Message:
We are planning a trip to the Bahamas with our baby who will be 9 months. We have a direct flight and plan on hanging out at the pool/beach, relaxing and just taking it easy, which is a far cry from our past. Is there anything we should consider with bringing along a baby? We know the water is safe, but will probably use bottled anyway. Any other travel tips with babies would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

Mitch and Jen

we always take his cold and fever medicine and thermometer..just in case.
but fun things that worked for us:
we bought a small cassette player by fun years and we recorded to tape all his favorite songs (they are on a cd). we take it every vacation and it really entertains him.
also buy him or her several new toys that you won't give till on the plane, at the resort and on the flight back (obviously ones that aren't big and heavy).
do you have an inflatable "boat" for your baby to sit in? it's basically a floatie ring where he can sit in with 2 holes in it where his legs go through so they're in the water. the one we got (i think at toys r us and made by speedo) had a little roof to it for sun protection. our son loved his (too big for it now..bummer).
have a great time.

p.s.: the drawback to the floatie ring is that we had to find a pump to inflate it (too big to try and blow air into it). thank goodness the resort we were at had one.

i just thought of another good tip. i read this one from a woman who wrote about her travel experience with her 2 little ones in conde nast traveler. instead of taking your child's diaper bag, get a backpack (we got a jansport one and were amazed at how much we were able to cram into it!) to put his diapers, etc..unless the diaper bag you have is already a backpack? you'll then have both arms free to deal with your little one and whatever else comes your way. we did that on our last trip and it truly made a difference.

Thank you. Very helpful.

One more thing-- what did you do about a carseat? We're just wondering what to do between the airport and the hotel.

we didn't go with him when we went to the bahamas. fyi, the taxis we saw and used in the bahamas were minivans.
we went with our son to st. john and puerto rico.
we didn't take car seat in st. john because our hotel offered one which we used when we rented a jeep. he was 14 months old at the time and sat on my lap on the plane. a small bus took us from st. thomas airport to marina. he sat on my lap with seatbelt around both of us.
we took the car seat for puerto rico. he was still under 2 but he's the size of a 3-year-old-+ so i couldn't imagine him sitting on me the entire flight. i'm glad we took the car seat. he was very comfortable in it.
the car seat is a pain to carry around but if you make sure you don't have a lot of carry-on luggage it will be fine. check everything else. for puerto rico, we had the backpack (i carried), the car seat (my hubby carried), and the stroller with the baby in it (i pushed). and absolutely nothing else and it really was fine - once we checked our 2 huge luggage pieces! .
if you take car seat, make sure it's airline compliant. it should say that somewhere on it.

On the plane she'll be on our lap, but thereafter we were wondering if lugging the carseat was worth it just for the trip to the hotel. We don't plan on leaving the hotel once we arrive, which is so unlike us, but things change once a baby arrives!!!

St. John was great wasn't it? We were there about 1 1/2 years ago, stayed at the Westin. Great place.

This time around we are planning to go to Our Lucaya and bringing our first child with us. Because there seems to be several places to eat, as well as the market place accross the street, we don't figure to be venturing around the island too much.

yes st. john was great. those beaches..just gorgeous.
we took one trip out when we were at our lucaya (snorkeling trip). it was ok, definitely not a must-do. so i don't think you'll be missing anything if you stay at the resort. what we saw of the island on our way to the snorkeling location didn't inspire for more sightseeing, in our humble opinion.

Did you have your child with you at Our Lucaya? If so, did he/she join you on the boat? How did that whole thing work?

It looks like we are going to stay at the Westin at Our Lucaya. Looks really really nice. Your trip report was really helpful to us too. Thanks!

Silly as it sounds - bring a roll of duct tape with you. Works wonders for instant baby-proofing of hotel room - put over electrical outlets, tape closed drawers, etc. Resist the impulse to bring it home with you - takes up too much space.

I have done a lot of traveling with my baby - we are now heading with a 3yr old and a baby to Our Lucaya as well. Anyway if you have an infant car seat(not a forward facing one to bulky for this scenario) you can bring it up to the gate with you...If there is an available seat you can use it for the baby on the plane...If not you can gate check it, and it will be there when you get off the plane (strollers can be gate checked as well)

no we didn't go with our son to our lucaya. it was a 4th wedding anniversary trip so we left him with my husband's sister.
i'm glad the trip report was helpful. we really enjoyed the resort (suggested to us from another fodorite "threehearts&quot and would recommend to anyone.

Thanks for all the helpful advice and suggestions.

Question about Our Lucaya-- how far is the Sheraton from the Westin? You can't see from the pictures how far these two resorts are from one another, but I can't imagine they are more than a 5 minute walk.

they are really right next to each other..maybe a 2-minute stroll.