Cruising with an 11 month old

[newyork cruiser]

DH and I love to cruise and are considering a cruise in the late summer/early fall. Our daughter will be 10-12 months old depending on when we would go. Can anyone fill us in on the most economical way to go with a child? It looks like on some of the lines we would pay nearly full fare for her, even as the 3rd in our stateroom and she certainly will not be eating like a normal cruiser and will not be able to use most of the children's services, if any. Should we wait until she is older to take her? If so, any other ideas for good family vacations with one so young. Thanks.

[cb at sea]

I guess it depends on what kind of vacation you want to have! Cruising with a baby that can't utilize any of the ship's facilities doesn't leave you and the spouse much romantic or "alone" time. Excursions will have to be fairly brief, as a 1 year old couldn't care less about any of it!

Some ships give a 1/2 price fare to kids...and on almost all ships, you have to bring everything you'll need---diapers for a week, food, formula....it can be a packing nightmare, if you fly to port. If you can drive, no big deal.

If you have a grandparent that can use some "bonding time" with the little one, let them bond, and go and have a lovely "adult" vacation. If it's "family together time" you're looking for, then take the baby with you--either way, it's a good time. With a child, it's just a bit different!

[Tggrtoes]

We did our first cruise with our DS this past Nov/Dec on Sapphire Princess. He was 15 months at the time. We really did miss the alone time and time to do some things for ourselves, but we both agreed that it was a great way to vacation and would do it again.

 

If you can afford it, I would use one of the cruise lines that have babysitting or allow your child in the kids zone. This will give you a little alone time and down time.

 

If you can't afford it, we still had a good time. I would try to arrange some on/off time with your DH so that you both get a little relaxation in. Maybe you can each have one afternoon or a few hours where you get to go to the pool, get a massage, etc.

 

We found the best thing to do at night was to go back to our room after dinner and running around a bit was to give DS a bath (we had a mini suite w/balcony... highly recommend the balcony. Saved our sanity). Anyway, after bath, we'd get him in his pjs and then go back out to the promenade deck. He'd either run around a bit and/or we'd walk him around until he fell asleep. We could then relax on a deck chair and talk or go see part of a show (plenty of room in the very back for the stroller. Not the best view for adults, but it worked.). The balcony was also helpful for some downtime... I was able to relax out there with a book and/or nap in the sun while DS took a brief nap.

[SimplyAddicted]

I leave March 1st for my 1st cruise w/ my daughter (who will be 11 1/2 mos.) on Disney. Disney doesn't charge for infants, but they tend to be more expensive overall anyway. They do have a nursery for babies so you could have your alone time. Plus, one of the big selling points for me is they have a specially filtered pool for children that are not potty-trained.

 

I wanted to wait until my daughter was eating all table food and milk. She made the switch to all table food about 2 months ago and milk the beginning of this month (with doctor approval). That way, you won't have all the baby food / formula to pack. (I'm not sure all kids are eating table food by this age though - my daughter has an unusualy large amt of teeth for her age 14 of them already!)

 

I will try to post to let everyone know it went.

[rolloman]

I leave March 1st for my 1st cruise w/ my daughter (who will be 11 1/2 mos.) on Disney. Disney doesn't charge for infants, but they tend to be more expensive overall anyway. They do have a nursery for babies so you could have your alone time. Plus, one of the big selling points for me is they have a specially filtered pool for children that are not potty-trained.

 

I wanted to wait until my daughter was eating all table food and milk. She made the switch to all table food about 2 months ago and milk the beginning of this month (with doctor approval). That way, you won't have all the baby food / formula to pack. (I'm not sure all kids are eating table food by this age though - my daughter has an unusualy large amt of teeth for her age 14 of them already!)

 

I will try to post to let everyone know it went.

 

YOu will love the Nursery on Disney, they are first class. Just make sure you go online and reserve the days prior to boarding, if need be you can always adjust once you are onboard. I was nervous about leaving my DD, but it turns out that was a waist of energy on my part. 14 teeth at 11 months..WOW

[SimplyAddicted]

YOu will love the Nursery on Disney, they are first class. Just make sure you go online and reserve the days prior to boarding, if need be you can always adjust once you are onboard. I was nervous about leaving my DD, but it turns out that was a waist of energy on my part. 14 teeth at 11 months..WOW

 

Thanks! I am very nervous about how she'll do in the nursery. She is not in daycare so I'm not sure how she'll react. I know - she got her 1st 4 teeth at 2 1/2 mos. I kept telling everyone she was teething at 1 1/2 - 2 mos. and they all told me I was crazy!

[calikak]

I actually did a bunch of research on this when we were planning our first real cruise with our son (we did a 2-nighter on NCL when he was 11 months old, and then a real cruise when he was 17 months old). The only cruise line that will have a nursery or kids' club available for a kid under a year old is Disney. From 1-2, you've got Disney and Cunard, that's it. Once Oasis of the Seas (RCL) is launched, that'll be another option for the under-2 set. RCL (and I think Celebrity--someone correct me if I'm wrong) also offers babysitting (for a fee) for kids age 1 and up.

 

The flip side to this is the pricing issue. Most cruise lines charge a full third-person fare for infants even though they offer no services to them. The exceptions are NCL, which only charges port fees/taxes for kids under 2, and the occassional specials you see on other cruise lines. Right now Disney and Costa both have kids-sail-free specials going on, so that's something to consider.

 

We ended up picking NCL because we found a SCREAMING deal on a suite on an 11-night sailing. Not only that, it was sailing from closer to home (San Francisco--we live in Seattle) so we had a shorter flight than if we were cruising from Florida or the Gulf Coast. NCL did have a room open for kids under 2 to come play with age-appropriate toys with their parents, but there was no babysitting or anything. NCL has a lot of perks for suite guests, like they'll serve dinner from any of their restaurants in your suite (your butler serves it OMG it's been hard coming back to reality!). This meant we could feed Jim from the buffet and then put him to bed, then have a nice elegant meal in the suite. THAT was a nice perk.

[lamolesky]

We cruised NCL, they didn't charge for under two (just the port charges). If the baby is good and will sleep in the stroller in the evening, then you can enjoy a quiet dinner alone. It is also nice to go when they are two so that you can let them play in the kids club while you go to dinner.

[Julienatul]

We sailed on RCCL when DD was 7 months and Carnival when she was 1yr. It wasnt that big of a deal bringing the babyfood, we packed diapers, wipes, disposable bibs,bottles, can of powdered formula, gerber plastic babyfood all in a large diaper box, slapped a luggage label on it and had it delivered to our stateroom. RCCL has babysitting from 12 months and up, Carnival at any age but only from 12-2pm on sea days and after 10pm every night. Look at the prices overall. You may pay for a 3rd person fare but the first and second person will be so much lower you end up paying less. You can sail Carnival for much less than Disney even paying a 3rd person. Use an online travel website to price all the lines out. We would do DD's bedtime routine and put her to sleep in the stroller reclined then stroll around to a quiet lounge and enjoy alone time or a quick show in the evenings. We would also trade off so each had some relaxing time.The balcony is also nice for naps.

[spinard2000]

Just booked NCL & our 15 month old pays $140 plus tax as the 3rd in the room. I believe its some type of promotion.

 

We cruised on Carnival with her in Jan. She's a VERY active baby & it was a bit of a pain at times. She wasn't satisfied in the stroller, but wasn't walking yet so DH & I took turns watching her in the cabin. I also brought a blow up baby pool for her but it was too cold to use it.

[jam82]

Don't wait, do it now. Our son has cruised at 11m, 14m, 18months and at 2years. All have been on Carnival. Our experience has been the younger the better. At 11m he slept during dinner, at 14m he ate dinner with us at our own table and was very well behaved (honestly, the people sitting around us said they had never seen anything like it), at 18m it was tolerable but not relaxing, and at 2 we made it through one dinner and he went to the kids club or we ate at the buffet during dinner the rest of the cruise.

 

Carnival has babysitting in from 12-2 or 1-3 on sea days, and 10-3 at night.

 

DH didn't think it was right to charge the whole fare for an infant. I figured that the overall value of the cruise was still good even if we just divided it by two. It may not be totally economical, but that's my rationalization. Now that he can use Camp Carnival, we both figure it's a bargain.

 

For a land based family vacation I would suggest a Club Med with a children's program.

[Cruising since 3]

In 2005, we cruised NCL Majesty to Bermuda with our then 9-month old. It really was the best time, such a nice break from the monotony of everyday with a little one!!! We drove to Boston from CT, brought our own pack and play, stroller, formula, baby food, infant life vest, diapers, etc., but we had everything we needed and there was plenty of room in the Suite that we got a great deal on.

 

We were back in the room by 9:30 or so everynight, but we did see some shows, walk on deck, etc. Bermuda is the perfect cruise too, because you are docked in the same place for days, so if baby is cranky or something, you won't miss out like you could in a port you are only in for 6 hours. We had a transportation pass, so we took the bus to the beach, went on the ferry rides, walked around, even did the electric slide at the party on the dock!:) The biggest drawback we experienced was waiting for elevators, because with a stroller we couldn't take the stairs. Other than that small thing, it was a surprisingly fantastic time.

 

We are planning on Bermuda again in May of 2010, we now have two boys who will be 3 and 5, so I'm sure it will be a whole different experience.

[mrs.mobster]

You could check out a Disney cruise. DH and I are taking our DD (she will be just shy of 12 months) with us Jan '10 on Celebrity and her fare for 3rd person is $399. Were ok with this, even though she wont be old enough to use the kids services.

[rebeccalouise]

Personally, I would not cruise with a toddler. I did this but it is alot of work and the confines of the cabin make it even worse.

 

If it were me- I'd go visit family. If you have friends or family that you can visit that makes it so much easier. My sister lived in Texas and Florida and it was never a problem taking my kids to visit her- there was a kitchen, a car, she knew everyone in case we needed a sitter or doctor.

 

But if you do want to do a family friendly vacation with a toddler, I would take your child to a resort that allows swim diapers in the pool. Kids love water but not necessarily sand. So beach outing with an 11 month old aren't going to be that much fun.

 

It wasn't until my sons were older that I enjoyed cruising. 3 is a good age to start because they are usually potty trained, have less separation anxiety and are allowed in the youth programs. I know some ships do allow kids 2 and under but most do not. And none of the lines allow kids in the pool if they are in diapers.

[bflandry317]

Carnival has babysitting in from 12-2 or 1-3 on sea days, and 10-3 at night.

 

 

Did you use the babysitting service with Carnival? We are sailing on the Fantasy in July with a 1 year old.

[jam82]

Yes we did. The staff was great with him. He seemed very happy there. They also have babysitting on port days from arrival until noon.

 

When we have been on the Ecstacy, the Fantasy has often been docked by us. I would like to try out that ship sometime and travel down the Mississippi.

[rebeccalouise]

I guess I should have mentioned that when you have a very young child- you do spend alot of time in the room. For this reason, I prefer a large room, suite or condo somewhere. Or to stay in someone's house- where you can all hang out while the baby is sleeping.

 

On a cruise- the confines of the room can be really claustophobic and boring. This is just my honest opinion.

 

Obviously it is nice not to have to cook and clean on the cruise but there are plenty of resorts where you have the same advantages but get bigger rooms.

 

I stayed in Bermuda in a massive suite and this was fantastic and another time in Orlando in a two bedroom condo- in a hotel that did have room service, a pool that allowed swim diapers and nice restaurants in the hotel.

 

I know people come here to get validation for taking tots but I think you have to look at the other vacation options as well.

 

Ask yourself- am I getting the most bang for the buck, if my child isn't using the pool, eating much food, and then having tiny accomodations to boot.

 

It is great traveling with kids 3 and older on cruises though and my son has been on 17 now!