Traveling with our 1 year old - a few questions

[D. R. N.]

Hi, everyone!

My DH and I are traveling on our 2nd DCL trip - this time with our 1 year old. This will be her first cruise. I just have a few questions:

1) What kind of crib do they provide? Is it a pack & play? What about rails on the sofa bed? Would you recommend this for a mobile 1 year old?

2) How about tipping for a 1 year old who will not be eating meals provided by the ship? She will turn 1 during our trip so she will still be on formula and baby food. Is it customary to tip fully for the infant?

3) What has been your experience with Flounders? What is the set up? Is it a closed room or glassed in? Can you call in to see how things are going? I am concered about what happens when we turn around and leave. My DD has only been taken care of by my mom, my hubby and myself. Absolutely no one else. Do you think this will be too traumatic for her?

4) We have booked a cat 6 w/verandah. Last time we were in a cat 9 with a porthole. We are spending about an extra $500 for it. Do you think it's worth the difference? I read on a post that a verandah is a good place to be while baby naps.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks a million!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Crib provided is a Pac-N-Play, but what worked out for us was mommy and 1yo slept together on the bed while daddy slept on the fold-out bed.

You still need to tip for the one year old (especially for the cabin steward as they deal with the diper geinie each day for you ).
But the 1yo will take up one of the spaces at dinner, and they will bring foods and such for baby to try (at age 1, she should be starting "regular" food), and they have to clean up the messes caused by a 1yo at dinner too.

Flounders has a nice setup. If you want to check on your child, there is a one-way mirror so that you can see how your child is doing without them seeing you. However, it cost $6 per hour (2 hour min) and you have to researve ahead of time.

I've been one of the people suggesting verandah if you have a 1yo because when we took our 1yo last year, we spent alot of time in the cabin because he was still on 2 naps a week.

Remember to bring plenty of baby food, formula, dipers, wipes, and little swimmers for the Micky Ear because once on board, you either can't get these items, they are expensive, or they done carry the brand name you're used to using.

Also remember to bring the baby monitor (so you can keep the door to the verandah closed while you're out side), your umbrella stroller, and some prepackaged laundry detergent and a roll of quarters (you never know what you'll suddenly need to wash with a 1yo, and the detergent on board is expensive, just toss some into a ziplock if nothing else).

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Originally posted by D. R. N.

1) What kind of crib do they provide? Is it a pack & play? What about rails on the sofa bed? Would you recommend this for a mobile 1 year old?

It is a regular pack and play. We had a good experience with the pack and play and just left it up duringthe day for Katie (who was 10 months old) to nap in.

2) How about tipping for a 1 year old who will not be eating meals provided by the ship? She will turn 1 during our trip so she will still be on formula and baby food. Is it customary to tip fully for the infant?

When we sailed, we tippedthe suggested amount for our 10 month old. Although she was on formula, she was also eating finger foods (which I assume your one year old is as well) so she did eat some of the food. You'll also find that they servers will go out of their way to help you with anything you need from warming up bottles, if necessary, to cutting up a banana very small for your wee one to eat.

3) What has been your experience with Flounders? What is the set up? Is it a closed room or glassed in? Can you call in to see how things are going? I am concered about what happens when we turn around and leave. My DD has only been taken care of by my mom, my hubby and myself. Absolutely no one else. Do you think this will be too traumatic for her?

There is a glass area that you can see her and she can't see you. Our little one loved Flounders and we had a 15 month old with us who had never been with anyone BUT her Mom or Dad who liked it as well. There were some tears at first, but the staff was great at getting her distracted by toys and such.

4) We have booked a cat 6 w/verandah. Last time we were in a cat 9 with a porthole. We are spending about an extra $500 for it. Do you think it's worth the difference? I read on a post that a verandah is a good place to be while baby naps.

We LOVED having the verandah to sit on while Katie was napping. I think you will be very happy to have the balcony!

Have fun!



Thanks a million! [/QUOTE]

 

[minniemouse1]

We cruised with a 10 month old on our first cruise. I do not believe we tipped the full amount for her and our servers did nothing for her as we had fed her every night before dinner. She did eat a little bread at dinner and maybe a cracker or two that we had brought with us. We did leave the full amount for her for the room steward even though he did not empty the diaper genie once on our cruise.

The pack and play worked well for us. It does make the room a little cramped and the next time we go I will ask them to remove the coffee table so we have more room.

We used flounders for our 10 month old. She was very interested in the toys and loved the family play time when I brought her to play and stayed with her. The only problem we had is that when I dropped her off it was about 30 min until her bedtime and I had told them that she would not fall asleep if layed down awake and needed to be rocked with her bottle then she would be fine. Well they didn't do it that way and they paged me about an hour after I dropped her off to go to the nursery that she was upset and they could not calm her. I ended up bringing her back to the room and I was not charged for the time she was there. We used flounders on our last cruise in Oct with our then 1 1/2 yo and she loved it. No problems at all. She also was use to being put in her crib awake to fall asleep. We will be using Flounders again for our new baby that will be 7 mon old at the time of the cruise.

Don't forget a stroller. If you are short on space strollers can be signed out on the ship for a deposit. They are evenflo strollers and some are newer and cleaner than others. We used a towel in the bottom of ours and I cleaned it with a clorox wipe.

MOst of all have fun and enjoy. We love cruising with our children.

 

[D. R. N.]

Thank you so much for your responses! They were all very helpful.

We are off in less than a month!

Denise