Is 7 months too early?

Hello everyone! We'd like to cruise with our daughter in March of 2003. She'll be 7 months then. Is it too early for cruising based on your experiences? Do most cruise lines accept kids that age? We've been on several cruises (11) and pretty much what's in it for adults. Not sure about infants. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts/experiences with us. Nicolas

Dear Nicholas,
I'm the family cruise editor here. My 9 year old has been on 12 cruises and my one year has been on two already. We took him last spring when he was seven months old on the Disney Magic and it was the perfect ship for him. Disney is the only cruise line that has a fleet wide nursery for children from 6 weeks old until 3 years. You do have to reserve space for the baby at the nursery when you get aboard and pay an hourly fee. We thought the staff was very loving and competant.
Otherwise, there isn't much for infants at sea. At least with the Disney nurseries you get a little free time with your spouse. We also felt very comfortable with a crying baby in the dining rooms on the ship since there were plenty of loud kids eating there too!
Make sure you read the articles (two) that are on this site about cruising with infants and also Disney's nursery.
Smooth sailing,
Luisa Frey Gaynor

[brisbee]

We just (yesterday) got back from a cruise with our 3 yo and our 7 month old. We were on the Voyager of the Seas. There were quite a few babies on board and the entire staff doted on them. All the waiters stopped to play with the baby and hold him. We got so much attention with the baby with us. That being said, we always had the baby with us. The Voyager had a terrific program for our older son but notting for infants (not sure I could have left him anyway) so we did everything with baby in tow. As far as will your child be too young I'd say it depends on what you want to do. We did lots of hanging out at all the ports on beaches, taking our baby in the ocean for the first time etc. We didn't do any excursions, perfering to be able to move at our pace and be able to respond to our kids as needed, I'm sure there are a handful of outings you can go on though. We did feel like we were missing out on some of the stuff the ship/ports of call had to offer because of the baby but we figured that would be the case on any vacation with an infant. We enjoyed being at all these beautiful places with our sons and enjoyed the quiet pace their presense demanded (not that they were quite!) I'd say go for it!

Lisa

[carol]

I sailed on the Explorer last week on a 3 generation cruise. There were 11 adults and baby 7 month old Sarah. She was such a good traveler and leaving her home was not an option. She never cried once in the dining room. The kids had the family suite that slept 6 people so they had plenty of room even with the crib. I thought there was too much wasted space. They had a cocktail party in the cabin and plenty of room even with 11 people. The kids pushed the stroller through the casino and were asked to leave. They had a drink at the bar and were asked to leave, so you need to have reasonable expectations with a 7 month old. Sarah went into all the ports with us. Think our next cruise will be on Disney as it is more kid friendly!

Happy Sailing!
Carol

[Kara]

We just got back from a RCCL cruise on the Rhapsody with our 16 month old. We met a family with an 8 month old and a family with a 3 month old. All seemed to be having a good time.
Our experience could not have been better. We did have a suite which made the in-room time very enjoyable. We used RCCL's in room babysitting every evening from 8pm - 12am. They assign the same babysitter all week, which was great, she was very young and we liked her right away. We actually put the baby down every night before she got there, so she had a very easy job! One note though - we found out from the family with the 8 month old that RCCL does not do babysitting for those under 1 year. They were very upset but there was nothing they could do.
One surprise - babies WERE allowed in the pools - had read on this board that they would not be - but they never said anything. And there were LOTS of toddlers in swim diapers. You can basically take them everywhere - the crew loves them, they treated our daughter like a princess and would come running to pick her up everytime they saw her.
I would recommend going but to bring along a family member to act as a babysitter so you can get some alone time. Then you get the best of both worlds.

[FredC]

Just plan accordingly. Our daughter cruised at 8 weeks. Take the food, formula and diapers you need (ship ahead to the hotel if need be). Check out the babysitting policies - some cruise lines MIGHT sit if 6 months old but RCCL requires 1 year old minimum. Check to be sure (Disney is the only one I am sure of would provide nursery care for a 7 month old). You won't be staying up late in the disco unless you have family members to babysit

We cruised the Disney Wonder last year with our almost 1 year old and it was great. The key as Luisa pointed out is to sign up for the nursery as soon as you embark on the ship. Only disadvantage was that we could only sign up for 3 sessions total and then only got our top 2. No matter, it was great and let us see 2 of the shows by ourselves! Enjoy!