Tell me about cruising with an infant..

Halloween Baby

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 26, 2009
We're hoping to get pregnant in the next couple months which would put the baby somewhere between 4 and 6 months for our November 2015 cruise on the Wonder. Could you tell me how cruising with this age group is?? I know the baby can't use the pool, which isn't a big deal considering how young he or she will be. What about everything else??

TIA!!
Maureen
 
We've seen many people cruising with infants/very young children and they seem to do O.K.

Infants require 100% full-time care, which will not allow mom & dad any real "relaxation" time on the cruise. You won't be able to enjoy the adults-only areas, will need to juggle baby while trying to eat in the MDRs and/or buggets, and likely won't get alot of sleep. That being said, if it was me, I would likely leave my infant home with grandma & grandpa if I had that option available to me. JMHO
 
Went to DL with my grandson last year and felt 5 months was the perfect age to travel with an infant. He pretty much stayed where you put him, breastfed so food wasn't an issue, frontpack was great for him even for pnaps, etc. He went with us cruising at 10 months and it was great too. He was a late walker, still nursing but starting to eat food, and loved being on the ship even better than in the parks after the cruise (late August, too hot, loved the hotel room). We found the room a little crowded with 3 adults, the baby, the diaper genie and the pack n play DCL provided but the stateroom host made up the sofabed with a rail and he was very happy with that as his bed. We were in an oceanview family room on the Dream. He loved sitting in the big window. We booked him into the nursery for meals in the MDR and he was fine there and usually asleep when we picked him up. Breakfast and lunch he was happy with a roll and yogurt and the great fruit they always have on board. I say "Go for it!" and good luck.:love:
 
P.S. Taking a grandmother along is a really good idea as I was happy to stay with the baby at night and allow my DD and DSIL to enjoy some night life on the ship.:cool1:
 


here's what I know about infants (i'm pretty old and have experience with children. grandkids, etc)...


WAAAAAH WAAAAAAH WAAAAH!
:rotfl:

now, add colic to the mix and: oh boy!! :scared1:
 
My daughter is now 2 (just turned) and she's been on 3 cruises already...all on disney. Her first was at around the 4 month age.

We didn't take grandparents, we didn't take any babysitter. We spent a ton of time together. You'd be surprised how doing the same activities that you do at home on a ship make it feel special and different. We sunbathed together on the deck with water spritzes and we enjoyed sits out on the veranda.

We would put her to sleep and then order room service and watch a movie in bed together.

I don't totally disagree with the posts before me, but the cruise wasn't a let me enjoy the spaces type deal, it was much more let me and my family enjoy this cruise together. During naps, my wife would go to the spa for a bit...but overall we just enjoyed being together on a ship and it was a blast!!!
 
We took our DD last year on the Fantasy, she was 5.5 months at the time. Some background on her, DD wasn't on solids yet and she was sleeping through the night - 9ish to 7ish. We enjoyed the family time, got great pictures and overall enjoyed our trip.

We utilized the nursery several times so DH and I could have dinner at Palo and an afternoon at the adult pool. The Fantasy has a great place on deck 12 that is quiet and shaded so that's where we hung out in the afternoons, DD would take her nap on DH's chest. DD LOVED Nemo's reef the splashy area for LO's in swim diapers. DD enjoyed the nursery as they had exersaucers, her favorite toy at the time.

We tried taking her to the nursery before dinner as we had late seating hoping that she would sleep there, but that didn't work for us. We took her to dinner and she either sat on my lap or in the stroller next to me.

We discovered that DD wouldn't go to sleep until we turned out all the lights in the stateroom and we were quiet. Like most kids on vacation she went to bed late and slept late (YEA!). We used the Babies Travel Lite service so the formula and diapers were waiting for us in the stateroom. We flew down the day before and spent the night at WDW to make it easier for DD.

DD likes to be worn in her Ergo baby carrier so we used that frequently for walking around the ship, going ashore, and going through the airport.

We hadn't used alot of the adults only spaces on our 3 previous cruises so it wasn't much of a change for us to not be able to use those spaces. We did put DD in the nursery so we could have an afternoon at Satellite Falls and a morning at Serenity Bay on CC. It was weird not having DD around.

If I were to do it again I would have waited until DD was at least a year because by then she was crawling and on solid food so less stuff to take along. Now that she is walking she would have a blast being able to explore Nemo's reef and climb all the stairs.
 


Was the Babies Travel Lite service worth it? Debating on whether or not we want to use them or just bring our own stuff.
 
Was the Babies Travel Lite service worth it? Debating on whether or not we want to use them or just bring our own stuff.

I'd say it depends on if you're flying before or not. My DW and I looked at the pricing and the savings in bringing one additional large suitcase with us as we were driving a short distance from our house to the Galveston port mad the Travel Lite unattractive. There was a large storage cabinet that all of the diapers, wipes, milk that doesn't require refrigeration, etc fit into. If we had been flying in, having one less large bag would probably have pushed us to using Travel Lite.

We 1st traveled when our DD#1 was 17 months old, and she had experienced Mother's Day out already for several months so had no issue playing in the nursery. The counselers are great, and you can look through some glass windows and see that they are constantly interacting with the children.

It was funny that at close to 2 years of age, she didn't want to go to the nursery as much b/c she preferred being with us, and thus, we took her to more of the live shows, etc. That being said remembering back to 6 months of age, I think you'll be able to utilize the nursery quite a bit without stranger anxiety - especially around normal sleep / nap times.

We also enjoyed the afternoon nap of getting a chance to hang out with each other in the room while our DD#1 slept behind the curtain. One of us would go get a specialty drink, and we'd read, play on our i-pads, etc. My DW brought a small speaker that plugged into her i-phone, and we played orchestral lullaby music to help our DD#1 fall sleep without distraction.

We didn't travel with grandparents and at 6 months, my DW wouldn't have left our DD#1 with the grandparents.

Is it still work making sure the little ones eat at breakfast, lunch, dinner; watching & entertaining them...of course. Does it feel like a vacation where you get to relax...absolutely!

Note on another cruise website, there is a forum for babies / toddlers on cruises with lot's of great tips.
 
Speaking from experience, getting pregnant on a time table is not always a sure thing. Keep in mind, especially if your cruise is already booked, infants must be at least 12 weeks old to cruise.

We saw a baby on our cruise that was at least 5 months old and she got a lot of attention by the characters and crew members.
 
DH and I cruised on DCL fir the first time last year with our then-6 month old DS. No helpers or babysitters, just us first-time parents and we LOVED it. The nursery got know our son very quickly and loved doting on him, which gave us some free time on a few days to have a special-adult only brunch at Remy, get some pool time one afternoon and even take a few trips on the AquaDuck one night before we picked up after dinner. 6 months was a great age because he was mostly sleeping through the night, but still stayed where you put him and happy to be carried around in the Baby Bjorn.... that being said, I can see how it would have been a lot more difficult a few months later once he was crawling and wasn't content to just be held, or a few months earlier, when he was needing to eat and nap almost constantly.

We used Babies Travel Lite and were so happy we did. A lot of products were not much more expensive than what we buy at home, and we saved a lot of airport hassle of not having to carry extra baggage.

If you have specific questions, I'm happy to answer! I was very skeptical when we booked the trip, but am so happy we did. It was a great first family vacation!
 
Was the Babies Travel Lite service worth it? Debating on whether or not we want to use them or just bring our own stuff.

Babies Travel Lite was worth it to us as we were flying from KY and not renting a car in Orlando. I only ordered a box of diapers and a container of formula so the cost was reasonable. I brought the wipes, swim diapers, and rice cereal with me. When it was time to place my order, I knew how much formula DD took in a day and about how many diapers she went through in a day so we didn't run out.

The CM loved seeing DD and she wasn't scared of any of the characters. She gave them all a big smile and was fascinated by Mickey and Minnie.
 
We cruised for our very first time with dcl when our DD was 3 mos old. Everything was wonderful! We had set up a little nursery time before our cruise for Palo and shore excursions where she could not come. We ended up adding nursery time for our dinner time, as well. We expected to pretty much have her with us at all times, but with her visits to the nursery she got to play in the exersaucer or bouncy seat and have a nap in a real crib; rather than being carried, riding in her stroller and napping in a pak n play. It ended up being a special break for her, too. We showed up many times to get her and she was being held in the arms of a princess. Priceless!

Enjoy an awesome cruise with you baby to be!

Marni
 
Just something to think about, but what if your baby is high maintenance, more so than the average infant? I bring this up because we were in a similar situation 11 years ago.

DH's sister was getting married in Cozumel during a cruise the entire family was scheduled to be on. I got pregnant right away after we started trying. That meant our baby would be about 5 months on the cruise. We still planned on going, especially since there would be a lot of family around to help us.

The first 3 months of DD's life were the most stressful and exhausting time of my life. She never slept. Her naps were no more than 20 minutes and she normally got around 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night, none consecutive. She was very fussy and agitated, probably from lack of sleep. No one could console her but me. We waited as long as we could, but DH ended up going alone. We cancelled my reservation because there was no way we could take DD on a cruise. She was a little better at 5 months, but we had to cancel early enough to get 100% of our money back.

I have never regretted canceling because I know DH and I (and the people around us) would've been miserable. Even at 5 months she was still fussy but I had a much easier time consoling her at home than I would have on a cruise.

I realize my experience might not be the norm, but you never know what personality your baby will have. I would suggest leaving the baby home with grandparents or another trusted person.
 
We took our 2 kids in February - DD was just shy of 3 and DS was 8 mths old. We utilized the nursery once since he couldn't sit for shows but DS was easy with the shows.

Overall it was easy peasy on DCL............they were pretty good at dinner time as well.

We are headed back in Sept this year DD will be 3.5 and DS will now be around 15 mths so we will see how this one goes.
 
We have cruised on Disney with a 5 month old and Norwegian with an 11 month old. 5 months was A LOT easier for us that 11 months. I cannot recommend 11 months, even though at 5 months, we had a 2.5 year old to deal with as well and even though he wasn't sleeping through the night. Especially if you can have breastfeeding down by 5 months and don't start solids by that age, it's not too difficult, though of course, you must temper your expectations of the nightlife, movie theaters, etc. As far as dinner goes, my 5 month old nursed himself to sleep every night during dinner (under a nursing cover), and dinner was actually a piece of cake. Our (female) assistant server even cut my food for me one or two nights since I was always eating with one hand. I mean, they do it for the kids, why not me? :rotfl:

Take advantage of the nursery. A couple of hours every other day will do wonders for you. Also, switch off baby care duties so you can each do something solo every day that's a little more relaxing.

It's true that you can't know your baby's temperament so early, and your own personalities don't necessarily predict your baby's. Both my kids were colicky and would have been disastrous any early than 5 months, but 5 months was a magic age for both of them.
 
I recently cruised on the Dream with a 3 yo and a just-turned 5 month old.

My only regret was not reading about dressing the baby up as a parrot for pirate night until after we returned.

I spent a lot of time nursing on the veranda (under a cover) and enjoying the weather/view.

The dining room was loud for the baby, but we rarely go out to eat at home so none of us were used to it. I'm going to make some nursery reservations next time.

I used the space diapers took up on the way there to have space for souvenirs on the way home.

I was shocked when the server offered to cut my food for me (which I told him wasn't necessary and he did anyway).

It depends what you want to get out of the vacation. Family time and change of location, great. Shows, swimming, fine dining, and adult-only time - not so much... If it was a once in a lifetime trip I'd wait until they're older.
 
And another potential negative - seasickness. I didn't want to take anything while nursing.

I stocked up on ginger pops, ginger gum (most effective but not long lasting), prego pops and sea bands.

I went to bed early the first night and was feeling it quite a bit the last night also. Other than the first and last night I was fine.
 

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