Can I Have Fun on a Cruise With a Baby?

Season 4, Episode 8: Can I Have Fun on a Cruise With a Baby?

Hey, traveler! If you are a new parent desperately in need of a vacation, you have probably asked yourself this exact question: Can I actually have fun on a cruise with a baby in tow? In this episode of Talk Travel to Me, host Kristy Ouellette (Owner and Founder of Mickey Guru Travel Company) tackles this common listener question with a resounding YES! Cruising with an infant is absolutely doable and incredibly fun, as long as you know the rules of the sea and set the right expectations. Kristy breaks down everything you need to know before you set sail with your littlest sailor.

In this episode, we cover:

• Age Requirements: Did you know your baby needs to be a certain age to cruise? We cover the 6-month rule for standard sailings and the 1-year rule for trans-oceanic and longer itineraries.
• Baby Gear & Packing: What you can get for free on board (like Pack 'n Plays and bottle warmers) versus what you must pack yourself. Plus, crucial rules about bringing baby food and formula on board!
• Childcare at Sea: A breakdown of drop-off nurseries (like Disney's It's a Small World Nursery), including costs, age limits, and how to take advantage of free "Open House" family playtime.
• Onboard Activities: How to entertain a baby on a ship! From the hilarious "Jack-Jack Diaper Dash" to the adorable themed splash pads (and why un-potty-trained babies are strictly prohibited from the main pools).

Whether you want to drop your baby off at the nursery for a quiet adults-only dinner at Palo, or keep them with you 24/7 for maximum family memories, this episode is your ultimate guide to cruising with a baby.

Next Week's Tease: Make sure you are subscribed because next week we are tackling a massive topic: Is Disney's Lightning Lane Premiere Pass actually worth the money?

Special show links:

It’s a Small World Nursery : https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/onboard-activities/its-a-small-world-childrens-nursery/

Royal Caribbean Baby & Tots Program: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-activities/babies-and-tots-programs

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🎙️ Hosted by Kristy Ouellette
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Transcript

Season 4 Episode 8
 Can I have fun on a cruise with a baby?

Kristy Hey, traveler, welcome back to Talk Travel to me. This week I'm answering the question, can I have fun on a cruise with a baby in tow? Let's just jump right into it. Yes, yes you can. And I laugh at this because this is a question that I have been asked multiple times, and then someone actually submitted this. Thank you Samantha, um, for the podcast specifically. And I just have to say, you can have a fun on a cruise no matter where you are, no matter who you're with. But with a baby, things are just a little different. So let's get into kind of what that looks like. First of all, most cruise lines, in fact, all that I can find, the ones that we sell require infants to be at least six months old on embarkation day. So that means the day that the cruise is going to first set sail, the infant needs to be at least six months old on that date. Um, the exception is for longer cruises. So if you have a cruise that maybe is doing the Panama Canal, maybe it's a Hawaii cruise. So you're looking at like Hawaii to Vancouver or Seattle or that sort of thing. Um, or a transatlantic transpacific. Those long cruises, those are going to require children to be at least one years old on embarkation day. Um, Royal Caribbean has a little bit of a specific. And each cruise line you'd want to look closely if you're getting ready to sail. Um, but Royal Caribbean says any cruise that has three or more days in a row at sea, the child needs to be at least a year old, obviously, because they do have doctors and emergency facilities on the ship. But if you have someone that is younger than a year old, the equipment is going to be different needs. The the situation could be more difficult, and they may not be well versed and ready to treat that. So they say one years and up you're golden. So baby gear. Let's talk about it because you're going to need it. If you're traveling with a child six months to a year, even until like two and a half, three years old, maybe, um, you can on Disney Cruise line, you can get diaper genies, bottle warmers, bottle Sterilizers, pack n play cribs, Playpens strollers, beach wagons, and there are highchairs in the restaurants. If your child is still on baby food like the jar baby food, um, or the pouches, that kind of thing, you can bring that on in your carry on bag, but it's just like any other food products, it needs to be in unopened original containers. Um, and you have to have food that you don't need to prepare in a kitchen because, um, you can't take your food and ask them to prepare it in the ship's kitchen. And you also don't have microwaves and things like that in your rooms. Um, so keep that in mind. You also should know that with Disney Cruise Line. At least they will puree fresh vegetables and bring it to you in the dining room or even via room service. So like if you are thinking like, hey, you know what? I'd really love some pureed squash from my infant. You can get that. Just keep in mind that they don't always have all the things right? So if you are like, oh, I want to have peas, they may not have peas. So you're at their mercy. So I do recommend in most cases, bringing your own food makes the most sense. Um, especially if you have a preference to organic vegetables or if you really like one brand of baby food over another. This is a good opportunity to mention that you can't bring homemade baby food onto a cruise ship. Remember, it has to be in original containers and still sealed from the manufacturer. So homemade things that you've made and pureed, that doesn't work. Um, the merch shops also carry all the needs that a baby might have as far as diapers, swim, diapers, rash cream, ready to feed, formula bottles, pacifiers, shampoos. But as you might expect, they are extremely expensive. So all of that I highly recommend you bring with you. That way you have the things that you want and you know you're not going to find it's not a Costco where you're going to find five different brands of formula. Um, so you want to make sure that you just have all of that yourself in a backup in a pinch, it's fine, but you will pay through the nose if you want to get like swim diapers from the gift shop. Not surprising. Um, all of the things that they provide complementary for you can be reserved ahead of time. The exception is a pack and play and a diaper genie because they have plenty of those. And if you're coming on board with a six to eight month old baby, even a year year old baby, they know that you're going to need that. Um, but always let me know that you are going to need certain things, and we'll do everything we need to do to have it ready for you. Activities on the cruise ship for babies and toddlers. Every cruise line does this a little bit different, but none of the cruise lines provide nursery care. So that's like six months to two and a half, three depending on the cruise line. None of them provide that free of charge. There always is a charge of some sort for that service on the Disney Cruise line. It's called It's a Small World Nursery, and it accepts children six months to three years in order to go to the kids clubs. When they turn three, they have to be potty trained. So this is something that you want to consider for that next stage. But obviously in the nurseries they understand that they're not potty trained or they may be potty training. So they're they're ready for all of that. So there's a fee. Generally it's between nine and ten dollars per hour for the first child in the family. They do have a little bit of discount. If you have multiple kids that you're sending to the nursery and all of the cruise lines offer something like that, um, minimum reservation time is an hour. Why this matters? Okay. Um, because two things. If you're bringing a baby on board, you may want time where you and your partner, you and your friends, you and the older children are going to go take part in activities that won't allow a child to an infant to be there. Okay. Um, the first one that always comes to mind is like, you might want to go have that special adult dinner at Palo or Remy or enchanté. And if you do, you can't bring a baby in there at all. So you might want to bring them to the nursery. I'm not saying you have to, though. And that's one of the big things that I think are important for people to know. You can have fun with your baby on the cruise ship and just never leave them. If that's what you want to do. The It's a Small world nursery and all the other kids club facilities do have open house hours when you're allowed to go and use those spaces together as a family? Many, many of my clients will do that. They may not feel comfortable leaving the infant for long enough for a toddler for long on the cruise ship, so they might do it in the evening once or twice, but it's not a daily occurrence for them. Um, but they do love to go to those open houses. And I'm going to share some pictures on Instagram and TikTok because I got to go into the It's a small world nursery on the Disney treasure and I have some really cool pictures. And I actually was playing in there with other adults on our preview sailing and thought this would be a really fun place for parents to be able to let infants and toddlers just go to town, right? You obviously are supervising them, not suggesting that you're not doing that, but it's a place where you don't have to worry about them touching outlets. You don't have to worry about them falling from heights. Like it's all like designed for their little bodies and for free exploration. So it's a fabulous place. I did not travel with an infant. Um, my daughter's first cruise, she was eleven, I believe. Um, and so it was a little different for us, but I've helped many, many clients do the cruising with a baby for sure. And they have had an incredible time. Royal Caribbean does a decent job. Depends on the ship. Uh, some of their cruise ships, they actually only ever have a space that you can visit with your baby. There's no drop off care for babies. Um, it's a little blah. It's a little bland. Um, but that doesn't mean that you can't have fun, right? Babies are going to have fun as long as the people they're with are fun. So that's a good thing. Um, keep in mind that on Disney Cruise Line, you can reserve child care space in the nursery before your cruise, the day that it opens for you to book is going to be, um, dependent on your castaway club level. So there's all those details, but I can get that for you when it's when you're ready to actually do it. In terms of the fun activities on board, I have to say that one of my favorites is they do a jack, jack, jack, diaper dash, um, on the ship. So basically, if you have a child that's like six to, you know, twelve months, maybe fourteen months before they're actually running, they line them up in a, usually the grand hall. And then they kind of like let them, you let them go. I'm kind of doing this like vision here with like a slot car race, but you basically set them down and they go towards the target and they have prizes and it's really fun to watch. I will say I don't have any footage of that because I don't feel right recording other people's babies like that. So, um, but just picture it in your mind. It is a whole lot of fun. And I think that parents and the kids tend to get really into it. And it's a, it's a good time. Um, there's also a splash pads on all of the ships that children that are not toilet trained are able to use. You do want to have a swim diaper on them for those spaces. Um, but they have, you know, like little, little slides. They have little water spouts. They're themed to different ways, different things on some of the, the Disney ships we have like the nephews, Donald's nephews. Um, we also have like Dory's Reef and Remo's Remo Nemo's Reef. One of my personal favorites is on the wish class. It's themed after Toy Story. It's just adorable. They're all so cute. And they don't allow larger kids in those spaces. So you're going to have kids under three in that space is reserved for them and their parents. So it is a really fun place. And I've kind of gone by and watched the babies and their parents. And it is the expressions are just pure joy, pure joy. So if you're taking a baby on a cruise, you definitely want to make sure that you bring a waterproof camera so you can get pictures of your kiddo in that environment. Having fun. It is important to note that on all cruise ships, no matter what cruise line we're talking about, infants and children that are not potty trained are not allowed in any of the pools. So if a pool day is your like most important thing, then you probably don't want to take a baby on a cruise. However, if you're cool with the splash pad area, go for it. Such such a fun, fun experience. There aren't any reasons not to cruise with a baby as long as you're in the right headspace for it, right? So if you're willing and interested in bringing your child to the childcare space, great. Even if you're not, as long as you are willing and interested in participating in the activities that they can partake in, you're going to have a blast. Um, I really wish I had been able to take our daughter when she was that little because we did do Disney World with her. And there is nothing like those moments when things just blow their mind completely blow their mind. and at that tender age, that under three spot, they're just excited by all the things. Um, so yes, can you have fun with a baby in tow on a cruise? Yes yes yes. Do it. Uh, and if you have questions about it, if you've got concerns or are things that are worrying you, I've got you just reach out and I will give you any of the answers. I'll allay your fears or in your situation, I might even say it might make more sense to wait. Alrighty then. That is one more question. Unpacked. If you have a travel stumper you want me to tackle, or if you're ready to let a pro handle the heavy lifting for your next getaway, send me a text at the show or come find me at guru dot com. I'd also really love to have you join the conversation over on Instagram and TikTok too. See you next week when I'll be answering the question. Is Disney's Lightning Lane Premiere Pass worth the money? Da da da. See you real soon, traveler.