Questions for those cruising with 6 mos - 1 year old

[lanejudy]

I went to the Babies Travel Lite website this morning to order for our May cruise. It appears that they are no longer open for business. Disappointing!

You're right! The website looks closed now. It's still possible to have Amazon, Walmart or other online vendors ship directly to a pre-cruise hotel.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[schmass]

I went to the Babies Travel Lite website this morning to order for our May cruise. It appears that they are no longer open for business. Disappointing!

Oh no!! I had no idea - that is really too bad...it was a great service.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

Our DS, while older than yours will be, definitely enjoyed it! We also took him to WDW when he was 9 months old, and I thought that was a great age, as well.

I think Babies Travel Lite is still available - we used it 6 months ago. It was definitely more expensive than buying them in the store, but the convenience was worth it for us.



Thank you - we are very excited for our baby girl to arrive!

We did a 7 night Fantasy cruise, and are looking to do the same next time. The link to my Trip Report is in my signature and goes into a lot of detail about our trip and DS's experience on it - you might find some of our experience helpful.

Thank you, again! I love cruising! I usually cruise for at least 7 nights. Anything shorter is just not enough. We're going on a 4 night on DCL. I know it's not going to be enough; but, it's all the time we have available for a cruise during his birthday. So, it's perfect for our availability this time. I'm sure our next cruise will be at least 7 nights.

I will check out the link.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

I went to the Babies Travel Lite website this morning to order for our May cruise. It appears that they are no longer open for business. Disappointing!

Yes, that is disappointing. Thank you for sharing.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

We did a 7 night Fantasy cruise, and are looking to do the same next time. The link to my Trip Report is in my signature and goes into a lot of detail about our trip and DS's experience on it - you might find some of our experience helpful.

I'm looking for the link, but I don't see a signature at the end of your post.

 

[valgal02]

We too traveled with a 1 year old. At the time we brought with us a car seat we were ready to "retire". Only used car seat getting to and from the airport, then never used it again, had a new one waiting at home. I didn't trust the car seat would be in the best condition after it had been tossed about with airport and cruise ship baggage.

As for the stroller, we just waited until on board the ship, and used one of their's. IDK if this might be an option for you.
I found the high chair provided in the MDR to work just fine.
Sorry to hear about Babies Travel Light no longer being an option. It was wonderful!
Have fun

 

[lanejudy]

I'm looking for the link, but I don't see a signature at the end of your post.

I don't think signatures show on mobile devices -- you'll have to log-in with a computer.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

We too traveled with a 1 year old. At the time we brought with us a car seat we were ready to "retire". Only used car seat getting to and from the airport, then never used it again, had a new one waiting at home. I didn't trust the car seat would be in the best condition after it had been tossed about with airport and cruise ship baggage.

As for the stroller, we just waited until on board the ship, and used one of their's. IDK if this might be an option for you.
I found the high chair provided in the MDR to work just fine.
Sorry to hear about Babies Travel Light no longer being an option. It was wonderful!
Have fun

Thank you! This is helpful! Now that I think of it, he will be transitioning out of his infant seat. I'm planning to buy a Graco Forever seat (or something similar). So, perhaps I can take his infant seat on the cruise and "retire" it afterwards. That might be an option, Thx!

Thx for the info on the Disney strollers. I may use one of those and the highchairs onboard.

 

[PandL]

I haven't cruised with my 14 month year old but we have traveled quite a bit (flew/drove/etc) We are cruising with him in September so I will better be able to answer the cruise specific questions in a few months Some of your other questions I can give you some advice as we babywear and cloth diaper.

I would be surprised if your LO still fit in the moby. Don't get me wrong I LOVE LOVE LOVED my Moby when he was tiny and I wore him all through many many airports in it, but by 1 year my babe had outgrown it. With that said if you like a Moby wrap then you might want to consider a woven wrap...same concept but more support and more options (HELLO BACK CARRIES!) My curious 1 year old loves to be able to look around. We plan on bringing our wrap and a umbrella like stroller (summer infant with a shade...it was like $40 but super easy to use) My babe isn't really happy in the stroller unless we are moving, so I might even leave it because he will not just sit in it and if we are walking to and from a destination. I would rather wrap him. I also want to invest in a water sling for CC.

On the CD. I would suck it up and try disposables. We tried to travel with cloth and we found it was difficult to manage. Transporting the dirty diapers while traveling (even by car) was gross and difficult. Also I know that pods and other simple laundry devices do not bode well for cloth. So packing detergent was a hassle. Maybe I am just too particular on my detergent. Plus I know that some public laundromats won't allow you to wash diapers and I don't know about a cruise specifically but they are such germaphobes they might not allow it. Also if you are on the beach all day do you want to have to haul wet and poopy diapers back onto the ship? We use Honest diapers in such situations and I love them as they have zero odor and they don't have leak issues. I bought some nautical ones just for our cruise in Sept.

For the car seat...we never fly with ours (that is our choice I know many people say that the proper thing to do is buy our infant a seat and have him in the seat...no flaming I KNOW THAT IS WHAT IS RECOMMENDED BY THE CARSEAT NAZI'S) there are a lot of baby rental places that you could "rent" a seat from for your LO. They could deliver the seat directly to your friends house and then pick it up from their house as well. This is what we have done when we have flown and needed a seat once we arrived at our destination. It is a couple of bucks a day and the expense is worth it to me to not have to deal with the seat on the plane or the boat. Honestly it isn't even that expensive.

I hope that helps.

 

[schmass]

I'm looking for the link, but I don't see a signature at the end of your post.

I didn't realize signatures don't show up on mobile! Here is the link: http://www.disboards.com/threads/ba...stern-caribbean-trip-report-new-2-18.3334254/

 

[Yooperroo]

This is what we have done when we have flown and needed a seat once we arrived at our destination. It is a couple of bucks a day and the expense is worth it to me to not have to deal with the seat on the plane or the boat. Honestly it isn't even that expensive.

Do you happen to have the name or website of the company youve rented your car seats from?

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

I don't think signatures show on mobile devices -- you'll have to log-in with a computer.

Oh ok, Thx!!!

I haven't cruised with my 14 month year old but we have traveled quite a bit (flew/drove/etc) We are cruising with him in September so I will better be able to answer the cruise specific questions in a few months Some of your other questions I can give you some advice as we babywear and cloth diaper.

I would be surprised if your LO still fit in the moby. Don't get me wrong I LOVE LOVE LOVED my Moby when he was tiny and I wore him all through many many airports in it, but by 1 year my babe had outgrown it. With that said if you like a Moby wrap then you might want to consider a woven wrap...same concept but more support and more options (HELLO BACK CARRIES!) My curious 1 year old loves to be able to look around. We plan on bringing our wrap and a umbrella like stroller (summer infant with a shade...it was like $40 but super easy to use) My babe isn't really happy in the stroller unless we are moving, so I might even leave it because he will not just sit in it and if we are walking to and from a destination. I would rather wrap him. I also want to invest in a water sling for CC.

On the CD. I would suck it up and try disposables. We tried to travel with cloth and we found it was difficult to manage. Transporting the dirty diapers while traveling (even by car) was gross and difficult. Also I know that pods and other simple laundry devices do not bode well for cloth. So packing detergent was a hassle. Maybe I am just too particular on my detergent. Plus I know that some public laundromats won't allow you to wash diapers and I don't know about a cruise specifically but they are such germaphobes they might not allow it. Also if you are on the beach all day do you want to have to haul wet and poopy diapers back onto the ship? We use Honest diapers in such situations and I love them as they have zero odor and they don't have leak issues. I bought some nautical ones just for our cruise in Sept.

For the car seat...we never fly with ours (that is our choice I know many people say that the proper thing to do is buy our infant a seat and have him in the seat...no flaming I KNOW THAT IS WHAT IS RECOMMENDED BY THE CARSEAT NAZI'S) there are a lot of baby rental places that you could "rent" a seat from for your LO. They could deliver the seat directly to your friends house and then pick it up from their house as well. This is what we have done when we have flown and needed a seat once we arrived at our destination. It is a couple of bucks a day and the expense is worth it to me to not have to deal with the seat on the plane or the boat. Honestly it isn't even that expensive.

I hope that helps.

Thank you! This is helpful!

Yes, I'm going to use disposibles. I plan to get a mesh wrap too, recommended for use in water and during the summer (those Moby wraps are hot!). It will be great to use in the beach water at CC with DS! I saw it months ago on a cloth diapering site. My LO is very curious! He loves to look around, so I'm looking forward to wearing him on my back!

Do you know the name of the car seat rental place? If I can safely transport DS without having to lug around a car seat, I'm all for it!

Thx again for the response.

 

[PandL]

I believe I used traveling baby. If you google it the website will come up. We were really happy with them. They delivered to my sisters house and picked everything up from her as well. I was glad it didn't place any burden on her.

 

[jahber]

Everyone covered everything really well, so I just wanted to add that you WILL have a great time. Cruising with a little one can be tons of fun.
And you made the right call on the 'sposies. We cloth diaper at home, but disposables were just so much easier on a cruise. *I* wanted to be on vacation, too!
As for the wrap/carrier, I found it the most useful on embarkation and debarkation days. I put baby in the carrier and all our stuff in the stroller. Granted, I have 3 kids, but it was just easier to carry the baby in the carrier on me.
I hope you have a GREAT trip!

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

I believe I used traveling baby. If you google it the website will come up. We were really happy with them. They delivered to my sisters house and picked everything up from her as well. I was glad it didn't place any burden on her.

Thank you!

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

Everyone covered everything really well, so I just wanted to add that you WILL have a great time. Cruising with a little one can be tons of fun.
And you made the right call on the 'sposies. We cloth diaper at home, but disposables were just so much easier on a cruise. *I* wanted to be on vacation, too!
As for the wrap/carrier, I found it the most useful on embarkation and debarkation days. I put baby in the carrier and all our stuff in the stroller. Granted, I have 3 kids, but it was just easier to carry the baby in the carrier on me.
I hope you have a GREAT trip!

Thank you! You're right about the "vacation" part. I don't want to be in the laundry room washing diapers on the cruise. I sure don't want to deal with a soiled diaper in the hot sun on CC. I guess I better add a diaper genie to my reservation.

Also, I think carrying him in the wrap getting on and off the ship will be best. That's how I manage grocery store trips. It's much easier to have him in a wrap at the grocery store than in the buggy!

Thank you for the encouragement. DS is going to have a ball. I'll take lots of pics and video clips so he can "remember" it when he's older.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

I didn't realize signatures don't show up on mobile! Here is the link: http://www.disboards.com/threads/ba...stern-caribbean-trip-report-new-2-18.3334254/

Thank you! I just finished reading it (it took me a few hours). Very informative though.

Good to know CC has a Splash area. With that and a bucket/shovel, we should be good to go. I hope DS likes the splash area onboard too.

Two questions:

1) the highchairs look good. Are they hard?

2) those blocks Rory was playing with at the table, did you bring them or were they provided by Disney?

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[erin brown]

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide this thorough response.

#1 - how did you travel in a car without a car seat? Sorry if that's a dumb question.

#2 - thank you for the recommendation. I have a baby bjorn too. Maybe I can use that or my Balboa sling.

#3 - thank you for the TV recommendation. That's a good idea!

#4 - I have a few Flips, but I think I better use disposibles for this cruise.

#5 - do they have cribs or just pack-n-plays?

#7 - how are the booster seats/highchairs onboard? DS is on the small side (17 lbs at 10 months). The highchairs at restaurants are too big for him. I'd love to use the ones onboard instead of bringing my own, if he can sit in it without sliding all over the highchair.

We drove for our first disney and left the carseat in our car, this past cruise last month we had a rental car with a rental carseat. I would NEVER check the car seat on a plane or on the ship, they toss stuff around so much it will be considered void and damaged.

 

[VbChristy]

I will reply more to this later- but for the high chair with your smaller son, just shove a purse or blanket behind him to fill in the chair. My son was sitting at 3 months and we traveled at 5 months with him but he was small sk they was our trick. I will respond more tomorrow as our son has cruised 4 times by 21 months. (We like to travel). So I will give more feedback. Yay vacation!

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

I will reply more to this later- but for the high chair with your smaller son, just shove a purse or blanket behind him to fill in the chair. My son was sitting at 3 months and we traveled at 5 months with him but he was small sk they was our trick. I will respond more tomorrow as our son has cruised 4 times by 21 months. (We like to travel). So I will give more feedback. Yay vacation!

Ok, thank you. I look forward to your response.