Any trip with kids can feel daunting, especially if you’re just getting started on your traveling with kids journey! We have traveled fairly extensively with our kids and we have some tips to try and make your trip with kids easier!
Cruises present a especially challenging packing for a trip…why? Because once you get on board, your ability to buy items needed is somewhat limited. Sure, they might have a few diapers in the ship’s shop, but not usually the brand, size, or amount you need. Other items you might need may not be available either, so we recommend bringing everything you can to make the trip as easy as possible. Our tips do include some links to items that we have found helpful, some of which contain affiliate links (paid link, #ad).
Cruise ships and airports are large, so don’t forget to bring a way to get your littlest kiddos around. We love using a Baby Carrier in the airport and on the ship plus bringing a stroller! We loved the Ergo baby carrier and the Tula baby carrier. Both were easy to use and seemed comfortable for baby.
When you’re thinking of a stroller for airport and cruise travel, the smallest stroller possible might be what comes to mind, but don’t be afraid to bring the stroller that’s right for your family, even if its not the smallest. We love our Summer Infant stroller because it’s small and compact, but when we went on a cruise with a 9 month old and a 4 year old, we still took our Graco sit and stand double stroller. Was it harder to navigate the cruise hallways with? Sure! But having the added convenience of our bigger kid being able to jump on and off when she felt like it was a life saver on a cruise!
Dont forget that you can gate check a stroller without cost! For our smaller stroller, we use a stroller bag, but the bigger stroller we just set it on the jetway folded and pick it up on the jetway at our final destination.
If you aren’t bringing your stroller through the airport but are bringing your car seat on the plan for little one to sit in, consider this Car seat cart to help get them through the airport. The car seat buckles onto the cart and you can use it like a stroller through the airport! Also, the cart folds up super small to fit in the over head bin!
We all know that the airplane and the cruise ship are probably cleaned some (the ship more than the plane), but we always bring some clorox-type wipes and hand wipes so we can keep everyone as clean on the go as we can! It doesnt hurt to wipe down those arm rests or that toilet seat before little one uses them. We also like to bring our potty seat on the cruise for our littlest one who is a little unsteady on the potty.
Cruise rooms are small and somewhat limited on storage, even with a suite. Packing cubes are a life saver when traveling with kids to help keep organized, and we use different color cubes for everyone. Since most cruise ship walls are metal, these magnetic hooks provide extra places to hang towels, swim suits, jackets, or hats so that the shelving and the floor aren’t too cluttered.
Many cruise lines these days ask you to print your own cruise tags, and we used to pack tape in our suitcases so we could tape them onto our suitcases at the hotel before the cruise. Now we use these easy-peasy cruise luggage tags so we don’t have to pack the tape!
As you are probably aware, many cruise lines have done away with plastic straws. Some provide cardboard straws, no straws, or some other compostable straw. We have found that bringing reusable straws is probably the way to go for us…especially since kids chewing on straws makes those cardboard straws extra soggy!
Also, keep in mind that for littler kids, cruise ships often do not have cups with lids, so we bring our own sippy cups! The same is often true for smaller size utensils, so bringing baby spoons/utensils might be useful for feeding baby and little ones. A small container of dish soap can be helpful to clean these items in the cruise room!
Cruising with kids is an absolute blast and a little bit of extra preparation can make the trip that much easier!
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