Review - Pride January 29 with 8.5 month old

[SunTravels]

Here is the review I posted on the Carnival Boards. We had a great trip let me know if you have questions about sailing with a baby.

 

Here is our Pride review from Jan 29- Feb 5

I was travelling with my husband and 8.5 month old. We had a wonderful time!

 

First I want to address the questions I read on here all the time about traveling with a baby…It really worked out great for us. I do want to say that you need to have the expectations set of what kind of vacation you are looking for before you go. Our main goal of this vacation was to relax – NO COOKING, CLEANING, WORKING – just focusing on family and bonding. Being that I primarily stay home with my baby it was no burden what-so-ever to spend all day with him, if I wanted to be without him I would have booked a vacation with just my husband. It was awesome for us, but I can see where it may not be for everyone, just understand that traveling with an infant does change what kind of cruise you have.

 

Ok on to the cruise - Embarkation was a breeze, never in any other cruise have I arrived at the port and walked right onto the ship…no sitting or waiting…we arrived around 2 and were in our stateroom at 2:20. We were in cabin 6279, and it was AWESOME! We had so much space for the pack and play and the baby to get his wiggles out. The ship is lovely, I was prepared for an ugly, dark, ship with in your face nudity (as mentioned in so many reviews) and really it was nice. The nudity was there but I thought it was more muted than many have reported.

 

Food – the food was fine, it’s not what it used to be, but they do many things well. We ate many of our dinners in the Lido, or brought food back to the room and ate on the balcony. We ate one night in the main dining room and one in David’s. The main dining room was great (except the fried shrimp) and David’s was wonderful. We had breakfast twice in the MDR and that was very nice.

 

For those of you with babies - As far a food for the baby goes I would recommend binging enough of your own food for the little one. I brought some, but after reading a few reviews about the MDR being accommodating for babies I didn’t bring as much as I would have liked – they would not alter anything (it’s one of the reasons we didn’t go there often). It was fine I worked it out, but some of the Carnival reviews I’ve read said they would puree things and cook things plain (everything is in butter or oil), but they wouldn’t (we had ATD so maybe it’s different for set dining).

 

Excursions – We did EPCOT, and it was great, we had about 6.5 hours in the park - the rest was travel time (about an hour each way from port and 15 min each way for monorail transportation). We booked a beach day at the Hilton in Nassau, it was lovely, the beach was great, and plenty of space on the beach and in the shade and the water was refreshing. Freeport we had booked an excursion through Pat and Diane snorkeling, but they canceled our original trip and were offering a modified trip, that we were not interested in with the baby, so we just walked around and shopped a bit before heading to back on the ship.

 

SPA – My husband and I both had 2 massages each, I had a hot stone and Swedish, and my husband had a bamboo and deep tissue, and we thought they were all great and worth the money to get a little extra relaxing. I also got a pedicure, it was nice, but not sure I would spend the money again for that one.

 

Entertainment – Don’t have much to say here, we didn’t do much as many of the shows were after 10 and we were already settled in for the night. Some of the live music on the ship as we strolled around in the evening was nice.

 

Pools - The covered pool was closed the first day and a half (but open the remainder of the trip). The slide was open most days, and the outside pools also. The weather was awesome - I was expecting the worst being that we went in Jan, but it was so sunny and calm (Friday night was the only night it was rocky...and overcast Friday/Saturday, but the temp was still great).

 

Any questions, please ask…I’m sure I’m forgetting things.

[cdncruiser3]

Hi,

where you able to go in the pool with your little one? Did you bring your own sheets for the crib? We are going on a cruise with our 8 month old at the end of Feb on the Liberty so I am getting a bit nervous!

[SunTravels]

You can't put a baby in diapers in the pools (even the kiddie one) I did dip his feet in the kiddie pool and let him splash his hands in, no one was ever in it, but I was following the no diaper rules and didn't fully put him in. We did have a balcony so we took the blow up tub we brought and filled it up on the baclcony and he loved playing in that. We also took him in the ocean and he LOVED it!

 

We brought our own pack and play, so I brought my own sheets for that, but I know the ship uses a full size flat sheet in the crib so if you want something snug fitting you should bring yor own. Also my son has sensitive skin so I was worried whatever they used to wash their linens with might be too harsh for his skin and wanted to bring my own.

 

You will be fine, don't be nervous. It was great! Just pack smart and set you expectations correctly. It's a great way to travel with a baby because everything is right there. What kind of room did you book? I would suggest a balcony, becasue you will spend quite a bit of time in ther unless you have a child who can sleep anywhere for naps...It took my son about a day and a half to get totlly comfortable with being in a new place, so we pretty much stayed in the cabin all day Monday (my husband and I alternating) so that he could get comfortable.

 

Have a great trip!

[schittenden]

My wife and I are taking our 10-month old on the Pride in September. Any other tips you'd recommend? Did you bring a stroller? What kind? Was it easy to maneuver on the ship? Did you use the babysitting service at all? Did you take your son to David's with you? I assume they didn't charge a fee for him, but were they accommodating? We'll be celebrating our fifth anniversary on board and were thinking of going to David's, but were unsure about doing so with our son.

 

Thanks!