How young is to young for a cruise?

[DisneyWishes14]

We took DS on his first DCL cruise when he was about 3 1/2. It wasn't great. I think he just got so overwhelmed by everything. He had so many meltdowns. I knew going in he would not go in the kids club alone, so that was out. And I knew there would be no lounging by the pool for me! It just became so much work. We actually had better luck with WDW vacations when he was that age. He seemed to do better on trips where he could chill in a stroller if need be. I took him on his next cruise when he was 6 and that went much, MUCH better!

 

[NJlauren]

Thanks everyone!

Looks like most think I wouldn’t be crazy to take an infant/under 3 year old! Looking into next year!

 

[mousefan73]

Honestly, we traveled a lot with our kids from birth to 3. Because we had no choice. I am not going to let my baby keep me from traveling. So when we traveled we made sure the ammenties made OUR lives easier. To be honest an infant and young toddler is not even going to realize they are on a boat. I think a cruise is perfect as you have your rooom right there. to nap, change diapers etc... There is also the nursery for alone time. Just might be a balancing act who watches the kids when.

 

[FireflyTrance]

I am going next year when my son will be 8 months old (well I assume, he isn't born yet )

The last Disney cruise I went on, there were tons and tons of kids under age 3. If you are going to cruise with a kid that young I think it's good to pick a line that is friendly to kids. Disney is especially friendly to young kids. A few others are as well. Some aren't.

If you're worried about it, you could do a shorter 3-5 day cruise and see how it goes.

 

[NJlauren]

I am going next year when my son will be 8 months old (well I assume, he isn't born yet )

The last Disney cruise I went on, there were tons and tons of kids under age 3. If you are going to cruise with a kid that young I think it's good to pick a line that is friendly to kids. Disney is especially friendly to young kids. A few others are as well. Some aren't.

If you're worried about it, you could do a shorter 3-5 day cruise and see how it goes.

Haha! I’m actually looking at a cruise and this baby would be 8ish months too also assuming since baby is also not born yet! Looking at a 5 day cruise and 2 days seeing family near by.

We just got back from wdw with our 3 and a half year old and looking to plan the next big trip!

 

[NJlauren]

Honestly, we traveled a lot with our kids from birth to 3. Because we had no choice. I am not going to let my baby keep me from traveling. So when we traveled we made sure the ammenties made OUR lives easier. To be honest an infant and young toddler is not even going to realize they are on a boat. I think a cruise is perfect as you have your rooom right there. to nap, change diapers etc... There is also the nursery for alone time. Just might be a balancing act who watches the kids when.

We haven’t held back from traveling with DD, but a cruise would be new! Happy to hear so many people had great experiences!

 

[cadien]

I know one challenge with under 3's can be the risk of meltdowns when they see the pools but can't go in. Especially if an older sibling can.

Not a reason to put off cruising but something to look out for.

 

[Sarah Fallon]

What is the youngest you would take a child on a cruise?

I know 6 months is the youngest they allowed but I was thinking 3 so they can use kid clubs... is it silly to wait till 3?

4 year age difference in kids if that matters. So if I wait till child 2 is 3 older DD will be 7

We did a 7 day Mediterranean cruise just after my daughter turned 1 and had a great time. I think it all comes down to your expectations. We did s family cruise so we were able to have an adult night while my parents watched her.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

We did our first cruise last month when my kids were 4 and 18 months. We had a blast. We were on a shorter on (4 nights) and were so busy we only went to the pools with the kids once. My DD (the toddler) was a little scared of the sprays in Nemo’s Reef at first but still had fun.

My kids did the club/nursery and were fine. DS never would’ve tolerated it at DD’s age, but she only cried for about 10 seconds and that was it. And my son did great. We practiced a lot with my son leading up to it, using the daycare at our Y and at our grocery store.

Dinners were a little tough the first two nights - for whatever reason DD was not thrilled with the high chairs. But definitely not a reason not to do it. We did a great family friendly beach excursion in St. Thomas, had an amazing at sea day with a few nursery hours in the morning and some adult pool time , and Castaway key is of course great.

I’ve taken my kids on vacation multiple times each year of their lives and their are pros and cons to each age. Babies can be so portable and just hang out wherever. I liked that my daughter was old enough to play on the beach (with extreme supervision of course) and old enough to walk, but still little enough that we could stick her in our umbrella stroller and cart her around.

We’re going to do a longer cruise in 2 years, and I’m really excited for that age too. I think it’ll be even better when they’re 3.5 and 6 years old. I would just pick a time that works for you, and your kids are however old they’re going to be.

 

[Dug720]

We did our first cruise last month when my kids were 4 and 18 months. We had a blast. We were on a shorter on (4 nights) and were so busy we only went to the pools with the kids once. My DD (the toddler) was a little scared of the sprays in Nemo’s Reef at first but still had fun.

My kids did the club/nursery and were fine. DS never would’ve tolerated it at DD’s age, but she only cried for about 10 seconds and that was it. And my son did great. We practiced a lot with my son leading up to it, using the daycare at our Y and at our grocery store.

Dinners were a little tough the first two nights - for whatever reason DD was not thrilled with the high chairs. But definitely not a reason not to do it. We did a great family friendly beach excursion in St. Thomas, had an amazing at sea day with a few nursery hours in the morning and some adult pool time , and Castaway key is of course great.

I’ve taken my kids on vacation multiple times each year of their lives and their are pros and cons to each age. Babies can be so portable and just hang out wherever. I liked that my daughter was old enough to play on the beach (with extreme supervision of course) and old enough to walk, but still little enough that we could stick her in our umbrella stroller and cart her around.

We’re going to do a longer cruise in 2 years, and I’m really excited for that age too. I think it’ll be even better when they’re 3.5 and 6 years old. I would just pick a time that works for you, and your kids are however old they’re going to be.

And how did your daughter do not being allowed in the pools? Or is she fully potty trained?

 

[DietCokeMommy]

And how did your daughter do not being allowed in the pools? Or is she fully potty trained?

She was too young to notice or care. DH and I split up with the kids and he took our fully potty trained son to the pool, while I took her to Nemo’s Reef. This is an area where being slightly younger was probably an advantage. With her personality, I could see her being upset if she was closer to 3 and not able to join her brother in the pool.

 

[motherof5]

What is the youngest you would take a child on a cruise?

I know 6 months is the youngest they allowed but I was thinking 3 so they can use kid clubs... is it silly to wait till 3?

4 year age difference in kids if that matters. So if I wait till child 2 is 3 older DD will be 7

I went with a 2 almost 3 year old. Couldn't go into the kids club for free had to pay and he was never with strangers so I kept him with me. It was alot of fun. My oldest was 9. The 2 year old doesn't remember any of it and you pay, unless you book on a cruise with 3rd & 4th passenger is free and only pay taxes (which I did) So overall wasn't expensive. I just hate to wait until younger ones are older for the older ones to enjoy things. Like is too short and these memories are worth it. Don't worry about age. My sister took my niece and she was 6 months. Her older son was 3 and went in the kids areas and danced and had a blast. Those are memories her and I will always share, even if the kids don't remember. Enjoy.

 

[Shanti]

It's all up to personal preference. If you want to take your baby and/or toddler on the cruise, you'll probably love it. Personally, I wouldn't consider it. We can only cruise during high season. And for the money I spend, it wouldn't be worthwhile for me to have to do everything on an infant's schedule, worry about diapers/pull-ups, feedings, naps, separation anxiety, tantrums, etc. That's work, and I don't want to work on a cruise that I paid a lot of money for. But others have different situations: some are given cruises as gifts from parents, some cruise during off-season when it's cheaper, and some have a lot of money & just don't care about the cost. So it really depends on your circumstances & personality, whether it would be a good idea for you.

 

[quandrea]

My baby went where I wanted to go. I was spending all day with him anyway; might as well be in a nicer place than home.

We weren’t in the financial situation to cruise then so we didn’t, but we camped and stayed at bnbs and all that when he was bitty.

This is our parenting philosophy. Our twins joined us in Russia and the Baltic at eight months. We had a five year old as well. Trip of a lifetime.

 

[caitcance]

I’ll be cruising in a few weeks with my almost 2 year old (and 3 other kids). I feel like of all family vacations to take with a toddler, DCL is one of the easiest because they cater to small children and we have the option of the nursery to get some breaks.
Even without that though, I wouldn’t hesitate to travel with a baby or toddler. I’m on my 4th kid now so if I never travelled with a baby or toddler I would have had to take ten years off of traveling
I’ve gone to Mexico with an 8 month old, 3, and 5 year old and did WDW with a 2, 5, and 6 year old. Both amazing trips I will never forget. Now my kids love traveling as much as I do which is awesome because I get to have travel buddies for life

 

[mmouse37]

We will be traveling with our 7 and 2 year old next month. The cruise is a very generous gift from my parents (who are also going). So we will figure it out with the 2 year old. Already booked some nursery time. She will hopefully have fun at Nemo's reef (helps that my 7 year old can also be there with her). And I suspect she will just want to explore a lot. We plan on going to the open houses in the kids club as well. My 7 year old has declared that we will never see her as she will be at the kids club all the time. We shall see.

Actually, when we had our 2.2 year old granddaughter on the Magic in October older kids were asked to leave the splash area. They only wanted parents and 3 and under in there. At least that was our experience. This was on the Magic.

Our 2.2 year old granddaughter had a ball and still talks about the Mickey boat every single day. We wanted the whole family to go on the cruise by our DIL was too far along in her pregnancy so my husband and I asked if we could just take our GD with us on the cruise. They said fine. We didn't have to fly as the cruise was out of NYC so that was a plus. Our GD was fantastic on the cruise. She napped everyday in the cabin, only had one meltdown on day 3 when she finally realize her mom and dad were not on the cruise. We explained we would see them again in a few days and she was fine the rest of the cruise. It helped that we had a WDW day on the cruise and some of her friends would be at Disney so we had that to keep her attention on. She loved dressing up in her princess dresses, loved dancing before dinner at Promenade Lounge, loved walking/running along Deck 4, loved seeing the characters, was pretty good at late dinner (one night we ate at Cabanas), loved the fireworks, loved Castaway Cay, etc. She did want to go in the regular pools when we passed them and we had to use distraction techniques (oh look ice cream!) but it all worked out. She really did love the splash area.

She was way easier to travel with than we expected and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I wouldn't trade our experience with her on that trip for the world.

MJ

 

[cyclenut]

A really subjective question. Some take younger kids because they want to go on a cruise vacation and as long as they kids will have a good time, it doesn't really matter what they remember about it.

If they question though is about a truly memorable experience for the kids, I'd wait until they are at least 6 or 7. How many have any vivid memories of their childhood before that age? I have memories of a summer national tour vacation we all took as a family when I was entering first grade. My sister (one year younger) remembers very little. Even then, it is very spotty. My dad thinks that all my memories are just rehashes of stories, until I provided him some information we never really talked about. Of course, I had some details wrong, but I remember some. Anything before that is much more spotty.

If you are trying to create memories, save the money and do something else. If you want to know how old they should be so you can take them along on YOUR vacation, different answer.

 

[CamColt]

We took our kids on their first cruise at 8 months and 3 1/2 years old. The 8 mo did great, but the 3 1/2 yo was a bit difficult.

 

[mhalvers]

We took the 4-night DCL cruise out of Port Canaveral this January with our almost 3 year old (by 1 month) and our 6 month old. It was amazing--I've already booked another for 2019! Our daughter is potty trained so she was fine to go in the pool. I was disappointed at first that she couldn't do the kids club, except then discovered they have open house hours so she still had plenty of time to play there (w/ us by her side). Loved that there were dance parties every day. They were a hit with all the toddlers. Loved the Disney movies on demand (great for quiet time pre-nap). The dual sinks (in two separate bathrooms) made bottle washing easy b/c I could soak the bottles in the shower room sink and still have the sink in the bathroom available. They gave us a diaper genie to use. On ship laundry was put to good use with our baby. We had enough space under the bed for all our suitcases and the stroller. DCL made it easy to travel with little kids.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

We took the 4-night DCL cruise out of Port Canaveral this January with our almost 3 year old (by 1 month) and our 6 month old. It was amazing--I've already booked another for 2019! Our daughter is potty trained so she was fine to go in the pool.

Just so you know (and anyone else reading this), you’re not supposed to bring kids in the pools unless they’re 3, even if they’re potty trained.