cruising w/ 9 month old or 14 month old "easier"

[smiths02]

I would say 9 months would have been easier with my older son.
My daughter walked at 9.5 months, though, so she was mobile AND still needed to worry about baby food and formula/breastmilk.
My younger son didn't walk until nearer 15 months (he walked at the first PT appt to see what was up!)...so he also was easier at 14 months because he still wasn't walking and again he could drink regular milk and eat food.

 

[cscream13]

Completely agree with 9 months being easier! Still very portable at that age either by stroller or baby carrier., and they can't run off or get into trouble as easily Whether breastfeeding, bottle-feeding and/or feeding pureed food, I think that stage is typically easier than the cutting up small food stage, and they still nap almost anywhere. Less potential for tantrums at that age, too. You're paying nursery fees if you want adult-only time at either age -- and I dont think there are really more or less activities at either age. Its really how easy it is on you, and for us, our kids have been much easier as babies than as toddlers.

 

[Jess_S]

I vote for 14 months. I took my son on his first DCL cruise at 20 months and it was great. He was big enough to enjoy seeing characters, open house at kids clubs, etc. At 9 months, he wouldn't really have enjoyed what was going on. His enjoyment made the work of travelling with a small kid worth it for me.

Your mileage on enjoyment at 14 months may vary. We took my son to Disneyland at 12 months and he was afraid of the characters, but still enjoyed the decorations and stimulation. By 20 months, he actively wanted to meet Mickey and loved dancing to the live music around the ship. My son also got progressively easier and more fun from newborn through about 2.5 years (when he started saying "no" to everything and refusing to nap), so my opinions are obviously shaped by that. He's 4.5 now and pretty much past the no phase, so we're back to things getting easier again finally.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

One thing to add is that different babies, even siblings are very different. You say you have one child, who will be 4, so is probably about 2 now. So naturally, you might think (even subconsciously) in terms of your current child at that age. But of course, they can be VERY different. My second son (17 months younger than his brother) was very different in sleep habits. For the first two years of his life, he only got a "full" night's sleep (say 8 hours) 3 times. Most nights it was 5 or 6 or less, for two full years. After that, his sleep improved. Judging from the first child, I NEVER would have expected that.

I'm not saying that will happen to you, I'm just giving an example. And as it happens, we did decide to take him on a few big vacations at that age anyway, but if I felt that an expensive vacation would be ruined if I couldn't get a full night's sleep, I would have had to change my plans.

The main message is to be prepared to enjoy the vacation in terms of what is possible depending on your new child's behaviors, not based on what you might have been expecting.

If you keep an open mind, I'm sure you'll have a good trip.