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

[squirk]

My youngest was about 2.5 years as well when we first sailed.

One thing that we learned early on - if you little guy has foods that he loves, your lead server can often make arrangements to have that food waiting for your family when you a seated in the MDR.

Our little guy was too young for the crayon activities on the kids’ menus to occupy his mind, and sometimes didn’t have the patience to wait for orders to be taken and food to be served (even though the servers usually do a great job of getting the kids’ orders out first and fast). We found it helped immensely with dinner when he was able to immediately dig into a bowl of bananas and strawberries after being seated.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I personally waited until my youngest was potty trained AND 3, so that both kids could take advantage of the pools and kids’ clubs. (She was potty trained at 2, but if she hadn’t been trained by 3 I would have waited longer.) So my youngest was 3 1/2 and my oldest was 6 1/2 on our first Disney cruise. I honestly think those were perfect ages. They both loved the kids’ clubs and the pools. My youngest loved the characters while my oldest was more excited about the water slide and pin trading. We all enjoyed watching a movie in the theater. Dinners were a big hit with the kids too.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I wanted to add that our first Disney cruise was 5 days. I thought that was a really good length to have plenty of time to explore the ship. But I’d love to do a 7 day next time. I’d personally want a minimum of 4 days.

 

[HokieRaven5]

I wanted to add that our first Disney cruise was 5 days. I thought that was a really good length to have plenty of time to explore the ship. But I’d love to do a 7 day next time. I’d personally want a minimum of 4 days.

Thanks for this as well! For the time being with DWs hesitancy and her schedule as an educator going with a 4 night for us is probably the best stepping board for cruising.

I'd also prefer longer just to have more experiences with the ships and ports, but for the first one I think a 4 night will be a perfect introduction.

 

[dancebum]

Now is the best time. They are old enough to go to the kids clubs for free and young enough to believe in all the magic. Nothing beats the look on their little faces at this age. GO NOW LOL!!! Our first cruise our daughter was 1.5 years old and we did five days, we had the best time and could have stayed longer. That being said, we did the 14 day panama canal crossing when she was four and it was our favorite by far because she was old enough to "go to the club" where she made friends. If DW hasn't been on a Disney Cruise and is a Disney fan she will not be disappointed. We are all a bit weary about sailing during COVID. I'm hoping the littles can get vaccinated before our next cruise in April.

 

[Cheburashka]

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).

I recommend waiting until both are not only potty trained, but will also be willing and content to be at kids' clubs for the amount of time you want them there. The clubs will not keep kids who are begging to leave- they'll try to redirect but if it doesn't work, they'll contact you and ask you to pick the child up. So just be aware of that before you plan too much adult time while your kids are little & might still be on the clingy side. I've read complaints from parents who expected lots of adult time, but whose kids weren't happy at the clubs, so their adult time was cut short. If you're not looking for adult time, then this isn't an issue.

 

[HokieRaven5]

I recommend waiting until both are not only potty trained, but will also be willing and content to be at kids' clubs for the amount of time you want them there. The clubs will not keep kids who are begging to leave- they'll try to redirect but if it doesn't work, they'll contact you and ask you to pick the child up. So just be aware of that before you plan too much adult time while your kids are little & might still be on the clingy side. I've read complaints from parents who expected lots of adult time, but whose kids weren't happy at the clubs, so their adult time was cut short. If you're not looking for adult time, then this isn't an issue.

Yeah I have no expectations as far as adult time is concerned. My oldest could probably spend all day doing the activities and my youngest would say no to them or vice/versa. We will also have a grandparent along for the journey to help out as well. I just want my kids to have the option/ability to do the club stuff but if they don’t want to be in there it won’t be a bother to us.

 

[Cheburashka]

Yeah I have no expectations as far as adult time is concerned. My oldest could probably spend all day doing the activities and my youngest would say no to them or vice/versa. We will also have a grandparent along for the journey to help out as well. I just want my kids to have the option/ability to do the club stuff but if they don’t want to be in there it won’t be a bother to us.

The clubs have open house hours when all ages can go in (including parents), so your child doesn't need to be potty trained to experience them at all. A little different experience than when they're only serving the club children, but still, they can play in the clubs at that time.

 

[HokieRaven5]

The clubs have open house hours when all ages can go in (including parents), so your child doesn't need to be potty trained to experience them at all. A little different experience than when they're only serving the club children, but still, they can play in the clubs at that time.

Yeah a lot can change in a year, currently scheduled to go on one of the Summer Wish sailings. My youngest is getting closer to being potty trained, so we’ll see. We’ll definitely check out the open houses when we can just to check it all out. I think I’ll be more annoyed that i won’t be able to go on that slide into the clubs like they’ll be able to…

 

[dvcdisney]

We waited until our youngest was 5 so that we can feel comfortable letting her stay in the Oceaneers Club.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

Kiddo boarded her first cruise for her 1st birthday and we were hooked..

She completed her 5th cruise for her 3rd birthday..

she’s sailed 3/4 of the ships and hopefully will complete her ‘grand slam’ for her 5th birthday…

 

[braysmommy]

My now teenager was 4 on his first DCL cruise which was 14 night transatlantic. My mom travels with us too and cruising is a great way to do multigenerational vacations! I wasn’t sure if he would like the clubs but being able to play video games the entire time was a huge change from his normally limited screen time at home

 

[Keyser]

We went on our first family cruise when my youngest was 11 months, and the older one was 7. If we can go this December, they'll be on their 6th cruise and will be 13 and 20. I'd say that the different cruises were all different - due to the ages they went, their changing interests, due to the cruise itself (Alaska was quite a bit different than a 4-night Bahamas), due to the other people (e.g. the other kids can sometimes make/break the clubs), etc. There really wasn't a right or wrong time to go - we've enjoyed all of them, though in different ways! I would say that there is a pretty big difference in being able to use the kids clubs vs. the nursery/no clubs, so if you have flexibility in timing, I'd probably wait until your kids can go in the clubs (though I woudln't let this stop you from going if you can't wait).

It does depend on what you want to get out of it: going when your kids are young might be a trip that they (and you) enjoy, but they aren't going to remember it, or at least much of it, once they're older. So, if you go when they're younger, I'd suggest focusing on things that they'll enjoy at the time, and don't worry about the idea of making life-long memories for them or something.