What age do you recommend?

[RemainSeatedPlease]

I plan to go with my sisters and niece on a Disney cruise sometime in the next few years. We are planning way ahead so we can save up money and because the niece is still too young. I have been on a couple of cruises when I was a teenager, but never a Disney cruise. This is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime type of trip, so we want to take her when it will be the most fun for both her and the rest of us adults. Right now she is only 10 months old. The absolute earliest we would go is 2017, when she would be between 2 and 3, but that seems a bit early to us. I know that even babies are fine on cruises and in the parks (she already started going to DLR at 6 months), but we want her to really be able to get something out of the trip. For DLR, I find that kids start to really put the pieces together (yet still have that magical sense of wonder) at about 4-5 years old. What do you think?? What would be a good age to take this trip with her?

 

[TestingH2O]

We did our first cruise when DD was 3. It was great! But, we didn't use child care (I was worried about the club ages), and she wasn't afraid of characters. We may opt to not use the clubs in the future either since it was easy to keep her with us, but if that's a big deal, I'd remember that kids up to 12 can go in the club and, while most kids are potty trained by 3, it certainly isn't RARE to still not be there. There's also the sleeping situation. At 3, most kids still nap and sleep a long time at night. That will also impact your day.

For once in a lifetime, I'd think 5 might be a good mix of still being magical but worrying less about logistics.

 

[Weedy]

Age 4 for the youngest. 5 or 6 is better to really enjoy the cruise. It helps because the no longer need to nap, can stay up a little later. Dinner and the shows are 5:00 and 8:00 or the other way around depending on if you have early or late seating. Many people do the cruise with younger children but if this is a once in a lifetime trip I would wait until she's a bit older.
Also she needs to be 3 to go to the kids club and needs to be potty trained to use the pools.

 

[jenpink]

Every child is different. My daughter was 5 at our first Disney cruise. She wouldn't go to the clubs and couldn't stay awake through dinner. At 7 it wasn't much better. It wasn't until she was 10 that she really began loving cruising. She is almost 14 and it is now the only type of vacation she wants to go on.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

We really enjoyed taking our two-year-old this summer. I definitely don't think that is too young; plus they are a bit cheaper at two!

 

[TestingH2O]

I will add that DD talks about the Mickey boat all the time still, so I don't worry about her not remembering it. But we opted to be selective with what we did and did not do as we knew we'd be cruising again.

 

[Shanti]

The ideal is probably age 9 plus or minus a few years, depending on your child's personality. You'd ideally want your child to be old enough to be able to keep going all day (and into the occasional night) without naps or meltdowns, but young enough to still enjoy the Disney characters.

That said, I'm sure kids of any age would enjoy the cruise.

 

[belac]

Just want to add that the excursions they offer have age, weight, height limits too. So it can be a factor if your family would like to go on an excursion, but the child doesn't meet age limit and you choose not to leave child in club back on ship. I went when my DS was 5 (his first time) and 7. I know he got a lot more out of it at 7 for sure and still believed in all the magic, but as PPs stated it is really depends on the child.

 

[bumbershoot]

Everyone has their own ideas of the perfect age. Because we all have our own ideas of what kids get from travel.

I, personally, did not much care about what DS got from travel when he was little. I wanted to go somewhere, so we went. And he enjoyed it. End of story. I have no worries about some mythical perfect age; we go places when we can do so financially.

Your family feels differently so you're going to have to define what exactly you're looking for, in terms of it being worth it. Also maybe think about why the baby is the most important factor in timing. Shouldn't what the adults want to do be at the top? The baby will have fun regardless (and will cry regardless and will have hard moments and happy moments)....gotta tell ya, I'd rather have all of those moments while I myself am off somewhere fun being amused, instead of while sitting in my living room staring at the child.

But I'm one who felt that DS was umpteen times easier when he was a little, when I could wear him and just go somewhere without worrying about his opinions. When he turned 4 and got opinions on what he wanted to ride (the exception there being Haunted Mansion which he Would Not Ride when he was 2) it got to be much harder.


(I also am not one to care about "magic", and we never did the "the characters are real" myth, and yet he always enjoyed them!)

 

[MunFam]

The perfect age is atleast 3, so childcare is included. Potty trained (for clubs and pool use) and willing to separate from parents to go to the clubs is also important. The perfect age is an age when kiddo is not afraid to try new things (Foods, cultures, beds), be around new people (cast members, tablemates, other kids in the clubs), and can generally make it without a nap. For us, this age was 4 and a half. Our daughter thought all the characters were real. She was old enough to do everything all day long without melting down but still young enough to think that everything is magical. She is now 5 and a half and just looked at some pictures and said..."that was just a girl in a costume, wasn't it?"

We are sooooo glad we went when she was 4 and a half. Our first (and only DCL cruise) was the WBPC cruise for 14 nights.

I should add that DD has been traveling since she was a few weeks old due to my career in the travel industry and a 3+ week long vacation is normal for her, so it was an easy transition. She is used to flying, foreign foods & languages and has no issues sleeping anywhere at any time. She has been attending conferences with me and sitting in meetings since she was 18 months old for hours at a time and can be still and quiet and enjoy a show or whatever activity we ask her to do. I am not sure all 4 year olds could hang with the type of travel schedule we kept her on while we were cruising, but for our family, 4 and a half was a great age.

 

[Muskegon78]

4 is perfect. We took our oldest on her 4th birthday and have waited for our second cruise until our second is 4

 

[yorkieteacher]

Our DGS was three-he didn't want to stay in the clubs without us, but loved them during Open House. He has been going to daycare for two years, so this surprised us. He would approach the characters with us, then when we slipped away he was still actively engaged with them. He loved Castaway Cay, loved the pools and Nemo's reef, loved Pirate Night (the first show). We may have been better off waiting a year. We plan on taking him on the "Mickey Boat" again when he is five, then try the parks when he is 6 or 7 (if we are still up to it in our mid-sixties!)