Travel with me: Cruising with Cathy from mummytravels

Welcome to the first in my "Travel with me..." series, following on from me taking you over to Belgium and the Christmas Markets this week I am taking you on an adventure with Cathy from mummytravels.

mummytravels is a fantastic travel blog, with my favourite strapline of all times "can you keep travelling with a baby" and I think she proves that yes you can, with destination guides, travel checklists and a new vlogging series which is well worth a browse.

Today Cathy is taking us over to the Caribbean on a wonderful cruise.  I for one am very jealous as we were meant to go on a cruise this January but they have pregnancy restrictions and I was too pregnant!  Instead I've just salivated over the photos and the story....

Where are you taking us to today?

To the Caribbean!

What sort of trip was it, adventure, beach, relax, sightseeing? 

A bit of everything – we took a cruise from Miami around the Caribbean, stopping at Grand Turk in the Turks & Caicos islands, Jamaica and Nassau in the Bahamas. In the week’s holiday we fitted in a bit of beach, a chance to relax, sightseeing (especially in Miami) and some adventure for me as well.

Tell me all about it; where you stayed, food you ate, how the little person took it all!

The ship was the Carnival Breeze, our home for most of the week. I’d wondered whether a cruise would really work with a toddler as my daughter was about 16 months old at the time but actually it turned out to be perfect. We had a big stateroom, as they call the cabins, with enough space for her travel cot and room to play, plus a balcony so I could chill out in the sun and watch the sea when she napped.

The whole ship was incredibly family-friendly too so I didn’t have to worry about taking her anywhere – half the time the crew wanted to play peekaboo with her and nothing was too much trouble. There’s no babysitting in the evenings (until after 10pm) so I tucked her up in her buggy each night, covered her with a muslin and headed out to the bars and restaurants as she dozed happily.

There was a huge choice of food too, as you’d expect from a cruise ship, and something available pretty much the whole time so I could always find something to tempt her even if she was being  fussy and I had some incredible meals myself – sushi, fantastic mouthwatering steak, Italian, great cocktails. I’m not sure how I didn’t waddle home.

There was also a kids’ club, with a few sessions for under twos which she loved, and they did port day childcare as well so I got to head off on my own in Jamaica and do all kinds of adrenaline-fuelled activities which were definitely not suitable for a toddler. When I got back on board she had so much fun she hadn’t wanted to stop playing to nap… She loved the whole thing too. She’d actually just started to walk properly about a month before we went, and practising on the slightly wobbly deck of a ship meant she got her balance very quickly.

Why did you choose to tell us about this holiday?

Because it’s not an obviously family-friendly trip but ended up being a fantastic break - even the long-haul flight really wasn’t too bad, and we’ve done another similar length journey since. Once you’ve done one, it’s so much easier to try again. I really believe that having kids doesn’t have to limit you to a beach break in Spain (although I’m a big fan of those too) and somewhere like the Caribbean is so welcoming to families.

What is your favourite memory from this trip?

It’s really tough to pick just one – hearing her giggle gleefully as we swam in the Caribbean is one of my favourites, but I also loved the Cuban food tour we did in Miami. It was a walking tour and she napped for the first bit as I found out all about Little Havana, scoffed different Cuban specialities and then watched the outwardly grumpy old men playing dominoes in the park melt and coo over my daughter. Again, it wasn’t an obviously baby-friendly thing to do but it worked really well and was perfect as we only had a few hours to explore.

What did you learn about travelling with babies/toddlers/children from this experience?

You’ll be surprised what you can do if you try – it’s so easy to listen to the people who tell you you’ll never be able to do all sorts of things once you have a baby, but actually that’s not always true. I also discovered I could survive a 10-hour flight with her on my own (and that people are really helpful) and that cruising is unexpectedly perfect for toddlers.

What is your top tip for travelling with little people?

Take wet wipes, snacks and stickers – my daughter was obsessed with stickers at the time, and still loves them on journeys. And try to relax (which I’m not always good at myself). If they miss a meal or their routine’s out, it’s not the end of the world. Enjoy the chance to have a great time with them and worry about making the nap up later.

And if you want to know more about Cathy and the other fabulous places you can check her out at mummytravels, on twitter as @CathyWinston, her wonderful Vlog, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+.

If you want to take part in my "Travel with me..." series please get in touch with me by email on lifewithbabykicks@gmail.com.