What would you do?

[Disneyland_emily]

If you let the CMs know you have something on like Palo etc then they will try their best to keep them entertained. However, if they are in distress you will be called to come and get them

This- my kid refused to stay in the club last year during our Palo Brunch so it was a very short brunch for me…

 

[DisneyKatie1]

This- my kid refused to stay in the club last year during our Palo Brunch so it was a very short brunch for me…

So if this happens there is nothing you can do? Just miss reservations?

 

[Mags2002]

So if this happens there is nothing you can do? Just miss reservations?

You could go to the Club and try settling your child and see how that goes

 

[Disneyland_emily]

You could go to the Club and try settling your child and see how that goes

I probably could’ve made/convinced her stay but it would’ve been miserable for both of us.

I’m not a fan of Palos so missing it isn’t a deal breaker and I’m someone who likes spending the time with my kid so her not living in the clubs is perfect

I just know some people cruise so they can vacation parallel to their kids and not necessarily with their kids and call it a family vacation

 

[Husker Mike]

What's been stressed to me is to get your kids (of any age) on embarkation day...especially the older ones, make sure they go to the late evening mixer. (And they have to stay there for it. No "two minutes and done".) Fought this battle with my daughter last month. The open house at Vibe was a turnoff because at that hour, it was just kids who didn't want to be on a cruise. Took quite a bit of work to get her back in for the mixer, but eventually she relented and went in. We waited a few minutes to make sure she stayed, and while we waited, we watched another family take their daughter in, but let her come out after two minutes. My daughter not only stayed to the end, stayed out well after midnight every night and still gets text messages from the group from Vibe.

If the kids think this is part of the cruise experience right from the start, it'll likely go better. And if you have plans depending on them staying at the kids club, plan it for later in the cruise if possible so you can cancel if it's not working out. Let them know that you are still going to have family time, but there's also other opportunities to have fun that are not dependent on mom and dad watching them 24/7. And those are the best cruises because it becomes a true fun vacation, because parents deserve, if not need, a break and have some individual or couple time along side family time. There aren't a lot of vacations where you can do that, but that's part of what makes cruises so desirable.

 

[DocDCT]

I can't stress it enough, even for the olders, a nap can do wonders.

I couldn't agree more. I don't understand why many parents are unable or unwilling to enforce naps as soon as the kids stop napping everyday at home. Some days on a cruise or a Disney trip are much more exhausting than any regular school day. Kids may swear they're not tired, but if they really are they usually crash as soon as they lay down in a dark room.

 

[MonaMN]

We did a 4 night cruise first so we could check it out and see if we liked it. Then we did a 7 night, which despite having multiple ports cancelled, we still really enjoyed. Our scheduled Wish cruise was cancelled about a year ago due to Hurricane Ian... we're hoping to get on a ship again next summer!

Our kid has never really enjoyed the club though... she went a few times because we were doing a tasting class, but she'd prefer to hang out in the room watching a movie instead. But she is not a social butterfly... so it's not surprising.

It is a completely different experience than the parks and we love them both for different reasons.

 

[otten]

I am new to cruising. I have 3 young children and they are really excited to be cruising Disney. For anyone with kids, would you do a longer cruise or a shorter one? Do kids get bored/fussy onboard? How easy Is it to keep them entertained? TIA

How young is young?

The first cruise we took our kids were 10 months and 3 and in hindsight it was a bit young. We did a 7 night cruise and since my 3 year old would not go into Oceaneers (can be pretty overwhelming for the little ones) it was pretty exhausting.

 

[Carohs]

I couldn't agree more. I don't understand why many parents are unable or unwilling to enforce naps as soon as the kids stop napping everyday at home. Some days on a cruise or a Disney trip are much more exhausting than any regular school day. Kids may swear they're not tired, but if they really are they usually crash as soon as they lay down in a dark room.

Exactly. I even make DS (10 now) lay down in the dark for 30 min. Sometimes he falls asleep, sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes even I or DH will fall asleep too, but we set alarms jic. We definitely noticed a huge difference in everyone's attitude on days we were "too busy" to get back to the cabin. We do late dining too so the day doesn't seem cut short.