Tips for cruising with a baby!

[lorenni]

My understanding is that the clubs have open house hours each day and that is when parents and younger children can enjoy the club areas together.

[cocinelle]

Fantastic thread - lots of great ideas for when we cruise on the Fantasy with our 13 month old in November! We were close to cancelling after discovering that he wouldn't be able to frolic in the pool - but am now thinking that it sounds like the most baby friendly holiday we could take! Plus the opportunity for some long overdue romantic meals with DBF! Hurrah!!

[DisMom1981]

Originally Posted by J&HSal

Anyone cruise lately have update on parents with infants as visitors at Oceaner's club? Friend just cruised in march and they said no parents except certain times.

We cruised in July on Fantasy. Open house at certain times for the first three days for kids and parents. Other than that registered kids only.

[DisneyWillow1975]

Just found this thread- thank you for the great tips! We'll be cruising with our 7 month-old twins on the Fantasy in March, and are trying to gather tips and start to organize ourselves!

[lesabrowning]

We cruised the Wonder in September and they had open house hours every day. Is it only the first three days on the new ships as a regular thing? Or is that maybe based upon how crowded the ship/clubs are on any particular cruise? We will be on the November 2, 2013 Fantasy cruise with our 11 year old and 13 month old daughters.

[Dasha Hermosilla]

For those of you with non-potty trained kids on the Fantasy, there is the Aqua Lab. It is a splash play place which I am pretty certain non toilet trained kids can frolic in. It is in Addition to the Nemo splash area. My 4 and 6 years olds both loved it!

[lesabrowning]

How crowded do these splash area get? They look like a lot of fun! I would think they would be pretty popular. Do the babies on board do ok in the splash areas along with all the bigger kids that also use them? It seems like they always point babies and toddlers to the splash areas, but I would imagine lots of older kiddos want to be there too : )

[DisMom1981]

Originally Posted by lesabrowning

How crowded do these splash area get? They look like a lot of fun! I would think they would be pretty popular. Do the babies on board do ok in the splash areas along with all the bigger kids that also use them? It seems like they always point babies and toddlers to the splash areas, but I would imagine lots of older kiddos want to be there too : )

I thought Aqua Lab was just for potty trained kids but I might be wrong. It was closed most of our trip in July. Nemo's Reef did get crowded with big kids during the day but my kids are early risers so we would be at the pool at breakfast time and have it pretty much to ourselves for a bit. Only problem is Nemo didn't open until 9 which was annoying since it was the only place for the diaper baby to swim/play.

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[lesabrowning]

Our diaper baby will just be 13 months on this next cruise and will not really care, but I bet there are many not yet potty trained kiddos who can actually swim that have a hard time with the no pool policy. LOL It would be nice if there was a place just for them where they did not have too much competition.

[Nikisha421]

I guess I need to read this entire tread I didn't know non potty trained babies weren't allowed in the pool... WHatttt???

[lesabrowning]

Originally Posted by Nikisha421

I guess I need to read this entire tread I didn't know non potty trained babies weren't allowed in the pool... WHatttt???

Oh, sorry! LOL But it is true, kiddos must be potty trained to go in the pools. Apparently this is a rule for all cruise ships. This includes the kids pool, even with swim diapers. You are not alone in your shock, I hear this all the time. Disney has Splash Zone areas for kids who are unable to use the pools and wear swim diapers.

[PlutosMom319]

We will be on the Dream with our 7 month old in a month and a half and I had started to panic and worry about all the little things. This thread has some great information and tips!! I just discovered this site a week ago and wish I had found it so much sooner!! I will definitely be checking back before we go to see if there is anything new posted.

Thank you!!

[tryin]

I was really worried about taking my newly turned 10 month old, but she had a blast! She loved the nursery and would try to jump out of my arms to get to the cast member she was most familiar with in the nursery. She loved the quiet, attention, pampering and feeding she received there. This is a baby that doesn't spend much time with strangers and was very stranger shy prior to cruise. We just returned yesterday, btw.

They provided a pack n play, but we didn't use it. She co-sleeps, so we just did that. The servers provided warm water and would fill her bottle for me with it. Although I didn't ask them to puree any food, they did offer, but I just let her eat some of the soft foods already on the menu.

We were on the Magic and the only issue we had were the tiny elevators if we were using our stroller. Many times I used my ergo, but for the times I needed the stroller, we would sometimes have to wait if the elevators were too full.

Our baby was actually the easiest one to cruise with. I took a 3yr old, 9yr old and 20yr old. The latter was the hardest

[k3chantal]

Originally Posted by Steven41782

Thanks for all the tips. I have a question... We have a toddler girl (our 1st child) who will be 19 months old when we cruise...and I know a lot can change over the next 5 months, but if we were to cruise right now, she wouldn't make it through dinner. She only sits in her high chair so long b4 she gets frustrated. So, do parent have to leave dinner early? Or should we put her in the nursery every night for dinner?

We were really hoping to put her in the nursery at times when we could enjoy the adult only areas, etc....

Can anybody tell me their experiences?

We traveled with our 18 month old on our first cruise and quickly learned once Flounder's hours were opened pass the 18 hours, to scheduled nursery time during dinner. Made everyone happier including the 18 month old.

[DisMom1981]

Originally Posted by Nikisha421

I guess I need to read this entire tread I didn't know non potty trained babies weren't allowed in the pool... WHatttt???

Don't panic. Nemo's Reef is fun for swim diaper kids and shaded!

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