Cruising with a Baby

We love to travel and explore new places. Like many new parents, when our daughter was born we were determined to keep travelling and introduce her to this passion.

When I realised how much paraphernalia a baby takes seems to need, I began to wonder how we would ever take a flight again. Before becoming a parent, I often travelled up to my own baggage allowance. Where would I put all the extras for a baby? We put the flights on hold and decided to try a no-fly cruise.

After years of airports, security and stop overs, arriving at Southampton for our cruise was quite a revelation. We drove up to check in and handed our bags & boxes of nappies to the porters. We parked the car and walked onto the ship with just our pushchair (and change bag). It was a great first impression.

We had chosen a big ship on a family friendly cruise line so there was plenty to keep us entertained. With a young baby, we weren’t able to make use of the drop off children’s club. However, we were able to use the play room. This was a great space with a small soft play and plenty of toys and books. We also made friends there with other families, allaying our fears that we would be the only adults on the cruise with kids.

The highlight for us was waking up somewhere new every day. Whilst we slept, the boat headed for a new port. On our trip visiting Norway and Iceland we saw lots without having to undertake long drives or negotiate stations with all our belongings. I hadn’t been on a trip for years where I had used the wardrobe in the room as I was so used to moving on after a night or two.

We rebelled and shunned the organised trips. Being stuck on a tour bus with a baby and working to set times sounded like no fun to us. At two ports in Iceland, we hired a car and went off exploring. This worked out cheaper than an organised trip and was much more flexible. The hire company didn’t even notice the smell of baby sick when we returned the car! In other ports we just walked into town with our pushchair or baby carrier.

A no-fly cruise turned out to be a great travelling experience for us as a family mainly because it was so easy. We will definitely be back on board in the future.

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