jediannie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,991
Jun 30, 2014 3:19:06 GMT
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Post by jediannie on Feb 24, 2015 23:15:09 GMT
My brother & sis-in-law invited a bunch of us on a cruise next March. Normally, we would have jumped on it, but currently I'm 7 months pregnant and we'll have a 10 month old baby when the cruise rolls around.
Have any of you taken a 10 month old on a cruise? Should we even consider it? If you have, what worked and what didn't work?
We don't have a pediatrician yet (we're interviewing them over the next few weeks) and my OB didn't have a definitive answer (she said she'd go for it but she also said she and her husband are both doctors and if the baby gets sick or whatever, they could take care of it. She also said to ask the pediatrician when we choose one.
Thanks!
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Post by alittleintrepid on Feb 24, 2015 23:21:07 GMT
I took my daughter on a cruise at four months of age and it was great. Any particular questions?
I would, however, get good trip cancellation insurance..... You might not want to take an infant that is not fully immunized to any place there are lots of people if we continue to see outbreaks of measles and mumps.
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Post by dazeepetals on Feb 24, 2015 23:29:05 GMT
I'm not sure for me personally, that taking a young infant who hasn't had all their immunizations on a large crowded vessel with thousands of people would be smart. At 10 months of age the baby won't be able to do a lot of "activities" so if you are prepared to sit by the pool most of the day then go for it.
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Post by brookeq on Feb 24, 2015 23:45:58 GMT
Some of the cruise lines have changed the ages that babies area allowed on the ship so look into that.
If a baby does get sick the ship doctors can make you get off at the next port for treatment at a hospital. So make sure you have passports. It probably won't happen but you never know. It just happened to a couple on a disney cruise.
I wouldn't take my kids on a cruise until they were old enough to go to the kids club. (usually 2 and potty trained). There isn't much to do on a cruise for a little one. They can't go in the pools unless they are potty trained. No swim diapers allowed.
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,393
Jun 27, 2014 12:39:18 GMT
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Post by amom23 on Feb 24, 2015 23:46:44 GMT
Well we took an extended family type cruise when my oldest was 9, middle was 4 and the 1 year old stayed home with Grandma. It wasn't the easiest with the 4 year old. DH and I missed out on most of the later at night fun stuff. I certainly wouldn't want to deal with diapers, highchairs, etc. So my advice is either skip the cruise or leave the baby home with grandparents (if that is an option).
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Deleted
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Sept 18, 2024 23:26:10 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2015 23:47:41 GMT
If you take enough activities to do (toys and baby books etc) I think you could have a really good time. We started taking DS to Hawaii when he was really little and he enjoyed it until he was about 8 or 10. Then he was sick of it. (Sitting on a cruise ship relaxing while you have an 8 month old and a toddler) wouldn't be terrible at all. Make sure they have as many of their immunizations as they can get/you feel comfortable with. Remember you need to make milk or will be nursing the baby ever so many hours (which you will be used to anyway...) and i don't see a problem. I took cans of liquid Enfalac now called Enfamil on the plane and poured bottles as I needed it. The ship will be very accommodating and I honestly wouldn't worry about it.
Will you get to see all the ruins of Ancient Greece as you would have had you gone just with your sister and BIL? No but you knew that ahead of time. You will love the break from reality...GO!
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Deleted
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Sept 18, 2024 23:26:10 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2015 23:56:44 GMT
As odd as it sounds I'd take a 5 month old before I'd take a 10 month old. At 10 month most babies are mobile to some degree and have a drive to move it move it move it. They aren't happy confined to long stretches in a stroller, pack or being held. Younger than about 5 months are pretty happy being carried, sitting in the stroller or laying on a blanket.
But, being at floor level crawling they can find the smallest pill dropped by a previous cabin occupant that has missed being vacuumed up 20 times. It is the age they have started to pull up.. on seats that have been sat on by people who many not have the cleanest personal habits.
You will have to interrupt your fun for feedings that don't match the local meal times and nap time and baby's early bedtime...
I'd either plan on leaving baby with someone or waiting until baby is over the age of putting everything in his/her mouth and putting mouth on everything too big to put in it.
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Post by eversograceful1 on Feb 24, 2015 23:57:40 GMT
I would not but my experience probably isn't common. We took our 17 month old on a seven day cruise. She became TERRIBLY ill. She ended up with a fever of 105* and we had a hard time getting it down. The medical personnel were good but even they started to panic. Beyond that, we just didn't really enjoy ourselves because there wasn't much we could do with her in tow. I would go on another cruise now that she is old enough to go to the kids club and on excursions.
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Post by myshelly on Feb 25, 2015 0:09:33 GMT
Honestly that sounds like my idea of hell.
The baby will be mobile and fidgety and will not enjoy being still or contained for any period of time.
Nothing will be baby proofed.
The baby won't be able to go to the kids club and you won't be able to do a lot of activities with a baby along.
The baby probably won't be able to even get in the pool as most cruises have an all swimmers must be potty trained rule.
How could that be any fun for anyone?
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Post by moveablefeast on Feb 25, 2015 0:15:00 GMT
For me... If and only if I could get a super fabulous cabin with a balcony and a great view... Then I could picture myself hanging out on the balcony while baby plays or naps or whatever, and enjoying the food, some ocean air, some sunlight... But maybe just for a few days because I get cabin fever pretty fast. I don't really cruise as it is, because it's not my favorite kind of vacation. But if I could afford a great room and get room service the whole time.. And if I had someone I could swap off childcare duties with... It could work.
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Deleted
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Sept 18, 2024 23:26:10 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2015 0:17:25 GMT
Honestly that sounds like my idea of hell. The baby will be mobile and fidgety and will not enjoy being still or contained for any period of time. Nothing will be baby proofed. The baby won't be able to go to the kids club and you won't be able to do a lot of activities with a baby along. The baby probably won't be able to even get in the pool as most cruises have an all swimmers must be potty trained rule. How could that be any fun for anyone? Exactly what I was thinking.
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jediannie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,991
Jun 30, 2014 3:19:06 GMT
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Post by jediannie on Feb 25, 2015 0:36:10 GMT
I'll be honest, I was thinking it sounds like the worst type of hell to me too. My brother & sis-in-law offered to help pay for an on-board nanny, but I think we're just going to pass. The last cruise we went on was so much fun, but we were footloose & fancy free, aka no kids. We unfortunately don't have anyone to have the baby stay with, my mom is in Iowa and is 82 and my DH's dad does not have any experience with babies, he never did anything with his own kids. I figure these next 2 years (or more) will be a lot of us staying home from family vacations until the kid is a bit older. Or going to an all-inclusive resort and hanging out on the beach for a week. Thanks for all the information!
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Post by alittleintrepid on Feb 25, 2015 0:43:17 GMT
Honestly that sounds like my idea of hell. The baby will be mobile and fidgety and will not enjoy being still or contained for any period of time. Nothing will be baby proofed. The baby won't be able to go to the kids club and you won't be able to do a lot of activities with a baby along. The baby probably won't be able to even get in the pool as most cruises have an all swimmers must be potty trained rule. How could that be any fun for anyone? The kid won't be old enough for kids club but they usually have a separate daycare (which you would have to pay for) for babies. If you were comfortable with those services, you might get you might get to dine with the adults at least. You'll likely have a pack and play for the baby to sleep and cruise rooms are so streamlined that I don't see that baby proofing is a huge problem, Also, baby won't be allowed in the main pools but there is usually a small kiddie pool and baby could go in the ocean if the beach is on your itinerary. We also did very family-friendly activities like trips to the an aquarium, Atlantis, and were meant to go to tour some ruins (although I ended up getting sick and kept the baby back as a result). I don't think it would be that different for the baby....some of it may come down to your parenting style (can you role with it or does the baby need to be on a schedule?) and the baby's style!
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jediannie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,991
Jun 30, 2014 3:19:06 GMT
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Post by jediannie on Feb 25, 2015 1:02:04 GMT
I don't think it would be that different for the baby....some of it may come down to your parenting style (can you role with it or does the baby need to be on a schedule?) and the baby's style! I like to hope we'll be roll with it parents, but I know myself and will probably try and put the baby on a schedule. We'll have to figure that out once she gets here!
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Deleted
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Sept 18, 2024 23:26:10 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2015 1:16:29 GMT
I wouldn't do it. Especially when at this point, you don't know what type of personality your child will have. Will she be sleeping "through the night"? Will you still be nursing or will you need to bring formula? After a day or two, where will you feel comfortable hanging with a baby that isn't crowded/noisy or lonely?
Plus the whole issue of baby getting sick and having to leave the boat mid-way. My MIL/step-FIL had to leave their cruise after FIL fell. It was not an easy trip home. They didn't even get to go back to the boat to pack. The crew packed (or threw everything they could find in their suitcases) for them. It was horrendous. I can't imagine having an issue where one had a baby too.
Is there anyway you could just meet the boat at one of the ports?
Becoming a parent tends to change priorities and I will say our girlies were almost 4 before we took at trip that didn't involve staying at the house of family or friends.
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Post by imkat on Feb 25, 2015 1:20:50 GMT
We went on a cruise with my brother and his family. They had a 6 month old, and it was not enjoyable for anyone. I would go alone or stay home.
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Post by blueswede on Feb 25, 2015 1:21:01 GMT
No comments on the trip, but I just wanted to say congratulations.
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Post by alittleintrepid on Feb 25, 2015 1:41:43 GMT
I don't think it would be that different for the baby....some of it may come down to your parenting style (can you role with it or does the baby need to be on a schedule?) and the baby's style! I like to hope we'll be role with it parents, but I know myself and will probably try and put the baby on a schedule. We'll have to figure that out once she gets here! Yeah, when we took the cruise with my four month old, we already knew what to expect as she is our second.
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Post by utmr on Feb 25, 2015 3:14:37 GMT
Personally, I would, and here's why:
The biggest regrets I have with the kids are the things we didn't do because they were too small, or "we'll do it when they're older". We had a chance to take DD1 to Disney when she wa s10 months old. We didn't because she was "too small to remember anything". By the time we went she was too old to believe in the magic. We didn't go to NY because we thought a stroller would be too much trouble - we have never been since. The trips to Alaska and to Las Vegas were wonderful memories, even though they were young.
Get trip insurance, just in case. Make sure she is up to date on her immunizations and then wear her in a front pack so she is not contacting as many people. Plan ahead with your pediatrician. If she's prone to ear infections, she'll get one while you're gone. Plan ahead for it. Bring a pack and play, formula or food that she's used to, and the arsenal of baby Tylenol etc. You won't be partying all night, and you'll spend a lot of time napping in the room or by the pool, but it will be good. For us, 10 months was a good age. They were happy and sociable, and happy to sit at a restaurant with crackers or Cheerios. Schedule the early dinner seating and be ready to take her out if you need to.
If I could go back in time, I would take them everywhere we could.
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Post by Basket1lady on Feb 25, 2015 3:26:21 GMT
I never took a baby on a cruise, but we did take our kids plenty of places as babies, starting at 2 months old. (Really, if you are nursing, they are very portable!). There were things that I had to modify and I wasn't free to do whatever I wanted, but that was my life for the next 18 years. It's just a new reality.
I took a two year old to Tokyo and Seoul and a three year old to Beijing. I'm so glad I didnt stay home.
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Post by ahiller on Feb 25, 2015 3:31:12 GMT
To me the hardest part would be sleeping in the same room. At that age, if my kids woke up and saw us sleeping in the same room, we would ALL be awake after that. Ask me how I know.
If it were just a regular beach vacation, I'd say go for sure. A cruise seems like it would be difficult to manage with a baby, especially one that could be starting to be mobile.
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Post by iteach3rdgrade on Feb 25, 2015 3:35:06 GMT
I'd probably do it if I had the opportunity. I'd say get the little one used to traveling. We took ds to Hawaii at 1. Easy trip even with a long flight. Disney was easier at 2 than it was at 7. I wasn't prepared for that. We travel a lot with our son due to our timeshare. It's nice to get out of the house when they are young.
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Post by pierkiss on Feb 25, 2015 4:03:50 GMT
Nope. They're crawling and pulling up and cruising furniture at that age. I would spend the entire trip terrified that my baby would fall off the boat. Also, babies that age tend to be more aware of their surroundings, and can have more trouble sleeping if they are in an unfamiliar environment. And if baby's not sleeping when it's tired, then baby will be crying. And a crying baby in a tiny cruise room does not sound like fun.
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Post by stingfan on Feb 25, 2015 4:10:09 GMT
My parents took all of their children and families on a cruise in 2013. One of my brothers and his wife had a 7 month old baby. They did not have a good time. One of them was always stuck in the cabin for naps. The baby couldn't go to the kids club. They rarely all came to dinner together - one was back in the cabin with the baby or their 2 year old (who also couldn't do kids club since she wasn't potty trained). Anyway, of the 6 families who went, I'd say their experience was the worst.
I think it's great to take kids on vacations. I took a 3 and 5 yo to Finland and Russia. They did great. People would comment about them not remembering. But I don't care - I remember. We've also taken small children to the beach and Disney. A cruise is a totally different animal. I wouldn't want to take my kids along until they were potty trained.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Feb 25, 2015 4:40:44 GMT
We took our DD on a Disney cruise when she was not quite 3 and it was fine, and she probably would have been fine to take her at 10 mos as well but she was an exceptionally easy baby. She slept through the night early on, would sleep anywhere, napped pretty regularly by then and she wasn't even really trying to walk yet and loved being wheeled around in her stroller. So I would say it really depends on the kid. The only thing that would concern me a little is that babies aren't able to be fully immunized at that age, and there are some really nasty bugs that can be picked up on cruise ships. We have pretty much taken her everywhere we go out of necessity.
The Disney cruises have 24 hour nurseries on board for a fee (maybe some of the others do too, I don't know), so for a cruise like that the parents can check their kid in and go have a nice dinner by themselves. The nursery was for babies/toddlers up to age 3, the youngest kid's club was for kids around 3-8 years old and they had to be totally potty trained to go there. Since our kid wasn't yet 3, she couldn't do that but she really enjoyed all the shows and other entertainment (and behaved herself), she had fun in the splash pad, she totally loved all of the character meet and greets and that kind of thing. We took her to Disneyworld last Christmas at 4.5 and that was awesome, it was pretty much the perfect age to take her and she loved every minute of it. I think if it's a cruise line that caters to kids and families, it would be fine since there will be other families with young kids there doing the same thing.
On a somewhat related note, very young children don't have a good sense of equilibrium developed yet so you shouldn't have to worry about them getting motion sickness under the age of three or so. At least that's what our pediatrician told us, and we didn't have any problems with it.
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Post by elaine on Feb 25, 2015 4:54:11 GMT
If the cruise line is Disney, there would be no problem with a 10 month old! I can't speak to the other cruise lines with a child that young.
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Post by shanniebananie on Feb 25, 2015 5:12:13 GMT
We took my daughter on an Alaskan cruise at 9 months and it was fine. My parents were along and there was always someone to push her around the deck in her stroller or play with her. She even got an ear infection but the doctor was able to medicate her. We took her on another cruise before she was 2. My son had been on 4 cruises before he was 4 yrs old and we managed to have a great time on all of them. I think by taking our kids everywhere we go they learned extremely early on how to adapt and behave in many different environments. It may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but we never regretted bringing the kids on vacation with us.
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Grom Pea
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,944
Jun 27, 2014 0:21:07 GMT
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Post by Grom Pea on Feb 25, 2015 7:07:36 GMT
We took ds in the Disney cruise when he was 20 weeks old and when he turned 2. We had fun but went with the expectation that we couldn't do every activity. If we did do things we had to do them alone, eg I went to adults time at the kids club at midnight while ds and dh slept and also checked out the Cadillac lounge. Those things would have been more fun with dh but to be honest he might not have gone anyway since hr had a bad back and beds to lie down frequently, so I did what I wanted when I had free time. Ds was easier at 20 weeks than at 2 because he wasn't mobile and I could still easily carry him. However at 2 he could do more things, I'm pretty lucky that he potty trained early so we could do the pool. We didn't do the kid club though since he want really talking yet and I didn't feel comfortable having him there without a parent, but we did go to open house at the kids club together. Imho I would go but I wouldn't direct to do everything, butif rather look back and have memories of the things I did than regretsthat didn't do them because I thought I couldn't.
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back to *pea*ality
Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys ~refugee pea #59
Posts: 3,149
Jun 25, 2014 19:51:11 GMT
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Post by back to *pea*ality on Feb 25, 2015 11:08:16 GMT
I think you might get cabin fever. In the cabin when the baby naps, in tne cabin when the sun is too intense. In the cabin when the baby is cranky. It wouldn't be the vacation I would chose right now.
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Post by christine58 on Feb 25, 2015 11:12:36 GMT
I think your decision to pass is a good one. That baby won't have all his/her immunizations and I just don't think you'd have that great a time.
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