What to Bring on a Cruise with 10 Month Old

I have been looking into cruises and have some info I can share. The cruise line will provide a crib, highchair and baby food. The trick is you need to tell them way in advance. They have limited cribs and highchairs and they will buy the baby food you want. Hope this helps

Bring your own compact stroller. Backpack diaper bag that is not easy to pick pocket. DO NOT CARRY A PURSE. Fanny packs are no longer a fashing statement, but your husband should wear one and not carry his wallet in his back pocket. Always keep your eyes on your stroller and if you have anything under the stroller keep an eye on it at all times, or better yet don't put anything underneath the stroller, keep it in the backpack. Don't trust the very young kids to the elderly. They are very good pick pocketers and you will not know you have been a victim until it is way too late. You will see young girls carrying babies, you need to look pass that. Once you give them money, you be bombarded with people coming up to you begging for money and you will be fighting the crowd. Learn how to say NO.

Bring your own diapers, hand sanitizers, travel toliet paper and travel toliet liners. Good walking shoes. Bring your child baby spoon and small containers with baby food in it for your shore excursions.

Definately Google the question you want to ask, you will get plenty of information on what you are asking.

Hi C L
You need to check with your cruise line, but they are very good at taking care of your babies needs. My baby was actually treated like a princess. Most of the staff are away from their babies, so they take the extra time to take care of yours! They are the best. At meals, my daughter was made fresh baby food. They would bring her mashed sweet potatoes and peas, and anything else you asked for. They really are very accommodating! As far as essentials, pack enough diapers and wipes. I believe they had diapers, but just in case. Also, in the morning for breakfast, they have small boxes of cereal. I used to get the cherrios and take them with us as a snack when we got off the ship. Something to keep her busy! Best of luck, and have a great time!!

Hi,

When we went on a 10-day cruise to the Bahamas about 6 years ago, and there was NOTHING for our 5 month old. At least nothing that I could find. I had to pack everything; diapers, wipees, bottles, and baby food. I knew that we could get a porta-crib (playpen), if there was one available. And they brought me some disp soap for my bathroom sink, when I asked for it.

If I were you, I would plan to bring everything. You don't want to be without any of her needs. Plus, you don't want to be searching all over for something that she needs. You should just relax and enjoy the trip. Pack a BIG bag for all her needs :O)

Things that I discovered that could be helpful to you:

There wasn't a changing table ANYWHERE on the ship, so we had to change on the sofas ;O) Be prepared for that! It took me a little bit to get used to it. So, always have a small blanket and extra wipees, and hand sanitizer :O) There were times that I had to clean the sofa before changing, because people had just eaten there.

Your "fancy" cadillac stroller will be too big for a Cruise, so if you don't have a small folding one, invest! Having the net carrier underneath was helpful, and we added another net carrier to the handles. But THE STROLLER was what made the trip eaiser with a baby.

Bring your stroller to dinner, too. High Chairs were in "high demand" and we had to always wait for one. In the meantime, we just used our stroller.

My hubby and I put 2 chairs together one night to create a "crib" for our baby, so we didn't miss out on "Dancing Under the Stars". Our baby slept right through the midnight fun, and we were able to enjoy ourselves, too :O)

Have so much fun!

~N. :O)

I would just contact the cruise line and ask. I'm sure they have infants on board all the time and more than likely are accommodating. also, sometimes just googling your question will get you some good answers. I googled "things I should be aware of before i go to costa rica" (my nephew was going) and found out all kinds of things the travel agents dont want to tell you in blogs by people who had been and found out the hard way. good luck and have a lot of fun!!

We went on a cruise to Mexico last year with all 3 kids (they were 1,3 and 7). First, watch your child closely in Mexico (my 3 year old was grabbed by a man, although I was right in front of him). Watch your child at all times.

The cruise ships have a lot of on-line information, check lists, etc. You could print a book. I suggest you read up on it. They will give you a crib, so you don't need to bring one. I just planned as if I was going on a regular trip to a hotel. They have a lot of amenities.

Have fun.

My husband and I recently took our 13 month old son on a Royal Caribbean cruise for 8 days. Although a little older than your daughter, I too was a little apprehensive prior to the trip especially since it was going to be just us three with no other help.

1. My son was eating table food at that point, but I will say that they should be able to steam vegetables for you since most of the formal dining meals came with some sort of vegetable. Also for us, they seemed eager to help make our son comfortable. Otherwise on Royal Caribbean you had the option of eating buffet style in the non-formal area and that way you can kind of pick and choose some foods for her that you can mash up yourself. I do not know if you are flying to port or you live near the port, but if flying depending on how long a flight, you might just want to bring some jarred baby food (even though I know it's not great) because it is difficult to find anything for them to eat until you actually get aboard the ship. Once aboard, I also made sure during breakfast hour to take some extra boxes of cheerios, fruit (fresh banana, etc) and yogurt. I stored stuff in the mini-fridge in the room so that I always had stuff available.

-->We had plenty of high chairs on the ship and it was not a problem for us, but during breakfast and lunch we still brought our stroller so that we could both go through the buffet line together and not have to take turns while someone held/sat with the baby.

2. Make sure to confirm with the cruise line that you need a pack and play. I ordered it initially when we booked the cruise and then called back a few days prior to the sail date to reconfirm it only to find out the order had never been placed. Then once we got aboard the ship and went to our room I noticed it wasn't there. I immediately called our stateroom attendant and notified them and by the time we actually set sail, the pack and play was in our room. You just have to really stay on top of them with it.

3. Other things I found helpful:

---> Inflatable infant swimming pool. I put this in the bottom of the shower in the room (Royal Caribbean did not have any bath tubs) and used this to bathe my son. It worked great! It also did double duty on the pool deck as his own private swimming pool since he was not toilet trained to be able to use the cruise pools. He absolutely loved it!

-->Cheap stroller. Do not bring your best one with you as it most likely was expensive and also is pretty bulky. We bought a stroller specific for the trip itself. We ended up getting the Especially for Kids Trend sport stroller that was $49 because it was able to recline so that he could take a nap (came in handy for us to still be out at bingo or on the ship during nap time) and also had cup holders, sun canopy and good size basket underneath for things. It also folded up so well we could store it in the closet in the room easily out of the way.

-->Disposable bibs: just easier than having to wash bibs out all the time

-->Baby spoons: the ship spoons were too big for his little mouth.

-->Pack plenty of wipes/diapers (more than you think you'll need). Not sure if the ship has any on board, but even if they do I am sure they will be expensive and no guarantee they will have your right size. I pretty much spread out the diapers and wipes when packing into different bags.

-->Although we did not need it our pediatrician recommended to bring Infant Tylenol, Motrin and Children's Benadryl just in case something happens while on the trip. You might check with your own pediatrician for any recommendations.

All in all, everyone was very helpful and nice to us, even passengers. I cannot tell you how many people came up to us and said that they missed their son/daughter who they left at home and wished that they had brought them after seeing us on board. My husband and I had a great time and our son had a lot of fun as well. We would definitely do it again and I think the key is to be as prepared as you can be and be flexible.

Hope this helps. Have a great time!

Take an over-the-door shoe organizer to hang on the bathroom door up to store your small bathroom, baby items in. There is not much storage in a stateroom so thos helps to keep your small things easily accessible.

Hi, I have been on a cruise (Greek/Mediterranean/Carribean). To me, I would be wary of taking a baby at such a young age, I think the best cruise for kids is the Disney Cruise line. Unless you get a big stateroom, they're usually tight, small and really compact. You also have to think about and prepare just in case they're some virus breakout, make sure you have your insurance card and check with them, sometimes they don't cover if you go international, although there's always a doctor on board. Well good luck and have fun.