Anyone gone crusing with babies? We are first timers planning to take the HAL Amsterdam roundtrip from Seattle through the Glacier Bay. My husband and I will have our 4 children, ages 16 to 25, two of their spouses, and 2 six month old grandchildren (twins) with us. Are we nuts? Will it be outrageously cold? My son and his wife (parents of the twins) understand they won't be able to accompany the rest of us on some of the wilder shore excursions. Will there still be interesting things for them to do in port?

If they will be happy with walking about the ports then they should be fine. They will need to also realize that shows probably will be out and may need to leave the dining room, if disruptions occur. It's unfair to other passengers.

Check out childcare arrangements on cruise - they may be too young (or parents may not feel comfortable leaving them with childcare). Don't know what cabins are like on that ship, but being in cabin at night with 6 month old twins sounds horrible to me (maybe it is because my kids were rotten sleepers at that age).

I do not see the point in taking babies on a cruise. This subject has been addressed many times on this board.

We took a cruise to Alaska with 20 family members (and we survived), including a 9 month old and an 18 month old.

Celebrity Cruise Line did not book a direct flight so the two flights each way were tough for the kids, or I should say the parents and fellow travelers. We flew from the East Coast.

The cabin was a little tight with the added Pack-n-Play, and we did not have the smallest cabins. Babysitting services were offered and we took advantage of them....basically the kids were asleep when the babysitter (housekeeper by day) came and the adults were able to enjoy a night
out....the babies did not go to dinner with us.

The parents are good parents and always insured the children did not annoy any other guests..but they heard comments from the mostly middle age/eldery passengers such as "Why would anyone bring a baby on a cruise"?

We all did the train trip in Skagway and the children were content for the most part.

The bottom line is ..... it wasn't easy but this was a family vacation and the parents would never have left the children home.

I hope this was helpful and let me know if you have any other questions.

Traveling with babies on a cruise is not the easiest thing to do, as others have pointed out. However, the opportunity to get your entire family together for vacation is something that doesn't present itself often, so I'm sure you'll do what you need to make it work.

The cruise ship may have babysitting services available. Whether you want to use this service is up to you - but as someone said, be prepared to exit a show or the dining room if there's a disruption.

You may be able to take the babies on some shore excursions, but I wouldn't count on there being many.

Even if the babies are quiet as mice the entire trip, do not be surprised to be the recipients of unsolicited comments and dirty looks - there are some people that feel babies (and young children, for that matter) just do not belong on cruises. Or rather, they belong on Disney cruises only.

Bottom line is to be flexible and sensitive to the other passengers if the babies are having "a moment". Other than that, I think it's great that your entire family is able to go on vacation together.

My entire family did an Alaska cruise a few years ago - my parents, 3 other siblings, spouses and my (then) 5 year old. It was a wonderful vacation and I cherish the memories.

i'll disagree with common sentiment that babies don't belong on cruises. i went (with my whole family) on a cruise with my then 3m old daughter.my sister had her 6m old twins with her too.

meals were fine, we had the late seating. we fed/nursed the babies in the room as we got dressed and then wheeled them to dinner in the strollers. they pretty much fell asleep every night! our table was up against the curve of the staircase, so we'd put the strollers in the corner, toss blankets over them and enjoy our meals. now that they are all just about turning three, we look back on those meals as some of the last relaxing meals out as a family!

we were able to carry them around in baby bjorn carriers a lot and the fact that they were not mobile yet made it easier on us. the ports where we'd have to tender ashore were a little tricky, but workable.

i was nursing at the time so couldn't take any seasick meds, so combined with a not yet sleeping thru the night baby, i was pretty ready to hit the sack! yes the room was crowded with the pack and play at night, but the steward took it down every morning, so not such a big deal at all. we stored the strollers at the end of the hall. considering the average age of the cruise passengers made my 60 year old parents seem youthful, i didn't think it was huge risk of them getting stolen!

your son and daughter in law will learn (if they haven't already!) that traveling with children is not as relaxing as traveling pre-children, but it's still worth it.

now with a three year old, i don't think i'd do a cruise, but a non-mobile infant, no problem.

and honestly, we paid good money for the cruise, and so when passengers would comment (rudely, in my opinion) that we were nuts to have them on the cruise with us, i would mentally flip them the bird and then ignore them. we had as much right to be there as they did.

I had posted a similar question last year. I was contemplating my Alaska dream cruise with my 18 month old daughter. Got some insightful pros and some grumpy cons each way.Being in NJ, we chose to cruise to Bermuda instead,so we wouldn't have to deal with the hassles of flying.If I missed some beach time due to her naps, it wasn't a big deal to me.It was a good feeling that she was well known on board,and all of my family members received compliments from fellow passengers about how well behaved she was. Even though I trust in her to cruise again, I choose to hold off on Alaska until I could part with her for a week(not yet!!) because of all the adventure Alaska offers. I realized it would be hard to do alot of the excursions with a stroller.

I'm jealous of all you Alaska cruisers! I wish your family a great week together, no matter where and what you do!!