Cruising with a 9 month old..

[MinnieMouse64]

When we leave on our cruise in November, our grandson will be 9 months old. What my daughter and I were wanting to know is about bringing baby food. Do they allow you bring it on the cruise with you in a carry-on or do we have to check it? We just have lots of questions about traveling with a 9 month old so any suggestions or helpful hints are appreciated. We already know about the nursery, so we are good there. Plus, we have already reserved a pack in play for the room, not really interested in a diaper gene.

 

[michellekcm]

The main dining rooms will provide puréed vegetables - you get to choose which ones. Your head server will come by your table each night and ask what you want for the baby the next night. So easy . Just one thing to check, the first night our puréed vegetables were very heavy on the salt. The head server was aghast, and made sure they weren't salted after that.

 

[lanejudy]

Yes, you are allowed to carry-on baby food -- prepackage, unopened, nothing homemade. DCL will not heat the food, so make sure it's something baby will eat either cold or room temp, or that you can warm with a cup of hot water.

As PP mentioned, DCL is also very accommodating with providing pureed foods as well.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Krs1300]

We are sailing in September and my daughter will be 9 months as well. I plan to bring one of these tubs as I just don't want to deal with trying to contain a slippery baby within regular bathtub.

http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-White-Hot-Inflatable-Duck/dp/B000066665

Definitely take a stroller and a baby carrier (if you have one).

 

[Quellman]

Consider bringing a brush and a small bottle of soap so you can clean any cups/utensils/snack items that you might need to clean. Though at 9 months you may be transitioning into a solid like food. By the diaper genie comment, it sounds like you might be cloth diapering, so be sure you know where the laundry room is! Consider lots of sunscreen as well.

I would also pack some toys and things that the baby is familiar with. I know our guy loved having his own things that he can focus on for a little while to distract himself from the extra stimulation in the environment.

What are your questions, we can't guess with what you want to know, only provide generalities.

 

[PandL]

We cruised with a 15 month old and yes you can bring your own food (checked or carried on) and you can also even take the sealed packages to the nursery if you prefer.

I have to say that I personally would NOT bring a stroller. If you babywear this is a much better option. It is crowded and the strollers won't be able to maneuver very well. We actually never travel with a stroller we find them to be more trouble than they are worth.

If they offer "toddler time" this would be such a great activity. It isn't anything too exciting but they bring out baby toys and it is in an enclosed space so it allows you to sit and your LO to just crawl and move around without having to worry about bigger kids running them over. It is also an excellent opportunity to meet other parents with similar aged littles. It was a really relaxing time for me and my hubs.

 

[MinnieMouse64]

We are sailing in September and my daughter will be 9 months as well. I plan to bring one of these tubs as I just don't want to deal with trying to contain a slippery baby within regular bathtub.

Yes, I have been looking at that same one. As cheap as they are I thought when we disembark the ship, just to leave it because we are flying back home that same day.

 

[MinnieMouse64]

Consider bringing a brush and a small bottle of soap so you can clean any cups/utensils/snack items that you might need to clean. Though at 9 months you may be transitioning into a solid like food. By the diaper genie comment, it sounds like you might be cloth diapering, so be sure you know where the laundry room is! Consider lots of sunscreen as well.

Yes, we said we needed to bring a small bottle of dish soap to wash cups/utensils items. And no my daughter uses Pampers, we find those little bags that smell like baby powder works just as well. Plus, they are so good about emptying the trash and cleaning the rooms so we thought it would be okay not to get the Diaper Gene. Yes, we want to find the laundry room, just in case we need to do a load of laundry. We have bought several of those trial packets of Tide to throw in our suitcase. We have bought some of those bibs that are plastic bibs so we can just wipe them down after he is done eating so we don't have all those dirty cloth bibs. I guess we don't have a lot of questions, but want to hear more about helpful hints from other people who have traveled with a baby around 9 months old. And yes, we plan to bring sunscreen.

 

[MinnieMouse64]

The main dining rooms will provide puréed vegetables - you get to choose which ones. Your head server will come by your table each night and ask what you want for the baby the next night. So easy . Just one thing to check, the first night our puréed vegetables were very heavy on the salt. The head server was aghast, and made sure they weren't salted after that.

Thanks for letting us know about the pureed vegetables. I didn't know DCL offered this service. And good to know know about telling them no salt. I just love this board and everyones knowledge.

 

[MinnieMouse64]

We cruised with a 15 month old and yes you can bring your own food (checked or carried on) and you can also even take the sealed packages to the nursery if you prefer.

I have to say that I personally would NOT bring a stroller. If you babywear this is a much better option. It is crowded and the strollers won't be able to maneuver very well. We actually never travel with a stroller we find them to be more trouble than they are worth.

Good to know that we can bring the baby food in our checked and carried on luggage. I think my daughter wants to bring the stroller due to traveling through the airport, so I guess we will bring one of those. But she does plan to bring her baby wear as well. Good thing we are flying Southwest, so we can check 2 bags for each ticketed passengers…LOL. And good thing this is only a 4 day cruise.

 

[Quellman]

Yes, we said we needed to bring a small bottle of dish soap to wash cups/utensils items. And no my daughter uses Pampers, we find those little bags that smell like baby powder works just as well. Plus, they are so good about emptying the trash and cleaning the rooms so we thought it would be okay not to get the Diaper Gene. Yes, we want to find the laundry room, just in case we need to do a load of laundry. We have bought several of those trial packets of Tide to throw in our suitcase. We have bought some of those bibs that are plastic bibs so we can just wipe them down after he is done eating so we don't have all those dirty cloth bibs. I guess we don't have a lot of questions, but want to hear more about helpful hints from other people who have traveled with a baby around 9 months old. And yes, we plan to bring sunscreen.

Great to hear. They empty the diaper genie multiple times throughout the day, so that was nice for us when we needed it.
We carried some of those arm and hammer bags with us when we were out and about so we weren't leaving dirty diapers everywhere, but stuck with the genie in the room.

You can request your stateroom host to keep your pack-n-play out during the day for naps if you like as well. It makes it easier I found. We had second seating and didn't have much issue squeezing in an extra nap so he'd make it so late.

Also, if they offer an open house time in the nursery take it! Usually in the morning from like 8-9. You can be in the space with them and enjoy the toys and things in a completely safe environment.

Also, if they are crawling well, look out for the diaper race!

Have a great trip!

 

[ajo]

Definitely do the Jack Jack diaper race. It is seriously so fun to watch the babies crawl to the finish line (or not, as was the case with several of the babies)!

 

[MinnieMouse64]

Definitely do the Jack Jack diaper race. It is seriously so fun to watch the babies crawl to the finish line (or not, as was the case with several of the babies)!

Do they do this on the Dream? This will be our 4th time and I never seen this.

 

[ajo]

Do they do this on the Dream? This will be our 4th time and I never seen this.

I've seen it on the Fantasy and Wonder, but both were 7 day cruises so maybe they just do it on the longer ones?

 

[MSPeeler]

Do they do this on the Dream? This will be our 4th time and I never seen this.

I'll have to look on my navigators, but I'm almost positive they had this on the dream!

 

[MinnieMouse64]

I'll have to look on my navigators, but I'm almost positive they had this on the dream!

If you don't mind, could you look at your navigator? Maybe I missed it due to not having a baby in diapers. Where do they do this at, in the nursery?

 

[heathrow42]

Here is a Navigator from the 4 day Dream on 5/12. It is the @SEA day and has the diaper dash in the morning. It is in the Lobby Atrium, deck 3 midship

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/wp-...s-Dream-4N-Bahamian-Day-4-At-Sea-20160512.pdf

 

[MSPeeler]

Here is a Navigator from the 4 day Dream on 5/12. It is the @SEA day and has the diaper dash in the morning. It is in the Lobby Atrium, deck 3 midship

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/wp-...s-Dream-4N-Bahamian-Day-4-At-Sea-20160512.pdf

Yep! That's it! I was watching from the balcony I just didn't know it was a Dosney thing lol

 

[PackYourPixieDust]

I would for sure bring a stroller. They'll want it for port and even moving around the ship. I would not suggest a full sized one. We always had a fancy umbrella.

We cruised with our son at 7 months (a different line) and 10 months on Disney.

For food we did a combination of jarred food that we brought and some of the food they provided. And I don't worry about the water now but we did worry when he was an infant so we also brought a case of water for us. We just brought a nearly empty carry on and then stopped at the store on the way to the port and got water and baby food. They we wheeled it on in the carry on.

They make disposable bibs that are so easy for travel. It is one more thing to pack but it's worth it. Also have her count the number of diapers she uses in a day, bring that many and then bring some extras. We also bring little pods for washing clothes mid cruise in case that is necessary. We also liked those disposable placemats that could be stuck on the table. At lunch and where there were table clothes we would use this since they aren't really eating off plates at this stage. At least I don't recall my kid doing that.

She should bring swim diapers because she can take the baby in the little splash pad on the ship.

Babyganics has an alcohol free hand sanitizer that we used then and still use. They have individually packed hand wipes, plus a foam liquid pump (including travel sizes that you can get from Amazon). We used that to wipe his hands after he'd crawl on the ground. And just before meals and stuff. We love it.

My son would get motion sick in the car so we also bought motionease for the cruises. It's a combination of essential oils used to prevent motion sickness. You just put it behind their ears.

My son wouldn't sleep at night in the stroller so that just meant that we missed the shows. They do show them on tv. We would keep him on his normal schedule in order to have a happier baby.

They can download on their phones a white noise app to make some background noise which will cover up little ship noises that might make it hard for the baby to sleep.

feel free to ask other questions. My kiddo is only 3 so his infant cruises are still fresh-ish in my mind!

 

[PackYourPixieDust]

One more thing. Also have her ask her pediatrician for dosing amounts for children's liquid benadryl (there might be an infant one, I don't recall.) and for an infant Advil or something. Then she should bring both of those. They won't necessarily have them on the ship if the baby does get sick or react to something, etc. we never needed if, but I liked knowing I had it.