I cruised the Carnival Sensation with an 8 month old and survived!

[Beckyv]

Just a brief note about my cruise.

 

Firstly i never found it as hard as everyone said i would and should with my 8 month old. Yes i am lucky that i had my Husband and my Mum and Dad with me but i guess what made it easiest was just going with the flow.

 

When we checked our luggage at the curb, the porters took the car seat as well as the luggage so we didnt have to lug it around. My stroller was a Silvercross Pop (Uk, i dont know if you have this stroller in the USA?) and it fitted through all doors ect.

 

Most nights i took my changing bag off the stroller and left the stroller in the hallway, i saw lots of people do this.

 

This cruise we had a window cabin with a pull down bed. Obviously we didnt use the pull down bed and they brought us a crib which was fine. We used the sheets they provided and it never caused any problems for my daughter.

 

Tip - If you have an IPAD, download your childs faviourite programme, Zahra's is Disney Juniors Jungle Junction or Jake and the Neverland Pirate's. If you have the Ipad in a original apple case you can hang it from the pull down bed. We did this, when we needed to get ready quickly, and put the baby in the crib padded with cushions and she could sit up and watch it and we knew she was safe while we got ready. Now i am not saying leave a baby there for ages before anyone has a go, but it was a lifesaver when we were running late!

 

Everyone we came across was lovely to the baby and didnt have a problem, except one woman one night in the dining room who made a comment when the baby started crying during dinner, luckily i never heard the comment as i had left the dining room straight away to not disrupt other diners. However this woman had a stick up her ass from the minuite we sat down. We had anytime dining so we could dine when we needed. There was often a large line but the line moved quickly and took no longer than 15 mins.

 

The highchair in the dining room was the wooden kind with no tray.

 

We purchased something called a 'polar gear travel highchair' we fixed it to the chairs in the buffet and she loved being able to sit up with us! In the buffet i fed her Oatmeal and mashed fruits like banana which she loved. Other than that i took jarred food. The only change area i could find up here was on the right hand side of the buffet if you have your back to the pool inside labelled 'Unisex'.

 

A few days we looked for an area to put down a blanket for her to play but whenever we seemed to go to the lounges there were private functions. We found down on level 7, by the glass lifts there was a little seating area, over the back, we put a blanket down with toys and she loved being able to move around. As it was the lobby area there was lots of noise going on anyway, so we didn't interrupt anyone.

 

Mostly i would say try and stay relaxed, don't care what people think and have a great time. We are on the Breeze in the less than a week so will try and and check out things there.

 

If you have any questions, let me know!

[klauer]

Do "lots of people" really leave strollers in the hallway? I would think that this would be a problem for people with disabilities who are trying to get by in a scooter or wheelchair.

[Beckyv]

On my floor, floor 7 they did. They were all on one side and i saw people with wheelchairs and scooters going down the other side fine. Strollers that were on opposite sides were moved over by cabin stewards to one side.

[cello56]

Would it really have been too much trouble to simply fold your stoller up and keep it in your cabin overnight? Imagine if there was a nighttime emergency, and the halls were littered with strollers, and people were trying to evacuate? I have been on ten cruises, and have never, ever, seen anything left in the hallways overnight. Not a single time. Perhaps Carnival have different rules about this then RCI?

[Beckyv]

I did some nights. Some nights i didn't. There were also wheelchairs and Scooters in the hallway.

 

Didn't really post this information to get questioned about hallway safety.

[Beckyv]

Oh and i do my 10th cruise next week and have seen this many times.

[maalvarez18]

Did you take your car seat with you? The base? I will be taking my 7.5 mth old on the oasis in July. My whole family will be with me so I don't I will have a problem like most people say it will.

 

This will be my 1st cruise traveling with a child. What other tips can u offer that will make things easier?

 

 

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[Beckyv]

Did you take your car seat with you? The base? I will be taking my 7.5 mth old on the oasis in July. My whole family will be with me so I don't I will have a problem like most people say it will.

 

This will be my 1st cruise traveling with a child. What other tips can u offer that will make things easier?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hi

 

I took my careseat but I didn't take my base as it would mean bringing it all the way from the UK so it would have been a nightmare, i just used the seatbelt whenever we travelled with the car seat.

 

Definitely bring nappy bags as you know diapers can really cause a stink!!

 

To heat bottles i got hot water from room service and stood the bottle in the ice bucket with the hot water poured in. Or if room service would take too long i would send the hubby up to the buffet to get hot water.

 

To wash my daughter i wet a clean towel and put it in the base of the shower. Then took the shower head off the wall and showered my daughter while she sat up. Thats ok if your son can sit up, this meant i didn't have to bring an inflatible tub.

 

For beach days i saw some people had those pop up tents with shade which i want to get next time. I had a pop up ballpit with no balls. I laid a blanket in it and put all her favourite toys in and she sat and played quite happily, i either put it in shade and put a parasol over it.

 

HTH

[maalvarez18]

All great tips. Thank you. Right now he is 3.5 months and not sitting up. Ill determine the tub when the time comes.

 

 

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[finzup-kt]

i'll be cruising in may with my 9month old. Glad to read that it's doable :)

 

I'm off to go find a polar gear travel highchair and a pop up beach tent! :D

[092306]

Glad you had a good cruise with your little one! We had the best time on our cruise when our son was 11 months. When he was 2, not so much so in my opinion younger was easier. We're hoping when we cruise with him at 3 and 4 that it's better than 2. We shall see!

[chipperberg]

Glad you had a good cruise with your little one! We had the best time on our cruise when our son was 11 months. When he was 2, not so much so in my opinion younger was easier. We're hoping when we cruise with him at 3 and 4 that it's better than 2. We shall see!

 

Uh oh. This just scared me. we cruised with our DS at 10 months old and now we are booked again and he will be 2. I am hoping it goes well!! My mom is coming with us, so it should work out OK, I hope.

 

question for anyone....

Can you order dinner the night before on Carnival and have it almost to your table when you sit down if you have early seating? TIA

[092306]

Uh oh. This just scared me. we cruised with our DS at 10 months old and now we are booked again and he will be 2. I am hoping it goes well!! My mom is coming with us, so it should work out OK, I hope.

 

question for anyone....

Can you order dinner the night before on Carnival and have it almost to your table when you sit down if you have early seating? TIA

 

Sorry to scare you! Just from our experience it wasn't easier, but with your mom there, it should be a lot better than with just the two of you. We did a lot of walking around the ship which wasn't bad, just monotonous. He didn't want to go to camp and he wasn't yet potty trained for pool so our things to do were limited. We have the Splendor coming up when he's 3, so I'm hoping for him to be more into the camp and potty trained. We booked the NCL Breakaway with my mother in law so we are looking forward to the help on that cruise and some couple alone time. Hope you get that on your cruise with your mom!

 

You can tell your waiter ahead of time what to have ready for your son for dinner. We did YTD but requested the same table each night and they always had extra steamed veggies and pizza, pasta or chicken ready for him shortly after we sat down. We just told him the night before what he'd like.

 

Oh and definitely bring an ipad or portable dvd player for dinners or really whenever for the cruise when he's 2. Coloring books and crayons or whatever he likes. If we didn't have that with us he wouldn't have lasted more than 15 min at dinner. On the one when he was 11 months he sat through a 1.5 hour dinner thoroughly entertained by what was around him and a few little toys. That sure changed!

[chipperberg]

Sorry to scare you! Just from our experience it wasn't easier, but with your mom there, it should be a lot better than with just the two of you. We did a lot of walking around the ship which wasn't bad, just monotonous. He didn't want to go to camp and he wasn't yet potty trained for pool so our things to do were limited. We have the Splendor coming up when he's 3, so I'm hoping for him to be more into the camp and potty trained. We booked the NCL Breakaway with my mother in law so we are looking forward to the help on that cruise and some couple alone time. Hope you get that on your cruise with your mom!

 

You can tell your waiter ahead of time what to have ready for your son for dinner. We did YTD but requested the same table each night and they always had extra steamed veggies and pizza, pasta or chicken ready for him shortly after we sat down. We just told him the night before what he'd like.

 

Oh and definitely bring an ipad or portable dvd player for dinners or really whenever for the cruise when he's 2. Coloring books and crayons or whatever he likes. If we didn't have that with us he wouldn't have lasted more than 15 min at dinner. On the one when he was 11 months he sat through a 1.5 hour dinner thoroughly entertained by what was around him and a few little toys. That sure changed!

 

Thank you. That was exactly the advice I was looking for. The DVD and iPad will be first on my packing list.