*** This is a post that i did for the Family cruise board on www.cruisecritic.com which is the best website out there to find cruise information***
Hello all-
I am back from a wonderful cruise on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas (Western Caribbean, 7 days) with our six month old infant son and wanted to share some thoughts/experiences that might be helpful. I'm appreciative to all the other moms out there who wrote posts that i used when i was researching and would like to return the favor. Feel free to post with any questions!
About us:
Both my DH and i have cruised several times each on various cruise lines. We are laid-back cruisers... we don't need to be doing something all the time. From CO and so it worked out best for our babe to be on CO time (MST) for the entire trip. Babe takes consistent two hour naps, he is still being BF, and had recently started solid foods before leaving on the trip. We took this cruise to be able to relax and enjoy the time as a little family.
General info:
Could have been the best cruise I've ever taken. Yes, it was a lot different than going with the girls... or going with just the hubby.... but we made it work, mainly by just going with the flow. We picked the Freedom because of the Royal Babies nursery that was recently added to the ship. We did not have the option of grandparents coming along to help so we needed the nursery option to give us a break. Part of the relaxation plan. We also decided to take the advice of others and book a balcony cabin so we could go out on it while baby naps, etc. It was wonderful!
Packing:
I think we brought more for our son than for ourselves... it was hard to know how many outfits, diapers, etc we would need but we flew Southwest to Florida so we didn't feel too guilty for the babe's big suitcase since bags fly free. Here are some of the more useful things to pack:
Baby Bjorn soft bib and baby spoon-- i could have only brought this one bib and a couple spoons and been fine... as long as you don't forget the spoon on the table. We brought these to every meal and were able to wipe it down afterwards so easily! A must have!
Baby food pouches- they are sold at Target, etc and are absolutely wonderful for traveling. We fed our little one plain yogurt at breakfast and had him try some of the soups and other items from the menus/buffets but it was really helpful to always have baby food available as well that we knew he would eat and that we knew the ingredients. And the pouches were easy and clean to work with and no breakages!
Carseat/SnapandGo/Ergo carrier- Our son ended up sleeping in the carseat overnight and for his naps. Worked perfectly... and we used the towels from the room to make sure it was fully covered. If his naps before dinner ran long we would just click the carseat into the snapandgo and wheel him to dinner. It was also nice to push the stroller around the jogging deck when it wasn't too windy. For ports and to get around the ship easily, we would use the Ergo.
Inflatable duck tub/ plastic bucket- I had read about this on a post and it really is the best! My son loves water and we would just put it out on the balcony for this bath or play time. So cute! And the cheap bucket was useful in filling up the tub.
Box of wine- Yes, i'm a smuggler of alcohol. Don't fault me. And the box was more than enough for the week. Considering the great times we spent relaxing on our balcony, it was great to have some wine as well. Not sure how I could have managed getting wine from the bars and bringing it back to the room. Just wouldn't have made sense.
IPad or some other way to watch DVDs-- We are movie lovers and the husband brought his IPad. Only thing we wished we had were more movie choices. This was great to have for our nights that we stayed in while the baby slept.
The nursery:
We loved it! Everyone was so nice and I think because this is a brand new service on the Freedom, hardly anyone knew about it. But for us that was great because there was more attention for our LO. We went by on Sunday to find out the details and pick up his bag that we would fill with his bottles, food, diapers, wipes, etc when we brought him in. There was no problem with availability and our LO was actually the only one there when we dropped him off/ picked up. The only downside is that sometimes the hours are slightly strange or not long enough sometimes. For instance every night the nursery was open 5:45pm until 11pm. We ended up heading in early most nights but a couple times I would have liked to have gone to a late night comedy show or a game show. But that's ok... there's always next time! I really am thankful that we were able to use this service. And it was only $8 an hour.
What we did:
Day 1- Check-in-- we arrived around 12pm and since we were pushing a stroller we got to go through the elite line and skip the long lines waiting to check in and board at Cape Canaveral. It was so nice to skip the line! Our little guy stayed happy and when we boarded around 1:15 the rooms were already ready. I switched to the Ergo carrier and we started to explore the ship. We then went back to the cabin for naps. My hubs and the baby slept through our 6pm dinnertime so we ate in the WJ that night. All the staff in the WJ were great all week.... we would just ask for a highchair when we arrived and it usually one took a few minutes for them to round one out. Lots of the staff would come by-- i think many miss their own families and so they adored our little guy all week. We went back to the room-- i went to the casino for a bit-- and then we watched a movie before bed.
Day 2- Day at Sea/First formal night- Hubs got up early to go to one of the group workouts and I stayed in with our sleeping baby. As I mentioned, he mainly stayed on CO time so he didn't get up until 9:30!! So nice for this mama. We ate at the WJ and then found a spot in the Solarium to relax for awhile as the baby fell asleep. We went back to the room, the babe played in his duck tub on the balcony and then we got ready for the first formal night. Our little was in a tux vest that was adorable. People definitely took notice! And we had a nice dinner since our little guy napped beforehand and then we just fed him at the table. After dinner we ended up trying to get one of the formal pics but we only got to do one before the babe started to get fussy. We went back to the room-- i think i might have gone to the casino again to lose the $15 I had won the night before-- and then to bed.
Day 3- Labadee, Haiti- Once the babe got up we got ready for the day, went to the WJ for breakfast, and then headed off to the beach. The waters of Labadee are beautiful and we spent the day at one of the more shaded beaches. There are lots of paths around the island so a stroller could have actually been used but we had him in the Ergo. After playing the water for a bit, we relaxed under a tree, the babe fell asleep, and when we awoke we went back the ship for a late lunch. After another nap for the babe and watching the sail away from the balcony, we went to dinner in the MDR and were back to the cabin around 9 or so.
Day 4- Falmouth, Jamaica- From everything i had read, i decided that this would be our ship day. We intended to enjoy some of the pools, etc on the boat while everyone else was gone. Very fun. So we slept in, went to the WJ, babe took a nap while we hung out on the balcony, and then we went up to the H20 zone. They do have a special section just for babies/toddlers not potty-trained so we were there for quite awhile and would take turns with the baby while the other one would go in the pool or go through the spash areas ourselves. Great way to cool off! We went back to our room for the baby to nap while we watched the sail away and then we went to the MDR. We then got the little one ready for bed, put him in the stroller, and wheeled him up to the nursery for a couple hours so we could go to the ice show (which was fantastic!). We definitely enjoyed some time to ourselves but we picked the LO up around 10:30 and headed to the room.
Day 5- Grand Cayman- We had room service deliver our breakfast since the hubs and I were booked on a stingray/snorkeling excursion and we knew there would be no time for the WJ. We got everyone ready and then took the LO back to the nursery. All of the women there were fantastic and they took great care of him and were so nice to us. We realized that our excursion was not supposed to get us back to the pier until 1:30 which was when the nursery was closing (and you have to tender in GC) so we talked to them about being a few minutes late getting back. They didn't mind at all and our LO even cried when we arrived when he saw us. Go figure =) We then got him back to the room for his nap, went to the MDR for dinner, and called it a day.
Day 6- Cozumel, Mexico- We got breakfast in the WJ and headed out for the day. I had booked us to spend the day at Nachi Cocum beach resort-- which is an all-inclusive resort. We ate and drank all we wanted while sitting under an umbrella watching the ocean. Fantastic place to go! We had brought along a baby beach tent for the baby to sleep in which made things really easy. Around 3 or so we decided to head back to the ship. Our LO took another nap and then we headed up to the rock climbing wall to try out my post-baby skills. We ate a late dinner at the WJ and then headed back to bed.
Day 7- Day at sea- We wanted to use our last day to enjoy the ship. We left the babe in the nursery, we went for a quick lunch in the WJ, and then headed to the ice-skating rink. I hadn't been ice-skating in years but it was so much fun! The open session we went to lasted about 45 minutes and then we headed off to the pools. We relaxed, picked up the baby, took him back for a nap, started packing, and then went to our last dinner in the MDR. We finished packing after dinner and then watched a movie before bed. The week went by so fast!!
Day 8- Checking out-- We participated in the Valet Baggage which was worth every bit of the $20 it cost. We checked in the husband with Southwest through this service and placed out our two huge bags so we wouldn't have to deal with them. Then we just carried off the rest of our baggage on Sunday. We then were able to get through disembarkation relatively easily and get to our shuttle. It was a great cruise that went by all too quickly!!
So i think that's it! We had a wonderful time with our baby and would recommend going on a cruise with a 6 month old anytime!!! Let me know if I can be of help with any questions as you prepare to travel!
