First time Disney Cruise Age Recommendation/Age you took your Kids

HokieRaven5

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Mar 5, 2020
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Just looking for any information people have on cruises they've done with kids. I have 2 Boys (Ages 5 and 3) and was wondering what age you took your kids on their first Disney Cruise and what experiences you'd recommend the most.

At this point since my youngest is 3 I'm now just going to wait until he is fully potty trained so he can have the ability to experience the Oceaneer Club or Lab plus with everything else going on as far as resumption of cruising I can sit back a bit and wait and see when they finally get back on track.

I am excited about the prospect of going on a Disney Cruise for the first time in my life though.

Additionally if there are any recommendations for how long to take the family on the first cruise i'm all for it. My DW is going to be the hardest to convince to go between COVID and her 2 previous cruises were really bad experiences for her (one even crashed into a reef).
 


Watching this as well. I've got a baby that will be just over 1.5 when we cruise next year. Normally I'd hold off but after COVID canceled two trips last year we are ready to sail and will make it work haha
 
I mean, my youngest cruised at 14 months. So waiting until 3 and can make use of the club without needing the paid nursery services is fine. Plenty of fun activities to do together as a family. Arts and Crafts, BINGO, sports simulators. My oldest child first non crib bed was also aboard a Disney ship. Suffice to say you'll be fine. Do remember that some of the water slides are height restricted. The 5 year old likely isn't going to fit on the aquaduck quite yet.

There are plenty of threads on figuring out what the hold up is for trying another cruise vacation from a hesitant spouse. Obviously a crashed ship is harder to negate than the what if the food is bad.

As for length. If you can grab at LEAST a 4 night cruise, you'll be better off than a 3 night. On a 3 night, the vacation doesn't REALLY start until after muster drill. So 4pm. Then in 2 nights time, your luggage has to be packed before you go to dinner if you want them to take it off the boat for you. Having done a 3night and a 4 night back to back (right after each other) you can tell the vibe is different. On a 3 night everything is more rush rush rush. We have great memories from our serving teams on 7+ night cruises. The staff is much more engaging and service in my opinion is more personal.
 
We first sailed when my son was 20months old. He absolutely loved Nemo’s Reef. We were there so much on our cruise. He enjoyed the nursery one day as we had a family wedding to attend on ship. It was so convenient to go out have some fun with him and if needed just pop back into the room. So much easier then doing WDW and hoping he fell asleep in the stroller instead of heading back to the hotel everyday.

We have gone again when he was 7, 8, and 9 years old. He loves the Oceanear Club. We would line up outside the club before they opened just so he would be one of the first in there he loved it so much. He would be in there the entire cruise other then pulling him out for meals. They do serve lunch but we wanted to make sure he ate cause he was so into playing we were worried he would miss their lunch period.

We plan to sail again this year at 11yrs old. He is really excited to go try out Edge. He loves video games and they have lots of video game activities so this is perfect for him. It is also nice if he doesn’t quite enjoy it he can go back to the Oceanear Club cause he is at the age (11-12) he can hop between both. Once he turns 13yrs old he will only have Edge as his choice for a few years.
 


We took our first when our son was 7 months. We were desperate for a kid friendly vacation. We went again the following year, and on our 3rd cruise his younger brother turned one going through the Panama Canal. We have since done that trip two more times and our kids are now 9 and 6. All this to say we had fun every time. My youngest may not remember any of the trips, but we look it as that we (the adults) are taking vacations for ourselves so we aren’t going to delay. It is definitely a plus to have kids in clubs vs the nursery as it offers you more flexibility (no reservations) and eliminates the additional cost. Good luck with your wife-she will come around and have an amazing time! (This from someone who said they would never take Disney vacations and here we are Gold ... ) I almost forgot-definitely go for a 7 night. Our first was a four because I was hesitant but it just isn’t long enough to really relax.
 
We started cruising when our youngest was 2. I have three boys. They are all less than four years apart so basically 2 preschoolers and a kindergartner on our first cruise! We have cruised Disney with them several times (4 and 7 nights) as well as other lines now that they are older.

my husband was a hesitant cruiser and thought we’d have “nothing to do” while “stuck” on a ship. I signed us up for a four night to test the waters so to speak and by the second day he mentioned “when you book our next one, it has to be a minimum of 7 nights. We will never get everything done.” 😂.

we’ve cruised with and without family onboard. We’ve cruised as long as 9 nights (my favorite).

l say go and enjoy. Start out small and hope your spouse becomes a convert like mine lol.

we enjoy bingo, shows, the pool and water features, cooking classes, the food, drawing classes. There are literally activities that everyone can enjoy, My kids love the clubs in every ship we’ve been on!
 
I cruised with my triplets for the first time when they were 4 for a 7 night on the Magic. At the time I was a divorced mom and was traveling with my parents and siblings. It was fantastic. Great balance of family and adult time. Disney really makes everything so easy between the attention of the servers at meals to the kids' clubs. The kids were thoroughly entertained and cared for and we had the opportunity to spend really fun time together. I actually got to enjoy dinner. My now husband was def not thinking he would enjoy cruising let alone with disney. We did that with our 4 kids after we got married when they were all 9 (triplets and step daughter are 8 days apart) and he is now a convert. The same kids are now turning 16 (which I can hardly believe) and still love cruising disney but for different reasons. We started with Caribbean trips and then as the kids got older used as a first step to intro them to other countries (baltic and a northern europe that went to norway, iceland and scotland - both 11 nights). Nice way to get to go out and see a place when they get older but then they can come back and go get themselves ice cream and hang out with their friends. We've been on 6 disney cruises over the past 11 years and I can't complain about one of them.
 
We went as a large group in June 2019 (so my son was 4). He had 4 older cousins (7-12 years) to follow around. Despite having had a full year of pre-school under his belt, he didn't like to go to the club alone (he'd only go if another cousin was going). I think it was just a little too busy for him. Unfortunately our Oct 2020 and May 2021 were/are cancelled, so I have no other reference points...but overall he loved the cruise in general and can't wait to go back (we're scheduled for Oct 2021 and June 2022 now).
 
We waited until our son was potty trained. At the time, Royal Caribbean didn't allow children in pools that were not potty trained. That may not be an issue anymore or for you. I also wanted him to be able to go to the kids club. With the nursery on DCL, it's not a big deal. Our son actually went to Europe before going on a cruise. He was mostly potty trained for the Europe trip.
 
Our DD was 3 months, and DS had just turned 7 on our first cruise. We have taken a cruise almost every since then. Our kids are now 10 and 17 and looking forward to our next Disney cruise; whenever that may be. We were supposed to be on the Fantasy right now to celebrate DS’s upcoming graduation. 😩 Disney has helped us explore 5 different continents with our kids!
 
Our kids were 4 (2 months before her 5th birthday) and (just turned) 7 on our first cruise. Up until then we had only done all inclusive resorts and camping trips with them. They were the perfect age we thought for their first cruise, potty trained so could use the kids club and old enough to remember everything. To tell you the truth though, if cruising had been on our radar before that (we never really had any desire to cruise) then I still would have taken them when they were even younger. By the time we get back to cruising our kids will be 11 & (just turned) 14 and it's still their very favourite way to vacation!
 
Our kids were 2&4 the first time, and I wish we'd waited a bit -- don't get me wrong, it was awesome and we loved it, but I think we could have swapped some vacations and waited until no one needed to nap at a specific time and everyone was potty trained and could go to the same kids club. Our next cruise they were 4&6 and it was really amazing. Should have gone again at 6&8, or 7&9, but now we'll see next year what it's like at 8&10!
That said, it really depends on your family situation. For us, we are only ever going to be able to cruise over the kids' spring break (just, the dynamics of our family travel situation), so we think of having slots for certain kinds of vacations, and a little bit regret slotting it out the way we did. Also, our kids were not very flexible about naps and bedtimes as little kids, and that is harder on a cruise -- because an adult is stuck in the room with the sleeping kid(s) - than on other vacations where you can have a different kind of babysitting or whatever. The clubs/nursery are great for many many things, but not for getting a toddler to sleep in a consistent fashion!
 
I want to put my 2¢ in for parents wondering if they should wait until children are older. My daughter was 11 on her first sailing. She enjoyed sailing more at 18 and 19, then at age 11.
If I could do it over, I would have sailed the first time between potty training and age 7. So she has time to experience the euphoria of magic and the enchantment of fantasy. Because she might have enjoyed the tween and teen events more on the Magic.
But if opportunity doesn’t present itself until the child is older, still go! But select a Dream class for teen activity’s.
As to OP, I think you’re going at just the right time!
 
We’re hoping for 2 and almost 7 (booked Alaska for May 2022) our youngest will be 2 years and 3 months and the oldest will be one month shy of his 7th birthday
 
Our first Disney cruise was with an 8 month old and a 3 1/2 year old. It was just a 3 night cruise, and we had grandparents with us, but with that said, the infant was easier than the older child. ;) As for what to do, we didn't really make any plans, just spent time by the pool on our Nassau day and then spent the next day on the beach at CC. We also did the shows and dinner in the evenings.
 
Yeah right now my thinking is waiting until fall of 2022 once cruising has hopefully resumed and my 2 will be 4 and 6 at that time.

Planning on a 4 night at the moment to start in the bahamas and I'll skip visiting Nassau and stick on the ship to keep it more low key and relaxed for the kids and let the CC day be a bit more of an active we get off the boat and do things.

I appreciate everyone's inputs and experiences and look forward to others sharing how they went about it!
 
Our kids were 6 years and 18 months when we first cruised. Our oldest was the perfect age and loved every minute of it. Our youngest was just along for the ride. We booked our next cruise for when our youngest would be 3, potty trained, and ready for kids clubs, but that trip got canceled. We’re planning to go next summer when they’re 9 and 4.
 
We took my oldest at 2. It was really for us though. Went again when my oldest was 7 and my youngest was 4. Each of these were 3 night cruises. It was a fine length. The last one we did my kids were 9 and 5. We went for a week with friends. It was probably my favorite, the extra days gave us time to explore the ship. We hung with friends or did stuff on our own, very laid back. My kids have never been fans of clubs or camps, so they never wanted to go to the kids club. But that’s ok, we are used to it.
I want to go again on the newest ship sometime. But I may wait until my kids can both go to the tween club (ages 11-14) - need to wait about 18 months and hit the 9 month span my kids would be 11 and 14.
 
We took my oldest at 2. It was really for us though. Went again when my oldest was 7 and my youngest was 4. Each of these were 3 night cruises. It was a fine length. The last one we did my kids were 9 and 5. We went for a week with friends. It was probably my favorite, the extra days gave us time to explore the ship. We hung with friends or did stuff on our own, very laid back. My kids have never been fans of clubs or camps, so they never wanted to go to the kids club. But that’s ok, we are used to it.
I want to go again on the newest ship sometime. But I may wait until my kids can both go to the tween club (ages 11-14) - need to wait about 18 months and hit the 9 month span my kids would be 11 and 14.

Yeah I'm of the I don't know if my kids will be all about the kids club, but I want them both to have the ability to go there if they wind up liking it. I'm probably going to include friends and maybe my parents once I plan it out.
 


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