Cruises

"We took a cruise this year with our 13-month old. It was on Holland America's Statendam, to Alaska. It was our first cruise ever. Here are some good and bad points.
* The ship was comparatively small, with a lot of older people. That worked in our favor, as all the staff knew us and our baby, and were very tolerant--as were the fellow passengers, who were mostly parents with grown kids and grandparents. This was probably the biggest plus. I can't say enough about how good the staff is. HAL's staff is Indonesian, and Indonesian men are culturally very baby-friendly (I have been told by people who have lived in Indonesia). The staff on our ship certainly was.
* HAL is said to have larger staterooms than other cruise lines. That said, the room are much smaller than a hotel room. It was okay for us, but might be harder if the kid is climbing and running. We had our steward take the spare chair and table out of the room to make more space. If your child co-sleeps, that would open a little more space because you wouldn't need a crib. (The crib supplied was a basic pack n' play.)
* HAL also supposedly has more open space than other cruiselines. It was easy to find space to let her toddle around during the day—we would go to the bar upstairs during the day, or the internet cafe, or even the theater.
* Cruise food is great for toddlers. You can order whatever, and if they won't eat it, just order something else. No need to feel guilty about the $8 spent on a kid's meal they won't eat. If she ends up eating your entree, you can ask for another. And food is available all day. The staff was very accomodating (e.g., bringing the fruit or cheese plate from the dessert menu at the start of the meal; bringing only the vegetables from a certain entree, etc.). The hard part about the dining room dinners (as opposed to the Lido buffet) was that she would not sit still for several courses. We went with family, and so someone would walk her around and let her play on the staircases or flirt with the fellow passengers between courses.
* It's very convenient to have everything right there. We typically took turns staying in the room with her for naptimes, and the other person could go to the casino, the gym, the library, a show, tea, etc. That said, someone has to stay in the room. HAL sort of has late-night baby-sitting (at the staff's availability) but we did not try to use that.
* We did not ever have to "tender" (take a little boat) to get to shore. This made it easier to get off the boat, and then back on for naptime. I would avoid anything where you have to "tender."
* They do not allow babies in the pools on any cruise ship. We went to Alaska, so I was not particularly interested in swimming. I have heard of people taking baby pools on deck on certain cruises, and letting their babies play in those.
* HAL does not have a kids program for kids under 3. (Not sure if anyone does.) They did allow us to go in the kids club to play with some of the toys and watch the big kids play (a hit with my daughter).
But the kid's club was frankly not that impressive. One of the cruise lines has a deal with Fisher Price where they have a bunch of FP toys there -- maybe RCL?
* We did not have to pay the ship fare for the baby, but we did have to pay taxes and port fees, which ended up being several hundred dollars.

In sum, I'd say you won't have as much fun as you would if you went without baby. But that's probably true for all vacations. It helps a lot if you go with friends or family, as then you can swap baby-watching duties and the other person has someone to hang out with. Also, our baby was just at the starting walking phase, and still happy to be carried or ride in her stroller. She is now 18 months and a huge wiggle worm, so I think it would be somewhat more difficult. The forums on the website cruisecritic.com has a ton of information about the various cruise lines, and I found it very helpful."