7-10 month old.. No babysitter?

[Dee79]

I'm planning ahead for our cruise next October (2010) I'm eyeing NCL only because the rates are fantastic and I'm in love with the ports. Belize, Mexico and Honduras.. NCL does not offer under 2 babysitting and there's a chance we will have no one with us.. This will be our first cruise and we're thinking ahead.

 

Who has never taken time away for themselves on a cruise? Leaving him/her home isn't an option at this point either.

 

We thought of bringing a friend with us but we're not sure if she'd be up to babysitting every now and then nor sleeping in the same room as a sleeping baby even if she got her own room we can't just say "Will you babysit" We've considered giving her some money towards her room also.

 

If that doesn't work we'll just go with the flow. :)

 

Note: I just saw that Carnival's Valor had a similiar itinerary.. It's refurbished... Thoughts on that ship?

[cb at sea]

Before you pay for your "friend" to come, make sure she'll be up to babysitting---why ask her, if she won't do it? I would assume to get the full "babysitting" benefit, you'll pay for her to come!

Otherwise, wait until the child is older, or you can find someone to keep the baby, or take full care of him/her yourself! If you're "hiring" her to babysit, then you should pay her fare, and she should watch the child!!!

Travelling with a baby is a totally different cruise experience than with adult couples...you will be confined to your cabin while baby is sleeping...you won't be able to do most of the excursions offered, and your sun/pool time will be severely restricted, since babies can't be exposed to that much UVA/B radiation...

[Cruisin' Chick]

We took our girl on her first cruise at 23 months on a Carnival ship. One month too young for the kids' program so she stayed with us the whole time. But that was okay as we enjoyed watching her check out the ship. But it does require a lot of planning as you need to take anything you may need (diapers, medicine, special foods). It was easier on us, that first cruise, as we were driving to our port.

 

So don't discount eventually taking your child. I have seen infants on cruises, but you may want to wait a bit to let them get some immunity to the world, and for you to see what kind of personality they have. My girl was a horrendous teether (starting from four months on, she would wake up screaming at 2am, even though she didn't cut her first tooth until 11 months, and each tooth meant a little cold). A couple of years later, there wasn't a problem at all with how she behaved in public.

[PEMCO007]

The first cruise we took with our 18 month old was on the Oriana which has a night nursery which was fantastic, it meant we could have some "quality time" and Maya got a good night sleep, and it was free so when we booked RCCL last year we were a little apprehensive as we had been spoilt on the Oriana we were not sure how Maya would handle the later nights, we knew babysitting was available but at a cost and only on a 1st come 1st served basis and travelling at xmas we did not expect to be able to get it, however once on board we found it fine she was great and although we did have a baby sitter on 2 evenings (xmas eve and new year) did not actually feel we needed one at all and, most evenings she fell asleep in her pushchair. As she was so good we are doing a Princess one this year and as she is too young still and they dont offer babysitting we will have Maya with us every evening, and prior to my RCCL one i may have been cautious but now I have no hesitation, kids apapt much better than we give them credit for most of the time.

Travelling with a little one is different and does need a little more planning but, we would not have it any other way a little adaption goes a long way.

Enjoy, you will be fine.

x

[Dee79]

Thank you for your replies. We're unsure of the line. Right now Norwegian's suites are nicer than Carnivals.. But Carnival offers daycare at a price we're willing to pay. The Carnival ship is brand new (Dream) which sails right out of Port Canaveral which is close to good friends of ours so this might work out for the better in the long run. :)

 

I'm sure it's suite is really nice as well.. But Norwegians was to die for! For the price of Carnivals mini suite we got the Penthouse suite on Norwegian. We'll see what Dream looks like when it's finished in September. But right now.. it's winning.

[lintman]

We took our baby on his first cruise when he was nine months old. It helped that it was just a three day cruise and we had family with us to watch him a little. We still had a good time though. There are excursions that you can't do but we were not planning on doing them anyway. We are taking him again in a month and we are going to miss the age for Camp Carnival by two months. We will be taking advantage of the under two babysitting on a few nights though.

[lolakat]

I cruised with my DD at age 6 and 7 mo and will be going again next month when she will be 18 mo. It is a lot more work to cruise with a baby but it is still worthwhile if you have the proper expectations.

The first trip we were with extended family who helped out here and there and let DH and I get some time together. The second was just me my mom and DD. At night we took turns staying in the cabin with DD while the other would explore the ship. We were on NCL so there were no baby sitters and if we were a couple looking to spend time alone that would have been impossible. We chose NCL b/c my mom gets huge discounts through their casino program. If I were traveling only with DH and DD I would prob choose RCL b/c they have the in room babysitting, baby splash pools and some parent and baby activies. None of this is offered on NCL. I believe Carnival has group sitting at night but the timing of it would not work well with DD's schedule at this point.

 

In regards to your freind coming along to babysit I would be careful to layout the exact expectations before hand. If she is going to primarily be there to babysit I would imagine you would have to pay for her travel plus her time. For example, we once brought our nanny on vacation with us. We paid her her normal salary plus a bonus of few hundred dollars and of course covered the full cost of her travel. In exchange she watched the baby when ever we wanted her to and slept in a room with the baby at night.

[Baxter]

Our daughter, who is now 2.5, has been on 3 cruises. Even when we travel with family, no one babysits for us. We have a blast. Admittedly it isn't the same as when we cruised pre-children but we love it just the same. My husband and I do less together, as we trade off who does bedtime...but we both feel we get a chance to get out and do things. I personally would never feel comfortable using a babysitter on a cruise....I don't leave my children with strangers at home....why would I do it on a cruiseship?

[RENMama]

we are sailing on the carnival dream this december.

last carnival cruise with kids our youngest was 15m and couldnt use the program. we did try the late night babysitting one night but he fell asleep on the way there and woke up after we left and he freaked.

but the kids camp crew was fab with him, they really tried (we talked to them by phone by their request of us to call), but they did end up paging us to pick up because it just wasnt fair to our son to be that scared.