cruising with an infant

[tamiflood]

I will be a new mom in a few weeks. Realistically, what is the youngest/reasonable age for me to cruise with an infant.

 

Harsh honesty is welcome...If you had an experience of regret or joy to share I'd appreciate it.

[vettecruiser1]

We just cruised with a 7 month old and it was a perfect age. He was not yet walking and not exactly crawling so he just kinda hung out and could not get underneath anybody. Also this was the age he starting experimenting with new foods so it worked out great.

[crusinmama06]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA not been around the boards lately? This has been the question of the month. ;)

 

Well let's start with the minimum age allowed by cruiseline. For most cruises the minimum age to cruise is 6 months (exception being trans-atlantic, etc...minimum raises to 12 months) At this point, Disney takes babies at 12 weeks.

 

There are positives and negatives to cruising with an infant...

 

Positives

--no cooking, cleaning to worry about, already done for you

--the baby is immobile

--so nice to have everything on the ship. Can use the ship as the destination.

--you can take excursion tours that aren't centered around baking in the hot sun

 

Negatives

--lots of gear to take (never was a problem for me...lol)

--depends on baby's personality....are they an easy go with the flow baby

--have to consider that the child will come in contact with lots of germs and will generally be away from pediatric healthcare

 

With all of that being said, I have cruised with an infant, my youngest was 8 months old on her first cruise. And she had to be medically evacuated. :( Things I would do differently....I wouldn't cruise with an infant in prime cold/flu season (our cruise was in February)

 

With that being said, our youngest is ready to go on her 5th cruise. We're going back on the same cruise line that she was evacuated from 4 years earlier. :( So I guess we are trying to make a happy memory from a bad one.

[deemk]

we cruised on the carnival victory end of january 2007 with a 7-month old and it turned out to be a lot more pleasant than we expected. she wasn't old enough to realize what she was missing out by not being able to swim. she ate and slept where ever, and was happy to be pushed around in the stroller. when we did have to carry her she was nice and lightweight. i would agree that hauling around baby gear isn't as nice as leaving it at home. but cruising with a toddler seems to necessitate hauling just as much gear. and even our older children wanted swimming goggles and extra shoes and things we would've preferred to leave at home. we just got back from a 4-day on the carnival fascination and the infant we took last time is now 22 months. i think this age for me was harder. she wants to do everything she sees but isn't old enough. we were able to leave the stroller home this time, but had to lug the heavy toddler car seat for the shuttle. i feel it was easier last time. but next jan when we go, she'll be 2 and old enough to be left in camp carnival. we're definitely looking forward to that!

[sharktums]

We took our then 9 month old on a 7 day cruise on Princess in December. Everything was fine and she crawled around the ship and got tons of attention from staff! We're going on RCCL this December and I'm sure it will be more challenging since she's mobile now!

[sabbie]

We just took our 8 month old and had a great time but it was quite a bit of work as he crawls everywhere. Wonderful way to spend a family vacation. I will say that originally we were scheduled to go earlier (he would have been just under 6 months) and had to change it because my pediatrician was very against us taking him any earlier then 6 months and even then he suggested to wait at least an additional 2 weeks to make sure that the 6 month vaccinations take affect. This is even more important if you are traveling during flu session and you plan on getting the flu vaccination for your child as they aren't allowed to have it until 6 months of age. You should talk to your doctor regarding his recommendations.