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Whether you’ve never cruised before or your a cruising veteran, if this is your first time cruising with a baby this post is for you! I will be sharing some tips with you that helped us keep our sanity while cruising with a 9 month old. This was definitely a learning experience for us.

Before Cruising

Check minimum sailing age

Before you plan your cruise out or even purchase your cruise ticket check with the cruise line the minimum infant age. Some cruise lines are 6 months some are 9 months and some are 12 months. We cruised with Royal Caribbean and the minimum age for them is 6 months.

We actually booked our cruise while I was pregnant you just have to call and let them know the baby is not born yet. Once baby is born you call with baby’s name and date of birth.

Have the Proper Documents

This is super important! DO NOT forget to make sure you have the proper documents because they will not let you cruise if you don’t, and they won’t issue a refund. At the time of our cruise Aiden was 9 month old we had his passport, and I also had his birth certificate just in case but we never needed it. We were able to apply for an infant passport at our local library, you can check here on how to apply for a passport for your infant.

Depending where your cruising from/to the required documents may be different so make sure you check with them, you can get some information here.

Print all of your cruising documents ahead of time

Your documents will be emailed to you a few weeks before your sailing date, make sure you read them all and DOUBLE CHECK YOUR NAME IS SPELLED CORRECTLY, this is important because if your name does not match your government issued ID you will not be allowed on the cruise ship. Once you double check print everything you need, especially your luggage tags.

TIP : Get a pouch or a travel wallet to put all the travel documents in one place so your not rummaging through the diaper bag every time you need it I purchased this one before our trip and it was perfect. It wasn’t bulky so it easily slid into the diaper bag without taking up lots of room.

Diaper Bag

Aside from our travel documents we didn’t pack our diaper bag differently then we do on a regular basis. We didn’t buy a special bag we used our every day diaper bag. But if you don’t own a backpack style diaper bag I would suggest getting one. Trust me its so much easier trow the diaper bag on your back then to have juggle a tote bag over your shoulder that will most likely keep sliding off.

We did have a cary on suitcase while flying with extra diapers and extra formula which we did not end up needing.

Fly in the night before

If you are not sailing from your home state I strongly suggest flying in the night before and staying at a hotel close to the port. You never know when flight can be delayed so don’t risk missing the ship.

Make sure the hotel has elevators

Theres nothing worse then arriving at hotel with all your luggage and stroller to find out the hotel has not elevators!

Tip: Look for a hotel close to the port that provides shuttle, that way you don’t have to rent a car and waste money on paying for car parking at the port.

Getting to the port

We debating between taking an Uber or a shuttle to the port and we settle on taking a shuttle, and I am so glad we did! With all of the stuff we had to bring; Carseat stroller portable crib diaper bag two large suitcases we would of most likely had to get an UBER XL and those aren’t cheap!

Once we got to the port we handed them all the luggages we didn’t want to carry around including the carseat and all of our suitcases. Make sure all of your luggages that your checking in has the luggage tag they emailed you. We only kept the stroller diaper bag and the Portable crib with us.

Getting on the ship

Once you walk in you just show them your Setsail pass your traveling documents including passport or residency card if you are not a U.S citizen. Then we went thru security, which was pretty much like airport security. Aiden had to be taken out of the stroller, the seat had to be removed but we did not have to fold the base. And that was it! We were on your way to the ship! This process went a lot smoother than I expected it, the entire thing took less than 10 minutes.

Before going in we took one of those cheesy cruise family photo.

Your on the Ship Now what!

Explore and go eat!

There are so many things to do on the ship. When we first got on we just walked and explored the different decks. Then we went to eat, most likely there will be buffet open as soon as you get on board.

Stateroom

Before going on board I was worried the state room would be way too small for all the baby stuff we had to bring but surprisingly it was a lot bigger than expected we were lucky enough to score a balcony stateroom at a decent price.

We had a king size bed and enough closet space and drawers to empty out our two suitcases completely. Our empty suitcases fit perfectly under the bed (we had 2 large suitcases). The stateroom also had a couch which could also be used as a bed.

Bring enough Diapers

We calculated about 10 diapers a day and that was more than enough since he does not usually go thru that many diapers at home but we wanted to make sure we had enough since you cant purchase diapers on the ship.

Bring enough formula

It is definitely better to bring more than not enough baby formula, that is one thing that is not available to purchase on board.

No need to bring water for formula fed babies

Before cruising I called to add a case of 12 pack water that would be waiting for us in our stateroom. After the shock of finding out that would cost over $80 I politely declined, and decided to bring my own water. But then the representative over the phone told me I could ask for purified water to be brought up to my stateroom at no charge.

We went on board with a 6 pack bottle of water just in case, once we got to the stateroom we asked them for purified water and they gave us a gallon which was perfect because that it what we used at home.

Don’t bring baby food

Even though Aiden is now eating solid foods we actually didn’t bring any baby food on board. Instead we brought a teething feeder and we figured we could just throw in some fruits for him to eat and it worked out perfectly!

To my surprise they were super accommodating when it came to food for Aiden! Without us even asking at dinner the waiter came at asked us if we would like to have fresh vegetables pureed for Aiden at dinner for the 3 nights we were there.

So if your thinking that your picky eater won’t find any food to eat your wrong! They will make anything they have available on board for you! Unless your child is extremely picky and will only eat a particular brand of food I’d say save yourself some space and leave the baby food at home.

Don’t forget the sunscreen!

If your cruising you are going to be out in the sun so its so important that you bring sunscreen. When looking for sunscreen for Aiden I looked for something thats free of chemical and natural I went with Earth Mama Organics Baby Sunscreen I think at this point I’ve tried practically everything they make. If you are looking for natural baby products to try check out my “BEST NATURAL PRODUCTS FOR NEWBORN” blog post.

To bring the stroller or not

Because we were flying to Miami and staying there a couple of days we decided to bring our UPPAbaby Vista stroller. I was worried it would be to big to fit anywhere on the cruise ship but it was not! We did have to fold it up in order to fit thru our stateroom door. Aside from that we were able to navigate smoothly with it on board. Plus this was perfect for nap time without us having to go back to our stateroom.

We didn’t take the stroller when we left the ship for CocoCay because we were going to be on the beach but we did take it when we docked in Nassau, Bahamas.

So I say YES! bring your stroller. Some people might suggest bringing a less bulky umbrella stroller but we preferred bringing out everyday UPPAbaby VISTA stroller because of the huge basket. If your like me and hate carrying everything bring your stroller and just throw it in the basket. Plus you want a stroller that your comfortable with folding and using everyday.

Formal Night

Formal Night is when is when you get to dress up for dinner in the main dinning room. It is not required if you don’t want to eat in the dinning room, but how cute is a baby all dressed up couldn’t pass up that opportunity !

I couldn’t find his exact outfit but I linked a similar one HERE his shoes are linked HERE. You can find hubby’s suit jacket HERE and suit pants HERE.

Perfect Day at CocoCay

We were lucky that CocoCay was ready just in time for our cruise.

Bring a collapsable infant floaty. This one was perfect it did not take much space in out suitcase.

Pool Time

Things we would have done differently

Next time we will leave the carseat at home and rent one from the car rental company once we got back from the cruise.

Bring a lot less clothe for Aiden, I may have packed almost his entire closet lol.

If we had to do it over again we would definitely cruise with a baby.