Experiences cruising with toddlers

Who has done it, and how did it go? What ship and itinerary, and would you do it again? Any tips? We're thinking of taking our kids on their first cruise in 2017, when the youngest would be 1.5-2.5 and probably not yet potty trained. Older boy will be 5. Thanks!

All of the mainstream lines have "kids clubs"..and your 5 year old is the perfect age for that....kids under 12 LOVE the activities...they are specifically designed for the ages within that group.

The 1 1/2 year old will not have any specific activities.....so it's on YOU to entertain them. RCI (some ships) have a nursery...but it's basically a group babysitting option...

Few ships allow ANYONE in diapers in a pool. Some ships do have "splash zones" for the un-pottytrained. Because most ship cabins have only showers, a blow up tub for the little one comes in handy...and can be used on the pool deck for splashing....

I don't think itinerary will matter....so go where YOU want to go! The kids don't really care!

We took our girl on her first cruise at 23 months on a Carnival ship. My hubby was hesitant, more wondering if she would be noisy at night (she was a horrible teether) but as it turned out, she didn't cry or fuss. It was a three day cruise and we could drive to the port (our car was packed to the gills with what we needed for her--we took a portable pack n'play to use for our post-cruise trip to San Diego, which worked out great too for her first hotel stay).

We took her to her first live show -- Blues Clues Live a month before so when we took her to a show on the cruise, we sat in the back just in case we had to do a quick exit. But she enjoyed the show. Some little ones might not.

If you're flying to your embarkation port, go ahead of the cruise (I always recommend flying in a day ahead anyway) so that you can do a shopping trip the day before or the morning of the cruise. That way, you don't have to lug a week's worth of diapers or pullups on the plane. Make sure whatever you need for your toddler, bring it. You can't count on the ship to have toddler medicines, the right size of diapers, etc. Bring a sippy cup, a travel size dish detergent, scrubber brush.

If your child is toilet training, get a portable fold up seat and get him used to it. My daughter loved trying out the adult toilets and this helped and we didn't need to bring her "little potty."

One thing to note (which you probably already know) is that if you want to bring food off the ship, have unopened factory-sealed food. You should be able to find Cheerios, Goldfish, fruit snacks in these.

We've taken our son on 3 cruises, and they have all been wonderful experiences. At 2, he went to the Panama Canal, at 3.5 he did the Baltics. My son loves new things and experiences at home, so we were able to do some really heavy touring (he even liked the Italian Renaissance art at the Hermitage). Other kids might need an itinerary more geared towards the beach.

With our second now, I would not choose a line without a nursery (this limits us to Disney, newer Royal Caribbean ships and the Norwegian escape) until the baby is old enough for the kids club.

We just did our first cruise with an almost 2 year old on the NCL Gem. For the most part we had a great time. There were four of us in 2 cabins (my husband, daughter and I in one cabin and my mother in another).

You can have a great time but have to understand your experience will need to be adjusted and won't be the same as cruising without little ones. We found having the extra person was great. That gave all of us some adult time since our daughter was too young for the kids club.

For the first few nights our daughter enjoyed the shows, but after that she'd had enough so some of us would go to the early show and some to the late show. Although we love going to the restaurant for dinner on cruises, we went to the buffet after the first few nights as our daughter wouldn't sit through dinner after a couple nights.

Our main issue was that our daughter was always an amazing sleeper at home. Slept for 12 hours at night and at least an hour nap during the day. BUT she loves to sleep alone and undisturbed in her crib in her own room. She wouldn't sleep in the Pack and Play provided and eventually slept with us when exhausted. There were different surroundings so she didn't want to nap and miss anything so became overtired as the days went on. We saw lots of kids sleeping in their strollers or asleep in their parent's arms, but not ours! Fortunately she has gone back to sleeping well at home.

That was our only negative. The shower was fine. She was happy to go in the shower with us and we didn't bring a tub. She liked the buffet and the variety of food and continued to be a great eater like at home. The crew really seemed to like kids and always talked to her with many remembering her name.

Definitely bring anything you may need. Over the counter medications and diapers are expensive on the ship. We used a lot of sunblock as the Caribbean sun is strong.

Overall, we had a great time although I do think she'll have an even better time when a bit older. We had a booking where the third and fourth passengers in a cabin sailed free so we only paid taxes for her.

What do you do on a sea day with a toddler? He's a super easygoing baby and would be a piece of cake to entertain tomorrow, but a walking talking toddler might be tougher. Thanks for the info on nurseries - so there is no babysitting at all on any of the other lines? I think that narrows it down for sure. I don't want or need a sitter 7 nights a week on a family vacation, but would want to have a night at least for DH and I to have some grown up entertainment.

The larger royal ships (freedom and oasis class) as well as disney ships have swim areas for un potty trained children. The largest royal class ship has a great play area (seriously- google the pics its awesome) for toddlers (u have to supervise them). Royal ships all have play times, art time, music time and story times (usually one or two a day) that you accompany them to you and participate with them. We bring some new and some fav toys with us, but Royal also let you check toys out of the nursery area. Ncl had a small play set up for toddlers on the sun (not sure if this is a fleetwide thing) and also had one class a day offered for the kiddos. my son just turned two and he has been on four cruises (different sizes and ships) and has loved them all :-)

NCL's newest ship, Escape, has baby sitting for toddlers (pay by hour but reasonable price). Their other ships do not. All of their ships have a free play area you can go and play with your toddler and a few activities like story time or coloring.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did it for the first time two months ago when my daughter was 13 months and will do it again next month when she is 15 1/2 months. It was better than expected. We went on Carnival and drove to port. (Note: we flew on an airplane with her when she was a week old but as a toddler I would advise short travel times. And if possible a port within driving distance as you need to pack quite a bit for a baby)

I am a minimalist when it comes to packing and we did great. I planned on doing 2 loads of laundry on the ship so I only packed for the family what we would need for a little over half the total days.

I would highly recommend disposable bibs, disposable placemats, and disposable drop mats for under the high chair.

I took a blow up bathtub/pool and will not be taking it on the next one. Used it once on deck and it was too much of a hassle. As for bath time my baby doesn't like showers but the shower head is removable so I sat her on bottom of shower and used the nozzle. She was so exhausted by the end of the day anyway it was really quick bath times.

I think the only thing we had issues with was sleeping and it wasn't terrible. My baby can't sleep in unfamiliar settings and/or different cribs so I brought her car seat and she slept in that for some naps and nighttime. She ended up taking a lot of naps in her stroller when we would walk the deck.

As for dining. We did breakfast and lunch in lido and sat down in MDR EVERY night. She did awesome. Have the waiter have fruit salad ready and I also ordered a chicken breast I would cut up for her. We don't eat out at home so we were determined to enjoy ourselves in the MDR even with her. And we did! Take high chair toys also. We did leave before dessert and ate that up at the lido and then walked the deck. Which cut some of the time she had to sit still.

I would recommend not doing any excursions. Also when booking a cruise book one that visits ports you have been to before so you wont feel like your missing out if little one has a fussy day and you cant sight see as planned. One last tip; DO NOT POWER THROUGH NAPS! It is not worth it. They as well as you and hubby will be miserable if you do. Hope all the info helps. There is a lot more things I can help with just let me know if you have any questions!

If a drop off program is important to you, then in addition to the nurseries listed above, if you wait until your child is 2 then he or she would be eligible for the regular kids club on both Cunard and Carnival, which would open up your options. The other significant advantage of those lines is that you are guaranteed care, whereas the nurseries may fill up during the times you would want to use them. Disney lets you book nursery time before you board, but RC does not (and I have no idea what the Norwegian Escape will do, since I'm not sure the ship has launched yet and it is their first nursery).

Best of luck to you.

Who has done it, and how did it go? What ship and itinerary, and would you do it again? Any tips? We're thinking of taking our kids on their first cruise in 2017, when the youngest would be 1.5-2.5 and probably not yet potty trained. Older boy will be 5. Thanks!

Personally, I would hold out til he hits 2 - Carnival along with some of the other lines start at 2, regardless of potty training. Due to spring break schedules I had to wait until my son was 35 months, but waiting was worth it. Having their own play area with free camp from 9-12, 1-4/5, kids dinner at 6, and then camp 7-10 was priceless. We still had tons of family time at meals, afternoon swims, and shore excursions but we also got to relax. And the kids had nonstop fun and slept like rocks.

I've done kids cruising twice and planning our third with them. First time was carnival and daughter was 2. She wouldn't go to kids program, did great in pool as daytime potty trained and great at dinner in MDR with some toys and walking around. The second time was Celebrity and oldest was 4 and loved kids program and younger daughter was 14 mos. she did great in shower and loved blow up bath tub on the deck to "swim". She was happy just to walk around during day or we stopped in kids area to play with toys and did great at dinner in MDR with walking breaks. My recommendation would be get a balcony cabin- more room and during naps you can sit on balcony enjoying your vacation. If flying to port recommend getting there day before and if in Fort Lauderdale recommend Embassy Suites- there is a publix supermarket 1 block away to get diapers and supplies, a nice pool and great free breakfast for the morning you will board. Have fun- the kids will love it.

We went with our daugher when she was 20 months old back in November. I can say it was not the most relaxing vacation, but very very fun. Like another poster she slept great at home and then on the cruise she decided she did not want to anymore. She slept good at night, but not in a pack and play. We had also brought my mom and had 2 cabins. My mom called it an early night just about every night so we were fortunate enough that after the second night our daughter just slept in my mom's bed with her.

We went on the Allure of the Seas. I was very disappointed in their toddler play pool. It was only one small one but was in with all the other splash zones for potty trained kids. This caused a few melt downs when we wouldnt let her go into the more fun pools. The new Oasis class ship (Harmony) looks like they increased the toddler area a bit more so if it is going where you want it to go when you plan on cruising I would recommend that one. It will also have water slides and a huge dry slide in the back of it.

We also did the nursery and it was OK, but we were not overly pleased with them. The second night of the cruise they ended up keeping her up until we picked her up at midnight. they said she was playing great so they didnt want to try to put her down. This threw her off for the rest of the trip. You just need to be very very specific with them as they do tend to just do whatever to keep the kids quiet. We did not have much trouble getting the times that we wanted. We were at first limited to about 18 hours total, but after the third day or so they opened up any other times and you could just ask what they had available.

Here are a few tips that we took or wish we had taken:

1) I wish that I had my wife take the baby for a bit to give me a little bit of relaxation time earlier on in the cruise. The final day I had gone to try to take a nap, but it ended up getting interrupted a bunch of times from people coming in and out of the cabin (Cabin Steward cleaning my mom's room, my mom coming through our room to get to hers as her card was burried in her purse, my wife rumaging through things.) I probably should have just gone to the solarium instead but didnt really think that through. My wife did get out for a few hours for a nice massage and that seemed to help her relax a bit. I highly recommend you taking some time for both of you to just unwind while the other watches the kid.

2) We are very very glad we brought my mom and had adjoining cabins. We had a sitter all the time to watch our daughter at night which allowed us to enjoy the nightlife a bit.

3) We are glad we got a balcony cabin. Our daughter loved looking out at the water, plus it gave us a place to go and relax a bit if we were trying to get her to sleep...unsuccessfully.

4) I wish we were more specific with the nursery staff. I think that second night really threw our daughter's sleep schedule off and she was extremely tired the rest of the trip after that. She would not nap either because of the things going on. The only time she napped was when I was holding her. Not my wife, me.

5) We packed way way too much. We had packed about 2-3 outfits for our daughter for each day, a bunch of toys, a pack and play that she never slept in. While we used a lot of the clothes, we probably could have re-used some or hand washed. We did not even touch the toys plus Royal has the toy exchange. The pack and play cost us $70 to bring and we didnt even use it. It was a waste.

Been on 3 cruises with my 3yo son (when he was 6m, 18m and 27m). Going again in March with him and his new sister (8m).

Depending on the size/type of cabin, skip the pack & play for the younger kid and put either a mattress on the floor or box in a bed w/ furniture (we just rotated the couch to face wall). Space is a premium, so try to reduce clutter.

If you don't have a bathtub in the cabin, get them used to showers at home first, since you don't want them to have their first experience in the claustrophobic cabin heads.

Main dining room for the apps and mains, buffet for the dessert. Either that or order dessert ahead of time, to minimize dead time in MDR.

Deal with not having a child seat when travelling in foreign ports. If you can't, just don't take them around on ports calls. Stay on the boat. Much more relaxed, though many kid programs shut down too.

Picture packages can be worth it. By buying ahead of time, you save money and then goto all the photographers with little stress to get the perfect pic, since you'll average out with some good ones by virtue of a lot of pictures.

Nightclubs, stages and bars can be dead/empty during the day. Great time to explore with kids.

Umbrella stroller.

Waterproof camera

Try to get at least one meal without the kids.

Remember that it's vacation with kids. Keep expectations in line. So don't forget the earplugs.

We took our little girl when she was almost 3 years old. We did a 5 days to the Bahamas on Carnival. She loved it. She also loved camp carnival. We got the schedule and highlighted what activities she would like and only took her to camp on those days. She would beg to go more. She also loved the water works. We brought a stroller and put her in that when we wanted to walk around the decks to get her to take a nap. She would fall asleep and we would just lay the seat down.

We are going in a few weeks with our now 5 year old and our two year old. We decided on a 7 day and are really hoping our two year old loves it as much as our five year old.

I would defiantly find a cruise line that has a kids program for your little one. They do fun activities and it give you guys a little adult time.

Been on 3 cruises with my 3yo son (when he was 6m, 18m and 27m). Going again in March with him and his new sister (8m).

 

 

Deal with not having a child seat when travelling in foreign ports. If you can't, just don't take them around on ports calls. Stay on the boat. Much more relaxed, though many kid programs shut down too.

 

Remember that it's vacation with kids. Keep expectations in line. So don't forget the earplugs.

What ports did you travel to with your son that you did not use a carseat? We go in september (son will be 17m at the time) and are afraid taxis won't take us without one (if we decide to take taxis and not walk)

I'm okay with no car seat, but wouldn't want to make plans only to learn we need one - is there a good resource on laws?

I'm the OP, and am leaning towards a 5 night on the Carnival Triumph out of New Orleans. We can drive to port and spend a few nights with friends pre and post, which is really appealing. My youngest will not quite be two on the dates I'm looking at, but I think we'll be fine, and going at that time works really well otherwise. We'd get a balcony cabin for sure, and then DH and I can relax outside for a few after dinner. I would like to invite grandparents to help babysit, but they all have pretty busy lives and may or may not want to go.

I think we'll have a great time, thanks!

What ports did you travel to with your son that you did not use a carseat? We go in september (son will be 17m at the time) and are afraid taxis won't take us without one (if we decide to take taxis and not walk)

Throughout Central America, we actually sometimes ran into trouble since most cabs/tours expected us not to have a car seat. We wound up short one seat in Costa Rica, since the tour operator assumed my 2 year old would sit on someone's lap and didn't give us a big enough van (one passenger wound up in the hatchback). So I'd actually recommend confirming with them if you are bringing a car seat to ensure you are given a vehicle with seat belts and enough room to hold everyone. I'm not sure what the laws are everywhere, but the car seat issue has been debated on previous forums and people did not seem to have any trouble finding cabs that would take children without car seats. For people with car seats, they sometimes had to check a few cabs at the terminal until they found one with seat belts. Other parents chose to only take cruise ship excursions since most of them use large tour buses that don't require car seats.

If you do choose to take a car seat, please note that you may be able to easily attach the car seat to your carry on luggage using a Mommy hook. Children generally sleep better on the plane in a car seat, so that is another factor to consider, although you must ensure it is FAA approved in order for it to be allowed on the plane.

We took our (then) 21 month old twins on a cruise to Greece and Turkey last September and it was amazing! We booked a panoramic oceanview which the kids loved because it was floor to ceiling so they could stare outside. We cruised with royal Caribbean (first time with them). Being a mediaterranean cruise there wearnt a whole lot of kids but the staff was amazing with ours, when we showed up at dinner they would have the kids booster seats and fruit cup appetizers already waiting for us, the kids loved the royal tots nursery although the hours were kind of crap (like 12- 4...when almost all kids 36 months and under nap) and then 6pm onward..kind of sucked because we wanted a day to sit by the pool but it never happened because the nursery times were so weird. Children who are not potty trained will not be allowed in the pools no matter what (unless your ship has a specific kiddie pool but we did see one family who brought a blow up pool for their toddler to use and the staff helped fill it and would drain it out for them. A lot of ships do evening movies on the main pool screen and we let the kids stay out late one night to watch inside out which they loved. We originally requested pack n plays but ended up cancelling the request and bringing our kidco peapods with us instead because it allowed the kids to stay in a familiar place (we use them for camping) and it also closed them in so they couldn't see us when we were trying to get them to bed at night. All in all it was an amazing vacation and my kids still talk about the big boat and eating "cargo" (my son developed a love of escargot on the trip) 6 months later when they should have forgotten about it lol. We're taking them on a second cruise this Christmas just after they turn 3 and were very much looking forward to it!

Our son took his first cruise at 16mos and it was awesome!! It was a 14 day Hawaii RT from LA. So we had 4 sea days on the way there and back. We explored the shop, played in the nursery, had lunch, used the inflatable bathtub as a splash pool on the pool deck, he rolled his cars along just about every imaginable surface and loved playing on our balcony. We got an aft balcony so he had quite a bit of space. He watched a couple shows in our cabin but wasn't really a TV guy. We took long naps (all of us) and had a fabulous time.

Hawaii is easy because you're still technically in the US. Easy to rent cars and play on your own schedule. We'd plan ports around his naps and do our scenic drives during nap times while he'd be zonked out in the backseat.

We have pop up child tents for both our kids that make sleeping easy. I had him start taking naps in it a couple months in advance so by the time we cruised, it was old hat for him. It has close able flaps so we'd pop him in, close the flaps and use our phone lights to move around. His noise machine from home made the stateroom super familiar and he'd be out super quick. We could move around freely with those flaps closed and he never knew. Opened them when we went to bed, no problems.

He got a little dehydrated and didn't keep his breakfast down for a couple days. But, thanks to this forum, we had brought some powdered pedialyte packets and got him rehydrated in a jiffy.

It's easy to grab snacks and such from the buffet, bring ziploc bags and you have free snacks at all times. Grumpiness melts away with snacks. Ha!!

Seriously, great memories and we're getting ready to take our daughter on her first cruise in Nov. She'll be 23mos at sailing. We loved it, wonderful memories. There will be plenty of cruises in the future that are all about the adventure excursions. These cruises are all about relaxed family bonding and making memories. "Your kid won't even remember" is silly. My son talked about the cruise for a long time, learned new things, and became a great little traveler. There are tons of pictures he can look at and most importantly, WE REMEMBER! Love love loved it.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Taken my dd on 3 cruises (10 months- celebrity, 20 months Royal and 26 months carnival) we are taking her (and baby sister) again in December they will be 3.5 and 8 months. As far as itinerary goes- if you are going without help (other family/friends) think about what type of excursions you might take. We have been sticking to Bahamas/Bermuda cruises so we don't have to fly and we can just walk to the beach. Our fav itinerary with kids has grand Turk and a Bahamas private island- no matter the cruise line you pick. We haven't gone back to ATV ride and snorkeling off boat excursions yet. For Bermuda when she was 10 months we brought our car seat and installed it in a cab and did an island tour.

You know your children and their likes/needs better than we do. Our philosophy has been she is on vacation too so we bend the rules a little bit- we let her watch electronics at the dinner table on a cruise- some may frown on it but asking an adult let alone a 2 year old to sit for two hours is tough- and we wanted to enjoy the mdr. Btw- it had no spillover back home she understood vacation rules are different than house rules (which was my fear) I'd be happy to give more tips if you'd like

We took our little girl when she was almost 3 years old.

 

We brought a stroller and put her in that when we wanted to walk around the decks to get her to take a nap. She would fall asleep and we would just lay the seat down.

 

 

I'm taking my son (3.5 yo @ cruise time) to his 2nd cruise (6 months was his first). We took our b-agile britax stroller on the last one and it was too big. I had to keep it outside the room at night.

This time around I'm looking into a umbrella stroller for napping and excursions on the island. He enjoys walking but need it in case he gets tired. He is very active.

What stroller did you use for the 3yo?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Taken my dd on 3 cruises (10 months- celebrity, 20 months Royal and 26 months carnival) we are taking her (and baby sister) again in December they will be 3.5 and 8 months. As far as itinerary goes- if you are going without help (other family/friends) think about what type of excursions you might take. We have been sticking to Bahamas/Bermuda cruises so we don't have to fly and we can just walk to the beach. Our fav itinerary with kids has grand Turk and a Bahamas private island- no matter the cruise line you pick. We haven't gone back to ATV ride and snorkeling off boat excursions yet. For Bermuda when she was 10 months we brought our car seat and installed it in a cab and did an island tour.

 

You know your children and their likes/needs better than we do. Our philosophy has been she is on vacation too so we bend the rules a little bit- we let her watch electronics at the dinner table on a cruise- some may frown on it but asking an adult let alone a 2 year old to sit for two hours is tough- and we wanted to enjoy the mdr. Btw- it had no spillover back home she understood vacation rules are different than house rules (which was my fear) I'd be happy to give more tips if you'd like

So glad to hear you liked grand Turk with a little one. We'll be taking my then 16 month old on her first cruise going to grand Turk, half moon cay, and Freeport. I wasn't sure if we made the right call with ports because of those we've only been to Freeport so wasn't sure what to expect.

So glad to hear you liked grand Turk with a little one. We'll be taking my then 16 month old on her first cruise going to grand Turk, half moon cay, and Freeport. I wasn't sure if we made the right call with ports because of those we've only been to Freeport so wasn't sure what to expect.

Thanks for all the information we are cruising with the family incl. Childeren 3 and 5 just a try out for one week.