Traveling w/an infant

[Msm1101]

We are booked for 4nt cruise to the Bahamas in May for my older son's 5th birthday and our anniversary. When we cruised before my son was 3yrs old. We now have a baby who will be 6.5m when we travel. Any advice traveling with a baby? I know people say don't because they can't do anything, but this is our last time vacationing when we wanted before our son starts kindergarten and we have to travel around school. Plus he's the big 5 now and it was his birthday request Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[diznymom]

I never vacationed w/ an infant, but my advice:

Relax, have fun.

I would definitely book the nursery and have some adult only time.....maybe brunch at Palo. I suggest brunch, that way you can have dinner every night w/ your kids.

 

[DIS_Ag]

We took our son at that exact age. He did great. No surprise, one of you holds him a lot while the other is playing with the other/getting food. The nursery was great, but the hourly charge will limit how much you use it. The only other issue we had were the MDR's were a little to loud for our son, but he did better as the week went along.

 

[ayz75]

We're doing that in October! Taking both kids on a 7 day cruise (one will be 3 and half, one will be 6 months). We took our older one last May when she was 2 and she had so much fun, we decided it would be fun to bring her back again even though her little sis will only be 6 months. However, we'll have both sets of parents traveling with us, so we don't plan to use the nursery (the grandparents will be more than happy to watch them since both sets live pretty far from us) I'm not too worried about bringing an infant because in general I find babies easier to take care of than toddlers.. they nap easily in the carrier/stroller and aren't trying to crawl/run everywhere, lol

 

[Msm1101]

I was thinking it should be ok since he just kind of chills (for now atleast). I plan on bringing the umbrella stroller and the Tula baby carrier since he naps well in it. Dad and I will just take turns with big brother. I guess I just kind of made myself nervous because alot of people say not to travel with babies or toddlers.

 

[krisinparis]

I saw lots of babies on our last cruise-- many kiddos in strollers in line for the character meet and greets. I saw some really cute character pictures taken as well!!

 

[michellekcm]

You should get a diaper genie in your stateroom. If it's not there when you arrive just check with your stateroom host and they'll get one for you.

You can ask for the crib to be kept up all the time if you want it up for naps. We did that when our son was 10 months old. It did make moving around the room a bit more difficult, but was easier for nap time. Otherwise they'll pack it up in the morning and set it up again at night for you.

The nursery CMs are fantastic, and love cuddling little ones . If you want to have some adult time (eg Palo brunch!) or spend some time with your other son at one of the shows or over a longer dinner, then don't be afraid to book time in the nursery.

If you want nursery time over dinner / show time then I would pre book. That tends to book up quickly. You can always cancel once onboard if you change your mind (I want to say 24 hours notice, but double check that).

If your baby is on solids then your head server should come and see you to organise what you want, usually they organise it at dinner the previous night for you. We found that the first lot of puréed vegetables they served us were very salty. Very, very salty. We mentioned that to the head server and they were fine after that. He recommended different combinations etc for us, and they were all good.

 

[Himmin]

We just got back from travelling with our 8 months old twins. We had a brilliant time and loved the cruise and especially all the interaction they got with the characters. Mickey mouse got down on the floor playing with them etc and whilst they don't remember it I always will!!

The only thing I would say is beware with the nursery, I had only read good things and trusted them fully. However they were in 4 times for 2 hours each and twice we got phone calls to say they had head injuries (one time they couldn't tell me which one of babies it was that had a head injury) and then on the last visit they used formula milk which they knew had been left too long to be safe to feed and it made my boys seriously ill, we ended up phoning 911 the day we got off the cruise and the boys were hospitalised. They are on the mend now but I just thought you may want to be aware before putting your child in the nursery.

Like I said the rest of the cruise was amazing before they got ill and I would definitely sail with babies again.

Only other thing to be aware of is that not all strollers fit through the doorways to your cabin. Rest of the ship I was fine with my double buggy even the corridors with carts etc but I know other people said their single strollers wouldn't fit through their stateroom door. Just a heads up incase your baby will sleep through dinner like ours did in their stroller.

Have a fab time!!

 

[Msm1101]

We just got back from travelling with our 8 months old twins. We had a brilliant time and loved the cruise and especially all the interaction they got with the characters. Mickey mouse got down on the floor playing with them etc and whilst they don't remember it I always will!!

The only thing I would say is beware with the nursery, I had only read good things and trusted them fully. However they were in 4 times for 2 hours each and twice we got phone calls to say they had head injuries (one time they couldn't tell me which one of babies it was that had a head injury) and then on the last visit they used formula milk which they knew had been left too long to be safe to feed and it made my boys seriously ill, we ended up phoning 911 the day we got off the cruise and the boys were hospitalised. They are on the mend now but I just thought you may want to be aware before putting your child in the nursery.

Like I said the rest of the cruise was amazing before they got ill and I would definitely sail with babies again.

Only other thing to be aware of is that not all strollers fit through the doorways to your cabin. Rest of the ship I was fine with my double buggy even the corridors with carts etc but I know other people said their single strollers wouldn't fit through their stateroom door. Just a heads up incase your baby will sleep through dinner like ours did in their stroller.

Have a fab time!!

Oh goodness your poor babies! Glad they are ok! We don't plan on using the nursery at all, but your experience just made me definitely not want to use it!

I'm glad to hear everyone had pretty much positive experiences taking their littlest ones! I'm so excited!