We did a tour of the space station at port canaveral. Your kids might be young for it but we enjoyed it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are leaving for a Disney cruise next month with ports in Castaway Cay and Nassau, Bahamas. Our kids are 4 and 6 years old. We plan to fly the day before so we will 1.5 days before boarding our ship. Do not plan on doing theme parks but open to sightseeing and low key attractions.

Where should we stay? Have not booked our hotel yet.
Can you recommend things to do before our cruise?
Any tips for the cruise itself? Have not booked any excursions.

Op - you are asking about hotel rec's and what to do before cruise, but you didn't mention your airport and embarkation port?
Orlando? FLL? MIA?

OP here. Sorry, we are flying to Orlando and the cruise leaves from Pt Canaveral. I thought most ships left from here. We will be on the Dream.

Anonymous wrote:NP here... Ours are 7, 5 and 18 months - would it be enjoyable? I know the older two would have a blast... Wondering about the toddler, though. Can she even go in the kids club?

Yes!!!!
The toddler can go to the nursery, out 2 year old loved it. You have to make reservations, and there is a small cost for the nursery, but the staff was phenomenal! The only thing for the toddler is though : no pools - so we chose (and choose) a ship with Nemo's reef - worked out great!

NP here... Ours are 7, 5 and 18 months - would it be enjoyable? I know the older two would have a blast... Wondering about the toddler, though. Can she even go in the kids club?

Anonymous wrote:We are leaving for a Disney cruise next month with ports in Castaway Cay and Nassau, Bahamas. Our kids are 4 and 6 years old. We plan to fly the day before so we will 1.5 days before boarding our ship. Do not plan on doing theme parks but open to sightseeing and low key attractions.

Where should we stay? Have not booked our hotel yet.
Can you recommend things to do before our cruise?
Any tips for the cruise itself? Have not booked any excursions.

Op - you are asking about hotel rec's and what to do before cruise, but you didn't mention your airport and embarkation port?
Orlando? FLL? MIA?

It's organized through the FB group for your specific group. In short: you organize groups of (typically) 10 cabins/families who agree to exchange small gifts. You hang a "fish extender" outside of your cabin (there's a big metal fish hook outsude of every cabin) and folks from your group secretly drop off the gifts in your pouch.

Google fish extender. People sell them on etsy, or you can make your own.

Our kids loved delivering the gifts to cabins all over the ship. And they loved receiving the surprises each night.

Anonymous wrote:Do the fish extender group! Our kids had a blast doing it!

What is a fish extender?

Do the fish extender group! Our kids had a blast doing it!

Just chiming in to say - you will have a blast! I know there are Disney cruise haters on DCUM sometimes. But it's a great trip and the kids are perfect ages. Don't try to do everything. We stay on the ship at Nassau and love no lines for the slides and empty pools. When the pools get crowded in the afternoon - send the kids to the club and head to a
Satellite falls (adult only top deck ) definitely book at least one meal at both remy and palo - worth the cost!!!!

We had the earliest boarding time and arrived about an hour before that...it was a bit of a pita keeping the kids occupied for so long. I wonder if we should have arrived a bit later instead?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get your kids club bracelets on the ship not in the port before boarding.

Why?

Because even though I had pre registered my kids I waited in line with others who didn't pre register. We didn't realize we could get the bands on board and there was no line at the multiple on board registration areas. I'd say we wasted an hour.

I'll also add that you can get there well before your boarding time. I thought security and checking were part of what I do after my boarding time but that was not the case. This was a European cruise, not sure if that matters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get your kids club bracelets on the ship not in the port before boarding.

Why?

Because even though I had pre registered my kids I waited in line with others who didn't pre register. We didn't realize we could get the bands on board and there was no line at the multiple on board registration areas. I'd say we wasted an hour.