Traveling with Toddlers

My husband and I have been on many cruises, But now we have twin boys. They will be just over 2 years old on the cruise. My BIG question is where do two toddlers sleep? They sleep in cribs at home.:eek: I don't see 2 pack N Plays working in such a small space. (That's what we normally bring on vacation with us) This is my biggest concern.

The cribs they provide are pretty small and narrow. They would probably work fine in your room.

Two pack n plays would be tight unless you had a room without a couch. Take a look at the family cruising board. There are some suggestions that might help.

I don't know if you are flying or driving but we have had a minisuite with a pull out couch and used pool noodles under the bottom sheet to make "bumpers". On our last cruise our youngest had just turned 3 and we brought a blow up toddler mattress. You can find them on Amazon.

It came in it's own carrying case and we had an electric inflator that made it easy to blow it up. A crib sheet fit it so you can understand the size. The idea was we would inflate at night and then deflate in the morning but we ended up just standing it up on its side and leaning against the wall during the day.

We also loaded up our tablet with movies so that he could be entertained before bed and also at the restaurant/MDR during dinner. He was really busy during the day and went to bed pretty quickly.

They will have a blast!

Just a recommendation, but you can get two rooms with a connecting door. We did it with our 2 and 4 year old on our last cruise and it was absolutely FANTASTIC. Double the space! We plugged their DVD player in the other room and brought a bag with toys, so it was a play area during the day. We could be in our room relaxing (with the connecting door open obviously) while the kids played or watched a movie in their room.

Yes, you'll pay a bit more by getting two rooms, but IMHO it was completely worth it. The experience was THAT much better than when we've traveled all stuffed in one cabin.

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To add to this, are you bringing strollers?

There is a section on CC for family cruising.

Just a recommendation, but you can get two rooms with a connecting door. We did it with our 2 and 4 year old on our last cruise and it was absolutely FANTASTIC. Double the space! We plugged their DVD player in the other room and brought a bag with toys, so it was a play area during the day. We could be in our room relaxing (with the connecting door open obviously) while the kids played or watched a movie in their room.

 

Yes, you'll pay a bit more by getting two rooms, but IMHO it was completely worth it. The experience was THAT much better than when we've traveled all stuffed in one cabin.

 

 

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THIS exactly! We had to adjoining balcony cabins on the Breeze last year and it made our trip a breeze! We're sailing the Breeze again this summer and have once again booked adjoining cabins. It's worth the extra expense. Two rooms, two bathrooms, an extra large balcony. I just can't see the four of us in one cabin - no way. Especially on an 8 day cruise.

When we took our grandson on the Breeze he was 2 and we used the couch cushions as bumpers. They worked great

Two cribs in one room would be VERY crowded. Depending on what ship, in an OV room you'd have some extra floor space, which would possibly make it work. I can't see it working in an inside or balcony. We've never had two that small at once, but we have used the cribs before. They are metal and slightly small, but still take up a lot of space.

I think you could fit two cribs in, it would just be very, very tight. I just returned from a cruise with my almost two year old toddler. Here's a link to my review if you're interested in our experience.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140134&highlight=freedom

If you go to the very last page I have posted a photo of his crib in our room. I think if you had the table moved out, the other crib would fit next to it (faced the other direction). This was in a balcony room. Let me know if you have any other questions re: cruising with toddlers.

My youngest had turned 2 a few weeks before we cruised. The crib they provided was even smaller than a hotel sized crib. It was the size of a pack and play, but just was up off the ground more. We had a premium balcony cabin that was more square and even then, the crib was in the way a lot. It ended up that our son would not sleep in that crib. He always slept fine in a crib at home, but he wanted nothing to do with the ship crib, even with his sheet and music thing and blanket from home. He did sleep perfectly in between us in bed at night and napped every sea day on the bed with me as well so we just went with that. Thankfully, he went right back to his crib at home with no problems, but I do have to admit I miss him snuggling up to me to fall asleep like he did on vacation. ;) Not enough to ever let him sleep in our bed at home though!

If you can't swing the two room idea (which is the only way we cruise with our boys) and don't want the lost space with the cribs, I have another idea. I don't know about yours, but mine love the idea of camping out on the floor. Sleeping bags or on extra Carnival plush comforters that can be folded up and put away during the day would be perfectly fine for mine. Shoot, at 16 and 10, they still lounge on the floor in blankets regularly.

The OP made post #1 and left us. Must be too busy chasing the darlings around.;)