Toddler travel tips

[shmoogrrrl]

I have received so many great tips from you guys that I have one more question to add.
Car seats. We need it for the plane ride, for traveling from the airport to the cruise ship (Dream), and for any trips we make off the ship. What do we do with it while we are playing on the beach and such?

This is our first cruise, so I am probably asking dumb questions, but I just want this to go as smoothly as possible.

They put my daughter's car seat in a plastic bag, and sat it out on the balcony. That was many years ago! 2003! Not sure what they do now.

 

[ubish00]

One thing that really helped with my 2 year old niece at dinner time was our waitress would immediately bring her a plate of sliced cucumbers. That gave her something to nibble on as soon as she sat down until her food came. The other kids at our table had their favourites that they were given immediately as well. Worked like a charm.

I also had a stroller but ended up not using it at all on the ship.

I tried to keep her nap times as normal as possible but also timed it for certain evening events. The pirate show didn't start until 9:45 pm so put her down around 4 pm and and skipped dinner in the dining room. She woke up about 6 pm and we had room service. This schedule allowed her to have a great time at the pirate party.

Also keep in mind to take milk cartoons from the buffet dining room for their bottles. If you put ice in the room cooler it kept the milk quite cool. I also took boxed cereal for snacks when off the ship.

Other things that made the cruise more enjoyable was having a diaper genie and bottle warmer in our room.

Also don't be shy about asking guest services for any help or advice. They are amazing and they treated my niece like a little princess. She frequently wanted to go by just to say hi to them.

I second the PP that indicated a veranda makes it more pleasant as I sat out while she napped. I could play music while I read, sunbathed and sipped on exotic drinks without interupting her.

Have a great cruise. You will love it.

 

[wl1117]

I have received so many great tips from you guys that I have one more question to add.
Car seats. We need it for the plane ride, for traveling from the airport to the cruise ship (Dream), and for any trips we make off the ship. What do we do with it while we are playing on the beach and such?

This is our first cruise, so I am probably asking dumb questions, but I just want this to go as smoothly as possible.

Are you renting a car from airport to cruise or taking the shuttle? We have never needed our carseat once off the plane (we always buy everyone a seat), unless we were driving. So once at the port, we left it in the rental car.

There's closet space for storage and on all the ships except the Wonder, it might fit under the raised beds. What type of seat is it? I've been told a Britax Marathon will fit under there, which is a fairly good sized seat.

One tip I forgot earlier...if your baby still cannot sit up in a high chair (which mine didn't at 5 months) then tell them so at the dining rooms and they'll let you take a stroller inside.

Also, consider taking a sling if your baby will ride in one.

 

[storknurse13]

My two cents is this... We have cruised several times and we bring a small DVD player/iPad to dinner to entertain the toddlers. They bring their head phones (the old ones that fit over their ears) so not to disturb other diners! It also gives us a few minutes of adult quiet time at dinner so we can actually have an adult conversation. Unfortunately we learned the hard way when our middle child was about 20 months old on a 14 day cruise. For some reason at dinner everything fell apart for him! He would scream and carry on the entire time. Then we got the bright idea to take the iPad to dinner and let him watch a movie.... Problem solved! A COMBI stroller is my favorite. Super collapsible and light!

 

[ubish00]

I second what the pp said about the ipad. I took one every night to dinner as well. Once my toddler niece finished dinner I pulled it out and she played with another child until we were ready to leave. It was loaded with her favourite games.