Tips for cruising with a baby!

[mindondisney]

I didn't realize that you could play with your infant in the kids' club areas. How do the staff welcome you there? Do they act like you are intruding?

 

[idrivealumina]

Thank you very much, we are cruising next week on the Magic with a 10 month old.

 

[Timon]

I didn't realize that you could play with your infant in the kids' club areas. How do the staff welcome you there? Do they act like you are intruding?

We had a great experience there. They gave us sticker name tags to put on with our baby's name on it and hers went on her back and she just went and played! We loved the little room with the computers because you could close the door and let your baby roam around. We read books in there and she crawled around and tried sitting on the chairs. Plus it's quiet in there and most of the bigger kids stayed in the main play area. Most of the time we had that little room to ourselves

Looking forward to going back with her and this time she will be running around with the big kids

The staff were nothing but warm and welcoming to us!

 

[tammer]

awesome tips!!!!

 

[pl'smama]

What great tips for cruising with a baby! I am so glad I found this thread.

Timon, I was pleasantly surprised to find your thread. My DH and I have been talking about taking a cruise with our six year old DD and our son who is currently six months. I have told him more than once about a TR I read a while ago about this Canadian family who cruised with their almost one year old!! Of course this was you!!! So, thanks for all the information and it was so nice to see your DD again!! If I remember correctly you had a nickname for her that was similar to my DD's, which is a part of my screen name. Okay, maybe I am wrong about the nickname. Post pregnancy brain can do that!!!

Suz

 

[Timon]

What great tips for cruising with a baby! I am so glad I found this thread.

Timon, I was pleasantly surprised to find your thread. My DH and I have been talking about taking a cruise with our six year old DD and our son who is currently six months. I have told him more than once about a TR I read a while ago about this Canadian family who cruised with their almost one year old!! Of course this was you!!! So, thanks for all the information and it was so nice to see your DD again!! If I remember correctly you had a nickname for her that was similar to my DD's, which is a part of my screen name. Okay, maybe I am wrong about the nickname. Post pregnancy brain can do that!!!

Suz

LOL, no your memory is still good Suz

Hours after she was born, when it was just me and her, I started calling her princess little (no idea why? lol) but I said it in a funny baby voice so it sounded like "pincess" and then about 2 months later, I told her that her "name" was missing something so I called her pincess little bum cus she had the cutest tiniest bum

Which then got shortened by my sister to PLB

My sister and brother still call her PLB and she's almost 3

We leave in 34 days for her second WDW/DCL trip

 

[Timon]

I have been meaning to post these pics for quite awhile now

I took more pics of Flounders on our October 2009 cruise, so here they are finally!

 

[Pinkprincessmom]

We cruised in December 2007 with a 9 month old. I wanted to add something about the kids club. A great time to take your little one in is when the older kids are at lunch. The whole place is empty except for a few staff cleaning up and getting ready for the next round. My nine month old almost had free run of the place during meal times. After I discovered this on our 7 day cruise, we were back during almost every meal.

The staff are great with the young ones. I tried to see an afternoon play with him in tow and he was fussing. I stood at the back and let him crawl around. The person standing near the door entertained him as well. We encountered this all over the ship...CM trying to make the cruise more enjoyable for Mommy and baby.

 

[nemofans]

Thanks for posting the nursery pics! It's nice to see what's in there.

 

[dxcspilk]

Thanks for the tips! These will come in handy with our little one!

 

[princessnpirate]

My last cruise DS was 4 so we did not use Flounders but I have a DD who will be 19 month when we sail. I appreciate getting a good look at it since I did not pay attention last time. CANNOT WAIT!

 

[mickey7879]

Love all the tips and pictures! I'm like a lot of people....I've sailed before but was before we had kids, so never paid any attention to the kids programs or areas. Our son will be 15 months when we sail.

Anyone have a picture of that the strollers from Guest Services or at Castaway Cay look like? Can you only get the stroller from Guest Services to use for the day or can you use it the whole trip and return it before you leave? We have the Baby Trend Sit and Stand double stroller and are debating whether to bring it on the ship or leave it in the car. We're planning on only taking the kids on shore at Key West and Castaway Cay. Not sure what we should do. On the ship, our 3 yr old probably wouldn't need a stroller, but probably would on Key West since we're planning on doing a lot of walking.

Decisions, decisions! We have an umbrella stroller, but it doesn't do much good since it has no umbrella. Would like to keep the kids out of the sun as much as possible.

What's your 2 cents?

 

[DisWitt]

Our DS turned 2 on our last cruise and we left the stroller at home. He was totally fine on the cruise. I'd carry him on my shoulders around ports if we had to, but he walked 90% of the time... I didn't even know about the strollers from GS and he was fine and easy.

We are cruising soon (as you can see on my sig) and our plan is to bring an umbrella stroller for our DS1 at the time. I don't think shade is as big of a deal on the ship as you may think. Deck 9 is covered along both sides, so there's no need for DS15mos to be in the sun if you take your shade-less umbrella stroller. If I were you, I'd bring the umbrella and chance it to take one from GS if needed. Good luck!

 

[DisWitt]

Oh, and one BIG thing to bring on the ship is a little watering can and a pail (like little!... holds 8oz or less) for the "water play area" that they have for toddlers. Our son was the hit of the party at the water play area with his little watering can and pail that we bought on the beach in Grand Cayman. Now, we've bought one for our next cruise for DS1. Other kids kept getting drink station cups and bringing them into the play area and the lifeguards kept confiscating them. So note to bring some little water play toys for toddlers.

 

[michellert]

Oh, and one BIG thing to bring on the ship is a little watering can and a pail (like little!... holds 8oz or less) for the "water play area" that they have for toddlers. Our son was the hit of the party at the water play area with his little watering can and pail that we bought on the beach in Grand Cayman. Now, we've bought one for our next cruise for DS1. Other kids kept getting drink station cups and bringing them into the play area and the lifeguards kept confiscating them. So note to bring some little water play toys for toddlers.

Such a great tip, thanks!

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

The strollers you can get on the ship are standard joggers (three wheels), they work quite well. And the wagons on CC are perfect! All three of my kids sat in one.

I also wanted to mention that the pack n' play does fit in a cat. 11 just fine and out of the way if you wedge it between the bed and the wall. This is what we did and it was perfect and out of the way! We were even able to close the curtain during naptime and then she was right by us at night and if she did cry she didn't wake up the other two.

My daughter was 18 months old when we cruised and we didn't use Flounders but we would walk her into the club to play with her older bro and sis and she loved playing in there! Especially the little slide and no one cared that we hung out.

 

[tartemis]

I have a quick question that I'm hoping y'all can answer. I have never done a Disney cruise, but we were seriously considering taking one this winter with our 2 girls who would be 3 1/2 and 18 months -- until I read the fine print on the brochure, which said that kids that aren't potty-trained can't be in any of the pools even if they are in a swim diaper. Is that really true? My 3 1/2 year old has been potty trained since she was 2 so she isn't the issue, but I highly doubt I can get my youngest trained by 18 months. She is a huge swimmer, so there is no way I would take her on a cruise if she won't be allowed in the pool. (And I would never leave her at home, either.)

Thanks!

 

[jasonpicken]

unfortunately government regulations don't allow any child that is not trained into a pool on a cruise ship. disney ships have a water play area for kids who wear swim diapers. our daughter found the area to be quite enjoyable, but i was originally bummed out she couldn't go in the pool. i'll try and dig up a picture of the splash area.

 

[noelk]

I have a quick question that I'm hoping y'all can answer. I have never done a Disney cruise, but we were seriously considering taking one this winter with our 2 girls who would be 3 1/2 and 18 months -- until I read the fine print on the brochure, which said that kids that aren't potty-trained can't be in any of the pools even if they are in a swim diaper. Is that really true? My 3 1/2 year old has been potty trained since she was 2 so she isn't the issue, but I highly doubt I can get my youngest trained by 18 months. She is a huge swimmer, so there is no way I would take her on a cruise if she won't be allowed in the pool. (And I would never leave her at home, either.)

Thanks!

This is certainly one reason we chose Disney for our Feb. 2011 cruise, when our youngest daughter will be 2 years old. We don't expect she'll be potty trained, so we're glad she'll have the splash area to play in. Most other cruise ships don't have any such area for toddlers in swim diapers. Back in Jan 2010 we did a seven day cruise on Carnival Glory and there certainly wasn't an area for little kids...wasn't a huge issue then, she wasn't even one year old yet.

 

[jasonpicken]

here's disney's description of the water area:

"Also for infants and toddlers is Mickey's Splash Zone, a water playground inspired by The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Disney's "Fantasia." This extension to the Mickey Pool features star- and moon-shaped interactive fountains, a soft play surface and whimsical splash zones, creating an inviting environment for children not yet toilet trained and in swim diapers"