Cruising with an infant Questions

[CruisingSheryl]

Our family will be taking our first Disney Cruise December 20 in the Western Carribbean for 7 days.

Since we have a six month old son, we have some questions as follows:


What kind of crib do they have?
We were told it is a Pack and Play. Is that true?

If it is a Pack and Play, does it have a mobile?

If it is not a Pack and Play, does it have bumpers?

Is there a refrigerator in the room?
If not, how do you keep formula and other food cool?

Is there an appliance in the room to heat the water for the infant?

Can you get bottled water for the infant?

Any recommendations how to sterlize bottles?


Any recommendations for excursions that you can do with an infant?


How far in advance do you have to book the babysitters?

In general, how does it work with babysitters?


Thank for all of your help!

 

[CamColt]

Welcome to the Dis!!!

We cruised with an 8 month old but it was only the 3 day cruise.

Yes it is a pack N play, but no there isnt a mobile.

There is a small "refrigerator" in the room, but some people have reported it not working too well. We never had any problems with ours on 2 cruises, but we may have been lucky.

We used the ready to use, nursette bottles(like the ones you get in the hospital). While they were a little pricier than the formula we made at home(the concentrate or powder), it was well worth not having to mix, measure, keep cool, warm up, etc... We just popped a nipple on the bottle and it was ready. I kept the dirty nipples in a zip lock and when we returned to the room I would wash them with detergent that I brought with us.

You can buy bottled water on the ship or you can bring it with you.

Cant help on the excursions or Flounders.

Good luck & enjoy your cruise.

 

[kykaki]

Hi;
I just posted some of the same questions. We will be travelling with 2 -18 month olds. I have the same excursions, flounders, etc... questions. I will watch your thread and maybe I'll get answers from you. I can tell you that you will enjoy your cruise, since this is our second Disney cruise. Good luck. Mary

 

[DisneyGator01]

not sure about the pack and play question...

THe fridge in the rooms isn't really a fridge, but a beverage cooler. It's main design is to keep beverages cool--so it's not going to keep things from spoiling. It's not very cold, and a lot of people assume it's a real fridge, so they think its broken because stuff doesn't get super cold, or chill very fast.. but in reality it's working just as it should.

I am 99.9999% sure that if you have an infant or dietary needs, they can switch the beverage cooler for a actual fridge. I would probably call ahead, or I guess you tell them at check in.

If I am wrong, hopefully someone will correct me

 

[CanadianCruiser]

The coolers (mini-bars) must be like the ones that you see in some hotels that run on an ammonia type chemical rather than freon. These tend to be less efficient, and you really can't crank them up to get them really cold quickly. I think maybe they are more quiet running and consume less power so that's why they are used. Also, they probably fit the purpose of keeping drinks cool rather than preserving food.

If these are the same "fridges" I am thinking of, we usually store some food in them for short term purposes (overnight) without a problem. I wouldn't depend on them to keep a sandwich fresh for much longer than that.

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by CamColt
4We used the ready to use, nursette bottles(like the ones you get in the hospital). While they were a little pricier than the formula we made at home(the concentrate or powder), it was well worth not having to mix, measure, keep cool, warm up, etc... We just popped a nipple on the bottle and it was ready. I kept the dirty nipples in a zip lock and when we returned to the room I would wash them with detergent that I brought with us.

I used the nursettes a lot with my daughter, especially when we traveled but I also used the disposible nipples with it so use it once and toss the whole thing out....I bought most of them off Ebay! The nipples and caps come in individual sealed packs so there is no washing or boiling!
Flounders has limited hours during the day, when you get on board the first day you can go sign up for I think it is 3 time slots and the rest are on a if space is open basis. It was 6.00 a hour when we went lat year with a 2 hour minimum.
Disney themselves don't recommend that you store anything that can spoil in their so called fridges...if you need it for medication they will deliver a real fridge to your room for that but I don't know about baby formula. There is nothing in the room to heat the formula. I just used to leave the nursettes out unopened and room temp is fine for those. If you don't have those you can use the bottles with the bags in them because I don't know what you would do to sterilize them if you are still doing that with bottles.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Any recommendations how to sterlize bottles?

Don't bother trying. Take along a bottle drying rack (you can pick one up at Wal-Mart for about 5 bucks I think), some dish soap, and a bottle brush (many of the drying racks come with a brush), and just clean the bottles very well using the bathroom sink. (Note, the bottles dry very quickly in the air-conditioned cabins)

I'll bet that if you check with your PED, they will agree that your child can go a week with bottles that are cleaned without being sterilized.

 

[ChattyKathy]

when I had traveled a cruise, I had heard the water onboard wasn't so swift...( am not sure this is still true or not)
So I had opted and took my own bottled water and premade formula. Just like Camcolt mentioned; it is pricier but you wont be sorry.Take your own sterilized nipples from home. It was better ~ when your baby is needing a bottle, you just pop the nipple onto the bottle and voila!!
I kept her in the bed with me, didn't use the pack and play because the cabin is so small and I personally thought it was chilly. I'm weird, I don't care for a/c...
Dont remember the mobile. Good luck!!


Kathy

 

[my3kids]

You can take a carton of the powdered formula and mix it with warm tap water so you don't need to worry about how to warm or refrigerate formula. Just throw out what isn't used. Take a little bottle of Dawn or other liquid soap and wash the bottles in the sink. Do you sterilize bottles and boil water at home? My bottle fed one is a teenager now and even back then the doctors said it wasn't necessary to boil water if on a munincipal water source. The water on the ship tastes just like regular water. No bad beachy taste at all. If you are worried about the quality of the water, you could take gallons of water and make the bottles from room temperature drinking water.


There are no in room sitters on the ship. You can reserve Flounder's Nursey the first day you get there. The time will be listed in "The Navigator" you will be given when you check in at the terminal. Reserve all the times you need at that time, and you can cancel them in advance if your plans change.