Who has done a Disney Cruise with an infant?

[allieg8r94]

We are currently planning a family vacation for January of 2006. My daughter will be 9 months old and this will be her first real vacation, as well as my husband's and my first time on a cruise. There will be a large group of us on this trip, but my daughter will be the only infant.

Can you please share your experiences onboard with a child under 1 year old? How did you spend your days? Did you leave the ship a lot at ports of call? What recommendations can you make to help us have a wonderful time?

Also, I would like to know anything and everything you can tell me about Flounder's Cove (is that what it's called?), the baby club.

Thanks so much for sharing your insights with me!

-Allie

 

[CamColt]

We did a big family trip when our youngest was 8 months old. We only did the 3 day cruise so the only time we left the ship was to go to Castaway Cay. We spent our Nassau day in the pool (this was before infants werent allowed in). We had late seating and went to the shows each night. Usually DS slept through those, then he was in a great mood for dinner. He loved our servers and they were excellent with him. They made puppets, played with him and even carried him around the restaurant one night. After dinner one night we did the deck party for a little bit and another night we did family Karaoke.

He never went to Flounders so I cant help you there.

One tip we found the hard way, is to be sure you keep your closet door shut. DS had started cruising by this time (no pun intended) and twice he fell and hit his head on the metal tracking for the door. Finally we caught on to keep it shut.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Are any grandparents going on this trip?

 

[allieg8r94]

Yes, my mom and stepdad are going as well.

 

[byon_and_lara]

opps..posted in wrong thread...disregard

 

[Debbie H]

We are taking our 7 month old grandson next week. Of course his mom and dad, aunt and uncle will be there as well. We have adjoining rooms so I'll let you know!

 

[jodifla]

We used Flounder's almost every day for our son, who was almost 3. He liked it in there.

They have cribs in the back for napping, and lots of baby toys. The staff is great, very accommodating. You reserve in advance, because they have limited openings. We mainly used the service in the evenings, so DS would go up there, and watch a video and fall asleep and we could have some adult time.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Our infant was 14 months old when we took her. Not quite under 1 year old. Anyways, she had a ball. We used Flounders every evening for the dinnertime meal. I figured that would be the hardest time for her to make it through the meals. We did a 3 day (just to test the waters). We ended up rebooking for a cruise when she was almost 3 for 7 days. Anyways, we took her to Nassau and Castaway Cay. Just played it by ear on how she felt. We didn't do any scheduled tours. But she probably would have been fine if we did. She is pretty easy going and very willing to nap in her stroller. She enjoyed the shows. The shows were only about 1 hour so, it wasn't too hard for her sit through the entire show. Also, we saw one movie. She ended up napping through the movie though. She loved the character greetings. And, she loved the little wading pool. I was glad we didn't take her to dinner with us. The family next to us was struggling with entertaining their infant (she wasn't walking yet). Basically, the child got passed from adult to adult. She really wanted to crawl. She cried a lot. Now, our baby was walking so, we did walk the decks alot to tire her out....

We didn't get to see the late shows after dinner in the clubs because we'd put her to bed. I think, if you readjust your expectations on what you'll be able to accomplish on the cruise you'll do fine. Just be flexible. Have fun...

Tina

 

[llyolf]

Flounders is great! back in 2000 we cruised with our DD who was 12 weeks old... make sure to bring lots of diapers or stock up before getting on the ship... the store on the ship has them for sale, but you can buy a mega or jumbo pack off ship for what you'll pay for 5 or 6 on ship. this maybe a little personal, but if she's a BF baby, make sure mom wears "accessible" clothes (my DW made the mistake of wearing a full length scrunch dress, and DD decided she was thristy/hungry after the dress was on.... sorry maybe TMI

the best piece of advice I can give you is don't hold too tight to your schedule... there may be times that baby is gonna get overload and want to nap, that might not match your schedule... oh and get lots of pix of baby at the different places.... it'll be real cool in 4 or 5 years to show them... maybe even get them excited to go on another cruise.

Thanks,
Paul