Adding a baby on to the cruise

[amurray88]

Hi All,

We are due our first baby in July this year and would like to book an MSC cruise for March next year. Am I able to book it just now for just my wife and I and then add the baby on when they arrive? Or do I have to wait?

 

Thanks!

[Essiesmom]

You would have to book a cabin for three, and they might not let you do that if you only have two.  I’ve not seen any experience for this on MSC,  but on other lines you can book the third guest as TBA.  But I think you will have to discuss this with MSC.  Be sure you book a refundable fare…you never know if your child will turn out to be a good traveler….or not.  EM

[kasi1979]

I would suggest contacting a travel agency to help you. In the past I had the experience that you have to book the real number of people that are going to travel (if one baby, it´s 3 persons) due to ships capacity. I was allowed to just book generic Baby 1 and after birth change the data to the real name and dates. But I would ask a travel agency if this is still possible.

[phissy]

Also be aware that there are restrictions for a baby to travel on cruise ship.

Domestic cruise travel for infant  is 6 months.

International cruise travel is 12 months, if there are more than 2 or 3 days at sea. This is dependent on specific cruise company.

[skipsaur]

3 hours ago, amurray88 said:

Hi All,

We are due our first baby in July this year and would like to book an MSC cruise for March next year. Am I able to book it just now for just my wife and I and then add the baby on when they arrive? Or do I have to wait?

 

Thanks!

 

I'd probably call and see how/if I could book with future baby on the booking, rather than try to add them later. Like someone mentioned already, some cabins only allow 2 vs 3 guests. Doesn't matter if baby is in a crib instead of the sofabed, still has to be there. I'm sure there's life jacket/lifeboat capacity considerations too. Even though "kids sail free" sometimes there's still port taxes even for infants, but no DSC at least, but I wouldn't want to deal with repricing shenanigans adding a person later.

 

(Unsolicited two cents: we travelled with baby starting very young and wouldn't change a thing. But as first time parents, it's hard to know whether you and your wife or your baby will be ready for this type of trip at that specific age. So just for that reason, I'd vote for waiting to book. If you don't choose to wait, 7 months old will probably be fine, that's still a really easy age for traveling. But it might only feel easy with hindsight, and might feel different when you're in the thick of your first sleep regression around Thanksgiving

 😂)

 

[MsTabbyKats]

24 minutes ago, phissy said:

Also be aware that there are restrictions for a baby to travel on cruise ship.

Domestic cruise travel for infant  is 6 months.

International cruise travel is 12 months, if there are more than 2 or 3 days at sea. This is dependent on specific cruise company.

I thought 6 months....but on our recent cruise there was an infant who was "almost 6 months".

[sammee]

I just got off Meraviglia this past Sunday. There were quite a few under 6 months, some around 3. I forget the actual wording on MSC, but yes 3 month babies are allowed. There were a few in my sailing that also called to confirm after we warned them to double check. I always thought it was 6 months too, probably other lines.

[1kaper]

8 hours ago, skipsaur said:

 

(Unsolicited two cents: we travelled with baby starting very young and wouldn't change a thing. But as first time parents, it's hard to know whether you and your wife or your baby will be ready for this type of trip at that specific age. So just for that reason, I'd vote for waiting to book. If you don't choose to wait, 7 months old will probably be fine, that's still a really easy age for traveling. But it might only feel easy with hindsight, and might feel different when you're in the thick of your first sleep regression around Thanksgiving

 

I agree with this. We have also been travelling with our son since he was an infant as well but you never know. 
I’d at least book something that is flexible to change if things don’t work out. In my experience, that isn’t MSC.
 

After ending up with a very unexpected health issue this year I got to see firsthand just how inflexible MSC can be with their policies. In the end it sort of worked out for me but you don’t want to be making numerous phone calls and stress over trying not to lose all your money or end up paying twice as much.