nursery

[wendolyn123]

First time going on Disney cruise. Should I reserve spots for nursery time or can I wait until i board ship?

 

[wilkeliza]

Reserve your allowed max ahead of time. That will guarantee you a few hours. If you wait until you get onboard it is possible the nursery could fill up as it is not guarenteed like the kid's club.

 

[Quellman]

Reserve your allowed max ahead of time. That will guarantee you a few hours. If you wait until you get onboard it is possible the nursery could fill up as it is not guarenteed like the kid's club.

Agree with this if you know you have specific times that you want to use it. Dinner and shows are usually the busiest for the nursery. So those are recommended first priority. If you already have spa appointments or PALO/REMY reservations you may want to consider those as well.

 

[Trera]

Reserve your allowed max ahead of time. That will guarantee you a few hours. If you wait until you get onboard it is possible the nursery could fill up as it is not guarenteed like the kid's club.

Another vote for reserve ahead of time.

 

[xQuizx]

Agreed reserve ahead of time.

You have 24 hours to cancel a reservation.

On the first day of the cruise I add additional hours if there is availability.

When I drop the little one off I also ask if it is possible to extend the time. If there is availability, the staff has told me in the past that I can call in before the scheduled pick up time to extend.

 

[gizzardgoop]

I reserved ahead of time around our dining reservations and mixology. I also scheduled naptime and bedtime in the nursary everyday before hand. You can adjust when you get on the ship as needed.

 

[fab1976]

Has anyone run into times when there is no availability? I'm having a hard time trying to envision when we would want to put her in, having never cruised before I'm just not sure what we will be doing when! Oh and night hours, how successful are they at putting kids down to sleep? My daughter is 2.5 and sleeps in a double bed, she goes to bed easy for us but not sure if she will there.

 

[hnthomps]

I second the question about bedtime! And then, also, how do you get them back to the room? Wake them up, walk them back to the room, put them back to bed, hope for the best?
We aren't planning to put her in the nursery for naps - I'm happy to read on the verandah for a couple hours each day, but would love a little more freedom at night.

 

[wendolyn123]

I have a 18 month old. Thinking of putting her in nursery when we are at castaway cay...any ideas on this and also will nursery feed baby. Can i cancel reservations for nursery times without being charged of necessary?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have a 18 month old. Thinking of putting her in nursery when we are at castaway cay...any ideas on this and also will nursery feed baby. Can i cancel reservations for nursery times without being charged of necessary?

They will feed the baby, but you must bring the food for them to use.

Cancellation policy for the nursery is (from DCL website):
Cancellations may be made without penalty 4 hours or more before your reservation time. No-shows will forfeit the entire cost of care for the time reserved while Guests who call to cancel fewer than 4 hours before their reservation time will forfeit half the cost of care.
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/onboard-activities/flounders-reef-childrens-nursery/

 

[PandL]

Actually Shmoo...They do provide food for the babies in the nursery. We took our 20 month old the past September and they offered fruit, crackers, juice and water as snacks anytime and at meal times they would provide a meal (usually simple items cheese/fruit/turkey) You are actually not allowed to bring any sort of food into the nursery unless it is factory sealed (even if your child is currently eating it). They do ask you each time you check in what you are ok with your LO having. They will list what they have available for snacks as well as the meal and you will need to OK every item that you feel comfortable with your LO eating. It is very thorough and for us more "relaxed" parents almost tedious.

We chose to schedule our maximum nursery time ahead of time and then we added several more sessions once we were on board. We chose to have our 20 month old eat the first 30-45 minutes of dinner with us and then one of us would take him to the nursery so we could finish dinner in peace. This worked out great. The dining rooms and the nursery are very convenient to one another (at least on the Fantasy) The only nights we kept our babe with us were the ones in Animators Palace and these proved to have enough "entertainment" that he was able to sit really well through the entire meal.

The nursery does fill up so we opted on the side of having too much time and cancelling rather than wishing we had it. We ended up cancelling a lot of time due to our sons naps or other things we wanted to do together, but the nursery was really flexible and as long as you gave them plenty of notice there were not any issues.

As for putting down for sleep. There were times that we put our LO in around nap time and asked them to call us if he had not fallen asleep within a certain amount of time. EVERY time we did this within 20-30 minutes of dropping them off we would get a message on our wave phone that he had fallen asleep. They must have magic sleepy dust in there. Our son is not easy to put down by any means but they were able to do it any time we asked.

 

[wendolyn123]

Actually Shmoo...They do provide food for the babies in the nursery. We took our 20 month old the past September and they offered fruit, crackers, juice and water as snacks anytime and at meal times they would provide a meal (usually simple items cheese/fruit/turkey) You are actually not allowed to bring any sort of food into the nursery unless it is factory sealed (even if your child is currently eating it). They do ask you each time you check in what you are ok with your LO having. They will list what they have available for snacks as well as the meal and you will need to OK every item that you feel comfortable with your LO eating. It is very thorough and for us more "relaxed" parents almost tedious.

We chose to schedule our maximum nursery time ahead of time and then we added several more sessions once we were on board. We chose to have our 20 month old eat the first 30-45 minutes of dinner with us and then one of us would take him to the nursery so we could finish dinner in peace. This worked out great. The dining rooms and the nursery are very convenient to one another (at least on the Fantasy) The only nights we kept our babe with us were the ones in Animators Palace and these proved to have enough "entertainment" that he was able to sit really well through the entire meal.

The nursery does fill up so we opted on the side of having too much time and cancelling rather than wishing we had it. We ended up cancelling a lot of time due to our sons naps or other things we wanted to do together, but the nursery was really flexible and as long as you gave them plenty of notice there were not any issues.

As for putting down for sleep. There were times that we put our LO in around nap time and asked them to call us if he had not fallen asleep within a certain amount of time. EVERY time we did this within 20-30 minutes of dropping them off we would get a message on our wave phone that he had fallen asleep. They must have magic sleepy dust in there. Our son is not easy to put down by any means but they were able to do it any time we asked.

Thanx. Good info

 

[lanejudy]

They will feed the baby, but you must bring the food for them to use.

They do provide food for the babies in the nursery.

I think DCL's website is now a little more clear on that then it used to be. For a child who still drinks bottles, needs formula or baby food, you must provide it when dropping off at the nursery. If the child is ready/able to eat regular table foods, DCL will provide some for meals at the nursery. If you're thinking of having your child to eat a meal in the nursery, parents may want to ask what will be served so they know whether or not to provide an alternative for their child (or feed the child before drop-off).

Enjoy your cruise!