Question re: booking/using nursery on Disney Cruise Line

[Burgermom]

I am trying to decide if going on a Disney cruise with my family (me, DH, DS5 and DD2) makes sense. Was mostly looking at the 4 day Dream out of Port Canaveral in late Jan or early Feb.

One of my concerns is about how easy/difficult it is to use and book the nursery for DD2. I have heard that I can book 10 hours of nursery time ahead of time but what is the process after that? Is it difficult to find available time? The most important times for me would be around dinner/show time. I was also considering putting her in the nursery while the rest of my family visits Nassau for a few hours while in port.A couple other chunks of time during our cruise would also be helpful.

So I guess my main question is; when people were wanting to use the nursery was it available?

Thanks for your help

 

[squirk]

You're sailing on what appears to be an off-season cruise, with fewer families sailing because kids are back in school. Contrast that with the first or second week of June when most kids are out of school and most families are free to sail, and I'd say your turn-away chances then would be much higher.

However, I would consider making your reservations for the peak demand times you mentioned - show times, port days, etc. - since everyone else is probably thinking the same thing.

We have always found the IASM nursery on the Dream-class ships to be small. Not that kids 0-3 need as much space as kids 3-10 next door in the Oceaneer Club/Lab, but for toddlers and above, it seems like the nursery doesn't give them enough space to stretch their legs and run around.

 

[rwthompson82]

I am trying to decide if going on a Disney cruise with my family (me, DH, DS5 and DD2) makes sense. Was mostly looking at the 4 day Dream out of Port Canaveral in late Jan or early Feb.

One of my concerns is about how easy/difficult it is to use and book the nursery for DD2. I have heard that I can book 10 hours of nursery time ahead of time but what is the process after that? Is it difficult to find available time? The most important times for me would be around dinner/show time. I was also considering putting her in the nursery while the rest of my family visits Nassau for a few hours while in port.A couple other chunks of time during our cruise would also be helpful.

So I guess my main question is; when people were wanting to use the nursery was it available?

Thanks for your help

We sailed the Dream 4 night February 1st this year and booked a couple of hours ahead of time (only for our Palo brunch and one evening). At dinner the first night, we realized the dining rooms were not really for my 15 month old son, so after dinner we went up to the nursery and booked times during early dinner for the rest of the cruise. I'm not sure about show time, as we always either brought him with us or one of our group of 5 adults took a turn babysitting. I think 8-10pm is probably the busiest time.

 

[Jessirip]

The nursery and kids club were a huge deciding factor for us on what kind of vacation to take this year. We are sailing in October and I booked some time just to be sure we could take advantage of it in case it was hard to get in, but I've read many being able to walk in. Plans are for the first night for only a short time so DH and I can celebrate the start of vacation with a cocktail in the adult lounges (this is also to be sure he's OK there and is used to the drop off for the rest of the trip), some time in the afternoon the second day at Nassau (not going ashore and want to enjoy the spa or adult only areas again), and then on our last evening for our dinner at Palo and a romantic walk around the ship on our 15th anniversary.

Since we are first timers I couldn't book until the 75 day window, but it looked like all times were available to choose from. So, if the dinner / show is most important to you I would start with that as soon as you can book it and if you have some leftover pick a random chunk like we did on an afternoon. I've heard you can cancel 24 hours in advance also if you decide you don't want it.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Since we are first timers I couldn't book until the 75 day window, but it looked like all times were available to choose from.

...I've heard you can cancel 24 hours in advance also if you decide you don't want it.

That's because they limit the number of hours that people can pre-book. To ensure that everyone can get something.

And, this is the cancellation policy from the 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.