2019 Disney Cruises, Pregnancy and Zika concerns

jplee3

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Hey guys,

My family has planned to do a Disney cruise (Eastern Caribbean) in mid-2019 (targeting June) for my parents' 50th anniversary. They were really insistent on it being this year due to their anniversary.

In any case, my wife and I have been talking about potentially trying for another kid in roughly the same timeframe, which would end up spilling into the 2019 timeframe. My biggest concern would be with Zika if we were to happen to go and while my wife might be pregnant.

Has anyone had experiences with cruising in the Caribbean while pregnant and issues with mosquitoes, etc? The ports of call are Tortola, St Thomas, and Castaway Cay.
 
Personally, I don't think it would be worth the risk to be going to the Caribbean while pregnant. The zika virus also stays in your system for a few months after exposure. So if you get bitten you could infect your wife that has not been bitten as well. Its a risk to you both.

Here is info on pregnancy:

https://www.cdc.gov/pregnancy/zika/protect-yourself.html

Here is a link to good info for women and partners trying to get pregnant:
https://www.cdc.gov/pregnancy/zika/women-and-their-partners.html

How about an Alaskan cruise? We loved our Alaska cruise and would totally go again!
 
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Personally, I don't think it would be worth the risk to be going to the Caribbean while pregnant. The zika virus also stays in your system for a few months after exposure. So if you get bitten you could infect your wife that has not been bitten as well. Its a risk to you both.

Here is info on pregnancy:

https://www.cdc.gov/pregnancy/zika/protect-yourself.html

Here is a link to good info for women and partners trying to get pregnant:
https://www.cdc.gov/pregnancy/zika/women-and-their-partners.html

How about an Alaskan cruise? We loved our Alaska cruise and would totally go again!


The last family cruise we did was actually to Alaska :( We haven't done Eastern Caribbean yet so that was why we were planning it. I guess the only other options are A) try to have a kid *before* we go lol or B) wait 6months until after we go to try again.
 
The last family cruise we did was actually to Alaska :( We haven't done Eastern Caribbean yet so that was why we were planning it. I guess the only other options are A) try to have a kid *before* we go lol or B) wait 6months until after we go to try again.

The problem with A is the kid would have to be at least 6 months old to cruise. So if the little one doesn't arrive at least 6 months before embarkation, you'd have to miss it anyway (or leave the little one with someone else while you cruised).
 


The problem with A is the kid would have to be at least 6 months old to cruise. So if the little one doesn't arrive at least 6 months before embarkation, you'd have to miss it anyway (or leave the little one with someone else while you cruised).

Ah shoot... that's right - totally forgot about this.
 
I'm going out on a limb here... do you think your parents might feel that becoming grandparents again would be a good enough reason to hold over the family trip? How about a Northern European otherwise?
 


We had this decision to make as well before our planned cruise dec 2018.

Babe arrives in may and will be 6 mo old for the cruise! Ha!
 
Hey guys,

My family has planned to do a Disney cruise (Eastern Caribbean) in mid-2019 (targeting June) for my parents' 50th anniversary. They were really insistent on it being this year due to their anniversary.

In any case, my wife and I have been talking about potentially trying for another kid in roughly the same timeframe, which would end up spilling into the 2019 timeframe. My biggest concern would be with Zika if we were to happen to go and while my wife might be pregnant.

Has anyone had experiences with cruising in the Caribbean while pregnant and issues with mosquitoes, etc? The ports of call are Tortola, St Thomas, and Castaway Cay.

I agree with ILovePixieDust - while there are still a lot of questions about Zika what we do know suggests its best to just not go into a zone with it while pregnant or trying to become pregnant. I wouldn't put too much credence in other people's experience either - just because other people did not get bit does not mean you will definitely be as lucky, you know?
 
I agree with ILovePixieDust - while there are still a lot of questions about Zika what we do know suggests its best to just not go into a zone with it while pregnant or trying to become pregnant. I wouldn't put too much credence in other people's experience either - just because other people did not get bit does not mean you will definitely be as lucky, you know?

Yeah, I agree - it definitely sounds like too much of a risk... is Zika still a huge risk when your pregnant and in your last trimester?

June 2019 is 16 months away.....if my math is correct you would just be able to make it on time with a 6 month old baby! But you have to start like TODAY! :jester: No pressure!! :crazy:

LOL!!! It's actually 15 and a half months away, so we'd basically have to get pregnant now and how the baby comes by 12/15/18 :T

I'm going out on a limb here... do you think your parents might feel that becoming grandparents again would be a good enough reason to hold over the family trip? How about a Northern European otherwise?

I don't know how they would feel about things. If they felt like they had to delay, they probably wouldn't be too happy about it. One factor is when my brothers will be able to go since their kids are all in school and there are very few weeks they would be able to take off otherwise. ALso, my dad at some point in a passing conversation with my father-in-law told him that we are done at two kids... on our behalf and in front of us...LOL! My brothers each have two so my parents somehow think this is the perfect number of kids even though they had three (maybe they learned their lesson with me hahaha!). It kinda sucks because it feels like we have to make a decision about whether or not we try for another based on the cruise date. My wife was saying she doesn't think she wants to wait 6 months after the cruise to try (basically this means the next kid comes in 2020).

As far as my parents and brothers being open to a European cruise, I don't think they want to do anything that would require more than 10 days - this kind of cruise probably wouldn't be viable in that sense.

We could be up-front with my parents and tell them we want to have another kid but I fear the reaction will be negative and spark controversy and questioning as to why we want to have another kid so soon. They already think we have more than we can handle with two kids 1.5 years apart. We want to wait but not that long...

We had this decision to make as well before our planned cruise dec 2018.

Babe arrives in may and will be 6 mo old for the cruise! Ha!

Yikes!
 
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Yeah, I agree - it definitely sounds like too much of a risk... is Zika still a huge risk when your pregnant and in your last trimester?

"Among women with confirmed Zika infection during the first trimester, 8 percent — nearly 1 in 12 — had a baby or fetus with Zika-related birth defects. For infections in the second trimester, 5 percent were affected, and in the third trimester, 4 percent, according to the CDC."

4% would still be too much of a risk for me, personally. There is so much you can't control in a pregnancy, I think I would be obsessed about controlling what I could. But, you know what is best for you! :)
 
I know this is a very difficult situation for you. You don't want to disappoint your parents, but I think you really must consider what is best for you. If you want another child you shouldn't need to defend that decision to them. You also shouldn't have to plan the timing around a cruise. I know it's hard, but if it were me, I'd do what I thought was best for my family in planning that pregnancy and explain to the others that it's a life-time decision. A vacation that someone else wants to take should not impact that decision. You might also point out that they would not want a child with birth defects that might have been preventable. I hope you can find a peaceful solution for everyone.
 
I know this is a very difficult situation for you. You don't want to disappoint your parents, but I think you really must consider what is best for you. If you want another child you shouldn't need to defend that decision to them. You also shouldn't have to plan the timing around a cruise. I know it's hard, but if it were me, I'd do what I thought was best for my family in planning that pregnancy and explain to the others that it's a life-time decision. A vacation that someone else wants to take should not impact that decision. You might also point out that they would not want a child with birth defects that might have been preventable. I hope you can find a peaceful solution for everyone.

I ended up shooting a quick email to them informing them of our intentions and that if we do end up having one that they should still go on with the cruise in the case that we are either pregnant or have an infant too young to cruise. My wife agreed with your statement and advised that it's better, sooner than later, to let them know so it's in their minds... perhaps they will change their minds about the destination. I'm not really sure.

This is a big one for them due to their 50th anniversary, that and they've kinda tied themselves in with another family from their church whose parents are also celebrating their 50th. So it's a "big blowout" type of deal I guess...
 
I ended up shooting a quick email to them informing them of our intentions and that if we do end up having one that they should still go on with the cruise in the case that we are either pregnant or have an infant too young to cruise. My wife agreed with your statement and advised that it's better, sooner than later, to let them know so it's in their minds... perhaps they will change their minds about the destination. I'm not really sure.

This is a big one for them due to their 50th anniversary, that and they've kinda tied themselves in with another family from their church whose parents are also celebrating their 50th. So it's a "big blowout" type of deal I guess...


Oh boy, it feels like we've stirred the pot a little on this one per both my parents' responses. They're basically saying they want us to wait (my dad being more insistent with his wording that my mom's careful wording to wait). They've been planning this 2019 trip since 2017 (when our 2nd was born), they're getting old (70s) and want to spend time with all the families together, their 50th anniversary is only once, yada yada yada, then guilt tripped us even more because we're in Southern California where the rest of them are in Northern California. All this despite my mom saying "we're trying to stay objective" and also "we don't ask much of you"

Is it wrongly selfish for us to want to have our kids close(r) in age? If we waited until 2020 to start trying, and even then there are never guarantees, we wouldn't have a kid likely until at least late 2020. The common-ground here would be to find a destination, as some suggested, where we vacation somewhere that's not Zika-infested. I actually responded back and asked this but that's when my dad raised the stakes with his "YOLO" response. They seem very stuck on vacationing in Zika-infested regions... :T

For those of you curious about my grandparents being happy about having another grandkid, I think they would be overall, but I honestly think they've checked out (as awful as that sounds). They have 6 grandkids, ranging from ages one through 14, so they've seen it all as far as infants through teenagers (to an extent). The last couple times they've visited or we visited them they just seem checked out from our kids...especially my dad. They just seem to get "tired" of spending too much time with their younger grandkids. They live very close to one of my brothers and see his two kids all the time, so that probably has a bit to do with it. Grandparent burnout I guess?
 
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I'm now wondering about recommending to them a shorter Bahamian 5 day (Bahamas is apparently not affected by Zika) where we split the rest of the time perhaps in a beach house around Port Canaveral. I noticed on the CDC site that Florida is a "state previously reporting Zika" - is there still major reason for concern in FL regarding Zika?
 
My heart breaks for you and I'm sorry to hear your parents are putting this all on you. It seems there are choices they could make to accommodate you (like another destination) but are unwilling, yet they expect you to make a life decision that impacts your family for them. All you're asking is choose another location or count you out. And the other couple at church is NOT a reason for you to put off having another child.

I'm not trying to insult your parents, so I hope you don't take it that way. Each of us has different family dynamics. But I know my parents would have welcomed another grandchild 10 times over before prioritizing a vacation. That said, maybe you need to promise to visit more often. Sorry, but you're in the same state. I'm a 2 day drive away from my parents (or fly 3 expensive hours), so I'm a little jealous of being that close.

Good luck. I wish you the best in this tough decision.
 
Honestly, I can see both sides of this.
If they truly have been planning this since 2017, and are just now being told of a potential problem, I can see how they would be upset and disappointed and see you asking them to change plans to accommodate just your family as selfish, and how it would be difficult for them to consider changing if this is the trip that has been built up in their heads for years and what everyone else has been planning for/ anticipating too.

I can also see how you would think that it isn't reasonable for you to base your family planning decisions on one vacation, and that changing destinations to accommodate your pregnancy should be reasonable.

I don't think them guilt tripping you into compliance is right however. You have to do what is best for your own family, and if having another child right now is that decision, they don't have to LIKE that you are choosing that over the cruise, but they should at least respect your decision and not put a guild trip on you.
 
Maybe talk to them and see if they would be OK going somewhere else instead? Alaska is lovely. Personally I prefer Alaska over the Caribbean.

If I went while pregnant I would probably just stay on the ship while in the ports. Seems like you would be much less likely to encounter mosquitoes on the ship.
 

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