Single Parent Cruising

[Raynecatcherr]

Hello All!

I'm New to the DIS board so I apologize if I'm not up on the lingo and educate. My apologies in advance.

So I'm a single Mom and I'm thinking of taking my son on the 7 night Carribean cruise in September 2017. My 3 yr old and I have had a rough 2 years and this will be our first vacation in about that time as well. It will also be our first cruise ever and our first trip alone. Natrually, I have no idea where to start.

I just wanted to know if there will be other single parents and what a toddler can expect. My son is out going, silly, and sweet; whereas, I'm painfully shy. Is he too young for the kids activities? And will it be awkward for me with So many couples around?

Additionally, I have celiac disease so I'm concerned about gluten free food/beverage options.

Any tips and tricks are gratefully appreciated. Thank you loves!

Have a magical day ❤

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Hello All!

I'm New to the DIS board so I apologize if I'm not up on the lingo and educate. My apologies in advance.

So I'm a single Mom and I'm thinking of taking my son on the 7 night Carribean cruise in September 2017. My 3 yr old and I have had a rough 2 years and this will be our first vacation in about that time as well. It will also be our first cruise ever and our first trip alone. Natrually, I have no idea where to start.

I just wanted to know if there will be other single parents and what a toddler can expect. My son is out going, silly, and sweet; whereas, I'm painfully shy. Is he too young for the kids activities? And will it be awkward for me with So many couples around?

Additionally, I have celiac disease so I'm concerned about gluten free food/beverage options.

Any tips and tricks are gratefully appreciated. Thank you loves!

Have a magical day ❤

I'm a single mom who cruises with my DD, but she's 12 now. Your 3 year old will be old enough for the Oceaneers Club/Lab and will likely enjoy the clubs. There will be other single parents and you might be seated with single parents for dinner. On our last cruise, we were seated with two other single parents and their children. The prior cruise, we were seated with one two parent family with their 2 kids and another single parent with her daughter. I'm pretty shy and I've found that joining a cruise meet group, whether here on the DIS or on other social media sites, is helpful. Some of these groups will have meet ups on embarkation day. There are events for single cruisers on the ship. I've never attended one, but you can check the daily Navigators for times and places.

DCL is great for dealing with food allergies. You can have it noted on your reservation and speak to the servers onboard.

 

[ciniminis]

No issue at all with being a single parent. I'm a single mom too, and frankly happy about it because my emotional life and family life with my son is now much healthier than before (no abuse, just a lot of negativity). There are many single parents with of course all kinds of different situations - I don't know if it's common practice, but when we cruised last year on DCL, our dinner table was grouped with 4 pairs of single mom/only child and it worked out really well. The only children being not very used to mingling with strangers, having table mates helped them make some friends too.

 

[bumbershoot]

At 3 he can go to the club, and with his personality he will probably have a blast. You can go and relax.

they will likely seat you with similar families.

Dcl does gluten-free well.

To be cautious, if possible, bring proof that you're allowed to travel with your son. Notarized note from dad, court documents showing sole custody, death certificate.....whatever the circumstance, it's a good idea to have, just in case they ask to see proof that you're allowed to travel.

 

[sdjen]

My dd and I have done five DCL cruises - first one was when she was 5. We love them! We have been seated with other families that we got along with well. My suggestion would be to join your meet group for your trip and chat with people before you go. Twice I was able to get to know other families - one a single mom with 3 kids and another a family of 4 with a daughter the same age as mine. We requested a dining table together and it worked out well. The kids got along and it was nice to have another mom to hang with. I am not the most social person but that really helped me! You will have a great time! Don't forget to enjoy a little me time!

 

[brookity]

I too am a single mom but my DD is older. We just got back from a cruise on the fantasy. DD is very outgoing and I'm not. She spent most of her time in the kids clubs and I lounged in the adult only areas. I didn't make any friends on the ship but that was ok with me. I wanted some down time and read more books in that week than I have in the past year!

We've also had a couple of rough years. My DH died last year so I took a copy of his death certificate. They never asked to see it but I had it just in case.

We were seated with a single mom and her son and a single dad with his daughter. It was rather awkward because our DDs looked similar and everyone assumed we were a family. It was awkward for him as well but the girls had fun together at dinner. We never saw them around the ship but dinner was a little strange. When we cruise again I will ask for our own table so that it doesn't happen again.

 

[Raynecatcherr]

Thank you all for your help. I feel a little better now. I just don't want to hold my son back from having fun and enjoying kiddie activities he sees others doing. I'll have to look for groups once we book it and have a sail date.

Does anyone know about fish extenders? Is this something we should do and how do we participate?

 

[Sunshine2U]

Welcome and hello! I think you will love your time on a Disney cruise! Disney does a good job of pairing up dinner tables. Your son will love the interaction with the servers and other children so while you may be out of your comfort zone you will enjoy his experience. There will be a lot of people out and about on their own and you will not know if they are single parents or a one parent out with Johnny while Susie takes her nap. It's really a comfortable place to be.

I've never felt a need to do the fish extender, feeling like it would add stress. If you're constrained financially you could potentially end up in a situation where you spend more than you feel it's worth.

 

[LoverDisney]

I am a single parent also and I have taken them to Disney World 4 times alone since they were 8 and 10. They are now 12 and 14 and we took our first cruise last month and enjoyed it. We plan to go on another Disney Cruise in 2018. I did take a notarized copy of their father giving me permission to take them out of the country just in case. No one asked for it, but I wanted to be on the safe side. It was a 3 day cruise so I did not want the added stress of a fish extender. My kids did go to the kids club briefly and I spent some time in the adult pool section. I also joined a facebook group who were on the same ship. They were very helpful we had a meetup on the ship.

Have a great time!

 

[scootch]

I am on cruise number 9 without hubby tagging along. You won't feel out of place. We actually got seated with a dad and two teen daughters last trip. Come to find out that both our spouses were not there due to vertigo(completely by chance, I am sure Disney had no clue) The first night at dinner was a little quiet, but the second night I asked the waiter to do some extra magic tricks and such and that broke the ice. Also, my first cruise I was like, this is a family vacation, you are not going to spend much time in the kids club. But when we got home, that is all my youngest talked about, the few hours I let her spend in there. So I come to find out it was ok for me to have a little quiet time too. You will love it.

As far as diet, noone is more helpful than Disney. You can alert the staff ahead of time by filling out a form.

 

[Let's have fun]

Thanks everyone I will be taking my 2nd dis cruise but this time as a single parent of a 4 yr old. I asked for a table with other single parents.

 

[Love2Cruz]

You'll have a great time! I was seated the last two times on the Dream with other single parents and children who were my DD's age so she always looked forward to dinner. As for the cruise itself, we were so busy doing things that you really don't pay attention to what other people are doing. There is no reason to feel uncomfortable...you will love it.

My DD didn't get a chance to truly enjoy the kids club as they had so much going on for the Halloween cruise that we spent most of our time together. As an example we did: Pirate Night, Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, AquaDuck, Meet with Princesses, Anna and Elsa, CC with Pelican Plunge, Shows at night, Finding Dory at the movie theater, enjoyed time on our aft balcony etc etc.....We spent about an hour at kids club on embarkation day but that's about it.....the rest was trying to get all our must do items checked off.

 

[BruinEd03]

I can assure you that you will have no issues with gluten free food. They will have gf food available. For castaway cay they will even cook something on the ship for you and send it to cookies one bbq location (you just have to preorder the night before). The only thing which I would suggest you bring are gluten free ice cream cones. Unfortunately there were none at the stations. When you get aboard and go to lunch, be sure to let the server know and he will note it. At dinner be sure to bring it up again. Also if you do want to go to Palo (adults only) they even have a gluten free chocolate soufflé.

Their treatment of my wife and her gf needs is why I can't seem to get her to try another cruise line. They truly do an excellent job.

 

[Let's have fun]

You'll have a great time! I was seated the last two times on the Dream with other single parents and children who were my DD's age so she always looked forward to dinner. As for the cruise itself, we were so busy doing things that you really don't pay attention to what other people are doing. There is no reason to feel uncomfortable...you will love it.

My DD didn't get a chance to truly enjoy the kids club as they had so much going on for the Halloween cruise that we spent most of our time together. As an example we did: Pirate Night, Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, AquaDuck, Meet with Princesses, Anna and Elsa, CC with Pelican Plunge, Shows at night, Finding Dory at the movie theater, enjoyed time on our aft balcony etc etc.....We spent about an hour at kids club on embarkation day but that's about it.....the rest was trying to get all our must do items checked off.

thank you it is my 2nd dis cruise but 1st time solo with daughter thanks for taking the time to write.

 

[Capt_BJ]

from another angle ....

I took my two during their 3 to 7 stage to WDW as a single parent twice ..... and at the end of chasing them I needed another vacation (we were a 'complete family' but mom was a tax CPA so dad 'evacuated' the kids for a week in early April)

THEN DCL started operation and we'd cruised once as a family (Christmas cruise inaug' year for MAGIC) come spring dad asked: park or cruise? Kids picked cruise

results ......

a 5 day cruise cost us less than 5 days in the parks ....... (all included vs pay for every meal)

dad had DOWN TIME ..... those darn kids clubs are GREAT!!!!! Rather than chasing them around the park or queuing up ... they were in the club HAPPY AS CLAMS and I could sit by the adult pool and read . . .

if the kids wanted to eat with the clubs and I ate alone ... FINE ..... I WAS eating off an adult menu and not just a burger or nuggets

When I wanted to enjoy the adult clubs ..... kids preferred to be in their club anyway .... vs at WDW we were fighting sleepy time .....

***************

DCL is GREAT for a single parent experience ..... even an 'occasional' single parent