DCL for first birthday?

[orangecuse]

Considering a last minute switch up in our plans and booking a Disney cruise for my son’s first birthday.

Group would be me, husband, our son. Possibly my parents. We are all (except my son of course) seasoned cruisers but haven’t done Disney before. A few questions:

1. We have liked Celebrity (our fav) and longer Carnival iteneraries (surprisingly impressed). Celebrity is an obvious touch above Carnival (for us). Anyone able to compare Disney to these?

2. Anyone gone with an infant? Was it worth it? We have our first trip to WDW planned for Nov so I thought this may be a good icebreaker of sorts for him. Do you find a Disney cruise is better than other cruises at catering to infants?

Trying to decide if DCL is worth it over for us a longer cruise on Royal Caribbean (have tried RC once and wasn’t a fan BUT I think we got caught in a Booze Cruise crowd which is not our thing). I know you can’t answer if its worth it but I am hoping with some info we could make a decision!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

I can’t compare to other cruises but I found the cruise and staff to be very accommodating to my daughter who was 1.5. Room was roomy, dining staff was great with her, she loved the daycare and she loved the splash area.

 

[SailingScout]

I also can’t compare to other lines, but my answer would be yes! We took our first DCL cruise (also our first cruise) when our son was 7 months because we wanted a vacation where we wouldn’t feel like lepers with a kid! We got hooked and now have our 5th one booked. Our second son turned one on a Panama Canal cruise. All this to say it’s a perfect vacation for young kids. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

 

[hpsalb]

I've taken an infant as young as 7 months. We have never cruised another line with our kids along because we feel like DCL excels here. The nursery is great as most other lines either don't offer this or it has more restrictions.

This is a personal opinion and it depends on your preferences...but we find cruising with littles easier than navigating WDW with toddlers.

 

[mmouse37]

We went with extended family on the Fantasy in 2016 which included two 1 year olds (well actually one of them turned 1 on the cruise). I brought Mickey ears for everyone and we all wore them when we (and our servers sang happy birthday to her). We asked for a mickey bar with sprinkles and they put a candle in it. It was so cute. They both loved the nursery area and had a great time. We had their strollers onboard and they sometimes napped near the pool or out on deck or in the cabin. We asked for pack n plays for the rooms and also diaper genies. They kids were no trouble at all on the cruise. We had late dining and they handled it pretty well.

This Fall we are bringing the same two grandkids who now will be 3 when we cruise plus our grandson who will be 9 months!

Last October my husband and I brought our granddaughter by ourselves (mom was too far along in her pregnancy) when she was just over 2 years old. She had a blast and talks about going on the Mickey Boat EVERY.SINGLE.DAY! She can't wait to go again in the Fall. We just started a countdown calendar for her as she has no concept of how far away September is. All I can say it really made a great impression on her. She will see a commercial and go nuts saying "I was there and I want to go back. Remember, remember grandma"?. She slept on the convertible sofa with bed rails that DCL provided. She loved her little sleeping area and only had one meltdown about the 4th day in when she realized she missed mom and dad. Again we had late dining and she would get a little cranky near the end of dinner but overall she did really well. We kept her on her nap schedule as the cabins get nice and dark with the curtains pulled so it was easy for her to fall asleep during the day. She played shuffleboard, had a ball meeting all the characters, loved the dance parties, loved dressing up in her princess costumes and especially loved the stage shows....I could on and on.

Disney does do a great job with infants and young kids....actually all ages!!!

MJ

 

[Disneyland_emily]

We took our little for her first birthday in January- it was fantastic!

It was maybe a bit cruel to bring a new walker on board as she struggled a bit getting her sea legs but adapted pretty well.

 

[mousefan73]

Your 1 year old isnt going to notice the difference or recall if he spent a week in his home or on a cruise. A splash pad at home is no different than on a cruise at that age. The same when people ask which resort will my 1 year old like better.

Pick a cruise based on your needs. This of course factors in which is more accomdating to parents. Happy parents happy babies. DCL I have heard is great. As PP noted A cruise I can see being an easy trip on parents conpared to WDW with infants. Everything is there. No driving back to the hotel. The hotel is there and ports are also close ( unless you do one that is hours away).

 

[hardis5]

Our 8 year old has done 6 cruises since 18 months old but he cannot recall any prior to being 4 years old and when we remind him he had a birthday cake on-board for his 3rd birthday, he recalls from picture but remember nothing of those early cruises. Yes they were all enjoyable and memorable for us and added to his development but as parents IMHO I believe we worry too much of the what and how rather than the why.

Cannot compare to Celebrity as have not done but DCL sailings have been great experiences for all our kids and made vacationing with toddler through to now not so young adult vacations easy for all to enjoy (with 3 kids). We almost did RCL this past Spring as a family vacation as the adult children now grow older but reading week (for the middle) had a shorter DCL cruise cost out the same as a longer RCL longer but timing had DCL win. A one year old will enjoy the immersive DCL (Disney) experience but as something for a first birthday on-board, I'd plan for the adults or any older children over a one-year old alone.

 

[mmouse37]

I agree about the one year olds remembering.....we show them pics of that cruise and they enjoy looking at them but as far as remembering the cruise they don't. Fast forward to when one of them turned 2 and we took her and she remembers everything. Will she remember in the future who knows but as an almost 3 year old she absolutely remembers her cruise last year .

MJ

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

Considering a last minute switch up in our plans and booking a Disney cruise for my son’s first birthday.

Group would be me, husband, our son. Possibly my parents. We are all (except my son of course) seasoned cruisers but haven’t done Disney before. A few questions:

1. We have liked Celebrity (our fav) and longer Carnival iteneraries (surprisingly impressed). Celebrity is an obvious touch above Carnival (for us). Anyone able to compare Disney to these?

2. Anyone gone with an infant? Was it worth it? We have our first trip to WDW planned for Nov so I thought this may be a good icebreaker of sorts for him. Do you find a Disney cruise is better than other cruises at catering to infants?

Trying to decide if DCL is worth it over for us a longer cruise on Royal Caribbean (have tried RC once and wasn’t a fan BUT I think we got caught in a Booze Cruise crowd which is not our thing). I know you can’t answer if its worth it but I am hoping with some info we could make a decision!

Thanks in advance!

If he isn’t afraid of big headed characters, I say go for DCL! Don’t let people convince you not to do it based on the fact that he won’t remember it. Parents are allowed to make memories for themselves, even if they kid can’t remember...and there will be a ton of them! . They have an awesome nursery that, I believe, is free to use. The other cruise lines charge for it. My daughter was 3 when we took our first DCL cruise. She doesn’t remember it, but she likes to hear stories about how she was afraid of Capt Hook and how she saw Chip and Dale in the elevators by pure coincidence. Such great memories.

 

[lklgoodman]

The nursery is not free. They charge by the hour, not sure how much the fee is. Our dd was 6 yrs old when she first cruised, so we never used it. You can reserve some time when you do the online check in and then reserve more time once on board.

 

[MomOTwins]

The nursery is not free. They charge by the hour, not sure how much the fee is. Our dd was 6 yrs old when she first cruised, so we never used it. You can reserve some time when you do the online check in and then reserve more time once on board.

It's $4 per half hour. Since we only left our DS for a couple of hours at a time, the cost is more or less negligible.

 

[tutumomickey]

My daughter booked a first birthday cruise for her twin daughters before they were born. Okay, it was opening day and she had an OBC to use. She knew they would never remember but she wanted the experience.