Small World Nursery for 7 Month Old?

[jamieann]

My husband and I are expecting our first baby and already have a cruise booked for when the baby is 7 months old (long story short, we had to move the cruise 3 times.)

I would love to hear about the nursery experience from parents who used the nursery for a baby this young. And any general tips for enjoying the cruise with baby!

Canceling is not an option as we would lose almost $3000. So I would really really like to hear positive advice instead of naysayers Thanks in advance!

 

[dmbcrush5]

We used the nursery for our 7 month quite a bit on our Fantasy cruise last August. He's gone to "school" from 7am - 6pm since he was 4 months old, so separation wasn't an issue at all. The cast members were absolutely fantastic and I never had a worry dropping him there at all. They handled feedings and naps very well. One thing we did was to book him into the nursery for the second part of our Castaway day (right before lunch). It was great having some morning bike and beach time with him on the island, then we brought him back to the nursery for lunch and a nap, so we could enjoy the afternoon being a bit more active with our 5 year old. I wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving him in the nursery while we were at another island where something could happen for me to get stuck and the ship would still leave. However, there's no way they'll leave Castaway without you, so I felt comfortable doing it there.

If you can...try to encourage him/her to start crawling before the trip. The diaper dash is SO much fun! Our little guy had just started doing the army guy crawl about a week before the cruise, so we were thrilled to be able to enter him. There were hundreds of people watching, so the babies get very distracted and many never move off the starting line. It was a great time!

 

[jamieann]

We used the nursery for our 7 month quite a bit on our Fantasy cruise last August. He's gone to "school" from 7am - 6pm since he was 4 months old, so separation wasn't an issue at all. The cast members were absolutely fantastic and I never had a worry dropping him there at all. They handled feedings and naps very well. One thing we did was to book him into the nursery for the second part of our Castaway day (right before lunch). It was great having some morning bike and beach time with him on the island, then we brought him back to the nursery for lunch and a nap, so we could enjoy the afternoon being a bit more active with our 5 year old. I wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving him in the nursery while we were at another island where something could happen for me to get stuck and the ship would still leave. However, there's no way they'll leave Castaway without you, so I felt comfortable doing it there.

If you can...try to encourage him/her to start crawling before the trip. The diaper dash is SO much fun! Our little guy had just started doing the army guy crawl about a week before the cruise, so we were thrilled to be able to enter him. There were hundreds of people watching, so the babies get very distracted and many never move off the starting line. It was a great time!

Thanks for the great tips! We watched the diaper dash on our first cruise and I couldn't stop laughing! Disney is brilliant for utilizing that cheap entertainment

 

[hpsalb]

We used the nursery for YDS who was just shy of 7 months on our last cruise. We didn't use it a ton but we were pleased with it. We used it on previous trips with ODS when he was younger, so we were familiar with it already.

I didn't have them feed him, so I can't comment on that. But they did message me one night on the wave phone to let me know he was sleeping. It was nice to have updates so we could plan instead of worrying what his schedule was like.

Unrelated tip - we brought an inflatable baby bathtub and used it way more than we thought. He could sit by then, but sometimes leaned over too far, etc. We ended up using it like a little toy station when it was dry during the day. We'd sit him in it with some toys while we got ready.

 

[SarahandPaul]

We took our now 4 year old when he was just 4 months (different rules then...). The nursery was amazing! I booked my 10 hours ahead online, but utilized the nursery way more than that once onboard! He went every night during dinner hours which was totally awesome! They are so warm and caring in the nursery! They even put him into jammies the couple nights he stayed past dinner so we could see the show. We received a cute little packet at the end of the cruise with a picture of Minnie holding him in the nursery as the characters apparently stop by there in addition to the kids clubs!

 

[JSMT]

We were on the Wonder with our then 9 month old in October. Nursery worked out really well. It was easy to add hours on board. One night they held him for the whole three hours as he was asleep and wouldn't transfer to the crib. We used the nursery for adult dining, spa time, and taking our older kids to the pool. Looking forward to the Dream with a 16 month old this spring.

 

[Quellman]

Diapers, lots of them. We knew how many we used per day at home, and then added more. Our guy didn't take well to the sea and by day 3 we had to replenish in St Maarten. We had a great time with our guy though. Be sure to visit the nursery during any open house events. It is the only time that you can be in the space with them. Kids like stimulation and toys. Our little guy is 3 and has 2 cruises with Mickey and 2 more planned! It'll be great.

 

[hamm1207]

We used the nursery for our 1 year old (she turned 1 on the cruise), and they were wonderful. Every time you check your child into the nursery you have to fill out a form; which includes things such as, if/when you want them to nap/eat, what they are allowed to eat if eating solids (they will offer then bananas crackers, milk). You can take unopened snacks to the nursery (such as applesauce or puffs) and they'll open them and mark that it was them that opened it and then you can continue taking that food to the nursery. Be sure to visit the nursery during the open house on the first day, to get acquainted with the staff and area. We had nothing but wonderful nursery experiences--even when our daughter was exhausted and screaming when we dropped her off towards the end of the cruise---they just worked to calm her down and she ended up sleeping once or twice. Make sure to pack extra diapers--I doubled the amount she needed for each day, just in case...they have a very limited amount available on board and they're super expensive.

 

[jamieann]

Great tips, thanks y'all! So excited for this new experience.