How was the cruise for your toddler / baby?

[hornemom]

Planning my 1st Disney Cruise for Spring 06 when my daughter turns 3. I am wondering what your experiences were traveling with a toddler or baby- what the programs were like, ect. Any suggestions or comments?

 

[lindakmonty]

I first took my son when he was 18 months, then again when he was 2 1/2 and again just in Dec. right before he turned 4 and it was wonderful. Easy with umbrella stroller. it was nice to see the difference in his reaction to the characters. Last time he cried after Mickey he didn't want to leave. and the staff is wonderful. they are right there to help carry plates, or cut up food... that sort of thing. they make it so nice when you have little ones!! take some zip locks so you can grab chic. fingers, or order room service to have cookies or juice at your room for her. they are wonderful and you will have an incredible cruise for sure!

oh yeah, Flounders Nursery is great. if you go before she is 3 you only pay the tax for her to go like $120 and $6 per hour nursery, for the 7 nights verses full child price after 3 but she can go to Oceaneer club ...free!! both are great! they have remembered my son each time we go which is incredible...!!!

 

[dletz]

My suggestion if you're planning on waiting until she is 3 is to plan a trip when you think she will be potty trained. The kids can not be left in the kids clubs (though my understanding is you can stay with them) if they can not use the bathroom on their own. With the young ones, while they hope for no accidents they no it's not possible and are very understanding. However if it's obvious they're not trained they won't let them stay. My daughter loved the kids clubs, and wouldn't not have liked us to have had to stay, or to only be allowed in there when we were. When you pay for a 3 year old part of your cost is for the clubs and if they can't use them due to not being potty trained you have to decide if it's worth it to you or not. When we booked our cruise we booked with the understanding that if she weren't trained by the time final payment was due, we would cancel our trip. We did use the incentive of being able to go on the mickey boat. She had a wonderful trip. We're now schedule for the August Repo Cruise and she can't wait. She's already planning how much time away from mom and dad she'll have.

Donna

 

[lbgraves]

Our DD turned 3 two months before our first cruise. I do not regret it at all!!! There are many magical memories with her from that cruise. She was only recently PTd so I took her to the club for one of the activities to see how she did. She went one night for an hour or so with her 5 yo brother but never wanted to go back. She always fussed for a few seconds when we took her to PS at this point so this didn't surprise me at all. We never planned to go to Palo so we weren't disappointed. We chose DCL because we wanted the best family cruise and I honestly think that we found it. DH's job takes him away from home alot and this was a time for the four of us to spend as much time together as possible. I think that she enjoyed all the attention she got from DH & me when our DS was in the club. We spent alot of time up at the Mickey pool, got an ice cream from Scoops to get her back to the room to change without a fuss , and DH took her to the movies a couple afternoons to help her nap. I will never forget her face the first time she met Cinderella...priceless! She was like that with all the princesses, but Cinderella made it extra special for her/us because she called DD by name every time she saw us on the ship...which was every day, sometimes twice. She would get down to her eyelevel and ask about what she had done that day & all DD could do was smile or stand just in awe with her mouth opened shaking her head yes or no. She loved watching all the shows and after we were home proceeded to put on productions. I would suggest taking a stroller with you or using one of the ship's. On our first cruise DS wouldn't wake up for dinner so we dressed him & put him in the stroller. On our second both kids were sleeping so we did the same thing.

On our second cruise she couldn't wait to see Cinderella again & show her the new princess dress that she had. I don't think that a child can be too young to enjoy the magic of a Disney cruise. I want to make as many memories as possible while mine are still young enough to fully believe in the Magic.

 

[mickeyboat]

I think potty training is the key here. Your DD will not be able to use the Club alone, and she will be limited to "swimming" in one ear of the Mickey Pool.

But you can still have a great cruise with her even without these things.

My DD's were 3 and 4 when we cruised. They were potty-trained, but didn't enjoy the Club as much as we would have liked. They tired easily and fell asleep during dinner a couple of nights and at every show we took them to. We still had a great time.

Hope you do too.

Denae