first time cruising with a baby

[SuperGrace2002]

Hey hey yall. I am taking my second cruise this December. It is for my sister's 30th birthday.  When we booked initially we did not know she was pregnant.  We now have a baby we added to the mix.  She will be about 8 months when we sail.  I was looking at FAQ last night and it said that babies are not allowed in the pool - is this correct?  Now when I cruised in April in 2013 I never got in the pools was busy doing other things, so if it came down to me having the baby I don't mind. But wanted to get some insight, as can we put her feet in the water, can we sit on the edge with her?

 

We are sailing on Victory.  This is everyone's first cruise and my second one. First time on this boat.  Any insight will be helpful.

 

thank you.

[pyropoodle]

Children who are not potty trained are not allowed in the pool.  it's probably ok to sit on the side of the pool with her. I doubt they would say anything to you.

[Starbright7966]

We took my daughter on her firs cruise around 9 month old.  We tried to go in the pool and they made us get out of the pool area. Only potty trained kids are allowed. So maybe if you are just doing feet they may allow it, but it didn't work for us.  Cruising with a baby had a few challenges, but over all was pretty simple. Washing bottles was a challenge, but we made it work. You all including the baby will love it. 

[Schoifmom]

Also, check out the family cruising forum.  Lots of great information there.

 

Yes, unless she is potty trained, she is not allowed in the pools or splash pads.

[sw33twif3]

Its a hygiene thing. Not potty trained...no pool.

[pyropoodle]

also, you might want to contact carnival to check, but on my last cruise, I did see a family that had a small inflatable blow up bathtub. they had the baby on an upper deck, away from the pool area, but put water in the bathtub using a buck of water.  it wasn't full, just enough to sit and splash in.  I never saw anyone tell them they couldn't do this, so you might try it.  or if you have a balcony, you can put it out there.  just put it away when you aren't using it. 

 

*note, I said inflatable bathtub, not a huge baby pool.  it was small, but the baby seemed to enjoy it.

[MistyRo76]

We sailed with our daughter when she was 14 months old and we were not able to take her in the pool. She was also not allowed to roam in the splash park area either. As another posted suggested an inflatable tub may be an option for her. But there are really limited things to do on the ship during the day with a baby. 

[SuperGrace2002]

10 minutes ago, pyropoodle said:

also, you might want to contact carnival to check, but on my last cruise, I did see a family that had a small inflatable blow up bathtub. they had the baby on an upper deck, away from the pool area, but put water in the bathtub using a buck of water.  it wasn't full, just enough to sit and splash in.  I never saw anyone tell them they couldn't do this, so you might try it.  or if you have a balcony, you can put it out there.  just put it away when you aren't using it. 

 

*note, I said inflatable bathtub, not a huge baby pool.  it was small, but the baby seemed to enjoy it.

 

Thank you. That is helpful.  We could do that.  Like I said my first cruise I was so busy being lost most of the time that I never made it into the pool, so we may not even have that big of an issue.

[SuperGrace2002]

19 minutes ago, Starbright7966 said:

We took my daughter on her firs cruise around 9 month old.  We tried to go in the pool and they made us get out of the pool area. Only potty trained kids are allowed. So maybe if you are just doing feet they may allow it, but it didn't work for us.  Cruising with a baby had a few challenges, but over all was pretty simple. Washing bottles was a challenge, but we made it work. You all including the baby will love it. 

 

Thank you.  I am excited.  If I have to keep her during the time they get in the pool I don't have a problem with that. Yeah we are trying to figure out the bottle thing, we may buy the premade bottles already so we wont have to worry about washing any.  Plus its only a 3 day, so I think we will be ok..

[pyropoodle]

22 minutes ago, SuperGrace2002 said:

 

 we may buy the premade bottles already so we wont have to worry about washing any.  Plus its only a 3 day, so I think we will be ok..

 

You can also use drop ins.  they were a lifesaver for us.  We only had to wash the nipples and rings, and toss the liners.   they are amazing.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Playtex-Nurser-Drop-Ins-Disposable-Breastfeeding/dp/B06XCP5RSF/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=drop+ins&qid=1556637862&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

[Cruiser_1977]

46 minutes ago, pyropoodle said:

also, you might want to contact carnival to check, but on my last cruise, I did see a family that had a small inflatable blow up bathtub. they had the baby on an upper deck, away from the pool area, but put water in the bathtub using a buck of water.  it wasn't full, just enough to sit and splash in.  I never saw anyone tell them they couldn't do this, so you might try it.  or if you have a balcony, you can put it out there.  just put it away when you aren't using it. 

 

*note, I said inflatable bathtub, not a huge baby pool.  it was small, but the baby seemed to enjoy it.

What do you do with the used water? Unless you're carrying it to a toilet I don't see how you could dispose of this properly.

 

There are showers on the pool deck. I have seen parents hold their infants under the showers to cool them off.

Edited April 30, 2019 by JennyB1977

[pyropoodle]

you could dump it back into the shower.   they only put enough in it for the baby to splash and stay cool in.  they didn't fill it up, so dumping in the shower could be an option???

[mdsgu]

Not potty-trained, no pool.  

 

Regarding bottles, when we had small ones, we packed a suitcase just for them -- one side held diapers and the other side held liquid formula (that didn't have to be refrigerated until opened), bottles, a bottle brush, a "trial-size" bottle of dish soap, and a small bottle warmer.  Worked out well for us!

[pyropoodle]

They also make powdered formula in Onesies, so they don't weigh as much as the liquid.  you just add water when you are ready to mix and use.

[mizLORInj]

We cruised with my nephew when he was one year old, 1.5, 2, etc.   Always brought cute little inflatable tub/pool thingie and put some water in it and he was happy splashing around in it on the balcony and also in the pool area.  We knew better than to try to put him in the pools.  And ew anyway.   

 

We cruised with him about 5 times with him being under 5 and we have very fond family cruise memories.    Looking at pictures brings back some memories for him too.   

 

Have a great cruise!!!

 

Enjoy!!!

[MistyRo76]

One more tip that we found really helpful when traveling with our LO a few years ago - 

 

I only packed enough diapers for her for our first two days. Once we arrived Miami the day before our cruise, we went to CVS near our hotel and bought a large box of diapers plus a pack of swim diapers (for our ports). Once back at the hotel, I taped the box and package together with packing tape and put a Carnival bag tag on them. We dropped them off at the port with the baggage handler and they were delivered right to our cabin. This saved SO much space on baggage! The cost of the diapers was probably a bit higher at CVS than it would have been at Walmart or Target, but the saved luggage space more than made up for the small extra cost. 

When traveling with a little one, any way to lighten your load is big WIN! 

[Tapi]

At the suggestion of many here on CC, we brought the inflatable rubber ducky / tub on our son’s 1st cruise. We found it to be cumbersome and a waste of space. He didn’t care for it. He just wanted to get out. So we never brought it again for him or for his sister. About the pool situation, I’ll echo what others have said, although you always see parents trying to sneak their toddler in pull ups either in the pool or hot tub. 

 

My kids are now 7 and 9 and just completed cruise #10 across 5 different cruise lines. I don’t regret for one minute starting them young, and the memories are definitely priceless. But I won’t sugar coat things. It was challenging at the beginning. There were moments when we questioned our sanity and even considered cutting the cruise short and going home. But the good news is that with every cruise we took, we became savvier and each one kept getting progressively better and better. We also learned that different cruise lines are better depending on the age of the children, so we bounced around from cruise line to cruise line as our kids aged. 

 

From 0-2, Royal and Disney with their kids program (specially on ships with pools and water parks for babies and toddlers) are best. At 2, Carnival becomes the better choice since the kids program is free starting at that age (most others start at age 3). From age 3 forward, then the playing field among most mainstream cruise lines becomes more even. 

Edited May 1, 2019 by Tapi