Cruising with a 1 year old.....

garcia2000

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
In January we will be talking our second Disney cruise with our 12 year old DD but our first with our 1 year old DS ( 7 months now). We are taking the 7 night western Caribbean. What are some must pack items? What should we leave at home? Excursion ideas? Thanks for any info!!!!
 
My husband forgot my baby's shoes....so I say shoes :rotfl: (especially when they wanna toddle/walk to see the characters).

Here's my list for my 14month old for our last cruise. Keep in mind you can also order stuff from Babies Travel Lite. My baby also never ate any of the purees we brought, but I brought some anyway. She ended up eating all the pasta they gave her (plain, no butter).

1 First Aid Kit
1 ear thermometer
1 children's benedryl
1 baby motrin
1 baby tylenol
1 stroller rain shade
1 stroller sun shade
1 umbrella stroller
Day diapers
Night diapers
Diaper cream
Neosporin
Antifungal cream
Aquaphor
Aveeno baby wash
Baby sunblock (we use California Baby)
Baby nose-sucker
Clothes
Bottles
Formula (depends on what your baby eats, I guess)
 
As far as excursions go...you can leave the baby in the nursery (or older kids in the Clubs) while you get off the ship in port. So, when looking at your choices, keep that in mind. You don't necessarily have to choose from the limited selection of excursions you can do with an infant. We didn't learn this until half way through our 2nd cruise.

Adding to the above list, consider taking:

Bottles/sippy cups
Bottle Brush
Small container of dish soap
Wetbags or Large Ziplock bags for wet clothes
Baby water shoes for the splash pad

We brought a portable baby swing for our daughter at 5 and 10 months, although at 10 months she was fast outgrowing it. But it gave us another place to contain her and to let nap. You might consider that or a fold-flat bouncer.
 


Personally I think baby travel lite is WAY over priced. I brought throw away items like spoons,fork, sippy cups, bibs, and containers for snacks. I got all the throw away items at babies r us and you can always google for coupons.
Here was my list

My carry on bag:
Extra dinner clothes
Shoes
Swim diaper
Regular diaper
Diaper rash cream
Saline for nose
Bugger sucker
Wipes
No tears head to toe wash( few travel sizes)
Sunblock
Thermometer
Children's Motrin
Syringe to give Motrin
Any personal medication for child
Travel sunblock
Oracle invade of teething
Water shoes
Bathing suit

Suitcase:
Nail clippers
Tooth brush
non fluoride tooth paste
Diapers
Wipes
Swimming diapers
Bathing suit
Socks for tennis shoes
Socks for dinner attire
Dinner Shoes
Dress shoes
Dinner clothes
Play clothes
Pjs
Hat for beach
Umbrella stroller
Sippy cups
Bibs
Containers

Now I like to pack in case of any emergency or anything unexpected comes up. Also when you bring your own items you may feel like you over packed but you won't be bringing any of the throw away items, or most of the diapers and wipes back. Also when you get onboard ask your room attendant for a diaper genie because they have them for you to use free of charge, as well as a pack and play. The staff sets everything up for you!
 
We always bring a sippy cup and bib, along with a sponge and dish soap to wash them. I just wash them out at the end of each day in the bathroom sink.

Last time, I brought WAY more snacks than I needed for my kids. Partly this is because we ate on the ship two days that we had planned to be in port. Part of is also that they were so busy they didn't ask for snacks as often as they do at home. The last part is that there were more things available on the ship than I expected. My point is, bring a few, but don't go crazy.

Bring more diapers and wipes than you think you'll need. This is definitely something I believe is better to have too many than too few.

Don't bring a ton of toys or things for entertainment. They will love just exploring the room and the ship.

Make sure you bring a favorite blanket, teddy bear, or lovey if they have one they sleep with.

Pack one or two extra outfits at most. If something gets spilled on, you can either re-wear a previous days' clothes or do one load of laundry on the ship.

Toothbrush, toothpaste, comb/brush, baby soap/shampoo, infant tylenol and motrin, bandaids, sunscreen, nail clippers and lotion if needed.

Don't go crazy on shoes either. Two or three is enough: sandals for the beach, tennis shoes, and possibly a pair for dinner (I forget now if you said it's a boy or a girl. My son wears his tennis shoes to dinner no matter the dress code. We brought one pair of cuter shoes for my daughter to wear with her dresses to dinner).

You don't need to bring a stroller. Guest services has some that you can rent for the duration of your trip (Peg Peregos). They fold up and fit underneath the bed so they don't take up extra space in your room. If you're a baby-wearer, you may want your carrier.

We also bring a small DVD player and let them watch movies during dinner. It helps them get through the long meals.
 


Grandparents!!! We took my son when he was a year and it was wonderful! I was worried what others would say about having a lil one in the dining room (we were on RC) but everyone around us LOVED him! Our waiter brought his night time bottle on a silver platter! :rotfl: We did take 2 sets of grandparents too!
We took a stroller with a shade and we took him with us everywhere. We did a Eastern Caribbean cruise so our excursions were different. Just try to relax and let him enjoy it. Oh we had a large porthole that he loved to sit by/in and just watch the boats in port or just watch the ocean! ;)
 
We have travelled/cruised with babies and toddlers many times, As far as excursions, we just find a nice beach and grab a taxi (I check prices ahead of time as usually taxis are negotiable and I don't want to overpay.) We go early and arrange for the taxi to pick us up at a certain time.

Have fun!
 
First of all, do not rely on the DCL strollers. I was on board by noon and guest services told me they had all been borrowed. He also looked at me like I was crazy to expect anything else. Besides, you'll need an umbrella stroller for the airport anyway. They do have plenty awesome strollers and wagons at CC to help you move over sand.

I gerryrigged an over the door shoe hanger to a DCL hanger with zip ties and hung it on the hook outside the bathroom to hold all of the items other posters have suggested bringing. Also,clothes pins and swim diapers.

Finally, my best suggestion is to book your nursery hours over your dinner time. We dropped our daughter at the nursery bathed and in pjs every night. They fed her and played with her and I got a real vacation - dinner in peace! Some nights we picked her up and brought her down for dessert.
 
Cruised when our DD was 1. Had a great time.

She was still drinking warm milk in the morning at the time. Had not moved to cold. Each morning we would order a carafe of warm milk from room service, and it came warm, not hot. perfect. We brought our own sippy cups for her.

I really recommend a verandah for this age. That way during nap time you can sit outside.

It will be a different cruise as you have to go according the young ones schedule, but you can still have a great time. The servers in the DR really dotted over her. Keeping her happy so my wife and I could eat.
 
Agree with the recommendations on a verandah and umbrella stroller.

We cruised when DS was 18 months. Something about travel or the different food gave him diarrhea, and we ran out of diaper wipes, rash cream, and nearly out of diapers. Pack PLENTY of these. Pack whatever rash cream works for your little one, too, potentially a prescription version, because adapting to whatever we could find while traveling did not work. Changes to diet and routine can mean toileting changes.

Also, not an issue on DCL, but we were sailing with RCI and there was no self-service laundry available, and RCI charged full adult laundry charges for every one of DS's little clothing items. We needed laundry because of some bathroom issues, and ended up paying the full cost to launder a pair of men's shorts when DS's little shorts would fit in your hand. Really made me mad.

Anyway, plan on doing laundry.

We also brought disposable bibs, utensils, and sippy cups.
 
Going to follow along with this thread. Our first cruise wasn't until my youngest was 10, but plan to cruise with my grandson who will be 2 1/2 next year. I know all of this won't apply, but I'm going to use it to start making my daughter a packing list.
 
instead of a stroller might I instead plug for a Bjorn or a ErgoBaby. we brought one for a 13 month old and it was invaluable. i wore it on my back, handsfree and we did a ton of walking excursions, etc. brought baby to the Turtle Farm and the ruins of Costa Maya. Ergobaby, water, packaged crackers/snacks, diapers/wipes, baby motrin. done deal. bring what you need, but do travel light. less to carry , less to keep track of. we did bring pre-packaged milk - like nonrefrigerated juice boxes full of whole milk.
 
instead of a stroller might I instead plug for a Bjorn or a ErgoBaby. we brought one for a 13 month old and it was invaluable. i wore it on my back, handsfree and we did a ton of walking excursions, etc. brought baby to the Turtle Farm and the ruins of Costa Maya. Ergobaby, water, packaged crackers/snacks, diapers/wipes, baby motrin. done deal. bring what you need, but do travel light. less to carry , less to keep track of. we did bring pre-packaged milk - like nonrefrigerated juice boxes full of whole milk.

If you babywear, then definitely bring a carrier...but I'd still bring the stroller. My daughter got tired of being in the Ergo at 12 months. Plus, with the stroller you can take her to dinner and she can go to sleep, not as easy in a sling. ;)
 

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