What should I do...cruise or wait?

[renae3]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to get some people's thoughts on our next vacation dilemna. Well, we are a Disney family, gone every year for the last 5 years, never have we taken a cruise. We are a family of 5...2 sons ages 10, 7 and my daughter is 4 currently. We are about to be a family of 6 August, yes baby is due in August! I have always wanted to do a Disney cruise and have yet to do so. So, we just got back from Disney and although it was fun, I really want to do something different next year.

My question is would you cruise with kids ages 11, 8, 5 and a baby somewhere between 6 months and a year. My older kids are great ages, but I am very concerned about how fun it would be with the baby. Would you wait till the baby was older or splurge and go next year. Also, if anyone has any other ideas, that too would be greatly appreicated! Thanks so much, I am so torn!

 

[flexsmom]

Personally, I'm a fan of believing that vacationing is important no matter how old kids are, and that if we wait for the "perfect" time, we'd be waiting forever! That said, that is exactly why I'm a fan of cruising with young ones, to include infants. One perk of cruising is that your room is never more than a few steps away, and naptime, or a meltdown, or a temper tantrum, or anything else, is never cause to result in a huge effort to get back to a quiet place/room to deal with it. We love WDW and other vacations, but with the cruise, when it was time for our baby to nap, he could nap with one adult hanging out in the room. The rest of the family was able to do what they wanted. The nursery is great, so we did get some parent-only-time, and some one-on-one with our other child, too, who was dealing with life with a little brother all of a sudden, too.

I say go for it. The dining rooms are awesome with babies in high chairs, too.

Enjoy!

 

[torcruise]

I would go now, because I think it would be easier to cruise with a baby and have fun then it would be to take your baby to Disney. The other kids can go off to the clubs by themselves, and the baby can stay in the nursery sometimes.

 

[deanimal]

Hmmm, that's a tough one. I guess you'll have to get two staterooms for a family of six even if the sixth is just a baby, so that's not really a factor. We've been with a 20 month old and then with a 3 year old and I found he got a LOT more out of it the second time. 20 months was actually quite a tough age. He wasn't allowed in the pools, he was too active and rambunctious to really enjoy the nursery although it was okay for short periods and the long meals in the main dining room really weren't a lot of fun. At 3 he was allowed to go in the main kid's club and the pools since he was fully potty trained. He loved the shows and was able to sit through them and the meals were pretty good for the most part.

So, I think that if you really wanted your youngest to be able to get something out of the cruise you could be in for a bit of a wait. The questions is whether your older ones would still enjoy it as much in 3 or 4 years. But, if you wanted to go before that, I don't think 6-12 months would be any worse than 1 1/2 or 2 years. In fact, in some ways it's an easier age, happy to just hang with you and watch the action rather than wanting to be active all the time. So, if it was my choice to make, I'd either go next year with a baby or wait several years until your youngest is 3 or 4.

Hope this helps

 

[DisneyOrBustColorado]

As long as it is within your budget, I say go for it! I never pass up an opportunity to vacation Disney style.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

As long as it is within your budget, I say go for it! I never pass up an opportunity to vacation Disney style.

Disney really gets the entire family as a vacation, more than any other company I think. We saw some cuties. It was particularly cute to see the lil babies in like ruffly dresses getting pics with the princesses. Those will be priceless, as will any mickey goofy etc.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Your older 3 are great ages for DCL. If you wait until the baby is a great age the 11 year old will be a teen. My friend's teen was not impressed with DCL. ( and as her DH said "if all he is going to do is play basketball, the YMCA is cheaper").

 

[lbgraves]

Your older 3 are great ages for DCL. If you wait until the baby is a great age the 11 year old will be a teen. .

I was going to say the same thing. We know people who say they are going to wait until the youngest is "old enough to enjoy" WDW. Well, they have four kids now and the oldest is already beyond that "magical" age where WDW becomes a different experience. IMO a baby in the pre-walking stage would not be that difficult on the cruise. You will probably only have the baby to keep up with while the other kids are having fun in the clubs.

 

[klepton]

We took our 4 month old on the Magic in January, and I would absolutely do it again. I think at 4-7 months they'll be easier than any time up until about 5 years. Babies are very portable, and sleep a lot. The nursery is great too!

I was surprise at the number of babies we saw on the cruise. I thought we'd have the youngest person on the ship before we got there, and then quickly realized there were probably 15 kids who hadn't turned 4 months yet. It's not unusual at all.

I'd say go for it!

 

[njdisneylovr]

I wouldn't wait on account of the baby. I couldn't think of a better vacation for a baby, personally. You are always within reach of your room and necessities, as with other traditional vacations you have to leave what you are doing. We traveled to Disney World with my then 15 month old daughter, and then on a Disney Cruise when she was 3. She still took a nap every day and wasn't comp,etly potty trained, so in essence, very similar. Hands down much better, less stressful vacation was on the ship!

 

[drb116]

I would agree with the others and go now. From our experiences, the nursery is well suited for infants and young toddlers, but once they start to get closer to 3, it became harder to leave our son for longer periods of time because he always wanted to be in the older kids clubs.

 

[Woodmnky]

We crusied for DS's 1st & 2nd birthdays. It was easier on his 1st. Even though he started walking at 8.5 months he was still much less mobile and generally happy to sit and watch things happen. By 2, if we were not doing something to go, go, go it was more difficult. I even remember commenting to DH that 6 months would have been an awesome time to cruise with DS because he was even easier to transport and keep happy.

Obviously we have enjoyed cruising enough with our son that we are doing it again next week and he will be 2.5. I do love that we are never more than 5 minutes from our stateroom should DS choose to remind us why it is called "terrible twos"

 

[MrsBoyer428]

Personally, I'm a fan of believing that vacationing is important no matter how old kids are, and that if we wait for the "perfect" time, we'd be waiting forever! That said, that is exactly why I'm a fan of cruising with young ones, to include infants. One perk of cruising is that your room is never more than a few steps away, and naptime, or a meltdown, or a temper tantrum, or anything else, is never cause to result in a huge effort to get back to a quiet place/room to deal with it. We love WDW and other vacations, but with the cruise, when it was time for our baby to nap, he could nap with one adult hanging out in the room. The rest of the family was able to do what they wanted. The nursery is great, so we did get some parent-only-time, and some one-on-one with our other child, too, who was dealing with life with a little brother all of a sudden, too.

I say go for it. The dining rooms are awesome with babies in high chairs, too.

Enjoy!

I completely agree with this poster.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Are lil infants free? I heard something about an age where cruising is free?

That alone would make it worthwhile...

We were at Castaway eating at a picnic table, and here was a lil red head cutie eating his pretzel snacks out of a tupperware. Said Mom, "We didn't know he was going to be such a picky eater. Turns out we should have taken him when he was young and free! You live and you learn."

If that is the case (someone can you verify that fact for me?) then taking the infant makes even more sense!

 

[Moxin]

Looks like I'm going to be the lone dissenting factor in this.

I wouldn't cruise with a little one again...and by little I mean less than a year old.

I did it, and while the nursery was nice the few times we used it, it does cost extra, and fills up. We used the nursery while we went to Palo, and during our excursion. Apart from that, it was very difficult for us to find the time for us to be able to do the things we wanted to do.

We had to leave shows early sometimes, and had a to miss out on a lot of the adult shows...only one of us could go and relax.

Hindsight being what it is, we should have put her with grandparents for the week we were gone.

 

[deanimal]

Infants aren't "free" on Disney cruises, but you do pay less for an under three than for an older child. If you put in the dates and ages of the child you will find that the price for a 2 year old is about half that of a 3 year old, or at least that was what we found for the cruises we looked at.

 

[klepton]

Looks like I'm going to be the lone dissenting factor in this.

I wouldn't cruise with a little one again...and by little I mean less than a year old.

I did it, and while the nursery was nice the few times we used it, it does cost extra, and fills up. We used the nursery while we went to Palo, and during our excursion. Apart from that, it was very difficult for us to find the time for us to be able to do the things we wanted to do.

We had to leave shows early sometimes, and had a to miss out on a lot of the adult shows...only one of us could go and relax.

Hindsight being what it is, we should have put her with grandparents for the week we were gone.

Which ship were you on, and what time of year? I ask because we had absolutely no problem getting a lot of nursery time on our Magic cruise in January, but I'm a little worried about what the Fantasy will be like next year for spring break.

We signed up for the max 18 hours before we boarded the Magic, and probably added on another 15 hours throughout the week. Kinda makes us seem like bad parents...

I have a feeling the Fantasy next year will be harder to get the extra time...

 

[Moxin]

Which ship were you on, and what time of year? I ask because we had absolutely no problem getting a lot of nursery time on our Magic cruise in January, but I'm a little worried about what the Fantasy will be like next year for spring break.

We signed up for the max 18 hours before we boarded the Magic, and probably added on another 15 hours throughout the week. Kinda makes us seem like bad parents...

I have a feeling the Fantasy next year will be harder to get the extra time...

This was on the Magic in October of 09. She's 4 1/2 now, and loves the cruise, but if i had to do it over again, I wouldn't have taken her at the age of 11 months. It was just more work on our part on a vacation, and we didn't get to enjoy much of the adult entertainment together.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

is there a family member (like grandma or grandpa) who would love to spend time with the baby at home?

With a young child, you may find it difficult to do excursions (because not many will accept the baby plus be interesting to your older children).

Your older children may also enjoy a little time with mom and dad where you're not focussed on the newest bundle of joy.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

To the OP, it sounds like a lot depends on the nature of your baby. Since Baby isn't here yet, that may be a tricky one. Evidently, some have had easy going babies and others had fussier ones. (If I had one, I know I'd get the fussy kid from you know where judging on Dad's temperament..!)

Or bring Grandma and Grandpa and switch off?