Cruising for Single/Only Parents

[JRupp]

Hey everyone!
This is my very first cruise for both myself and my 6 year old son. Any suggestions for us? Any other single/only parents going on the Wish in March?

 

[auntlynne]

 

[JRupp]

You won’t be alone, but you won’t be in the majority. I think there are more adults without kids than single parent/child combos.

If your son enjoys the kids club, be prepared to discover the world of solo cruising. For an introvert, just read a book or don’t look available to chitchat. For an extrovert, enjoy the interaction with other extroverts. Even couples who are cruising without kids - or whose kids are playing in the clubs, will talk to solo travelers.

Some kids love the clubs, others want nothing to do with it. You may not know what your son will do until on the ship.

A first cruise of 3-4 days is just a learning experience. Don’t try to ”do it all.” You will have a daily list of activities. Find some that look interesting to you and figure out how your day is going. Adjust as needed.

You will be assigned a dinner table and time. The actual restaurant will change each night, but your waiter goes along. Everyone has the same set of menus, so you don’t miss out. Your son (and you) can order off adult and/or kid menus.

Breakfast and lunch are available in the buffet (Marceline Market) or one of the dining rooms. These have set and limited hours. Fast food is available on the pool deck. This is from 10:45 - 6 pm, with pizza available until before midnight. A limited menu Room Service is free 24 hours.

Soft drinks, coffee, tea are available, self-serve, 24 hours, on the pool deck. These plus milk come with meals. Juice at breakfast.

Castaway Cay - Disney’s private island - is a fairly peaceful day at the beach. Lunch will be available for a few hours midday, including drink station and soft-serve ice cream (basically just the ship’s offerings on the island). Loungers and umbrellas provided, as are towels and swim vests (also in the ship). The Famiky Beach is on a protected area - with a breakwater wall keeping you from the open sea. There is a barrier net to keep out larger fish. Lifeguards on duty.

Shows at night are family-friendly in content and length and are well done. Generally, you should not miss the entertainment due to lack of seating (as is a concern on other cruise lines).

That’s some of my thoughts. If you have more specific questions, ask away, and get ideas from others. With a new adventure, it might be a challenge to know what to ask. But cruising (especially Disney) does not require a lot of planning.

Make sure you have a state-issued Birth Certificate or passport for each of you.

Wow! Thank you so much for all of the information! I really appreciate it!

 

[PugsRuleATL]

You won’t be alone, but you won’t be in the majority. I think there are more adults without kids than single parent/child combos.

If your son enjoys the kids club, be prepared to discover the world of solo cruising. For an introvert, just read a book or don’t look available to chitchat. For an extrovert, enjoy the interaction with other extroverts. Even couples who are cruising without kids - or whose kids are playing in the clubs, will talk to solo travelers.

Some kids love the clubs, others want nothing to do with it. You may not know what your son will do until on the ship.

A first cruise of 3-4 days is just a learning experience. Don’t try to ”do it all.” You will have a daily list of activities. Find some that look interesting to you and figure out how your day is going. Adjust as needed.

You will be assigned a dinner table and time. The actual restaurant will change each night, but your waiter goes along. Everyone has the same set of menus, so you don’t miss out. Your son (and you) can order off adult and/or kid menus.

Breakfast and lunch are available in the buffet (Marceline Market) or one of the dining rooms. These have set and limited hours. Fast food is available on the pool deck. This is from 10:45 - 6 pm, with pizza available until before midnight. A limited menu Room Service is free 24 hours.

Soft drinks, coffee, tea are available, self-serve, 24 hours, on the pool deck. These plus milk come with meals. Juice at breakfast.

Castaway Cay - Disney’s private island - is a fairly peaceful day at the beach. Lunch will be available for a few hours midday, including drink station and soft-serve ice cream (basically just the ship’s offerings on the island). Loungers and umbrellas provided, as are towels and swim vests (also in the ship). The Famiky Beach is on a protected area - with a breakwater wall keeping you from the open sea. There is a barrier net to keep out larger fish. Lifeguards on duty.

Shows at night are family-friendly in content and length and are well done. Generally, you should not miss the entertainment due to lack of seating (as is a concern on other cruise lines).

That’s some of my thoughts. If you have more specific questions, ask away, and get ideas from others. With a new adventure, it might be a challenge to know what to ask. But cruising (especially Disney) does not require a lot of planning.

Make sure you have a state-issued Birth Certificate or passport for each of you.

You know, as someone who’s done this 27 or 28 times… that was a very, very good overview. Thanks for posting to help the OP.

 

[Calantha]

This is my very first cruise for both myself and my 6 year old son. Any suggestions for us?

I hope you love it! I have cruised 5 times now with my son, who is now almost 8. Usually we are with a group, but the 2 of us went on the Dream last January when he was 6. We also just got off the Wish, so these comments will be both general and specific.

Wish Specific:
My son doesn't like the kid's club - but there are a lot of really cool new things in the Wish Club's. The family we ended up seated with at dinner - they couldn't get their son to leave (he was in first grade). The slide to the club is super awesome.

My son loves spending the day at the pool, but there are now pools spread around the ship. The deeper ones are up on 12, while shallow pools are on the main deck on 11. If you snag a seat up on 12, it will be a lot of up/down for food. There is also a pool hidden away on the top deck, forward, that was much quieter, but it is not convenient to food/beverages.

He loved all the shows on the Wish that we saw - opening night, Little Mermaid, and Avatar - we skipped Aladdin, but we've seen it a few times now.

General (just the 2 of us traveling):
We tend to eat breakfast in the main dining room, because I hate carrying a tray with my food/his food. If I'm with other people, we'll do the buffet. MDR takes longer, but I can just enjoy sitting there.

My son is an early riser, so I usually had room service deliver cereal for him and tea for me at 6:15/6:30am, since nothing is open that early, and I couldn't go up to the coffee shop while he was sleeping.

We saw Encanto a bunch of times in the movie theater last year.

Basically, I prioritized fun and not being scheduled - e.g., 'oh we have to be here at this time and here at this time' - which we do when we are sailing/traveling with larger groups (in order to be organized).

 

[anjuan]

I'm a single mom who has been on 12 DCL cruises with my now 18 yr old. I think cruising is a fantastic option for single parents. I loved that I didn't have to be responsible for driving or other ways to transport us to different places and there is very little planning involved beyond picking excursions. When my daughter was younger she wasn't a huge fan of the kids clubs but that changed when she was eligible for edge and vibe where I often didn't see her during the day. But every kid is different as far as the clubs go.

DCL seems to be really good about putting single parents and kids together at MDR tables with other single parent families. On other cruises we've had our own table. Don't be afraid to go to Palo on your own. I've done it for some cruises and had a great time. The waiters are so fantastic and will interact with you as much as you want. I've also met people through other social media groups and done Palo brunch with them.
As my daughter did more on her own I started enjoying the clubs more I spent more time in the adult-only areas and entertainment like bingo.

Overall, I highly recommend DCL cruises for single-parent families. You can really do as much or as little as you want.

 

[BriarBelle]

If you wanted to connect with other single parents on your exact cruise, I would recommend joining your cruise's facebook group. I am not a parent, but I saw several posts on our fb page of groups of single parents getting together for brunch, Remy/Palo, etc while their kids were in kids club.