Crusing with Infants

Hi Sandie - your auto-correct messed up. I think you meant to say' date=' "Is there a reason you can't walk all the way back to your cabin to change the diaper? Perhaps there is a better alternative, my fine fellow cruisecritic member?"

 

The best thing for all involved (baby, parent, fellow passengers) is to not transport a crying baby with a poopy diaper through public areas, onto the elevator, past passenger cabins. The best thing is to handle as quickly and discretely as possible. That's what a thoughtful parent does. Thank you thoughtful parent![/quote']

 

You, my friend, are awesome. #lifegoals

Hi Sandie - your auto-correct messed up. I think you meant to say' date=' "Is there a reason you can't walk all the way back to your cabin to change the diaper? Perhaps there is a better alternative, my fine fellow cruisecritic member?"

 

The best thing for all involved (baby, parent, fellow passengers) is to not transport a crying baby with a poopy diaper through public areas, onto the elevator, past passenger cabins. The best thing is to handle as quickly and discretely as possible. That's what a thoughtful parent does. Thank you thoughtful parent![/quote']

 

We will have to agree to disagree. In no way do I think it's thoughtful to make others smell a poopie diaper in the lounge.

Yes, you read that right. InfantS.

 

My husband and I booked a 5 day cruise, heading to the Bahamas in mid-October and we're taking our will-be one year old twins with us! We're also bringing the grandparents since this will be our first official vacation since we had the babies.

 

I would love any and all reviews, suggestions, and tips from people who are just as insane as us to bring their one year olds on a cruise.

 

Things I'm looking for: What's one thing you wish you had brought? Or wish you didn't bring? Tips on packing light. The kind of stroller you brought. Are we insane to bring them off the ship?

 

Just some background, which might be helpful:

 

They were born prematurely, so I don't know if they'll be fully switched over to milk yet, so we're prepared to bring bottles and formula (our breastfeeding journey ended recently and our frozen BM stash is almost gone). We've already ordered bottled water to use. We'll also bring pureed food; just don't know how much at this point since they should be eating some finger foods by then (fruits, veggies, eggs, yogurt, dry cereal).

 

They are VERY well behaved, happy go lucky babies, so I don't see any problems or feel nervous about much. They are on a pretty good, semi-flexible schedule and we plan to stick with it as best as we can on the ship (we got YTD). Their enjoyment and happiness comes first; laying out on the lido, drinking a Corona light comes second.

 

Thanks in advance for your response!

 

Here are the loves of our lives, that we're pretty sure are going to be Platinum cruisers by the time they're 10 years old *fingers crossed*.

I will take an umbrella stroller for sure. A blow up bathtub is a great idea, also a small tub to wash the bottles in would be nice.

I will also be cruising with a 10 month old mid October to the Bahamas. I have booked a superior OV on Majesty for the extra room. He is just starting baby food but we have 3 months yet. I am wondering about the water though for his formula. We just run the faucet now so not cold but very warm. I was going to look into a bottle warmer or used to be you could buy a metal wand that you put in water to make it hot? Somewhere I read though that you can't take either on board. We have take a case of bottle water on board (as adults with kids) but I also read somewhere that customer service would supply bottle water for an infant-just wondering the cost. I just don't want the water messing with his system. Shouldn't be anything since he is paying the same as an adult....lol

 

I will take an umbrella stroller for sure. A blow up bathtub is a great idea, also a small tub to wash the bottles in would be nice.

The water is fine, just use tap water.

Twin dad here. Ours first cruised at 7 months, and will do their 14th over Thanksgiving. You've gotten pretty much all the good advice already, so I'll just add: bring plenty. If you feed them new foods on the ship, they may go through more diapers than typical. I strongly encourage having them try new foods on the ship where it's easy to try small amounts from the buffet... though maybe wait a couple years before getting too crazy.

We did the MDR at that age, but as they got a bit older we found it better to do the buffet. You still don't have to cook or clean, but you also don't have to wait an extended time for a glass of milk or the food. If the food doesn't fly, much easier to get it fixed when the buffet is 20 feet away. Totally personal preference though.

We got some cheap umbrella strollers and they served us extreme well. Those puppies probably had 20,000 miles on them, including many flights in the cargo hold, and never needed a single repair. However, I envied the dads who had a slightly better stroller with a cup holder of even a platform to hold a tray. OTOH, those take more space in the car, so it's a trade off.

Bring a small blow up pool. Again: bring a small blow up pool. And a bucket to fill it with. And position it right next to a floor drain.

We pretty much always changed diapers in the room. No religion on it, we just didn't carry the diaper bag everywhere on the ship. I do believe that changing stations were exceedingly rare, though that might be changing on newer ships. We brought a bunch of walmart bags with us, and wrapped each diaper in a bag to keep the stench at bay. Worked fine for us, though I've head of using ziplock bags also: better but much more expensive.

Carnival VIFP and twins: I had endless issues with keeping up their records. Apparently Carnival has (or had) a reaper process which would come along and delete (apparently) duplicate VIFP numbers. We'd get it fixed, and overnight one number would disappear. I bet the kids have had a dozen VIFP numbers each.

Eventually I gave up and started using the same number for both of them. Amazingly Carnival's system doesn't notice that and they'd both get their gold card no problem. It seems that Carnival may have fixed the problem since the current TA got 2 different numbers assigned and they (and the status) seem to be sticking. Hopefully true since they'll be platinum and will get the arcade credit this time. Anyway, fair warning that you may have troubles with this when you book the second cruise for them... and it may not be worth the effort to fix until they are older.

The water is fine, just use tap water.

Agreed. We used ship water and had trained the kids to luke-warm formula pretty much from the start so we didn't need an extra heat source. You can also use the hoy water spout from the coffee station as a hot water bath if needed to heat a bottle further.

We also moved our kids to taking showers around age 3, making that aspect so much easier for travel on ships or land. Some of those hotel bath tubs are questionable, so win/win. We got a shower handle to bring it lower for them and all is good. We now treat baths as a treat, which is a great thing for us parents since it doesn't involve candy, money, or extra screen time. :)

My 4 year old is about to head out on his 9th cruise in two weeks. he started at 10 months old. That will also be my 7 month old's 1st cruise. We're pretty experienced in bringing the kids along for the trip. I've survived all of those trips and have great memories to boot! So if you or your husband are feeling anxious, let some of it go. I would add a ton of tips, but my 7 month old doesn't let me to much on my own right now, lol. You can check out my past reviews (with pictures before they disappear because photobucket is getting greedy)

My older son's first cruise was on the Carnival Glory- I have a pretty detailed review in my signature. If you're feeling really motivated I also recommend my review on Royal Enchantment from 2014, Carnival Breeze 2014, and Brilliance of the Seas 2014. Those are from when he was little and we used a lot of the items that are essential for babies!