For those who cruised with kids please come in!

My parents just informed us that they are taking us late summer on a Celebrity Bermuda cruise to celebrate my mother's retirement! I have taken 14 cruises - but all prior to our girls - so I need lots of help! Also I have never been to Bermuda! So any tips there would be appreciated!

Okay so I have a lot of time to prepare - what do I need to bring (other than clothes) that are must haves- what did you find helpful to have (DD#1 will be 4 and DD#2 will be 2). My parents will take turns at dinner so we will eat separately so DH and I can have quiet dinners - but the rest of the time we will have the girls with us. It is a no fly cruise so we don't have to limit our luggage.

I have never been to Bermuda -what beaches are good for us? How did you get there - taxis? Bus? water taxi? Do I have to bring a car seat? The ship docks at King's Wharf. It is 3 sea days and 3 land days.

I'm so excited - but a bit nervous. I had said I would wait until the girls got older to try a cruise - but they surprised us and I wasn't going to say no to a week in Bermuda with help watching the girls!

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

We took DD on a cruise when she was 18 mos...it was the BEST vaca by far we ever took with her! We went with my IL's and it was great, we got some nights to ourselves while they watched her, we would primarily do dinner at the buffet with her just bc she liked to eat early at the time and it was just easy, we did do dinner two nights at the more formal restaurants and it was fine as well. We packed clothes for her and pool toys and a stroller and thats honestly about it..they supplied us with a small pack n play that DD did not use (if your 2 year old will still sleep in one bring a pnp mattress as they don't have mattresses) She ended up sleeping with us which was fine, and we knew it was going to happen anyway...I can honestly say I think DD had the best time out of anyone on the vaca!!!

If your 2 year old isn't potty trained I know some cruise lines are sticklers for them not being in the pool but they were fine with DD, as many other kids were in with swim diapers, or like DD with no diaper at all she rarely has accidents so we knew she was OK...

We didn't go to bermuda so I can't help you with that!

But have fun, it was by far sooooo much fun for everyone, and we're dying to go again once the new baby is born!!!

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

We will have a large balcony - and she will have a pull out bed not a pack n play (she is in a toddler bed now so I think it will be okay - I was thinking maybe a blow up bedrail?).

I hope she will be potty trained - but if not - someone suggested maybe a little baby pool on the balcony? - they had small area in the children's area - that has a little kiddie pool and slide - captain's club said I could bring DD there as long as I stay with her?? - But again I "hope" she will be trained by then - but if not we will just have to deal with it. DD#1 will be old enough to do the kids club.

Dinners since we are all captain's club - they are trying to work out where we would have the same 2 top table early and late seating - so we will rotate - we will either eat late or early seating and then swap - so if say my parents eat late - we will take the girls to the buffet or get room service on the balcony and then go and eat while they watch the girls.

I don't know if I should bring 1 or 2 umbrella strollers - I would think a double might be hard on the ship. Do I even need them?

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

I've cruised several times with the kids. It's fun. Only bad thing is no kids in pools if they are in diapers, which can be kind of a pain, but I understand why they have that rule. My older son loves to go to the camp and on the RC cruise we took in January he could eat a quick dinner in the restaurant with us and then the camp staff would pick him up and take him to play with the other kids while we finished dinner -- I loved that.

Bring Motrin, my little one had a fever on our last cruise and I had to buy it in port -- they didn't sell children's Motrin on the boat. I think maybe you could get it from the doctor, but I didn't want to deal with that (an appointment with the doc was something like $150 and not covered by insurance). Have fun!

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

i have no advice on cruising with kids but i have been to bermuda and loved it! we went to elbow beach...SOOOO nice. we took a taxi everywhere. the only downside was everything was so expensive!

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

I just got back from a cruise with the boys and my family.

It was great for Jack since he could use Camp Carnival. There wasn't much for Tyler to do (but we left from Baltimore so the first two days were cold weather)

May I ask why you don't all want to sit together for dinner? It was such a hectic time I couldn't imagine having my parents feed the boys every night, and that was also my favorite part of the day where we all sat together and talked about the day. DH and I went to a seperate restaurant one night and that was perfect.

Bring every medicine under the sun. I had motrin, tylenol, benadryl. I brought milk boxes just bc Jack is obsessed with milk and it was easy access - but you can get milk everywhere.

No one said a word about Tyler not being potty trained in the pools.

I would absolutely bring TWO single strollers. The boats are huge and K will need to hop in also every now and then. The doorways are much too slim for a double stroller.

If I think of more I will come back to edit.

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

We took the Celebrity Summit cruise to Bermuda last May when DS was 2 1/2 and DD was 7 months old with my entire family. I am going to find my cruise critic post about the entire thing and will c&p it for you here.

Message edited 3/21/2011 1:24:17 PM.

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

We just returned home from our 7 night cruise from Cape Liberty, NJ to Bermuda and had a wonderful time. We did the May 23, 2009 cruise. Our party consisted of 13 people ranging in age from 80+ to 7 months old. We had concierge class rooms numbered: 9044, 9046, 9048, 9050, 8055 and 8057. The 9000 range rooms had an overhang above their balconies.

This was a great cruise and it had something for everyone.

A little about us, my husband and I have cruised once before. We have two small children, both under age three.

We booked our cruise through a local travel agent who was able to upgrade us to a CC level room for less than the cost of an ocean view room. Our TA found the resident rate special for us.

Embarkation
We drove from our house to the port. There was minimal traffic and parking very easy. It was $19 per day to park and we pre-paid for parking. Since we were a large party, we made sure to arrive by 11 am at the dock. We made it about 5 minutes before the crush of other passengers arrived. You can drive up to the terminal, unload your car and then a member of your party can drive the car to the parking lot. They have people to assist you unloading your car.

Since we were concierge level we did not have to wait at the port, we took a photo and were sent directly to the shuttle busses to board the Summit. From the moment we left our luggage to getting onto the ship was approximately 45 minutes.

We were able to go to the buffet for lunch. Our rooms were ready by 1 pm.

Food
Overall the food was excellent. They excelled in preparing beef dishes. I felt that they did not offer many chicken entries. They had a variety of shell fish offerings on multiple days and they were always well prepared.

The food was plentiful. There are two things I wanted to note, first, there is no food offered (except room service) from 11:30 am-noon. Second, the in-room refrigerator does not have a motor. If you have a child that drinks formula, do yourself a favor and bring only the single serving ready to feed bottles rather than the larger jug sized bottles of formula as it was very difficult to keep the larger bottles cold. Thankfully our attendant was willing to refresh the ice bucket inside the refrigerator to keep our daughter’s larger formula bottles cold. Also, if your child is under a year old bring your own high chair. It was a life saver for us.

Lastly, they desperately need a chocolatier on board. The only desert that was good was the chocolate covered cheesecake lollypops served at the “midnight buffet.”

Service
Since we were concierge class, we had an attendant named Isableo. He MADE the cruise. He anticipated our needs before we knew we needed them. Having been in both an ocean view room and now a concierge class room, there is a difference and it is noticeable. Our waiter was also fantastic.

Ship
There were some rust stains in the Thalasophy pool as well as in our bathroom. The ship looked elegant and the artwork was nice.

Pool and Children’s pool
Despite signs to the contary, children MAY wear swim diapers in the children’s pool. It is located outside under a canopy on deck 11 behind the children’s play area. My kids loved the pool. Unfortunately, it was to cold to use on the way down to Bermuda.

Getting off of the ship
My in-laws decided that they wanted to do the 7:30 am luggage carry off the day we left. The rest of our party went to the MDR for breakfast and left at 9:30. Well, my in-laws made it home less than 10 minutes before we did. We live equidistant from the ship in opposite directions. Frankly, save yourself the hassle of taking your own luggage and just let them do it. Go to breakfast and then get on line. By the time we did that the crush of people had gone and we were able to get off of the boat within 30 minutes of getting on line to leave.

Lastly, I hope you have a wonderful vacation.

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

We did the Trolley tour of St. George - which for small kids that love trains was a great introduction to the island. I personally felt that St. George looked run down. Since they offer the same type of trolley tour in both Hamilton and the Dockyard area you might want to look into either of those tours as options. I will say, that we booked this on our own. It was less than 1/2 of the price the cruise tour asked for the identical tour.

We also took the bus to Baby Horse Shoe Bay beach. We took a singleton stroller and a back pack carrier. On the public bus I don't think our twin techno would have fit into the public bus carrier. There is a taxi driver that will take you back up from the beach. It is well worth it. Also, go backwards in the sand with a stroller as it makes it much easier to maneuver.

While a glass bottom boat tour sounded fun - all of the tour operators post no children under age two, so we did not go on one.

We did make it to the Aquarium and zoo. It was small, but cute. We also did the Crystal caves. My almost 3 year old was able to make all 81 steps himself. He just held my hand. We all loved the caves.

I would HIGHLY recommend high tea at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. This was something admittedly for adults, but it was the BEST part of the trip.

Celebrity has a baby room near the kids club. We used the toys there. Also you can take out a treasure chest of toys for the week. Get number 2 as it has the most toys and multiple toy cars. That was a huge hit.

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

I cruise with my kids a lot. I made sure to pack the usual stuff, clothes, lots of sun screen and beach toys/bag. MOst importantly, bring your thermometer and all types of medicine. Believe me it is worth avoiding the medic if you can and if you use an ear thermometer its great to have it along cause they generally will not sell it on board. My kids both got sick last year while cruising. We were well prepared though. If your little on does not like a shower, bring a blow up bath unless of course you have a bath. Walkie talkies are nice so you can communicate with your parents. Some cruise lines offer them on board.

We always buy a few things to bring to dinner with us cause our kids generally join us. We do coloring, colorwonder everything.

I always fid that my kids are tired and take great naps on cruises so we always do dinner late, but again they are coming with us unless they are in camp.

Have a great time!

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

What, what, what!!!! The fridge doesn't have a motor???? Can anyone explain that further?
I was specifically told that there are no motors within the mini fridge, rather that they use some sort of gas to keep the items fresh. I actually called down to have my fridge "fixed" because it was not cold. Ice will melt within 2 hours and does not stay cold. So, if you are bringing formula, it is not like a regular mini fridge with a motor. There is no freezer. For a parent I felt that this was extremely important information that was not advertised. I had actually called Celebrity before our trip to make sure that they had a fridge in the room. They neglected to tell me this point. Not only that, I told them what I needed the fridge for and it failed to keep the formula at the correct temperature. Thankfully I had brought some small single serve bottles that do not require refrigeration as well as the larger bottles. So if you wanted an ice cold beer this fridge will not do it. It will merely preserve the current temperature of the item but will NOT make anything colder than it already is.

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

Re: For those who cruised with kids please come in!

Thank you all of these tips/hints are SO helpful - I will be printing them all out!!!

We never travel without full medications etc. Last year we went to WDW and our last day (DD#2's 1st birthday) both girls came down with a nasty stomach flu. I brought their stuff but DH thought I was crazy - he has never made fun of me again...LOL.

Did you all have passports or did you do passports and passport cards? (Can you even use the cards on a cruise) DH and I have passports but we are trying to decide if it is worth the money to get both the card and the passports for the girls or just the passports.