In the spring of 2010 I had the privilege of taking my 15 month old baby on a Carnival cruise to Mexico. I had been on 10 or more cruises before so I knew what to expect. When I told my friends and family that my little boy was going on the cruise, some thought he was crazy.
We had fun! There were very few small children on board, but this is a vacation I would recommend for families with small children, especially if you are a couple with a small child. There are a few things about cruises that made it an ideal vacation for a young child. The flight was free for her because she was less than two years old. The price of the cabin for her was half because she was the third person in the cabin. We were in one place all week. We only had to unpack once. Everything we needed was on the cruise. We didn’t need to drive. There was always food available. There is always something to do, but you can always retire to your cabin and do nothing.
Here are my 10 tips for those sailing with young children:
Toddler Cruising Tip #1: Try to stick to the schedule you follow at home.
When planning your day on the cruise, keep in mind typical meal times, nap times, and sleep times. Try to plan your day around your toddler’s usual schedule. This probably means planning any port trips in the mornings, leaving the afternoons for naps (you’ll need that too).
I also suggest you order an early dinner (6pm) as the late dining time (8:15pm) tends to have fewer families with children as it tends to be a bit more formal, especially on formal nights. I usually love formal dining, but we only ended up eating in the formal dining room twice during our cruise. The waiting times between courses, the formal dining room, and even the food choices were not something our toddler enjoyed. The buffet was much more his style.
Toddler Cruising Tip #2: Request a balcony if you can afford it.
We did not purchase a balcony, but due to a cruise line computer glitch, we were upgraded to a balcony. It ended up being a blessing because during his siesta, we could sit on the balcony. In my 10+ cruises, I’ve never requested a balcony because I never thought it was necessary, but since we ended up spending more time in the cabin with a small child, it was a nice addition.
Toddler Cruise Tip #3: Meet the hostess of the morning breakfast.
Our little one seems to have thought that traveling on a cruise ship meant waking up at 5:30 every morning. I’ve never been up so early on a cruise before. Turns out it’s a very quiet time of day. We went up to the buffet every morning. We met our lovely breakfast hostess from the Philippines. After a couple of days, she took it upon herself to have a high chair waiting for us and a plate of my daughter’s favorite fruits. Our daughter ended up being a hit with several team members sadly missing their children at home.
Toddler Cruising Tip #4: Come prepared to do laundry.
We made sure our cruise ship had a laundry room and requested that our cabin be close to it. My previous experience with cruises told me that we would have to do a lot of laundry due to the heat and I knew that we would need a laundry even more with a small child. We wash our clothes a couple of times during the week. It gave us the opportunity to pack lighter and save space for things that couldn’t have been easily replaced (like diapers, blankets, lovies, soy milk, baby bottles, favorite sippy cups, etc.). Really nice to have are The All Detergent Sheets.
Toddler Cruise Tip #5: Take turns with your spouse exploring the ship, swimming, going to the casino, and other activities that aren’t “toddler friendly.”
Toddler Cruise Tip #6: Go to the Kids’ Camp area (different names depending on the cruise line) and find out what’s available for your toddler.
There may be no programming for your young child; however, we found that we could take her to the playground at any time, as long as we stayed with her. This was a nice, air-conditioned area to take her.
Toddler Cruise Tip #7: Pack twice as many diapers as you think you’ll need.
I found that our baby normally drank about twice as much as usual when on vacation. Due to the unknown solid foods, he tended to withdraw to his familiar milk. This happened on the cruise and when we went to Disney World. Fortunately, we brought more than enough diapers on the cruise. Diapers generally cost up to $3.00 each at tourist destinations such as resorts, cruise ships, and amusement parks.
Toddler Cruising Tip #8: Don’t be afraid to use some sort of harness if you feel like you need one.
We’ve never used it again, but we bought one of those strap packs for the cruise and I’m glad we did. I was learning to run and wanted to be on the move all the time. The harness offered us a degree of safety on the cruise, particularly with all the ladders open on board. The harness also came in handy at the airport. She was too small to hold our hands all the time.
Toddler Cruising Tip #9: Bring a Pack n Play and a lightweight stroller.
The cruise lines say they have cribs available, but we were told that sometimes they sell out. We’ve checked into a hotel before and were told they don’t have cribs, so my advice is to bring a pack-n-play and a stroller. You can check the pack-n-play for free on the flight because you can check a baby item and you can take the stroller on the plane as carry-on baggage. We took a medium size stroller and are glad we did. Unlike a stroller with an umbrella, we liked having the basket part underneath for her diaper bag and keepsakes and also found it necessary to have a stroller with a cover because of the sun.
Toddler Cruising Tip #10: Be prepared in the event of a medical emergency.
Get travel insurance and take your important medical information with you in case of a serious medical emergency. This is my advice whether you are traveling with a small child or not. Our little boy had an ear infection while he was on the cruise. Fortunately, our ship’s doctor was available and we were able to get antibiotics on board at a reasonable price. We had all of our medical information with us, which was helpful.