Am I crazy for wanting to take 1yr old?

[txvjc]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many varying resposes. Thanks.

We're not worried about the whole "she won't remeber anything angle" since its not about that. We'll remember, and of course we'll have pictures later on in her life. I think we're more worried about the logistics of it as far as packing all those baby things like diapers, food, toys, and bottles/cups. We're aware that there will prob be more room time than if we didn't have her with us, but that's not going to a vaction ruiner since we can switch off and either spend the time by ourselves and/or our other daughter (who I'm sure is going to ignore us once she gets into the kids club).

 

[Belle Beast]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many varying resposes. Thanks.

I think we're more worried about the logistics of it as far as packing all those baby things like diapers, food, toys, and bottles/cups.

Our little girl is 4 and she has been on the 7 day Disney Cruises at 6 , 19, and 30 months. Each was a wonderful experience, and the thought of being anywhere without our little one would be depressing. Yes, that's right...in 4 years we have never left her home with a sitter to do something adult like a movie or dinner. We just prefer to do things together.

In regard to logistics I have a few tips:

1. There is a Target and a Wal*Mart only a few miles from port. We normally fly in the day before, get a car, and do some last minute shopping for all the baby stuff you don't want to pack if you can avoid it.

2. Naps are very important even on vacation so bring them back to the statement for a little down time.

3. Do early (main seating) dining since they will probably crash later in the evening and it can be more comfortable in the dark Walt Disney theater during a show than at the dinner table.

4. Ask for a refrigerator in the stateroom for formula if necessary. The cooler boxes are okay, but not the best for keeping milk-based products cold.

5. The split bathrooms have a small tub which can be fun for the little ones. Pick up a few bath toys.

6. A pack-n-play can take up a lot of room so maybe a bedrail on the foldout couch would work instead. It takes up less room, easier to take down, but it depends on your child's sleeping habits.

Enjoy,

Belle

 

[Daisy5115]

We cruised DCL with my two boys at 2yrs and 6yrs. I think it is a wonderful luxury vacation that children enjoy. What other options are as child friendly? I had a blast even though my 2yr old fell asleep at dinner the first night (not the only one!) The waiters made a bed for him with two chairs.
He then woke at 5 AM the next day and we got milk and coffee and walked around with the place to ourselves for awhile. Nothing wrong with that. He loved Minnie mouse and hugged and hugged her. Flounders was wonderful, and we used them every other night. We enjoyed Palo, movies and napped together in a hammock on CC. We are cruising again next month with the boys now 6 and 10ys. After that it is Alaska and Ireland. When they are so young your vacations need to be child friendly and under 3yrs old they cruise free! Makes up for the cost of Flounders.

 

[bschiffler]

I say "Go for it" as you never know what tomorrow brings. My kids are 4 and 6 and they have been to Disney twice a year since they were 8 months old. We always have fun!

 

[lillygator]

I say "Go for it" as you never know what tomorrow brings. My kids are 4 and 6 and they have been to Disney twice a year since they were 8 months old. We always have fun!

 

[castlegazer]

We cruised with a 14 month old and if it had not been for her brother being 4 at the time and it mainly being a cruise for him and us with her tagging along, we would not have taken just a 14 month old on a cruise.

I would highly suggest reading Timon's trip report from their most recent cruise. Much of what she expresses, we experienced. It is hard but fun too.

My daughter was just beginning to walk - not a good combination on a cruise ship that sways. She could not walk anywhere on the ship.

Dinners are long.

Flounders, on our cruise, was booked a LOT. We were not able to get extra slots of time beyond what we booked initially except late at night when she was to go to bed anyways. It seems to have been a very toddler intensive cruise. This can happen. Flounders is closed during the middle of the day - I found this to be annoying since that is the time of day that it would be good to get out of the sun for a toddler and to get a good nap in.

Now the good:

She loved the shows, we loved the nap times in the cabin because we had a verandah and well, bottles of wine to sip while reading books, she remembers the cruise and is desperate to go back - much more desperate for that than for a park vacation, the islands with her were tons of fun and not hard at all, it was an amazing vacation all around and we have truly some of the best memories anyone could ask for of a vacation - plus great family pictures to go along with it!

Can't wait for the next one!!!! (She will be 4 then, though, which will be soooo much better).

It's totally up to you whether you think you should go. I also booked the cruise prior to her being born. I booked it when I thought would be good time to have her at least being able to walk well - that would be my one piece of advice. The in between stage of walking and crawling is really troublesome on a cruise.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

We took our 5mo son and 2y8mo daughter this last December and I wouldn't change a thing.
Yes, it was rough at times but the happy memories and fun far outweigh the difficulties.

Our son was a breeze....infants just eat and sleep! Our DD on the other hand was a challenge at times.

We had issues getting through long dinners and DH had to take DD back to the room once. Another night we were lucky to get her into Flounders at the last minute and yet another night we had Palo so they were both in Flounders. Our other minor issue was getting to sleep. Naps were a no go unfortunately and getting her to go to sleep at night was trying. In retrospect we learned a lot and could probably handle things better if we had to do it again.

But we had an amazing time. It was like no other cruise we've ever been on pre-kids. Simply amazing and wonderful. No, we didn't get to go out dancing or anything but we were ok with that. No, we sometimes didn't make it through the entire show, but that's ok. She LOVED the beach, Flounders, playing with us in the Oceaneer's Club, meeting the characters, etc.

We had a blast and cannot wait to cruise again next year.

 

[CobraKai]

My daughter was just beginning to walk - not a good combination on a cruise ship that sways. She could not walk anywhere on the ship.

Dinners are long.

Flounders, on our cruise, was booked a LOT. We were not able to get extra slots of time beyond what we booked initially except late at night when she was to go to bed anyways. It seems to have been a very toddler intensive cruise. This can happen. Flounders is closed during the middle of the day - I found this to be annoying since that is the time of day that it would be good to get out of the sun for a toddler and to get a good nap in.

In that case, I think we can expect an excellent family vacation with our 11-month old. Who is not walking on his own yet, has little to no problem sitting through a long dinner in a restaurant (been so many times that he's used to it), and we've already booked our full allotment of time in Flounder's.

The one thing that will be hard to predict will be how he handles the shows, no experience yet to tell us what that will be like. But I think he'll enjoy Flounder's since he's in daycare with five other children his age already. And he loves the water, so that should be fun too.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Honestly... I think it depends on if you ever been on a cruise before kids. My friend went recently with her toddler and did not enjoy herself. However, she does have HIGH expectations on what children should and should not be able to handle. She gets stressed out pretty easy and that reflects off onto to children pretty quickly. She also did the cruise on her Honeymoon so of course she ENJOYED the 1st cruise much better. So, if you know you are going to spend the entire vacation comparing your vacation to the ones you had prior to kids.... don't go. I think, a lot of people have a hard time admitting that they really don't want to spend that kind of money on their kids unless it is worth every penny. You know if you are going to have a better time staying home then, stay home don't cruise. Nobody else will really care what you do.

I don't have any options to have grandparents/friends to watch my children while I vacation. When I worked outside the home I was working 40 to 50 hours a week so, going on a vacation without my child wasn't an option. The idea for us was to spend time with our kids. You just need to figure how you want to spend that time and where.

To me, the Disney Cruise is very family friendly with flounders, the shows, Palo, characters, pools, spa, bingo, adult evening show, etc... So, it was worth it for us. I don't think it is crazy to cruise with young children. We travel alot and learned a lot of tricks on how to make my children happy on vacation. You just need to figure out what works for you and your family.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Hi all, this is my first post to the cruise thread so pardon me if this is a common question. Is it crazy to take a 1 year old on a Disney Cruise? We are thinking about booking a a 4 night cruise for next summer, but we're concerned about taking a 1 year old with us (well, really about 15month old by the time we go, she'll be born on 4/30 of this year). I'm sure some of you have taken kids this young, just curious if it was a good experience. Just FYI it will be me, DW, DD5(7@time of trip), and of course DD1

I would totally do it! Our daughter was 10 months old on her first cruise and in 2010 we will be taking our new wee one (who should be around 20 months assuming he/she is born on time in Oct). We've also taken our girl when she was three and in the club.

The two trips were very different. We had a lot more 'alone' time on Katie's second trip when she could be in the club, but we managed to do everything that we wanted to do on the trip when she was 10 months old and we had such a great time with her. The nursery was also a great experience for her and us.

I'd say go for it!

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many varying resposes. Thanks.

I think we're more worried about the logistics of it as far as packing all those baby things like diapers, food, toys, and bottles/cups.

As far as food goes, unless your child has special dietary needs you should be fine without bringing any food for a one year old. Katie was 10 months old and we brought a TON of jar food for her but she ate ONE jar. Since she could eat 'real' food at that time, our servers were great at bringing her anything that we thought she might like. She tried a lot of foods for the first time (allergies were not a huge worry for us) and they always had a banana cut up in small bites ready when we came into the restaurant and always volunteered to grind up any food that we wanted. She was able to eat various fruits, meats, breads and vegetables and didn't have any need for the jars.

We did have to bring formula and bottles, but that wasn't an issue at all. They even offered to warm the bottles if we wanted it.

 

[branv]

I would highly suggest reading Timon's trip report from their most recent cruise.

I totally agree, it was a very balanced, realistic report. I think the OP would get a lot out of it http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1603133

 

[OurDogCisco]

I totally agree, it was a very balanced, realistic report. I think the OP would get a lot out of it http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1603133

One thing you have to consider when reading this report while it is realistic for her child it might not be for yours. For one they were traveling 2-3 weeks to WDW (I can't remember). So, their trip was much longer than most people take. Personally, I'd never take a toddler on a trip that long. I'd either do just WDW or just the cruise but not both.

 

[lillygator]

I have to agree, I am reading right now, and that is longer than most vacations, well for us, we don't travel that long period of time.
ETA but we are taking our toddler, well is 3 still a toddler now? on 17 nights in May!! So you can read all about it when we get back!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I have a 4-night wonder TR linked in my siggie. Again, my children were 5mo and 2y8mo on that trip. I have a lot of details.

BUT, I think Cass' TR is good in that you get a lot of details on the various aspects of traveling with a young child regardless of how long their trip was.

 

[OurDogCisco]

I have to agree, I am reading right now, and that is longer than most vacations, well for us, we don't travel that long period of time.
ETA but we are taking our toddler, well is 3 still a toddler now? on 17 nights in May!! So you can read all about it when we get back!

Sounds like fun!!! I wish we could do a repositioning cruise. They aren't school schedule friendly. So, enjoy now while you can.

 

[5lilfish]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many varying resposes. Thanks.

We're not worried about the whole "she won't remeber anything angle" since its not about that. We'll remember, and of course we'll have pictures later on in her life. I think we're more worried about the logistics of it as far as packing all those baby things like diapers, food, toys, and bottles/cups. We're aware that there will prob be more room time than if we didn't have her with us, but that's not going to a vaction ruiner since we can switch off and either spend the time by ourselves and/or our other daughter (who I'm sure is going to ignore us once she gets into the kids club).

2 quick things (for lack of time right now)....

We just took a cruise with 8 mo old twins.

1) Pack the diapers in all the outside pockets of your suitcases. They take up much less room this way.

2) Store the stroller in the bathtub when you are not using it. That worked great (we had a double stroller).

I'll check back later and read more of the thread.

Jess

PS...I used to be Gupsmom. I'm changing all of my usernames over to 5lilfish. I had to create a new acct...not sure how, or if I can, just change my name on here.

 

[OurDogCisco]

I have a 4-night wonder TR linked in my siggie. Again, my children were 5mo and 2y8mo on that trip. I have a lot of details.

BUT, I think Cass' TR is good in that you get a lot of details on the various aspects of traveling with a young child regardless of how long their trip was.

I didn't say her trip report was bad. If I remember correctly when I read the entire report at the end she even said that it was too much for toddler to do such a long trip. I think she talked about only taking her dd to WDW and skipping the cruise next time as that worked for her.

I love Timon's trip reports and I'm a huge fan. All I'm trying to say is what works one kid might not work for another. You know your kid the best and you know what you can tolerate.

I have two dds that are 6 and 10 years old. We've been traveling since our kids were infants. For example, we found that hotel stays don't work for our family. We found that cruising and timeshares work the best. This is all done by trial and error. We have to have a full kitchen to make our trips work or a cruise line. We won't even stay at WDW in a hotel room or a studio DVC. My kids have been all over the world. But I know what works for our family...

I started yours... It sounds fun so far...

 

[lillygator]

Sounds like fun!!! I wish we could do a repositioning cruise. They aren't school schedule friendly. So, enjoy now while you can.

my eldest starts in August or we would have done the August repo! I am just now looking at next year's schedule to see when we can travel. I hate have to taking vacation around that!

I have to admit as well, since we stay in FL or only really travel to the Caribbean, we don't have lengthy travel days that many may have to get to where they are going. But we may soon start since now we all have brand new passports I am itching to use!

ETA, I think if my choice was WDW or DCL with an infant I would chose DCL hands down...even though my kids have been going to WDW since a month old, I always found DCL to be more relaxing....WDW can be relaxing as well, but for us the cruise was better....hence the conception of DD #2 on our first DCL trip!

 

[pindecisive]

She didn't want to sit still for dinner and I had had so much trouble with her those last few days that I pretty much missed eating dinner those last two nights. She was too young to be in the pool or be in the club but she was old enough to know what she wasn't getting to do that big brother was doing. I also missed Disney Dreams due to a well timed fit she threw in our stateroom over her shoes . I didn't want to subject the rest of the ship to her little tantrums so I spent far more time in the room than I expected to.

Lol, I remember stories from when I was a kid throwing tantrums. They're very memorable in the family

I'm wondering if anyone has ever gotten complaints while on a cruise with a child because of the noise in or out of the room? And if you have how did you handle it?