Those Who Have Cruised with a Baby

[disney0210]

Some questions to those who have cruised with a baby.

1. How do you clean/sterilize bottles while on board? I have heard there is no microwave, and that an electric steamer is not allowed on board. I only have an electric steamer and microwaveable steam bags.

2. How do you warm milk in bottles?

3. Do you bring your stroller on board or do you just rent? I want to bring our own - not the big bulky ones, but the light kind for travelling. We also are bringing our Ergo baby carrier.

4. At Castaway Cay, do you bring your stroller down the ship with you or is there somewhere we could borrow something more apt for sand?

5. Baby is NOT okay to be in swim diapers in the ship's pools but is okay to be in swim diapers in the play fountain area AND the beach at Castaway Cay, correct?

5. At Nassau (or any port for that matter), I am going to assume we are allowed to bring out breast milk and bring breast milk back into the ship, right?

6. In the dining rooms, can we bring our small stroller inside and just have one of the dining chairs taken away? What do you do? Mama Bear is not ready to leave the baby with a babysitter just yet

Thanks very much! I know it's going to be a lot of work but we are excited to cruise Disney again with our DD11 and now, our new baby.

 

[lanejudy]

I haven't cruised with an infant but I can answer some of your questions below in red:

1. How do you clean/sterilize bottles while on board? I have heard there is no microwave, and that an electric steamer is not allowed on board. I only have an electric steamer and microwaveable steam bags.
I believe you can request a bottle sterilizer from Guest Services. Have it noted on your reservation along with a pack-n-play and diaper genie.


2. How do you warm milk in bottles?
You can also request a bottle warmer from Guest Service. Another option, what we did when DD was little, we'd request a cup of hot water from a waitress. You can request this from room service or get one from the drink station upstairs.


3. Do you bring your stroller on board or do you just rent? I want to bring our own - not the big bulky ones, but the light kind for travelling. We also are bringing our Ergo baby carrier.
Might depend what you want it for. The strollers available to borrow onboard are like CityMini's and more suited for port excursions rather than around the ship. For around the ship you'd want something fairly "minimal" (like a higher-end umbrella stroller that reclines).


4. At Castaway Cay, do you bring your stroller down the ship with you or is there somewhere we could borrow something more apt for sand?
I believe wagons are available to borrow -- first come first served. But if baby is little enough you might want the stroller.

5. Baby is NOT okay to be in swim diapers in the ship's pools but is okay to be in swim diapers in the play fountain area AND the beach at Castaway Cay, correct?
Health department regulations prohibit swim diapers from cruise ship pools. There are splash areas available for little ones.


5. At Nassau (or any port for that matter), I am going to assume we are allowed to bring out breast milk and bring breast milk back into the ship, right?
Good question. I don't believe Nassau has any particular concerns with food, but breast milk would be considered perishable and not allowed on/off the ship in general. Will you not be able to nurse while in port? I'd hate for you to meet a strict by-the-rules CM who makes you dump liquid gold.


6. In the dining rooms, can we bring our small stroller inside and just have one of the dining chairs taken away? What do you do? Mama Bear is not ready to leave the baby with a babysitter just yet
If it's not too crowded you can probably bring the stroller in. But in my recollection there wasn't much space between tables. Is baby is too young for a highchair?

Hopefully others will chime in as well.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[cajunprincess]

Some questions to those who have cruised with a baby.

1. How do you clean/sterilize bottles while on board? I have heard there is no microwave, and that an electric steamer is not allowed on board. I only have an electric steamer and microwaveable steam bags.

2. How do you warm milk in bottles?

3. Do you bring your stroller on board or do you just rent? I want to bring our own - not the big bulky ones, but the light kind for travelling. We also are bringing our Ergo baby carrier.

4. At Castaway Cay, do you bring your stroller down the ship with you or is there somewhere we could borrow something more apt for sand?

5. Baby is NOT okay to be in swim diapers in the ship's pools but is okay to be in swim diapers in the play fountain area AND the beach at Castaway Cay, correct?

5. At Nassau (or any port for that matter), I am going to assume we are allowed to bring out breast milk and bring breast milk back into the ship, right?

6. In the dining rooms, can we bring our small stroller inside and just have one of the dining chairs taken away? What do you do? Mama Bear is not ready to leave the baby with a babysitter just yet

Thanks very much! I know it's going to be a lot of work but we are excited to cruise Disney again with our DD11 and now, our new baby.

1. I just bring my own soap and bottle brush and set up an area in the bathroom to do it. My son is old enough where I didn't have to use a sterilizer.

2. I believe there is a limited number of milk warmers on board.

3. We brought our small lightweight one to have around the ship. It folded up nicely and went in the closet.

4. On Castaway Cay we used the wagons that were available. They also had a limited number of strollers available. I would say they were all gone by 10:30, though.

5. Sorry, can't help you here. I will have to say the security people didn't even make me take off my bag to scan since my DS was asleep in my arms. I almost wanted to say no, scan it! I'd prefer for them to scan everyone's things even if it was inconvenient for me.

6. I think I saw people with a stroller doing this same thing in the dining rooms.

 

[jkmommy]

Some questions to those who have cruised with a baby. 1. How do you clean/sterilize bottles while on board? I have heard there is no microwave, and that an electric steamer is not allowed on board. I only have an electric steamer and microwaveable steam bags. 2. How do you warm milk in bottles? 3. Do you bring your stroller on board or do you just rent? I want to bring our own - not the big bulky ones, but the light kind for travelling. We also are bringing our Ergo baby carrier. 4. At Castaway Cay, do you bring your stroller down the ship with you or is there somewhere we could borrow something more apt for sand? 5. Baby is NOT okay to be in swim diapers in the ship's pools but is okay to be in swim diapers in the play fountain area AND the beach at Castaway Cay, correct? 5. At Nassau (or any port for that matter), I am going to assume we are allowed to bring out breast milk and bring breast milk back into the ship, right? 6. In the dining rooms, can we bring our small stroller inside and just have one of the dining chairs taken away? What do you do? Mama Bear is not ready to leave the baby with a babysitter just yet Thanks very much! I know it's going to be a lot of work but we are excited to cruise Disney again with our DD11 and now, our new baby.

We were just on a 4 night Dream cruise with our 6 month old daughter. She is exclusively breastfed so we didn't have to deal with bottles or taking milk on or off the ship, but we did bring our own compact umbrella stroller and we did bring it to the dining room every night. She sat in a high chair and the stroller was tucked behind our table.
We also took our stroller to Castaway Cay just for the ease of getting off the ship and to the beach. She couldn't go in the pools with her swim diaper but she loved Nemo's Reef (as did her 3.5 year old brother) and she did dip her toes in the ocean at Castaway.
Honestly, a cruise is probably the easiest vacation you can ask for with an infant. Both of my kids cruised as babies and it went off without a hitch.

 

[HillCrew]

We cruised this last spring with our 6 month old son. We packed an umbrella stroller that had a shade cover and storage underneath. It collapsed and fit nicely under the bed right next to suitcases. We borrowed the sterilizer and bottle warmer which both required a deposit you get back. The sterilizer never worked for us and they didn't have any more so we had to wash it in the sink. I would see if you could request those items in advance so they have enough for you. For CC, we had the baby ride in their siblings lap in one of the provided wagons out to the beach but some people might not be comfortable with that.

 

[disney0210]

We cruised this last spring with our 6 month old son. We packed an umbrella stroller that had a shade cover and storage underneath. It collapsed and fit nicely under the bed right next to suitcases. We borrowed the sterilizer and bottle warmer which both required a deposit you get back. The sterilizer never worked for us and they didn't have any more so we had to wash it in the sink. I would see if you could request those items in advance so they have enough for you. For CC, we had the baby ride in their siblings lap in one of the provided wagons out to the beach but some people might not be comfortable with that.

They wouldn't hold them in advance - I called them and was told it's first come first served at Guest Services.

We will bring our Maclaren stroller as it is lightweight. It seems we won't need our stroller system anyway because we won't need a carseat at the Discover Atlantis tour.

Thanks for everyone's help!