Traveling with kids

Looking to cruise with 2 kids- 3 year old and 18 month. My questions is whats a great disney cruise to do with them since they are little? Mys husband and I always cruised before but no kids. 7 night western are my favorite but we always did royal caribbean. We think disney will have more to offer the kids>> and advice please!!

Looking to cruise with 2 kids- 3 year old and 18 month. My questions is whats a great disney cruise to do with them since they are little? Mys husband and I always cruised before but no kids. 7 night western are my favorite but we always did royal caribbean. We think disney will have more to offer the kids>> and advice please!!

I know some will disagree, but I would wait a couple of years. Your younger one won't be able to go into the pool, and a lot of shore excursions have age limits that will disqualify you.

If you really want to do this, I would choose a four day with a double dip on Castaway Cay.

Many parents with little ones, who may not meet excursion parameters, often choose the more port intensive sailings purposely, so the ship is less full in said ports. Then they have a less filled/crowded vessel to enjoy.

Trick is to pick an itinerary with popular ports, if you plan to stay aboard. ;)

Many do this. Even adults. IMO, this would be a Western Caribbean sailing.

Good Luck and Enjoy

Looking to cruise with 2 kids- 3 year old and 18 month. My questions is whats a great disney cruise to do with them since they are little? Mys husband and I always cruised before but no kids. 7 night western are my favorite but we always did royal caribbean. We think disney will have more to offer the kids>> and advice please!!

Yes, Disney Cruises are the best for little ones and elementary school kids. I recommend the Disney Dream or Fantasy. Ports: Castaway Cay - Disney private island, and Nassau Bahamas - Atlantis Resort aquarium, water park and beach. The cruise has Nemos Reef water play area for little ones, kids club, dinner at different restaurants, Disney Shows, etc...

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Disney Dream and Fantasy have a pirates night and Fireworks.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Last year we did the 7 day Alaskan cruise on the Wonder with our four year old son. We had a nice time, but wished we would have waited a couple years, till our son was older. While he was old enough to stay at the Oceaner club, he didn't want stay by himself. So, we spent time with him in the pool, went to the movies etc. I think we would have enjoyed our trip more, if he was older. My husband and I never visited the adult areas, as we always had him with us. By our last day, we were tired. So, our next cruise will be in 2015, when he is almost 7 years old. We think this cruise will be more enjoyable for all of us.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatal

Disney Dream and Fantasy have a pirates night and Fireworks.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Except for the Wonder, when she's doing Alaska, all DCL ships have Pirate's night and fireworks.

I know some will disagree, but I would wait a couple of years. Your younger one won't be able to go into the pool, and a lot of shore excursions have age limits that will disqualify you.

 

If you really want to do this, I would choose a four day with a double dip on Castaway Cay.

I would agree with this. I would recommend waiting a year or so. My sister has a 1 year old and she was talking about doing the Disney cruise when she is almost 2 and then a land Disney vacation a year and a half later when she's about 3.5 - I told her she has it backwards, far more for the toddler to do on the land vacation she can use the pools, rides, etc. Theres just not a ton for toddlers to do, the only thing the land vaca does not have is the nursery -but if you wait until theyre 3 the kids club is included. Just my opinion though, I know many people enjoy cruising with their toddlers.

Hi! We started cruising on Disney 3 years ago when our oldest was 3 yrs old and our youngest was only 10 months old. We were hooked. We've gone on a cruise every year since and will be going on our 4th cruise as a family next March. We've also done land vacations at Disney and my opinion is that cruising is SO MUCH EASIER with young children and I think they have more fun. There's no hot parks to walk around all day, no worries about transportation to and from the hotel, no worries about what/when to feed the kids. The cruiseline makes it so easy for young families. It's so easy to go back to your room whenever you need to, food is always available and the chefs will even accomodate the youngest children that are just starting on solid food- pureeing or chopping food for you. The characters are abundant on the ship and it's so easy to see them...we've never waited in line longer than 20 min for a character on the cruise ship. There's plenty of family activities. For our first 2 cruises, we didn't see the value in getting off the ship so it was nice to have a less crowded ship to enjoy on those port days. We did enjoy Castaway Cay. We've done a 3 night, 4 night and 7 night. I think the 3 night is way too short...you're just getting settled in and you have to leave. We are doing another 4 night next year....and combining it with 2 days at the parks. That seems to be the best mix for us. Let the kids see Magic Kingdom, since (for my girls) Disney is all about seeing the castle...and then it's off to is to relax on the cruise ship. I find that (just like Disney), you get something different from the trip each time you go, depending on the child's age/stage of development. We've only stuck with Caribbean cruises at this point...I wouldn't do anything else until they are a bit older so that we can enjoy excursions together. For now, I just enjoy being on the ship and perhaps doing one family focused excursion. Feel free to reach out with any specific questions!

We cruised with our 1 and 5 year olds this summer and had a great time. Our youngest got more out of the character appearances than we expected. The staff all made a real fuss of him too. That said he didn't really settle in the Nursery and got very frustrated when he couldn't join his sister in the pool. So although we enjoyed it we are going to skip next year and cruise again in 2015 when he has turned 3.

Looking to cruise with 2 kids- 3 year old and 18 month. My questions is whats a great disney cruise to do with them since they are little? Mys husband and I always cruised before but no kids. 7 night western are my favorite but we always did royal caribbean. We think disney will have more to offer the kids>> and advice please!!

I agree with those who suggest waiting until the kids are older for a Disney cruise. If you want to go now take something less expensive.

The 18 month old will not remember the cruise and the 3 yr old may not either. Royal Caribbean has lots of great stuff for kids.

Sounds like the jury is split. We cruised with our lil girl at 8 months and 20 months. We all (including lil one) had a blast. This one is really a personal decision and going with WDW over a Disney Cruise or visa versa I don't think you can go wrong. A vacation is what you make of it.

We are taking our 2 year old son and 15 year old daughter on the Fantasy next month. We decided on the cruise over Disney World for 2 reasons. 1. More interaction with characters on the ship for our 2 year old vs. the parks. 2. Having the Nursery for him to play in while we can do a couple of adult things, (mixology, Palo and Remy brunches.) We plan to do beaches on our excursions in St. Thomas and St. Marteen, plus Castaway Cay.

I agree with those who suggest waiting until the kids are older for a Disney cruise. If you want to go now take something less expensive.

The 18 month old will not remember the cruise and the 3 yr old may not either. Royal Caribbean has lots of great stuff for kids.

It doesn't matter much if they remember the cruise. You will remember them having fun.

Couldn't have said it any better than how Host Mick did.

The memories we've made are more valuable to me than any worldly possession I have or could ever want to have in my lifetime.

It doesn't matter much if they remember the cruise. You will remember them having fun.

Yes, I understand what you are saying. I am speaking from our own experience. We took our first Disney cruise when my grandson was 3 .....now he is 14 and we just talked about it a few days ago and he said he doesn't remember the cruise at all. His next one was when he was 5 and that cruise is embedded in his memory. We spent quite a bit on that first Disney cruise and could have had just as much of a good time on another line for alot less money. After all Disney is pricey and how much a young child remembers will vary greatly.

That being said we will be on the Disney Dream in Nov with a 5 yr old and I am quite sure she will have many fond memories of this trip.

My son took his first Disney vacation at 13 months (Disney world) and visited again every year about a month after his bday. Last year at age 5 we visited 3 times (last trip we finished with the cruise). He doesn't remember everything about every trip (and Im sure he wouldn't remember his 1 year old trip) but we do. He does like to look at pictures from his trips, and I just made a collage of photos with him with Mickey at Chef Mickeys since we've collected one every trip. Great momento of his years growing up at Disney.

The reason I said I would suggest waiting on the cruise is bc from experience IMO there is more for the real little ones to do on the land vacation than at Sea. Just my opinion though!