Do 2 year olds have fun on a Disney Cruise?

[kruzmeister]

* Yes they do! Just back from a 3 day (4/29) sailing with our 27 month old grandson, and we had a blast! His mom and dad thought we had lost our minds when we brought up the idea, as they could not accompany us. I have to say I was surprised at the things he enjoyed the most. He loved the stage productions—all three of them. The only problem is he didn’t quite have enough weight to hold down the seat (that was hilarious). The characters mesmerized him, and the special effects kept his interest throughout. I have to say I felt more entertained than on any of the 8 other cruises we have been on. Disney has awesome productions. We also had beautiful weather for Castaway Cay. The ocean for him was the “pool” and he could not get enough. We brought lots of sand toys which he (and we) played with on the water’s edge. The water was pristine, with a fine sand bottom—easy on little toes. Lunch on Castaway was excellent—especially the ribs. Yum. And, on our way back to the ship, Goofy was there to greet us, and we got a no line, no stress picture with him after he gained our grandson’s trust with a little game of peek a boo! But perhaps the most surprising thing he loved most, especially because he is an extremely active little boy, was venturing out on our balcony and watching the waves as he sat on our laps. Every night as we returned to our cabin, this was how he fell asleep. If you can afford a balcony, even on a 3 night cruise, it is well worth the money.

 

Other highlights included the wonderful service we received at dinner. With the exception of the first day (we couldn’t get a nap in), he was wonderfully behaved. We bought him a smoothie which kept him busy, and brought along a few magnetic train cars and small piece of track—a godsend! The waiters cut the little ones’ food, which is so sweet, and appreciated. After dinner one night we came upon a band with a lady singer. To our surprise, Matthew stopped to watch several children dancing, then joined in! Five minutes later, Grandma and Grandma joined him. It was a memory that will stay with us forever.

 

Disney has such special touches, like printing your child’s name in marker on the room key, themed chocolates like “sleepy” or pirate gold coins, colorful Disney cups with lids—only to name a few. We purposely tried to keep things simple which meant we did not do every activity available. When we asked our grandson if he wanted to go to the pirate party, he said no, he wanted to watch the waves on the balcony. What he meant is that he needed some quiet time, so we took the hint and saved the party for another cruise someday. As luck would have it, we were midship, starboard side, and the fireworks went off directly above our cabin. What a treat!

 

We took lots of pictures, skipped long lines to meet the characters, and just let each day reveal itself to us. Our grandson will obviously not remember this cruise far into the future, but we like to think our special time together with him will be a sweet passage in the book of his life. It will certainly be that for us.

[Host Mick]

That's so sweet that you had this time with your grandson and all of you enjoyed it so much. Thanks for sharing.

[sandytoes03]

Aw, sounds like a fantastic cruise. What a lucky little boy to have grandparents like you!:):)

[littlej]

Wow, your last two sentences totally made me cry.

[wolffe]

I'm so glad you had a great time! Especially since me, my husband and our 27 month old son are leaving on Sunday for our first ever cruise!

[tigger917]

Wow, your last two sentences totally made me cry.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one!

 

What a great review, I loved reading it, I think I'll read it again! I hope that I'll have the same experience with my little one when we go.

 

PS I have to agree that Disney has the best production shows on a cruise by far!

[80sramfan]

* Yes they do! Just back from a 3 day (4/29) sailing with our 27 month old grandson, and we had a blast! His mom and dad thought we had lost our minds when we brought up the idea, as they could not accompany us. I have to say I was surprised at the things he enjoyed the most. He loved the stage productions—all three of them. The only problem is he didn’t quite have enough weight to hold down the seat (that was hilarious). The characters mesmerized him, and the special effects kept his interest throughout. I have to say I felt more entertained than on any of the 8 other cruises we have been on. Disney has awesome productions. We also had beautiful weather for Castaway Cay. The ocean for him was the “pool” and he could not get enough. We brought lots of sand toys which he (and we) played with on the water’s edge. The water was pristine, with a fine sand bottom—easy on little toes. Lunch on Castaway was excellent—especially the ribs. Yum. And, on our way back to the ship, Goofy was there to greet us, and we got a no line, no stress picture with him after he gained our grandson’s trust with a little game of peek a boo! But perhaps the most surprising thing he loved most, especially because he is an extremely active little boy, was venturing out on our balcony and watching the waves as he sat on our laps. Every night as we returned to our cabin, this was how he fell asleep. If you can afford a balcony, even on a 3 night cruise, it is well worth the money.

 

Other highlights included the wonderful service we received at dinner. With the exception of the first day (we couldn’t get a nap in), he was wonderfully behaved. We bought him a smoothie which kept him busy, and brought along a few magnetic train cars and small piece of track—a godsend! The waiters cut the little ones’ food, which is so sweet, and appreciated. After dinner one night we came upon a band with a lady singer. To our surprise, Matthew stopped to watch several children dancing, then joined in! Five minutes later, Grandma and Grandma joined him. It was a memory that will stay with us forever.

 

Disney has such special touches, like printing your child’s name in marker on the room key, themed chocolates like “sleepy” or pirate gold coins, colorful Disney cups with lids—only to name a few. We purposely tried to keep things simple which meant we did not do every activity available. When we asked our grandson if he wanted to go to the pirate party, he said no, he wanted to watch the waves on the balcony. What he meant is that he needed some quiet time, so we took the hint and saved the party for another cruise someday. As luck would have it, we were midship, starboard side, and the fireworks went off directly above our cabin. What a treat!

 

We took lots of pictures, skipped long lines to meet the characters, and just let each day reveal itself to us. Our grandson will obviously not remember this cruise far into the future, but we like to think our special time together with him will be a sweet passage in the book of his life. It will certainly be that for us.

 

 

 

Excellent post. You nailed on the head the true essence of what a Disney cruise is all about. Great job.

[dxcspilk]

Wow, what a wonderful review! We will be taking our 29 month old (at the time) and DH was worried she would not have a good time. Glad to hear you guys had a great time!

[noahdove]

What a great review:) Thank you..I will be cruising with my granddaughter who will be 4 and grandson will be 27 months when we go...your review makes me more excited...

[Purpleprincess4]

What a wonderful memory you'll have. I have to agree at that Disney does it right! I wish I could talk my hubby into another Disney Cruise!

[MDL1771]

Thanks so much for your post. My DH and I have been on 4 cruises, but never on Disney and never with our DS, who turned 19 months yesterday. We just started talking about taking a Disney cruise next April but I was a little worried about cruising with a toddler. You put my worries to rest. Thanks so much!!

I do have just one question for you...did you bring a stroller with you? Though my son is extremely active, he does love to just sit and take everything in. I figure I would use the stroller when we got off the boat and also, in the airport. We just returned from Disney World and it was much easier to put our DS in his stroller.

[Tggrtoes]

I thoroughly enjoyed your post. Our 2 1/2 DS has gone on Princess and Carnival and we are hoping to do a Disney cruise next. It's just tough to justify the cost at 2-3 times the other lines. But I'd still really really like to try it as we're huge Disney fans (even honeymooned at DW)

 

Thanks for posting

[chipmaster]

A counter prospective to consider, don't get me wrong everytime I cruise the very first thing I do is see if Disney is sailing and the time. Sadly often find the ports I want, sailing schedule don't line up with my desire and then when its closed it ain't on Disney I am kinda happy it didn't work because of the price :eek:

 

I sailed Disney when my kids were very young, 6 and 3 at the time. Simply the most special cruise ever for us parents, kids played in beautiful perfect uncrowded beach on Castway Cove, theme dinners with waiter that just were so engaging, beautiful theater with first run and many Disney favorites that my kids knew and loved. Characters galore on the ship, in the dining room and on the beach. Great kids club and the slumber sleep in with Disney Move was sooo cool. Food/service better at least in my memory compared to my experience on Princess/Carnival, probably biased just because it was "disney"

 

When I look back now, I have a few pictures ( before I went digital ). YOu know what the kids don't remember a thing, my oldest remember nothing of the 4 times we took him to Disney Land/World and the cruise except the pictures from when he was between the ages 2 and 6, but we got pictures. So in reflection the realy joy I've come to the conclusion is that we provided the best fun for the kids. They honestly don't remember a thing and a simple drive to the beach and a few hours at McDonalds play structure might have made them equally happy and content if not given us the "kodak" moments.

 

So its a very personal thing, Disney Charges a lot for their Parks, Cruises and now even offer Disney vacation tours across the globe. From what I see they are pricey. EAch person has to decide if the experience is worthy and what compromises one makes to do it versus possibly a cheaper one and the value of those memories.

 

That said, I still hope to have Disney extract a few inches out of my pocket booksometime in the future :D

 

I thoroughly enjoyed your post. Our 2 1/2 DS has gone on Princess and Carnival and we are hoping to do a Disney cruise next. It's just tough to justify the cost at 2-3 times the other lines. But I'd still really really like to try it as we're huge Disney fans (even honeymooned at DW)

 

Thanks for posting

[kruzmeister]

Thanks so much for your post. My DH and I have been on 4 cruises, but never on Disney and never with our DS, who turned 19 months yesterday. We just started talking about taking a Disney cruise next April but I was a little worried about cruising with a toddler. You put my worries to rest. Thanks so much!!

I do have just one question for you...did you bring a stroller with you? Though my son is extremely active, he does love to just sit and take everything in. I figure I would use the stroller when we got off the boat and also, in the airport. We just returned from Disney World and it was much easier to put our DS in his stroller.

 

We did not bring a stroller for 2 reasons. First, we brought his carseat with for the flight and the car rental, so we didn't want to drag the stroller with as well. Second, I had read that you could request a stroller once on board--for no fee. You leave a $200 deposit and it gets refunded when you return it. That worked perfectly. For the airport, we bought him a cute backpack on wheels, and he loved wheeling it around like a big boy. Thankfully, he didn't ask once to be carried. In port, we did use the stoller issued by disney, and that came in real handy. He wasn't in it the whole time OF COURSE! As soon as we left the ship he had to jump into every puddle he could find :D. Eventually his little legs gave out, and we were really glad to have it.

 

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions!

[kruzmeister]

I thoroughly enjoyed your post. Our 2 1/2 DS has gone on Princess and Carnival and we are hoping to do a Disney cruise next. It's just tough to justify the cost at 2-3 times the other lines. But I'd still really really like to try it as we're huge Disney fans (even honeymooned at DW)

 

Thanks for posting

 

I agree, Disney is pricey. Truthfully, we would have chosen Carnival or NCL as they have 2 year old camps (and Disney does not). We were just lucky we had vacation after spring break, and before kids got out of school. Between that, and the fact that Disney charged very little for him, the total fare was just about equivalent. That made it a no brainer! In high season, we could not have afforded it. Over the years I've also noticed cheaper fares in September and October for Disney. We're hoping we can go again in the future. I'm curious, how did your son do on Princess and Carnival? What parts did he enjoy? Did you take him in the dining room? I have to say, having a dining room full of kids makes you relax a bit more. I always hated to have my kids disturb adults, so we chose kid friendly restaurants when they were little. Thanks, Nancy.

[Susie51]

My sister's grandkids (16 mo. and 3 yr.) were with us on a land/sea Disney trip. They had a wonderful time. They enjoy watching the videos of themselves on the Disney trip.

 

We are going back to Disney World in 2011, but we will be on the Nick cruise sailing on NCL Jewel. They will be 7 and 9 on that trip. It is just a port stop, so we won't have as much time at the park.

 

I hope you enjoy your trip.