Cruising HAL with a 16 month old, our experience and the baby gear we used

[fatcat04]

We just got back 2 weeks ago from cruising HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam with our 16 month old daughter. She is a very active toddler, about 27lbs of joyful, giggly, exuberance actually. All in all this was a fantastic cruise.

 

Our daughter was pretty much a rock star. The crew were so nice to her and everyone knew her name by the end of the cruise. They were really so accommodating as well. The other cruisers were everywhere from tolerant to down right enthusiastic. We heard no negativity, not that we care. We had many grannies and grampies admiring her and talking to her which she ate up with a knife and spoon. There were maybe 6 other baby-preschoolers onboard and probably 30+ older kids.

 

We did do early MDR dinner at a table just for our family of 6 and that helped as her milk and fruit were there asap every meal. The kid's menu was very kid friendly. She loved the mac n cheese... tbh, it was really good. And ice cream every night.. what's not to like?

 

It was a different cruise experience than the ones we have had before with our son who started cruising when he was 4 or 5 and went to the kid's club and then eventually was able to do his own thing as an older teen. But still it was one I would do again in a heartbeat. In fact we are booked on the same ship next year we loved it so much. Since we were with 2 grandmas we did get one date night out of the 7 nights but otherwise, she was with us constantly and one of us was on the balcony with the baby monitor while she napped. We were up early most days, like 6 am. Little kid's body clocks get off when you travel across time zones BUT most nights we were in bed by 10pm and she slept well only waking briefly here and there. She played on our balconies a lot and loved it!! We had three cabins in a row and the balconies connected.

 

Some notes on gear:

Stroller: Our Graco Breaze worked great.  It fit through the regular size cabin door on our deck 4 verandah cabin with sleeping baby still inside. It went easily everywhere you could go without having to navigate stairs, into the MDR, the Lido, the Tamarind, all through the public areas of the ship. It folded up tidily and fit snugly between the window and the sofa in our cabin. We took it with us all over San Juan and Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. It's a super duper umbrella style stroller and has proven to be a great cruising stroller with plenty of storage under the seat and sturdy enough to hang a couple of shopping bags off the handles too. She slept in it like a champ too as the seat folds almost flat.

 

Crib: Ship provided Graco Pack n Play. Standard pack n play size. Fit in our cabin very well and left plenty of room for us to access the balcony door, half the sofa, the whole desk area. We just left it up all the time. I did bring 2 pack n play sheets from home as they do not provide them. We had unlimited laundry so I just sent them off as needed and they came back great.

 

High chair: The high chairs in the MDR, lido, and Tamarind all give you option to add the detachable tray which made it much more like the home high chair we have and probably saved a few table cloths from needing to be thrown away. Very sturdy and comfortable. 

 

Bottle washer: We brought along the Boon Trip Travel Drying Rack and it worked great and fit perfectly on the side of our cabin bath sink. We kept clean bottles/sippies and bibs on one of the glass shelves in the bathroom and then kept the bottle drying rack out at all times to keep everything tidy. We bought a small thing of dish soap along with diapers/wipes/baby shampoo at Publix in Ft Lauderdale before the cruise.

 

Tub: Thankfully on this ship and many HAL ships most of the cabins (unless otherwise noted) have tubs so baby girl had a marvelous time splashing away and getting clean after sandy beach days. We brought a few tub toys as well.

 

Carseat: Evenflo Tribute LX Convertible Car Seat, pretty bare bones but did the job and is light. It fit easily into the bottom of one of the cabin closets as well. We used it on the plane rides and in taxi vans in Ft Lauderdale and St Thomas. Next time we will get a backpack bag for it to make carrying it easier.

 

Hope all this info helps out.

Edited February 21, 2019 by fatcat04

[Itchy&Scratchy]

thank you, that's a fantastic review!

And what a beautiful child!

Edited February 22, 2019 by Itchy&Scratchy

[sgermic]

Thank you for your info! It will be helpful for us when we sail with our 18 month old.

[fatcat04]

Thanks!!

Something else we took and actually didn't even know existed until this trip was Pedialyte Powder packs. Threw those in our emergency medicine bag just in case. I didn't know if the ship's doctor would have Pedialyte and this is a light weight solution compared to the ready made liquid. Thankfully didn't need it. 

[shudie]

Great review and cute kid :)

 

"Tub: Thankfully on this ship and many HAL ships most of the cabins (unless otherwise noted) have tubs so baby girl had a marvelous time splashing away and getting clean after sandy beach days. We brought a few tub toys as well."

 

Yay - one of the biggest selling points for me is the bath. Is it good enough for adults re size?

[fatcat04]

17 minutes ago, shudie said:

Great review and cute kid 🙂

 

"Tub: Thankfully on this ship and many HAL ships most of the cabins (unless otherwise noted) have tubs so baby girl had a marvelous time splashing away and getting clean after sandy beach days. We brought a few tub toys as well."

 

Yay - one of the biggest selling points for me is the bath. Is it good enough for adults re size?

We were in a VC Verandah on deck 4 on Nieuw Amsterdam (same bath size as Eurodam and all the Vista Class ships). Yes. Baby girl loved the tub for splashing and playing. I (mom) mostly took showers BUT got into the tub on HMC day to get all the sand off. Can't really lay back but plenty big to sit in, have a few bubbles, and get good and clean.

Edited March 8, 2019 by fatcat04

[shudie]

5 minutes ago, fatcat04 said:

We were in a VC Verandah on deck 4 on Nieuw Amsterdam (same bath size as Eurodam and all the Vista Class ships). Yes. Baby girl loved the tub for splashing and playing. I (mom) mostly took showers BUT got into the tub on HMC day to get all the sand off. Can't really lay back but plenty big to sit in, have a few bubbles, and get good and clean.

 

OK great - we are on Zuiderdam VB Balcony. I must admit, I would struggle being 6 weeks away from home without a bath - one of my daily pleasures (even if it is small!)

[fatcat04]

I didn't get a good pic of the bathtub but here are some pics of the cabin. It was a quad though we didn't use the sofa bed or over the main bed bunk bed.

[fatcat04]

5 minutes ago, shudie said:

 

OK great - we are on Zuiderdam VB Balcony. I must admit, I would struggle being 6 weeks away from home without a bath - one of my daily pleasures (even if it is small!)

Me too. I love a good bath. The "Sharp Shower Gel" they have in the dispenser bottle works for a kind of bubble bath and smells lovely btw.

[shudie]

Is that a Pullman bed above the main bed? I think this is similar to what our cabin will be, I think one kid will be on sofa and one on Pullman?!

[fatcat04]

40 minutes ago, shudie said:

Is that a Pullman bed above the main bed? I think this is similar to what our cabin will be, I think one kid will be on sofa and one on Pullman?!

Yes. The sofa makes a twin/single bed and there is a pullman bed above the king bed.

[shudie]

47 minutes ago, fatcat04 said:

Yes. The sofa makes a twin/single bed and there is a pullman bed above the king bed.

 

Would prefer Pullman over the sofa. ours still go to bed quite early - would be nice to have that separation considering our cruise is 29 days. I wonder if anyone else reading has feedback on this?

[Bupperd00dle]

On 2/21/2019 at 3:02 PM, fatcat04 said:

We did do early MDR dinner at a table just for our family of 6 and that helped as her milk and fruit were there asap every meal. The kid's menu was very kid friendly. She loved the mac n cheese... tbh, it was really good. And ice cream every night.. what's not to like?

 

Some notes on gear:

Stroller: Our Graco Breaze worked great.  It fit through the regular size cabin door on our deck 4 verandah cabin with sleeping baby still inside. It went easily everywhere you could go without having to navigate stairs, into the MDR, the Lido, the Tamarind, all through the public areas of the ship. It folded up tidily and fit snugly between the window and the sofa in our cabin. We took it with us all over San Juan and Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. It's a super duper umbrella style stroller and has proven to be a great cruising stroller with plenty of storage under the seat and sturdy enough to hang a couple of shopping bags off the handles too. She slept in it like a champ too as the seat folds almost flat.

 

Crib: Ship provided Graco Pack n Play. Standard pack n play size. Fit in our cabin very well and left plenty of room for us to access the balcony door, half the sofa, the whole desk area. We just left it up all the time. I did bring 2 pack n play sheets from home as they do not provide them. We had unlimited laundry so I just sent them off as needed and they came back great.

 

High chair: The high chairs in the MDR, lido, and Tamarind all give you option to add the detachable tray which made it much more like the home high chair we have and probably saved a few table cloths from needing to be thrown away. Very sturdy and comfortable. 

 

Bottle washer: We brought along the Boon Trip Travel Drying Rack and it worked great and fit perfectly on the side of our cabin bath sink. We kept clean bottles/sippies and bibs on one of the glass shelves in the bathroom and then kept the bottle drying rack out at all times to keep everything tidy. We bought a small thing of dish soap along with diapers/wipes/baby shampoo at Publix in Ft Lauderdale before the cruise.

 

Tub: Thankfully on this ship and many HAL ships most of the cabins (unless otherwise noted) have tubs so baby girl had a marvelous time splashing away and getting clean after sandy beach days. We brought a few tub toys as well.

 

Hope all this info helps out.

 

Hi fatcat04! Thank you so much for this post!!!

 

Hubby and I are bringing our 10.5 month old on an Alaskan cruise in 3 weeks and your post clarified so much for me. Glad to hear they have such great high chairs with trays - I was concerned myself that some table cloths would be lost forever. 😂 I also looked into the Graco Breaze you posted about and it pairs with our car seat so I'm picking up a used one I found this weekend and it will work great. Also appreciative of the pack-n-play pics in the room; we have a verandah also so this puts our expectations into perspective a bit more. And I'm ecstatic to see there is a tub 🙌 and I will definitely be picking up one of those bottle racks and bringing our own pack-n-play sheets with. Couple mom-to-mom questions for you:

 

- Did you primarily stroller or carry your LO around the ship? Saw you said it navigated well in the MDR, Tamarind, etc. Did you just bring them in it and fold it up and slide it under the table for dinner or something?

- Were there any open spaces, besides your verandah, that you found that were convenient to give your LO space to walk around to burn energy?

- Do you remember how much light the verandah curtains let in when their closed? Our LO loves cave-like sleeping conditions, so I'm curious... 😊

 

We have an extremely happy, go-with-the-flow baby girl so I'm not too worried. 😄 Thanks again for the info!!!

[fatcat04]

3 hours ago, Bupperd00dle said:

 

Hi fatcat04! Thank you so much for this post!!!

 

Hubby and I are bringing our 10.5 month old on an Alaskan cruise in 3 weeks and your post clarified so much for me. Glad to hear they have such great high chairs with trays - I was concerned myself that some table cloths would be lost forever. 😂 I also looked into the Graco Breaze you posted about and it pairs with our car seat so I'm picking up a used one I found this weekend and it will work great. Also appreciative of the pack-n-play pics in the room; we have a verandah also so this puts our expectations into perspective a bit more. And I'm ecstatic to see there is a tub 🙌 and I will definitely be picking up one of those bottle racks and bringing our own pack-n-play sheets with. Couple mom-to-mom questions for you:

 

- Did you primarily stroller or carry your LO around the ship? Saw you said it navigated well in the MDR, Tamarind, etc. Did you just bring them in it and fold it up and slide it under the table for dinner or something?

- Were there any open spaces, besides your verandah, that you found that were convenient to give your LO space to walk around to burn energy?

- Do you remember how much light the verandah curtains let in when their closed? Our LO loves cave-like sleeping conditions, so I'm curious... 😊

 

We have an extremely happy, go-with-the-flow baby girl so I'm not too worried. 😄 Thanks again for the info!!!

No problem, glad to help.

 

We strolled her all over, even into BB Kings! She just loved riding. And yes, we just drove her in, then folded it up and it could be propped up and stashed out of the way. She actually slept through half of Tamarind and the staff just made room for the whole stroller at our table.

If you had a forward facing carrier, that would work great too for just walking around and enjoying the sights. 

 

We utilized the nearly empty lower deck lounge spaces in the day time for just letting her run. Those bars are not open so no passengers are there unless they want quiet. Then we would just find another location. Plenty of room. 

 

We used the table and the throw pillows to completely block the light out. The curtains do well but there are always those pesky cracks where light pokes through so we just learned how to overlap and scotch everything up tight. 

 

Enjoy your baby girl and your cruise!!

 

[chinita415]

 

3 hours ago, Bupperd00dle said:

 

Hi fatcat04! Thank you so much for this post!!!

 

Hubby and I are bringing our 10.5 month old on an Alaskan cruise in 3 weeks and your post clarified so much for me. Glad to hear they have such great high chairs with trays - I was concerned myself that some table cloths would be lost forever. 😂 I also looked into the Graco Breaze you posted about and it pairs with our car seat so I'm picking up a used one I found this weekend and it will work great. Also appreciative of the pack-n-play pics in the room; we have a verandah also so this puts our expectations into perspective a bit more. And I'm ecstatic to see there is a tub 🙌 and I will definitely be picking up one of those bottle racks and bringing our own pack-n-play sheets with. Couple mom-to-mom questions for you:

 

- Did you primarily stroller or carry your LO around the ship? Saw you said it navigated well in the MDR, Tamarind, etc. Did you just bring them in it and fold it up and slide it under the table for dinner or something?

- Were there any open spaces, besides your verandah, that you found that were convenient to give your LO space to walk around to burn energy?

- Do you remember how much light the verandah curtains let in when their closed? Our LO loves cave-like sleeping conditions, so I'm curious... 😊

 

We have an extremely happy, go-with-the-flow baby girl so I'm not too worried. 😄 Thanks again for the info!!!

 

I am not the OP but we have cruised with baby girl twice already. Once to Cuba when she was 8.5 months and again recently to Mexican Riviera when she is now 16 months. Quite a difference. 

 

At 8.5 months, she was not walking yet so we wore her all over the place so it was much easier to navigate the ships walking up and down the stairs. At dinner times in the MDR, she was happy and content sitting there the entire meal. She ate off the regular menu - soups mostly - and was still nursing.

 

At 16 months, she is a toddler and wants to walk everywhere. We had to use the stroller to keep her contained. We also had one grandma who uses a wheelchair. Getting around the ship involved long waits at the elevator. She no longer can sit through meals so one of us has to walk around with her to keep her entertained.  But there were a few dinners that she was so tired she passed out cold after the bread course so she slept in stroller and I slid her slightly under the table which kept her out of the way. 

 

I say at 10.5 months if she is not that heavy, try to wear her as much as possible. We traveled with our girl a lot in her first year (Hawaii, Japan, Florida, Cuba) and wearing her was great. I wish I can do that still but she has outgrown it. 

 

I splurged on the GB Pockit Plus stroller for this recent trip and it was definitely worth it to be able to keep it on the plane overhead and fold down to keep under table at the buffet and MDR if needed. 

 

As for bathing and showering, we never had a tub but managed in the shower both cruises but that is not an issue for you.

 

Have fun in Alaska! I am hoping to go back soon with baby girl and cousins. 

Edited April 25, 2019 by chinita415

[Bupperd00dle]

17 hours ago, chinita415 said:

 

 

I am not the OP but we have cruised with baby girl twice already. Once to Cuba when she was 8.5 months and again recently to Mexican Riviera when she is now 16 months. Quite a difference. 

 

At 8.5 months, she was not walking yet so we wore her all over the place so it was much easier to navigate the ships walking up and down the stairs. At dinner times in the MDR, she was happy and content sitting there the entire meal. She ate off the regular menu - soups mostly - and was still nursing.

 

At 16 months, she is a toddler and wants to walk everywhere. We had to use the stroller to keep her contained. We also had one grandma who uses a wheelchair. Getting around the ship involved long waits at the elevator. She no longer can sit through meals so one of us has to walk around with her to keep her entertained.  But there were a few dinners that she was so tired she passed out cold after the bread course so she slept in stroller and I slid her slightly under the table which kept her out of the way. 

 

I say at 10.5 months if she is not that heavy, try to wear her as much as possible. We traveled with our girl a lot in her first year (Hawaii, Japan, Florida, Cuba) and wearing her was great. I wish I can do that still but she has outgrown it. 

 

I splurged on the GB Pockit Plus stroller for this recent trip and it was definitely worth it to be able to keep it on the plane overhead and fold down to keep under table at the buffet and MDR if needed. 

 

As for bathing and showering, we never had a tub but managed in the shower both cruises but that is not an issue for you.

 

Have fun in Alaska! I am hoping to go back soon with baby girl and cousins. 

 

Chinita415, thanks for the additional info! Everything is helpful, really. 

 

18 hours ago, fatcat04 said:

No problem, glad to help.

 

We strolled her all over, even into BB Kings! She just loved riding. And yes, we just drove her in, then folded it up and it could be propped up and stashed out of the way. She actually slept through half of Tamarind and the staff just made room for the whole stroller at our table.

If you had a forward facing carrier, that would work great too for just walking around and enjoying the sights. 

 

We utilized the nearly empty lower deck lounge spaces in the day time for just letting her run. Those bars are not open so no passengers are there unless they want quiet. Then we would just find another location. Plenty of room. 

 

We used the table and the throw pillows to completely block the light out. The curtains do well but there are always those pesky cracks where light pokes through so we just learned how to overlap and scotch everything up tight. 

 

Enjoy your baby girl and your cruise!!

 

  

Additional thanks for those clarifications! At this rate, it looks like we will have a little cruiser on our hands come cruise time so we'll see what we end up doing and might play it by ear 😄

[fatcat04]

We will be back on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam in less than a month with our then 27 month old daughter so if anyone has any questions, feel free to post them and I will do my best to get the answers. 

[SuzieQ521]

On 12/10/2019 at 6:50 AM, fatcat04 said:

We will be back on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam in less than a month with our then 27 month old daughter so if anyone has any questions, feel free to post them and I will do my best to get the answers. 

Thanks so much for all your information. Sailing for the first time with our son, also our first time on Holland, on Oosterdam in June to Alaska. Balcony room. He will be 22 months then.

 

1,  Not sure about your ship, but the oosterdam has a curtain separating the bed and the sitting area... do you think if we move that little table there , is that sufficient room for the pack and play there as we will definitely need some kind of separator for our son to sleep best.

 

2, do you need any type of cushion for the pack and play or did they give you something? When I have used it before, I had a mattress but we are not going to travel with a mattress! 

 

3, My son is already pretty big for the pack and play but I guess that’s our only choice...how did your daughter find it this time?

 

4, what kind of activities did you guys do with her during the day on Sea days?

 

5, was is the dining room generally accommodating with a toddler?

 

6, how did you find embarking and disembarking with the stroller? Did you stand in any special line?

 

7, did you bring your own cars seat ? Ours is so big, it’s going to be a pain to carry on the plane and then keep it in our room so I’m wondering if I could find a travel version.

 

 

Thanks! 

Edited January 30, 2020 by SuzieQ521

[fatcat04]

2 hours ago, SuzieQ521 said:

Thanks so much for all your information. Sailing for the first time with our son, also our first time on Holland, on Oosterdam in June to Alaska. Balcony room. He will be 22 months then.

 

1,  Not sure about your ship, but the oosterdam has a curtain separating the bed and the sitting area... do you think if we move that little table there , is that sufficient room for the pack and play there as we will definitely need some kind of separator for our son to sleep best.

 

2, do you need any type of cushion for the pack and play or did they give you something? When I have used it before, I had a mattress but we are not going to travel with a mattress! 

 

3, My son is already pretty big for the pack and play but I guess that’s our only choice...how did your daughter find it this time?

 

4, what kind of activities did you guys do with her during the day on Sea days?

 

5, was is the dining room generally accommodating with a toddler?

 

6, how did you find embarking and disembarking with the stroller? Did you stand in any special line?

 

7, did you bring your own cars seat ? Ours is so big, it’s going to be a pain to carry on the plane and then keep it in our room so I’m wondering if I could find a travel version.

 

 

Thanks! 

 

I'll do my best.

1. We have not been on the Oosterdam but have been on the 3 other Vista class ships and I think the only actual room separating curtain is between the closet hallway and the main part of the room. The little decorative curtain next to the bed is tiny. If you need to create a separate space between the sofa and bed areas, you might try using the rare earth magnet hooks hung from the ceiling and a dark shower curtain or 2. This thread below with pictures will give you an idea of what I am talking about. Also, let me recommend a travel white noise machine. We got one for dd and loved it so much while she was in our hotel room and then cruise ship cabin that we got one for our bedroom at home.

Take the rectangle coffee table in the cabin can be put out on the balcony and used out there or you can ask the steward to remove it.

2. It is a standard pack n play. We have a padded water proof cover for the pack n play bottom so we take that. The stewards will put sheets and blankets in the bottom as well but you could always bring a padded sheet too. Works great.

 

3. She did great in the pack n play and she is a tall girl. The first night is always kinda rough but after that she slept at night and even napped during the day well.

 

4. Sea days mostly found us outside on the balcony or strolling all over the ship, stopping now and then for a snack or to look out the window. She really loved just sitting up in the huge deep windows on the lower decks and enjoying watching the waves.  Plus, there are fresh cookies most times from lunch on in the Lido. Cookie runs were common.

 

5. MDR was great. The staff are really wonderful, very accommodating. We always choose Early Fixed Dining if we can so we have the same waitstaff every night and the high chair and even her juice or milk are already there waiting. Take a pic of the kid's menu on your phone the first night so you always have it and can order immediately when you sit so they can get his food out a bit ahead of your own. I added the menu we had this last cruise on NA to this post. You can see the high chair they use at the top of this thread. I also usually brought some snackish thing for dd with me just in case (the boxes of cereal from breakfast came in handy, I usually always had a couple extras in the cabin) it took longer than she was willing to wait. Also, you can get any soup, appetizer or dessert off the adult menu and they have half orders of almost every entree too if something on there sounds good.

 

6. Embarkation has been a breeze twice now with her. Really no different than without a toddler in a stroller.  Assuming your stroller is a moderate size, you should have no problem. Disembarkation... we always get a stevedore for the luggage, always. This last time at Port Everglades we got off the ship, found a stevedore, he got our luggage, and we were through customs in 15 mins and then off to our HAL transfer bus. It was effortless. 

 

7.Yes, we too have a HUGE regular car seat but also got a travel car seat for our second car. It is the Evenflo Tribute LX Convertible Car Seat, very bare bones but works and is light. We got a little carry case with shoulder straps for it.

 

Make sure to get the laundry package on the ship $7 per day unlimited laundry. Best deal ever.

 

Hope this helps. If you have any more questions just post them. 🙂

 

 

 

[SuzieQ521]

Thanks again!
 

Yes, I likely will have to save some space in the luggage for some type of shower curtain as we definitely need a separation. There does not seem to be much space to put the pack and play other than near the couch area.
 

Thanks for the car seat suggestion. I may have more questions as our cruise nears😊.

 

 

thanks again!

[fatcat04]

Just now, SuzieQ521 said:

Thanks again!
 

Yes, I likely will have to save some space in the luggage for some type of shower curtain as we definitely need a separation. There does not seem to be much space to put the pack and play other than near the couch area.
 

Thanks for the car seat suggestion. I may have more questions as our cruise nears😊.

 

 

thanks again!

Yeah the pack n play only really fits near the couch but the space was plenty big. We just had them leave it up the whole cruise too as we could easily still use half the couch with it up and access the whole desk area and the fridge. I had been worried about that before the first cruise with our dd but it really was all fine and moving that coffee table out to the balcony made it even better. Those tables are heavy as lead but I guess they needs to be. It was our al fresco breakfast table many mornings. 😀

[fatcat04]

Here are a few snaps. She loved sitting up in those deep set windows on deck 2 and 3 both in port and watching the "boats!" or while moving and enjoying the waves and sea spray. Next is the sea thru balcony. She loved to have her fruit and yogurt out there in her jammies. You can see her in the pack n play all curled up but she also would stretch out some too. Not as comfy as home but then, not much is at that age. The first night she fell asleep in our bed and I moved her to the pack n play but every night after that she curled up and was out quick. She sleeps well on the ocean.. so do I 😀

Edited January 31, 2020 by fatcat04

[phabric]

I noticed your Boom Trip Travel Drying was in a case.  I saw the green part on Amazon, it didn’t look like a case was included.

 

Did yours come in a case, or was the case bought separate?

 

Your tips were very helpful.  We will be on a different cruise line.

Edited April 8, 2020 by phabric

[fatcat04]

2 hours ago, phabric said:

I noticed your Boom Trip Travel Drying was in a case.  I saw the green part on Amazon, it didn’t look like a case was included.

 

Did yours come in a case, or was the case bought separate?

 

Your tips were very helpful.  We will be on a different cruise line.

It came in the case. Very handy. Now that our dd has moved on to sippies we still use it. It's been to Disney a couple times and on two cruises. Also great for trips to grandmoms.