Even more baby questions ...

[chllywlly911]

We will be sailing in June on the Magic with our DD who will be 18 months old...
We finally got main seating (so relieved)

What time do you think we should book the nursery in the evenings for? I was thinking 6:30 - 8 so she can eat with us and then I'll walk her to the nursery and return for the rest of dinner. Does that seem good, or is dinner quick enough that she will sit through it all? Or should I just schedule her to be in the nursery for the whole dinner??

I read a few places not to bring a stroller, they are too big, travel with an umbrella stroller ... why/how are they too big and for what? I feel like brining the stroller with me that reclines she may fall asleep and allow us to walk around and get a little night life in perhaps after dinner (or no?).

Someone a few threads ago asked about utensils ... but what about cups at dinner? should I plan to bring my sippy cups to dinner, or do they have children's cups with lids at dinner?

 

[RedxPanda]

Haven't cruised with DD yet. She will be 15 months when we cruise in may.

I am planning on bringing 2 sippy cups. One for milk and one for water. I figure we'll need them in port when we are on the go. Even if th MDR has cups with lids they won't be secure enough to withstand being thrown from the dinner table!

I am concerned about the length of dinner as well. The courses will come out in somewhat quick succession that I am hoping the constant stream of new food will keep her occupied. Or we will bring which ever stroller we bring along to dinner incase she needs to lay down while we finish eating. I am hoping an afternoon nap right before dinner will negate the need for any of this. Hopefully our days will be tiring enough that she will NEED the nap.

For strollers, we are either bringing our umbrella that reclines or we will try to borrow one of the ship strollers. We don't plan on using it much on board. Just for emergency naps during meals and in port. Maneuvering a stroller around Tight spaces like hallways and stairs/elevators sounds like a complete nightmare. We will keep the stroller closed onboard as much as possible as we move about the ship and open it as necessary when we get to our destination or an open space.

 

[thedonduck]

I'll do my best to answer. My DS was 14 weeks on his first cruise and 13 months on his second, so not quite as old but I will still help out with what I can!

We will be sailing in June on the Magic with our DD who will be 18 months old...
We finally got main seating (so relieved) We had late seating, so again take this as you may

What time do you think we should book the nursery in the evenings for? I was thinking 6:30 - 8 so she can eat with us and then I'll walk her to the nursery and return for the rest of dinner.We dropped him off before dinner (like 15 mins before seating time) and picked him up around dessert or just after. I think we reserved 1.5 hours Does that seem good, or is dinner quick enough that she will sit through it all? My DS is now 20 months and I honestly don't see him making it through dinner. I would guess he would last about 45 mins or so and he is actually very good at sitting through dinners in a nice restaurant. Or should I just schedule her to be in the nursery for the whole dinner?? Up to you and how you think she will do. We picked him up after we ordered our dessert, someone would just run upstairs and grab him and by the time they got back dessert would be arriving.


I read a few places not to bring a stroller, they are too big, travel with an umbrella stroller ... why/how are they too big and for what? I feel like brining the stroller with me that reclines she may fall asleep and allow us to walk around and get a little night life in perhaps after dinner (or no?).
We have brought our larger umbrella stroller (it reclines some, but not flat like a travel system) on our first cruise. It worked out great. Our 2nd my DH forgot to put it in the car before we left for the airport so it was a lot of work to get everything we needed on to the plane, but it was fine. We borrowed a stroller from Guest Services on the ship for our cruise and those are larger strollers. They worked great and it fit under our bed when we weren't using it. I don't think our travel system or anything that size will fit through the doorways of the cabins. I know the ones we borrowed on the ship just barely fit through and most of the time we took DS and folded it down before we entered our cabin because it was such a tight squeeze. Maybe measure yours and see how tight of a squeeze it is to get it through the smaller doorways

Someone a few threads ago asked about utensils ... but what about cups at dinner? should I plan to bring my sippy cups to dinner, or do they have children's cups with lids at dinner? We brought two sippies with us. They do have cups with lids, but they are really just the coffee cups with the coffee lids on them. As far as utensils, we did bring a few of those cheap toss and go ones from Target. We figured if needed to ditch some space I wouldn't care if I threw away a few spoons/forks that cost about $2.

Like I said, our DS was a bit younger than yours will be, but that is what we did. Good luck and have fun. We have loved cruising with our son and can't wait to get our DD on soon!