We just came back from a Caribbean cruise on a Princess ship with our ten month old daughter. We had such a wonderful time that we are now planning our next cruise vacation.
There is some planning to be done beforehand, but the planning is well worth the effort. There are many things that you will need for your baby on the cruise vacation. Here is our list of the top 10 must things to have on a cruise vacation with a young baby.
1. Probably the most important thing for the cruise is taking a comfortable stroller that is foldable. Having a stroller makes it easy to get around on the ship and in the airport when travelling to the cruise. We used the stroller for morning walks on the ship, for taking our daughter to meals on the ship, and in the evening we bathed her, put her in pyjamas and then put her in the stroller as we enjoyed the excitement of walking around the ship in the evening. She fell asleep every evening in her stroller.
2. You cannot be without diapers. You can calculate how many diapers you will need on the trip by keeping track for a week or so before your trip of how many diapers your child uses in a typical day. Then simply multiply that number by the number of days in your vavcation. You also might want to consider waiting to buy the diapers in the city that you board your ship. That way you won't have to worry about checking them as luggage on your air flight (if your trip includes air travel). Our ship left from Ft Lauderdale Florida, and we had time between our flight arrival and the time to board the ship. We took a cab from the airport to a Kmart store and purchased the diapers and some other baby supplies before getting another taxi to the ship.
3. One thing to do on a cruise ship - especially when it is hot is to go to the kiddies pool with your child and cool off in the pool. In order for your child to go into the pool they have to wear swim diapers or they have to be toilet-trained.
4. If your baby is on formula make sure that you bring enough formula with you for the length of the cruise. We brought powdered formula since it is more compact than pre-mixed formula. Rather than bring it from home, we purchased the required formula in Florida before embarking our ship. Keep in mind that any formula entering the ship must be sealed & in the original container.
5. We wanted to make it easy and safe to make our baby's bottles so we took a kettle (with a thermostat controlled shut-off) with us so that we could boil water and know that the water was safe to mix with the powdered formula.
6. Formula dispenser - having a powder formula dispenser means that you can fill the bottles with clean water and when baby is ready to eat, you can just pour the pre-measured formula into the water and shake the bottle.
7. When you check into your room on the ship let your room steward know that you will have some smelly diapers - he will come to your room more often to remove them. You can also help to control odours in your cabin by bringing with you scented bags for putting the dirty diapers (they can be purchased at a dollar store or Babies r Us). The bags were also useful on our air flight.
8. Soap for baby's bath. Most cruise cabins don't have a bathtub - ours did not. What we did was plug the drain on the shower and put enough water in the shower in order to give our baby her bath.
9. Make sure that you bring something to protect your baby from the heat and sun, especially if you plan on spending much time in the sun with your child during the cruise. Before we left home we purchased a lightweight sun cabana. We used the cabana on two beaches and on the pool deck near the kiddies pool. It kept us and our baby comfortable and protected from the sun. To rent a cabana on the private island that our ship stopped would have cost us about $90. The cabana that we brought with us cost less than $50 and we use it all the time.
10. Zip lock bags - these are great for everything - snack holders, put really dirty/soiled clothes away until you get home. Use for things that leak - (ex. medicine). Use the bags on the ship to pack bibs, spoons to go for dinner so when they are dirty you can throw in the bag & clean when you get back to your room.
There are more items to consider, but start your list with these essentials items.
There is some planning to be done beforehand, but the planning is well worth the effort. There are many things that you will need for your baby on the cruise vacation. Here is our list of the top 10 must things to have on a cruise vacation with a young baby.
1. Probably the most important thing for the cruise is taking a comfortable stroller that is foldable. Having a stroller makes it easy to get around on the ship and in the airport when travelling to the cruise. We used the stroller for morning walks on the ship, for taking our daughter to meals on the ship, and in the evening we bathed her, put her in pyjamas and then put her in the stroller as we enjoyed the excitement of walking around the ship in the evening. She fell asleep every evening in her stroller.
2. You cannot be without diapers. You can calculate how many diapers you will need on the trip by keeping track for a week or so before your trip of how many diapers your child uses in a typical day. Then simply multiply that number by the number of days in your vavcation. You also might want to consider waiting to buy the diapers in the city that you board your ship. That way you won't have to worry about checking them as luggage on your air flight (if your trip includes air travel). Our ship left from Ft Lauderdale Florida, and we had time between our flight arrival and the time to board the ship. We took a cab from the airport to a Kmart store and purchased the diapers and some other baby supplies before getting another taxi to the ship.
3. One thing to do on a cruise ship - especially when it is hot is to go to the kiddies pool with your child and cool off in the pool. In order for your child to go into the pool they have to wear swim diapers or they have to be toilet-trained.
4. If your baby is on formula make sure that you bring enough formula with you for the length of the cruise. We brought powdered formula since it is more compact than pre-mixed formula. Rather than bring it from home, we purchased the required formula in Florida before embarking our ship. Keep in mind that any formula entering the ship must be sealed & in the original container.
5. We wanted to make it easy and safe to make our baby's bottles so we took a kettle (with a thermostat controlled shut-off) with us so that we could boil water and know that the water was safe to mix with the powdered formula.
6. Formula dispenser - having a powder formula dispenser means that you can fill the bottles with clean water and when baby is ready to eat, you can just pour the pre-measured formula into the water and shake the bottle.
7. When you check into your room on the ship let your room steward know that you will have some smelly diapers - he will come to your room more often to remove them. You can also help to control odours in your cabin by bringing with you scented bags for putting the dirty diapers (they can be purchased at a dollar store or Babies r Us). The bags were also useful on our air flight.
8. Soap for baby's bath. Most cruise cabins don't have a bathtub - ours did not. What we did was plug the drain on the shower and put enough water in the shower in order to give our baby her bath.
9. Make sure that you bring something to protect your baby from the heat and sun, especially if you plan on spending much time in the sun with your child during the cruise. Before we left home we purchased a lightweight sun cabana. We used the cabana on two beaches and on the pool deck near the kiddies pool. It kept us and our baby comfortable and protected from the sun. To rent a cabana on the private island that our ship stopped would have cost us about $90. The cabana that we brought with us cost less than $50 and we use it all the time.
10. Zip lock bags - these are great for everything - snack holders, put really dirty/soiled clothes away until you get home. Use for things that leak - (ex. medicine). Use the bags on the ship to pack bibs, spoons to go for dinner so when they are dirty you can throw in the bag & clean when you get back to your room.
There are more items to consider, but start your list with these essentials items.
About the Author:
BabyTravelPlanet is in Canada and they sell Lightweight sun canopies to people in the USA and Canada. Visit their site to get their free ebook checklist Packing for a Cruise Vacation With Your Baby that is loaded with ideas when planning a cruise vacation.
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