7-day cruise with 15 month old - bad idea?

[dclDream2018]

Does anyone have a good/bad experience with cruising with a young toddler?

 

[Jess_S]

I took my son on his first DCL cruise when he was 22 months. It was a great trip. He enjoyed seeing the characters, dancing to the band, open house in the kids club, etc. You just have to have realistic expectations. Sometimes we had to leave an activity early because he wasn't enjoying it. Sometimes we had to go back to our cabin for a nap if he was cranky. But you have these same issues on any vacation with a kid that age.

I would not hesitate to recommend DCL for younger children.

 

[Firstof3]

I took my about 18 month old, at the time, on a cruise last year. She had a blast. The nursery fills up fast but was a great place for her to get a naps if there was space. Otherwise she loved the lights and activity that abounded on the ship. Bring extra diapers though, very unlikely to find more if you happen to run out.

 

[pezgirlroy]

I took my about 18 month old, at the time, on a cruise last year. She had a blast. The nursery fills up fast but was a great place for her to get a naps if there was space. Otherwise she loved the lights and activity that abounded on the ship. Bring extra diapers though, very unlikely to find more if you happen to run out.

We are going on the fantasy in 17 days! with a 2 year old. i am trying to calculate how many diapers I need.

 

[k3chantal]

The best advise I can give you is to schedule your nursery time around your dinner time. Dinner for my 18 month old was way too long and once I figured out she was happier in the nursery, I was happier enjoying the MDR's.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Also, keep in mind that the only water feature child is permitted in is Nemo's Reef. Must be fully trained, no swim diaper, for any other pool. On sea days, I swear the Mickey Pool spent more time closed than open because parents with slightly older children were just taking off diapers and letting them go. So many Code Browns.

There will also be limited options for excursions with kids under 5 (under 8, really).

 

[Sleepyluke]

We are going on the fantasy in 17 days! with a 2 year old. i am trying to calculate how many diapers I need.

We sent a box of diapers from Amazon, not sure if you can still do this or not, but made packing so much easier.

We traveled with a 13 month old and had a great time. She napped with me in a lounger watching cartoons on the funnelvision, stayed up way too late, met Pluto one night in her Pluto pjs about 11 pm (highlight of the trip - she had a stuffed Pluto she took everywhere and he spent 15-20 minutes playing with her) after she slept through the show. She was a trooper and adjusts well. We did not do any excursions, but servers were fantastic, cut up adults food, had plenty of rolls for the little one.

We probably deserve parent of the year awards for not making her go to bed at 7, or making her go to the nursery to sleep, but she is part of the trip too and we loved experiencing the cruise through her eyes too. EVERYTHING is magical.

Just be flexible and don't freak out if you are out past 7:32 and little one should be in bed at 7:30. They will sleep, whether it be on your shoulder, or in a stroller that you can go get from guest services.

The couple of times she went to the nursery, she did great, and they were always willing to add hours once we were on the ship.

 

[Chemist]

My answer is always, "What kind of traveler is your child?"

We stopped traveling with my older guy right before he turned two and didn't travel again with him willingly until he was almost 5.

He was THAT bad of a sleeper when not at home.

(At home he rocked.)

 

[pezgirlroy]

We sent a box of diapers from Amazon, not sure if you can still do this or not, but made packing so much easier.

We traveled with a 13 month old and had a great time. She napped with me in a lounger watching cartoons on the funnelvision, stayed up way too late, met Pluto one night in her Pluto pjs about 11 pm (highlight of the trip - she had a stuffed Pluto she took everywhere and he spent 15-20 minutes playing with her) after she slept through the show. She was a trooper and adjusts well. We did not do any excursions, but servers were fantastic, cut up adults food, had plenty of rolls for the little one.

We probably deserve parent of the year awards for not making her go to bed at 7, or making her go to the nursery to sleep, but she is part of the trip too and we loved experiencing the cruise through her eyes too. EVERYTHING is magical.

Just be flexible and don't freak out if you are out past 7:32 and little one should be in bed at 7:30. They will sleep, whether it be on your shoulder, or in a stroller that you can go get from guest services.

The couple of times she went to the nursery, she did great, and they were always willing to add hours once we were on the ship.

Thank you thank you. This was so good to read. We are also going with our 7 year old and my parents. I keep thinking I need to keep a schedule. No, what I need to do is just go with the flow. Thanks again.

 

[gotomu212]

We just took our 6 month old a few months ago. It was a great experience. Things that made it go smoothly for us:
-a verandah. We don’t always book them but since we spent a little more time in the room napping, nursing, and going to bed somewhat earlier having the verandah made us feel like we weren’t missing out when we were in the room
-the nursery did a great job! Echo what other poster said about booking for dinner time. This was our kids fussy time and she (and we) had a much better time when she could play or nap in the nursery instead of sit at the table. We even felt comfortable leaving her there while we went on an excursion she was too young to attend.
-divide and conquer. My husband and I divided duty and each had 3 shows we didn’t want to miss. If during the show she started to fuss the other one took her out, then we swapped for meals. It was so nice already knowing that I or he was going to take her instead of having the conversation where you’re like should I? Will you? And then the guilt for asking or not...it was just very yep you’re turn.
-the servers and chef can work with you on their food. If you need stuff blended or want a bowl or bananas that’s no problem.

 

[moose81]

We did a 7 day cruise with our oldest when she was 16 months. It should have been amazing. Unfortunately, we all came down with the flu, the kiddo's temp went up to 105 which was really scary, and we were all basically sick and hanging out in our cabin for half the trip. That said, DD went in the nursery on the first day before she got sick and it was wonderful to have that time to relax. She also loved the little water play area once she felt better. We were finally all healthy when we got to Castaway Cay on the last day and that was a great day. We did stay pretty strict about her schedule and it worked out for us (she was the type who would only take a good nap in a crib, not while out and about). We did the early dinner so that she could get to bed early (we missed most of the shows, but again, we were pretty sick...I think if we had all been healthy, we would have tried to divide up the shows or possibly put her in the nursery for some of them).

I will say though that this may depend greatly on your child. My son is 16 months now and I don't think we would enjoy a cruise with him. My oldest was really good in restaurants at that age so the long dinner was fine. She had also been sleeping through the night for 8 months already. My son is happy in restaurants for maybe 10-15 minutes tops and has only been sleeping through for a month now, and I would worry that his sleep would fall apart. We have our next cruise booked for 2019 when he is 2.5 (and also not in the middle of flu season!).

 

[DietCokeMommy]

We did a 4 night cruise on the Wonder in February with my 18m DD and 4 year old DS. We had a great time and plan to do a 7 night next. So the thing to me is, are you intent on doing a vacation and wondering if a Disney cruise would be a good trip with a toddler? Or are you intent on doing a Disney cruise and want to have the absolute best Disney cruise experience you can?

Because if you're just looking for a vacation, cruising with a toddler is awesome. There's lots of food around all the time (so no getting hangry), they have a toddler friendly splash area, there are toddler friendly activities, and all food/entertainment/pools all in one place that's walkable (no having to drive). And probably the biggest thing is the nursery. My husband's been saying for years that vacations with kids aren't really vacations. But with the nursery you actually get real time away.

But if you're looking to have an amazing Disney cruise, 15m is really young and there will be a lot you can't do. You won't be able to go into the pools/slides with them, the shows will probably be too late (and I know my kids wouldn't sit for something like that at that age), it's too young to use the movie theater, the pirate party and buffet will probably be too late, the character lines may be difficult/impossible, they won't get excited about the characters or the destinations. Also, traveling in that toddler age can be rough. Once they're at the age when they can watch cartoons for a few minutes and walk without needing to be carried, traveling is so much easier.

We had a great time and I do not regret doing it at all, even though it wasn't always easy. But with that said, we are really looking forward to taking another disney cruise in 2020. Our kids will be 3.5 and 6 and I'm so looking forward to them going to the kids club together, all of us being able to use the pools together, watch the funnel vision, go see movies in the theater, go see all the shows, not have meltdowns in the restaurant, not have nap time for half the day, etc.

 

[Sunshine2U]

Does anyone have a good/bad experience with cruising with a young toddler?

I think the reason for considering this cruise is the most important factor. Being on a Disney ship will mean absolutely nothing to your toddler. So the trip has to be about what you want. Overall I think cruises are great vacations for overworked parents. I discovered family cruising as a mom who worked full-time, kept up the social and sports calendar, and spent many vacations cooking, cleaning and shopping for food or restaurants. Disney was our first cruise and I was like, this is IT!

So in that aspect you will love the cruise. It's so much easier than other vacations you can take. I would say if this is easily affordable so that you can bring your little sweetheart back in a couple of years, go for it. If it's gonna be tight, take a different cruise while being on a Disney ship will not be so critical.

 

[arlopop]

We took loads of trips with our kids when they were very young (as young as 6 weeks, 5 months, 13 months) - vacation getaways, long flights, 2 week hotel stays, and whatnot. We loved it and it changed my sense of needing schedules. We didn’t cruise with them because I didn’t want to deal with booking the nursery, but we literally boarded a cruise the day after our youngest turned 3.

It’s a lot of drudgery at times with young kids - diapers, naps, messes, fits, etc. - but it isn’t any more work than you would deal with at home and the memories and bonding are priceless. Just go with it, and know the schedules they need will be back in place when you get back home.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

We did a 3 day with my then 12 month old and just booked a last minute 7 day for next month so she’ll be 16 months so we obviously survived-

Definitely did ‘less’ but yet enjoyed it so much more-

 

[xQuizx]

We've done a 3 night with our DD at 15 months, a 4 night when DS was 15 months and DD at 3.5 years, as well as 7 night when DS was 10 months DS was 3 years and DD at 5 years old.

We made sure to schedule downtime for the little guy, or schedule a lot of nursery time around their naps.

The Nursery staff are wonderful at taking care of the little ones. They will feed and change your baby. You have to supply diapers, wipes and food (if they need something special).

What we did with all of our kids was schedule nursery time right after dinner, so my and the wife can enjoy the ship by ourselves. Make sure to book your hours early.

Here's a link to a thread I started about food in the nursery.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...ide-babyfood-for-lunch.3648808/#post-58536093

 

[AZMermaid]

We cruised to Alaska 5 years ago with my then 17 month old daughter (and 2.75 year old son). We had a blast! My kids LOVED the nursery and at the end we got a little packet with crafts and photos. My daughter will never remember the way she thought she was leading the Disney Jr Dance Party with the CM (which is so funny now because she is pretty shy at first) or how much they both loved the princesses that we waited 2 hours to meet (before ticketed times), but we will. This was before the redesign and... Alaska... so we didn't have any sort of splash pad option. We did remark that would have been nice.

We scheduled a lot of our nursery time to start about 30 minutes into dinner. We ordered the kids food to come with the appetizers. Then we ran them to the nursery between courses. Usually we (and by that I mean DH) would be back before the main course was served. This worked really well, they got to eat with us, but it wasn't so long. We would go to the lounges or a short show after dinner and then pick them up.

 

[jbuckent]

Our first cruise with Disney was with our 12 month old. It was fantastic! She was not yet walking on her own which may have made it easier. You’ll need to be flexible. If there is something you really really really want to do there is a chance that is when the tantrum will start, don’t let that ruin your trip. If it’s in the budget I suggest a verandah, my kids usually need a time out mid afternoon. We all go back to the room, order a cheese plate and fruit bowl, kids relax on the bed watching the Disney channel with their fruit, while DH and I open a bottle of wine on the verandah. Everyone is happy and ready for the rest of the day.