Carnival with an infant... Tips?

Hello friends!

April of next year I'm going on the Pride from B-more and doing something I never thought I'd do: cruise with a 1 year old! :eek:

It'll be me (38), gf, my parents, my 17 year old daughter, and my infant daughter who will be 16 months at cruise time...

Please offer any help, suggestions, tips, etc. for packing, getting around, excursions, dining... Anything that might help us be prepared and enjoy the cruise...

Also, please no 'don't do it!' kinds of messages. I get its not ideal to cruise with an infant, but we're going and are gonna have a blast- just looking to tap this great site for help in making that happen!! Thanks! :)

My advice don't do it. Why exposé your child to all the germs. How much fun do u think you will have dragging a hot tired child all over foreign countries. They can't even go into the pools unless potty trained. Go to Disney instead .

Advice:

Confirm with the cruise line everything you expect: like a crib for the baby? Will they guarantee one? Or do you need to bring a port a crib?

What about food? They likely won't have baby food, if you need it. You'll have to pack it.

And diapers, you'll have to pack those. (you can't count on them having proper size in the shops.)

Are you getting a suite, otherwise you'll have to bath baby in the shower. (no bath tub)

You can likely count on them having a high chair in the dining room, but I would ask anyway to be sure.

Get a combination car seat/stroller. Because you will need both, for flying and going on the island. If you have that you can take a taxi on the island, without risking the baby having to ride unrestrained.

Don't expect the child to be allowed in the pool in diapers, (except on the Disney ships, where they have special pools that allow it.)

Pack all those diapers and baby food jars, in a box, because you can throw that out when the contents are all gone.

Pack lots of plastic bags, for disposing of used diapers in the cabin trash can. (The smell, you know).

Hello friends!

 

April of next year I'm going on the Pride from B-more and doing something I never thought I'd do: cruise with a 1 year old! :eek:

 

It'll be me (38), gf, my parents, my 17 year old daughter, and my infant daughter who will be 16 months at cruise time...

 

Please offer any help, suggestions, tips, etc. for packing, getting around, excursions, dining... Anything that might help us be prepared and enjoy the cruise...

 

Also, please no 'don't do it!' kinds of messages. I get its not ideal to cruise with an infant, but we're going and are gonna have a blast- just looking to tap this great site for help in making that happen!! Thanks! :)

I'm cruising in July on the Dream with my son who will just have turned one. There is lots of good info on the family board here on cc. I have also googled lots of blogs from moms who have cruised or vacationed with toddlers. I have an extensive packing list just for him. Meds diapers, sippies, wipes, etc. there are germs wherever you go. On cruise you are steps away from the bed for nap time, at Disney...not so much. Have fun!

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You need to take all your baby supplies with you. They have some stuff on the ship, but it will cost an arm & a leg.

Take more diapers & wipes than you believe you will need.

Before trip get your baby used to taking shower with you. People recommend taking a blow-up baby tub or pool, but I found it easier to shower with my child.

Take all kinds of snacks & snack sized zip locks.

Take those diaper bags that smell good to dispose of diapers.

Before you go to any meal in MDR please take your child on a run in an area that is not too crouded, or stick to buffet. You know your kid best, do whatever it takes to give you the best chance to enjoy your meal. Sometimes this means getting up and leaving during the middle of the meal in MDR & going to buffet.

There is an area on cruise critc for cruising with kids. You can find alot of good information there.

Be prepared for child to get more attention than you will believe.

Cruising with a baby is very different. Try to enjoy it for what it is.

Hey Gator!

Welcome to the world of cruising with an infant! It will definitely be different than what you've done before, but it will be fun. (Don't listen to the baby haters). Feel free to click on my two links in my signature (Carnival Dream and Allure of the Seas). Both were cruises with an infant. Our son took 3 cruises before he turned 2 (and we are gearing up for his 4th cruise and our 15 month old daugter's first!)

As you may know. There's no Camp Carnival for those under 2, but they do have drop off services in the morning (usually until 10am on sea days and until 12pm on port days). Bring a little bag with toys. On the Dream, we used to take our son to one of the empty lounges during the day, and let him run and play (we basically created our own mini Camp Carnival).

Congratulations on the baby! Now I know why we haven't seen your awesome cruise videos for a while! :)

Thanks, and I understand where you're coming from, but, we are going. I'll spare the details as to why we're not doing something else... So i'm looking for help planning/packing/cruising... Thanks!

We traveled with my niece a couple years ago when she was one. It wasnt bad at all. She got so much attention, she loved it and the staff loved her. Dont listen to nay sayers. Dinner in the dining room was a little much for her, just to long, but she loved the dancing. We brought a tiny 3" blow up pool for her to splash in, and it doubled as a bath tub in the room shower. Enjoy your cruise. And check out the Family forum, lots of great tips over there.

I'm sure you'll have a great time! I think you be able to find more info on the family forum. I don't have any personal experience, however, I believe that these are hardly any supplies for a child onboard. You will have to bring enough diapers etc. The baby will not be allowed in the pools on-board unless she is potty trained even if she wears swimmers. I would suggest you pack any baby food/ meals that she cannot do without. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Woops! Jumped the gun on my response! You guys are quick- thanks for the info!! Keep it coming- we're gonna need all we can get!

And for those interested: I'm sure I'll put together a video of the adventure. :)

I was going to say don't do it, but if grandparents are going too, you can spread the baby duties around and it should be fine.

One of our best cruises was with our then 13 month old son. (He's 8 now and about to take his 8th cruise in May)

It's all about preparation.

One thing that was extremely handy was our pack n play crib...the ship offers a crib, but being able to set our own up at any time was very convenient. you can even let the little one get familiar with the pack n play prior to the cruise.

Bring all your regular snacks from home for munching in-room and on port days. Our son loved certain movies/videos, so we brought our laptop and dvd's to keep him entertained while we got ready in the room for dinner and such.

Camp Carnival offer's some times where kids under 2 and parents can use the facilities together for play time.

For cooling off... there will probably be a kids pool somewhere onboard and you can get those swimmable diapers too.

Our son loved the main dining room.(And our servers loved spoiling him) We had late dining which worked out great. Since we took naps after returning from port days, our son didn't get cranky at dinner.

We adjusted our excursions to accommodate our son. We did a bunch of beach days and brought our own disposable bucket, shovel and sand toys to leave behind at the last beach.

Don't forget those magic words..SUN-BLOCK!! haha

We have never regretted taking our son cruising..and now he's practically platinum!! (or whatever it's called these days)

LPC

Are you locked on the Carnival Pride? If not, would you consider sailing on the Grandeur of the Seas from Baltimore?

The reason why I make this suggestion is because of your daughter. The Grandeur of the Seas will have the Royal Babies and Tots program which is available for babies starting at 6 months of age. Unfortunately, Carnival doesn't offer anything remotely similar. For us, it made a HUGE difference.

Here are some things that will be offered on Royal that won't be offered on Carnival:

• Babysitting services available ALL DAY LONG (beginning at 8am and ending at midnight).
  
• Free play area which your daughter can use all day long supervised.
  
• Fisher Price and Crayola sponsored activities which parents can participate in as well.
  
• Dedicated Adventure Ocean TV channel, playing cartoons 24 hours a day (a life saver when you're trying to get ready or your little one is restless in the cabin).
  
• If one night you choose to have a more formal, adult dinner, you can drop your daughter off at the Royal Babies nursery and she can enjoy dinner with the other babies. They will feed her dinner.
  
• Don't know if the Grandeur has this, but on our last Royal cruise, they also had a pool specific for babies in diapers. The water is treated and temperature controlled. Unfortunately, Carnival doesn't allow babies in pools because of health issues.
  

Even if you have the best intention of spending as much time as possible with your daughter, at some point in time during the cruise you will feel that you need a little break. It's nice to have the option of being able to drop your daughter off for a few hours while you go have dinner, see a show, or just enjoy some quiet, adult time.

You will still have a great time on the Carnival Pride should you choose to stick with it, but having more options for your daughter will definitely make the experience even more enjoyable.

For cooling off... there will probably be a kids pool somewhere onboard and you can get those swimmable diapers too.

Unfortunately, that's not true. Babies that are not potty trained are not allowed in pools on Carnival, even with "swimmie" diapers.

Here's the card that's handed out as you board the ship as well as at Camp Carnival. Read the last sentence.

If the child can stand/walk you can use the shower to bathe them. The shower head is on the cord (not sure what the proper name for it is) so you can drop it down and move it around as needed to wash them. I have one like that in one of my showers at home and the grand-kids love taking a shower. So take the bathing worry away. I'm not sure how the "Little Swimmers" diapers work but that may be worth looking into. I have heard they work pretty good, but not sure, and I would ask someone with Carnival before putting them in the pool with them on.

yes your baby has to tip. The room steward has to clean up after her also.

Have a great cruise

Just seen the post before me. I guess "little swimmers" is out of the question. Can't say I blame them; it would be too hard to differentiate between them and diapers.

yes your baby has to tip.

Not true. Passengers under the age of 2 don't get charged automatic tips on Carnival.

With that said, I do agree that the crew will go WAY out of their way to take care of little ones (actually, MORE than for adults many times). We ended up handing cash to our cabin steward and waiter because we couldn't auto-tip for our infant son. It felt very wrong to not compensate their hard work. I mean, our waiter wouldn't even let us pick stuff up from the floor. He was on his knees picking up Cheerios! When my wife tried to stop him, he put his hand on her shoulder and said: "Relax, you're on vacation". :o

So, babies don't HAVE to tip, but SHOULD tip.

Hello friends!

 

April of next year I'm going on the Pride from B-more and doing something I never thought I'd do: cruise with a 1 year old! :eek:

Keep the kid home, with all of the possible virus onboard like Noro Virus, give the little kid a fighting chance.

On top of that you got entering & exiting into Ice cold spaces and then back into hot spaces like outdoors. This can make the kid sick fast.

I wouldn't bring a kid onboard until she or he is at least 5 years old.

Fred

My advice don't do it. Why exposé your child to all the germs. How much fun do u think you will have dragging a hot tired child all over foreign countries. They can't even go into the pools unless potty trained. Go to Disney instead .

Not very Helpful.

My advice is go and enjoy and just take what you would if you were going to a hotel for 7 nights.

Honestly I think its easier to cruise with a child of that age than it is to travel with a child of 4+. Our kids will be cruising the med for the 3rd time this year and honestly I find it a much easier trip than a land based holiday.

Go enjoy and relax!!!!

We took our daughter on her first cruise when she was 17 months. It was a great experience and we all had a good time. We ate in the MDR every night and it was fine. We brought some things for her to play with when she had finished eating. We even took her to some shows and watched a movie under the stars one night. We had brought lots of snacks from home with us but didn't end up needing it. She was able to eat lots of stuff from the buffet. We brought the use and toss type sippy cups and the crew was great to fill them with milk or juice. The crew was wonderful with her and we actually met a lot more passengers than usual when we were letting her walk around deck. We did hang out in the lounges or clubs during the day when she could run around and get some energy out as well. We are taking her on her second cruise next month. She is now 2 1/2 and I am a bit more worried about her behaving on the cruise now than when she was younger. You will have a great time!

Ive done it 3 times over with my 3 youngest kids(oldest was 3 on his first cruise) under 2 and it was fine.

Take more diapers than you need. You can get small boxes of cheerios and other snack cereals in the morning. We take a few and the kids snack on them all day, dry of course.

Bring any kids tylenol etc with you. Diaper Rash cream, even if you think you dont need it.

If your child is used to eating in restaurants, this will be no different. We always had late dining. The only issue we ever had was they fell asleep sometimes.

Don't forget to schedule an evening in the steakhouse, all are welcome.

My advice don't do it. Why exposé your child to all the germs. How much fun do u think you will have dragging a hot tired child all over Go to Disney .

I know Disney is a magical place, but I don't think they've figured out a way to make it germ free, or to make the Central Florida humid heat any more bearable.

I'd pick a cruise with a 16 month old any day over Disney. At that age, kids don't even know who Mickey is yet.

My son will turn 16 months on our cruise. A cruise ship has no more germs than anywhere else you would take them. And no difference than taking your child from the heat of your home to the cold temps outside. Really negative people? If I can afford to pay the price to take my child and pay as much as an adult would than I will. Why would I want to take him to Disney when there's nothing there that he can do and it will be hot, crowded and miserable. Doesn't sound like fun at all! He loves people! The only time he cries is if he is tired which would be at night and that is why we are eating dinner early.

We leave next month and I've started packing his bag. Diapers, wipes, tylenol and allergy meds, his favorite snacks, ziploc bags for dirty diapers, magnetic letters to stick on the walls, toys, his blow up raft for when we get off the ship, baby sun block, sun hats, clothes ( shorts, tanks, t-shirts, his one nice outfit for elegant night, swimming top and bottoms), little swimmers, sippie cup, soap and a brush to clean it. Bath time soap or what ever you use. Stroller. Umbrella. That's all I have so far.

Someone made a comment of just putting a towel down in the shower and using the sprayer. I do have a blow up tub but I'm already bringing enough stuff as it is. I'm not bringing a pack n play. He will just sleep in the bed with us. Much easier.

We took him to the beach last summer and it just wasn't fun. I think he may enjoy this cruise more than I will! And everyone that meets him loves him!