Transatlantic With 12 Month Old?

Has anyone taken a baby on a Transatlantic cruise? We are taking our 12 month old and I'm nervous. Looking for other people who have experienced it and could give me feedback. Thanks so much!! :)

What are you nervous about? Your little one will probably be treated by the crew like a superstar. Just bring a small folding umbrella stroller in case nap time comes around when you're out on deck or activities. Go to the dining room, but if it should be fussy ask the waiter to cover your dinner so you can take it back to the cabin. Be considerate of the other diners.

Other than that....decks are a great place to run around on, there is usually a nursery set up where you can play with your child (it might be too young to be booked into the kids club).

Just be aware that it won't be the 'traditional' cruise experience for you as you will need to adjust and be ready to head back to the stateroom if you encounter fussiness or other behavior.

Has anyone taken a baby on a Transatlantic cruise? We are taking our 12 month old and I'm nervous. Looking for other people who have experienced it and could give me feedback. Thanks so much!! :)

Pray tell, why are you nervous? If you have a healthy 1 year old....and your pediatrician has no issues, then what are your fears? Will there be many toddlers on your cruise? Probably not. But a 1 year old is going to be the total responsibility of their parents (24/7) as there are no children programs for infants. So as long as you are capable of caring for your 1 year old...then just go and have fun. There will likely be many of us Grandparents (you see a lot of us on Transatlantic s) who will think, "what a cute baby" and hopefully will also say, "that is the best behaved baby we have ever seen (except for our own Grandchildren). There will be others who will be critical (especially in the dining room......but such is life.

Hank

As long as the child is 12 months and older, not 11 months and a week or whatever, you should be fine. The reason why cruise lines have the age requirement is because there's no real medical care for infants on cruise ships, and you're not near land to facilitate an emergency evacuation.

Thank you for your responses. My baby turns 12 months the 2nd day of the cruise. I'm nervous that if he does get sick on the ship, we would be stuck on the ship for 9 days before the first port. (In a different country) I'm not sure about how much the doctor on the ship would be able to treat him. We went on a quick 3 day cruise with my baby and he caught a really bad virus on the ship. (This trip was already paid for before the last cruise.) I will certainly be more cautious about who/what he touches this time. Our pediatrician signed a letter stating he was healthy to sail but she did seem a little concerned about his exposure to illnesses and unknown medical availability. I also have a 4 year old who has been on several cruises but not for more than a week at a time.

have you cleared with the cruise line that he will not yet be 12 months the day you board? Per their regulations, they can deny you boarding. And you can't fudge it as it will be on his passport. EM

have you cleared with the cruise line that he will not yet be 12 months the day you board? Per their regulations, they can deny you boarding. And you can't fudge it as it will be on his passport. EM

This. No such thing as close enough. Most lines base age for the entire cruise on embarkation day. Get it in writing that your baby, born on X date is allowed on specific sailing on Y date.

If you can't get that, you will have to consider other options. Insurance won't cover denied boarding because of something like this.

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Yes. The cruise line is aware of the exact age of my son. We filled out the necessary paperwork and got approval from the pediatrician and submitted it also to the cruise line. I would never "fudge" anything.

Thank you for your responses. My baby turns 12 months the 2nd day of the cruise. I'm nervous that if he does get sick on the ship, we would be stuck on the ship for 9 days before the first port. (In a different country) I'm not sure about how much the doctor on the ship would be able to treat him. We went on a quick 3 day cruise with my baby and he caught a really bad virus on the ship. (This trip was already paid for before the last cruise.) I will certainly be more cautious about who/what he touches this time. Our pediatrician signed a letter stating he was healthy to sail but she did seem a little concerned about his exposure to illnesses and unknown medical availability. I also have a 4 year old who has been on several cruises but not for more than a week at a time.

your child will NOT be allowed to board. they must be 12 months old as of the day of embarkation and NO they DO NOT let it slide for even one day.

To be clear, this age restriction is based on number of consecutive days at sea. Using RCI stated policy as example, any itinerary - not just transatlantics - that has 3 or more consecutive sea days restricts the minimum sailing age as of the day of departure to be 12 months old. BTW - again using RCI as example - the minimum age for any cruise is 6 months old as of the day of departure.

While I appreciate everyone who has taken time to reply to this thread, my original purpose for posting was to hopefully get some feedback from families who have sailed a transatlantic cruise with a 12 month old. I'm really not interested in facts/rules or any other input. Thank you.

You may want to check out the Family Cruising board here at CC. Lots of people there with experience sailing with little ones.

Roz

While I appreciate everyone who has taken time to reply to this thread, my original purpose for posting was to hopefully get I'm really not interested in facts/rules or any other input. Thank you.

It does appear you aren't interested in facts/rules, but if you ignore them, you're going to lose a lot of money when you're denied boarding.

Don't think you'll get information from anyone who's done a TA with a child under 12 months old on the first day of the cruise, as they'd be denied boarding.

Every cruise line requires a child to be 12 months old on day of departure for this itinerary.

This includes Celebrity, Norwegian, Azamara, Carnival, Costa, Cunard, Disney, HAL, Oceania, Princess, RCI, Seabourn, etc.

While I appreciate everyone who has taken time to reply to this thread, my original purpose for posting was to hopefully get some feedback from families who have sailed a transatlantic cruise with a 12 month old. I'm really not interested in facts/rules or any other input. Thank you.

The facts are beyond important in this instance. Your doctor note is irrelevant, and the final approval or denial comes from the Captain in conjunction with the Chief Medical Officer on board. Most of them will NOT accept the responsibility and WILL deny boarding. And no travel insurance will reimburse you.

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While I appreciate everyone who has taken time to reply to this thread, my original purpose for posting was to hopefully get some feedback from families who have sailed a transatlantic cruise with a 12 month old. I'm really not interested in facts/rules or any other input. Thank you.

If the "fact" that your baby will not be 12 months old as of start of cruise means that application of the "rule" of the line denying boarding prevents your sailing, the experience of any number of people who have sailed with young children should likewise not be of interest to you.

Facts and rules make real life what it is.

You may want to check out the Family Cruising board here at CC. Lots of people there with experience sailing with little ones.

 

Roz

Thank you Roz. Your post was very helpful :)

Thank you Roz. Your post was very helpful :)

No offense, but so is everyone else's response regarding the minimum sailing age if your child will in fact not be 12 months old as of the day of departure. Your pediatrician's letter will be of no value with respect to the cruise line's age policy and you will be denied boarding. That IMO should be very helpful information to know. And BTW the reasoning has to do with the cruise line's medical liability insurance and is not an arbitrary rule.

Honestly we're all only trying to be helpful and when a situation is raised such as yours the facts regarding cruise line policies are important to understand. No one is accusing you of trying to fudge anything but submitting a doctor's letter to the cruise line is not a likely remedy to their policy. We would hate to see you denied boarding because of bad advice or a misunderstanding and would rather have you know up front what the likely outcome will be.

Good luck and I hope you get to enjoy your cruise.

Sometimes people post an obscure question and then get huffy at people trying to be helpful. Strange.

Sometimes people post an obscure question and then get huffy at people trying to be helpful. Strange.

Agreed...some people only want to hear what they want to hear and have to learn the hard way. Unfortunately, this is a costly one.

Your baby has already caught a bad virus on a three day cruise and you're looking to take him on a transatlantic where he'll be in close quarters with a few thousand people in the middle of an ocean? I'd be a nervous wreck if I was facing that hassle. You said yourself that your pediatrician seemed concerned. I think you already know the outcome.

Yes. The cruise line is aware of the exact age of my son. We filled out the necessary paperwork and got approval from the pediatrician and submitted it also to the cruise line. I would never "fudge" anything.

Don't confuse me with the facts - my mind is made up. BTW, when you child gets sick in the middle of the Atlantic and maybe dies, are you going to feel at least a bit guilty. There are no helicopter evacuations from the middle of the ocean and you may be days away from high level medical car.

DON

It would nice if MrsKellyl returns (at the end of the cruise) to set us straight about whether her child is allowed to board for this cruise or not.

But I doubt it will happen.

I didn't say that I didn't care about rules, I meant that I didn't need to discuss them since I already took care of that aspect of our trip. I was simply looking for responses from families that cruised with a 12 month old and could offer feedback about their experience. We got home last week from the trans atlantic cruise and it was an absolutely wonderful time.

If there are any families reading this post with similar concerns, I wanted to post some helpful feedback.

I found it helpful to bring a travel cooler and ziplock bags since the refrigerators do not get very cold and there are no freezers for ice packs in the rooms. We just kept filling the baggies with fresh ice from the beverage stations/bars to keep the baby's formula cold.

They do not sell diapers/wipes on the ship, so I would pack extra. We wiped the baby's hands every time someone high-fived the baby, or pretty much every time the baby touched anything, so we went through A LOT of wipes! lol

If you are celebrating a birthday,(or anything!) bring props for the professional photographers! We brought a "ONE" banner and party hat and had a first-birthday photo shoot on the ship and got the best pictures! (And they were cheaper than hiring a professional photographer to do a photo shoot at home.)

I also suggest booking a cruise on a larger ship. We chose one with an indoor promenade that our room had windows that looked out onto. It was the perfect room for children. (We also had a bathtub that we could give the children baths in, which was nice.) They loved watching the parades and people-watching while we were in our room. (So did my husband and I!)

There were other babies around the same age as ours and a lot of toddlers around my other son's age. As children and adults, we all made a lot of new friends from all over!

Lastly, I want to let families know that when they are considering traveling with babies, do your research, be prepared (We packed every vitamins and baby medicine you can buy, lol) But also... TRAVEL! Do not live in fear. Yes, our baby caught a bug a few months ago, but I am so glad that we took our healthy babies on this trip (We also flew to Italy and Denmark following the cruise.) They stayed healthy and we made the best memories of our lives.

Safe travels to all you travelers out there! :)

Could you please let us know what cruise line you sailed on.

Thank you for your responses. My baby turns 12 months the 2nd day of the cruise. I'm nervous that if he does get sick on the ship, we would be stuck on the ship for 9 days before the first port. (In a different country) I'm not sure about how much the doctor on the ship would be able to treat him. We went on a quick 3 day cruise with my baby and he caught a really bad virus on the ship. (This trip was already paid for before the last cruise.) I will certainly be more cautious about who/what he touches this time. Our pediatrician signed a letter stating he was healthy to sail but she did seem a little concerned about his exposure to illnesses and unknown medical availability. I also have a 4 year old who has been on several cruises but not for more than a week at a time.

Only a "little" concerned?

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