would confirm with RCCL and make sure they don't need a long lead-time as well. You'd hate to call two weeks in advance and find out it was too late. Celebrity emailed me a form that had all of the available foods on it, as well as a chart showing how many total jars, formula and/or cereal you wanted. I checked off what I wanted and faxed it back in. The food is supposed to be waiting for me in my cabin upon boarding. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[sas80]

On Celebrity, I had to submit my baby food request 40 days in advance - I would confirm with RCCL and make sure they don't need a long lead-time as well. You'd hate to call two weeks in advance and find out it was too late. Celebrity emailed me a form that had all of the available foods on it, as well as a chart showing how many total jars, formula and/or cereal you wanted. I checked off what I wanted and faxed it back in. The food is supposed to be waiting for me in my cabin upon boarding. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

ummmm, okay....everything I posted was in direct experience with RCCL, on several different ships....but you never know, I might be making it all up! :rolleyes:

[twopugs]

Just a thought-

We are packing our own Gerber food for our 7 month old.

My reasoning is this...

DS is pretty used to his meals each day. 1 fruit w/ cereal in the morning and 1 veggie and fruit in the evening. We do mash some of our own food, but for the most part he gets the Gerber ones. Since that is what he is used to at home, I want to keep it the same on the ship. I would hate to get on the ship to find out that he won't eat something, as I am sure we will already be battling since he will be so distracted. Plus, a weeks worth of those small containers and a box of cereal won't take up that much space.

I also plan to take a few containers of prunes to make sure that he isn't constipated.

I would just take that into consideration, if your child is used to the pre-packaged food puree that they may not take to a thinner/thicker mash on the ship.

[wrp96]

OP didn't ask about pools, she asked about the H2O zone.

 

I may be wrong, and I have never been on the freedom - but isn't that the area with the spouting water and not a "pool"?

 

The H20 Zone has a small area called the Baby Zone that is meant for children in diapers. Non-potty trained children are not allowed into any areas of the H20 Zone other than the Baby Zone.

[um5xno1]

The H20 Zone has a small area called the Baby Zone that is meant for children in diapers. Non-potty trained children are not allowed into any areas of the H20 Zone other than the Baby Zone.

 

I guess this person felt they needed to repost this?

[sas80]

I guess this person felt they needed to repost this?

 

Just in case my post confused anybody, I am sure he just wanted to be clear on exactly what the H2O zone was, and exactly what the rule is.

 

People are very passionate about the no diapers in the pool rule (and rightly so) Ensuring that you are clear on what you are saying is a way to make sure no one mis interprets you.

 

Matter of fact, I was VERY shocked at the number of parents whom put their infants into the kids pool on the Voyager last week. My husband actually said, to a guy who was swimming with his 6 month old, "babies in diapers are not allowed because of the potential for fecal matter" The guy responded "who's going to know, who's going to care?" I think he said that because of the fact that our DS is still, obviously, in diapers. He thought he would "bond" with us on the topic.

 

Another woman (separate from the guy) actually offered me a swimmer for our toddler when I said "oh, he's still in diapers, he's not allowed in the pool" she said "hey, I have a swimmer you can borrow, you paid for the cruise, take him in the pool!"

 

We actually ended up bringing the blow up pools to the kids pool so that the babies could play along side the older children we were traveling with.

 

I wish more people would consider that as an option, rather than risk exposing everyone to fecal matter.....

[crusinmama06]

Sas - the H20 zone does have 2 areas that are deep like a pool. One area goes up to almost 6ft deep (think it's like 5'10" or something) Then the spouting water shoots all over the shallow area (ankle deep). And then there is a "lazy donut" that is under 4 feet deep. The kids can float around and around in there since it has a current that pushes them around like a lazy river.

 

And Wrona I HAVE to do it - here's a picture of the Baby Zone for AmMom. ;) :p The babies are *suppose* to be kept in the Baby Zone...but yes I have seen parents carrying kids through the other areas.

 

[sas80]

DS had so much fun playing with the spouting water things and, in the end, was chomping at the bit to get into the pool with the other kids....looking at this pitcure of the freedom - It almost makes me want to spend the money and book another cruise, just so he can play there!

[AmMom]

Thank you guys for all your help!!! I don't know if I mentioned it but we are all first time cruisers (husband, daughter, 2 brothers and dad) so this "planning" thing is a bit overwhelming considering I don't really know what to expect:eek: But we are all pretty laid back and REALLY excited about the trip:D You all are a wonderful resource to clue me into cruising before we depart! Thanks again!!

[Kate's Mom]

Just a question.... I know ladies had mentioned no swim diapers in the pools but I am wondering if you ladies are talking about disaposable swim diapers. I have a cloth swim diaper that is lined like rubber pants so do you think we can get away with that on the Westerdam????? If not, back up plan is to bring the blow up duck bath tub and let our 1 year old camp out there well she watched her cosuins play in the pool... Thanks in advance!!!!!

[pms4104]

Just a question.... I know ladies had mentioned no swim diapers in the pools but I am wondering if you ladies are talking about disaposable swim diapers. I have a cloth swim diaper that is lined like rubber pants so do you think we can get away with that on the Westerdam????? If not' date=' back up plan is to bring the blow up duck bath tub and let our 1 year old camp out there well she watched her cosuins play in the pool... Thanks in advance!!!!![/quote']

Suggest you bring the pool ... as HAL's policy is no diapers and no swimmies in the pool. I don't think they distinguish disposable from launderable, as both types still are diapers.

[cruisebermuda]

I have taken my kids several times on Celebrity and RCCL when they were babies, and never had a major problem getting baby food. Celebrity did mess up once, and the box was ALL the way at the back of the food storage area, so they couldn't get to it for the first few days of the trip. My best experience was another Celebrity trip, where the person actually called me from miami from the grocery store as she was picking out the food for my son. I had my pick of whatever I wanted. That was great. We always asked that the full box of stuff be delivered to our cabin the first night...we didn't want to have to wait for it to be delivered meal by meal, and this made the ports much easier too. I found that the maitre'd would go out of their way to keep checking if we had everything we needed and kept trying to give us other "baby" type foods too, i.e. yogurt, strained carrots, etc.. I had to tell them all that it was all wasted on my kids!! I also got formula on Celebrity. Don't forget, you are PAYING for this child to be on the cruise, they have nutritional needs like any other customer on board!!! It always amazed me that most people didn't request the food/formula. Most of the cruises we did, we were the ONLY ones who had put in a request. You can request while you are on board, without the pre-request, because they usually have an emergency supply on board, although it's limited in variety.

 

My experience with swim diapers is that it's enforced sporadically. I have been so frustrated that I've not let my non-potty trained kids in, and they you see a baby who clearly has on a diaper in the pool!!!! What's worse is the people who don't have a swim diaper and have the regular ones on and aren't fazed that it's deteriorating in the pool!

[sas80]

I have taken my kids several times on Celebrity and RCCL when they were babies, and never had a major problem getting baby food. Celebrity did mess up once, and the box was ALL the way at the back of the food storage area, so they couldn't get to it for the first few days of the trip. My best experience was another Celebrity trip, where the person actually called me from miami from the grocery store as she was picking out the food for my son. I had my pick of whatever I wanted. That was great. We always asked that the full box of stuff be delivered to our cabin the first night...we didn't want to have to wait for it to be delivered meal by meal, and this made the ports much easier too. I found that the maitre'd would go out of their way to keep checking if we had everything we needed and kept trying to give us other "baby" type foods too, i.e. yogurt, strained carrots, etc.. I had to tell them all that it was all wasted on my kids!! I also got formula on Celebrity. Don't forget, you are PAYING for this child to be on the cruise, they have nutritional needs like any other customer on board!!! It always amazed me that most people didn't request the food/formula. Most of the cruises we did, we were the ONLY ones who had put in a request. You can request while you are on board, without the pre-request, because they usually have an emergency supply on board, although it's limited in variety.

 

My experience with swim diapers is that it's enforced sporadically. I have been so frustrated that I've not let my non-potty trained kids in, and they you see a baby who clearly has on a diaper in the pool!!!! What's worse is the people who don't have a swim diaper and have the regular ones on and aren't fazed that it's deteriorating in the pool!

 

In the three times that I have cruised RCCL I have never, ever, gotten pre packaged, store purchased, baby food.

 

All of my food has been cooked on board, that day, and pureed. (which I prefer anyways)

[AmMom]

My DH is faxing in the request for pureed/strained/baby food on Monday; I will let you all know how it goes. Thanks again!

[AmMom]

This is what I wrote to RCI:

 

I wanted to let you know ahead of time that we will need to have three special meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) delivered to our room. Please include for breakfast a pureed fruit, for lunch a pureed fruit and vegetable and for dinner a pureed vegetable and poultry (please see below for specific suggestions). We would like breakfast delivered around 7:30 am, lunch around 11:30 am and Dinner delivered around 4:30 pm. Please make all the food as bland as possible (no added sugar, salt or butter). If it would be easier, you could instead provide store-bought strained foods and deliver it all on the day of embarkment. All of our information is as follows:

 

This is the letter I received from RCI:

 

Good Morning, Ms Hildebrand.

 

Regarding your email I have received your request for soft/pureed foods and will forward your information to the ship.

 

Once on board please meet with the Maitre 'D to identify your seating location and to address any additional questions you may have.

 

Please note that a mechanical/soft diet is usually reserved for adult guests who have difficulty chewing, swallowing, or digesting whole foods.

 

While the galley has the means to steam and/or puree any food items available, the ship does not provide baby food. Guests requiring such items will need to bring their own supply.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions

 

Best regards,

 

Would you count this as a confirmation? It seems a little vauge. I just don't want to get on board and have them say, "Oh, this is for a baby, we can't do it then, Sorry" and then we're stranded without food for her? I know it is worst case senario; but I feel uneasy about it.

 

Should I just clear the air with them and tell them that, "Yes, it is for a baby and yes they will provide food for her given that we have paid full price for her (full 3rd/4th person rate). We are paying for her to eat 3 adult meals a day with all the desserts snacks and drinks. All the food she could possible eat in the week will still not equate to the price of one lobster tail at one of my dinners." They should be more than willing to accommodate her. Now I could understand if we got a reduced rate for her, but we didn't. It would not be such a big deal but with the airlines restricting baggage and since she is a lap child, we will only get to check 2 bags and FAA won't let us "carry on" that much food.

 

So now my delima is : trust that they will make the food for her or try and clear the air and make sure they will make the food for her, knowing she is a baby or just get our own food and bring it aboard (I'd have to swallow my pride and let them win if I choose this one:mad: )

 

What would you do?

[sas80]

This is what I wrote to RCI:

 

I wanted to let you know ahead of time that we will need to have three special meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) delivered to our room. Please include for breakfast a pureed fruit, for lunch a pureed fruit and vegetable and for dinner a pureed vegetable and poultry (please see below for specific suggestions). We would like breakfast delivered around 7:30 am, lunch around 11:30 am and Dinner delivered around 4:30 pm. Please make all the food as bland as possible (no added sugar, salt or butter). If it would be easier, you could instead provide store-bought strained foods and deliver it all on the day of embarkment. All of our information is as follows:

 

This is the letter I received from RCI:

 

Good Morning, Ms Hildebrand.

 

Regarding your email I have received your request for soft/pureed foods and will forward your information to the ship.

 

Once on board please meet with the Maitre 'D to identify your seating location and to address any additional questions you may have.

 

Please note that a mechanical/soft diet is usually reserved for adult guests who have difficulty chewing, swallowing, or digesting whole foods.

 

While the galley has the means to steam and/or puree any food items available, the ship does not provide baby food. Guests requiring such items will need to bring their own supply.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions

 

Best regards,

 

Would you count this as a confirmation? It seems a little vauge. I just don't want to get on board and have them say, "Oh, this is for a baby, we can't do it then, Sorry" and then we're stranded without food for her? I know it is worst case senario; but I feel uneasy about it.

 

Should I just clear the air with them and tell them that, "Yes, it is for a baby and yes they will provide food for her given that we have paid full price for her (full 3rd/4th person rate). We are paying for her to eat 3 adult meals a day with all the desserts snacks and drinks. All the food she could possible eat in the week will still not equate to the price of one lobster tail at one of my dinners." They should be more than willing to accommodate her. Now I could understand if we got a reduced rate for her, but we didn't. It would not be such a big deal but with the airlines restricting baggage and since she is a lap child, we will only get to check 2 bags and FAA won't let us "carry on" that much food.

 

So now my delima is : trust that they will make the food for her or try and clear the air and make sure they will make the food for her, knowing she is a baby or just get our own food and bring it aboard (I'd have to swallow my pride and let them win if I choose this one:mad: )

 

What would you do?

 

This is exactly the response I received and everything worked out perfectly. Just do as the email says. As soon as the dining room opens for seating change requests, go there and speak with the maitre'd and "place your order"

 

I PROMISE you they will make the food!!!

 

Initially, I actually approached it as a "soft food request" to special services. Once on board, I still spoke of it as a "soft food request". If they balk then tell them it is for YOU. I really believe that you wont have any problems.

 

I think they balk at making baby food because the meat/veggies they are going to puree is going to be whatever meat/veggies they have prepared (in batch). whatever they intend to put out/serve in the WJ or dining room. For example, they will puree a chicken breast for you but it will be seasoned. They will puree carrots for you, but it will be a puree from the batch that they are going to serve at dinner, so it will have some butter and salt in it. I think they say that they will not make baby food because people will expect that the meats and veggies will be seasoning and butter/salt free. DS LOVED the meats they served! His FAAAAAvorite was the prime rib!

 

Like I said, I did this on 2 cruises (Splendour and Rhapsody) and we just had a friend do it on the Voyager 2 weeks ago.

 

How about this - bring enough food to get you to the first port of call. If, at that point, your request is not going to be fulfilled, you can go to the supermarket and purchase baby food.

 

You will be fine!

[sas80]

Besides all this, I think your baby does qualify as someone whom has difficulty chewing! :D

[CC Help Michell]

I guess this person felt they needed to repost this?

 

You know, every time I wander in here over the last couple of months I find posts like the above (a swipe at Wrona, WRP96, one of the most helpful, non-confrontational, posters on many boards here at CC). That might be why I haven't posted on this board in the last few months. :(

 

Regarding the baby food thing, I certainly would bring my own baby food (enough to tide you over to a port of call where you could purchase more), because from the emailed reply from RCI it seems as if RCI is trying to make it CRYSTAL clear that they do NOT accept responsibility/liability for furnishing "baby food." Maybe it's related to nut, shellfish, or lactose allergy issues? Just a thought here. If they undertake to furnish appropriate food for babies, they are also accepting liability if said baby turns out to have allergies to ingredients that might be in the puree'd food/in the blender/on the cutting board? I read the email quoted in this thread to be saying "HEY! We don't make baby food! We aren't saying anything we do is okay for babies!" If despite that you feed your baby something they prepare, I think you should be aware that doing so is at your own risk -- which is (to me) pretty clearly the purpose behind the email you received.

 

Personally, I would ask a pediatrician, not a message board, whether it's okay for your particular baby to eat pureed foods whose origins you don't know/can't verify.

[AmMom]

You know, every time I wander in here over the last couple of months I find posts like the above (a swipe at Wrona, WRP96, one of the most helpful, non-confrontational, posters on many boards here at CC). That might be why I haven't posted on this board in the last few months. :(

 

Regarding the baby food thing, I certainly would bring my own baby food (enough to tide you over to a port of call where you could purchase more), because from the emailed reply from RCI it seems as if RCI is trying to make it CRYSTAL clear that they do NOT accept responsibility/liability for furnishing "baby food." Maybe it's related to nut, shellfish, or lactose allergy issues? Just a thought here. If they undertake to furnish appropriate food for babies, they are also accepting liability if said baby turns out to have allergies to ingredients that might be in the puree'd food/in the blender/on the cutting board? I read the email quoted in this thread to be saying "HEY! We don't make baby food! We aren't saying anything we do is okay for babies!" If despite that you feed your baby something they prepare, I think you should be aware that doing so is at your own risk -- which is (to me) pretty clearly the purpose behind the email you received.

 

Personally, I would ask a pediatrician, not a message board, whether it's okay for your particular baby to eat pureed foods whose origins you don't know/can't verify.

 

Of course I am going to do what is best for my baby; like I said earlier, if RCI won't come through for us then I will have to suck it up bring our own food... even if that means that after paying full price for our 8 month old we still have to provide food for her and find a way to fly it, ship it or buy it in the port city. It comes down to a matter of principle, they should provide for such basic needs as food. Now I could understand if they said from the beginning that they do not make any special arrangements for any special diets, but that is not the case. They make many special arrangements for many special diets... complicated arrangements. So why can they not make a simple arrangement to have baby food on board for us. They are getting enough money from us to cover food for a child/adult for the entire week, surely they could manage to spare a few of those dollars the have baby food for us!