If you had to do it over again....

[OJulie67]

Would you bring an infant on the land/cruise deal. We are doing the 7 night L/C...and I am seeing how much fun we could have...but I am also seeing that my DH and I could do alot more activites together, if we left the baby at home with Grandma. She will be 10 months at cruise time and I am torn about what to do.
So...if you had to do it over again, would you bring a baby? With all the strollers, and bottles, and formula, and baby food...Not to mention we have late seating, and I don't know if she will make it through dinner...I am wondering. My 5 year old will have the time of her life, but the baby...I'm not so sure.
Thanks for your opinions.

 

[RagamuffinMom]

If you can stand to be away from the baby for a week then I say go for leaving her with grandma.

Your five year old will have some great memories of her week with her mom and dad at Disney. You'll have a great time both with her and some alone time on the cruise.

I'd look at it as an investment in your five year old. You can take the baby when she's older and you can all experience it together then. We have an 8 month old (and a 4yo and a 6yo) and if I had the chance to go and know that the baby was left in good hands then I'd go without him!

Just my two cents...which generally isn't even worth two cents but there ya have it!

 

[mmouse37]

I agree....a 10 month old would love some personal time with Grandma and really would not know what they were missing. We travelled this past May on the Magic with our friends who have an 8 month old and 3 year old. The 3 year old was fantastic...loved everything. Even though the 8 month old was good....our friends still had to invest a lot of time and energy keeping him entertained. One would be with the baby and one would be with the 3 year old. It was hard for them to share their time as a family because each child had different needs at different times.

They even said if they did it again they would like to leave baby with grandma and grandpa until he was older.

MJ

 

[Hunnybee]

We went on the Halloween Wonder cruise with our almost-4 year old DS. We left our 3 month old DD home with my mom and dad. Although it was terribly hard to leave her, it was definitely for the best! Our DS had a great time being the only child again for a week (we did the 3 night cruise but had a day ahead of time and two days after the cruise in FL). And, when I saw a mom standing outside the restaurant each night with her baby, I was so glad it wasn't me. I am not nursing, so we would have had to bring bottles and formula, not to mention diapers. And I worried about the water. And, packing all her clothes as well. Well, we had too much packed already! I did miss her quite a bit -- especially when I would see other little ones, but I knew we made the right decision. It was a great break for all of us!

Now granted, we did need to do some reprogramming: when we got home my mom said that whenever she cried, one of them picked her up! I'm sure DD was rather disappointed to come home where Mom doesn't have the time to pick her up immediately every time she cries.

If you can leave your baby home, I would recommend doing so, especially since she is too young to get anything out of it. Your cruise will be much more enjoyable. BTW, the kids' programming is wonderful! Your 5 year old will have the time of her life!

 

[MarkMichaels]

We took our kids when our youngest was 2 1/2 and she still talks about and remembers things from that trip. Anything younger than 2, unless you have a truly gifted child, will be waisted on the infant who can't remember or doesn't understand what they are seeing. I loved the look on my daughters face when she saw Mickey which she would not have recognized a year earlier.

My personal rule for the Disney boats, if your kids aren't old enough for the oceaners club, don't take them. Its tough to leave them behind, but its an expensive vacation that you need to take advantage of.

Mark

 

[ChattyKathy]

When my daughter was 10 mos old, we took a cruise...I had to lug bottles of premade formula, water and all sorts of 'baby things' along... I couldn't hardly do anything, we was tied down basically the whole cruise...everything we did, we had to gear around her, we had to watch being in the hot sun in the daytime, we had to go back to our room early so she would sleep and wasn't cranky for the next day...we had to be sure she was in the cabin for naps...etc etc..
My advice would be is to leave your baby with grandma.. Hug her, Kiss her, and love her to pieces when you leave...but~ Beleive me, it is hard, but you wont regret it. Your five yr old will have the time of her life along with 'you' too. If you take your baby along, your always going to have to be sidetracked...
I say Go For It!!! and Have Fun!!

Good Luck!

Kathy

 

[webray]

I would not bring the baby...she won't remember the cruise...make this a special time with the 5 year old and for you and hubby.

 

[rae519]

In 1995, we opted to leave our 2 month old with his Godparents while we took our preplanned trip to Europe. Yes, we could have taken him but why put an infant through that. He was safe, loved and comfortable with our family.

Rae

 

[minniemouse1]

I took a 10 month old on a 4 day cruise a few years ago. We just returned in October from our first 7 day cruise with our now 2 3/4 and 1 1/2 year old DD's and it was wonderful. Ibelieve you would enjoy the overall experience much more if you left her behind if you can bear it. For me personally esp being my first child it was not a choice for us.

I really didn't find it a hassel with the formula and bottles. I brought 4 bottles with disposable bags (and bottles water) so all I had to wash was nipples and rings. The water in our room was very warm so I would fill the sink up to almost the top and stand the bottle in the warm water and it would warm really quickly even in the middle of the night! Our daughter didn't mind room temp. food so I would either warm it a little in water or give it to her room temp. We did bring along a bottle warmer but it took longer to warm the food and bottles than the water in the sink.

And the stroller issue, well we brought a small combi stroller the first time and this latest cruise we borrowed 2 strollers on the ship. Some people frown upon guests leaving their strollers in the hall but we have both cruises. There really isn't a choice. We did put one stroller folded in our closest almost all of the time and left the other in the hall. The second stroller we used mostly for excursions on shore and on our cruise that was every other day.

It is very hard to enjoy all of the activities the cruise has to offer with a 10 month old and/or 1 1/2 y/o. I spent alot of time in our room for naps and early bedtimes while my DH enjoyed the shows with our family that was also on the cruise. I feel I missed out on alot even with children that are a little older.

I did try to take my 10 mon old to the nursery but about 45 min after i dropped her off I was paged to go and get her. I also used the nursery this October and was lucky. My older child got into the 3-4 program and the 1 1/2 y/o loved the nursery and was asleep both times I went to pick her up. Both cruises I did enjoy even with the restrictions that you have with infants. We enjoyed our cruise so much that we booked another for April 2005 and I will hopefully be there with a new member to our family so I will be cruising again with an infant.

I cannot add anything to the land part of the trip since we have decided not to go to Disney Parks until our children are older.

 

[dzneprincess]

We cruised the 7 day Halloween cruise this year and we opted to leave our 6month old at home. Our other 3 children were old enough to go to the clubs and lab, and I do not regret leaving him at home with grandma. He got some quality time with her, and she ate him up! I missed him terribly, but did not know it until I got back home! LOL I was too busy having fun while onboard. Anyways, I told my husband that since Nathan didn't get to come with us, that we would have to rebook! LOL I rebooked for the week after Thanksgiving next year, he will be 1 1/2 then. I put him on the ressie, but I am still unsure if I am going to take him along. I say leave the baby at home. You will not regret it

 

[rae519]

Amanda - well said!

Rae

 

[dzneprincess]

Thanks Rae What did you like best? The rebooking part or the too busy having fun to realize I was missing him

 

[rae519]

Originally posted by dzneprincess
Thanks Rae What did you like best? The rebooking part or the too busy having fun to realize I was missing him

Do I really have to choose????!!!

Rae

 

[LisaGoeke]

I would also suggest to leave her at home, go cruising and have a great time!!