Cruising With a 2 Year Old

SRUAlmn

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 19, 2004
Hi all! We are long time and frequent WDW visitors but are scheduled for our first DCL vacation on the Dream in January. Yay!! Taking our little one to WDW never felt daunting (he’s been 3 times already at 21 months old,) but I think that’s because we’d been to WDW so many times before kids and knew the lay of the land and what to expect. He will be almost 2.5 for our cruise and I’m feeling a little anxious as to what to expect since we’ve never cruised DCL before, and especially because kids can change and mature so quickly it’s hard to know how he’ll be 8 months from now!

I asked on another thread about strollers because he’s currently in the “run run as fast as you can” phase and it makes me nervous to be on a ship if he has the potential to take off. I was also thinking about port stops and how much walking there will be? But on the other thread most people said you rarely see strollers on board? We do have a super compact one we use for travel.

I also wondered about how much we’ll really get to experience. We have to do early dinner seating as he goes to bed by 7:30 at the latest so it sounds like we won’t be able to see any of the shows since our show time is 8:30? What exactly is there to do that a 2 year old will enjoy during the day on “at sea” days? He’s OBSESSED with the characters so we will for sure prioritize that! Nemo’s Reef looks fun, too! Looks like he’ll be too short for the Aqua Duck.

I am a huge coffee lover and the Cove Cafe specialty coffees look amazing but I will have him with me the majority of the time and I’m assuming he can’t be with me just to go in and grab a coffee since it’s in an adults only area? If not, is there anywhere in the non adult only areas that has great specialty coffees?

He’s currently in a food throwing phase (ugh!) and my husband is terrified that we’ll be in a nice restaurant and seated with another family and he’ll just go ham throwing his food. I’m hoping in 8 months we’ll be past this phase but is it common to see kiddos making messes as dinner?

Are high chairs readily available at Cabanas?

Does the captain come over the speakers often? I’ve watched multiple vlogs and it seems like it happens often but maybe it’s just the ones I’ve been watching? Our little guy NEEDS HIS SLEEP, haha, so I wasn’t sure about naps or bedtime being disrupted? Prob a silly question to frequent cruisers but something I was wondering :)

Thanks for any tips or advice you can provide!!
 
So - potty train, seriously. If he can master it, and is ready - not talking torture here if he’s not - that opens up the options a bit. Also don’t discount the nursery. The ship’s nursery and various kids’ clubs allow you to vacation too. They will play with him, have activities, etc.
Strollers might be a challenge unless it’s an umbrella stroller. You might want to consider a harness instead, control but easier navigation.
If he’s in food throwing, I don’t know how it would be handled but bring extra tip and maybe a small staff gift (chocolates, etc.).
It is very rare to have an over speaker announcement in the evening - nap time may have some but you can always plan to nap on the veranda in the stroller if you have a veranda.
If you are doing the 3 day Dream, Nassau is the port. You can do as little or as much as you want re: walking and touring. At Castaway Cay you’ll have use of trams to get to the family beach but there is a bit of walking to Cookies and restrooms.
So my concern is if he is still so regimented by naps and schedule, is this the right age to cruise with him? Potty trained and post nap phase are a lot more freeing. But that’s my POV.
Bottom line, look at the nursery, be prepared to give on bed times or naps (unless he turns into Dr Jekyll ), and remember it’s your vacation too.
Good luck.
 
There is a coffee area on Deck 4 that’s open for both adults and children
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/onboard-activities/vista-cafe/
Thank you!! Going to see if I can find a menu!

So - potty train, seriously. If he can master it, and is ready - not talking torture here if he’s not - that opens up the options a bit. Also don’t discount the nursery. The ship’s nursery and various kids’ clubs allow you to vacation too. They will play with him, have activities, etc.
Strollers might be a challenge unless it’s an umbrella stroller. You might want to consider a harness instead, control but easier navigation.
If he’s in food throwing, I don’t know how it would be handled but bring extra tip and maybe a small staff gift (chocolates, etc.).
It is very rare to have an over speaker announcement in the evening - nap time may have some but you can always plan to nap on the veranda in the stroller if you have a veranda.
If you are doing the 3 day Dream, Nassau is the port. You can do as little or as much as you want re: walking and touring. At Castaway Cay you’ll have use of trams to get to the family beach but there is a bit of walking to Cookies and restrooms.
So my concern is if he is still so regimented by naps and schedule, is this the right age to cruise with him? Potty trained and post nap phase are a lot more freeing. But that’s my POV.
Bottom line, look at the nursery, be prepared to give on bed times or naps (unless he turns into Dr Jekyll ), and remember it’s your vacation too.
Good luck.

Thanks! We are used to our expectations being adjusted by his schedule and it’s not something that bothers us one bit. On our first trip to WDW we spent about 3 hrs max in the parks each day and were back in our room by 7 for bedtime. We are not going to put everyone’s life on hold until he’s 5 or 6 and past napping. We are totally ok with shortened days and not getting a “full experience,” just trying to get an idea of our options. Thanks for the info!
 
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Announcements only come in the cabins if there is a emergency... except the last morning when they are kicking everyone off the ship lol.
You may want to download a white noise app on your phone for when he’s napping. Unfortunately people let their kids run in the halls and it sounds like a heard of elephants. Also so many people haven’t learned hold their cabin door and let it close slowly/softly.
 
Announcements only come in the cabins if there is a emergency... except the last morning when they are kicking everyone off the ship lol.
You may want to download a white noise app on your phone for when he’s napping. Unfortunately people let their kids run in the halls and it sounds like a heard of elephants. Also so many people haven’t learned hold their cabin door and let it close slowly/softly.
Thank you so much! We actually have a travel sound machine that we use on a regular basis so he has the same sound as we do at home when we’re away! I had a feeling noise might be an issue so thanks for confirming! We have the same issues at WDW and it’s par for the course when traveling, I think! He also falls asleep to Disney lullabies from my iTunes and it’s been his “sleep time” trigger since he was in the womb, haha! I’m assuming apps and things like iTunes run fine when in airplane mode and no WiFi? Thanks again!
 
You will have a great time - we, like you, continued to travel through the toddler stage because we love to travel.

A few thoughts:
1) The crew are really great with kids of all ages. We did Northern Europe when my younger one was 2.5 years old and she would hide under the table at dinner some nights (I think she was going potty in her diaper) and they didnt blink (I was a little embarrassed of course but she wasn't bothering anyone else as we had a private table)
2) We also did pretty much every character visit which was a delight. The CMs knew my daughters by the end of our first few cruises.
3) you might be surprised for the shows - we definitely did NOT make it to everyone but did make it to some and she would either watch or snuggle in and fall asleep during the show.
4) I never felt like we missed things per-say as you never can do everything but there were times I wished I could've snuck to another trivia game or something like that.
5) I dont recall highchairs ever being an issue. I may have used a booster seat for the cruise at 2.5 but not positive.

Enjoy your trip
 


Just got off a 4 day dream with our 2 older girls and an 11 months old. It was our first cruise and our kids go to bed around 7. We didn’t plan any excursions and just Went with the flow.

It was a lot easier than we had expected. They have high chairs in cabana and the MDRs. the staff was great dealing with kids. There were some worn out kids at the dinner but most were well behaved. Just make sure he gets his sleep and he’ll be fine. We couldn’t hear announcements in the room and also used a sound machine.

He’ll love the characters. The lines aren’t super long like WDW. They’ll take time to interact with kids and you can take your time taking pictures. We had every character sign our kids sweaters. Have fun!
 
We took the granddaughter aged 16 months for her first DCL cruise and it was the best vacation ever!
She loved Nemos reef, they have open houses in the kids places that they can go to post three and at those times the littlies under three can use them with their moms and dads. They have dance with the character times and the characters rotate for photo meet and greets non stop!
The crew are totally amazing with the little ones and high chairs are available in the MDR’s and Cabanas. The servers are super patient with messy diners! It was one of my best cruises ever.
No announcements come into the staterooms during the cruise unless there is some kind of emergency.
We took our second cruise with the granddaughter one year later and now we have a grandson to add and we will be sailing again next year with a three year old and an 18 month old!!!
In the interim we are at WDW this November and I’m really beginning to wish we were cruising instead!!
You will have a blast!
 
You will have a great time - we, like you, continued to travel through the toddler stage because we love to travel.

A few thoughts:
1) The crew are really great with kids of all ages. We did Northern Europe when my younger one was 2.5 years old and she would hide under the table at dinner some nights (I think she was going potty in her diaper) and they didnt blink (I was a little embarrassed of course but she wasn't bothering anyone else as we had a private table)
2) We also did pretty much every character visit which was a delight. The CMs knew my daughters by the end of our first few cruises.
3) you might be surprised for the shows - we definitely did NOT make it to everyone but did make it to some and she would either watch or snuggle in and fall asleep during the show.
4) I never felt like we missed things per-say as you never can do everything but there were times I wished I could've snuck to another trivia game or something like that.
5) I dont recall highchairs ever being an issue. I may have used a booster seat for the cruise at 2.5 but not positive.

Enjoy your trip

Thank you so much for the info! Like I said previously, he’s 21 months now so it’s so hard to imagine what 2.5 will look like! Sleep might start later, might be booster instead of high chair, so many unknowns which makes this overplanning type A mama go nuts, haha!

Just got off a 4 day dream with our 2 older girls and an 11 months old. It was our first cruise and our kids go to bed around 7. We didn’t plan any excursions and just Went with the flow.

It was a lot easier than we had expected. They have high chairs in cabana and the MDRs. the staff was great dealing with kids. There were some worn out kids at the dinner but most were well behaved. Just make sure he gets his sleep and he’ll be fine. We couldn’t hear announcements in the room and also used a sound machine.

He’ll love the characters. The lines aren’t super long like WDW. They’ll take time to interact with kids and you can take your time taking pictures. We had every character sign our kids sweaters. Have fun!

The characters have literally been our FAVORITE part to the WDW trips we’ve done with him. He lights up and gets so excited and my heart just melts thinking of all the years I dreamed I’d have a little one to take, so I’m super excited to know the lines aren’t awful on DCL! And we will try our best to make sure he gets as much sleep as he needs because it makes ALL the difference for him!

We took the granddaughter aged 16 months for her first DCL cruise and it was the best vacation ever!
She loved Nemos reef, they have open houses in the kids places that they can go to post three and at those times the littlies under three can use them with their moms and dads. They have dance with the character times and the characters rotate for photo meet and greets non stop!
The crew are totally amazing with the little ones and high chairs are available in the MDR’s and Cabanas. The servers are super patient with messy diners! It was one of my best cruises ever.
No announcements come into the staterooms during the cruise unless there is some kind of emergency.
We took our second cruise with the granddaughter one year later and now we have a grandson to add and we will be sailing again next year with a three year old and an 18 month old!!!
In the interim we are at WDW this November and I’m really beginning to wish we were cruising instead!!
You will have a blast!

Good to know there are multiple open houses where we can go with him and a dance party is RIGHT up his alley!! I was a server before so I know messy kids are part of the job but I will also be the first one on the floor cleaning up after my kid myself, haha! You’ll love WDW with a little one! Our most recent trip was in Jan when he was 17 months and it was AMAZING!!
 
Thank you so much for the info! Like I said previously, he’s 21 months now so it’s so hard to imagine what 2.5 will look like! Sleep might start later, might be booster instead of high chair, so many unknowns which makes this overplanning type A mama go nuts, haha!



The characters have literally been our FAVORITE part to the WDW trips we’ve done with him. He lights up and gets so excited and my heart just melts thinking of all the years I dreamed I’d have a little one to take, so I’m super excited to know the lines aren’t awful on DCL! And we will try our best to make sure he gets as much sleep as he needs because it makes ALL the difference for him!



Good to know there are multiple open houses where we can go with him and a dance party is RIGHT up his alley!! I was a server before so I know messy kids are part of the job but I will also be the first one on the floor cleaning up after my kid myself, haha! You’ll love WDW with a little one! Our most recent trip was in Jan when he was 17 months and it was AMAZING!!
Well thank you for this. It’s an irony that you had concerns about a vacation that I’ve loved with the littlies and I’ve had concerns about the vacation you’ve loved lol! Let’s hope we both have amazing times in our new ventures. We don’t go until November and I’m just afraid that the crowd levels will be so horrific that everything but the FP lines will be crazy busy with hours wait time and it will be miserable with the kids too young to understand.
 
Another thought:) Do you know that room service is free (most things). So if you do have to go back to your cabin early snacks are available:) :)
Also each adult can carry on 2 bottles of wine or one 6 pack of beer
 
We sailed with my nephew when he was just over 2.

We had a smaller umbrella stroller for the ports. We did take it to dinner each night in case he fell asleep early, but never needed it.

He needs to be potty trained for all the swim areas except Nemo's Reef. My nephew loved that area, and also the freshwater play area at Castaway Cay.

If he is still in diapers, you can request a diaper genie for your room. You can also get a pack and play or bed rails for the sofa bed.

Check the Navigator for special toddler time activities. You can all use the kids' clubs during open house times. You might consider booking the nursery in the evening. He can fall asleep there, and you can enjoy the shows. Or switch to late dining so that he can enjoy the shows, you could feed him early or take his stroller if he falls asleep during dinner. We had late dining and found that my nephew tended to both stay awake later and wake up later than he does at home.

Vista Cafe on deck 4 has specialty coffee.

The servers are used to working with children. I might recommend moving as many items as possible out of reach.

There are many highchairs.

Announcements play into the cabins on the first afternoon and last morning. Otherwise, you will not hear them in the room, unless your TV is on the correct channel or there is an emergency.
 
Well thank you for this. It’s an irony that you had concerns about a vacation that I’ve loved with the littlies and I’ve had concerns about the vacation you’ve loved lol! Let’s hope we both have amazing times in our new ventures. We don’t go until November and I’m just afraid that the crowd levels will be so horrific that everything but the FP lines will be crazy busy with hours wait time and it will be miserable with the kids too young to understand.

Right!? Haha My struggles are always with the unknown. Since we haven’t cruised in forever, and never with DCL that feels more daunting to me than WDW (which we do at least once a year.)

I will say, we didn’t ride anything without a FP unless the wait time said 15 mins or less. We were in line for Tigger and Pooh and they went on a break and we ended up being in the line about 20 mins and it was awful (it was also past his bedtime.) So just make sure you have valid expectations that you will most likely do way less than you normally do now that you have a littler one in tow. I actually have a thread I started with tons of tips for going to WDW with this age group so I’ll go find it and come back and link it here for you!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/talk-to-me-about-taking-a-“toddler”.3726196/

Another thought:) Do you know that room service is free (most things). So if you do have to go back to your cabin early snacks are available:) :)
Also each adult can carry on 2 bottles of wine or one 6 pack of beer

Thank you!! We actually considered skipping the dining room altogether if the first night doesn’t go great, but how does that affect the servers? We would still tip them, right? I don’t want anyone losing out on money if we have to leave or can’t make it!

We sailed with my nephew when he was just over 2.

We had a smaller umbrella stroller for the ports. We did take it to dinner each night in case he fell asleep early, but never needed it.

He needs to be potty trained for all the swim areas except Nemo's Reef. My nephew loved that area, and also the freshwater play area at Castaway Cay.

If he is still in diapers, you can request a diaper genie for your room. You can also get a pack and play or bed rails for the sofa bed.

Check the Navigator for special toddler time activities. You can all use the kids' clubs during open house times. You might consider booking the nursery in the evening. He can fall asleep there, and you can enjoy the shows. Or switch to late dining so that he can enjoy the shows, you could feed him early or take his stroller if he falls asleep during dinner. We had late dining and found that my nephew tended to both stay awake later and wake up later than he does at home.

Vista Cafe on deck 4 has specialty coffee.

The servers are used to working with children. I might recommend moving as many items as possible out of reach.

There are many highchairs.

Announcements play into the cabins on the first afternoon and last morning. Otherwise, you will not hear them in the room, unless your TV is on the correct channel or there is an emergency.

Thanks so much! Great info! I didn’t know there are actual toddler time activities, fun!! The whole dining and show timing has been something I’ve been going back and forth with. We were originally assigned late dining and switched to early. I’ve read getting early isn’t always available so I don’t want to switch it back to late unless we’re sure. On our first two WDW trips he didn’t sleep well anywhere but the P&P in our room, on this last trip he was a great stroller napper, so it’s hard to say how much of a flexible sleeper he’ll be by the time we go! We have another WDW trip in Sept so maybe that’ll help me get a better idea!! Do they let you take the umbrella stroller to your table just in case or do you have to leave it in a “parking area” outside the restaurant? Thanks!
 
Right!? Haha My struggles are always with the unknown. Since we haven’t cruised in forever, and never with DCL that feels more daunting to me than WDW (which we do at least once a year.)

I will say, we didn’t ride anything without a FP unless the wait time said 15 mins or less. We were in line for Tigger and Pooh and they went on a break and we ended up being in the line about 20 mins and it was awful (it was also past his bedtime.) So just make sure you have valid expectations that you will most likely do way less than you normally do now that you have a littler one in tow. I actually have a thread I started with tons of tips for going to WDW with this age group so I’ll go find it and come back and link it here for you!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/talk-to-me-about-taking-a-“toddler”.3726196/



Thank you!! We actually considered skipping the dining room altogether if the first night doesn’t go great, but how does that affect the servers? We would still tip them, right? I don’t want anyone losing out on money if we have to leave or can’t make it!



Thanks so much! Great info! I didn’t know there are actual toddler time activities, fun!! The whole dining and show timing has been something I’ve been going back and forth with. We were originally assigned late dining and switched to early. I’ve read getting early isn’t always available so I don’t want to switch it back to late unless we’re sure. On our first two WDW trips he didn’t sleep well anywhere but the P&P in our room, on this last trip he was a great stroller napper, so it’s hard to say how much of a flexible sleeper he’ll be by the time we go! We have another WDW trip in Sept so maybe that’ll help me get a better idea!! Do they let you take the umbrella stroller to your table just in case or do you have to leave it in a “parking area” outside the restaurant? Thanks!



Fantastic info thanks. I’m going to show my daughter all this. Such good tips.
 
Do they let you take the umbrella stroller to your table just in case or do you have to leave it in a “parking area” outside the restaurant? Thanks!

Depending on where your table is, you may be able to elan it against the wall. We did slide ours under the table, just make sure no parts stick out and create a tripping concern.
 
We cruised when my younger one was 18 months (she’s 2 years 9 months now). We brought our umbrella stroller and used it around the ship. It was helpful for keeping her close. But the ships are pretty safe (high walls) so it was also fun to take her to the upper deck and just let her run around.

My kids were both still napping and have early bedtimes. We don’t mess with their sleep schedules too much because it’s just not worth the meltdowns. My son was 4 at the time and he stayed up to see Frozen with my husband and he was wiped. We skipped the other shows. Some nights my husband or I would leave the room by ourselves. One night I shopped, one night he watched the super bowl from one of the hot tubs.

My biggest suggestion is to book the nursery on the morning of your sea day. We used it between breakfast and lunch and we sent DS to the kids club. We had an amazing time at the adult pool and then cove cafe.
 
We just got off the Wonder with our 2 1/2 year old and newly-turned-five year old. High chairs were readily available in all restaurants, including Cabanas (although my 2 1/2 old refuses to sit in them!). The only time we heard the announcements IN the room were right before and during the muster drill. We also used a sound machine and it worked great for the much-needed naps.

As far as activities, I found that most of the little kid activities were in the nursery and kids club areas. And my little one is not good with strangers, so we never dropped her off, just did the open house so she could play for a bit the first day. That was kind of a bummer because it felt like she missed out on the super fun stuff. However, we still did several character meet and greets. There are a few movies early in the day at the theater if your little one is into movies. The little splash pad area looked adorable (we didn't use it only due to cold weather). It was cool to see the movies on the big screen at the pool - and you can eat breakfast and lunch out there, too.

An umbrella stroller would be awesome, we saw plenty of huge strollers on board. I was surprised people lugged the big ones on, and they can be a pain to maneuver when decks are crowded. An umbrella stroller would be lightweight and perfect.

Don't worry about the food throwing. He'll probably be done with that phase in eight months anyway, but the ship is full of kids who do that kind of thing. Just when you think you have the biggest trouble-making toddler, another one comes along and trumps yours. LOL
 
We sailed the Fantasy when my twins were 2 :) There is already a lot of great advice on this thread, but I just wanted to help reassure you that cruising is SO much easier than you think.
It's just so great to have literally everything you need just a few steps away!

For the twins, we saw a ton of characters- and trust me, you will see them ALL over the ship, even when you don't expect to; we played in the Oceaneers Club every time they had an open house; we walked around and looked at the moving pictures (they seriously could have done this all day); we played mini golf; we splashed a lot at Nemos; we watched movies and ate ice cream at the pool; we did all the Toddler Time activities in the Navigator.
Another random thing they loved was just hanging out in the Atrium before dinner when the bands start to play. All the little kids would run around and dance, and they had a blast doing that. They also "played" shuffleboard. And every night after dinner we would put them in PJs and go to the show. Some nights they fell asleep, some nights they watched the whole show.

And don't stress about dinner, as many have said, the servers are great but if you need to bail, just go eat by the pool or order room service.
Also for the record, we used a stroller and a noise machine too.
 
I'm going to be cruising with a toddler this July and just wanted to say thanks to everyone who posted on this thread! She'll be 15 months old when we sail and I can't wait! We are going to be bringing our big stroller because we're doing a day in the parks afterwards but I'm thinking we probably won't use it much.
Does anyone have any tips as far as food goes? She's a pretty flexible eater and so far not super picky, but who knows if that will change :-). I'm thinking we'll bring some pouches and things to offer for snacks etc if needed. Do they have toddler friendly silverware in the dining rooms or should I bring spoons for her?
 

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