cruising with 1 year old

[hamm1207]

We are celebrating our daughter's 1st birthday on a cruise in November (her birthday is actually the 2nd day of the cruise), and I was wondering if anyone has any advice for cruising with a 1 year old! Any advice, experiences, etc is welcome and appreciated! thanks!

 

[Mousemommy1]

We just got back on Friday from a cruise with our 15 month old. We really didn't plan anything special for him, he was just going along with the rest of us. We did do an excursion in Nassau, which involved the aquarium at Atlantis, which he enjoyed. And then he loved Castaway Cay. I mean, he pretty much just tagged along with us. He enjoyed seeing the characters all over the place and did well in the dining rooms.

He did not love the nursery, which I was surprised about. I thought he would be fine because he goes to daycare, but he lasted all of 2 hours in the nursery.

All in all, it was a great experience! Enjoy your cruise!

 

[hamm1207]

We just got back on Friday from a cruise with our 15 month old. We really didn't plan anything special for him, he was just going along with the rest of us. We did do an excursion in Nassau, which involved the aquarium at Atlantis, which he enjoyed. And then he loved Castaway Cay. I mean, he pretty much just tagged along with us. He enjoyed seeing the characters all over the place and did well in the dining rooms.

He did not love the nursery, which I was surprised about. I thought he would be fine because he goes to daycare, but he lasted all of 2 hours in the nursery.

All in all, it was a great experience! Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for the advice! We're planning on just having her tag along. We'll probably give the nursery a try for a dinner at Palo and maybe an excursion.

Did you have a crib/pack n'play set up in the stateroom? If so, how did that work?

Did you have early or late dinning?

 

[ahain]

We'll probably give the nursery a try for a dinner at Palo and maybe an excursion.

Just to clarify...Are you saying that you are thinking about leaving your baby at the Nursery while you leave the ship & go on an excursion? If so...I don't have a baby, but I think I'd be uncomfortable being that far away from the Nursery if something went wrong with the baby. But that's just me...

 

[hamm1207]

Just to clarify...Are you saying that you are thinking about leaving your baby at the Nursery while you leave the ship & go on an excursion? If so...I don't have a baby, but I think I'd be uncomfortable being that far away from the Nursery if something went wrong with the baby. But that's just me...

We might. We'll have to see when the time comes. She's a very chill baby, and so far has had not problems.

 

[jahber]

Thanks for the advice! We're planning on just having her tag along. We'll probably give the nursery a try for a dinner at Palo and maybe an excursion.

Did you have a crib/pack n'play set up in the stateroom? If so, how did that work?

Did you have early or late dinning?

You can request a pack n play and a diaper genie. You can leave the pack n play up or have the attendant take it down. It can get in the way, but you'll probably want it for nap time.

We do early dining with little ones, just because we don't usually like to pay for nursery during dinner and our littles can get though dinner that early.

And if you'd like to leave the ship while your little one is in the nursery, you can. Let the staff know you'll be off the ship and then make sure you plan plenty of buffer time to make it back in time. I would also give your kiddo a trial run in the nursery before your excursion. You don't know yet how he or she will react to strangers. A whole lot changes once they hit the stranger anxiety phase around 9-12 months

 

[Jess_S]

My son was a little older than your daughter on his first cruise (22 months), but your daughter may like some of the same stuff he did. In particular, my son enjoyed the open house hours at the kid's club and the live music. There's also an open house type event at the nursery where young kids and parents can mingle, but we unfortunately never fit it in our schedule.

Instead of ordering a pack and play, we had rails installed on the pull out couch. Again, my son was a bit older, so not sure if you would feel comfortable with that option. It was my son's first non-crib sleeping experience and it worked out well. (The downside was that he theoretically could have gotten out of bed on his own. In practice, he called for us when he woke up. I think he was a bit intimidated by being away from home).

DCL was our most relaxing family vacation. With so much to see and do for our son and staff fussing over him, my husband and I actually had an opportunity to relax and enjoy things sometimes.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Thanks for the advice! We're planning on just having her tag along. We'll probably give the nursery a try for a dinner at Palo and maybe an excursion.

Did you have a crib/pack n'play set up in the stateroom? If so, how did that work?

Did you have early or late dinning?

We were given a pack and play. We had a deluxe family oceanview room w/ verandah, so our room was set up with a curtain that cuts the room in half. It was great because we could put the baby to sleep and close the curtain and we could still be doing stuff on the other side.

We had early dining. There was no way we could have done 8:15!

 

[hamm1207]

When do you put in the request for the pack n' play and the diaper genie? Also, do I have to bring bags for the diaper genie?

I figured that we'd go to the nursery open house, and check it out on embarkation day as well.

How is the splash zone?

Also, did you buy diapers ahead and ship them to the ship or did you put them in your suitcase?

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

We might. We'll have to see when the time comes. She's a very chill baby, and so far has had not problems.

When we sailed Alaska recently (last year) we left our daughter on the ship and did the zip lining excursion and had no issues. Yes there is always that "what if" but we took the chance and it was nice to get away for a few hours with hubby. She was almost 2 at the time. But we also have sailed with her at 10 1/2 months and a little over 2 years as well. She is about to go on her fourth cruise at 2 1/2.

My best advice would to be enjoy the time on the ship. When our daughter fell asleep we would occasionally take her to the nursery and hang by the pool or bar for an hour or so while she napped. We love cruising with our young daughter.

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

When do you put in the request for the pack n' play and the diaper genie? Also, do I have to bring bags for the diaper genie?

I figured that we'd go to the nursery open house, and check it out on embarkation day as well.

How is the splash zone?

Also, did you buy diapers ahead and ship them to the ship or did you put them in your suitcase?

We brought diapers with us each time and loaded them in the suitcase zipper portion that sits on top of the clothes (if that make sense).

She loved the splash area. On our most recent cruise in Dec 2015 she was potty trained so was able to enjoy the pool as well. But the splash areas are really nice.

The nursery plus some of the kids club areas have open house, which was nice as she was able to play and use the toys, slides play areas in the bigger kid areas for a while as well and seemed to really enjoy that too.

Have fun!!

 

[hamm1207]

Will we need to take a stroller or will a carrier work?

 

[hmwinter85]

We cruised in Jan with our then 22 DS. It was the best vacation we had ever taken as a family.

Some things that worked for us.
-Diaper genie the room host took care of it all. I think he changed it out at least once a day. When we meet him when our room first opened up he asked us if we wanted on and it was there the next time we were in the room.
-I originally requested a crib and a high chair at dinner when we booked. By the time we sailed he was too big for the crib so had the TA take that off but the high chair was waiting for us at dinner each night.
-We brought a stroller. It was nice for the first day and we used it a few times throughout the cruise when DS got a little overwhelmed.
-We spent a lot of time on Deck 4 walking outside around the ship. It was one of DS favorite things to do.
-I bought a few small toys from the dollar store and got them out once we got to the cabin so DS could play with them while we got ready or where chilling in the room.
-Bring Bounty paper towel with dawn dish soap. These are now one of the first things I pack when traveling. They are great for cleaning Sippy cups or sticky messes.

 

[hamm1207]

We cruised in Jan with our then 22 DS. It was the best vacation we had ever taken as a family.

Some things that worked for us.
-Diaper genie the room host took care of it all. I think he changed it out at least once a day. When we meet him when our room first opened up he asked us if we wanted on and it was there the next time we were in the room.
-I originally requested a crib and a high chair at dinner when we booked. By the time we sailed he was too big for the crib so had the TA take that off but the high chair was waiting for us at dinner each night.
-We brought a stroller. It was nice for the first day and we used it a few times throughout the cruise when DS got a little overwhelmed.
-We spent a lot of time on Deck 4 walking outside around the ship. It was one of DS favorite things to do.
-I bought a few small toys from the dollar store and got them out once we got to the cabin so DS could play with them while we got ready or where chilling in the room.
-Bring Bounty paper towel with dawn dish soap. These are now one of the first things I pack when traveling. They are great for cleaning Sippy cups or sticky messes.

Thanks for relaying your experience! It's nice to know that there's a diaper genie available and that the stateroom host will take care of it---that's a nice break from my daily chores. Did you have early or late dining? I'm trying to think of what we'll do if she's sleeping through dinner (we have late dining).

We don't set sail until November, so we have lots of time to plan. I'm just trying to get an understanding and learn from others' experiences.

 

[MSPeeler]

As for dining, we have late dining (4 night Bahamian on the Dream). We will take our 20 month old with us on the first night, BUT I have scheduled nursery for night 2,3&4 from 8-9:30 just in case.

You have up to 4 hours prior to the reservation time to cancel and we will play it by ear. Atleast we know there will be room for him if he needs to go, and not be turned away because they are full.

We may also send him there for Pirate Night since fireworks aren't until 10:30pm!

 

[brussrus]

We had a great Disney cruise with our one year old a few months ago. He loved the nursery and the splash area. Our servers were wonderful with him and always brought him whatever we asked for at dinner. There's a whole milk dispenser at the soda fountain for sippy cups/bottles.

One thing I brought for him to play with was a bunch of magnets for the inside of the door. He loved playing with them and they took up no room in the suitcase.

We used our stroller a lot and it fit great under the bed when we weren't using it.

 

[hmwinter85]

Thanks for relaying your experience! It's nice to know that there's a diaper genie available and that the stateroom host will take care of it---that's a nice break from my daily chores. Did you have early or late dining? I'm trying to think of what we'll do if she's sleeping through dinner (we have late dining).

We don't set sail until November, so we have lots of time to plan. I'm just trying to get an understanding and learn from others' experiences.

We had early dinner. Most nights DS would eat his dinner and then half the time fell fell asleep in my lap just before the main course came out. Our serving team was amazing and did everything they could make my dinner enjoyable while he was sleeping. They would bring over clean table cloths to use as a blanket, the head server would cut up my food for me so I could eat one handed, they even tried to make a bed for him out of two empty chairs.

 

[michellekcm]

On the Magic now (and maybe other ships?) there's a toddler play area which has some soft mini climbing things (very small ones, easily crawl-able by an older baby/younger toddler) and mats to play on / crawl on. We found that a great place to go in the early morning where we would not disturb others. There are also some toddler / baby specific activities - Jack Jack's Diaper Dash if your child isn't walking yet, Toddler Time, and Wake Up With Disney Junior (at least on the Magic, I can't speak to the other ships).

 

[hamm1207]

Has anyone used the complimentary strollers from guest services? Or the complimentary wagons on Castaway? If I'm still pumping and offering my daughter breastmilk, is there any way to store breastmilk in our room?

 

[wl1117]

Will we need to take a stroller or will a carrier work?

Has anyone used the complimentary strollers from guest services? Or the complimentary wagons on Castaway? If I'm still pumping and offering my daughter breastmilk, is there any way to store breastmilk in our room?

We were in this situation for our first 3 cruises. We cruised when our eldest was 17 months, again when our youngest was 5 months, and again when she was 10 months. We never used the complimentary strollers or wagons. We did take our Maclaren umbrella stroller and we used it a lot. It was nice because it was small enough to go down the hallways and still let people pass in the other direction. It fit nicely under the bed, and was easier on and off the elevators than a bigger stroller would have been. My husband really enjoyed taking our daughter strolling early in the morning around the mostly empty decks, and letting me sleep a bit. He still says it was some of his favorite time on the ships. Plus, you can take your stroller into the dining rooms. We did this when our daughter was too small to sit in the highchairs and again when she'd sleep through dinner.

There are fridges in each stateroom, and it is my understanding that all ships now have true fridges instead of cooler boxes. You should be fine pumping and storing. Remember to bring a small bottle of dish soap and a brush to clean you bottles and pump parts.

I took my carrier too and l used it mainly on shore excursions.

One trip, we took a travel baby swing for our room.

I'd also recommend taking advantage of the nursery. Our first cruise (with a 17 month old) we never took her there and we were exhausted keeping her entertained and we really missed a lot of stuff on the ship. The nursery will give her the opportunity to play and give you a short break. Schedule some time for you to go swim, because you cannot take a baby in the pools. Schedule an evening at dinner time and give yourselves a date night!

Just go with the flow a bit and expect some bumps...like our eldest hated sand, so her first trip to the beach wasn't the picture perfect day we'd expected. lol. Have fun!!