Baby on Cruise...jenni83 come on in

summerbride11 · January 2012

Have any of you ever done this or know of anyone who has? We are going on a cruise this March- me,dh,17 yr. old,12 yr.old and a 9 month old. All the crusielines charge full price for the baby which sucks because they are not eating most of the food or enjoying the night-time entertainment, etc. We are definitely taking LO for various reasons. Just wondering what the experience was like- diaper packing, strollers and carseats, ports and taking the baby on land, dinner in the dining room, etc. Any advice?

Jenni83 · January 2012

I dont have any experience yet but we are going on a cruise when our baby will be 8 months,we are taking a carnival cruise & although they dont charge full price you pay a good amount which i dont understand either bc they aren't doing anything for him & he cant eat the food.i know you can bring a stroller & you can request a crib for your room.we are planning on taking the baby to the dining room & if he fusses one of us will take him out.there are no ways to steralize bottles so i suggest getting a few with the drop in liners.i am so glad we are not the only ones crazy enough to bring a baby lol.

lisa5ny · January 2012

i can't believe you get charged for children under age 1....that seems redic.

mjbressan · January 2012

lisa5ny:
i can't believe you get charged for children under age 1....that seems redic.

This!

summerbride11 · January 2012

Jenni83:
I dont have any experience yet but we are going on a cruise when our baby will be 8 months,we are taking a carnival cruise & although they dont charge full price you pay a good amount which i dont understand either bc they aren't doing anything for him & he cant eat the food.i know you can bring a stroller & you can request a crib for your room.we are planning on taking the baby to the dining room & if he fusses one of us will take him out.there are no ways to steralize bottles so i suggest getting a few with the drop in liners.i am so glad we are not the only ones crazy enough to bring a baby lol.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

I mostly breast feed and I don't steralize his bottles anymore (don't flame me) but packing all those diapers is going to drive me nuts. I recall seeing several kids on previous cruises, but never babies.

Initially, we were going to do our family vacation after he turned 1 but the 5 of us are flying roundtrip to Florida in March for my grandmother's 90th birthday celebration, so we decided to just take our vacation then. One of our ports is Grand Cayman and I know you have to take a smaller boat to get on that island. We will either have to be creative or hubby and I will have to split up with one of us watching the baby. It is my older children's 1st cruise and I want to make sure they don't miss out on anything. Well, I hope all goes well for both of us!

chrisnjay05212010 · January 2012

im pretty sure my friend (that im meeting for lunch tomorrow) took her daughter on a cruise when she was little. I'll have to ask her how it was. I do recall them saying it was great. I'll let you guys know tomorrow

NiknTrev · January 2012

We are planning on a cruise for either later this year or early next year. If you didn't call the cruise line, I would. It may depend on the cruise line but the few I priced out did not charge for children under 2. Initially we were going to do a 2 week one right after TJs 2nd birthday but I couldn't justifly full price for him so really it works out better for me since we will go sooner lol. As for the tender boats in GC, it's really not that bad in regards to bringing baby and stroller. Ask Donsgirl about cruising with a babe. She brought her little lady on a cruise last summer.

summerbride11 · January 2012

NiknTrev:
We are planning on a cruise for either later this year or early next year. If you didn't call the cruise line, I would. It may depend on the cruise line but the few I priced out did not charge for children under 2. Initially we were going to do a 2 week one right after TJs 2nd birthday but I couldn't justifly full price for him so really it works out better for me since we will go sooner lol. As for the tender boats in GC, it's really not that bad in regards to bringing baby and stroller. Ask Donsgirl about cruising with a babe. She brought her little lady on a cruise last summer.

Thanks. The cruise lines I called all charged regular prices for babies and all required that the baby be at least 6 months old. Which one doesn't charge for under 2? We're taking Carnival. They do charge less because LO is the 3rd person in our room (with me and DH). However, it's the same price as if he were an adult. In other words, the initial price is based on double occupancy and then the 3rd and 4th person are always a bit less. Good luck with your cruise too!

Oh, and they don't charge for gratuities for the baby. (That's $10 per person, per day)

NiknTrev · January 2012

It was Norwegian. My husband just told me they didn't charge for 6 mos (same age requirement as Carnival) to 2yrs but you had to book by 12/31. Figures. It's so shiiity that they charge full price after 2 (and anything under, too). Aren't they sooo generous for not charging gratuities? Lol. What ship are you going on?

summerbride11 · January 2012

Awe man, I wish I knew...I couldn't find any deals regarding kids. I guess I should've posted here

We are going on the Carnival Freedom, 6 days to Key West, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. I've been on Glory, Victory and Royal Carribean's Oasis. Yeah, real generous not to charge for gratuities, right?

mrsredmoose · January 2012

Sounds like an awesome cruise! Can you sneak me in your suitcase?

When I planned previous cruises, I found the message boards on Cruise Critic helpful. They may have some tips for you.

You are brave to travel with LO. I still haven't mastered shoprite

NiknTrev · January 2012

summerbride11:
Awe man, I wish I knew...I couldn't find any deals regarding kids. I guess I should've posted here We are going on the Carnival Freedom, 6 days to Key West, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. I've been on Glory, Victory and Royal Carribean's Oasis. Yeah, real generous not to charge for gratuities, right?

awesome! I looooove Key West! I've been on 3 Carnival, 2 NCL and 1 Royal. How was the Oasis? We were torn between that and NCL Epic last year. We went on the Epic. It was ridiculous! Def one of my favorite cruises so far! Oh and if there's room in your suitcase, feel free to pack me along

summerbride11 · January 2012

Nickntrev-The Oasis was great! It has this New York theme, I loved it. Any favorite cruise line? My mom loves NCL, but I've heard that they "nickle and dime" you.

mrsredmoose- Trust me, if DH wasn't travelling I would not be bringing the baby. He insists that he will watch LO if my older kids want to explore. I'll let you know how that works out.

AND the shoprite by me doesn't have the carts with baby seats, unbelievable!

NiknTrev · January 2012

summerbride11:
Nickntrev-The Oasis was great! It has this New York theme, I loved it. Any favorite cruise line? My mom loves NCL, but I've heard that they "nickle and dime" you.

ooh that's awesome! I saw the Oasis when we were in Florida last year and all I could say was Wow! It's amazing looking! I don't really have a favorite line. I like different things about each one. Although I have to admit, I was hammered for about 90% of the time I was on Royal (pre-hubby haha). I feel like NCL has more variety but I still love Carnival. I've heard a lot of people say that NCL nickle and dimes you. I didn't really feel that way though. I mean they do have all the specialty restaurants that cost extra but that didn't stop me from eating at them. I will say that Bingo was more $ on NCL than Carnival. Lol leave it to me to notice that lol.

nicinnewyork · January 2012

is it true you can't take kids in diapers in the pools? we thought about going on a cruise this past summer and then i read that. not that they "swim" but at the time sue was almost 2 and that would have been torture for her. how are you supposed to cool them off shy of staying inside the whole time?

Jenni83 · January 2012

it is true some cruise lnes have kids pools like ncl & disney but i know carnival doesn't . we are going to turks & caicos,half moon cay & nassau.in half moon cay we booked a cabana bc we plan on being at the beach all day & it could be super hot.

navybride06 · January 2012

We went to GC on a Carnival Cruise. We went off the boat to swim with StingRays it was awesome and my mom got thrown out of the water because she was screaming so much it was scaring the rays LMAO.

ali26 · January 2012

Wow, I can't believe they charge full price! That is crazy.

I wouldn't think it would be bad taking the tender into GC with a stroller. Id just get back to the ship early so you don't have to wait in a long hot line to get back.

DonsGirl6105 · January 2012

I went on the Norweigan Gem back in August. A was about 16 months then. I didn't bring a car seat. We left out of NY & got dropped off by my stepdad so i left the carseat when we got there. I had been to Bermuda before & knew there really wouldn't be any need. We took the ferry one day & the busses another. On the bus she sat on our laps on the ferry we brought the stroller. I didn't bring my big travel system stroller i had an in between light weight umbrella that had a good size storage basket underneath. It worked out great. She absolutely loved the ship. Loved the pools & dancing at the deck parties at night. Dinner was hit or miss. Sometimes she was in a good mood & happy, one night she slept through dinner in the dining room, & other times she was pretty cranky. A couple nights we skipped the dining room and just grabbed something from the buffet. I'm not completely sure about the financials since my ILs paid for the cruise but i do know that they did have to pay for her. I don't think it was full price but it was a good amount. Let me know if you have any more questions!

ssage · January 2012

A friend of mine did the Disney cruise when her oldest was still in diapers and bottle fed. She shipped all of that ahead of time to the boat so they did not have to take it with them on the flight.

summerbride11 · January 2012

Thanks so much. I asked the cruise rep. a list of questions, yet I still feel like I got more information from you ladies! Mmm...shipping ahead of time? I have to see how that works. That seems like a great idea.

Baby on Cruise...jenni83 come on in

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