Travelling on Cunard with a baby in 2022

[Ynox]

Today I returned from a trip down to the Canaries on the Queen Victoria. As there's limited information out there on travelling with babies on Cunard, I figured I'd write up a post (I can also add to this next month as I'm on the QM2).

Taking a baby on a cruise ship is a somewhat contentious topic. However, my wife and I have enjoyed travelling on Cunard since our honeymoon back in 2015 (a once in a lifetime TA followed by a trip up to Boston - I'm now sat at 99 nights on board and we have 3 Cunard trips currently booked, including the Queen Anne maiden. Suffice to say we're addicted...). So, we like the product, and they allow babies? Great!

 

The trip started a little differently for us. Normally I'd get a car service to take us from our house in West London to Southampton. Due to requiring a car seat etc we decided this time to drive ourselves and park at the port. We had 4 suit cases and 1 suit carrier, plus the stroller and travel cot. Add to this nappies also and you realise that it's impossible to travel light with a baby. CPS provided a very slick service at a pretty reasonable price.

 

One 'issue' with travelling with a baby is that you need to have a stateroom that can have > 2 pax. This limits your options a little. I booked this trip on board whilst on the QE last year so was able to spend some time with voyage sales in order to find one which worked for our requirements. We took 6198, an aft Britannia Balcony. This had ample room to store our huge (Baby Jogger City Elite 2) pram and we brought our own travel cot (a Graco Foldlite - I seriously recommend this. Great bit of kit). A baby bath was provided by our room steward (on request) and nappies were put into a provided biohazard bag in our bathroom. 

 

For meals we tended to eat breakfast and lunch in the Lido (my daughter gets particularly hangry). This worked fairly well - allergens etc are well labelled and it meant we could easily grab suitable food quickly. Dinner was in Britannia - most nights we ordered my daughter either chicken and vegetables, or steak and vegetables. Baby food is available, but my daughter is doing baby led weaning so we didn't use this. In Britannia we had early (boo, but my daughter needs to eat earlier than I'd like to for dinner) dining on a fixed table - fortunately close to the door for the times we had to take her out of the restaurant due to making too much noise. The high chairs on board are OK, although we took an inflatable high chair pillow to help support my daughter.

 

In the days we got into a fairly happy routine whereby we would be up for breakfast at about 7am, eat, then grab a coffee in the Chart Room (rearranging the furniture a little (we made sure to move it back after however!) to allow for my daughter to play). After this it was her nap time so we'd either both nap, or one of us would go to the gym. After this, it was time for the kids club (on sea days it's open from 1000, although it's not open until 1400 on a port day). Under 2s can use the facilities, but parents must remain with them at all times. My daughter was the only < 2 on the trip so she had plenty of attention from the excellent staff - they formed a great bond with her and she really enjoyed being there. Kids club closed between 1200 - 1400 for a break so we'd go to lunch, nap (I'd grab an hour in the Golden Lion) before heading back to the kids club for an hour or 2 in the afternoon (Kids club closes at 1700). Then time for dinner (great fun getting ready in the dark!).

The night nursery was available on this trip (it can sometimes be unavailable due to staffing levels). On the Queen Victoria this is a room off the side of the kids club which has a couple of travel cots in it. This is available from 6pm - 11pm for children between 6 months and 2 years in age and the staff will provide you with a pager in case your child awakes (we were paged a couple of times). Your child must be asleep or very nearly asleep before taking them up there normally, but as we were the only  under 2 they did allow us to settle our daughter there. The kids club staff were *very* keen for us to use it and we were able to go for our first child free 'night out' since my daughter was born 9 months ago. The kids club staff really were fantastic and I'd recommend this service to any parents.

Finally, as I commented earlier - taking a baby on a cruise ship could be thought to be somewhat contentious. On the whole we found other passengers to be pretty positive towards us. A lot of friendly comments and if people did feel negatively towards it (I'd not blame them, my daughter hated having her hands cleaned after eating and would scream!) they didn't tell me to my face. We were very, very, very apprehensive before going - we briefly discussed cancelling the trip. But between this and the awesome kids club staff, we actually booked another trip whilst on board for next year.

 

Hopefully my QM2 trip next month goes as well. I'll try to update this post with some comments about life on the QM2 with a baby in 2022 after it.
 

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by Ynox

[Covepointcruiser]

There is an age restriction on transatlantic.   I believe the baby must be twelve months old.  On cruises with frequent ports this isn’t an issue as there are medical facilities ashore for babies if needed.

[Ynox]

4 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

There is an age restriction on transatlantic.   I believe the baby must be twelve months old.  On cruises with frequent ports this isn’t an issue as there are medical facilities ashore for babies if needed.

Correct, 12 months for TA (and any trips with over 3 consecutive sea days from memory)  Fortunately I’m not on a TA this time!

[Victoria2]

 A great review from a different perspective. I love seeing the children on our cruises.

 

We thought we were adventurous taking our son on our very first cruise, when he was five. No children's facilities in those days so tea for him in the Lido and early bed with a room attendant as a baby sitter. [he was a brilliant sleeper or we wouldn't have done that].

 

Your comment says it all.   '- fortunately close to the door for the times we had to take her out of the restaurant due to making too much noise.' Considerate parents. Hope QM2 is just as enjoyable and I look forward to the  review. 🙂

[neeuqdrazil]

There were at least two babes-in-arms on board the QM2 TA last week - they were mostly pretty inconspicuous, but there were definitely happy-baby-happy-adult times! 

[addo]

We have travelled on Cunard with both our children. One at 5 months and one at 1 year and they became very avid cruisers.  Cunard provided a travel cot, a playpen on deck as the Caronia did not have a children centre.  Nappies were also provided.  We left toys onboard between trips. We took a clip on chair for the table. We paid £10 per day per child.

 

As they got older they had an early 6pm cabin dinner then story time and bed.  It was a very relaxing holiday and great family time.

 

Our son  (32) stills cruises when his work allows it. He has spent 3 months onboard  QM2 and QE this year.  He has made great friends onboard and met so many interesting people.

 

Your review was extremely interesting to read. Long may you continue to cruise.

 

 

[Ynox]

On 11/24/2022 at 12:22 PM, addo said:

We have travelled on Cunard with both our children. One at 5 months and one at 1 year and they became very avid cruisers.  Cunard provided a travel cot, a playpen on deck as the Caronia did not have a children centre.  Nappies were also provided.  We left toys onboard between trips. We took a clip on chair for the table. We paid £10 per day per child.

 

As they got older they had an early 6pm cabin dinner then story time and bed.  It was a very relaxing holiday and great family time.

 

Our son  (32) stills cruises when his work allows it. He has spent 3 months onboard  QM2 and QE this year.  He has made great friends onboard and met so many interesting people.

 

Your review was extremely interesting to read. Long may you continue to cruise.

 

 

 

Thanks. I spoke with some fellow passengers on the QV trip who had taken their child on the QE2 back in the day. Their experience was somewhat different to what it is now! Nappies are available for purchase these days although we took our own supply. Children are however free under the age of 2 and there were ample high chairs on board.

 

After a couple of weeks at home to think back in retrospect on this, I still think the trip went pretty well and am looking forward to boarding the QM2 in a couple of weeks. If nothing else it'll be another break from work for me (and I can try to catch up on some sleep).

 

Unfortunately whilst I can pretty much work from anywhere these days, I require a pretty solid internet connection. So working from a cruise ship isn't possible for me! 

[Ynox]

Back from the QM2 today (I was on the 5 night trip around the English Channel).

 

Again we drove to Southampton, parking using CPS. This was good, a little busy at Mayflower but overall good. Zero complaints.

I had an ocean view booked, but ended up getting upgraded to a sheltered balcony. Probably my best upgrade in 12 trips - we were in an aft starboard deck 5 cabin on stairwell D (although the wifi didn't work from my cabin - I used my loyalty benefits to get premium wifi for the voyage so this was pretty disappointing). Again we found this had ample room for our travel cot and stroller, although the stroller again didn't fit through the stateroom door. We requested a baby bath from the room steward and also had biohazard bags provided for storing nappies (diapers). A baby bath can fit inside the shower on the QM2 for storage, this is something a little better than on the Vista class ships where I had to store this under the bed when not in use.

 

Again for meals we ate breakfast and lunch in the Kings Court. The staff here were fantastic and we were easily able to find food suitable for my daughter. Dinner was in Britannia, we had a table on deck 3 near the door and the staff were great. A couple of nights we didn't quite finish dinner (my daughter was tired so we had to leave) but overall this worked well once again - my daughter ate chicken and vegetables for dinner each day (whilst watching cartoons on an iPad on silent to entertain herself).

Our daily routine was pretty similar to what we did on the QV, although we chose the Carinthia Lounge for morning coffee. This has a great layout for creating a small area to allow a child to play simply by rotating the table around if sat at a window. Worked well. 

We used the kids club again on this trip. On the QM2 under 2s have their own room (although again you need to stay). This had similar toys too on the QV, but also a couple of Cosy Coupe cars and a space hopper. The night nursery was offered but we decided not to use it this time (apparently none of the babies did, there were 8 on the ship this time).

In terms of ports, we visited Rotterdam and Le Havre, choosing to remain on board in Zeebrugge (we've been to Bruges a number of times and it's a hassle getting here from the ship involving 2 buses and a train). Our experience in Le Havre wasn't great - it took around 30 minutes to actually get off the ship at 1230 as we required an accessible gangway which was being used for people embarking the ship (we were asked to use deck 3, but this was a set of stairs - not possible to take a stroller down them!). I've raised this complaint with Cunard as I felt that this would also be a poor situation for a disabled person. 

Overall even with the non working wifi (not great at 4am when you want to look at stuff on the internet whilst settling a baby!) and the hassle disembarking at Le Havre it was still a great trip. The QM2 is showing its age in parts now but I do still enjoy it (even with its idiosyncrasies such as half decks!). 

 

Next Cunard trip now for me is the QV next year up to Norway. Before then though I'm 'cheating' on Cunard with Princess! It'll be interesting to see how it stacks up in comparison.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Ynox