Spend the extra $ for a Disney or RCL cruise with an 18-month old?

[MJ_PVB]

Hi everyone-- my husband and I are considering taking our first cruise in Sept, looking at 3-5 day options from FL. Our son will be 18 months and the Disney and RCL Oasis ships look absolutely amazing, but are at least double the price of a Carnival Sensation cruise during that timeframe. I want my son to have a blast on the trip, however I also know he is so young that he won't remember anything. In your opinion, is it worth the extra money so he has access to a 'splash area' and other little kid activities on board? Or is it best to save the money for down the road when he is a bit older? Could we keep him entertained with other activities on the Carnival ship and beaches when in port? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :D

[Friend100]

At 18 months, I think he will have fun anywhere you take him. It is more about what you and your husband want to do.

[pitz0005]

If you have never taken a cruise before, Carnival will be great. Their food and service is just fine, but the sensation will not have the Wow factor of many other ships, including some of Carnival's newer bigger ships. Some of the new/big RCL ships are amazing. If you are flexible with your schedule at all, both liberty of the seas and Jewel of the Seas begin sailing 4-5 day cruises in November out of Florida. The Liberty has many of the same features as Oasis at a fraction of the cost. They also have the Royal tots nursery and small splash area for diapered babies on the Liberty. My choice would be to wait unitl Nov/Dec and take a 4-5 day on Liberty of the seas. Personally I would not pay the money for Oasis or DCL with an 18 mo for a first cruise.

[Friend100]

Some other "one off" options ...

 

Independence of the Seas: special 3-days Bahamas cruise on 12/5/2012.

 

Allure of the Seas: special 3-days Bahamas on Valentine's Day 2013.

 

I don't know about the price but these are opportunities to experience mega ships with just 3 days, if there is limitation on the length of cruise to take. I'm sure people will say 3 days isn't enough for anything.

[MJ_PVB]

Great info from all.... thanks so much!

[cb at sea]

At 18 mos., I'd save the money for when he will really appreciate it! His good time will be totally up to you...not the cruiseline's amenities at this point in his life!

[Nalagh]

At 18 mos., I'd save the money for when he will really appreciate it! His good time will be totally up to you...not the cruiseline's amenities at this point in his life!

 

My thoughts exactly! DCL is wonderful, but he is still a bit young to enjoy all the Disney extras.

[WL56]

My advise is to go on a ship that offers childcare for an 18 month old. Even though you may not put him/her in it for many hours, it's nice to have a few hours off. The Oasis and Disney will have programs for an 18 month old. Carnival will not. I posted a review of cruising with our 9 month old and 20 month old on the Carnival Dream. It wasn't fun. We couldn't do anything or even use the pool. Spend a few extra dollars and go with the cruise that is baby friendly.:)

[WL56]

Here's a link to my cruise review cruising with babies and toddlers.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=81131

[kimmimom]

with an 18-month-old. They aren't going to remember it, they can't use pools on most cruiselines, and they can't do camps. I would wait until at least 2 yrs and then forego Disney for a while. You can do 2 or 3 carnival cruises for the price of 1 Disney. We have done Disney World like 8 times and have cruised with kids 3 times.

[TheCalicoCat]

At 18 months, I think he will have fun anywhere you take him. It is more about what you and your husband want to do.

 

DITTO!

My son Loved Carnival, but we waited until he was 2 & able to have age appropriate activities. (& so that his parents could have some unsupervised alone time.;))

[onthelake]

My son was a Disney kid since we lived in Orlando but at 18 months, he spent some time afraid of the characters so I would also advise looking at non-Disney options.

[Lily429]

we waited until our DD was 8 for our first disney cruise for the exact reason of fear of the characters. while every child is different (we saw many young kids very excited about characters and many young ones frightened to death) the last thing you want is to be ship bound with a child that is terrified of these characters walking around. Our DD LOVED the disney dream, we went to all the shows (another reason to wait) you will get much more for your money out of a disney cruise if you wait. I agree with WL56, you WILL want a break at some point to enjoy yourself...look for a ship with daycare for toddlers, that will be money well spent!

[JenAndDan]

Hi everyone-- my husband and I are considering taking our first cruise in Sept, looking at 3-5 day options from FL. Our son will be 18 months and the Disney and RCL Oasis ships look absolutely amazing, but are at least double the price of a Carnival Sensation cruise during that timeframe. I want my son to have a blast on the trip, however I also know he is so young that he won't remember anything. In your opinion, is it worth the extra money so he has access to a 'splash area' and other little kid activities on board? Or is it best to save the money for down the road when he is a bit older? Could we keep him entertained with other activities on the Carnival ship and beaches when in port? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :D

 

 

We took our older son on his first cruise when he was just about to turn 18 months. We did look at Disney but decided to wait (we then took him to Disney world when he turned two and LOVED it and still talks about it). We went on the Serenade of the Seas and chose it because there was only going to be one at sea day. He had a blast! I would definitely choose a ship that has less sea days as there isn't much to do (on our one sea day he had two group play times with other babies and ate and slept and ran around the ship but if there were two or three sea days, it may have become repetitive. They did offer babysitting for a fee at night but we did not use it (we had my parents with us but we rarely used them as one of us was always exhausted at night!)

 

My son had such a good time. The staff was so nice to him and really went that extra mile. He loved trying all sorts of new different foods (especially the chilled soups).

 

We are now planning on next cruise for November. Our son will be 3.5 and our younger son will be almost 18 months as well. We are going on Oasis. We think it will be a great ship for both boys. We are not sure our older son will go to AO, but if he doesn't there is still plenty to do with him as well as our younger son. If you book Oasis in advance you can get a decent rate. However, if you are looking to cruise sooner, rather than later - I would choose ac ruise that has two or less sea days and ports that are appealing.

[katyjeka]

We are HUGE disney nuts, but I would save the money. We enjoyed our Disney cruise, but do not feel it was worth the extra money.

[KristenFMR920]

Hi everyone-- my husband and I are considering taking our first cruise in Sept, looking at 3-5 day options from FL. Our son will be 18 months and the Disney and RCL Oasis ships look absolutely amazing, but are at least double the price of a Carnival Sensation cruise during that timeframe. I want my son to have a blast on the trip, however I also know he is so young that he won't remember anything. In your opinion, is it worth the extra money so he has access to a 'splash area' and other little kid activities on board? Or is it best to save the money for down the road when he is a bit older? Could we keep him entertained with other activities on the Carnival ship and beaches when in port? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :D

 

 

I have a different opinion than everyone else but both Disney and the newer RCI ships offer nursery's which is awesome if you want a dinner alone or something like that with your hubby. They both are the only one's in the industry that offer baby pools. We are leaving next month on the Freedom of the Seas with my 18 month old. We paid a lot more to have the nursery and the pool for him.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Or try the Carnival Dream.