Travelling overnight on ferry with (just) 2 year old- berths advice please.

[suwoo]

Going to parents in France on the ferry for the 1st time (ready for Father Christmas coming ). Doing Portsmouth-St Malo overnight. What do I do about DS sleeping arrangements? He will be 2 1 week before we go and is quite small (12-18 clothes, weighs 24lb) Customer services say the travel cots are only up to age 1 (but we would be allowed one) and are £10. There is apparently a belt in the berth, but is he not too small for this? He normally goes to sleep in his cot at home and then co-sleeps from midnightish. Will the berths be big enough for me and him?
Questions, questions, questions.....

No idea but lurking for the answer. We are going to parents in France for Christmas. We don't normally do the overnight but may do this year, depending on the answer to your questions.

DS is 18mo and would certainly need to be in a cot of some kind - he couldn't go in a berth.

The berths are probably big enough for you and DS to snuggle in together. They are pretty roomy considering. And if your DS is a teeny munchkin he'll probably feel more secure cuddled up with you than on a bed alone. The travel cots aren't too bad, but tbh I think he'll be fine in a bottom berth with you.

Hi there

I do this crossing a lot over the year with my kids, the youngest was 2 the last time we did it.

The beds have a small side guard and a strap which goes over all the blankets etc to keep them in. DD was fine. Also you can tuck the sheets and blankets round and under the mattress a lot

If you are worried you could always pull the mattress off on to the floor between the bunks and he sleep there. He wouldn't roll under the beds since the are blocked off.

There is a good play area on board for the kids and try to eat either before you get on at the Tesco just before the ferry port or eat later on the boat. Its crowded when you first leave.

We travelled overnight on P&O and DS, then two and a bit was fine in the travel cot. The berths are very narrow - I wouldn't fancy sharing one. Do you have a travel cot of your own you could take if you're not sure about the ferry company's one?

Cheers you two, that helps a lot. Any other tips are gratefully received even if they sound daft to you. Which crossing will you be doing flowery- would be mad if same one!

Sorry crossposted with you, wondering. I am expecting the night from hell TBH. He can sleep in his buggy if all else fails . So take plenty of milk and snacks then, is your tip?

No scootergrrrl, the travel cot is at my mum and dads- not arsed about it being a hired one just about how teeny it might be if they say he is too big for it.

Not sure, havent booked yet. Had a peek though just now, it's getting booked up, distinct lack of commodore class cabins and restrictive about dates as well. Poole Cherbourg looks a bit better date-wise.

It's tricky - Ds is a nightmare on ferries as he just wants to wander round the whole time, so that's why we're considering the overnight. The thing that's putting me off is the cot question but also him getting back to sleep after being moved from the car into the cabin.

He's normally pretty good, as we do this going down to inlaws quite often, but then he gets put in his cot, we go downstairs, he whinges a bit then goes to sleep. Obviously on the ferry, we'd have to stay in the room and I can't picture him calming down or going to sleep with us 3 feet away in the same room.

Hmm. I'm talking myself out of it here!

I travel with my three in a the same room as me. They are 7, 5 and now 3 and they do go to sleep even after sleeping in the car. Ilet them play in the soft play area when we get on board, let them watch the kids cartoons and look out the window and then feed them. I do it without dh who hates ferrys and flys to join us.

You'll be fine

Forgot to add Poole Cherboug gets cancelled at the slightest hint of bad weather. Book Portsmouth Cherbourg fastcraft and they will put you automatically on to the slow stable one if the fastcraft isn't running

we did an overnight crossing last summer when ds was 2.3 and dd1 was 12mths (was her birthday that holiday). We had the travel cot provided for dd and that was fine and ds slept on the berth and was fine (I didn't know about the straps so didn't use it!) but he was already in a bed at home by that time.

I was really nervous about the crossing but it was fine. They don't provide any children's food/jars etc. We took milk and heated their bottles up in a basin of hot water. We all went to bed about 9pm and they went to sleep within 30 minutes.

I did an overnight on P&O, and found the berths pretty narrow, particularly when 14mth DD ended up in mine with me. We did have a travel cot, but with the excitement she flatly refused to sleep in it....... Not the best night of sleep i've ever had, but was fun and it's only one night. Thank god.

You can sometimes get guard rails as well - we had one for DD's bed (it was very cosy in there with all of us ) Perhaps you could get one of those if you'e co-sleeping?

I would co-sleep and take plenty of food. Ask for the ferry company's travel cot, and use it to put your bags in. It slows them down a little bit in going through all your stuff, plus you will be able to use the linen off it as a playmat or to mop up spills.

Only night DS has ever slept through fully was on the Portsmouth to Saint Malo ferry this September He was on a Ready Bed between the two berths in Commodore Class, but I'm guessing your DS will be a little young to do that.

We've done Poole-Cherbourg overnight several times with the DC.My tips are:
get there reasonably early so you are on board and tucked up in bed before the ship sails.
Bunks IME are big enough to co-sleep, with the DC closest to the wall.
My gripe, which I always forget about until the next time, is that there is no nightlight so we have to sleep with the bathroom light on and try & prop the door so a chink of light shines out.
The driver gets a bunk to himself.
Take breakfast - brioche, mini cereal boxes, juices boxes - clean undies and toothbrushes.
You will need to be up quickly if you want to get a shower or coffee on the boat before rejoining your car.
DC can travel in their pyjamas until the first motorway stop.

We've used the cot on the St Malo-Portsmouth ferry - ds was only 9mo when we used it this summer but was bigger than your ds is now, suwoo . He slept fine in it, but the one hitch I found was that it's not like a regular travel cot with see-through sides - they're fairly thick material so ds did tend to get a little freaked when he woke up and couldn't see anything (the sides are quite high and the mattress low). But was perfectly comfortable and worth the tenner, we thought.

Resurrecting this again.

We have taken the plunge and booked two overnight ferries, Poole - Cherbourg out and Caen - Portsmouth back. We have a large cabin out and a Commodore Class on the way back. Apparently the Commodore ones have a DVD player!

Can anyone tell me how big the 'large' cabins are, relative to a normal weeny one?

And can someone also tell me how big the cots are compared to a normal travel cot? I have booked one for DS both ways, but he will be 19mo. He does sleep in a normal sized travel cot occasionally without problem so if it's that size we're fine, but if it's some weird smaller size we have an issue.

TIA!

Are you going out on the Barfleur? The normal cabins are four berth, with two sets of bunkbeds and a weeny ensuite loo and shower. Not sure how the travel cot fits in TBH as we've always bunked up with the babies.
This'll bump it for you.

Cheers Chippy

Yes Barfleur out Normandie back (I think). We've had the weeny cabins before, although not overnight with DS, these are larger ones apparently, just not sure how much larger, seeing as the weeny ones are very weeny!

we have done this crossing MANY times before with both our little ones.
the cot will be big enough for him but i have also had them sleeping with me. My DD slept with me from 18moths onwards as my DS was in the cot then! My DH and I used to sit outside the cabin once they were asleep drinking gin and tonic and reading our books! We would never leave them alone in cabin obviously but sitting outside door on corrido made us feel like we were having our own party!! The berths are very dark so our chn always went asleep quickly adn if htey woke up we could hear them on the other side of the door!

I found the travelcot quite small when I used it with DS (then aged 1) - they're really narrow and DS didnt like it very much. Mind you, DS was a big 1 year old and liked to roll around lots...