Sailing with 17 month old

[acciobrain]

If questions like this have been posted before, please let me know. I'm a big planner and I've done plenty of searching but I'm sure I've missed some posts.

We're thinking of sailing with DS who will be 17 months old at the time. I've read a bit about what docs we need, some info on the nursery, and how to get the pack n play and diaper pail. Can anyone give me some more information on what it's like to sail with this age? Is this more trouble than it's worth and we should wait another year or two? Any info on sleeping, sea sickness, dining, recreation? We'd be going on one of the 3 night Bahamas cruises and would stay on board in Nassau. DH and I have done a 4 night on DCL before the little peanut arrived but this will clearly be a different experience. Thanks!

 

[SpaceSquirrel]

That little you don't have to worry about seasickness.
Idk about DCL but other companies we've sailed with provide cute little cribs.
We sailed with DS when he was little and it was kinda hard. Honestly I think wait till he's about 3.
But it's your call, if you're comfortable using the nursery (quite a bit) I say go for it.

 

[Mandlz]

We took our first cruise when my daughter was 18 months old, and really had very little to worry about. There was a pack and play and diaper genie in the room when we arrived, and a high chair at dinner. We actually booked her in the nursery each night at dinner time, and they fed her in there, and we were able to enjoy dinner in the MDRs without having to rush cause she got fussy. We did invest in a little backpack with a leash for her, which I had previously thought I'd NEVER be able to use, but ended up being one of the best things we brought. She didn't like to sit in her stroller all day, and while we wanted to encourage her to walk, keeping up with an energetic 18 month old can be near impossible. This let her feel like she had some control and stretch her little legs, but she couldn't get more than 2-3 feet away from us.

Had no issues whatsoever with sea sickness or sleeping. Would have no problems whatsoever sailing with one at this age again. It's amazing how much the cast members really help with some of the little things, and Disney makes the entire process painless.

 

[gemmybear83]

We didn't even use the pack and play we just used the bed with a bed guard and she slept fine (and took up less room). We had a fantastic time, my daughter would nap in the nursery in the afternoon and we went to the adult pool.

 

[rwthompson82]

We did use th pack and play for our 15 month old, and he slept better than he does at home.

We also booked him in the nursery for dinner. He gets fussy after about 30 minutes, and he was happier there. We did keep him at dinner for the animators palette show on the dream, and he did seem to like it.

For the shows, either one of us would stay back in the room or we would just bring him in his pjs and he would fall asleep. You can bring them to the nursery at night too if you want to do some of th adult areas, fortunately we were sailing with family, so we had someone to watch him if we wanted to go out.

My son loved all of the characters, the splash pad, and especially castaway cay (but I think he would love any beach). He also really liked the open houses in the club (not the lab).

I would not say it's more trouble than it's worth, but if you do want time to yourselves, there is just a charge for it ($9/hour).

I think some of the port adventures are tough to do with young kids, so make sure you look at that before booking. In our case, we just did a Bahamian cruise, and stayed on the ship in Nassau.

 

[deanimal]

We went on our first Disney Cruise when our youngest was 21 months old and had a great time, although it is a lot easier now that he's older. I second the idea of booking the nursery for dinner. We would often book for about 30-45 minutes after dinner started. We'd feed him while we had our appies, then one of us would take him to the nursery (and his sister to the club) and we'd take about an hour to enjoy the rest of our meal together. And hour and a half or so for supper was just way too long for our kids to stay in a high chair!
We were actually surprised at how much he liked the shows and how well they held his interest, even at that young age.
If your toddler does fine with whatever you eat you'll be fine. Our little guy was super picky about textures and I had a bit of a hard time feeding him. He loved applesauce for example, but even when they made it specially for us it was too chunky and he wouldn't eat it. I think he lived mainly on noodles and vanilla yogurt that week. One time I had an apple from the buffet that I wanted to cut up for him while we were up out by the pool. I asked for a knife, but they only had plastic ones out there. A cast member said "no problem" and disappeared for about 5 minutes and came back with one from the dining room. They were so good about it, but it's not like being at home when you can just cut up an apple or grab a familiar snack whenever you want. He also liked warm milk at night which they did for us but it was a bit of a hassle. If I did it again I'd bring along some more of the crackers and other snacks he was used to, just for convenience.But if your child isn't as picky it wouldn't be a problem.