Toddler on Disney Cruise

[Papaya8099]

We are thinking about going on a Disney Dream 4 night cruise to Bahamas in September with my little one and was really excited until I found out he can't go in the pool. He will be 22 months old; so not potty trained yet and the only place that he can go is Nemo's reef. Has anyone brought their toddler on the cruise? How was it? Did they like Nemo's reef? Did they have any other activities for toddlers to do? I thought about having him going to the nursery for a couple of hours so that my husband and I could go to the pool, etc but my husband thinks our son is too little.

 

[CamperMomma]

We took our daughter last fall (2 at the time) on the 4 night Dream. Actually we had a blast in Nemo's reef! The pools, IF open, were so crowded, they weren't appealing at all. We spent a lot of time in Nemo's reef and up on the sports deck after dinner. We did use the nursery 3 of the 4 nights for her during dinner. She wasn't having the "sit and wait" for dinner, and was far happier in there doing crafts and watching movies. It also gave us some two-on-one time with our son who was celebrating his 5th birthday.

 

[xQuizx]

I brought our daughter when she was 15 months old and she had fun in Nemo's Reef and at the nursery. Dinner was fine with food coming out quickly and the servers entertaining everyone.

We brought our son when he was just over 2 and he had fun as well. The folks in the nursery are great. They will change diapers, feed your child and put them down for naps. We were planning on just dropping our son off for a couple of hours at a time but the nursery folks let us know that we could leave him there longer if we so desired, and just to give them a call if we decided to go that route. In the end it worked out really well to be able to spend alone time with my wife at the adult pool.

Like what CamperMomma said there will be a lot of people at the pools. Nemo's reef is perfect for little ones to get wet.

 

[Trera]

No issues at all. Our DD went on 3 cruises between 12 months and 24 months and had a blast. Loved nemos and the nursery.

 

[Quellman]

Yes! Making use of the nursery is a good choice for some adult time. The staff there really are wonderful. We've sailed at 14 months and 2.5 years. Be on the look out for toddler time activities. Your room host will provide you lots of information sheets when you cruise with a little. They have activities with just them in the morning and special open house in the kids spaces. I recommend using all of those if possible. Little kids love toys and doing. Also, take lots of diapers. We thought we had enough and after 2 sea days and an upset tummy we needed to replenish!

 

[wombat_5606]

That's exactly the same age as my granddaughter when we cruised on the Dream.

My experience was a little different from the other posters. The first day we took my granddaughter to Nemo's Reef, she was almost immediately knocked down and sprayed by kids that were too old to be there. Needless to say, for her, that was a done deal. Never visited again.

We couldn't use the nursery, either, because she developed a rash. I think it was from eating the fresh pineapple, but, obviously had no way to know.

Be aware that everything you will encounter is super-stimulating and even though my granddaughter is highly active and a minimal sleeper, she did not handle this well. If she would have been a napper, I think she, and her grandmother, would have had a better time.

My daughter did talk to several other moms with children the same age and they all reported some of the same difficulties. Some children cope better than others.

For us, I wish we would have waited. We still had a good time, but it was more work than I like to do on vacation.

 

[chaseg03]

We are thinking about going on a Disney Dream 4 night cruise to Bahamas in September with my little one and was really excited until I found out he can't go in the pool. He will be 22 months old; so not potty trained yet and the only place that he can go is Nemo's reef. Has anyone brought their toddler on the cruise? How was it? Did they like Nemo's reef? Did they have any other activities for toddlers to do? I thought about having him going to the nursery for a couple of hours so that my husband and I could go to the pool, etc but my husband thinks our son is too little.

My family has my toddler on two(almost 3)! He loved nemos reef, I'm talking LOVED it. He was fine with going to the nursery, he often left with goodies or a facepainting. Other activities could include movies. There are also Disney shows on the TV in your room. He will love it!

 

[hamm1207]

We had a wonderful cruise with our daughter when she turned 1. She enjoyed Dory's Reef (although, the water was a bit chilly). The no swim diapers in pools is to keep proper hygiene (every time a kid uses the pool as a potty (number 2) they have to drain it and clean it), and I believe it's an industry wide standard.

Our daughter enjoyed the toddler play time/play area--we were on the Wonder. Check the navigator for open house times in the kids clubs, and feel free to take your child in there--you have to stay with them. We used the nursery for show time--we tried sitting through a show, but she just wanted to be up running around. We had late dining and our servers were wonderful helping with her, and she even slept through dinner once or twice. We just fed her at her usual dinner time before the show. She enjoyed the nursery and they were wonderful with her.

A few random points:
1. There are some strollers on board-first come first served, free to you. You just have to put down a deposit (I want to say it was $250). We did this, but ended up returning it after 3 days because we didn't really use it.
2. Request a diaper genie for your stateroom. You can leave the pack n' play up, or have the room steward take it down each day. We left ours up for nap time.
3. If you'll have a car seat, the best place we found for storage was on the couch by the pack n' play--it was out of the way and we weren't using that end of the couch anyways because the PNP was right there.
4. They do have bed rails available, and they can turn the couch into a little toddler bed. I believe it's technically only available to kids ages 3 and up, but I've heard of people asking their room stewards about it for younger children. We plan on doing this in December with our daughter (she'll be 2 at the time).