Cruise with littles

[colten.c]

Howdy! We are taking our then almost 2 year old and 8 month old to DW and then on a cruise in may. Me and mama have been solo on a DCL cruise before but never with kids. Any advice from the pros?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Keep in mind that to enter any pools, children must be fully potty trained. No swim diapers. It's hard to guess now how your child will do with that by May but I've always felt bad for the toddlers who are old enough to know they want to go in the Mickey pool but can't yet. We didn't take our first cruise until our kids were 4 & 7 so to me, it sounds like a handful. I'd recommend a balcony so you and your wife will not have to sit in a dark cabin while your kids nap. That is, unless you enjoy your own naps. Also, if you want any alone time, you will need to pay for the nursery. Once children are 3 and potty trained, they can go to the kids' clubs and there is no additional charge for that.
It might be helpful to travel with extended family such as grandparents.

 

[Lillebelle]

Re: the nursery, it only has one open house, and it's on embarkation day. I highly recommend going to it if you think you want to send your kids to the nursery later in the cruise, both so you can see the facilities yourself and also start getting your kids acquainted with the space and the staff. It's literally your only chance to go inside the nursery so don't miss it!

One product recommendation - I love taking my TushBaby on cruises because it provides me some relief in carrying my toddler all over the ship but is waayyyy more convenient than dealing with a stroller or trying to load in and out of a traditional carrier. Maybe you want a normal carrier for the 8 month old but for the 2 year old, TushBaby all the way!

 

[nancipants]

Howdy! We are taking our then almost 2 year old and 8 month old to DW and then on a cruise in may. Me and mama have been solo on a DCL cruise before but never with kids. Any advice from the pros?

My husband and I sailed on DCL 7 times before we had a kid. We were old pros and couldn't wait to take our kid on DCL for the first time. We knew it would be different, but didn't mentally prepare ourselves for HOW different it was going to be. Our son was 2.5 when we sailed, so he couldn't go in the kids club. Thankfully, we had grandparents with us to watch him when we wanted alone time, and grandma was in a connecting room so she could watch him while he slept at night. Otherwise, we would never have had any time to ourselves. We could have used the nursery, but felt he was too old/big. Also, he was too young to understand a lot of the family activities, like game shows and trivia. We definitely had a good time, but I wish I'd better prepared myself for how different it was going to be.

Our most recent cruise went a lot better. He was three and really loved the kids club. Plus he went on the Twist and Spout slide over and over and over. Our next cruise is scheduled for when he is 5, so I think he will like more of the family activities.

 

[Jsoenning]

Two year old may enjoy the production shows. We brought our oldest at 18M and she sat through it without making any noise while sitting in our laps. I want to say we had little snacks for her to keep her distracted but as she's 12 now, my memory is fuzzy! We had sat in at the end of a row to make a quick exit if need be but it wasn't necessary.

Set some internal expectations around the characters. Both of our kids liked the characters from afar but not up close at the < 2 year age.

They both loved the nursery so we took full advantage of maximum daily time for adult time for us. Kids clubs have been iffier especially > 6 years old. Has to be a specific activity to draw their interest although the oldest now loves Edge, and we wouldn't see her if she could stay all day.

We took our youngest right when she was a year old on a RCL cruise, and we still refer to the the cruise as the cruise from H-E-double hockey stick.

Learnings from that cruise and the fact you'll be on a DCL cruise:

• One we couldn't help was RCL didn't deliver a crib until well late into the first evening (well after evening dinner and show) so no nap and the room attendant had left the balcony door open when cleaning the room so it was very hot. But maybe think of a plan if the crib isn't there for afternoon nap day one. Do you bring a stroller and walk the track?
• Bring a white noise device of some type. We have a white noise song that goes about an hour from DJ Funk that we play on repeat. Cuts down on hallway noise or noise from above. Sometimes we'll do instrumental music instead but not on repeat, just until they go to sleep.
• Book a Disney cruise. There weren't many activities on the RCL ship to entertain our oldest daughter when the youngest needed a nap. We took turns taking the oldest out of the room but it did not go well as there wasn't much to do.
  • I tried the pool but it was super crowded as it was spring break for our area. Other learning go when kids are in school if you can, typically less crowded.
• To the bullet above, bring plenty of varied activities to help with dinner or throughout the day.
  • Each kid had a small Paw Patrol pouch that we'd fill with entertainment.
  • We had small toys, coloring items, easy puzzles, little books, etc. (mostly from the Dollar Tree). No issues with the longer dinners, though we did skip dessert often at your kids' ages. Different items every day.
  • This still works today as we bring card games. Kids love taking turns picking out what we're going to play that evening.
  • If you miss dessert, Mickey Bars via room service.
• Also entertainment for the oldest. Join your cruise's Facebook group and sign up for the FE exchange. Our kids love delivering presents to other rooms and if you get several smaller items, it's instant entertainment spread throughout the cruise. Plus your kids receive cute fun things in return.
• Do any of the open houses or Disney dance parties that are open for everyone. Characters normally show up and are far enough away to not be scary.
• Have one adult stand in line to meet characters if you decide to do so and text the parent with the kids when close to front of line.
• Ask your pediatrician what to do if your kids get seasick. Our oldest had no issues but the youngest was very cranky the whole trip. Our pediatrician gave us tough love when we got back - she basically (no judgment please) asked us "why didn't you give her Benadryl each night to help ensure sleep?". Her point was it was 7 days and we don't normally give our kids medicine willy-nilly.