Is a full week cruise too long for first time cruisers with a child?

[Taylormade0503]

Hi everyone! I am looking into going on the Treasure November or December 2025. However, I’ve heard from a few places that a shorter cruise is better if you’ve never been on a cruise in your life. We will be traveling with our 4 1/2 year-old daughter. The Treasure just seems right up our alley with the theming and the Moana stage show. What are everyone’s thoughts?

 

[Mommb]

You know your child and how well she adapts to change. Some kids are happy as long as they're around people they know. Some kids are happy wherever they are. Some kids thrive on routine and don't like having it disrupted. (Of course, the same is true of adults.)

My family started with a 3 night cruise and felt it was too short -- we were just getting used to the ship when it was time to get off, and my kids really enjoyed the kids' clubs. Our next cruises, when my kids were 4 and 8 and then 5 and 9, were 7 nights and we had no issues.

Some kids don't like the kids' club and will want to spend all day with parents, but that may be no different from being at home. At least you'll be in a place with different things to do. If you daughter seems open to new experiences and you think the Treasure will appeal to your family, I'd say give it a try.

 

[insureman]

Kids are pretty adaptive so I think it's more about how the adults are going to handle the ship. You wouldn't want to find out on day 2 that you hate cruising but you still have 5 days left on a 7 day cruise. So I would try a 3 or 4 day cruise first. That's how we started off 20 years ago on DCL.

 

[morganms22]

We just returned yesterday from a week long cruise with two kids (they were first time cruisers) 5 years old and 11 months. It was great. We had seven days and still could not fit everything in. I think the longer the better….it’s a lot of work to get to the ship and get on just to leave a few days later. Especially with kids.

 

[dreamer17555]

Is there any reason to believe that motion sickness might be an issue? That would be my biggest concern. 7 days is a long time if ppl are feeling ill from the rocking of the ship

 

[o&smom]

We have almost entirely only cruised 7 night or longer. We tried our first five night last year and did not enjoy it as much...too chaotic. Never again, back to only 7 night or longer for us. We have been cruising since DD was 3 months and DS had just turned 7.

 

[Ann-CA]

I think an issue is that not everybody loves cruising. I know some people who find it claustrophobic, boring, or much more wishes they were on land. If that’s you, and that’s your first cruise and it’s 7 days, you may feel trapped.

But if you genuinely think you’ll like cruising - the pros of getting on a ship, not needing to move your stuff, having few decisions to make, resting/relaxing, and being taken places and you’ve thought through the negatives, I think a 7 day cruise is fine! I find 3 or 4 night cruises to feel a little short.

 

[unrequited23]

Our first two cruises were 5 days and we have a 4 day booked that I'm thinking of cancelling because it just seems too short. Our kids were not keen on the kids club at all, so the first trip was a lot more hands on than I expected. I think if you approach it with the mindset of a family trip vs a vacation a 7 day cruise would be ok for a first cruise.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

Hi everyone! I am looking into going on the Treasure November or December 2025. However, I’ve heard from a few places that a shorter cruise is better if you’ve never been on a cruise in your life. We will be traveling with our 4 1/2 year-old daughter. The Treasure just seems right up our alley with the theming and the Moana stage show. What are everyone’s thoughts?

I agree with previous posters that you know your children best. Our daughters were 4.5 and 1.5 for our first cruise, which was an eastern Caribbean cruise and 3 ports of call. They LOVED it. Honestly, it took them a day or two just to acclimate to the ship so I feel like a shorter cruise for them would have been too inconsistent. My older daughter spent maybe an hour each day in the kids club (if they had a specific event she wanted to do) but otherwise we were really busy with all of the other activities. They felt like they knew the princesses at the end
The way they felt at-home on the ship and with the characters was really heartfelt. My younger one still kept to schedule and napped in the room (while I enjoyed a coffee and book on the veranda).

 

[ThinkTink91]

I know people are saying you know your children best but you can't really know if they are going to be sea sick.

My step mom did a 3 day cruise to come visit me when I worked for DCL. Her and my Dad had never cruised before but I thought they would not have an issue because they've both been on whale watching boats so I thought, you've been on itty bitty boats in the ocean, a cruise ship will be fine. Boy was I wrong. She felt terrible the whole 3 days, thankfully she didn't get to the point where she was throwing up so she didn't have to isolate but she never cruised again.

My brothers girlfriend and her mom & sister were the same on their first cruise, the did a 5 day and were glad they hadn't chosen a longer itinerary, they also said while they had fun (and that's how her & my brother met ) they would never cruise again due to the feeling poopy part.

If your child gets sick (for any reason, including sea sickness) your child can not go to the kids club until medical clears them. (Basically to confirm that they were only sea sick and it's not norovirus or any other contagious illness)

 

[sponica]

We only went with a 4 night because we weren't sure if our 3 year old would be fully potty trained (she wasn't) and my 3 year old is DONE with vacation by day 3 or 4. Honestly most of the time she's ready to go home the first morning in a new place.

My older one is easy going and goes with the flow, the second one is the complete opposite.

We're doing a 7 night next August. Hopefully it goes ok.

 

[MomOTwins]

I feel like all the posts (including mine) can be summed as as follows: a 7 night cruise is great if you end up loving it, and awful if you end up hating it. We did a 3 night cruise as our first and I am so glad we did. It is much easier to "test the waters" (literally and figuratively) with a shorter cruise than to find out cruising isn't the best for you when you are "trapped" out in the middle of the ocean for a full week with nowhere else to go if you don't like the cruise ship.

For one thing, I found out I am incredibly seasick. But on a 3 night, you spend 2.5 days in port so that minimizes the time you spend feeling awful, as compared to a 7 night cruise with several days at sea. By the next cruise, I knew to start taking Bonine before the cruise and I did great. Thank goodness my kids don't get seasick though because Bonine is not recommended for under age 12, and Dramamine (which is the main medicine for kids) can make them very drowsy.

For another thing, 4 years old can be a tricky age. Some kids are late to potty training, and if not fully potty trained, then the pools and kids club are not allowed. And even if potty trained, sometimes younger children have separation anxiety and don't want to do the kids clubs--this was definitely the case for us. Bedtimes can also be a big issue--our little one never managed to stay up late enough for the evening shows and fireworks until he was about 6 or 7. Younger kids may also be too short for the aquamouse and the slides on castaway cay. We solved for this by my husband and I splitting up--one of us staying with our youngest and the other going off with the older kids--but if we only had a pre-schooler I'm not sure we would have enjoyed it nearly as much.

It also just is a fact that some people love cruises and others hate them. Have a read of some of the reviews posted to this forum. Some will tell you it was the best vacation ever. Others hated almost everything about it. Some of it can be bad luck or poor planning, but some people just don't like the activities, dining, and facilities.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Our first was a 4 night, and we hated it and hadn't planned to cruise ever again. Our kids were maybe 6 and 8, didn't want to go to kids club after trying it a couple of times, and they ended up being kind of cranky, arguing, just wanting to stay in the room, the weather on our sea day wasn't great for deck time (cool, overcast, rain - in Feb), and also not great on CC day, I had some motion sickness, and with the early dining we felt like we were still full from lunch when having to go to dinner. Our youngest was crying on debarkation day, and everyone thought it was cute that he didn't want to get off the ship. But really he was in meltdown mode from being woken up too early (after waking up at the crack of dawn every other morning on the ship). We were so relieved to be off the ship and drive away from the port.

A couple of years later we decided to try again with applying lessons learned. I think I forgot some of the unpleasant stuff and realized I had a lot more knowledge to make things go better. Plus the kids were that much older. We chose a 7 day Western Caribbean, did an excursion at each stop, enjoyed late dinner, much better weather (late April/early May), I took Dramamine each night to prevent motion issues, and we dropped the expectation that the kids would spend much time in the kids club. We also showed up to port later so that we would be able to go right to our room to drop our carry-ons and not have to fight crowds on the deck that day, as we had all been a little overwhelmed by that the first time around.

We've since been on a 5 night, and I really prefer the 7 nights as a minimum. It's just too much work & too stressful for me to get there, the boarding process, only to get off 3-4 days later. I won't go on Wish with their current 3 or 4 night itinerary. We are booked on Treasure this spring.

Anyway, I don't know if that helped any. I think the 4 night was good in the sense that it prepared us for how to do it better. But I would never plan a 4 night now. Personally, I would go for the 7 night, but just brainstorm about what to do in the event your child hates the kids club and weather is not nice for deck activities. I mean there are things to do, but 4.5 year old's have a limited amount of patience for standing in line to meet characters, and likely isn't going to want to do trivia. For us, we decided 2nd time around if our kids wanted to watch TV in the room and play video games a good part of day on a sea day, we weren't going to worry about it ... it's their vacation too. That took a lot of stress off of us to just go with the flow and not insist they try and do things they weren't interested in. Also plan fun things to do off the ship when you're on a port day. We all enjoyed our excursions and that helped me feel like it was okay to let them veg out more on the sea days.

 

[RedHead0186]

Is there any reason to believe that motion sickness might be an issue? That would be my biggest concern. 7 days is a long time if ppl are feeling ill from the rocking of the ship

Yes, that's a fair concern. If you've never been on a ship before, it's really hard to know how you/your children would react, though. Some people also get motion sickness in cars and also get seasick, while others may not get motion sick in cars but do get sea sick (and vice versa) so that's not always a good indicator.

Seas could be a little rough going in November or December, because of the time of year. If you decide to go, try to get a midship cabin on a lower deck, that will help with any seasickness. Be sure to bring some OTC meds and any other remedies you'd like-this board is full of suggestions.

To your original point, 7 nights can be a long time if someone doesn't like cruising. It's a bit of a gamble to start there, but it could be just fine. 3/4 night cruises I find to be too short; however, they can be a great way to dip your toe in the water (no pun intended) to cruising. Also, shorter cruises don't go as far, so they don't have to go quite as fast or be as much in open water, which means calmer seas and less chance of seasickness.

 

[Disturbia]

Is there any reason to believe that motion sickness might be an issue? That would be my biggest concern. 7 days is a long time if ppl are feeling ill from the rocking of the ship

Eastern Carribean is less rocky than Western and has better ports. I would book 7 days so you have some downtime to enjoy the pool areas and maybe hit the spa (highly recommend and if you have the Disney Visa card you get 20% off on port days - don’t get off at Jamaica or Nassau but we booked day 2 and the rocking motion was great). I always start Dramamine the night before and take extra gummies on top of the daily pills (they come in packs of 8 pills). By mid cruise everyone was stealing my dramamine ginger gummies (safe for kids). I also take a bottle of Dramamine cold & flu (has Tylenol+Robotussin max ingredients).

Also Disney now has a special monitored program for kids age 3-4 (it’s guided like a daycare) and our DD is still in pull ups and did great (she has sensory processing issues and speech delays; on our last year cruise we didn’t send her to the kids club at all because we weren’t aware of this program; it could be something new given that they combined older kids with younger kids).

 

[CamColt]

Of course everyone is different but my train of thought on this is to go with the longer cruise. More time gives you more chances to do things you may be looking forward to, and more time to just relax, and take things slow. Maybe a room with a veranda would be the way to go in case you (or the kids) need some down time, you can enjoy the view.

 

[Marthasor]

I would recommend starting with 3 or 4 nights - that gives you enough days to investigate the ship and get a feel for cruising. As others have said, you just don't know if you or your children will like it or not. Our first cruise was a 5-night during the Dream's inaugural year with our almost 4 year old. He hated it. He was so out of sorts and overwhelmed. I didn't try again until he was 7 (with a 3 night) and he was fine with cruising from then on. Personally, I would pick a cheaper 3 or 4 night cruise and sample that first.

 

[Donna3271]

We have almost entirely only cruised 7 night or longer. We tried our first five night last year and did not enjoy it as much...too chaotic. Never again, back to only 7 night or longer for us. We have been cruising since DD was 3 months and DS had just turned 7.

Agreed. the shorter cruises are like cattle calls. I LOVE DCL, but need to stick to the longer cruises.

 

[wendlle]

My first cruise was a 7nt and then our kids first cruise was an 8nt.
We all get sick, but the meds they give out have us in tip top shape in no time, kids spent each and every day in the clubs and loved it.

I can't imagine going on a shorter cruise, I have a 5nt booked for May 2025 and wish it was longer - but can't afford anymore nights.

 

[laurelew]

Eastern Carribean is less rocky than Western and has better ports. I would book 7 days so you have some downtime to enjoy the pool areas and maybe hit the spa (highly recommend and if you have the Disney Visa card you get 20% off on port days - don’t get off at Jamaica or Nassau but we booked day 2 and the rocking motion was great). I always start Dramamine the night before and take extra gummies on top of the daily pills (they come in packs of 8 pills). By mid cruise everyone was stealing my dramamine ginger gummies (safe for kids). I also take a bottle of Dramamine cold & flu (has Tylenol+Robotussin max ingredients).

Also Disney now has a special monitored program for kids age 3-4 (it’s guided like a daycare) and our DD is still in pull ups and did great (she has sensory processing issues and speech delays; on our last year cruise we didn’t send her to the kids club at all because we weren’t aware of this program; it could be something new given that they combined older kids with younger kids).

Thank you for your comment about your DD being able to wear pull ups to the kids club! My DS turn 4 a month before our cruise. He is a few months past 3 now and no sign of potty training in our future yet. I hope we're ready for the cruise but it's good to plan for all possibilities.