Cruising with Toddler

[axsimpson]

I am taking the 7 day cruise in Dec. I will have my daughter with me who will be 3 on Jan 8. I am afraid that there will not be enough activities to keep her busy because she is not old enough to go to the 3 yr old activities. She is potty trained. Any suggestions?

 

[crazy4cruises]

I think they will let her check into the Club if she is within a month of her third birthday.

 

[aprilgail2]

Hopefully they will let her in the clubs because she may be very bored in Flounders Reef if you wanted to put her there. My 2 1/2 year old said it was boring and had all baby toys so at almost 3 your daughter may feel the same way.

 

[axsimpson]

Does anyone know if the characters are around a lot? Are there princesses on board? I know she will enjoy that and of course the pool. Does anyone know of a place that I can look up specific activities? It seems as if everything onboard is a big secret. They just give you a general idea of what there is to do onboard without going into detail. I am starting to regret my decision to take this vacation.

 

[QueenTrident]

Wow! Really? Regretting it?

Have you looked at the Passporters book about DCL? They have a ton of good info and even print sample navigators so you can see what is going on.

As other have said, if you DD is potty-trained and within a month of her birthday, she can go into the club, which has lots of scheduled activities.

There is another site that has a ton of info - castawayclub.com, maybe?

Also, go to the trip reports section of this board for detailed reports of what people did on their cruises.

I hope you refind the magic soon! You'll have a great time!

 

[axsimpson]

Where do I find the passporters book?

 

[Shanno66]

You can order it on amazon.com

My local stores did not carry it.

Good luck!

Shanno

 

[QueenTrident]

I have an extra copy at home. If you send me a private message with your name and address, I'll send it to you. I ordered it from Amazon, but got impatient and scoured my local bookstores until I found it. So I had two. Then I ordered the deluxe edition from Passporters, so I really have three.

Jenn

 

[Hunnybee]

There are characters around quite a bit. We were on the 3night Wonder Halloween cruise with DS who was almost 4. One thing I noticed was that the characters spent a lot more time with each individual child than at the parks.

They have specific times that you can see the characters listed in your Navigator each day. Be sure to call the number they list and/or check the white board in the lobby to verify who will be where when. We took the Navigator at its word and twice had a very disappointed son, because of typos. I stopped at Guest Services both times because one of the characters wasn't there when listed in Navigator and both times they called to find out and apologized for "the typo". Try apologizing to a 4 year old who doesn't get to see Peter Pan!

One day they had a Princess "party" in the lobby -- five different "princesses" available for autographs/pictures: Cinderella, Mulan, Belle, Alice, and Wendy. Also, when we went to breakfast at Parrot Cay we happened to run into Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. The server said they have characters there each morning but never know who is coming and what time they'll come.

You and your daughter will have a great time! You will not regret cruising with DCL -- this was our first, but definitely not last, time and we loved it! I, too, have heard that if you are within a month of your birthday, you can go to the club or move up to the next group.

 

[axsimpson]

Thanks everyone for the helpful info.
I am sure we are going to have a great time!
Arlene

 

[JennsBabySky]

We just did the 4 day cruise with our 3 year old daughter. She loved it! She only spent two evenings in the club, but there still were a ton of things to do. Even if she doesn't want to stay in the club, you could probably take her for some of the "better" activities. We stayed with our daughter during Tea for Wendy (she wanted us there) and she loved it. Some of the other activities we enjoyed together were:

the evening shows -- all were wonderful and actually kept her entertained (along with a bag of popcorn and a smoothie)

deck parties -- when leaving the ports, there is usually a huge deck party. We all loved this. We would dance, eat, sing, and just have fun. It was a wonderful way to pass the evening.

pool -- we loved to swim

excursions -- obviously our excursions were different, but we did some of the day trips to the local hotel pools and did local sightseeing. We all had fun.

character visits -- everyday they had a listing of who was where and at what time. It is also in the Navigator (newsletter left in your stateroom nightly with the next days activities highlighted)

movies -- both in the theater and in your stateroom. Some days we ran out of steam or she needed a nap. They have great movies playing in both places (most of them not yet released and an entire station in the stateroom devoted to Disney animated movies)

We had a blast the entire time! I'm pregnant right now and expecting #2 in January. We are planning a trip for next September/October and are bringing both kids. Before our cruise, I would never have thought we could travel with an infant. However, the Disney Cruise Line has activities for everyone. My husband and I actually felt like we had a "grown up" vacation, but we did almost everything with our daughter. It is not often to find 4 days worth of activities for the entire family to enjoy, but we sure did.

Have fun,
Jennifer

 

[markmyboy]

There are a TON of things for your daughter to do on board! Wefirst went with our son when he was about 2 1/2. He only went to Flounders once....for about an hour. Even if they don't let her in the Club (which it sounds like they will) there are certain times you can take her there & play with her...or just watch her play.

One thing I realized after being on Carnival & NCL is how GREAT & kid friendly (of course) DCL's production shows are. My son LOVES Hercules.

The characters are out & about quite a bit...my son's favorite was when Goofy was by the pool with his "swimsuit" on!!

Dining at the restaurants is also great for the kids, lots to look at, the menus are great & the servers usually spoil the kids rotten!!

The Mickey pool is fun, not sure if she will be big enough to go on the slide though?

Sometimes just walking around the ship is fun, different hallways have different artwork, there is always a Disney tune playing near the elevators.

Finding Nemo will probably be playing in the movie theater.

There will be TONS to do....I think you'll both have a great time. Don't forget to just sit back & relax a bit too!

 

[BethC1952]

I'm glad to read this. I'm taking my son and his family, including my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter on the four-night on Wonder 12/7/03 (Merry Christmas, guys!). I'm hoping she enjoys the club. She's in school, so she's used to being away from the family all day anyway, and she loves all the characters! It sounds like just the kinds of things that she enjoys!

Beth

 

[axsimpson]

Will my daughter be able to attend brunch or is this an adults only thing?
Also, I am expecting. My manager told me tonight tonight that they will not let you board past a certain amount of weeks, is this true?
Thanks
Arlene

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by axsimpson
Will my daughter be able to attend brunch or is this an adults only thing?
Also, I am expecting. My manager told me tonight tonight that they will not let you board past a certain amount of weeks, is this true?
Thanks
Arlene

ANything at Palo is adults only....I think the cut off for pregnancy is 21 weeks.

 

[JennsBabySky]

I cruised while I was 21 weeks pregnant this September. It was wonderful!!! The official cutoff is that you can not have entered your 24th week before boarding, so in theory, you could turn 24 weeks while on board and be safe. My travel agent recommended that I bring the medical form completed by my Ob-
Gyn. It is a really short form (less than a page) that you fax to DCL before you leave. I also brought a copy with me. I had no problems boarding the cruise.

Good luck,
Jennifer

 

[Bbgrizzle]

Just something to think about. . .

If your daughter isn't quite 3, you probably didn't have to pay child's price for her right? If you didn't pay full child's price, wouldn't they deny her access to the clubs? Just curious, for my own future reference.

 

[axsimpson]

Thanks for all the great posts. I was afraid that there would not be enough for her to do, now I think there may be too much for her to do. And for me as well. Now that I have found the navigators on line, I am overwhelmed.
Arlene

 

[lbgraves]

There were some kids in the club who were not 3 but they were there with an adult. DD went to the club twice but didn't want to go back again...she preferred the time with DH in the Mickey pool & the shows at night while DS liked spending the time with his friends. I was told that I could be with her at any time and did go during her first stay when Mickey visited the club. They will probably let her do a trial stay to see how it goes. The counselors were pretty flexible. They even knew that DD was wearing pull ups since she was PTd only 3 weeks before the cruise & didn't care for the toilets/flushing. They wouldn't have changed her, but I told them I would check on her when she was in the club.

There were princess autograph sessions on Sunday and Thursday at sea for the Eastern 11/15. These are only for autographs and move along pretty quickly. I suggest you call the 7PALS line the night before to get the next day's schedule for specific character times & places. The individual photo ops are wonderful!!! DD fell in absolute love with Cinderella and we saw her at least 10 times on the ship. She called her by name each time, which really touched DD as well as me. She talked to her for a couple minutes the first time we saw her. DD was just stunned. When she was passing us in the hall on the way to a photo op she would kneel down & chat for a moment. Definantly not hurried at all. You will notice the CMs running the auto ops in the atrium. Go right up to them and ask where the line for the person you want to see will be. I met the general manager of the characters that way & he helped me be in the right place at the right time.

I doubt that you will regret this trip at all. We have been listening to DD talk about the cruise for the past 2 weeks and it doesn't look like she will be stopping anytime soon. Have a great trip!!!

 

[sap1227]

Originally posted by Bbgrizzle
Just something to think about. . .

If your daughter isn't quite 3, you probably didn't have to pay child's price for her right? If you didn't pay full child's price, wouldn't they deny her access to the clubs? Just curious, for my own future reference.

That is one of the best parts about sailing with a 2 year 11 month old. You get to pay the "cheap" price and they are able to use the club. We cruised with my cousin in January and he was going to turn 3 on Feb 4th. My aunt paid the "infant" fare and my cousin loved the club.

Christy