Cruising with a baby,,,Can I bring a car seat to dinner? - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Cruising with a baby,,,Can I bring a car seat to dinner?
We will be sailing with DD4 and DD3months and I'm planning on bringing the stroller for our trip, but I was wondering if we'll be allowed to bring it into dinner with us? Those of you who have cruised with little ones would a car seat be easier at dinner since it takes up less room? TIA!
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I have not seen anyone with a car seat but I guess you would have to put it on the floor. not sure if it would fit right on the seats, they are cushioned so not very solid IMO. Maybe they have to highchairs that you can flip upside down and put the car seat on it that way. I would be worried that with all of the activity the someone might drop something or trip over the car seat on the floor. I would hold off cruising untill the baby was older. Lots of germs plus that is too young to put sunblock on and even in the shade you can get sunburned.
We cruised with our son when he was four months old (seven months old, 12 months...). The biggest issue for us was mixing powdered formula in the stateroom (not that big an issue, actually, since the tap water is excellent). The dining room staff is great with kid-related needs. Most folks do bring their little ones to dinner in strollers. Jennifer and I recall them having those infant seat holders (they're something like a sling) that bring the child up to table height. We don't know if they have them now. However, there's definitely not a problem using a stroller, either. If you can, try to keep the stroller medium-sized or less - it'll be easier to get around the ship in general.
The biggest health issue on ships (which hasn't been one for quite a while now) is Norovirus and similar illnesses. Those are mostly picked up by hand-to-mouth behaviors. The cruise lines substantially increased cleanliness - constant cleaning of handrails, door handles, and other "touch" locations, prominent reminders to wash hands in all public and stateroom washrooms, hand sanitizer dispensers in many locations, handing out moist towelettes when folks enter the dining room, new sanitation procedures for swimming pools, prohibiting kids in diapers from the pools (they have splash fountain areas for them)... I'd wager at this point a ship is a fair bit safer than most public gathering spots ashore.
Some of the best things you can do is to wash your hands regularly - before meals, after changing diapers, etc. That way, it's harder to catch, and harder to spread.
There's plenty of good sun protection out there for infants these days - mostly it's clothing - again, we had no problems with that. A good canopy on the stroller, sun-protection hat, lightweight long-sleeved clothes, and we felt OK using a bit of sunscreen on exposed hands and face (used lightly, washed off once we were back inside). Castaway Cay has lots of beach umbrellas and other shade, so if you put all the pieces together.... Would I spend hours at the beach with an infant? Of course not. But with a bit of care, traveling with an infant can be easier than traveling with a toddler.
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We cruised with our son when he was four months old (seven months old, 12 months...). The biggest issue for us was mixing powdered formula in the stateroom (not that big an issue, actually, since the tap water is excellent). The dining room staff is great with kid-related needs. Most folks do bring their little ones to dinner in strollers. Jennifer and I recall them having those infant seat holders (they're something like a sling) that bring the child up to table height. We don't know if they have them now. However, there's definitely not a problem using a stroller, either. If you can, try to keep the stroller medium-sized or less - it'll be easier to get around the ship in general.
The biggest health issue on ships (which hasn't been one for quite a while now) is Norovirus and similar illnesses. Those are mostly picked up by hand-to-mouth behaviors. The cruise lines substantially increased cleanliness - constant cleaning of handrails, door handles, and other "touch" locations, prominent reminders to wash hands in all public and stateroom washrooms, hand sanitizer dispensers in many locations, handing out moist towelettes when folks enter the dining room, new sanitation procedures for swimming pools, prohibiting kids in diapers from the pools (they have splash fountain areas for them)... I'd wager at this point a ship is a fair bit safer than most public gathering spots ashore.
Some of the best things you can do is to wash your hands regularly - before meals, after changing diapers, etc. That way, it's harder to catch, and harder to spread.
There's plenty of good sun protection out there for infants these days - mostly it's clothing - again, we had no problems with that. A good canopy on the stroller, sun-protection hat, lightweight long-sleeved clothes, and we felt OK using a bit of sunscreen on exposed hands and face (used lightly, washed off once we were back inside). Castaway Cay has lots of beach umbrellas and other shade, so if you put all the pieces together.... Would I spend hours at the beach with an infant? Of course not. But with a bit of care, traveling with an infant can be easier than traveling with a toddler.
Dave, I was hoping you would comment since I read in my Passporter book that you had cruised with your son when he was young. Thank you so much for this information....very helpful!
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We cruised last summer with DGD 2 1/2 and DGS 10 mos at the time (and their parents). We had two umbrella strollers, which we took to the MDR for dinner. When the kids were in their high chairs, the umbrella strollers folded up and took little space. If one fell asleep early, there was room somewhere around the table where it could be positioned out of the way.
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Kim
1984 WDW off-site, 2003 WDW ASS, Poly, Wonder, 2006 WDW PC, 2011 Wonder to Alaska,
2012 Wonder EBPC, 2014 Magic WBTA, 2016 WDW CSR
We cruised last summer with DGD 2 1/2 and DGS 10 mos at the time (and their parents). We had two umbrella strollers, which we took to the MDR for dinner. When the kids were in their high chairs, the umbrella strollers folded up and took little space. If one fell asleep early, there was room somewhere around the table where it could be positioned out of the way.