Anonymous
Post 02/04/2018 14:53     Subject: Disney cruise with 4 yr old and 1 yr old
Anonymous wrote:We just got back from our 4th Disney cruise. Not going to lie, our least relaxing was our first, when DS was too young to go to the kids club. You may want to consider booking some nursery time during the day so you can DH can have some time to yourself. The adult-only areas are nice.

We've done the fish extender a couple times - it's a gift exchange. I agree with skipping it for your first cruise.

Do you have a balcony room? That's nice for hanging out while your kid/kids is/are napping.

You can bring on one bottle of wine or a 6-pack of beer per adult. Also nice while hanging out on the balcony.

If your ship has the midship detective agency, your 4 year old may enjoy it. It's fun running around the ship gathering clues.

We were supposed to go to Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel on our last cruise (August) - seems like a good deal for a beach club if you don't have another excursion in mind. We didn't end up stopping at Cozumel due to a hurricane. We had booked it directly through Mr. Sanchos.

Castaway Cay is a great beach... we too like the "snorkeling beach" (which you arrive at first) better than the "family beach". We like ordering room service for breakfast on Castaway Cay day to get off the ship as quickly as possible. The lunch food at Cookies is pretty good and there are some fun souvenirs available only on the island. If you or DH is a runner, they have a fun 5k first thing when you get off the boat. You can sign up for it at guest services. You can drop off your 4 year old at the kids club on the island but I don't think you'll have anything to do with the 1 year old so I think that would mean you and your DH couldn't both do it.

We always just do the buffet for breakfast and lunch and the main dining room for dinner. If you get sick of the huge sit down meals every night, the places by the pool are good options for quicker, more casual dinners. Animators Palate has a fun show as part of dinner so you may want to make a point to hit that. You'll have the dinner rotation assigned on your key to the world card that you get at checkin.

I think that's it for now... I'll post more if I can think of anything else.


NP. Can you talk more about this? Considering a Disney Cruise with a 1 year old and 3 year old, but I’m worried it will be more trouble than it’s worth and now that fun or relaxing for any of us.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2018 13:41     Subject: Re:Disney cruise with 4 yr old and 1 yr old
Check out disneycruiselineblog.com for all kinds of helpful information.
I used that site a ton before I went on a Disney cruise with my daughter last spring.
There is also the Unofficial Guide to Planning a Disney Cruise that is also helpful.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2018 13:40     Subject: Disney cruise with 4 yr old and 1 yr old
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Novice cruise question - What are sleeping arrangements with kids this age in parents? Are you in the same room? It sounds fun, but I can't get my head around how this works. Also if comfortable sharing, what's the price point for these cruises? My 4 year old is obsessed with cruise ships, so he'd lose his mind with this type of trip.


We are going during spring break which is more expensive than other weeks. All in I think we are at $7k with airfare. I'll be celebrating a birthday while on the ship so this was a nice way to get some family and alone time while having the kids out of school.


The price varies a ton by the itinerary/length, room type, and time of year. We just got back from a 3 day cruise and paid ~$2200 for 3 people. Last summer we did a 7 day for ~$7200 (but we got 10% off, see below comment re. on-board booking). Both of these we had balcony rooms, which are quite a bit more than rooms without a balcony.

Like PP said, the room is kind of split with a big, heavy, light-proof curtain. There's a double bed on one side and a couch that they make into a bed on the other. Some rooms have a bunk bed that pulls out of the ceiling - ours did and DS (age 6) enjoyed sleeping up there.

Oh - one more pro-tip - if you think you'll ever want to go on another Disney cruise, book a placeholder while you're on board - they have a special desk to do it or you can just go to guest services. You pay $250 - you don't need a date/cruise in mind, you're just booking a placeholder. When you figure out your next cruise plans and go to actually book the cruise, you get 10% off and an onboard credit of either $100 or $250 based on the length of the cruise you book. It's also a lower deposit. The placeholder is good for 2 years and if you don't use it, the money is automatically refunded.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2018 13:32     Subject: Disney cruise with 4 yr old and 1 yr old
Hi - this is the PP of the long post above.
- Dinner is at either 5:45 or 8:15ish. The shows are at 6 and 8:30... the idea being you do early dinner and the late show or vice versa. We have always done early dinner. We usually make it to the show too but if DS is too tired one of us goes back to the room.
- The fireworks are only on pirate night. On our last cruise they were at like 10:45 but I think they are sometimes earlier. We could see them from our balcony on the starboard side. They are LOUD.
- There are two kids clubs - Oceaneer Lab and Oceaneer Club. At the beginning of the cruise, one is usually "open" which means anyone can hang out in there (including babies) and one is "secure" which means it's only for kids and they must be checked in and out. This is the let kids get comfortable with the space. As the cruise goes on there will be less "open house" time. It's obvious on your "Personal Navigator" what is going on in each.
- Speaking of which, the Personal Navigator has information about everything going on at any given time. You can review examples here: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2018 12:41     Subject: Disney cruise with 4 yr old and 1 yr old
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No need to bring car seats if you are using Disney transportation.

Are you doing the Fish Extender thing?

Head to the first beach on Castaway Cay (it's less crowded).


OP here - what is the fish extender thing?


Fish extender is where you join a group that trades presents for a bunch of other cabins -- I'd skip it.
You have several options for lunch: one dining room will be open, but that takes a while. There's a huge buffet with everything you could possibly want. The easiest option is to eat at one of the poolside places: there's pizza, burgers, a healthier place with wrapes/fruit, and some ships have other options (one has a very nice shwarma restaurant).

As for other advice...your 4-year-old will likely like the kids club, but there's also open house time there where you can bring the baby too. There are cute baby events in the mornings (dance party, a little play area) that the 4-year-old can attend too. Have fun!


Can you please share more info on the open house in the kids club for babies? This sounds really interesting.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2018 12:39     Subject: Re:Disney cruise with 4 yr old and 1 yr old
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We skipped the fish extender and do not wish we did it
We did decorate our door and I was glad we did it
The one year-old won't be able to go in the pool if not potty trained but there is a splash pad
We did the early show and later dinner seating and the late dinner seating was too late for my kids to eat but I'm not sorry we did it that way because we all enjoyed the shows
I liked this blog post but some of it is out of date. For example I don't think you can bring extension cords now.
http://harvardhomemaker.com/a-moms-guide-15-things-to-pack-for-a-disney-cruise/


OP here - thanks for the weblink. What time are the show's?


I don't recall exactly - I think it something like 6pm for show and 8pm for dinner and the reverse if you have the early dinner and later show
You should check my.disney.com and see what seating you're signed up for