Baby's First Cruise! My Liberty Photo Review #2

[mconthehighseas]

Chrystal, thank you so much for this excellent shopping list. Even though I am hoping to cruise out of our home port so we won't have to fly, we do need to fly with our little one to visit family, so your advice is a lifesaver!

 

I agree that taking a car seat with you is the best way to go - this way you have it for any car rides you take when you get to your destination. I never thought about the width of the car seat though, so I definitely need to consider getting a new car seat for flying.

 

I did wonder about getting a life preserver for our LO. I've heard that airlines don't always have one that fits an infant. Did you check with your airline first about this? And was there a problem getting one for your son on the ship?

 

Thanks again, and I will be treating everything you say on this thread like newfound treasure!

[Ambiverol]

Hi Chrystal. My wife and I also live in NJ (exit 98!) and seem to share a lot in common with you guys. We also recently had our first child (10 weeks) and will be cruising as soon as he can (6 months, 1 week on Allure in May). We considered taking a grandma and getting 2 rooms, but the 3rd person rate wasn't too bad and we figured he's still immobile right now. We will definitely consider it for a future cruise.

 

We cruise fairly often and quite frankly don't do a whole lot anymore. We just enjoy not working, cooking, cleaning...etc, and also like being warm when it's cold in NJ. We are comfortable taking the day as it comes with our little guy. It's just nice to get back on a cruise ship (we went the last week my wife was able to while pregnant, and will be cruising as soon as the baby can--so about a 10 month gap).

 

We're also doing the age/sign thing and it's amazing to see how much they develop in such a short time. Even the gap from when I'm going (6 mos. old) to yours (10 mos. old) is so different, judging by the photos.

 

My wife and I have done plenty of trips with just the two of us, and are really looking forward to this new adventure. Thanks for this review, it will be a real help.

[Familygoboston]

Oh my gosh, Chrystal!! Isaac is just adorable!! Now, you didn't let your love of cruising cause you to name him after the love boat bartender did you? ;) I am just kidding you, of course, he's soooo cute and I DO see your dad there...what a blessing!:D

 

It seems like just yesterday that you, and Smileyperry and Bionicman97 were all the cruizin' kidless, and now, a baby boom! What fun to watch your little ones go from bump to baby... and beyond!! Looking forward to seeing your review...and more pictures of your cute little star!!

 

(BTW, excellent list for baby cruise prep, it's a question that comes up a lot for people cruising with baby, what do you need, what will you REALLY use etc!)

[Mary521]

Thank you so much! Yes, we got the monthly stickers. I think we'll turn his photos into a calendar once he hits 1 year old. If anyone is curious about the stickers, I bought them here.

 

You're right about babies being better behaved than adults! At least Isaac was more quiet in the Main Dining Room than some larger adult parties!

 

 

 

Thank you so much and CONGRATULATIONS!!! Enjoy your little guy. How is he doing? How are you? I'm glad you had a nice time on the Allure.

 

Thanks! We're doing great, every day is just amazing with him. :)

[iheartbda]

Crystal, I just want to kiss those chubby cheeks.:)

Your review would be good on the Family Cruise board as well since many have questions about travelling with babies, especially about strollers and car seats.

[rutgersgirl27]

Omigosh what a cutie :) . Great start to the review!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

Edited January 16, 2014 by rutgersgirl27

[BonTexasNY]

Yippeee, finally, another Chrystal review this time with your sweet baby Isaac. What a cutie he is and YOU still have that wonderful new mommy glow. I know you and Wes are bursting your buttons with pride.

 

Can't wait to see and read all about it!

[workathome]

Really looking forward to this review. Your first one really helped with our first cruise ever on the Liberty. And your son is adorable and he really does look like your dad! What a wonderful gift.

[Host Faith]

I'm definitely interested in hearing your take on the cruise. My son is also 10 months. We took him on a Carnival cruise last month and enjoyed it even though we don't usually do Carnival. We're going again in May, back to Royal this time for us!

 

I'm interested to see if you used the nursery and how well Royal stacks up. We prefer Royal mostly. The cruise we took on Carnival wasn't baby friendly, but we made it a good time with our son.

 

I know how you felt about not being able to cruise for a while. We went on the Liberty when I was 23 weeks pregnant last year (Nov 2012) and were not able to go on another until this December (2013).

 

I'm glad you had a great time on your cruise! How's your son? Did he have a good time on the cruise? I'm enjoying Isaac at this age; he's crawling and exploring so much. I love it!

[Host Faith]

Congrats on your beautiful son!! I am looking forward to following this review!

 

He is adorable!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you both so much! :)

[Host Faith]

What a handsome young man! Looking forward to your review, as always! :)

 

Hey ryano! Thank you :)

 

Host Faith: Isaac is beautiful, I'm enjoying your review so much!!:):)

 

Thank you for reading! :D

[Host Faith]

Chrystal, thank you so much for this excellent shopping list. Even though I am hoping to cruise out of our home port so we won't have to fly, we do need to fly with our little one to visit family, so your advice is a lifesaver!

 

I agree that taking a car seat with you is the best way to go - this way you have it for any car rides you take when you get to your destination. I never thought about the width of the car seat though, so I definitely need to consider getting a new car seat for flying.

 

I did wonder about getting a life preserver for our LO. I've heard that airlines don't always have one that fits an infant. Did you check with your airline first about this? And was there a problem getting one for your son on the ship?

 

Thanks again, and I will be treating everything you say on this thread like newfound treasure!

 

I'm so happy to hear that this review is helpful to you as you travel with your little one. Sorry to say that I didn't even think about a life preserver for Isaac on the plane! :o I was so concerned with the carseat that I forgot. Oops! In any event, I asked the cabin steward for a life preserver on the ship, and I had it in my room after dinner the first night. I'll show a photo of it later in my review. :)

 

Hi Chrystal. My wife and I also live in NJ (exit 98!) and seem to share a lot in common with you guys. We also recently had our first child (10 weeks) and will be cruising as soon as he can (6 months, 1 week on Allure in May). We considered taking a grandma and getting 2 rooms, but the 3rd person rate wasn't too bad and we figured he's still immobile right now. We will definitely consider it for a future cruise.

 

We cruise fairly often and quite frankly don't do a whole lot anymore. We just enjoy not working, cooking, cleaning...etc, and also like being warm when it's cold in NJ. We are comfortable taking the day as it comes with our little guy. It's just nice to get back on a cruise ship (we went the last week my wife was able to while pregnant, and will be cruising as soon as the baby can--so about a 10 month gap).

 

We're also doing the age/sign thing and it's amazing to see how much they develop in such a short time. Even the gap from when I'm going (6 mos. old) to yours (10 mos. old) is so different, judging by the photos.

 

My wife and I have done plenty of trips with just the two of us, and are really looking forward to this new adventure. Thanks for this review, it will be a real help.

 

Congratulations on your little guy! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! I think you'll be fine since you're sailing while he can't move around that much, lol. Once they start crawling, all bets are off!

 

It is pretty amazing to see how much they change from month to month, right? Fascinating.

 

Enjoy your travels as a family. Its' so much fun seeing the world through their eyes. :)

[Host Faith]

Oh my gosh, Chrystal!! Isaac is just adorable!! Now, you didn't let your love of cruising cause you to name him after the love boat bartender did you? ;) I am just kidding you, of course, he's soooo cute and I DO see your dad there...what a blessing!:D

 

It seems like just yesterday that you, and Smileyperry and Bionicman97 were all the cruizin' kidless, and now, a baby boom! What fun to watch your little ones go from bump to baby... and beyond!! Looking forward to seeing your review...and more pictures of your cute little star!!

 

(BTW, excellent list for baby cruise prep, it's a question that comes up a lot for people cruising with baby, what do you need, what will you REALLY use etc!)

 

Hi Familygoboston! :) Thank you so much. Yeah looks like there was a baby boom here on the Royal Boards. It's pretty cool that our little ones are growing up here on CC.

 

Thanks! We're doing great, every day is just amazing with him. :)

 

Awesome. I know exactly what you mean :)

[Host Faith]

Crystal, I just want to kiss those chubby cheeks.:)

Your review would be good on the Family Cruise board as well since many have questions about travelling with babies, especially about strollers and car seats.

 

Thank you! I can't stop kissing those chubby cheeks. He used to push me away but now he's given up. :D

 

Great suggestion, I'll post over there too. Thank you again!

 

Omigosh what a cutie :) . Great start to the review!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

 

Thank you! Wes and I went to Rutgers too. Go Knights! lol

[Host Faith]

We had a very early start to the day before the cruise. We had a 7:05 AM flight out of Philadelphia on Southwest. I chose an early flight because I didn't want to have to deal with large crowds as we went through security screening for the first time with Isaac. I chose Southwest because it seemed to be a pretty baby-friendly airline. The two free checked bags didn't hurt either. With all the things I was packing for Isaac, it was nice to know I wouldn't have to pay to check an extra bag or two. Wesley and I shared a suitcase. Isaac had his own. I packed things like his sound machine and his fitted crib sheet so he would have a couple familiar things with him in our room.

 

We arrived at about 5 AM. Getting through security was pretty easy. We did have to take the car seat out of the travel bag, and I had to show them Isaac's milk (pulled it out of the back pack and opened the container so they could see the contents). They waved it through with no issues.

 

A note about the milk: at this point, Isaac is still pretty much just on milk. He's still not a fan of food all that much. Less packing for us! I needed a lot of it to get us through our day of travel. The FAA states that a reasonable amount of milk is acceptable to take on the plane, however there's no exact amount listed anywhere. I brought four 4oz bottles, along with three packs of frozen milk at about 4 oz each, tucked in the middle of the bottles (to keep everything cold). It kept the milk cold as we traveled that day, and by the time we got to our hotel, I had some thawed to give to Isaac while we settled in. That system worked well for me and it passed through screening with no issues.

 

My Aunt needed wheelchair assistance in the airport, so she and my Mom were able to preboard. On Southwest, you get to choose your seats, so they were able to reserve a row for us . I had Early Bird checkin, and my ticket number was A30, so if they never did the preboarding process, we still would have had a chance to get a good row. Even if you aren't near the front of the line, Southwest lets anyone with a child and carseat to board after the first group of passengers. I really appreciated that. We checked his stroller at the gate.

 

Waiting to board:

 

 

 

 

We had to place Isaac's car seat in the window seat. It was very easy to install, took a few seconds.

 

 

 

Here's a clip of Isaac during takeoff. He was great on the flight; just curious about what was happening around him:

 

He got a little cranky later on because he wanted to cuddle a bit while he fell asleep. He had to stay in the car seat, so having the arch to keep him occupied was helpful. I had also taken some of his favorite toys and books and packed them away a few weeks before the trip. That way I could pull some out during the flight to keep him entertained, as if the toys were new. After a bottle of milk, he was out like a light. He slept until we go to the baggage claim area of the airport.

 



 



 

 

Edited January 16, 2014 by Host Faith

[cruisegirl1]

Reading with interest as we plan to be cruising with family and a grandchild.

For those interested in the “[COLOR="Red"]month by month” stickers[/COLOR], I picked up a pack last week at Party City, for less than $2.

M

[mconthehighseas]

I love the picture of Isaac holding the book!!!!!!! I can't wait until our little guy is able to do that. (His hands are still not that adept at holding things at 5 months. ;) )

I swore I would just read what you wrote and not comment, but I couldn't help myself! Edited January 16, 2014 by mconthehighseas

[Host Faith]

[quote name='cruisegirl1']Reading with interest as we plan to be cruising with family and a grandchild.

For those interested in the “[COLOR=Red]month by month” stickers[/COLOR], I picked up a pack last week at Party City, for less than $2.

M[/quote]

Awesome! Thank you for sharing :)

[Host Faith]

[quote name='mconthehighseas']I love the picture of Isaac holding the book!!!!!!! I can't wait until our little guy is able to do that. (His hands are still not that adept at holding things at 5 months. ;) )

I swore I would just read what you wrote and not comment, but I couldn't help myself![/quote]

LOL! Thank you so much. Congratulations on your little guy's arrival. The time flies by, he'll be holding things in the blink of an eye :)

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I have a question about the car seat on the plane. Did they make you face him forward or did the seat not fit rear-facing?

I only ask because my son previously flew in his infant seat and it was a tight squeeze. Later this year we're using his convertible seat and I'm afraid it won't fit rear-facing or even fit at all!

He's adorable by the way! I was never a "what a cute baby" kind of girl until I had my own son. Now I love babies. I smile at them everywhere I see them!!

Yes, my son had a blast on our cruise. We had a balcony, which is rare for us, and he was obsessed with being on the balcony and crawling all over the cabin. Good thing we wiped every inch of the bottom 3 feet of the cabin before we let him loose!

[CruiserTB]

Hi Chrystal,
Thanks sooo much for this post, I know it's going to help a lot. The last time I cruised I was 7 months pregnant, now DS is almost 1 year old (born on Valentine's day). Anyway, I'm looking at a cruise in the summer when DD gets out of school so late June-August. My question to you is, I see you're from Jersey like me :cool:, why did you pick flying to Liberty instead of Explorer which leaves out of Bayonne? Were there certain features that Liberty had that made you choose them? Me and the fam were concerned that because we're traveling with a LO now, its better to leave from a port close to home. Just wanted your thoughts/insights on that. Thanks and looking forward to reading more. :D

[Host Faith]

[quote name='smileyperry']I have a question about the car seat on the plane. Did they make you face him forward or did the seat not fit rear-facing?

I only ask because my son previously flew in his infant seat and it was a tight squeeze. Later this year we're using his convertible seat and I'm afraid it won't fit rear-facing or even fit at all!

He's adorable by the way! I was never a "what a cute baby" kind of girl until I had my own son. Now I love babies. I smile at them everywhere I see them!!

Yes, my son had a blast on our cruise. We had a balcony, which is rare for us, and he was obsessed with being on the balcony and crawling all over the cabin. Good thing we wiped every inch of the bottom 3 feet of the cabin before we let him loose![/quote]

Hi smileyperry! I read on the FAA Website [B][URL="http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/"](link)[/URL][/B] that children weighing 20 lbs should be forward-facing on the plane. Isaac juuuust reached that weight, so we had him face forward. In our car, he's still rear-facing.

Thank you so much! I can totally relate. I was always awkward with other people's babies until I had my own! :o

So glad your son had fun on your cruise. I'm hooked...looking into longer cruises while he's still out of school! :D

[Host Faith]

[quote name='CruiserTB']Hi Chrystal,
Thanks sooo much for this post, I know it's going to help a lot. The last time I cruised I was 7 months pregnant, now DS is almost 1 year old (born on Valentine's day). Anyway, I'm looking at a cruise in the summer when DD gets out of school so late June-August. My question to you is, I see you're from Jersey like me :cool:, why did you pick flying to Liberty instead of Explorer which leaves out of Bayonne? Were there certain features that Liberty had that made you choose them? Me and the fam were concerned that because we're traveling with a LO now, its better to leave from a port close to home. Just wanted your thoughts/insights on that. Thanks and looking forward to reading more. :D[/quote]

Hi CruiserTB! Awesome, our sons were born in the same month :)

There were a bunch of reasons why we chose to Cruise out of Fort Lauderdale:

1. The cruise was a short one. We weren't sure how Isaac would take to cruising. If he was miserable, at least it would have been a short cruise. Plus, the itinerary fit well with our time off from work.

2. We love Fort Lauderdale and wanted to spend some time there.

3. Weather- we wanted to get to the warm weather as quickly as possible, and we wanted the strongest sun we could possibly get for a short cruise. Cruising out of NJ wouldn't have allowed us much warmth, which is what we really wanted.

4. The Baby Splash Zone is available on Freedom-class ships. Isaac loves the water. We've had him in swim lessons, at the beach, etc, so being able to enjoy some water on the ship was important to us.

5. I sailed the Freedom Class before, and wanted to share that with Wes so we were even with the classes of ships we've sailed.

6. We're waiting for the Quantum to sail out of NJ. Woohoo!

7. We've sailed on the Adventure, the same class as the Explorer. Kind of been there, done that.

Hope that helps! Happy cruising :)

[Laurba99]

Following!

[Host Faith]

[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=3][COLOR=Indigo]Getting through the Fort Lauderdale airport and gathering our luggage was easy. There are plenty of porters available to assist you if you have a lot of luggage. Here's a shot of the car seat bag. It was nice- we stuffed all our winter coats into the bag, around the car seat. Plenty of space.

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The tricky part was catching a cab. There is a taxi stand right outside the baggage area, to the left.


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[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][LEFT][FONT=Georgia][SIZE=3][COLOR=Indigo]When we arrived at the taxi stand, we requested a large taxi since there were 5 of us, including a car seat. A driver was assigned to us, and he had a van. As he was loading our stuff into the van, I realized that there was only space for 4 of us to sit, if we installed the car seat. While Wes was installing the seat, I kept asking the driver, "Do you really think we're all going to fit into your van?" He just shrugged and told us to sort of stuff ourselves into the back seat! :eek:!! I don't think he wanted to let go of our fare.....we were heading on about a 20-minute drive to the hotel.

Thankfully, one of the female dispatchers called him ridiculous and told him to move it along and take care of another group. She said she would call an SUV to take us to the hotel.

It was pretty cold and rainy (bummer) when we arrived, so we had Mom take Isaac back into the airport while we waited for the SUV. It was about a 10-minute wait.

I'm not sure what's going on with the service of the taxi drivers in FLL, but this driver was pretty bad too. He never even greeted us, didn't say hello or anything. We told him where we wanted to go, and he opened the SUV doors so we could start loading our luggage. Yes, we pretty much did it ourselves. He stood there and stared at us for a while. I approached him and said, "This is all our luggage that can go in the back." He stood there some more. We took the baby out of the stroller and put him in the car seat. He actually stared at my mother struggling to fold the stroller down. I had to hand the stroller to him to get him started.

The ride to the hotel took about 20 minutes and cost about $20. Once we arrived, the driver let the meter run as we were unloading the car. We gave him the total we hit when he got out of the taxi to help us. He looked at me funny when he counted up the total but I looked him straight in the eye with one of my 'looks.' He didn't say anything else.

Enough about that. We loved our hotel stay! I chose the [B][URL="http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/florida/galleryone-a-doubletree-suites-by-hilton-hotel-FLLTSDT/index.html"]Gallery One hotel[/URL][/B] because I stayed there before and had a great time. They have two-bedroom suites, which was perfect for our group. The hotel is also a [B][URL="http://watertaxi.com/"]Water Taxi[/URL][/B] stop. We wanted to ride the water taxi all day, however it was too cold and rainy to do that. In any event, we still enjoyed the hotel.

I emailed the hotel before our trip, to ask about early check in, and a room with a view of the Intracoastal Waterway. They told us they would try their best. We arrived at about 11 AM, and were able to check in early. AND, we had a room with a great view of the water. I have to say, the service at this hotel is excellent. And who could resist the warm chocolate-chip cookie they give you before you head to your room? Yum.

Here are some shots of the room. There was a living room with sleeper sofa and a balcony, a nice kitchen area, and two bedrooms. Our King bedroom had a bathroom with a glass enclosed shower. The Two Double Bed room across the living room had a bathroom with a tub/shower. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

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