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.

Comments

Preparing to Potty Train

I do not have the perfect method for potty training. I am not an expert. I found potty training my daughter to be really, really hard work. This blog aims to share my experiences about how we prepared for potty training. I have found a great deal of support and encouragement from other parents, people who have been through similar experiences. Sometimes conversations make me think- ‘I’d never do that!’ or ‘Great idea’ or just reminded me that I needed to get on and do something. I hope that reading this is like having an encouraging friend. We started quite early for most children in the UK at 20 months. Back in the 70s and 80s this was pretty common from what I can gather so I decided to just get on with it. There were some reasons which influenced my decision- Little Lady wore cloth nappies some of the time and truthfully, I was fed up of the dreaded soaking bucket in the garage. She also hated having her nappy changed by this age and would cry and scream- I’d had enou...

Starting School

Starting school is a huge event in a child’s (and parent’s) life. There are new routines, new clothes and other new children. Having seen this transition as a Deputy Head Teacher, and more recently as a parent, I believe that there are some things that parents can do to make this move as smooth as possible. Here are my top four thoughts. Firstly, there are some brilliant books about starting school. My all-time favourite is Starting School by the Alhbergs. It’s obviously dated in parts. For instance, most schools won’t have a mum who comes into school to play the piano! However, it is beautifully illustrated and shows the different parts of the school day and events during the first term at school which provide lots to talk about. Other great titles are ‘Bella Starts School’ and ‘Harry and the Dinosaurs go to School’, both by Ian Whybrow. It’s well worth investing in a book or two, as they can be revisited lots of times during the school year. Secondly, ...

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Birmingham’s Symphony Hall is an impressive venue. What better place, therefore, to see and hear the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) perform a special family concert: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. When Catherine Arlidge walked onto the stage to present the show, I just knew that we were going to enjoy it. I have been to family concerts hosted by her before and she has a relaxed, fun style that puts everyone at ease. The concert was split into bite sized chunks with children waiting for the pause button visual at the end of musical pieces to shout out “PAUSE" before finding out more about the orchestra and enjoying games with Catherine. The show lasted about an hour and passed quickly- even for my eight month old who was being bounced on my lap. Catherine explained that the orchestra was colour coded for the performance. For instance, all the strings were wearing red. This visual image made it very straightforward for the children in the audi...

Capable Child

Search This Blog