How to Choose Between a Cruise and an All-Inclusive Vacation

I love going on cruises, and I also love staying at all-inclusive resorts! In some ways, it's like choosing a blue between lapis, azure, and cerulean (if you know, you know). Each one is the "perfect vacation" on its own, but there are a few pro's and con's to each that might help you decide which is better for your specific trip. 

Cruises: 

Cruises are synonymous with floating resorts that take travelers to multiple destinations. One of the primary advantages of a cruise is the opportunity to explore different locations without the hassle of having to coordinate multiple bookings and frequent packing and unpacking. 

Related link: All my favorite cruise blog posts.

All-Inclusive Resorts:

On the other hand, all-inclusive resorts are centered around the idea of ultimate relaxation. These resorts typically include your room, meals, drinks, and activities all included in one price, letting you enjoy your vacation without always needing to reach for your wallet. All-inclusive resorts focus on a laid-back escape. 

Related link: All my favorite all-inclusive blog posts.

Destinations and Itinerary

Cruise

The big draw for cruises is that you can visit a lot of places in a short amount of time, because most cruises go to a different port a day. This can make it easy for you to check several countries off your bucket list in just a week. However, the biggest downside for this is that you're usually only at a port for 4-8 hours a day. So while I can technically say I've been to Jamaica, I was only actually there for about 6 hours. And unless you go on an excursion, you'll spend your entire time at the port. Cruising can be a great way to get introduced to new countries, but you don't always get the full experience of the country in such a short time on a cruise. 

All-Inclusive

On the other hand, an all-inclusive resort gives you at least the opportunity to see more of the country you're in, but you're probably limited to just that one country. When we went to the Dominican Republic, we took a helicopter tour around the island and loved getting to see different parts of the country. But, sometimes you just don't leave your resort. Each time I've been to Cancun so far, I've never left our resort. Regardless of whether you leave your resort or not to go explore, you'll likely end up experiencing your country for longer than a cruise just by the sheer nature of staying overnight. 

Activities and Entertainment

Cruise

One thing cruises are known for is their on-board activities. The biggest ships have TONS of activities-- think surfing, high-dive performers, Broadway-level shows, ice skating,  movie theaters, rock-wall climbing and go-karting. Even medium-sized ships will usually have some waterslides, putt-putt, obstacle course, and an arcade. And that's just the "adventure" activities. There's always something happening on a cruise! Bingo, trivia, game shows happen throughout the day. There's also usually areas with board and card games, billiards, and live music. At the pool, they usually have a DJ set up during the afternoons and the cruise director will surely have a belly flop contest and a dance-off at some point. 

All-Inclusive

All-inclusive resorts usually have their own activities, just more toned down. Resorts tend to be more of a "I'm just here to relax" vibe, so that's what you can expect to find.  The Grand at Moon Palace has been the one resort that had a TON of activities for everyone. But, usually they'll have some night parties or day parties around the pool, cooking or cocktail-making classes, maybe a kids-only area for elementary through teens age, maybe an arcade, and sometimes some water activities like kayaking or snorkeling in front of the resort. If your resort doesn't have a lot of activities, they'll usually have some off-resort excursions you can book through the resort, like the helicopter ride I mentioned earlier, or our resort in the Dominican also helped us get day passes to a local water park that was a lot of fun. 

Accommodations

Cruise

What's a big selling point for cruises is you get a different view every day from your room (unless you have an interior cabin). You get the opportunity to watch the sunrise and sunset over the ocean at sea days, and you get a beautiful new scene at each port day. One drawback for cruisers is that even if you splurge for a suite on board, your room will still be smaller than your typical hotel room. My favorite cruise room is a balcony so you can have the benefit of the warm ocean breeze in the privacy of your own room.

All-Inclusive

All-inclusive resorts have great options that can include swim-up rooms which have their own private pools, or ocean-facing rooms with huge windows that overlook the beach. Some resorts have balconies on every room, and more and more resorts are putting bathtubs on the balcony for a really great view. We've even stayed in a beach-access room, where you literally walk out of a sliding glass door in your room and onto the beach. 

Dining Experiences

Cruise

Cruises are known for their food! Almost all cruises will have a standard buffet that has long hours, a formal dining room for nightly dinners, breakfast room service, and lots of specialty options throughout the ship with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack options. The cruise will require you to choose when you book your cruise whether you want reservations for early dining, late dining, or a "flexible time" dining. Just because you've made this decision doesn't bind you to eating in the formal dining room each night, you can always eat somewhere else on the ship. While almost all of this food is included for free, it's common for cruises to have specialty restaurants on board that aren't free (but check to see if they are free for lunch). However, you will have to pay for your food and drinks ashore on port days, unless you book an excursion that has these included in the price. For drinks tap water, milk, lemonade, tea, and plain coffee are generally free. You can have the option to buy a soda package or an alcohol package, or you can pay-as-you-go. 

All-Inclusive

What's great about an all-inclusive is that it really is all-inclusive. Meals and alcohol are all included in the price. Sometimes you might have to pay extra if you want top-shelf liquor, but usually you can just walk up to any bar and grab a drink without the need to make a purchase. Similar to a cruise, some resorts also have specialty dining where the meal costs extra and certain wines are purchase-only. You also usually will get breakfast room service included at your resort as well. Bigger resorts with multiple restaurants will usually require you to make dinner reservations, so just keep that in mind. Lunches are typically a buffet option or a more casual lunch restaurant option. 

Budget Considerations

Cruise

Cruises are weird because you can make the trip really cheap, or expenses can add up quickly. Obviously inside rooms are cheaper than rooms with a window, and those rooms are cheaper than a balcony room. But Wi-Fi is an extra charge per day if you want access to the internet while you're at sea (most cruise apps will allow you to instant message other cruisers through the app for free though). Like I mentioned before, anything other than a standard drink will cost you, and if you go the drink package price, that also charges you per day. While going to the port at each stop is free, meals and excursions off the boat will be another extra cost. Games on the cruise like Bingo or Deal or No Deal will cost if you want to participate. Really, you're paying for the experience of the cruise. 

All-Inclusive

Resorts tend to be cheaper overall. Wi-Fi and all drinks tend to be included in the price, and many resorts offer free activities. Usually, your biggest expenses will be paying for transportation from the airport to the hotel and back (hotels are usually about an hour away from the airport due to beach locations). If you chose to leave your resort, you'll have to spend some money while you're out and about. 

Travel Companions

Cruise

Cruises really shine for families and large groups like family reunions or even weddings. Because a cruise offers SO MUCH to do, it can be the perfect vacation solution! Think of someone in your group, and there's probably a section on the cruise made to cater to their demographic. My husband and I enjoyed our childless cruise for our 2nd anniversary just as much as we enjoyed our 3rd anniversary cruise with our daughter around. Most cruises will also have an adults-only section that is usually one of the quieter locations on the ship. 

All-Inclusive

Most all-inclusives are family friendly. We've even stayed at resorts that have a special kids-only waterpark or pool where kids can play and scream, and a lot of resorts also have an adults-only pool that is secluded and quiet. If you want a kids-free resort, that won't be hard to find either. Some adults-only resorts are more for partying, while others are known to be more quiet, so you can pick which one fits your vibe. 

How to Choose

It's hard, honestly! My husband and I are actually taking an anniversary trip without our daughter to an all inclusive in April, and then brining our daughter with us on a cruise in May. We chose the all inclusive for our kid-free trip since that's the option that has the free alcohol so we can just get drunk on a beach and take a nap under the sun without having to worry about a 1 year old running into the water. It also was significantly cheaper than the cruise since we'll end up spending money on excursions, Wi-Fi, and alcohol for a cruise. 

 We chose to do the cruise with our daughter because it just has more options of things to do in the day. It can feel like 90% of the activities that a resort offers all day is just being at either the pool or the beach, which gets old fast for a toddler. A cruise, on the other hand has several decks full of activities that we can take our daughter to when we need to wear her out, and each port stop is it's own adventure in itself. 

I think the main deciding factor will be a cost-entertainment analysis. You can definitely chill all day by the pool at either a cruise or a resort, and then go chill all day at the beach on either a cruise or resort. But, a cruise will have more options for what you can do if you're bored of chilling. 

How to Spend 3 Days at Disney World

We're going back to Disney World this fall, and in my planning I came across our schedule from our last trip to Disney and thought I would share what we did to help anyone getting started on planning their trip. For reference, on this trip we had 6 adults (my husband and I (late 20's), my sister-in-law and brother-in-law (late 20's), and my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law (late 50's). We went in November, but this could work for any time of the year.

Day 1

Animal Kingdom

1. Kilimanjaro Safari
2. Avatar Flight of Passage
3. Na'vi River Journey - fast pass
4. Kali River Rapids - fast pass
5. Expedition Everest - fast pass
6. Dinosaur
7. It's Tough to be a Bug!
8. Dinner at Yak and Yeti - sign up for Landry's Club ahead of time to get pushed to the front of the waitlist

Epcot

1. Mission: Space
2. Test Track - fast pass
3. Soarin' Around the World - fast pass
4. Spaceship Earth - fast pass
5. Drinking around the world
6. Luminous the Symphony of Us Fireworks

Day 2

Hollywood Studios

1. Slinky Dog Dash
2. Star Wars Launch Bay
3. Twilight Tower of Terror - fast pass
4. Toy Story Mania - fast pass
5. Star Tours
6. Rock 'n' Roller Coaster - fast pass
7. Dinner at 50's Prime Time Café
8. Fantasmic Fireworks 

Day 3

Magic Kingdom

1. Sever Dwarfs Mine Train
2. Peter Pan's Flight
3. Space Mountain - fast pass
4. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
5. Haunted Mansion
6. Pirates of the Caribbean
7. Big Thunder Railroad - fast pass
8. Mad Tea Party
9. It's a Small World
10. The Barnstormer

Fort Wilderness Resort

1. Dinner at Hoop Dee Doo Revue

How to Get Pinnacle Status on Royal Caribbean Fast

If you sailed on a ten-night Royal Caribbean cruise ship every year, it would take you 70 years to reach the Pinnacle Club. Even if you sailed on a Royal Caribbean cruise every single night, it would still take you 2 years to reach Pinnacle. That sound out-of-reach for most people's lifetimes, but it's actually easier to reach Pinnacle much faster, but it's not cheap. 

How do you become a Pinnacle member on Royal Caribbean? Each night you stay on a cruise (that you pay for, free cruises don't count), you get a point. The points add up to the different statuses on Royal Caribbean: 3 points gets you to Gold Status, 30 points is Platinum Status, 55 points is Emerald Status, 80 points is Diamond Status (what I'm currently working towards), 175 points is Diamond Plus Status, and then there's the exclusive 700 points is the Pinnacle Club Status.

So, why should you reach Pinnacle status anyways? Besides the fact of being the most elite thing you can do as a Royal Caribbean cruiser, it comes with a lot of perks. You get exclusive breakfasts every day, free unlimited Wi-Fi for the entire cruise, upgraded toiletries in your bathroom, 6 free drinks per day, free laundry, free gifts, exclusive dinner options, plus 1 free 7-night balcony cruise and then 1 free junior suite cruise. You know the special treatment celebrities get when they go to Disneyland with their family? Yeah, that's basically a Pinnacle member on a Royal Caribbean cruise. 

What's the fastest way to get to the Pinnacle Club on Royal Caribbean? The answer is: double points! If you were to book a Suite, for example a Junior Suite, you get double the points! So the timelines above instantly getting halved. Another way to earn double points? Solo cruising. Some family friends actually did this during the pandemic when cruise prices were ridiculously cheap. One person would get a Junior Suite for themselves, (Junior Suite and a solo booking, you can imaging the points!), and then the other person would just get a cheap interior room for themselves (solo booking double points for them!), and then they would use the interior room for luggage and drying wet clothes, and both sleep/get ready in the Junior Suite. Now, the obvious downside is that you would have to do a lot of room-key sharing. It also really only works for a couple. And again, a Junior Suite ain't cheap. But, if you plan on cruising a lot in your future (hello, retirement), then being a Pinnacle Member can really help you save money from having to pay for the internet and drink packages. 

Cruising with an 8 month old

We took our 8 month old daughter on her first cruise last year, and just booked her second cruise for this year. She absolutely loved it and it was such a great trip! Her last trip was on Carnival, and our upcoming trip is on Royal Caribbean. I get so excited thinking about the status for each cruise line that she'll have by the time she's sailing off into the sunset for retirement since she's starting so young. The cost to add a baby to our room actually wasn't that much. Most cruises have a discount for the 3rd passenger in a room, and sometimes you can catch a kids-sale-free promotion to offset the cost of your room.

Honestly the hardest part about cruising with a baby is that we've been spoiled by daycare and used to just keeping her all day for the weekends only, so we forgot how exhausting it was to be on parent duty all day. Traveling with a baby wasn't much different than being at home with her, but that's probably because we tried to be as thoughtful as we could with what we brought with us.

Baby passports for cruises

Depending on your itinerary, you might not need a passport for your baby. You can call customer service for your cruise and confirm if a birth certificate is enough for your stops. However, I HIGHLY recommend you get your baby a passport if you have the time before your cruise. Embarkation and disembarkation days go SIGNIFCANTLY faster if everyone has a passport. I'm talking the difference between security being under 30 minutes if you all have a passport, and over 2 hours if someone has a birth certificate. 

Baby age requirements for cruises

For most cruises, the general rule of thumb is that a baby has to be at least 6 months old by the first day of the cruise. In general, cruises that have two back-to-back sea days in a row will require a baby to be one year old for the cruise. Other than that, there's not a lot of restrictions for cruising with your baby, and most cruises are very welcoming to babies. 

Baby activities on ships

One thing to keep in mind is that most cruises won't allow drop-off for children under 3 in their free kids centers. Many have paid baby-sitting hours in the evenings where you can take your baby to the kids center for a baby-free dinner and show, most have paid baby-sitting hours during port days where you can go ashore without your baby, and it's common for the kids center to have organized activities for parents to bring their babies to and stay and play with them in the kids center. I recommend you go to the kids center first thing when you get on the ship to see what is and isn't offered, the times, and the prices so you can plan your trip around that. Personally, we took our daughter with us at each stop because we wanted her to get the full travel experience. We didn't do any "excursions" other than reserving clamshells ahead of time when available, and spent each stop on the beach or walking around the port.

Diaper changes on ships

When we went on our trip, she was sitting up and just starting to crawl here and there. She had also just begun baby-led weaning, but mostly still preferred bottles. They had high chairs in the dining area, and the wait staff were always so sweet to try to think of different foods my daughter might like and bring out samples for her to try out. On the Carnival Conquest, there weren't changing tables in any bathrooms that I went in to on the ship, so plan on going back to your stateroom to change any dirty diapers. The gift shop on the Carnival Conquest had like 3 packs of Size 2 diapers, wipes, and no formula, so I would plan to have more packed then you need. Most likely, if you need to you can find items at the port, but it might not be the brand your baby is used to and it will definitely be overpriced. 

Sleeping

You're going to want to bring your own crib sheets. I recommend you bring 2 sets so that you can swap them out if your baby gets one set dirty. Royal Caribbean provides you with a pack-n-play, and at least on the Carnival Conquest we were offered a metal rollaway crib, but neither provide sheets. Bring crib sheets that are colorful or have a pattern and avoid plain white sheets so that your sheets don't get mistaken for the cruise's bedding and get taken away by housekeeping. Having your own sheets is actually nice because you can wash it with your own detergent and know that 1) it's free from any harsh chemicals or perfumes that your baby's sensitive skin might not be used to and 2) it will smell like home and can be comforting to your baby being in a strange place. I knew ahead of time that I didn't want to use Carnival's metal crib, so we actually brought our own travel play yard that my daughter is used to sleeping in and had mesh sides so she wouldn't hurt herself rolling around into the sides. This travel crib is absolutely amazing! It is SO lightweight and SO easy to put together. One of the reasons why I didn't want the rollaway crib in our room is because I wanted the flexibility to easily tear down my daughter's bed to give us more floor room for her to crawl around while we were getting ready. We also got a mesh blackout cover to fit over her bed so that we could keep the lights on while she slept. At night, my favorite travel sound machine has a built-in night light so we could see if we had to get up to feed her.

Bottle feeds while traveling

Bottle feeding my daughter on the cruise was actually simple. We only brought a travel bottle bag filled with her usual bottles (labeled with her name, in case we lost one), an insulated water bottle to hold just her water (we ordered filtered water through the ship for I think $2 a gallon?), and we brought the big tubs of formula in our suitcase and then just measured out the formula into a travel formula dispenser. This was all we needed and we were able to make her bottles when we were up on deck or out on shore at the port, easy peasy. 

Strollers on cruises

Leaving our stateroom actually didn't require that much effort. We had the GB pockit travel stroller which was perfect because we could fold it up and store it under our bed when we didn't need it, and it was lightweight enough that my husband could carry the stroller with our daughter in it when the elevators were taking too long. Out at port this stroller worked great because it has a good-sized canopy to keep the sun off her, and the seat reclined so she could easily take stroller naps while we walked around. We brought a stroller fan for our daughter to keep her cool.

Although we could have brought our normal stroller, the Uppababy Vista, from home, and we did see a few families having big strollers like this, I would avoid them if you can. There's a good chance that the normal-sized stroller will be wider than the cabin door, making it really difficult to get your stroller in and out of your room, and you can't leave your stroller in the hallway. Even if you can get it in your room, you likely won't have anywhere to put a stroller that doesn't fold up. Remember, cruise rooms are much smaller than hotel rooms to begin with, and what little free space you'll have in your room will likely be taken up by the baby's bed. A cheaper alternative to the GB pockit is the Summer Infant 3D lite stroller, which is like an upgraded umbrella stroller because it can recline and has storage. If you want to go the cheapest route, make sure you at least get an umbrella stroller with a canopy to keep you kid shaded.

Travel items for cruises

The bottle bag could hold bottles and formula and could fit with the water bottle in the basket under the seat. I didn't even bring a diaper bag, just a diaper fanny pack loaded with wipes, diapers, a paci (on a paci strap with her name on it in case it got lost), and a burp cloth that can convert into a bib. Yes, even at port, I didn't take her diaper bag off with us! I actually never used her diaper bag once we got on the ship. When we got off the ship at port, I just added a little stroller caddy on the handles so that we could have a place to store our drinks and things within reach. I also kept a little hand-held fan in our stroller caddy to fan off our daughter (or us!) on hot days, I just made sure to choose a fan that had the blades covered so she couldn't hurt herself on it. 

Beach items

For the beach, I was a little less minimalist and a little more overboard mom. I packed this travel beach bag that folds up so tiny, yet is HUGE when you unfold it, and is completely mesh so you're not brining a ton of sand and water back with you. In it, I packed a simple baby float for the water and this little portable pool with shade and also a travel beach toys set with a collapsible beach bucket. What was nice with the baby pool is that found chairs away from the crowds and so we were able to dig her a little hole in the sand so that she could play in the water while shaded and away from drunk people and kids getting in her way and splashing her because there's nothing worse than saltwater in a baby's eyes (after trial and error, my husband recommends to pack a folding travel shovel to easily dig the hole and to ask a bartender for an empty beer bucket to fill up the pool with ocean water). I chose to put our daughter in a full-body swimsuit because it's easier to keep her covered than to constantly reapply sunscreen. And I know that people say you can air dry a disposable swim diaper and re-use them (swim diapers only hold poop, not pee), but I've found that re-usable swim diapers are easier to take on and off, dry faster, and hold up better throughout the day. What worked for our daughter is getting off the boat and going into the water to play first thing, then changing her into a dry diaper for lunch and nap while her swimsuit and swim diaper dried in the sun, and then either changing her back into her swim outfit for more playtime, before going back into a dry diaper and dry clothes to get on the boat. One thing we found out the hard way is that because swim diapers don't hold pee, if you put your baby in a swim diaper while you're getting dressed on the ship and then your baby pees in the time it takes you to get off the ship, your baby will pee through their swim diaper, just FYI. 

Room entertainment

To keep our baby entertained back on the ship, we brought suction cup spinner toys to stick to doors for her to sit on the floor and play with while we got dressed. For meals, we had a suction cup toy holder loaded with her favorite toys that we could stick to her high chair to keep her busy while we ate. Your cruise won't let your baby into the ship pool if they're still in a swim diaper, but some have splash pads that will allow all ages to play on. For us, we brought a mini baby pool for her to play with. You can either set this up in the shower, or if you have a balcony then you can set it up out there. I took an empty trashcan and filled it with warm water to fill up her pool. We had this tiny travel air pump which made inflating and deflating the pool take about a minute, so I didn't mind setting this up every day for her and then taking it down at night. I brought some cheap foam bath letters for her to play with in the pool, and she loved it!

Baby medicine at sea

Adding a baby to your cruise doesn't necessarily wreck havoc on your room. We had disposable diaper pails that we would fill up throughout the day and then the room keepers would toss it each day. We set up a shoe organizer filled with diapers, wipes, pacifiers, medicine, and baby clothes. My biggest fear was that my daughter would teeth or get sick on this trip and wake up our neighbors screaming, so I packed travel acetaminophen and teething drops just in case. I did pack travel laundry detergent and I'm glad I did because we ran out of clean burp cloths quicker than I anticipated so I did a quick load of laundry in the bathroom sink.

Baby cruise outfits

For packing, I would recommend one burp cloth per day of the trip plus a spare. We just brought one swimsuit per day, 2 reusable swim diapers, one pack of disposable swim diapers, pj's and socks for each night, a romper for each day, and one dress for the formal night. We calculated how many diapers she wore each day, and packed that amount plus 2 extra days' worth, and did 1 package of wipes plus a travel set of wipes for the fanny pack. We did the same thing to calculate how much formula we needed. 

How can getting 

a passport for my baby enhance the cruise embarkation process?  What age restrictions should I be aware of when cruising with a baby? Why is it important to bring my own crib sheets on a cruise? What are practical tips for bottle feeding my baby during the cruise? How can I make leaving the stateroom with a baby effortless? What are creative ways to keep my baby entertained on a cruise ship? How can I manage baby essentials in the stateroom without disrupting neighbors? What beach essentials should I pack for a cruise with my baby? How do I calculate diaper and formula needs for my baby during the cruise? What's the best way to handle potential diaper emergencies on a cruise?

Cruise Packing Favorites for 2023

I just booked my next cruise, so obviously all I can think about is the planning and packing for it! One thing that has made cruising easier is that we have a "cruise bag," which is essentially a packing cube with all of our cruise-specific items that stays packed year-round in storage. This makes packing for a cruise great because all I have to do is toss in the packing cube and all of our cruise essentials are coming with us without me having to remember what to pack so nothing is left behind. Add in clothes and toiletries, and we're all packed! Here's what's in my bag...

Luggage accessories

First of all, I highly recommend compression packing cubes! I've been a fan of packing cubes ever since I once had a zipper break on my bag and my clothes went everywhere. Packing cubes keeps everything nice and tidy. And a bonus is that if you have to do the dreaded weight re-distribution at baggage drop because one suitcase is overweight, this makes it very easy to quickly grab a cube or two and move it between bags. But not all packing cubes are the same. Your basic packing cubes just keep everything organized, which is nice, but I always say to make sure your cubes can compress. You know how a lot of suitcases have an extra zipper so you can expand them if you need to? Compression packing cubes are the exact same, but in reverse. You put your clothes in them and seal it with the first zipper in one direction, then the second zipper goes in the other direction to compress out any air and make the cube much smaller. You can get so much more items in your suitcase this way! 

But head my warning from before. Just because it fits doesn't mean it's under 50 pounds, so always weigh your bags with a luggage scale if you can. 

Not necessary, but something new cruisers aren't often aware of are cruise luggage tag holders. Make sure you get the size for your specific cruise line, because some print out short and fat, while others print out long and skinny, and you'll want to make sure your luggage tag will fit. About a month before your cruise, you'll be able to go online to your cruise line's website and print out your luggage tags. Your luggage tag will indicate which side of the ship you're on and your room number. Even if you aren't flying to your cruise, you'll need luggage tags. When you check in for your cruise, they will take all of your luggage from you and board them onto the ship for you and deliver them to your room for you. If you don't get a holder for them, you can just staple them, but then you run the risk of the tag getting ripped off, which will delay your luggage being delivered to your room. 

Travel hamper

One thing that is easily overlooked, but a major game changer is a pop-up hamper for dirty clothes. There is little floor space in a cruise stateroom to kick dirty clothes into a pile, and after a few days it's easy for your room to be overwhelmed with clothes everywhere. A pop-up hamper is small enough to take up little room in your suitcase, and little room in your stateroom, but will keep your room so much more manageable. 

Reusable straws

You're going to want to bring your own straws for your cruise. Many cruises now only use paper or candy straws, which won't last long in your sweating drink. I personally love retractable metal straws that come on a keychain. They are so tiny since they are retractable, and the keychain makes it easy to clip them onto your beach bag or lanyard so you always have one nearby. 

Lightweight travel towels

This is a hot take: but I actually suggest you do bring your own towel for a cruise! Yes, you don't need to bring your own bath towels because your stateroom will have towels in the bathroom; and, yes, you don't need to bring your own beach towels because the pools on the cruise will have towels. And technically, yes, you can take these towels off the ship to have on shore to dry off when you get out of the ocean. But, a camping towel is so much better at port! Even the largest camping towel is only about a third of the weight and size of a cruise-issued towel. This is important to me because we usually end up having to haul two beach bags down- one for beach essentials and one just for towels! And don't even get me started on how heavy it is to haul back a sopping wet cruise-issued towel on your way back to the ship. Camping towels are microfiber so they dry much faster. An extra perk is that since literally everyone from your ship has the same cruise-issued towels, you can find your chairs on the beach so much easier with the colorful camping towels. 

Packable backpack

While you're at the port, there's always so many shopping options right where you get off the ship. Because of this, I love to pack an extra foldable backpack into my beach bag. This doesn't take up a lot of room in my beach bag when we don't need it, but can hold so many items on the way back (hi, oversized souvenir cups!). This one is mesh so that if anything is wet, it can air dry on the walk back to the ship and avoid a musty smell following you back to your stateroom.

Cruise phone case

If you're planning on doing any excursions or even being in the water all day at port, then I would recommend you get a waterproof phone case. Its' great to have your phone in an accessible place so you can take all the photos you want, especially if you're only wearing a swimsuit and don't have pockets. It also will keep your phone with you at all times so that you don't have to worry about it being stolen if you leave it behind on your beach chair. 

For my phone, I switch out my normal phone case for a phone case with a strap and card storage. This makes it easy to hold on to my phone if I'm only wearing a swimsuit and coverup and have no pockets. It also keeps my keycard with me so that I don't walk all the way back to my room just to realize that I forgot my keycard at my lounge chair. 

Waterproof wallet

It's a rite of passage for first-time cruisers (men particularly) to go into the ocean with their wallet in their pocket and then completely ruin the leather wallet and have all of their money soaked and the cards sticky from salt water. How you can avoid that is with a waterproof travel wallet. These zip up to keep money/cards from falling out and to keep it waterproof. It's perfect because all you need at port is your ID, your ship card, a credit card, and some cash for tipping/bartering/buying things from merchants on the beach, so you can leave everything else in a regular wallet in your stateroom safe that way if your wallet gets lost/stolen, you didn't just lose all the cash you brought for the trip and all of your credit cards. 

Extra plugs

I love this little cruise-approved power strip (note, they won't let you take the big surge-protector strips onboard). This one has a small extension cord, 2 regular plugs, and 2 USB-A plugs and 1 USB-C plug. It is designed for travel so the cord wraps up really small and the prongs of the plug don't extend. 

Foldable hangers

There's not a lot of hangers in a cruise closet, and the ones that they have are a pain to take on and off the rack. That's why I always bring my own foldable travel hangers for a cruise. They can easily double the amount of clothes that I can fit in the stateroom closet, which is great because there's usually not a whole lot of drawers so you need to hang as many shirts/dresses/jackets as you can so that you can save the drawers for underwear and swim.

Toothbrush holder

A small and maybe unnecessary, but helpful item is a silicone wall-mount toothbrush holder. The silicone sticks to the mirror in the bathroom as a place to hold your toothbrushes, so that you can save the cups in the bathroom for rinsing after you brush your teeth. Yes, the cups can hold your toothbrushes just fine, but the first time we used these while traveling my husband said he liked this so much better. 

Door décor

We always pack stateroom door decorations for our rooms. Cruise ships can be big so after passing hundreds of rooms that look the same, it's actually very easy to walk right past your room without even realizing it (especially if you've been drinking, or it's just been a long day under the sun). You'll see a lot of other cruisers decorating their doors too, because the whole point of a cruise is just to have fun. 

Magnetic accessories 

The walls on cruises are metal, so I put a Bagnet on all of my bags. It is a really strong magnet keychain that is strong enough to hold your bag up to 8 pounds. This works both on the walls in your room and around the ship such as the bathrooms and metal tables.

Of course, there's the classic hanging shoe organizer. Although these are designed to go over-the-door, I've found that the seal on the bathroom and closet doors are such that you can't easily hang this on the door. Instead, it's much easier to get metal hooks to stick to the magnetic walls and hang this on the wall. There's so much empty space on the walls in your room anyways, that there's lots of places to stick magnets to get some storage in.

Insulated drink tumbler

Lastly, just because I use this often enough that it doesn't even make it into my cruise bag, is a drink tumbler. A travel tumbler can be filled up with water before you leave the ship on shore days to save you from paying for overpriced water bottles at the port, and then can be filled with your favorite drink and will stay cold even when you're out in the sun all day. You definitely want a drink with a lid and straw that won't spill so that you can just toss it in your bag while you're walking around, but then will keep sand and water out of your drink. Back on the ship, since these hold so much more than your standard 8-ounce glass, you can save yourself from having to make multiple trips just to get a refill. 

Travel Guide | Carnival Vista to Western Caribbean

Ryan and I enjoyed our babymoon so much, that less than a month after we got home from it we went ahead and booked our next cruise! We knew we'd have an 8 month old at the time of sailing, and kept that in mind with our booking. We live in Houston, so we purposefully booked a cruise out of Galveston to make traveling with a baby as easy as possible. We were a little adventurous when we booked a 7 night cruise with a baby, but it worked out just fine!

Related post: All about cruising with an 8 month old

We really enjoyed our cruise, and I'm so glad my daughter was able to come with us! She had the time of her life and is already a VIFP member. Cruising as a parent is definitely a lot more hands-on then cruising as a kid who is just going with the flow. Ryan and I were grateful that we both had cruising experience so that we weren't having to learn all the cruise things for the first time with a kid, because traveling with a baby is a little more stressful than normal. Eventually, our daughter (and future kid) will be old enough to go play at the kids club all day and we will be able to hang out in the adults-only section in peace. 

Carnival Vista Review

The Vista was one of the smaller ships I've been on in a while, it holds about 4,000 passengers. A smaller ship was nice in our circumstance because it didn't feel overcrowded and we didn't feel like we were getting turned around all the time. It was a little weird seeing the main bar and shopping in the middle of the ship be so much less than what I'm used to, but what they had was still nice. The Red Frog Pub actually had a mini brewery on board which was cool to see, and the live music that they had was great. 

The rooms on Carnival Vista

 

We got a balcony room again, and it was perfect with a baby. We brought a non-wifi baby monitor and could sit outside with our drinks and watch downloaded Netflix shows on our iPad without waking her. The balcony was actually really big! I brought a baby pool and set it up on the balcony, and there was room for the pool and the chairs and patio table to all fit pretty well. Carnival lets you bring one bottle of wine per person, so I just made sure to bring wine bottles that had screw-top lids instead of cork to easily open without a corkscrew, and I brought silicone wine glasses for us. It was nice just to relax and sip my sangria to the sound of the ocean in the evenings. 

Having a baby on board did make the room feel a lot smaller than normal, so I was glad that we went with a balcony room because those tend to be bigger than Oceanview rooms and definitely bigger than inside cabins. I tried to stay on top of organization for this trip and I think it helped our room not seem like a tornado had just came through. We stashed a pop-up hamper in one of the closets and I found that really helped with not having the floors covered with dirty clothes, and we didn't have to sacrifice what few drawer space we had as a dirty clothes drawer. I also did the cruise hack where you put a shoe organizer on the wall with metal hooks (since the walls are magnetic). Unfortunately, the magnetic hooks I bought weren't big enough to fit the loop of the shoe organizer, so it wasn't set up right and couldn't hold much weight. Once we got home, I immediately got longer hooks for next time.

I did the water package and wi-fi package again, and recommend both. The bottled water is really cheap on Carnival, and it tastes so much better than sink water. There is a "cooler" in your fridge that will keep the water (and my wine) cool, but it's not quite as cold as a fridge. The wi-fi is decently priced, we just pre-downloaded Spotify playlists, Netflix shows, and Ms. Rachel on YouTube (if you know, you know) and did just fine. It wasn't the greatest at downloading longer videos on Instagram or TikTok, but it worked for us.

Eating on Carnival Vista

We did the Your Time dining on this trip after loving it on our last cruise. Our thought was that this would be perfect with a baby because we could eat when she was hungry. That didn't work out so well this time. While on the Sunrise in 2022 we could check in to dining on the app as we were leaving our room and a table would be ready for us by the time we got to the dining room, on the Vista in 2023 it was a disappointing experience. 

 

On formal night, we checked in a little after 7, and didn't get seated until 8:30 and didn't get our entrees until 9. We wanted our daughter to experience the "formal" dinner and got great family photos of us all dressed up, but she was miserable and we skipped the 2nd formal night (because it was a longer cruise, there were 2 formal nights) and did the buffet instead. It seemed that every time we tried to have dinner (or even breakfast on our last sea day) in the dining room, the service was incredibly slow. I'm used to servers taking your order pretty quickly and getting your food out not long after that, but that definitely didn't happen this trip.

 

The buffet on the Vista was great. They had little tables with umbrellas set up inside to make it feel like you were at a beachfront restaurant inside, which was a cute touch. We also ate at Guy's Pig & Anchor BBQ and that was really good food. We had planned on trying out the JiJi Asian kitchen on a sea day, but we never had time for it. Overall, the food was good, but the dining experience just wasn't up to cruise standards.

What to do on Carnival Vista

For a smaller ship, there seemed to be a lot we could do, even with a baby! We took her to Deal or No Deal and she did just fine for one round of that before she got bored. There was a putt-putt course that we did with her, and Ryan just wore her in the Tushbaby and golfed with one hand. On the last day at sea, we took turns holding her while the other went down the water slides, which were great even for adults. Outside of the RedFrog pub were some picnic benches that were attached to the table as one big gliding swing. It was a really unique place to hang out during the day. 

There was also a kids club onboard. We went to a Dr. Seuss reading, which honestly was just okay because it was so quick. But it was cute that they gave each kid the same book so you could follow along with the story. There was actually a whole Dr. Seuss library for the kids right outside of the kids club that I thought was cute. It was a big room with a toy box of baby toys, so although our daughter was too young for the kids club, it was still a safe place for her to practice crawling. There were activities planned on sea days where babies could come, but the parents needed to stay with them. We forgot about this on the first sea day, and were disappointed that we were the only ones who showed up on the second sea day. The staff was still great and let my daughter have the kids club all to herself, and they gave her a whole bag of ball-pit balls to play with. 

Exotic Western Caribbean cruise

Roatan, Honduras

I've been to Roatan on a prior cruise, and it was my favorite cruise destination. Happy to report back, that it still is! My last trip to Roatan was through Royal Caribbean, and Carnival stopped at a differ part of the port. I think I like the Carnival stop even better! The water in Roatan is beautifully clear, there's lots of small fish that will swim with you even in shallow parts of the water, I've never seen a seaweed/seagrass infestation, and the water is the perfect temp.

The "excursion" we booked for this stop was just a clamshell, which essentially just guarantees you 2 beach chairs that are fully shaded. The staff at this port was AMAZING! We had to navigate finding where to give our tickets once we were off the ship, and the staff not only helped us get to the right person, they helped us find a clamshell that was near a tree for extra shade for our baby, and was near the sidewalk so we didn't have to carry our stroller far. Later, when our daughter fell asleep in Ryan's arms, the staff came over and propped a table under the clamshell to angle it down more to better shade us since the sun had moved. 

There was a huge bar/restaurant right behind the beach so you could easily get food and top off your drinks. They offered souvenir drinks that had a lid with a straw and a foam koozie to keep your drink cold, and refills were at a discounted price. We saved our cups and fully intend to bring them back the next time we stop here.

As for the stop itself, what I love about it is that you don't have to do an excursion (more on that later in Belize), so you can walk right off the ship and onto a beautiful beach in a couple minutes, and spend $0 the entire stop if you bring snacks and water with you and don't drink any alcohol. There is a chair lift like at an amusement park that can take you to the beach faster and save you the walk while giving you a unique view, but I don't think there were many other options that I'd consider. 

Belize City, Belize

Maybe Roatan set my expectations up too high, because Belize City was my least favorite stop I've ever made on a cruise. If you like adventure and everyone in your party is at least teenage level or older, then you might like this stop. None of the excursions offered were suitable for a baby, because they were all snorkeling, or river tubing through a cave, or taking an hour-long tour around the city. Since I couldn't book an excursion, I figured we'd just get off the boat and park it on a beach like Roatan. That was a mistake. There are no beaches near the port where you can play in the water, as they all are rocky shores. 

The port itself is still getting built out. There was 1-2 restaurants that I remember seeing and then basically like a flea market where you can buy bad knock-off designer bags or crappy souvenirs and that's about it. We walked around for a while trying to figure out what to do when my husband finally found someone who told us they could take us to an "adventure park" where the price would be $20 per adult and the baby free. We agreed to try that and then he walked us up to a random cash register to check out and suddenly the price jumped to $80 a person real fast and Ryan and I recognized a bait-and-switch scam when we saw one and left. Not going to lie, this was a little stressful and I started to tell Ryan that I just wanted to get back on the ship at this point where I knew we were safe and could find something to do. But, Ryan has a sense of adventure so he walked out through the port to a whole bunch of taxis and haggled with a group of them to see who could take us to the adventure park on the cheap. Our driver was great and he took us to Kukumba Beach and figured out what time our ship left and planned to pick us up exactly an hour before it left so we wouldn't be rushing to make it to the ship on time, but he gave us his phone number so we could call him if we wanted to go back earlier. 

Kukumba Beach actually worked out really well! You could get a bucket of beer for like $12 and there were several food options which were pretty cheap. The place itself is sandy, but it's not on a beach. It has a man made salt-water and sand pool that has a huge slide and floating trampolines to play on. Our daughter really liked playing in the sand and in the water. And it had free wi-fi! The one con was that the beach chairs were wooden, so they weren't exactly comfortable. I had packed a sandproof beach blanket with us, so I just laid that down and then a camping towel on top of it on the sand for our daughter to have a softer place to nap. 

We were talking to a family that showed up about an hour after us, and turns out that they were on one of those city tour excursions and that this was a stop on their tour. They were really jealous that we got to go straight here and back, because they felt that the tour was just meh and would rather spend more time at the adventure park than taking the tour to get there and then more of a tour to get back to the ship. We also paid significantly less than they did to get there. If we were to go back to Belize again with small children, we'd probably just take a taxi back to Kukumba Beach again, because there's really not much else to do if you're not dong a more physically-demanding excursion. Hopefully the port is a little more updated the next time we go, because it definitely felt sketchy. 

 

Cozumel, Mexico 

Our last stop was in Cozumel, which my husband and I have both been to several times before on past cruises. It has a huge shopping center with nice stores, and that's basically what we did. There's several bars right when you get into the port, so Ryan grabbed us some drinks and we just walked around and shopped. Ryan was begging to get our daughter a sombrero because he has an obnoxiously giant one from a prior cruise, so I told him if he could find a baby-sized one then he could get it. Really, I thought it was a fool's errand, but of course the very next store had one! We also stopped into Cariloha and ordered some sheets. What's nice is that they ship your purchases to your home for free, so you don't have to worry about packing what you bought when you go home. This is exactly why I always throw a foldable backpack into my beach bag on port days, so that we have a way to carry all our port purchases back onto the ship.

Our daughter fell asleep in her stroller while we were shopping, so we stopped and had a long lunch at Fat Tuesdays while she had her nap. We ended up deciding that this was enough for one day, so we didn't go to the beach on this stop. I think part of it was knowing that we were going to be back in Mexico on the beach for a week in Puerto Vallarta in just a few months, so we didn't feel like we were missing out. But, if we come here again we'll probably just take a taxi to Paradise Beach on our own. 

Overall thoughts of this cruise

We had a good cruise, and our 8-month-old really enjoyed her first cruise, but this was the cruise that made us consider going over to Royal Caribbean. Overall, I'd rate the cruise as a 7/10. It wasn't a bad cruise, but there was nothing really that stood out to make it a great cruise (other than Roatan). 

Our next trip

Mexico just once a year isn't enough for our little world North America-traveling baby, so we're going back! Every year we take a big family vacation with my in-laws and after how outrageously expensive Hawaii was, this year we've decided to save some money and go to an all-inclusive in Puerto Vallarta!