Cruising with a baby
 

A colleague and I are both new dads and we are wondering if it would be wise to take our kids and wives on a carribean cruise. Does anyone have experience with this? Any suggested cruise lines over others when it comes to travelling with a 12 month old baby?

Get grandpa and grandma to babysit. They're probably still excitied about having the little one around. I know my parents are waiting for flygirl and I to get our act together.

Going on holiday with babies is hard work, even if you're just going to visit the grandparents. In my experience anyway, but then my daughter is not one to just sit quietly and relax. If she's not on the go every waking minute, everyone in a 100m radius will hear about it. Maybe your kids are different though.

It's generally recommended to wait for cruises until the kid is potty-trained; that way, you can take advantage of the on-board babysitting. If the kid is walking, I'd be worried about a kid overboard. OTOH, I've never been on a cruise ship, so I'm just guessing.

I took a quick trip over to ICRUISE.com - and plugged in kid friendly (or whatever their term was ) and came back with :
http://www.icruise.com/main.html?main_kids=on&x=25&y=18
It lists what the other cruise lines offer as well--

Basic gist of what I read - most kiddie cruise camps start at age 2... While babysitting is available -- there's not much for kids to do...

Its obviously not going to be as stress-free as a solo/childless cruise, but it would make for a very nice vacation nevertheless I should think.
A few cruiselines are quite baby-friendly, ie have nurseries, change diapers, etc.

Bringing the Baby

I wouldn't take a baby on a cruise, but that's just me. It'd take a lot away from the relaxation of the experience.

For kids that young I would ONLY go Disney Cruise. Carnival does cater to kids but I don't think they have programs for that young. Disney does (2 years ago). My sister took their baby. They had day and evening sitting available and all had a great time. I do echo the others above thought that say for cruising... wait till their older. You might look into something like ClubMed. Many of their villiges have accomidations for babies as well. Our family of 18 (parents, children and grandchildren) went to Xtapa in Mexico. SUPER time and I think it would be more relaxing than a cruise since you don't have to go through the hassle of getting on and off a ship with a child.

Hey folks, this is great stuff! I concur that it could be hard work to go on vacation with a baby, but I was on a Celebrity Cruise 2 years ago and saw a couple with a kid that enjoyed herself and was taken care of by the on board babysitting.

I have some co-workers who are interested in cruising with a fairly new born child and we think it'll be kinda cool to relax with friends and our new tiny families.