Little Man's First Cruise

[radev104]

DCL Fantasy May 10-15, 2026

Booking three staterooms on the Fantasy? -Any tips on bringing a little one on a cruise?

Picture this-you're on your last Disney Cruise in December 2024 and you make a placeholder thinking you’ll be able to enjoy it in 2025-we were thinking the Fantasy Transatlantic. But then you get back to land and find out you are pregnant with your first baby. Well now what do you do? You plan your Little Man’s first Disney Cruise with his Grandparents when he’s 9 months old!

Welcome to my journey or adventure of planning the first grandchild’s cruise with the Grandparents. I decided on the Fantasy because we just did the Dream-we wanted the Wonder but that is a little too much travel for a 9-month-old but maybe next time. The time of year was easy. We went in August and December on our last two cruises. August was too hot and December was a little chilly so May seemed to be the best compromise. And of course I chose the dates for Mother’s Day for just a little extra magic.

























Introduction:

This trip will be me, my husband and Little Man. It will also include both sets of Grandparents, Nonna and Papi and Grandma and Grandpa. This is my husband and I’s third Disney Cruise, Little Man’s first, and Nonna and Papi’s third Disney Cruise. Grandma and Grandpa will be joining us for their first Disney Cruise. All of us are excited to experience Little Man’s first cruise together.

We all love Disney and we are excited to start the planning for this cruise!

 

[radev104]

Booking Three Staterooms on the Fantasy!

We have three placeholders we would like to use for this trip. My husband and I did one and my in-laws did two so my parents will be using one of their placeholders this time. We have always done Deck 6 on the other ships. But when I looked there were only three midship Deluxe Verandahs and not all on the same side of the ship. We thought it over and decided on Deck 7 for this trip. There were more Deluxe Verandahs available with rooms closer to each other so we can all be on the same side of the ship and be close to each other for the baby.





We tried doing the Placeholder online but it would stop working for us at some point in the reservation. So we decided to call and hope it would be a quick and easy phone call.

We are all connected on the DCL app so when we called to make the reservations we needed to make sure we could put Little Man’s name on the reservation later-as well as his birthdate since he isn’t due until August. And we were able to! Little Man is now called TBA3 on our reservation. I cannot wait to add his name to it.

I am a little bummed we got the second dining seating but we are on the waitlist for the first. Every trip we did we were able to get the first seating after being on the waitlist. I already added special requests to our room for a Pack-n-Play (not sure if we will use theirs or bring our own) and a highchair for dinners.


Super excited for another Deluxe Family Verandah

This is our first time on the Fantasy. What is everyone’s favorite thing about the Fantasy? And any tips for a 9-month-old?

 

[radev104]

Let's update!

I feel like time has flown by. The last time I posted I was just starting my third trimester, so let's update what has happened in the past almost year.

We booked our three rooms using out placeholders. We're on Deck 7 rooms 7604 (my room), 7594 (my in-laws) and 7592 (my parents). By the time we booked we were able to get rooms on the same side of the ship. we decided to stick to the Deluxe Verandah for the extra room with the baby. We were able to move off the waitlist for the first dining which helps a lot with the Little Man since his bedtime is close to 8 (that might change for the cruise).

We booked our activities and excursions. We were all able to get into most of the same activities except Chocolate and Liquor tasting and of course Palo Brunch but were hoping that we can get everyone into them when we get on the ship. We have two times booked for the Small World Nursery. I'm not going to be doing most of the tastings we booked and will probably drop out of them before we get on the ship. The main one I want to do is the Chocolate and Liquor Tasting if we can all get into it.

I'm currently making a cute little guide for my parents to help them with the cruise. They keep asking me questions and I feel like that will answer a lot of them and help them when they get onto the ship. It's been about 40 years since they have been on a cruise so a lot has changed and this is their first Disney Cruise.

My packing list is getting pretty long-I have a lot more stuff on it for the Little man than for me and my husband. And I have put some stuff aside already for him. We started getting cute outfits for him and swimsuits. Unfortunately I'm not sure what size he will actually be in so we might have to redo all his packing close to the trip. We just got a travel stroller for him cause I am not carrying him around the whole time and this one is small enough to fit in an airplane carry-on bin. We also bought a travel pack and play (mainly because we are traveling in a week and need it for that) and might take that with us so he is used to it and I know that we have one because I read somewhere that the ship ran out one time. I'm working on some cute shoes for dinner for him. He is going to be the best dressed baby with all his cute outfits for dinner-and I have a lot of stain remover on hand because he is a messy eater. I have a few cute matching shirts in my Etsy cart but they are so cute I don't know which one to get.

I am no longer in our social media group and we're not doing Fish Extenders this trip. We are thinking of Pixie Dusting and definitely giving out cute little gifts to the Cast Members. We are in the process of collecting and making stuff for that. We are also going to try to make magnets too. We made them last time and I think we can up our game this year.

We're sailing out of Port Canaveral which is a new port for us. And much more convenient for us with the baby. It's an hour and a half from our house and with a car seat we decided we will be driving. I would love to take Disney transport but I'm not sure how Little Man will do on a bus for the whole trip there.

Up next is our check ins. My room and my in-laws can check in on 4/7 and my parent's room is on 4/10. I know our PATs might be late and will definitely be different but I'm hoping to be on the ship by 12. We were super lucky on our last couple cruises that we got an 11 PAT so I'm hoping that will around our time this time so we can get the baby on and have lunch before his nap time.


Anyone take a baby and have some helpful items that you wished you packed?