Cruise or the parks with baby

[Tink04]

If you had the choice would you do a 7-night disney cruise or spend 8-days at WDW with a 4-6 month old baby?

 

[kmb584]

If you had the choice would you do a 7-night disney cruise or spend 8-days at WDW with a 4-6 month old baby?

Which cruise line? Most of them won't allow an infant to board until they're 6-months-old, and some require them to be a year. DCL is 6 months.

Personally, I would opt for the 8 days at WDW. I made numerous trips to WDW with my daughter when she was an infant and they were fantastic trips. Babies require a lot of gear when traveling and it's much easier finding space for all of it in a hotel room compared to a stateroom. Infants/toddlers are also free at WDW until they turn 3.

Cruising can be a little challenging with infants. Depending on which stateroom category you book, your room can be small and finding space to store baby gear can be difficult (a car seat and stroller can take up a good bit of space in a stateroom). Space for a pack 'n play or crib is something to consider, as is the fact that there's no real way to separate the baby's sleeping area from the rest of the room (more important for those that wake easily to sound/light). A huge plus, though, is that DCL has bathtubs in their bathrooms, most lines do not offer that convenience. Cost-wise, on DCL, infants are not free -- they sail at half the cost of the child fare. Also a plus, the nursery is beautiful.

DCL is great, but I don't think I would have brought my daughter on a cruise that young. She was a very light sleeper (until 5!) and I found it easier to work around that in a hotel room. She also loved the sights and sounds of WDW, and while DCL has a lot to offer, it just could not provide what the parks did.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

If you had the choice would you do a 7-night disney cruise or spend 8-days at WDW with a 4-6 month old baby?

unless it has changed babies are not allowed in pools when cruising

 

[HopperFan]

WDW

 

[kollerbear]

If the baby is old enough (and 6m is the youngest allowed on DCL) I would pick the cruise. I did DL with my daughter at 6m and WDW with her at 9m and those trips were OK but I would have given almost anything to have the opportunity to drop her in a nursery and have dinner with my husband in peace. However, I'm a SAHM and my DH and I don't live close to family, so we pretty much never ever get a break. (We always mean to get a babysitter but just haven't gotten around to it, partly because I nurse and pumping regularly to prepare for a break once in a blue moon didn't make sense and partly because I always say I should but without a person you know available it's hard to find the trust and motivation.) Being able to leave her in an interesting (to her) place and be able to come back easily to nurse or pick her up if things go badly is like, a dream scenario. I literally fantasize about how glorious it would be to get on a cruise ship with her and DH.

For all the traveling I've done with her (probably at least 6 weeks away cumulatively from home in the first year), I can't imagine it would have been harder to navigate her sleeping in a smaller room. If anything, the extremely well organized shelving would have helped us stay better organized. At that point we could do minor things around the room like flush the toilet or watch tv if the sound was on when she fell asleep. At this point it's harder (at 12m). Their sleep really does change a lot so only you know. But honestly I think it would be very hard either way. And, I su think DCL has a curtain that goes through the center of the room which should help a bit. Our Disney rooms typically haven't had that. We were on DCL for my honeymoon a few years ago though so my memory might be failing me.

Ultimately, the parks offered nothing for her at that age that really interested her-- she just wanted to roll around and play on a clean surface, which is easier to access on a cruise ship because your bedroom is always close. We were stuffing her in a stroller all day, which was fine, but she really wasn't into the rides and it was stressful trying to keep her from crying on Pirates or The Little Mermaid, for example. We nursed on rides a lot. It was very tiring. I felt bad that we were essentially stuffing her in the stroller or K'tan most of the day and just hoping she would fall asleep and not get upset. The general sights and sounds of the parks were appeasing but I think DCL would have been just as good on that front but with easier access to my room and less juggling a diaper bag constantly. The baby centers are great but I could have stayed half the day there. We were traveling with my sister in law but if it was just the two of us it would have been doing the majority of rides alone with baby swap. It was fine--even enjoyable in this tired new way that I guess all things will be enjoyable for a while now that I'm a mom-- but not relaxing at all. I just honestly think a cruise would have been more relaxing at 6m.

 

[kollerbear]

(Also, im pretty sure there are splash pads on DCL where swim diapers are ok.)

 

[kollerbear]

(Also, the level of service on DCL is unparalleled. They will go out of their way to help in any way possible. That can be so helpful if you forget ketchup at counter service, or are struggling to open the door, or need help collapsing the pack and play to free up space (I've heard they will even set it up each night at turndown). I love cast members in the park but they definitely can't provide that level of attentive service that can just make every little task feel easier. So much of a baby's world is just being slow and smiling at people and being smiled at. THAT makes a baby happy. And when baby is happy, mom and dad are happy. That's going to happen on a cruise way more than in the parks. Guests and staff smile in the parks, don't get me wrong, but on a cruise it's kind of next level. And I didn't even have a cute baby when I cruised.)

 

[CurtisB]

unless it has changed babies are not allowed in pools when cruising

(Also, im pretty sure there are splash pads on DCL where swim diapers are ok.)

That is correct. To use the pools on the ship you must be 3 AND potty trained, no swim diapers! You can be in a swim diaper to use the splash pads. These are CDC rules, not ones made up by Disney. It's sad to see the pools drained and cleaned almost every day on a cruise because someone didn't follow the rules or a kid didn't want to take a potty break.

 

[kuhltiffany]

Cruise. You can't do much with a baby in the park anyway. At least with a cruise you can retreat to the room and both nap when needed