Csmom21

I think it also depends on what ship you're on whether or not the fridges are cold. I was recently on the Royal and, for the first time ever, I found the fridge was actually cold enough to store food. My TA sent me a sliced veggie platter and I kept it in the fridge for 3 days, picking on it. On the CB, not so much, but the ice bucket comes in handy.

 

Maureen

Ruby princess.

The lovely thing about breast feeding is never needing to "store" milk! However, it will keep for the day on ice or in the fridge....so if you were planning on going out for the night, and your parents needed to give the baby a bottle, it would be fine. I wouldn't store it longer than 24 hours.

Agreed! The joy of taking the baby with us! It's definitely not a huge issue. If I choose to pump I can leave him for some extra time, but I have no big plans to be separated with him. I'm more concerned about the yogurt because I'd like to store it for several days, though I'm less concerned if it is on the room service menu. That would mean it is available on the ship.

Use caution.....Some are not very cold.

Hopefully the one in my room or my moms room is. I have a better chance with having two available to me!

Are their refrigerators in the cabins on the princess cruises? Also, can I bring yogurt on board for my son if there are? He eats a lot of yogurt, but only full fat and plain, so I don't know if they will have that.

Also, I might like to store breast milk.

I'm supposed to cruise on the Ruby Princess 1/24-1/31 with my DH, son and parents. My dad is having issues getting time off and isn't going to come now. Is there a way I can rework the reservation to put one adult with my so. And the other two adults together? Would I get money back?

What they don't tell you about anytime dining is that you can call in the morning and make a reservation. We always eat between 5:00 and 5:45. We never had to wait as when you show up just tell them you have a reservation and you will be seated quickly. We have 15 grandchildren and full understand your dilemma to get the little one fed before they get tired.

We ended up switching to 5:30pm and it seems like there is no waitlist. This time actually works even better for us (and especially the little guy!)

We usually didn't see a line after 7:45 ;)

 

Anytime with a 1yr old I would expect might be interesting...

 

You likely would get a pager and could wait around the Piazza which might not be too bad... except many times to seat early there is a wait to get a pager to wait...

We'd stick with the wait list .. and enter a special request in the personalizer, and have Princess add a note to your reservation record.

Lol. He really is very good (and used to going out to eat). I swear I'm not some crazy delusional mom that thinks her kid can do nothing wrong. We actually get comments all the time from people when we are out to eat who say they can't believe how good he is. You just have to keep offering him food, lol.

I think I will stick with the waitlist.

You still have some time for them to get you to the time you prefer. Have you gone on line and into your Princess Cruise Personalizer? If I remember correctly you can start to change you table size and time and it will tell you what the wait list is for the different table sizes and time just DON'T update it to change it.

Oh! I thought it would. I didn't realize that. I will double check later.

One thing you might not like about anytime is there is always a line waiting to get into the dining room. Especially if you want to eat before 7 pm. That's the one good thing about Traditional you just walk right in. IMHO the answer is yes it might change your wait list number if you decide to change your table size. You didn't say when the cruise was.

Oops, January 24th on the Ruby Princess! The question is, would it change it for the better or worse (and I understand you won't be able to answer this for me).

First time Princess cruiser here!

We are down for the 6:30pm (or maybe it's 6pm?) dining time. Apparently, we are number 176 on the waitlist for this time. I was told we would probably move up on the waitlist but obviously they couldn't give is any guarentees as to how far up we will move.

If it was just DH and I, it wouldn't be a big deal. We are traveling with an 11.5 month old (will be at the time of the cruise) and though he is perfectly pleasant, I can guarentee no one wants to see him after 8pm, myself included. He's usually in bed by 7:45pm.

So the main question is, how do the two dining options compare? If we change our table size will it change our place on the waitlist? We are down for a table for 6 (there are 4 adults and the baby in our party). We also wouldn't

mind eating at the earlier time if necessary.

I'm looking for advice from anyone who has cruised with a baby (specifically with Princess). DH and I are sailing on the Ruby Princess 1/24/25 out of Fort Lauderdale with our son who will be 11.5 months at that time. We are bringing my parents along as well. Our son is very easy-going and travels well. Is there anything specific that I should know or things I should bring with me?

This reminds me of something else for you to bring: factory sealed snacks that your child likes. You won't be allowed to take off opened containers of food into port. I imagine you already know that grocery stores do sell multipacks of individual servings of goldfish and other crackers. The ship does serve boxes of cereal at breakfast but if your kid has a particular preference (like Cheerios)' date=' you can buy them ahead of time.[/quote']

 

I don't think it will be a huge issue for us, fortunately. We don't feed him any snack items right now beyond yogurt drops (which I will not open before I pack them). I have a few nephews who are disgustingly horrendous eaters so we don't give the little guy carb loaded snack foods. He eats things like eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, fruits and veggies. I'd imagine I can get those just about any time, right?

I have not traveled with a baby but was onboard when there was an almost one year old on. Saw them in the sundries store as soon as it opened as they needed everything! Only one of their suitcases made it to the cruise. The others never got out of their home airport! (They had to travel the day of the cruise.)

 

So, I suggest:

 

1. Fly in a day early.

2. Pack lots of diapers. (They do not sell them on the ship from what this mom was saying. The ship gave her a list of people with small little ones to see if she could get some diapers from them as the airline gave them only 5 to last the 5 sea days we had ahead of us)

3. Pack some diapers in everyones suitcases as well as clothing and toys. Do not use one suitcase per person. Switch things up so all of you have things in each.

 

Have a great cruise!

We are flying into Fort Myers on 1/21 and staying with the in-laws. Then we will drive to Fort Lauderdale on the am 1/24. I do usually overpack diapers. I'm planning on flying with some but also shopping for baby's snacks and diapers/wipes when I hit Fort Myers.

Good idea about switching everything up and sharing suitcases. We will do that.

Our one year old granddaughter celebrated her birthday on a family cruise this summer. We chose early fixed dining which enabled all eight of us to eat together. The head waiter came by each night as we were seated with a selection of Gerber baby food which he had warmed for us in no time. Our waiter and assistant were wonderful after the first night there was a high chair waiting for us when we arrived and they catered to her, playing and singing to her nightly. After dinner we would head to the early show as her parents put her to bed, we would take watch as they headed to the second show and late night drinks. This seemed to work out great.

 

Be sure to visit your cruise personalized and check baby food under dietary preferences, they will then email you a list of what is available. This must be done at least 90 days out. Then you just call room service and it will be delivered to your room daily, don't forget to request distilled water to mix up formula or cut juices with. Formula is not supplied, luckily we had brought extra as the baby did not care for their milk.

 

Bubbles off the balcony were a big hit, don't forget lots of sunscreen, we carried a folding small beach shade and baby raft which we used for beach time. Also brought a small blow up splash pool for on deck but never used it.

 

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I will probably bring baby food with me, but I'm not sure how much babyfood he will be eating by then. He eats small bites of table food right now.

I never would have thought of the baby raft for the beach! I added that to my list as well as the bubbles!

With 4 adults and an almost 1 year old the odds are good that you can keep him amused.:D:D Actually, he should be easier than most toddlers unless he is walking already. ;) By the way, the date of your cruise would make him almost 10. :eek:

Oops! I would edit but I can't figure out how!

Note: Only those fully toilet trained are allowed in any swimming pool including splash pools. Swim diapers don't count.

I actually knew this about the pools. We are just planning a lot of beach time instead.

With planning' date=' your family can have a fantastic time. Plan to bring a good supply (meaning extras) of diapers, bottle/serving items plus dish detergent, any medications. The ship stores may not have want you need and there's limited hours to boot. Get to FLL at least a day early and do a little shopping for whatever you didn't want to schlep on the plane.

 

You can even see how your child tolerates the main dining room. As with any other place, just be prepared to make a quick exit if fussiness starts.

 

Talk to your cabin steward about diaper disposal (we had a 23 month old when she went on her first cruise and the steward wanted us to just put the diaper in the trash can -- so you might want to take some small trash bags or something similar to use it make it easier on the crew especially if you can the type that helps with the smelliness).

 

One thing that we like about Princess is that they have self-service laundries so bring some Dreft or other laundry detergent (double bag an amount in ziplock bags) so you can wash the baby's clothes and your own while on board.

 

You should be able to find some other tips on the family cruising board.[/quote']

 

Fortunately we will be traveling without bottles/formula. I cannot imagine the extra hassle that would cause. He only takes 6 bottles/week (while I work) and doesn't take formula at all. I will keep in mind that I should bring some dish soap for his cups though. I should probably bring a couple of those.

 

Added trash bags to the list. Didn't know about the laundry! That will be good so we won't have to pack quite so much for clothes. We basically had to buy a whole wardrobe that might not make it to summer. He won't fit in this past summer's clothes and he will probably grow out of the cruise stuff be the time summer weather finally hits us in NY.

 

He's usually extremely well behaved so we are not too worried about meals, but with 4 adults, someone will definitely be able to leave if he melts down.

I'm looking for advice from anyone who has cruised with a baby (specifically with Princess). DH and I are sailing on the Ruby Princess 1/24/25 out of Fort Lauderdale with our son who will be 11.5 months at that time. We are bringing my parents along as well. Our son is very easy-going and travels well. Is there anything specific that I should know?