To cruise with a baby ????

[Hopeysgirlwasntbig]

It's me and DH's 10th wedding anniversary in September and we're thinking of going on a cruise. Our DD will be almost a yr old when we go.

Is a cruise a good thing to do with a baby?

Does anyone have any recommendations for companies to book with???

Thanks in advance

We really enjoy cruising. What cruise line you go for depends on the ports you want to visit.

I'd have a look at www.cruisecritic.co.uk and register for their forums. Invaluable for research. As for booking, we've used www.thecruisestore.co.uk as well as the cruise lines direct

If you like more casual cruises then Thomson Cruises, Ocean Village and Island are may be for you. Be warned though that (in my opinion) these cruises are at the budget end where some of the passengers are happiest gorging themselves at the buffet and drinking lager.

If you want something at the 4 star sort of range where you can if you wish get dressed up a bit more for dinner then I'd say have a look at Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Princess. P&O are supposed to be good too plus you can go to the med direct from Southampton with them too.

As I say who you book through and where all depends on what ports you want to visit. Have an idea of that and everything else with a bit of research should fall into place.

Have fun planning. We're planning Norway etc w3hen DS is old enough to be allowed on a ship.

BTW, most of the cruise lines have kids clubs and baby sitting services in the evening which can be handy if you and DH fancy some quality time together and a romantic dinner.

thank you fp for your advise, that's really useful

I haven't cruised but I did visit my friend on her cruiseship when they docked where we were on holiday. It was fantastic! I would definitely cruise on a family friendly cruise ship if I had the chance. There is loads you can do on the ship, it is no different to going to an all-inc resort really, except you will visit somewhere new every/every other day and can take in some sights too!

Go for it!

PS. My friend was on the Princess cruiseships, I think they are P & O, we met her in Corfu town so it was a Med/Greek island itinerary.

thanks saggy!! Was just looking at cruisecritic and they have mentioned Princess cruise ships. VERY exciting!

i would not recomend the thomson cruis i did it for 2 weeks went round the med and when u have kids its hard allways worried if they r gona fall over bord mine was 2 and 5 when i took them and was a nervs reck when i got bk i did it for my honymoon yes with the kids must be fxxxxxx mad lmao it cost me 3400 AI food was lovley and u could dress up 2 if u wanted to did the captins dinner that was nice i would say tho if u have kids go on a non formal cruis as u will prob get looed at as if u was alins with kids if u go on a formal one lol as i was told a few times that my kids should be in bed at 9pm so by the 3rd time of some one telling me that i was ready to rip there head off and shove them over bord ut i fell thomson riped us off big time as there was nothing for the kids to do and kids club was only on for a hor a night that was the thomson celbration boat

Hi I used to work on Royal Caribbean, only finished in Novemebr to have DS, and would really recommend it to families with over 3 year olds as there's plenty for them to do and the staff are great (guess what I did?). However, I would be wary of taking under 3s as the activities are limited e.g. most ships don't allow nappies even in kids pools, and there is only 2 little 45 min playgroups each day... but it is a fantastic holiday otherwise!

We went on a P&O cruise when our dd was 16 months old. It was great. The facilities for children were fantastic and if dd had been slightly older we would have made even more use of them, as she was too young to go to the kids' club. Our dd used to go to the children's tea and would then go to the night nursery or sleep in the cabin (there was some sort of system so that we could ring the cabin to hear whether she was happy).

After 16 months at home covered in popeye pasta, I really enjoyed getting dressed up in the evenings. I saw more films on board than I had in the previous year and even enjoyed the other, sometimes cheesy entertainment. We saw some lovely places - there's no other holiday where you can go to sleep in one country and wake up in another, having had to make no effort to get from one to the other.

I'd recommend it. P&O do 3 and four night cruises if you want a taster.

PS We booked with Bolsover Travel. Even now, they still write to us offering hefty discounts on - if you shop around, you rarely need to pay full price.

DH and I met working on the QM2 and there was a fantastic Kids Club thing there, including had a baby room with cots and you could leave your kids there all day and evening while you're out for dinner (not suggesting you'd want to leave your kid all day, just that the hours are long and flexible!!) It's not necessarily one of the family-aimed ships which I think is a plus, but they are very welcoming to children and you still get the more grown up environment plus some great itineraries. Med itinerary was definitely my favourite.

Hello hopey. I am late to this (always am late to threads) but we are off on Thursday, P&O, with 3 dds. We have timed it so that dd2 is old enough (aged 2)to be left in the day care with older sister (3.5yrs), but dd3 won't be walking so can sit still. dd2 &dd1 can sleep in cabin together and dd3 can go in night nursery (til we collect her). We even potty trained dd2 early so she could play in the pool... This is all in theory meticulous planning. I am the font of cruising knowledge! I'll let you know if it goes to s**t or not

Oooh, have fun, Peas! We're off with P&O in October....... not that I'm excited or anything!

Hopeys - I would say it would be a good trip - you'll have to look after DD yourself during the day (as she's under 2) but you'll probably be going ashore anyway - and at that age, you can take her in her buggy, and go wherever you want!

Def second the high tea - then night nursery. Enjoy having a meal yourselves, before collecting a sleeping babe and taking her back to your cabin. Children's staff on P&O are absolutely fantastic IME (done 2 cruises with them).

Oh, and IME, P&O offer 5% discount for booking online, but a local travel agent gives over 7%. Booking a year in advance gives bigger discounts, too - wouldn't contemplate paying full brochure price.

thank you everyone again for all your invaluable advise.