7 Tips for Cruising with Babies
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to take a baby on a cruise? I promise, it’s not as hard as you think! I recently took my 10 month old daughter on her first island adventure and she had an absolute blast. We set sail on a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas. While my husband and I have traveled often, embarking on this trip with another human in tow had me a bit stressed! If you have a cruise planned in the near future with your baby, read below for my top 7 tips!
Pre Cruise Planning:
1. Order supplies for pickup
We all love a good Target drive up. I knew there were items I’d need that wouldn’t be coming home with us. Instead of packing these items (and paying more for luggage on our flights) we decided to utilize Target drive up. Here’s a list of the items I picked up the day before our cruise.
Diapers & wipes
Formula
Snacks (Puffs/Teether Crackers)
2. Pack reusable swim diapers
Everything with kids is unpredictable. Imagine this… you’ve packed a finite amount of swim diapers in your luggage only to have your child scream immediately while being placed in the water. Once those swim diapers get wet you definitely can’t use them again! I recommend reusable swim diapers so your little one can visit the baby splash zone as many times as they want!
We love these swim diapers*
3. Itinerary matters
Where you go on the cruise is just as important as the ship. I recommend finding itineraries that port at the cruise line’s private islands. Typically, the rules on these islands are more lax and kiddos with swim diapers can utilize the pools.
The 4 pictures below are at Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island.
4. Book a pre-cruise hotel with a shuttle
If you’re flying to your cruise port you’ll need a hotel for the night before. I recommend booking a hotel with both an airport shuttle and a port shuttle. Typically there is a charge for this, but to me, it’s easier than lugging around a car seat. You don’t need a car seat once you’re on the ship, so it’s one less thing for you to worry about!
5. Bring a stroller
I often hear people say that bringing a stroller on a cruise isn’t necessary. It may be true for older children, but with babies it’s a necessity! Ships today are very large and you don’t want to have a sore back the entire time you’re on vacation. Plus, if your baby can nap in the stroller that means more adult time exploring the ship! If you can, invest in a nice travel stroller. While the ships have gotten bigger, those cabin hallways are still very narrow.
I recommend the Baby Jogger City Tour 2 Ultra-Compact Travel Stroller*
On-Ship Organization Tips
1. Bathroom towels make great burp cloths
If your child had reflux like mine did, you understand the need for ALL the burp clothes. I was so worried about this I honestly considered bringing a roll of paper towels with us. My husband politely told me I was over-engineering the situation and then proceeded to tell me we could just use the room towels. Your room steward will be refreshing your room twice a day so they’d be more than happy to bring you fresh towels!
2. Organize your cabin
Sometimes it makes sense to spend a bit of time unpacking on embarkation day to get organized for the week ahead. Knowing exactly where things are will make your life so much easier! Here’s what I recommend bringing
Foldable hamper* for dirty clothes
Magnets* (to hang sunglasses, monitors, sleep sacks etc.)
Remove chairs/tables you don’t need
Phew! Thanks for making it this far. I hope this helped and it pushes you to book that cruise vacation for you and your family. You won’t regret it!
*You may come across affiliate links in this blog post. If you purchase using these links I’ll make a small amount of money.
