Advice for cruisin with an 18 month old?

[sheree23]

My husband and I will be taking a cruise next December on the Liberty with our daughter who will then be 18 months old. We're also taking my parents with us for their very first cruise. We're very excited about this, as it'll be the first and probably only family vacation on a cruise with my parents. DH and I have been on 1 cruise before and absolutely loved it.

 

We're new parents and I've been thinking a lot about our upcoming cruise... If some of you seasoned cruisers could give a little bit of advice on cruising with a little one that would be wonderful. And please don't turn this into another one of those good parent/bad parent threads.

 

One specific concern I have is that we've booked a balcony room for DH and I. I'm hoping that since we'll be supervising our daughter it won't be an issue, but it still worries me (since I'm an overprotective first time new Mommy!) If any of you can share your experiences on board with your little one it would be much appreciated!

[tdebolt]

I'll be going with my 16month old next week. I'll let ya know when I get back!:o

[steveaaaa]

If some of you seasoned cruisers could give a little bit of advice on cruising with a little one that would be wonderful. And please don't turn this into another one of those good parent/bad parent threads.

 

!

I would recommend you eat at the buffet everynight so as not to bother the other diners in the dining room. I would also like to mention the babysitting services so you can go to the shows,bars,ect and even into the ports and not bother anyone with your baby.

I am sure you think traveling with child is great but many others don't think so.Just keep the crying out of anyones earshot and you should be fine.Have fun.

Steve

[cruisercathy]

My husband and I cruised with our 18 month old 15 years ago. My parents were also with us. We NEVER went to the buffet, we always ate in the dining room. our son was the hit of dinner.......the maitre d would take him to visit other dining tables and the kitchen. The waiters and crew love little ones as most of them have babies at home. If your child gets antsy take her for a walk between courses.

 

As for the shows, we ate at the early seating, my parents went to the show after dinner while my husband and i and son walked around a bit. Then we put him to bed, my Mom came to our cabin when they were done with their night out and my husband and i went out for a while.

 

Camp Carnival took him one night after 10 so we could all go out together.

 

Don't worry about the balcony, their is no way the baby can open the door.

Have a great cruise !!!!!!!!!

[jcanino]

My husband and I will be taking a cruise next December on the Liberty with our daughter who will then be 18 months old.

We're new parents and I've been thinking a lot about our upcoming cruise... If some of you seasoned cruisers could give a little bit of advice on cruising with a little one that would be wonderful. And please don't turn this into another one of those good parent/bad parent threads.

My 14 year old daughters first cruise was when she was 18 months. Our 16 year old son turned 4 on that cruise. Cruising with a little ones was a whole lot different than it is now. During the evening, we would take turns staying in the cabin most night. While one went to a show, the other read while the kids slept. During the day, the older one was in Camp Carnival and the little one was with us. We did get the counselors to take them both one night for the group babysitting so long as we changed her diaper right before we dropped them off. BTW, we were using cloth diapers with her and continued using them on the ship.

 

Enjoy the dining room with you daughter. The wait staff will fawn over her as they don't get to see their own kids.

[DRJSSGOLF]

by changing to an inside cabin. 18 month olds can crawl up a chair and get too close to the balcony edge. Your child's safety is more important than you and DH's thrill of a balcony. A couple of years ago a young child(age 4) in the balcony next to us got her arm caught in the door (the balcony doors don't just close, the doors slam shut hard) Fourtunately it was on the fleshy part of the arm and it was very badly bruised, not broken. I am a parent and I don't mean to sound harsh but these are experiences we have had on our thirteen cruises. We started kid cruising at age six for the enjoyment of the child, not only us. I know you realize that your 18 month old will not remember a thing about this cruise. Cruises and airplanes are ripe for diseases for infants and the elderly. If you wanted my opinion sugar coated, I would have said "No problem, parents with small children on cruiseships always seem to be having a wonderful time."

[Guest Time2gocruzn]

Check out the family cruising board here at Cruise Critic :

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=49

 

Read way back on that board. There is tons of good info there. It dsn't move as fast as this board, but still lots of help. We are taking our kids who will be 4 and almost 2. I would say to be sure to bring a SMALL stroller and lots of sun block. Bring tylenol and any meds you may need for the baby as they are $$$$$ on the ship. Don't worry about the people who don't like kids on cruises. You will never know they are there, there will be too many other people going on about how glad they are to see your child. I plan on being respectful to others around me like I always am when I am with my kids and plan on having a fabulous time!!:)

 

Edited to add: even tho the family board discusses cruising on other lines as well as Carnival, it is still very helpful as no matter what line you are on the prep is the same, KWIM?.

[sheree23]

by changing to an inside cabin. 18 month olds can crawl up a chair and get too close to the balcony edge. Your child's safety is more important than you and DH's thrill of a balcony. A couple of years ago a young child(age 4) in the balcony next to us got her arm caught in the door (the balcony doors don't just close, the doors slam shut hard) Fourtunately it was on the fleshy part of the arm and it was very badly bruised, not broken. I am a parent and I don't mean to sound harsh but these are experiences we have had on our thirteen cruises. We started kid cruising at age six for the enjoyment of the child, not only us. I know you realize that your 18 month old will not remember a thing about this cruise. Cruises and airplanes are ripe for diseases for infants and the elderly. If you wanted my opinion sugar coated, I would have said "No problem, parents with small children on cruiseships always seem to be having a wonderful time."

 

 

Those are exactly the things I've worried about. DH did mention that she won't be able to open the door and we'll be watching her the whole time anyway.. but I guess my thought is that I'd like to at least try to lesson the possibility of something happening.

 

Since we've already reserved our balcony room I thought of giving it to my parents and booking ours as a room with a window only since we haven't put down the deposit for the parents yet.

 

And yeah we're going to be in the dining room. If she's fussy one particular night I can always take her to the buffet. But I'm not going to go to the extereme of NEVER going to the dining room. That's silly. We have common sense enough to know how to handle our daughter when she's fussy. I realize there are parents out there who aren't considerate of others but there are many of us who actually do consider how our actions affect everyone else. We try to be considerate of not only others, but our daughter as well! :-)

 

Thanks for your comments so far everyone! And thanks to the last poster for the good advice and the link (we were posting at the same time) It's good to know that others have cruised with small children and toddlers and had a great time.

[MrPete]

There is NO reason to give up your balcony room. My six year old STILL can't get the balcony door open. AND, there is a lock at the six foot level that prevents any kid from opening that door. That's in addition to the regular balcony door lock.

 

There is probably no reason to even take your child out to the balcony, and even if you do, you would never do it without being out there yourself.

 

Even today, with my NOW 6 year old, it's nice to put her to bed, and then relax out on the balcony. My next cruise will be her 5th.

 

At 18 months, she obviously will not remember being on a ship, but YOU will have the memories of her being there.

 

ENJOY!

[Zeta3]

I just returned from the Legend it was the 2nd cruise for my DD who turned 2 on the frst sea day. Both of her cruises have been wonderful and we have had balcony cabins for both. There is no way she can open the balcony door and there is also a lock on the door that is very high up that she could not reach, even on a chair.

 

The most important thing is to respect your fellow passengers AND your child. If you know your child can't sit through a long dinner (we are lucky, my daughter does very well in the dining room), don't force it everybody will be miserable. Also if your child does better with a regular schedule try to keep to that schedule as much as possible.

 

Camp Carnival will have certain hours every day (usually during their lunch break) that you can take your child in to play this is great to help burn off some steam.

 

We cruised before our DD and will continue to cruise with her. We take a more laid back approach to cruising now and enjoy it quite a bit. Have fun! if you have any other specific quesitons I'd be happy to answer what I can.

[PINEVIEW01]

Don't give up your balcony room. The whole ship is a balcony. If you can't deal with a balcony than you would never be able to leave your inside room.

 

I went with my 2 year old DGD, this was her second cruise with me. We ate in the dinning room every night, early sitting. The tablemates spoiled her and were impressed that we ordered off the adult menu for her. One night Grandma removed her from the dinning room and her parents for a short time. (I'm the mean G-ma that can't stand kids behaving in the dinning room/resterants.)

 

Ditto the stroller and sun screen.

 

Have a great time with your family.

[crazy4cruzin]

Sheree - My advice is go and have a good time. My daughter's first cruise was when she was 14 months old and my son's first cruise was at 18 months old. They are now cruise veterans at age 15 and 12. My advice would be to take all the meds you may need (including thermometer), diapers (line your suitcase with them), lightweight stroller. At that age your child will be eating table food and drinking regular milk, so no problem with food. I did take snacks and juice boxes for excursions. Make sure you get to the breakfast buffet early and take some of those small boxes of cheerios (they go fast), they come in handy on excurisons and throughout the day. Definitely go to the dining room each evening (we never missed a meal in the dining room), make certain to request a high chair for dining. Waiters are very good with children, and if your child gets fussy just take her out of the dining room until the food arrives. Also request a porta-crib for the cabin. I always took my kids to the shows (as we traveled alone) and they basically slept through them. We never had any late evening activities, as the kids would need to get to bed, but sometimes we took turns going back out to see a comedian or shop (me). We also always did late dining, due to the fact that after the pool on sea days or returning from excursions, they would end up napping and we would never make the early seating. Late seating worked well for us. Also, if your child sleeps with a special friend or a blankie, don't forget to bring it along.

 

You just need to be flexible, and know that this cruise won't be like your other cruise when it was just you and your spouse, but that's o.k. you will still have tons of fun.

 

Have a great time on the cruise and just enjoy it!!

[tdebolt]

I'm sure the advice to eat in the dining room everynight and get babysitters is well intended advice. However, I will be taking my daughter in the dining room with us when we go next week. First of all we are with a group and there will be no strangers at the table, secondly she is still paying to go...kids don't get a free ride. My child is well behaved and eats out often (I'm sure everone says theat about their kid; I know...) As for the babysitters: I checked into that ahead of time and for this age the service is not offered until 10pm -3am (after the play area closes). My daughter will already be asleep by then and I am not waking her up to take her out...we will go to the cabin at bed time and stay there, unless a grandparent offers to stay with her.

 

 

I think the main point was to be considerate of others, that I do agree with. I would promptly remove my child from any situation if she was throwing a fit or being inappropiatly loud. I will not do that as a preventive measure and deny ourselves of the same experience that other passengers are enjoying.

[moxie99]

We have cruised several times, we have an 11 year old daughter who goes with us. Only once did we ever notice a little one around. The child in a cabin a balcony away cried, screamed, kicked, threw temper trantrums. I don't blame the child, BUT, consideration of other is important. EVERY time we tried to enjoy our balcony - all we heard was crying and parents who were at the end of their rope. It was not enjoyable at all for us or for them. We coped and by day three I figured out a way to enjoy my balcony in quiet, peaceful comfort. Unfortunately, I had to resume smoking for the remainder of the cruise as I had heard the mother talking to the dad about NOT subjecting her little one to smoke in certain areas of the ship. If this offends anyone, sorry, it worked, if I wanted to use the balcony I had to chain smoke to have peace and quiet. Side note - I stopped immediatly after leaving the ship.

 

Really, all anyone wants is peace and quiet. If you bring your little one, please be respectful especially out on the balcony. There are folks like us who wouldn't trade a sea day, relaxing and reading on our own overlooking the ocean quietly.

[bankofdad]

My youngest son was 12 months old on his first cruise, and 23 months on his last one. He's not the type to be very cooperative in restaurants, so we did the buffet a lot (we didn't want other diners disturbed). I've been in restaurants with other children that were there were little angels and deserved to be there, and I've also been in restaurants where a child seemed possessed:eek: and the parents did nothing about it:mad:. I guess the dining options just depend on the personality of your child.

 

My advise is to not expect the cruise to be a perfect cruise, and go with the flow. We had a suite with a balcony on both of his cruises, and we just did what we normally do - closely supervise him wherever we went, and made sure our older children (12 and 8yo) followed the same rules regarding the balcony - no climbing on the balcony furnature, and no one, for any reason at all, goes on the balcony without Mom or Dad right there. Your little one won't be able to reach the safety latch, so don't worry about that.

 

We looked for areas on the ship where he could roam around (us being with him of course) and just be himself without disturbing others. We also bought several of the swim trunks made for kids still in diapers, and he enjoyed the kiddie pools. We also brought an apprpriate amount of the jar (Gerber) foods he normally ate, so we didn't have to worry about stomach aches from trying anything new on the ship.

 

My wife and I talked beforehand about what each of us would like to do on our cruises with the kids, prioritized want was most important to us, and planned for each other to have our "free" time to do things we wanted to do (i.e. DW to the spa, me to snorkeling, DW to shopping, me to excersizing, etc). We typically planned our "free" time for when our little guy would be napping, and someone needed to be in the room with him (this is where the balcony was great to have - I could sit outside on it and read a book, vegitate, or have a cold one while enjoying the view and my son slept).

 

Also, study the ship layout before you go, and know your way around before you get on board. Believe me - this will help alot with ensuring the little guy is happy and is transported from point-A-to-point-b without any problems. We learned this one real fast on our first cruise with the kids. It sure save a lot of time and frustration with children in tow.

 

Have fun!

[HappyChick]

Sheree23,

 

We are traveling this Sunday (1/2/05) w/our 17 month old son. We have been on several cruises, but this will be our first w/him. We are lucky b/c both sets of grandparents are also going on this cruise. We also have booked a balcony cabin. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

Lisa

[Mlascheid]

My advice to you is to have a WONDERFUL time with your child and other family members and cherish the memories forever!!!! It is funny how threads about children always seem to bring out the worst in some people and the best in others. It just goes to show you how some see the glass as half full and others see it as half empty! In all of our cruising we have never encountered anything but positives from passengers and staff. Infact, usually they are all so happy to see the children that they always stop us just to talk to them or say they wished their kids or grandkids were sailing with them. As for the staff, they are wonderful with children always willing to go the extra mile for them. We have been traveling with our children on cruises since they were 8 months old. My son now 5(and going on his 6th cruise next month) and our daughter now 2(going on her 3rd cruise) love cruisnig and they are generally well behaved, but when they weren't we would immediately remove them from the more public areas(i.e. dining room, shows, etc. and take them out on deck or or similar area until they settled down. We are very respectful of fellow passengers as we hope they will be respectful of us! As for tips: if you have a portable dvd player and your child has a particular favorite show....it can be a lifesaver in the dining room. It keeps our kids very entertained during dinner. If your child is a light sleeper, a sound machine is a great way to drown out noise from people in the hallways, announcements over the speaker system, loud next door neighbors, etc. A small stroller(umbrella type) is much more maneuverable in tight spaces on the ship(elevators, hallways, pool area, buffet).Reclinable umbrella strollers are great if your child will nap while out and about. I think Carnival may actually rent strollers onboard, but we always bring our own. As others have posted, bring any meds you could possibly need because infant meds are very hard to find onboard. A night light. Plenty of diapers and wipes. Favorie blanket, stuffed animal to make a strange bed more comfortable. AS for the balcony question....it is great to have somewhere pleasant to sit and read or talk while the baby is napping or sleeping at night. The doors to the balconies are very heavy and doubtful that a toddler would be able to budge it. Plus there is a lock very high up on the door unreachable for little ones.