First Time Traveling with Young Child

[Doingitagain]

This summer we are going on a Fantasy 11 night cruise with our 14 month old (at time of cruise) granddaughter. We are platinum cruiser with DCL, but we haven't cruised with a young child before! We have six adults (all frequent DCL cruisers) and four staterooms, so she has lots of loving help!

I have searched the boards for helpful threads, but still feel like there is so much I don't know! I am reaching out to all of you for helpful suggestions!

We are staying at Animal Kingdom Jambo House for three nights prior to the cruise. We are taking private transportation to the port. Our daughter, her husband, and the baby are in a connecting verandah stateroom to me and my husband.

Car seat -- we are planning to bring a car seat.

Food -- Any suggestions on what we should bring or arrange for with a 14 month old?

Diapers -- Any recommendations on how to bring diapers for two weeks?

Stroller -- We are not going to the parks before the cruise, but I assume we will want a stroller at Jambo House and perhaps for shore excursions. I don't recall many strollers on the ship, and we have six adults to help carry her. We have everything available from an umbrella stroller to a Keenz wagon (it folds up to the size of a suitcase).

Equipment -- Do we just call ahead to arrange for a pack and play, diaper genie, and high chair on the ship?

ID -- Do we need anything other than her birth certificate? Is there any special paperwork or signups we need to do? Any suggestions on the Minor Authorization Form since she might go off the ship with a non-parent adult?

Babysitting -- I read we can pre-book 10 hours at It's A Small World. She is fine with strangers now, but not sure how she will do in six months. We plan to try this during a Palo Brunch and Palo Dinner. Durig the cruise, we can take turns staying with her while others enjoy the adult sections of the ship.

Pre-booking -- I read that we can pre-book character greetings for Princess Gathering and Frozen -- when are they normally held? Can we also pre-book a character breakfast? Any other suggestions?

Thank you so much for any suggestions you have to help us make this a magical vacation!

 

[Jess_S]

We cruised with my son when he was that age. I suggest an umbrella stroller so that it can fold up and be stashed away. You do need to request the pack and play. Another option is to request bedrails on the foldout couch. That worked well for us. I think we requested the high chair too. It was definitely provided. We just brought bags for diapers and didn't borrow a diaper genie.

 

[lorimay]

The first time we traveled with our granddaughter on a cruise she was 22 months, it was only a day in Disney and a 7 night cruise.
She ate whatever was offered on the ship at that point. You should be able to accommodate her without issues on the cruise there is such a variety. The MDR servers will be happy to get what she wants to eat. They love to please.
As far as diapers, my daughter just brought a box of Pampers along and put them in the luggage.
She didn't do great in the nursery at first, she was a real mommas girl back then. But the ladies in there are so sweet and played with her and took great care of her while she visited. When she was picked up she was usually in someones arms asleep.

They just had their kids Birth Certificates with them. Yes, if you want to take her off the ship your daughter will have to sign an authorization form.

EDIT TO ADD: I believe you can have a grocery delivery at Disney to help with things for baby to eat there. It may be called The Green Grocer if I remember correctly.

Have a great time.

 

[MrsDuck]

This summer we are going on a Fantasy 11 night cruise with our 14 month old (at time of cruise) granddaughter. We are platinum cruiser with DCL, but we haven't cruised with a young child before! We have six adults (all frequent DCL cruisers) and four staterooms, so she has lots of loving help!

I have searched the boards for helpful threads, but still feel like there is so much I don't know! I am reaching out to all of you for helpful suggestions!

We are staying at Animal Kingdom Jambo House for three nights prior to the cruise. We are taking private transportation to the port. Our daughter, her husband, and the baby are in a connecting verandah stateroom to me and my husband.

Car seat -- we are planning to bring a car seat.

Food -- Any suggestions on what we should bring or arrange for with a 14 month old? I'm sailing next week with my 14mo old. He eats basically whatever now so we aren't planning on bringing anything special for him. Your servers, as you know, go above and beyond if your kiddo is on a "kick" and only wants X food.

Diapers -- Any recommendations on how to bring diapers for two weeks? You may want to ship a box. I've also read that people line their suitcases with them.

Stroller -- We are not going to the parks before the cruise, but I assume we will want a stroller at Jambo House and perhaps for shore excursions. I don't recall many strollers on the ship, and we have six adults to help carry her. We have everything available from an umbrella stroller to a Keenz wagon (it folds up to the size of a suitcase). We are going to "rent" a stroller on board. They're first come, first served with a $200 deposit that you get back upon return. We don't know if we will use it or not but want to be prepared.

Equipment -- Do we just call ahead to arrange for a pack and play, diaper genie, and high chair on the ship? We called ahead and requested a pack n play and high chair. I was told a diaper genie is first come first served.

ID -- Do we need anything other than her birth certificate? Is there any special paperwork or signups we need to do? Any suggestions on the Minor Authorization Form since she might go off the ship with a non-parent adult?

Babysitting -- I read we can pre-book 10 hours at It's A Small World. She is fine with strangers now, but not sure how she will do in six months. We plan to try this during a Palo Brunch and Palo Dinner. Durig the cruise, we can take turns staying with her while others enjoy the adult sections of the ship.

Pre-booking -- I read that we can pre-book character greetings for Princess Gathering and Frozen -- when are they normally held? Can we also pre-book a character breakfast? Any other suggestions?

Thank you so much for any suggestions you have to help us make this a magical vacation!

The rest, I can't help you with but should know more next week after we sail!

 

[Mommb]

Stroller -- We are not going to the parks before the cruise, but I assume we will want a stroller at Jambo House and perhaps for shore excursions. I don't recall many strollers on the ship, and we have six adults to help carry her. We have everything available from an umbrella stroller to a Keenz wagon (it folds up to the size of a suitcase).

When we traveled with a 3-year-old, we used an umbrella stroller for shore excursions and only once on the ship. When my daughter fell asleep at dinner, my husband dashed back to the cabin and brought the stroller to the dining room. We then put our daughter in it (still asleep) while we finished dinner, figuring it was more comfortable than sitting with her head on the table. The hallways on the ship are narrow, and sometimes have trays or service carts on the floor, so it's not easy to navigate with a large stroller. If you have several adult helpers and a small child, you may want to have someone carry the child down the hall while someone else carries the folded stroller as you head off of the ship in ports. Keep in mind that anything you bring onto the ship will need to be stored in a stateroom. We had success putting the car seat in a closet and the stroller under the bed.

Pre-booking -- I read that we can pre-book character greetings for Princess Gathering and Frozen -- when are they normally held? Can we also pre-book a character breakfast? Any other suggestions?

I'm not sure if there are standard days and times for the bookable character greetings; it probably depends on the itinerary. On our European cruise a few years ago, the Frozen gathering was in the morning on a sea day and the Princess Gathering in late afternoon on a different day (or maybe we had a choice of 2 days for each). Since your cruise is more than 6 days long, you should be able to pre-book a character breakfast. Those are usually on sea days or days with late port arrivals.

I agree that the dining room servers are great at entertaining small children and making sure they get the food they want. (When my daughter fell asleep, our server built her a bed from 2 chairs.)

Happy planning!

 

[pezgirlroy]

First off have fun. It will go wonderfully. Our first cruise my youngest was 2 (a bit older but still) and things went very smoothly. Couple of things. How are you getting to Jambo House and the Port? You may have mentioned this. If you are taking Disney shuttle transportation then you don't need a car seat (unless you are flying with it). As far as a stroller, I would recommend a very light umbrella stroller and maybe a carrier like an ergo. The nursery staff are wonderful. Request pack n play and a diaper genie for the room. Hope that helps.

 

[Mommb]

One more suggestion: Your granddaughter should attend the Small World open house on embarkation day, so she can play with adults she knows and meet the staff. While you're at Palo, make sure the staff knows -- they may work especially hard to keep her from wanting to leave so you can enjoy your meal. (Of course, they will contact you if she can't be calmed or if there's a problem.)

 

[coast2coastmickey]

I'll do my best to answer from my point of view. We took our 18 month old on a 4-night on the Dream last month:

Food -- Any suggestions on what we should bring or arrange for with a 14 month old?
***We brought a couple of pouches of applesauce, some goldfish, and some yogurt bites. She ate well for breakfast, lunch, and dinner no matter what was on the menu, but it was nice to be able to bust out some goldfish/yogurt bites to keep her occupied if we were sitting in the theater waiting for a show to begin or while waiting in line to see a character. I don't think we ended up touching the applesauce, as our meals were more than big enough. We also snacked on french fries and ice cream on the pool deck, and of course she was more than happy to eat that too!

Diapers -- Any recommendations on how to bring diapers for two weeks?
***We packed like 8 diapers per day in our luggage and brought them from home. We did 2 days in the parks before the cruise and 2 days after, so we figured that finding space in the luggage would be easier than trying to locate them in Florida or depending on Amazon Prime.

Stroller -- We are not going to the parks before the cruise, but I assume we will want a stroller at Jambo House and perhaps for shore excursions. I don't recall many strollers on the ship, and we have six adults to help carry her. We have everything available from an umbrella stroller to a Keenz wagon (it folds up to the size of a suitcase).
***We have a City Mini jogging stroller since we did park days, but while on the cruise, it stayed folded up under our stateroom bed 100% of the time. We hate waiting for elevators (especially on the boats) and it was much easier to hold her and deal with that rather than try to navigate even a small stroller in crowded areas.

Equipment -- Do we just call ahead to arrange for a pack and play, diaper genie, and high chair on the ship?
***I called ahead to have them notify them that we needed all 3 of those things. The stateroom had a diaper genie (was a different brand) and pack and play already in there when we arrived, and there was always a high chair ready for us for dinner times. For breakfast and lunches there are always plenty of employees ready to grab a high chair for you.

ID -- Do we need anything other than her birth certificate? Is there any special paperwork or signups we need to do? Any suggestions on the Minor Authorization Form since she might go off the ship with a non-parent adult?
***Not for us since it was a round trip Bahamian cruise, though requirements are different depending on the itinerary, so a passport may end up being a requirement. Check with Disney.

Pre-booking -- I read that we can pre-book character greetings for Princess Gathering and Frozen -- when are they normally held?
***On ours they were usually in the morning around 9am/10am

Can we also pre-book a character breakfast?
***I think so but our cruise did not have a character breakfast since it was so short.

Any other suggestions?
***Have fun!

 

[Quellman]

This summer we are going on a Fantasy 11 night cruise with our 14 month old (at time of cruise) granddaughter. We are platinum cruiser with DCL, but we haven't cruised with a young child before! We have six adults (all frequent DCL cruisers) and four staterooms, so she has lots of loving help!

I have searched the boards for helpful threads, but still feel like there is so much I don't know! I am reaching out to all of you for helpful suggestions!

We are staying at Animal Kingdom Jambo House for three nights prior to the cruise. We are taking private transportation to the port. Our daughter, her husband, and the baby are in a connecting verandah stateroom to me and my husband.

Car seat -- we are planning to bring a car seat.
You can probably store it in the closet and put luggage under the bed.

Food -- Any suggestions on what we should bring or arrange for with a 14 month old?
Most kids are entrenched in solid food at this point. We brought many pre-packaged snacks, goldfish, go go squeeze apple sauce, gummy snacks. But that's really up to what the kid eats and the parents feel like they need. Bring a cou0ple of books and toys as well.

Diapers -- Any recommendations on how to bring diapers for two weeks?
Consider making a target run, amazon prime delivery, or something to animal kingdom lodge. Keeps you from packing it all into a suitcase and paying to fly it down. You can actually tag boxes just like you would with luggage and it will arrive at your room on board. Consider looking at what ports there are and if there is a store you can top off at. We did a 7 day, and thought we had planned enough, nope. A little bit of tummy trouble had us running for more at the first port stop!

Stroller -- We are not going to the parks before the cruise, but I assume we will want a stroller at Jambo House and perhaps for shore excursions. I don't recall many strollers on the ship, and we have six adults to help carry her. We have everything available from an umbrella stroller to a Keenz wagon (it folds up to the size of a suitcase).

Umbrella strollers are fine. When we cruised with a kid that small , we never did excursions anyway. The stroller was great for bringing duty free back to the ship though! Never used it while on the boat.

Equipment -- Do we just call ahead to arrange for a pack and play, diaper genie, and high chair on the ship? Yes, it will be an option during online check in and if it isn't in the room when you arrive, just let the stateroom attendant know.

ID -- Do we need anything other than her birth certificate? Is there any special paperwork or signups we need to do? Any suggestions on the Minor Authorization Form since she might go off the ship with a non-parent adult?
Same paperwork that everyone else has, birth certificate will be fine. You can get the minor authorization form online whenyou check in, at port, or at guest services. Turn it in and you'll be fine.


Babysitting -- I read we can pre-book 10 hours at It's A Small World. She is fine with strangers now, but not sure how she will do in six months. We plan to try this during a Palo Brunch and Palo Dinner. Durig the cruise, we can take turns staying with her while others enjoy the adult sections of the ship.

We did the open house, and they have morning 0pen houses on the sea days. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM. Kids need toys and activities. It also gets them used to the space and the people with you there. When we arrived for our scheduled time, our guy was basically banging down the door to get in!

Pre-booking -- I read that we can pre-book character greetings for Princess Gathering and Frozen -- when are they normally held? Can we also pre-book a character breakfast? Any other suggestions?
Those meet and greats are all mornings, as is any offered character breakfast. Book it for everyone who wants to go, even if they don't want to meet the characters, you can't stand in line without a ticket.


Thank you so much for any suggestions you have to help us make this a magical vacation!

My responses in red.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Food and Diapers: You can have Garden Grocer or Amazon Prime deliver diapers and baby food/formula/baby cereal/snacks to your room at AKL. Easier than packing them for flight. The MDRs also offer pureed vegetables and such on request. Remember to bring swim diapers if she will want to go in the splash area (no babies in swim diapers allowed in pools).

Stroller: You can rent a stroller from Kingdom Strollers for AKL, but if you're not going to the parks I don't think it's worth it even though the halls at AKL are very long. I would just bring an umbrella stroller if your stay is resort-only. We'll be bringing our gb Pockit collapsable lightweight stroller for the airport with our almost 3 year old, he's used it since he was a year old. You may want to also bring a lightweight sling or baby carrier, I wore the Lillebaby breathable mesh carrier when I took my little one to WDW when he was 18 months old.

Bed Rails/Pack n Play etc: The crib and high chair requests can be made on the website, I just requested bed rails and a booster seat for my little guy online. I think you need to call for the diaper genie.

Character Breakfast/Princess: On our cruise, they are on sea days or late arriving port days. You can book those online as soon as your check in window opens.

Nursery: You can book up to 18 hours in advance, also online.

Have a great trip!

 

[LNMom]

I am a big believer in passports, even for kids. My son got his at 10 months old. If anything happens the baby will need it.

It sounds like you've thought of everything. As a mom to young kids, be sure to help your daughter as much as you can. She probably needs a vaca more than anybody else going on the trip!

Happy Sailing!

 

[scrapbookingpro]

We did a seven day cruise when our twins were 13 months old. I am envious of all the extra adult help you will have, although we at least had grandma with us.
We did bring a regular stroller for each baby. We used them when we got off the ship, but also for naps on the ship. Without the "nap stroller" one of us would be stuck in the room every afternoon at nap time, so having the stroller allowed us to roam the ship with our sleeping babies. However, having the strollers was also kind of a pain, having to constantly find a place to stash it, fitting it onto the elevator, staying out of people's way, etc.

We took advantage of ALL the open house hours at both the nursery and the kids club, because it was something fun for the twins to do. They loved playing with all the toys and watching the giant video screens. We also went to "Toddler Time" a few days, again to entertain them. We took them splashing in the baby area of the pool. They also enjoyed trying to climb all the stairs on the ship and hanging out in the atrium. They didn't make it through dinners most nights, so we would take turns taking them back to the room and the servers would always bring any unfinished food to the room for us (so great, thank you Disney).

They ate lots of things from the buffet, plus ice cream and pool food and all of that, but I agree with previous posts that said to bring your own snacks. You are going to want to be able to grab some crackers or puffs without worrying if you can find some on the ship. We would also take cereal and yogurt from the breakfast buffet and use it later for snacks.

We used the pack and plays (one in our room and one in grandma's room) and the diaper genies. The pack and plays take up a lot of room, but we got used to it. We also used the bathtub a lot, which may sound silly, but it was something they loved to do. They sat in there and played with empty cups.

We also went to tons of character greets, went to all the main shows (but sat in the back in case we had to run for it), participated in the Diaper Dash, used room service a lot....

On Castaway Cay, take advantage of the wagons and the kiddie splash area.

That cruise wan't relaxing for us, but it was so much fun and we got some of the best pictures ever. Have a good cruise!!!

 

[Doingitagain]

These responses are so helpful, thank you all very much!!!

 

[Riss]

We a 2-year-old, a month shy of 3, on the Dream this past September and like many, while we took his actual large stroller with us, since we were going to WDW after the cruise, we barely used it on the ship. We only used it when we were in port, taking it off with us, and then maybe once or twice when he was sleeping and we went to see the fireworks or something. We did kind of see it as a hassle to deal with because it was so big. However, it did comfortably fit in one of the closets when it was folded, so that was nice and convenient.

His mother did get a passport for him. Our circumstances were a bit different, though, since we babysit him and neither of his parents were going, but my mother definitely wanted him to have one just in case anything were to happen. She felt a bit more reassured that way.

One thing I would definitely make sure of is filling out the Minor Authorization Form. That way anyone with your party is able to bring your granddaughter on or off of the ship. It should be available for you to do during the online check-in, or for her parents to do during that case. All it entails is pretty much just naming the people that the minor, your granddaughter, is able to go on and off the ship with, since you have to scan your Key to the World card every time. In our case, we had 2 connecting staterooms and the child was listed together with my parents and my youngest sister in theirs, so we just filled out the form so the remaining 3 of us in the other stateroom were able to take him on and off. My brother and I did bring him back once when we were at a port so he could go to one of the dance parties on the ship and we had no issue getting on without anyone from the stateroom he was listed in.