Cruising with an infant...

[surfer_ed]

My wife and I are thinking about a cruise next Oct with our daughter who will be 11 months old at that point. I have been doing allot of research and the popular opinion is that Disney and Carnival are the 2 best cruise lines for couples with infants.

They are the only ones that offer baby-sitting for kids less than 2 years of age. Some others offer it but do not change diapers so if your child needs a change than you get beeped to go back to the room. Other CL offer baby-sitting after 10pm only, which means dinner is with the child in tow.

Apparently Disney is the only one with a nursery…believe it or not do not charge for kids under 2? Even though they are more expensive I am thinking it might be worth it since they won’t charge us for the baby and have a nursery.

The baby won’t care about the Disney stuff but my wife and I are big fans.

Any tips on cruising with infants? Anyone ever use the nursery??? Am I crazy for thinking this could be a good trip?

TKS
ED

 

[ohiominnie]

Apparently Disney is the only one with a nursery…believe it or not do not charge for kids under 2?

I do not have an infant....
but I didn't think the nursery was free.
I thought there was a charge.

Maybe I'm mistaken.

Someone who has cruised with a baby is sure to know.

Now if they had a kennel on board, I could bring the puppy!!!

 

[surfer_ed]

Sorry to clarify, there is a charge for the nursery but Disney does not charge for the infant on the cruise. Other CL charge to 3rd berth rate no matter the age of the child. Disney, under 2 is free...just pay port taxes.

Ed

 

[FirstTimeCruiser]

I can't answer your questions, but I just wanted to say congratulations on the birth of your new baby girl!

Suzy

 

[15minfromOGDL]

...DW and I will be cruising this Feb with DS who will be 2 years and 3 mo. Planning on trying Flounders just for a Palo night and a morning Rhino Riders (St. Maarten) excursion. There used to be a bunch of threads on Flounders and the under 3 set, but since the changeover I haven't been able to find them. Congrats on your new addition surfer ed.

 

[4formickey]

cruising with with an infant is not hard. We had our little girl and our son aboard. Disney is for the young at heart so she will be ok. You can have your cabin steward bring you a play-n- go for the baby to sleep in, the extra bag that you use to bring diaper can double for all your gifts that you will buy. Just remenber that the baby is on vacation also. The fee for baby sitting is around 6/hr with 2 /hr min. Every one will have fun !!!

 

[JJsmama]

Sorry to be a naysayer, but it isn't always easy to have an infant or toddler onboard. On our recent cruise, my brother had 18 month old twins. The kids did not like Flounders and brother and SIL were beeped every time they tried to leave them there. They even had to leave twice during our Palo dinner and finally gave up. Also, the only water they could get in was one Mickey's ear and it was SOOO crowded at the Mickey pool. The babies did like the beach at Castaway and the ice cream at Scoops but SIL has said it would NOT be worth it to cruise with them again until they are at least 3 and potty trained.

 

[4formickey]

each child is different and the parents ways of dealing with problems are different. I understood that this trip was for our children as well as for us. My wife didn't, it took her a few days to realize that the kids was having their fun to. They wanted to swim, run, play and eat chicken fingers all day long. Go easy on the little people and realize that theyhave feelings and desires too

 

[surfer_ed]

Thanks JJsmama, I want all the information I can get...good and bad. We are nervious about spending all the $$ if the three of us will not have a good time. We orginally thought a cruise because we could hang out on the boats and beaches without running around through the theme parks with an infant in tow.

Any other feedback, opinions or expereince welcome.

Ed

 

[JJsmama]

My advice is this: You and your wife should discuss what it is that appeals to you about DCL, what do you wish to accomplish and do and what would you be really disappointed to miss out on. Then ask yourself if those things can be done with dd 11 months. No one can really know now what she will be like at 11 months or what schedule she'll be on or how you will be reacting as parents but you would have a much better idea of things when she is 9 months and you could still cancel and get your money back for a later date.

Good luck with your new baby.

 

[CathyO]

We cruised last year an infant that turned 16 weeks on our cruise. (4 day Wonder). We used Flounders 3 times and we were very happy with the staff. At that time it was $6.00 an hour. We labeled everything with his name (bottles, diaper bag etc) We really never left him with anyone before this trip and were a little nervous. They were great with him.

The only thing we found difficult was bathing him. Being that young he didn't sit up yet. I thought about bringing an inflatable ring but decided against it. In retrospect, I should have brought one. Other than that we had no problems and enjoyed the trip very much.

Do it, you'll never regret it.

Cathy

 

[KarenP99]

DD3 had her first cruise at 15 months, DD1 had hers at 7 months. We had no trouble, in fact, we really enjoyed cruising with the babes.

We had no intention on using the nursery, so I can't comment on that, but there was plenty for us to do (including just relaxing and enjoying our time).

We'll do it again next September when DS will be 9 months!

Karen

 

[4formickey]

Sorry to be a naysayer, but it isn't always easy to have an infant or toddler onboard. On our recent cruise, my brother had 18 month old twins. The kids did not like Flounders and brother and SIL were beeped every time they tried to leave them there. .

with our infant and toddler in tow we had a very good time. If my wife wanted to do the spa, she could have. The kids was fine and enjoyed their trip. Take the kids ,this will be a special time for all. Being a parent is not easy but we get the job done.

 

[lbgraves]

We cruised with a 3 & 5 yo last year. DS loved the club but DD didn't so even though we had a PTd 3 yo, we didn't have an "adult" cruise. We didn't plan on it though, so we weren't disappointed to not get to Palo for dinner or brunch. We chose DCL for the family atmosphere & there is definantly plenty to do with the kids, no matter what age they are. You can always trade off with each other during nap times to have a chance to go to Quiet Cove or the spa or maybe even High Tea or Brunch at Palo. Go relaxed and you will all have an amazing time!

 

[carlson82704]

hi , i was just wondering if you can give me any more info about bringing an infant. our baby will be 4 months when we go jan 4. what did you pack ?, did he enjoy? etc..this is our second dc. i really need help with this. thank you

 

[Buddy Bear]

My little girl was 6 months old when we took her on a 7-day Eastern cruise. My wife and I had been on a Disney cruise twice before and this cruise was the best.

Sarah was the reason we all (Disney Cast Members included) had fun. She has an infectious smile and made everyone happy. I can't imagine what our cruise would have been like without her. As long as Sarah was in the room everyone was having fun.

I can't stress enough that our cruise was memorable because of one little girl.

Don't pass up the opportunity to have the best time of your life.

Jeff

 

[drdelsol]

We tooks ours on a 3 day last month at 4 months old. We didn't do the theater shows as they ended up being too loud for her ( I wouldn't mind them down a few decibels myself, but that's just me) but we did go to two movies. It really wasn't a problem, we just worked around her naps at times.

We did not use the nursery so I can't comment on that. We tried too long for her to give up any time with her. We ate dinner each night,we left early once but they quickly boxed up our dessert.

She enjoyed meeting Pluto and seemed to have a good time. We are booked again for next November. Our charge for her total was $99 port charges and $140 for all the pictures we bought.

As far as packing- I overpack usually anyway so lots of diapers and extra babyfood. She is breastfead also so no formula. Oh and 3 extra sailor dresses and a polkadot bikini.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

We did a 4 day with our then 13 month old. It was a last minute trip so to save money we just did an inside cabin. But once on board, I had wished we had a veranda.

In our case, DS was just starting to learn to feed himself adult food. So each day of our cruise, we woke up, got everyone ready for breakfast, and went to the breakfast buffet where DS had a variety of things to try. Even with a buffet, breakfast took over an hour, so by the time we finished and got everyone back to the cabin, it was pretty much time for DS morning nap. When the nap was over, we went through the same ritual with a lunch buffet. Once again, by the time it was over, it was time for afternoon nap. So our days never really got started until 3 o'clock.

We used the nursary once so that we could eat at Palo and didn't have any problems (if you don't count the fact that when we went to pick him up, he got all excited and tripped trying to run to us, fell, and hit his head).

We went to a couple of the shows. One DS watched some and slept through the rest. The second show I had to take DS off in a corner because he was getting fussy. But the cruise director came and sat with me and entertained DS by letting him play with her keys.

At CC, DS didn't care much for the sand. He was ok in the shallow water with DW, but soom both DS and DW were napping on the beach.

Over all, it was not the most fantastic DCL trip we had ever had, but we had enough fun on board that we booked a 7 day trip while still on board. Unfortunately that trip has not happened yet as the Sept hurricanes required us to cancel (actually rebook) that cruise.

 

[virginiamama]

We had a great time with our 8 month old on our cruise last week. We did Flounders 3 times, for Palo, spa, and a few hours for some time with our 4-year-old at CC. It is $6 per hour, 2 hour minimum. I talked to a couple at the airport and they were unable to get a reservation with Flounders. We made our Palo and spa ressies as soon as they started taking ressies (I was first in line at the spa!!!). Then we immediately went to Flounders. They allow you to request 3 reservations and they call to let you know if you've gotten the time you requested. We got all three that we requested. So get there as soon as your other ressies are done and note on the request form that you've got spa/Palo scheduled. The girls were really sweet - there were 4 of them and apparently they are the only people that work there. The one problem I had with it is that it is not open all the time. For instance - we would have liked to have had the baby with us on CC for the morning and then take him to Flounders for the afternoon, but they were only open from 8:45-1pm.
Dinner was interesting. He LOVED the butternut squash soup at AP. We had late dinner seating and he did fine - he was a handful but we still enjoyed ourselves and the servers made over him and kept him entertained.
We had a blast with both kids.

 

[AmyJ of Ca]

My opinion is that we are in "baby jail" no matter where we are so we might as well be in "baby jail" on a cruise where atleast we can get a break from the cooking, cleaning and the normal day to day stuff. I may think differently after our cruise but right now..it's what's getting me through the day to day stuff right now!! (We will be cruising with our then 8yo, 6yo, 2 1/2 year old and 15month old) July can't get here quick enough!! I know there will be things we can't do because of the little ones ages(like dinner lol) but we can't do that at home either!! Just this last summer we chased our then 1 1/2 year old through every casino in Vegas but we still manged to have a good time. I think it is all about the attiiude you go in with! Have fun. Amy