Cruising with a baby - any advice?

[kaycee19]

Hi all!

 

We are considering taking a Mediterranean cruise next year on Freedom of the Seas with our DD, she will be 11 months old at the time of the cruise. This will be a totally new experience for us travelling with a baby, and at this stage I am torn in two between leaving her at home, or taking her with. So any advice / reviews from anyone who has travelled with a baby would be greatly appreciated!

 

I have a couple of questions:

1) How important is cabin location? Will it be better to book mid-ship for stability? Or does it not really make a difference?

 

2) Has anyone had experience with their kids becoming sea-sick - what do you do then??

 

3) Can I take baby-food on board? I know you can pre-order Gerber babyfood / Huggies nappies ahead of time, does any one have an idea what it costs? What if I order this and DD doesn't want to eat it.... can they prepare steamed / mashed veggies in the dining room for her?

Does the dining room offer high-chairs or something similar, or will she have to sit on one of our laps?

 

4) Is the tap-water safe to use for mixing with her formula? Or should I rather consider bottled water?

 

5) Is there a baby pool for non-potty trained kids on Freedom? Provided they wear swimming diapers of course:D!

 

6) Can you pre-order a pack-and-play online or does it work on a first-come-first-serve basis once onboard? Can you keep it in your cabin for the whole cruise? Will DD be able to sleep in it?

 

7) What was your experience with the nursery? Can you reserve timeslots online or do you have to reserve on embarkation. How busy are they, do you get space easily?

 

8) Will DD be able to go on selected shore excursions, or are there age-limits on all of them? What happens if you are on a shore excursion and DD is unhappy at the nursery?

 

9) Do we have to take her carseat with us? If we don't, will we be able to find transportation that provides car seats or transportation that you won't need a carseat? I feel quite dumb, but I don't know if you require carseats on busses / minivans ect? :o I'm just trying to establish how difficult it will be to 'wing it' on your own if we cannot take her on the ship's shore excursions....

 

10) Will she be allowed to attend some of the shows onboard?

 

11) And then lastly - to all the non-kids travellers: How annoyed are you when people take their babies with on vacation? Does a crying / difficult baby bother you? I don't want to inconvenience other cruisers unnecessarily....

 

This is it for now, thanx in advance for your suggestions and sharing of any experiences you may have had with your little bundles of joy:)

[Clarea]

Can help with a couple pf questions:

 

There is a kiddle splash pool for children in swim diapers.

 

No restrictions on taking children to shows.

[cb at sea]

Most kids under "toddler" age don't mind some motion...so ask your pediatrician what to do IF your baby gets sick...but it's unlikely to happen.

 

You can take food, but at almost 1 year, most kids are eating table foods, mashed...plenty of mashable stuff on the ship!

 

NO ONE in diapers are allowed in pools....only in the designated "splash" area.

 

The tap water on the ship is fine...the food, beverages and ice are made with the same water!

 

Some excursions do have age limits....just depends on what it is! A guidebook may allow you to do things on your own...knowing something about the ports will really be a god-send! If you do a ship's excursion, you'll be on a bus, so no car seat is needed.

 

A cruise is a vacation....FAMILIES vacation together! Don't be dissuaded from bringing your family on vacation! Just like anywhere, if baby is fussy, remove them from the area!

 

Make sure you bring ALL pediatric medications you MIGHT need...the ship doesn't sell any. A blow up tub is useful for bathing a child in a shower!!!

[2chiefs]

Most kids under "toddler" age don't mind some motion...so ask your pediatrician what to do IF your baby gets sick...but it's unlikely to happen.

 

You can take food, but at almost 1 year, most kids are eating table foods, mashed...plenty of mashable stuff on the ship!

 

NO ONE in diapers are allowed in pools....only in the designated "splash" area.

 

The tap water on the ship is fine...the food, beverages and ice are made with the same water!

 

Some excursions do have age limits....just depends on what it is! A guidebook may allow you to do things on your own...knowing something about the ports will really be a god-send! If you do a ship's excursion, you'll be on a bus, so no car seat is needed.

 

A cruise is a vacation....FAMILIES vacation together! Don't be dissuaded from bringing your family on vacation! Just like anywhere, if baby is fussy, remove them from the area!

 

Make sure you bring ALL pediatric medications you MIGHT need...the ship doesn't sell any. A blow up tub is useful for bathing a child in a shower!!!

 

A blow up tub in a cruise ship shower?

Really?

I've only cruised in Junior suites and lower so I can't speak for Suite showers but there certainly is no room for a blow up tub anywhere in the bathrooms below the suite level.

[bertrande]

My two children first sailed at 9 and 7 months respectively and have since taken quite a few. Will try to answer as I can.

 

1) How important is cabin location? Will it be better to book mid-ship for stability? Or does it not really make a difference?

 

For us, it hasn't made a difference, but that could be because we haven't come across any really rough seas.

 

2) Has anyone had experience with their kids becoming sea-sick - what do you do then??

 

No but we did bring sea-sick bands just in case.

 

3) Can I take baby-food on board? I know you can pre-order Gerber babyfood / Huggies nappies ahead of time, does any one have an idea what it costs? What if I order this and DD doesn't want to eat it.... can they prepare steamed / mashed veggies in the dining room for her?

Does the dining room offer high-chairs or something similar, or will she have to sit on one of our laps?

 

We brought pouch food on board. The MDR was also always very accommodating. On one cruise, they prepared mashed peas every night for us (steamed without salt or other seasoning). On another cruise, we requested for boiled carrots and that was also provided with no problem. We then added these vegs to rice/congee. Speak to your waiter or maitre-d once you board; they are generally very experienced (or we've been very blessed!). No problem with high chairs either. We requested the first night and subsequently, a high-chair was there every time we arrived at the table.

 

4) Is the tap-water safe to use for mixing with her formula? Or should I rather consider bottled water?

 

I think I boiled the tap water but I can't remember now, and it was when the children were older. They were each still exclusively on breastmilk when they went on their first cruise.

 

5) Is there a baby pool for non-potty trained kids on Freedom? Provided they wear swimming diapers of course:D!

 

As above, not allowed unless they are potty trained.

 

6) Can you pre-order a pack-and-play online or does it work on a first-come-first-serve basis once onboard? Can you keep it in your cabin for the whole cruise? Will DD be able to sleep in it?

 

We have done both. Pre-order I think via special needs e-mail. No problem getting one when we were onboard as well. Yes, it was in our cabin for the whole cruise. My LOs couldn't sleep well in it as the bedding was quite basic and didn't provide enough support but it was a great place to put them there with the toys for a bit.

 

7) What was your experience with the nursery? Can you reserve timeslots online or do you have to reserve on embarkation. How busy are they, do you get space easily?

 

If you are referring to paid baby sitting services, we didn't use them. A lot of activities for children that age are parent-accompanied. I never thought them to be overly busy. We used the rent-a-bag-of-toys service a lot, returning and getting a new bag every couple of days.

 

8) Will DD be able to go on selected shore excursions, or are there age-limits on all of them? What happens if you are on a shore excursion and DD is unhappy at the nursery?

 

My LOs did go with us on some shore excursions - check individual excursions for age limits. Have never utilised the paid baby-sitting services so can't help there.

 

9) Do we have to take her carseat with us? If we don't, will we be able to find transportation that provides car seats or transportation that you won't need a carseat? I feel quite dumb, but I don't know if you require carseats on busses / minivans ect? :o I'm just trying to establish how difficult it will be to 'wing it' on your own if we cannot take her on the ship's shore excursions....

 

On private excursions, the vehicles have always been equipped with car seats. In a bus, none were provided.

 

10) Will she be allowed to attend some of the shows onboard?

 

There is no rule against it but you know your child. If they are going to fuss, then best not to because it will affect the enjoyment of the shows for the rest of the passengers. Our babies have (thankfully!!) been rather engaged and placid during shows so we have brought them along to the ice show, the musicals and even the nightly shows. We always get annoyed looks from other cruisers BEFORE the show starts but there have been a few occasions when some of them have come up after the show to compliment the babies' behaviour.

 

11) And then lastly - to all the non-kids travellers: How annoyed are you when people take their babies with on vacation? Does a crying / difficult baby bother you? I don't want to inconvenience other cruisers unnecessarily....

 

Not for me to respond as I obviously don't fall into this category!

 

Have fun cruising. :)

[Clarea]

...

5) Is there a baby pool for non-potty trained kids on Freedom? Provided they wear swimming diapers of course:D!

 

As above, not allowed unless they are potty trained. ...

Freedom has a kiddle splash pool for children that are not potty trained, as long as they are in swim diapers.

[chemmo]

Not attempting to answer all questions just a few observations....

 

If you travel with friends who also have little ones you can all enjoy family time but share child care enough for some quality down time, couples time....

 

If you travel with grandparents you can all get quality extended family time and make many happy memories as a full group but also still manage some real couple time...

 

Just a thought as an alternative to taking her with you, leaving her behind...a little shared care gives everyone the best of both worlds!

[bertrande]

Freedom has a kiddle splash pool for children that are not potty trained, as long as they are in swim diapers.

 

Oops missed that. Thanks Bob!

[MrYellowDuck]

Our eldest has cruised from age two and our youngest from age under one. We've had no difficulties. We did need to take an entire suitcase of disposable diapers on one itinerary where it seemed unlikely it would be easy to restock - this is one thing to think about. The other thing to think about is the need to do laundry - since there is no guest laundry you'll be paying for this to happen.

 

The tap water on a ship is as good as or better than bottled water. The water you get at the dinner table and the water used to cook all of the food is the same water as in your cabin. It is warm out of the tap and so it won't necessarily taste great to someone used to cool or chilled water.

 

We were Princess cruisers at the time and they had portable cots available. This did take up a big proportion of the spare space in the cabin though. This sorted the sleeping location for the baby.

 

At eleven months your baby will be on solids at least partly - this is good because meal times on a cruise are a breeze since the staff will fall over backwards to help.

 

I'd not hesitate to take your baby with you - everyone will have a great time.

[Big_G]

My son cruised with his 14 month old. They booked a junior suite and it was the perfect size. They put the pack n play in the corner behind the chair and clipped extra towels around the sides. It allowed them to move around the cabin and in and out on the balcony without disturbing naps.

[spookwife]

Hi all!

 

I have a couple of questions:

1) How important is cabin location? Will it be better to book mid-ship for stability? Or does it not really make a difference? persoanl preference. lower decks mid ship have the least potential for severe movement, but overall, all decks and locations are fairly stable except maybe the furthest forward cabins on the top decks.

 

2) Has anyone had experience with their kids becoming sea-sick - what do you do then?? Green apples and Ginger. start the ginger tablets/candies a day or so before boarding. green apples are on board but they disappearFAST in rough weather.

 

3) Can I take baby-food on board? sure, but they will not heat it up for you, but might be okay with bringing you some hot water to submerge the jars in,.I know you can pre-order Gerber babyfood / Huggies nappies ahead of time, does any one have an idea what it costs? What if I order this and DD doesn't want to eat it.... can they prepare steamed / mashed veggies in the dining room for her? absolutely. in fact they will go over and above to provide toddler friendly options.

Does the dining room offer high-chairs or something similar, or will she have to sit on one of our laps? defientley HC are available. not sure about booster seats although I bet there are.

 

4) Is the tap-water safe to use for mixing with her formula? Or should I rather consider bottled water? perfectly safe.

 

5) Is there a baby pool for non-potty trained kids on Freedom? Provided they wear swimming diapers of course:D! not sure if there is a splash zone or not.

 

6) Can you pre-order a pack-and-play online or does it work on a first-come-first-serve basis once onboard? Can you keep it in your cabin for the whole cruise? Will DD be able to sleep in it? you must request it ahead of time to make sure enough are on board. if it is not inthecabin, just remind the steward. it will stay in the cabin at all times but be put away during the day. they are the standard size so an 11 mo old should be fine. bring your own sheets.

 

7) What was your experience with the nursery? Can you reserve timeslots online or do you have to reserve on embarkation. How busy are they, do you get space easily?

 

8) Will DD be able to go on selected shore excursions, or are there age-limits on all of them? What happens if you are on a shore excursion and DD is unhappy at the nursery? the excursions will be clearly labeled if there are age restrictions. I cannot imagine ever wanting o leave a child that young on board while I take an excursion as there is no way to contact you off the ship to speak of. at that age , most families choose to do simple things like beach days.

 

9) Do we have to take her carseat with us? If we don't, will we be able to find transportation that provides car seats or transportation that you won't need a carseat? I feel quite dumb, but I don't know if you require carseats on busses / minivans ect? :o I'm just trying to establish how difficult it will be to 'wing it' on your own if we cannot take her on the ship's shore excursions.... as a general rule there will be no car seats on any public transportation in ports.

 

10) Will she be allowed to attend some of the shows onboard? only one or two shows will be adult only, and those are late at night anyway. obviously she shoulder removed if she disturbs other guests.

 

11) And then lastly - to all the non-kids travellers: How annoyed are you when people take their babies with on vacation? Does a crying / difficult baby bother you? I don't want to inconvenience other cruisers unnecessarily.... I am one of those people that literally hates kids. and yes, any parent or adult who does not remove a child from the dining room once they get fussy irks me. same with shows. I avoid the pool areas simply because the sound of a child shrieking in happiness is beyond painful for my husband( he has had some ear surgeries and very sharp or high pitched noises cause him severe pain) I do expect quiet areas to remain quiet, and this includes lounges/bar areas where no music is being played or activities are being held.

 

This is it for now, thanx in advance for your suggestions and sharing of any experiences you may have had with your little bundles of joy:)

 

there should be open play times throughout the day where you can bring her down to play with the toys in the nursery, plus the option of borrowing a bag to bring to the cabin. bring EVERYTHING you think you need, and then some ,especially medicines. what little there is on board is stupidly overpriced.

 

the staff will very quickly learn her favorite snack items and will have them at the table before you order your appetizers. they will also expedite her meals so that you can feed her quickly( and before yours comes out so you aren;the anting cold food)

 

consider bringing a small blow up pool.. useful in the shower for bath time as well as on deck or on the balcony of your cabin.

[Grandma Dazzles]

OP - Many posters have answered some of your questions. A few comments - you are considering a European cruise - many of the rules regarding car seats for cabs, etc. may be different. Many posters are used to cruising the Caribbean where seat belts/car seats are not always enforced or used. Would check specifically your ports of call.

 

Unless you have a suite with a bath tub, the blow-up tub is a great idea for bathing.

 

Would highly recommend a stroller (push chair). Ships have a lot of walking! However, make sure it is not too big - hallways and spaces in restaurants, public areas, are tight.

 

You may find lots of information on the family board.

[SbbquilterUT]

In planning a Med cruise with a baby you might want to consider that it is a port intensive trip very different from Caribbean cruises. Often there is travel to the city, relatively rushed visit in the city and then a trip back to the port - is your

little one going to be happy being in a carrier/stroller most of the day? Personally I would save that trip until they were older or leave them with GP's if possible and enjoy time with your partner.

[kaycee19]

 

You can take food, but at almost 1 year, most kids are eating table foods, mashed...plenty of mashable stuff on the ship!

 

 

Thanks! First time mom here:o, so wasn't sure what they will or will not be eating around 1 year old...

[kaycee19]

No problem with high chairs either. We requested the first night and subsequently, a high-chair was there every time we arrived at the table.

Thank you, that is good to hear.

 

We used the rent-a-bag-of-toys service a lot, returning and getting a new bag every couple of days.

That sounds like an awesome service, I will definately make use of that! How exactly does it work?

...

[kaycee19]

If you travel with grandparents you can all get quality extended family time and make many happy memories as a full group but also still manage some real couple time...

 

I am considering taking grandparents with - I just need to convince hubby that a week long cruise with his in-laws will be fun:D.

[kaycee19]

 

At eleven months your baby will be on solids at least partly - this is good because meal times on a cruise are a breeze since the staff will fall over backwards to help.

 

I'd not hesitate to take your baby with you - everyone will have a great time.

Thank you! Glad to hear that!

[kaycee19]

11) And then lastly - to all the non-kids travellers: How annoyed are you when people take their babies with on vacation? Does a crying / difficult baby bother you? I don't want to inconvenience other cruisers unnecessarily.... I am one of those people that literally hates kids. and yes, any parent or adult who does not remove a child from the dining room once they get fussy irks me. same with shows. I avoid the pool areas simply because the sound of a child shrieking in happiness is beyond painful for my husband( he has had some ear surgeries and very sharp or high pitched noises cause him severe pain) I do expect quiet areas to remain quiet, and this includes lounges/bar areas where no music is being played or activities are being held.

Thank you, I will keep this in mind when LO gets fussy and remove her from the area. And I will definately not be one of those parents who take their kids into the quiet adult-only zones;)

[kaycee19]

In planning a Med cruise with a baby you might want to consider that it is a port intensive trip very different from Caribbean cruises. Often there is travel to the city, relatively rushed visit in the city and then a trip back to the port - is your

little one going to be happy being in a carrier/stroller most of the day? Personally I would save that trip until they were older or leave them with GP's if possible and enjoy time with your partner.

Thank you for mentioning this. I am a bit concerned about it being a very port-intensive trip. I would've loved to do a Caribbean cruise with a visit to Disney world, but we are from South Africa, and the flights to America are just way too expensive at this stage. And I also didn't want to take the chance on a 16-17 hour flight for DD's first time.... Europe is a bit closer;)

[kaycee19]

Thank you everyone for your comments so far!

I am enjoying reading all of your experiences!!

[chemmo]

I am considering taking grandparents with - I just need to convince hubby that a week long cruise with his in-laws will be fun:D.

 

Just remind him of a nice romantic meal or two and an odd afternoon poolside. Cruise ships can work really well for family holidays...

[johnritt]

I'd have hauled her along in a heartbeat. The reasons....

 

1. Their mother would have been miserable w/o her.

2. When their mother is miserable, I am miserable.

[Cel_cruise]

I have traveled with my kids as babies many times - not on a cruise but still lots of travel and trips to Disney.

 

My kids would have been fairly happy being in a stroller most of the time but we're also walking at that age so occasionally needed to run free (we had a tether for them!).

 

My kids were eating solid foods at 7 months old with the occasional pouch.. Bananas, ravioli, peas, sweet potatoes, cereal, pancakes were all staples. Frozen Mixed Veggies were also eaten in large quantities!! You will be able to get this type of food on the ship! We would suggest bringing snack foods - pouch applesauce, goldfish, teething crackers etc. I would be fine with the water for formula from the ship, but I might consider some liquid for excursion days. At 11 months old they are drinking less formula (more solids) so a little easier to go out for a few hours with just a sippy cup of water.

 

We would not leave our baby home. Too much work to set everything up for someone to take care of them and still have the worry while away. We have traveled alone and with grandparents and with friends and siblings. All have their pluses and minuses. My kids were both in daycare as infants and would have had no issue with a shipboard nursery or babysitter!! Having plenty of experience dropping off a clingy baby and knowing that 10 minutes later all is well and they don't miss me anymore - I would be able to enjoy time away from them while they were there!!

 

 

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[Doug S]

I love kids, but I usually feel sorry for parents of infants that I see around the ship. They are easily the least relaxed, most tired looking cruisers on board.

 

We started cruising with our boys when the youngest was about age 5 and felt it was a great age to start. Before that we did land based vacations like zoos, theme parks and such that we felt was much more suited to them and we could keep to their routines a little better. Would a young child rather see animals and ride kiddie rides, or stroll around a ship and see shows?

 

We did cruise a time or 2 when the kids were very young, but we dropped them off for the week with the GPs and they were spoiled and loved it. GPs wanted us to cruise more. We needed and really enjoyed a little adult time where we could focus on each other for a change.

 

I have seen young families traveling with GPs or other extended family and it seemed like the best of both worlds. Allows the parents to relax a bit, and the rest of the family gets lots of quality baby time.

[momoftheseas]

We have cruised with our children since they were 9 months and 6 months (they are now almost 6 and almost 2) we love it! I just wanted to chime in about two things. We never brought a blow up bath tub for either, we just got both of them used to the shower head at home. That way we didn't have to worry about the blow up tub taking up room in the cabin.

 

As far as the nursery, we love the nursery we take advantage of it almost every night of the cruise. And occasionally during they day. You sign up when you get onboard. You are allowed to book I believe it's 16 hours at the start of the cruise and then after I believe day 3 you can book as much as you want as long as there is availability.

 

We don't get out much at home so we normally feed our kids at the buffet, take them to the kids programs and then we have late seating dinner. So that we can catch up and have some adult conversations.

 

I will also say we have almost always had a good reception to our kids onboard, but like others have said we always try to be respectful to those around us and if one is having any issues we took them to a quiet place to calm down and then return to what we are doing.

 

If you leave the baby onboard in the nursery during an excursion, there will not be a way for them to get ahold of you. So it's up to you if you feel comfortable doing that. We have done it a few times but only when we would be gone from the ship for a few days and not an all day excursion.

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

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