Cruising with toddlers & babies

[Sweetness22]

Hi all!!! We will be cruising with a large group of 40-50 people in April for a destination wedding onboard Freedom. I have 2 kids ages 1 & 2 and YES they are coming with us on vacation for aunties wedding. We booked cabin 9200 the grand scenic room in the front of the ship, can't wait to see this room & the view!!! For a family of 4 this room was slightly less than a balcony for us which is great because I'm ok without a balcony with my little ones. I'm looking for advice from previous cruisers with kids! Tips would be great or advice (positive only please). How easy is it to get milk at any time of the day or night? Should we bring the Horizon cartons from the grocery store as the drink carry-on? Is there antibacterial soap in the room? Is the ship pretty toddler friendly?! Did your toddlers sleep fine in the beds? Any insite would help! Thanks in advance!

[RHilla619]

Can only speak upon some of your questions, I'm sure someone else can answer the rest.

 

You should be able to get milk at any time from room service, but if your room has a mini fridge I would just take a couple of the small cartons from the buffet every morning and stash them in there. That way you always have a stockpile of milk ready to go for your little ones.

 

In the room there is a basic bar of hand soap, shampoo, and shower gel. So if you have a preference of antibacterial soap I would back your own from home.

[Essiesmom]

You can get milk 24/7 from Room service. There will be a fridge/cooler in you cabin, and you can stock it with cartons of milk from the buffet. You will have a double foldout sofabed...Will your toddlers be comfortable sharing it? Otherwise you can request a crib/PnP for the youngest. You might pop on over to the Family Cruises board (under Special Interest Cruising) for other hints about cruising with toddlers - such as discussions of strollers...EM

[fdwt994]

Hi all!!! We will be cruising with a large group of 40-50 people in April for a destination wedding onboard Freedom. I have 2 kids ages 1 & 2 and YES they are coming with us on vacation for aunties wedding. We booked cabin 9200 the grand scenic room in the front of the ship, can't wait to see this room & the view!!! For a family of 4 this room was slightly less than a balcony for us which is great because I'm ok without a balcony with my little ones. I'm looking for advice from previous cruisers with kids! Tips would be great or advice (positive only please). How easy is it to get milk at any time of the day or night? Should we bring the Horizon cartons from the grocery store as the drink carry-on? Is there antibacterial soap in the room? Is the ship pretty toddler friendly?! Did your toddlers sleep fine in the beds? Any insite would help! Thanks in advance!

 

If you've cruised before without kids, forget whatever experience you had. With kids that young, you'll need to go with the flow. Plan on doing things on their time, and plan on keeping them occupied in your cabin or elsewhere if the Camp Carnival thing won't work out. Formal dining rooms, production shows, etc don't interest kids that age. We cruised a few years ago with our then two year-old and much to our surprise, he didn't do well in Camp Carnival. They told us they were an "activity" program and not a daycare so when he was upset they had us come and take him. Since you won't have a balcony (good call with kids that young) figure out where you will go / what you will do during afternoon nap times, early bed times, etc. Like I said, go with the flow and expect to be on their time.

 

He slept fine in the converted sofa bed; it was spacious and low enough to the floor that we didn't worry.

 

I wish you well and hope you have a great time.

[tkportersat]

I always just grabbed milk from the buffet or had it delivered through room service....also had bananas delivered as well because I knew mine would eat them. Would grab little boxes of cereal from the buffet for snacks too. You are allowed to take packaged snacks to port and I would recommend that and bottled water to make sure you always have something for them on the quick.

 

No antibacterial soap, so you might want to bring your own.

 

I know you said you didn't get a balcony but you might reconsider, it was so great to have for the times we were stuck in the room with our son. When my son was napping we could still sit on the balcony and have a glass of wine and watch the waves. I always used to bring my baby monitor for those times so I could listen in.

 

Not trying to be negative but the best advice I can give you is to go with an open mind. Traveling with kids is great fun and also stressful at times. The first time we took our son he was 10 months old and we had both sets of Grandparents with us, I thought we would get more help - and we didn't, which led to disappointment. Good luck, I hope you have a nice family vacation.

[BrotherCraig]

We traveled with a 8 month old and a 3 year old this past May on the Carnival Magic. We always ordered the milk for the 3 year old through room service (because we always stayed away from the buffet). We have deliver 6-8 cartons at a time. Very easy. We stored them in the fridge for when needed. We had a cove balcony so it was very easy with the kids. I imagine another form of balcony is good as well. We had a great time with the kids and they slept very well on the cruise ship. Taking them again in Sept. Your babies will a lot of attention from the staff.

[stargate fan]

Hi all!!! We will be cruising with a large group of 40-50 people in April for a destination wedding onboard Freedom. I have 2 kids ages 1 & 2 and YES they are coming with us on vacation for aunties wedding. We booked cabin 9200 the grand scenic room in the front of the ship, can't wait to see this room & the view!!! For a family of 4 this room was slightly less than a balcony for us which is great because I'm ok without a balcony with my little ones. I'm looking for advice from previous cruisers with kids! Tips would be great or advice (positive only please). How easy is it to get milk at any time of the day or night? Should we bring the Horizon cartons from the grocery store as the drink carry-on? Is there antibacterial soap in the room? Is the ship pretty toddler friendly?! Did your toddlers sleep fine in the beds? Any insite would help! Thanks in advance!

 

While we haven't cruised with little kids, I've read CC a lot.

 

Bring an inflatable bathtub to bathe the kids in the bottom of the shower.

 

Children who are not potty trained are not allowed in pools nor hot tubs, even with swim diapers.

 

Kids seem to enjoy themselves crawling and walking on the Disco glass tiles.

 

Many crew members have children back home. They'll spoil your kids rotten.

 

Have a great cruise.

[Ck13cruise]

Well you are in luck with Freedom, we chose the same ship for our cruise in Oct. They have a kids area for the little ones and it has a little pool and playground. And they do offer night owls for extra cost. We got a pack N play for daughter and she didn't have any issues. There is plenty to entertain, heck just pushing them in the stroller will probably excite them. We were able to keep our stroller outside our room without any issues and it was a jogging stroller. We did have a tender port and they helped with the stroller and getting us on and off boat. It won't feel like a vacation for you probably because you have two little ones to take care of but they will be fine. We also didn't have any trouble with sea sickness either. Your cabin Stewart should help in area to make your experience the best and they will probably have more suggestions if needed. As for the soap. I brought my own including Clorox wipes and lysol. I have heard of a portable bathtub to. It's easier for sure. Also i brought plenty of different meds jist incase. Enjoy

Edited February 9, 2016 by Ck13cruise

[kay1864]

Is there antibacterial soap in the room?

It's far more important to wash your (and your kids') hands OFTEN (both in and out of the room) than that it's antibacterial soap. Also, use the provided sanitizers. Avoid touching surfaces that hundreds of others have touched (such as handrails). Avoid touching your face, especially eyes.

 

All of which will go a long way towards prevention of catching germs. Hard to do with toddlers, yes...but do what you can to keep their hands clean, and you should be fine.

[hlb76]

we take our grands this Oct so loving the info. though I'm more nervous about the flight vs the cruise.

[Savlamara]

I have cruised with a 8 month old and again when he was 17 months and its fine. I agree with the above poster who said its on their time. I made sure I bought a GOOD umbrella stroller that reclined almost flat (Summer 3D Lite) and it came in handy as I threw things in the basket underneath and carried it all over. Plus it comes with a strap to carry it and its thin enough to go in and out of the room doors /endplug

 

I'm not a fan of the horizon milk, but we just got milk from the buffet and room service ordered the night before so it was ready when the babe woke up. In the MDR the waiters knew to bring milk after the first day with a fruit plate to nosh on as soon as we sat down so it was no trouble.

 

As for in port, we had stroller, hats, i brought a thin towel from home as a combo blanket/sunshade for stroller, and he drank bottled juice purchased in port. Almost everywhere has apple juice and bottled water. Also brought a pack of squeeze apple sauce and the individual packed ritz crackers to take off board.

 

We didnt have a balcony, once we had an inside room and the other time a deluxe ocean view for the tub. I did take more naps then usual because I had to be in the room. Oh and bring 2-3 packs of wipes! I brought them everywhere. I also had a few pocket packs of the lysol wipes as well.

 

I think what bothered me most was paying full price for an infant. But its very doable, vacation is what you make of it!

Edited February 9, 2016 by Savlamara

[mjhouse2]

We have cruised with our kids (from 1 year old) and recently cruised with our grandchildren aged 1, 3 &4. We had a JS with the 4 year old in our room and the other two we in inside cabin with their parents. All of the children enjoyed the balcony. We enjoyed it when it was nap time and the children were in our cabin sleeping we sat on balcony. We took one of those umbrella strollers with us for the youngest and used it on the ship as well.

 

As others have said.. you go with the flow and the staff will spoil the kids. I do recommend taking a couple boxes of cereal from buffet too for snacking on shore excursions for kids. We took 2 boxes of fruitloops with us.

 

Enjoy!

[cb at sea]

Plain old soap and water do just as well, and is safer, than the antibacterial stuff!

[Cashya]

Love the info! Taking our daughter with us in September, she bwill be 3 years old then.

 

 

Höre niemals auf zu träumen..

[brookeq]

They have milk at the buffet in cartons each morning. I wouldn't bring my own on. We just got off the breeze and the mini fridges are not really cold at all.

 

We do bring preferred snack food for the days we are off the ship...Packaged and sealed of course. If not you get stuck buying them an overpriced lunch they won't eat.

 

Dinner is long. Bring things for them to do.

[MistyRo76]

We cruised with our then 14 month old back in October. It was my 16th cruise, but it was certainly not like any other cruise I've taken.

 

As another posted mentioned, I would also reconsider the balcony. We used our balcony to hang out on while LO was napping. I wish we had brought our monitor though as you can't hear anything through the balcony door and we wanted to keep the curtains closed to keep the room dark during naptime. So I kept having to open the door a crack and peek in to see if she was awake.

 

At the recommendation of some posts on here, we brought an inflatable bath tub for baths in the showers. Didn't use it once. I just took her in with me and it worked just fine.

 

We did not really carry on any snacks or extra drinks for her. She was eating most all table foods at that point. We got milk from the buffet (including extras to keep in our room mini-fridge) or from room service. I would also grab some small boxes of cherrios or pieces of whole fruit to keep with us for snacks. I felt that there were plenty of food options available for her all of the time. I also brought just a few small toys and books for her to use in our rooms while we were getting ready for dinner.

 

You can't leave kids at Camp Carnival until they are 2 years of age. So we didn't have the chance to use that service. Also, children cannot be in the pools until they are potty trained. This also applies to the Carnival Waterworks splash parks - which I didn't realize. We were asked to leave the splash park because she was in a swim diaper. This really limits what you have to do during the sea days.

 

We bought a smaller stroller to take on board with us rather than taking her big, full-size stroller. The one we got was the Summer Infant 3-D Lite - it was about $70 I think. This was the best thing we took. It was small enough that we could fold it up easily in our cabin and it didn't take up much space. We probably could have stood it up in the closet or put it under the bed if we wanted to get it completely out of the way. And with the narrow cabin doorways and busy elevators and walkways, the smaller stroller is great! And be prepared to wait for elevators. Squeezing into one after dinner lets out or getting on/off the ship is much more difficult with a stroller. Several times, we took her out of the stroller and folded it up and I carried the baby and my hubby carried the stroller up or down the stairs. That wouldn't be easy with a big full-size stroller.

 

We keep LO on a pretty tight schedule at home...but that all went out the window on vacation. You have to be flexible. We also didn't plan much for the ports as we just didn't know how she would be doing. In Grand Turk and Aruba we just spent a few hours at the beach, in Dominican Republic, we took a tour bus to an artisan area and just stroller around for a bit and in Curacao, we took a guided bus tour.

 

I would also recommend going down a day early and staying in a hotel. We did not pack many diapers to save on luggage space. We stopped at a CVS in downtown Miami and bought some there. Then we just checked them at the port and they delivered them right to our cabin.

 

And the biggest tip - bring babysitters with you if you can! Since you're traveling with a large group, I'm sure you'll have some willing family or friends to take the kiddos off your hands for a bit. Even if it's just to chase them around the lido deck for a few minutes so you can grab a drink from the bar. My mom and sister traveled with us. A few nights mom stayed with our LO in our cabin after dinner, so DH and I could enjoy some time hanging out with other adults or she would stay with her during naps so we could spend some time at the pool. And just other friends we were with would take her for 5-10 minutes and entertain her. That was great!

 

Misty

[cmukid87]

I always just grabbed milk from the buffet or had it delivered through room service....also had bananas delivered as well because I knew mine would eat them. Would grab little boxes of cereal from the buffet for snacks too. You are allowed to take packaged snacks to port and I would recommend that and bottled water to make sure you always have something for them on the quick.

 

No antibacterial soap, so you might want to bring your own.

 

I know you said you didn't get a balcony but you might reconsider, it was so great to have for the times we were stuck in the room with our son. When my son was napping we could still sit on the balcony and have a glass of wine and watch the waves. I always used to bring my baby monitor for those times so I could listen in.

 

Not trying to be negative but the best advice I can give you is to go with an open mind. Traveling with kids is great fun and also stressful at times. The first time we took our son he was 10 months old and we had both sets of Grandparents with us, I thought we would get more help - and we didn't, which led to disappointment. Good luck, I hope you have a nice family vacation.

 

This will be our first cruise with a young one. She'll be about 9 months when we cruise. Luckily we have a niece that I am paying for with an agreement that she is the babysitter when needed.

[vaka08]

My now 2.5 year old has been on 3 cruises. We took her when she was 10 months, 20 months and just over 2. We used the fridge to stock up on milk and brought a bunch of her sippy cups with us to keep full at all times. The cartons disappear after breakfast but you can use room service or the milk for coffee and pour into your cup. If using cartons- stock up on straws from a bar they aren't at the buffet. We brought horizon with us and used them while in port.

 

Having a balcony helps. We would go to the cabin around 8 or 9 to put her to bed then go out on the balcony and read or watch a movie (we brought a portable DVD player).

 

You know your kids better than we do- do they watch tv every day? If so I would bring some episodes with you on a phone or DVD.

[tkportersat]

Very smart of you! Wish we would have had an arrangement like that :) Ours is almost 6 now and it is so much easier to travel with him these days.

 

This will be our first cruise with a young one. She'll be about 9 months when we cruise. Luckily we have a niece that I am paying for with an agreement that she is the babysitter when needed.

[Sweetness22]

I have a "hidden gem" room and wouldn't dare changing it!! [emoji5]!! That room is a steal and I'm too excited about the view. I'll just lay in bed and watch the view! Thanks for all the responses. Another question, is there DVD players in the rooms?!

 

 

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[insidethepocket]

On my last cruise my son was 17 months old. We never ordered milk from room service, instead I brought that powdered toddler milk (similar to formula). It was easy and worked well for us. He slept in a crib provided by Carnival and we used magnetic hooks to hang up a shower curtain. No pools or waterworks since he wasn't potty trained. And no camp carnival except for like 2 hours on sea days before the camp opened (you pay for that). Getting a high chair in the MDR was never an issue, but it was hard for him to sit through dinner. I never brought a blow up tub. I just sat him down in the shower and hosed him off.

[chengkp75]

Well you are in luck with Freedom, we chose the same ship for our cruise in Oct. They have a kids area for the little ones and it has a little pool and playground. And they do offer night owls for extra cost. We got a pack N play for daughter and she didn't have any issues. There is plenty to entertain, heck just pushing them in the stroller will probably excite them. We were able to keep our stroller outside our room without any issues and it was a jogging stroller. We did have a tender port and they helped with the stroller and getting us on and off boat. It won't feel like a vacation for you probably because you have two little ones to take care of but they will be fine. We also didn't have any trouble with sea sickness either. Your cabin Stewart should help in area to make your experience the best and they will probably have more suggestions if needed. As for the soap. I brought my own including Clorox wipes and lysol. I have heard of a portable bathtub to. It's easier for sure. Also i brought plenty of different meds jist incase. Enjoy

 

No Carnival ship has a pool or splash area for children in swim diapers. The only ships afloat that do are Disney, and the RCI Freedom and Oasis classes.

[john91498]

Took our 2 and 4 year old on a cruise 2 years ago. Only tip I can give you is do the vacation on their time.

Oh, and get light weight strollers. They fit just fine under the bed.

[crusinpsychRN]

If you are on Lido and don't see milk after breakfast just ask someone and they will get it for you.

[Muumuu]

You can get milk 24/7 on Lido deck at buffet area. If late just ask as someone is there all the time. Sometimes we have has to call out as they were in the back.

I have never found the room fridge cold enough for milk. It often almost has the start of a sour taste to it. Think I read that they are basically for soda and liquor.

We put our milk in an ice bucket

If you need warmed milk we go to the coffee speciality area (the pay for it one) and they have always been very accommodating. But the carton must be still sealed. They need to open it.