Cruising with a toddler

[TammyC]

We are thinking about when to take our DS on a Disney cruise. He turns 3 in May. We've been on other cruises before, and I got to thinking about transportation for shore excursions and car seats. I understand that car seats are not required on public transportation, but is that what actually transports you? And, how can they think a child is safe without a car seat in a taxi, but not a car?

I have heard a little about the kids clubs, but if he chooses not to stay are there things we can do as a family?

I'd love info from those who have gone with a 3 or 4 year old.

Thanks all!

 

[Brent B]

Tammy C

Last year the towncar service we used a car(booster) seat.... It worked great for our 3 almost 4 year old....

Now that said off to the best part..... The Cruise. I think 3 or 4 year old is the best time for their first cruise. My family is avid cruisers and our son now 5 is among us......

IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO IT DO IT NOW!!!!

My son loved the kid club(but at first was determined that he was not going to go in it) so much that we are not only going on another Disney cruise this March, but I had to take him on a Carnival Cruise two weeks ago..... Why because he loves the clubs on all of the ships... My wife and I have to beg him to spend some time with us.... But hey I guess he is on vacation also...


If you son will not go into the clubs... There are plenty of family activities to do.

If you have any question please feel free to ask

 

[SueEllen]

I have cruised with a toddler 2 times. For the excursions you are correct, they do not have car seats--while I agree I prefer my son in a car seat--if you take a Taxi they are not in a car seat either. Just buckle them in and you should be fine. Think of all of the years that no one even knew what a car seat was.

We actually had our son in Flounders while we did an excursion. Other than that we took him with us and didn't do any formal excursions. We just explored on our own.

You can definitely get a car seat for any town car service you use.

Sue Ellen

 

[DANDD]

We took our son on his first cruise when he was just over 3 years old. He had so much fun on the "Mickey Ship" that we took another cruise when he was 4 and we have another booked for May 04 when he will be 5. When he was 3, we flew into Orlando, stayed at the Hyatt at the airport and took the Disney busses to the cruise terminal. You could not use a car seat on the bus so we did not bring a car seat with us. We took the Eastern cruise and did the Disney excursion to Orient Beach. Again, we were on air conditioned busses and did not use a car seat. In St Thomas, we walked into town and did some shopping. We did not want to get up really early for immigration and that was just fine with us. When he was 3, he stayed in the kids club for a while. However, we could go to the club as a family at any time to play and participate in the activities. There is so much to do on the ships for families! We really enjoyed walking on the promenade, going to the shows, tea party with Wendy and walking on the top deck at night to see "luna"! Disney cruises are one of the most memorable family vacations for us!