This thread is all that and a bag of Doritos.
Thanks AR!
Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Amy. My wife and I are taking our son on this cruise. He'll be four when we sail (GAH, where is the time going?!). We went on our first cruise this past April on the Fantasy to the Western Caribbean, and while we weren't super keen on the ports, we LOVED the cruise itself. As toddler parents, we felt so pampered and everything was so convenient. Super excited for this cruise (which I am calling a Triple Dip) because three stops at
DCL's private beaches are exactly what we need. We'll be traveling with my in-laws and their other kids, so it should be a fun family trip. I don't think we'll do any excursions; we just didn't feel it was the best use of our time/money/energy with a kid under five.
Last cruise, my son liked the nursery, the Mickey bars, and the pasta bolognese best. I've never seen him eat like that! At 2.5 years old he also sat through all the shows as long as we bribed him with popcorn (watching him carefully of course). We got our bucket at EPCOT, filled with the maple popcorn from Canada the day before (omg so good) and we still eat out of it sometimes when we miss cruising. We also keep Dove chocolates on hand for special before-bed treats. I did tell DCL that they would make BANK if they would sell those with the DCL wrapper in the gift shops. The minis on the ship were perfect because there were three segments, and it became our tradition to split them between the three of us and close out our day with a little velvety morsel of bliss.
We'll be trying the Kids' Club with him for the first time, and I'm really hoping he likes it. Mamas need a break.
I think we're going to try to start our cruise with a day or two at the parks, but we'll see how finances and prices look by then. We rode Guardians for the first time last April and we are now obsessed. Like... I would pay the whole ticket price JUST to ride that again and consider it money well spent.
We couldn't wait til Nov 2024 to take another cruise, though, so we're giving RC a try in early 2024. I'm not sure if we'll love it like we did DCL, but at the price point, I couldn't resist. We are paying for our whole family what one of us costs on DCL for a trip of the same duration in the same cabin class. While it isn't a triple dip, it's a double dip (Perfect Day and Labadee).
