Ship Cruise w/ 8 month old

Texasmom410 · April 2010

We have a planned vacation with Royal Carribean around the time our new baby will be 8months old.... She's not even born yet but I am nervous lol! Anyone here have experience taking babies on cruise ships, and what can I expect to be difficult? I thought it might be hard as far as sleeping situation for her, and for breastfeeding..

Any advice would be appreciated!!

Texasmom410 · April 2010

KimmieS1756:

Take a breastfeeding cover! And take your pump! That when when you are in port you can just pump before you get off and then give her a bottle of BM while on the islands. They usually have cribs but you need to ask for one in advance to make sure it's in your room when you get there. I would use their cribs and not bring your pnp! PNP take up more space then their crib will! And take a decent umbrella stroller. Don't take the thick clunky ones that are part of the travel systems. Those will be hard to store in the room and not very easy to maneuver around the ship. A nice umbrella stroller is a must have! This is the one we have! Good Luck and Have fun!

https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3331820

Ooh very helpful! I didnt know they had ship cribs! I was stressing thinking OMG where is an 8mo gonna sleep!?!? And the stroller tip is nice... depending on how slings work out for me, I might use my Moby or Maya wrap, that may be easier out on excursions on the islands?

Thank you!

ZacksBride · April 2010

one thing i can think of that may be difficult is evenings. if your LO is anything like mine, come 6:30 or 7, he is ready for bed and he is rather in flexible with that. sometimes if we need to be out, we can get him to fall asleep in his carseat for a bit, but he is often cranky. so it may just mean that you have to spend some nights in the cabin earlier rather than later...

mistresscox · April 2010

If you are BFing that will actually make life easier (no bottles, no worries about water quality when making bottles, etc). Take your BF pillow (boppy or breast friend, whichever you have) so you can be comfortable.

Depending on the size of the bed, you may also be able to co-sleep. That will also depend on how your LO sleeps, and how you sleep with her.

The only thing that would be a bit complicated with an 8 month old is feeding real food. You will have started purees by then, and she may or may not be interested in "real" food. So you would have to figure out a way to do purees on the boat. Not sure how to make that work-if I think of something I'll come back. Wink

I would also recommend a stroller. I have a Moby and LOVE LOVE LOVE it, but I'm not sure you'll still be able to use it at that age. My DD is tiny so I can still comfortably carry her, but around 8-9 months she started being less comfortable in it and didn't want to be so "contained". So if your kid is heavy or just doesn't want to be in the wrap, you will need a stroller. But honestly, I would take both stroller and Moby.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

Texasmom410 · April 2010

mistresscox:

If you are BFing that will actually make life easier (no bottles, no worries about water quality when making bottles, etc). Take your BF pillow (boppy or breast friend, whichever you have) so you can be comfortable.

Depending on the size of the bed, you may also be able to co-sleep. That will also depend on how your LO sleeps, and how you sleep with her.

The only thing that would be a bit complicated with an 8 month old is feeding real food. You will have started purees by then, and she may or may not be interested in "real" food. So you would have to figure out a way to do purees on the boat. Not sure how to make that work-if I think of something I'll come back.

I would also recommend a stroller. I have a Moby and LOVE LOVE LOVE it, but I'm not sure you'll still be able to use it at that age. My DD is tiny so I can still comfortably carry her, but around 8-9 months she started being less comfortable in it and didn't want to be so "contained". So if your kid is heavy or just doesn't want to be in the wrap, you will need a stroller. But honestly, I would take both stroller and Moby.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

Thanks! I totally didnt think about the need for feeding real foods.. LOL See its hard really to look ahead and anticipate *everything* a 8month old will bring.....and yes I will be BFing, we may do bottles like someone said on islands while we're "out" but it will be BM bottles, so no risk in using island water or anything. As for purees, if I have a battery powered baby food grinder, wouldnt that be doable? Is that what you mean by purees? I am hopin to do my own baby food vs. jarred. I think our rooms have fridges for cold storage

I will have about 30+ family members/friends with us, so I think if she goes down for the night, we will always have a trusted family member who would love to dote and baby her.. I dont think our "help" will be in short supply!

I thought of the cosleeping thing, but honestly where I'm at right now, I don't know if we'll do that --- we have a bedside Pack N play but I am a little scared of having an infant sleep in our bed! Maybe as time goes on I wont be such a worried mama but hubby suggested that for on the ship, and I am not real sure of that yet, so its good to know they offer compact ship cribs!

ballet84 · April 2010

Make sure you tell Royal Caribbean you need a bed for the baby. They don't have cribs but they will supply a PNP. They are actually Graco brand and were nice. This is what they will look like:

If you breastfeed it will make it so much easier on yourself. I didn't and I had to clean bottle in the cabin. Pain in the butt. Just bring a cover with you for when you nurse in public areas.

As for solid foods, we always fly in a day early before our cruises. Because of this we were able to go to Publix the day before and buy C's formula, jars of baby food, and a pack of bottle water to mix the formula with. If you buy bottles water before just stick one of your luggage tag stickies to it. It will show up at your room with your luggage.

The staff on the ship loves babies and will go out of their way to help you hunt down high chairs or whatever else you need. Let me know if you have anymore questions. Oh, and C was almost 7 months on his first cruise so it is close to the age your LO will be.

Antoe2007 · April 2010

We went in March - My LO was 8 months old. Sleep wise - we used their pack and play and bought our own sheets. He slept fine - he didnt know he wasnt home really. I went to BJs and bought one bulk pack of fruits and one of veggies. I bought disposable spoons and bibs and put each days food in one ziploc. I used an umbrella stroller and we would eat dinner around 7 and id keep him active until then and then give him his bottle and rock the stroller and he would pass out. He eventually after 2 or 3 hours he would wake up - almost like he would have changed positions if he was in his crib so Id go back to the room then. It was fun. A different type of vacation but still enjoyable. Enjoy!

leahraewku · April 2010

I just went on a cruise two weeks ago and DH and I kept saying to each other, "I'm so glad we didn't bring DD!" We took Royal Caribbean as well. The captain did a poor job timing the trip. He spent two days idling at sea then sped the boat up at night to make up for lost time. This led to about half the people on the ship getting sick. It was disgusting...vomit in the halls, in the elevators, people throwing up at the dinner table. They closed the top deck because it was too dangerous to be out there and you couldn't use the pool because the back and forth motion of the boat caused all of the water to spill out. I couldn't imagine putting LO through that. That was my only cruise experience, so I don't know if that's atypical but after that trip, I'd never consider taking an infant

ballet84 · April 2010

leahraewku:
I just went on a cruise two weeks ago and DH and I kept saying to each other, "I'm so glad we didn't bring DD!" We took Royal Caribbean as well. The captain did a poor job timing the trip. He spent two days idling at sea then sped the boat up at night to make up for lost time. This led to about half the people on the ship getting sick. It was disgusting...vomit in the halls, in the elevators, people throwing up at the dinner table. They closed the top deck because it was too dangerous to be out there and you couldn't use the pool because the back and forth motion of the boat caused all of the water to spill out. I couldn't imagine putting LO through that. That was my only cruise experience, so I don't know if that's atypical but after that trip, I'd never consider taking an infant

I'd say that isn't typical. All of my cruises have been on RC and that has never happened. As for taking an infant - it made the vacation different from previous ones, but I would do it again in a heartbeat! Actually, we are hoping to book one for next March and he is coming.

jennir70 · April 2010

So happy you posted this. We are going on a cruise with our going to be 8 month old soon. I have heard about the stroller, food and crib. Be sure to bring all the supplies you need (diapers etc) Also i have found the following tips i am putting on a list:

walkie talkie
Ziploc bags (dirty diapers, things that may get wet on excursions, dirty clothes etc)
Power strip for cell phone and camera chargers
light stick as night light
Lysol wipes
Oxy clean, clothes detergent
Crib sheets
Beach toys
soap and brush to clean bottles
Ginger candy for motion sickness, available at whole foods
Id for lost kids (online there are ones that are like tattoos or ones that go on shoes)
The night before an early-morning excursion, order room service.
printout of your bill the day before disembarkment

ballet84 · April 2010

jennir70:

So happy you posted this. We are going on a cruise with our going to be 8 month old soon. I have heard about the stroller, food and crib. Be sure to bring all the supplies you need (diapers etc) Also i have found the following tips i am putting on a list:

walkie talkie

Ziploc bags (dirty diapers, things that may get wet on excursions, dirty clothes etc)

Power strip for cell phone and camera chargers

light stick as night light

Lysol wipes

Oxy clean, clothes detergent

Crib sheets

Beach toys

soap and brush to clean bottles

Ginger candy for motion sickness, available at whole foods

Id for lost kids (online there are ones that are like tattoos or ones that go on shoes)

The night before an early-morning excursion, order room service.

printout of your bill the day before disembarkment

Oh, and add to your list those baby powder scented bags. We put all the dirty diapers in those to keep our room smelling fresh and so the poor room attendant didn't get hit by the smell of a poopy diaper. Worked out great!

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