Howdy! Cruising with a 1 year old

[oneplustwoequalskookie]

Hello Everyone! Pleasure pleasures

Our new little family is planning on a new adventure with our LO who will be just 1 month shy of a year on embarkation day!

This is our first DCL trip and we are going with a few of our close family friends along with their LOs (14 of us in total! ). We are on the Magic for the 7 Day Med Tour this summer.

A few questions off the bat:

1. We are planning a couple of excursions, like Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze - Adult Only Departure, that we feel would be best to be taken without baby in tow. We tried to reserve a day block of nursery but were told that we need to book in 30 min increments when we board... This makes my planning anxieties increase a bit... Do you guys feel like we will run into any reservations not available situations? Any suggestions for this?

2. Any Suggestions for on board activities that very LO's (1 year) can enjoy? Quite frankly, the rugrat really likes to just play with his feet for hours but does get distracted by shiny objects.

3. How thin are those stateroom walls? He's not much of a crier but does wail for about 10-15 min when we put him down for bed. He usually screams just a bit longer on the first night in a new environment/bed. While I'm sure most folks on board are empathetic to crying babies...I'd hate to piss anyone off..

4. I read in another post that DCL can provide veggie/fruit purees for the LOs. True/False? How to order?

Thanks everyone and it's good to be back on the boards!

Best,

1+2

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hello Everyone! Pleasure pleasures

Our new little family is planning on a new adventure with our LO who will be just 1 month shy of a year on embarkation day!

This is our first DCL trip and we are going with a few of our close family friends along with their LOs (14 of us in total! ). We are on the Magic for the 7 Day Med Tour this summer.

A few questions off the bat:

1. We are planning a couple of excursions, like Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze - Adult Only Departure, that we feel would be best to be taken without baby in tow. We tried to reserve a day block of nursery but were told that we need to book in 30 min increments when we board... This makes my planning anxieties increase a bit... Do you guys feel like we will run into any reservations not available situations? Any suggestions for this?

2. Any Suggestions for on board activities that very LO's (1 year) can enjoy? Quite frankly, the rugrat really likes to just play with his feet for hours but does get distracted by shiny objects.

3. How thin are those stateroom walls? He's not much of a crier but does wail for about 10-15 min when we put him down for bed. He usually screams just a bit longer on the first night in a new environment/bed. While I'm sure most folks on board are empathetic to crying babies...I'd hate to piss anyone off..

4. I read in another post that DCL can provide veggie/fruit purees for the LOs. True/False? How to order?

Thanks everyone and it's good to be back on the boards!

Best,

1+2

1. Who told you it must be done onboard? It's my understanding that you can book XX number of hours pre-cruise. Then add additional time once onboard. And you can book all XX number of hours at once, or spread out over the cruise. The pre-booking maximum is: 3 or 4 night cruise – 10 hours; 7 night cruise – 18 hours; 14 night cruise – 35 hours

3. The walls are fairly thin, but I find them adequate for noise control. You might try introducing yourself to your neighbors and explaining that might happen. They could be more forgiving if you offer a small gift for the disruption.

4. You can let your dining room server know what kinds of foods will work for your child and they will do their best to get you what you need.

 

[oneplustwoequalskookie]

Thanks for the reply! What time would we need to "check in" for the excursion? The one "adults only" one is from 800a-430p. Should we reserve an hour prior? Thanks again!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks for the reply! What time would we need to "check in" for the excursion? The one "adults only" one is from 800a-430p. Should we reserve an hour prior? Thanks again!

Hard to say. You won't know the actual time you meet for the excursion until you board. I'd probably go ahead and go with the one hour ahead, and once onboard, if it's too much time, call (or go to) the nursery to adjust the time.

 

[oneplustwoequalskookie]

Great, sounds easy enough! Thanks again!

 

[jack87891]

Hello Everyone! Pleasure pleasures

Our new little family is planning on a new adventure with our LO who will be just 1 month shy of a year on embarkation day!

This is our first DCL trip and we are going with a few of our close family friends along with their LOs (14 of us in total! ). We are on the Magic for the 7 Day Med Tour this summer.

A few questions off the bat:

1. We are planning a couple of excursions, like Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze - Adult Only Departure, that we feel would be best to be taken without baby in tow. We tried to reserve a day block of nursery but were told that we need to book in 30 min increments when we board... This makes my planning anxieties increase a bit... Do you guys feel like we will run into any reservations not available situations? Any suggestions for this?

2. Any Suggestions for on board activities that very LO's (1 year) can enjoy? Quite frankly, the rugrat really likes to just play with his feet for hours but does get distracted by shiny objects.

3. How thin are those stateroom walls? He's not much of a crier but does wail for about 10-15 min when we put him down for bed. He usually screams just a bit longer on the first night in a new environment/bed. While I'm sure most folks on board are empathetic to crying babies...I'd hate to piss anyone off..

4. I read in another post that DCL can provide veggie/fruit purees for the LOs. True/False? How to order?

Thanks everyone and it's good to be back on the boards!

Best,

1+2

Congrats. We took our 13 month old granddaughter last October. Her favorite activities were
-Character meetings- she absolutely loved them
-The Water splash area
-Character dance party on castaway cay
-Lobby dance party

It was an amazing week. I would suggest watching some Mickey Mouse club ahead of time also. It will make the character greetings really fun

 

[oneplustwoequalskookie]

Thanks for the tip, Jack!

 

[Trera]

Congrats. We took our 13 month old granddaughter last October. Her favorite activities were
-Character meetings- she absolutely loved them
-The Water splash area
-Character dance party on castaway cay
-Lobby dance party

It was an amazing week. I would suggest watching some Mickey Mouse club ahead of time also. It will make the character greetings really fun

When we took our DD for the first time, she loved all of these activities as well.

Check the navigator as I seem to remember there being something called "toddler time" where there are other young children and a CM brings various toys for them to play with.

Our DD also loved the Nursery. Lots to do there and the CMs working there were always wonderful with the kids.

I would say just be careful in the splash area as there many times tend to be older kids (8-13) running around and going down the slide. We had on a couple of occasions where our DD got knocked over by these older kids. The lifeguards do a poor job of insuring the age limit of this area in my opinion.

There is also another dance party on the ship and it is in a different area depending on which ship you are on. Again, check the navigator.

We found that if our DD cried, it was when we put her down around 8-8:30. Our neighbors didnt care as they were either at dinner or the shows so I would imagine that most cabins are empty around that time.

 

[xQuizx]

We took our almost 10 month old on a cruise and he spent most of the trip in the nursery or in our carrier.

I would recommend adding additional nursery times the first day you are on the boat.

I've added a link below on a thread I started with some answers on food in the nursery, if you have any questions on that.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/smallworld-nursery-provide-babyfood-for-lunch.3648808/

Have fun!

 

[Ladybugx87]

Watch for jacks diaper dash on board - it’s a ‘race’ for the little ones - details will be in navigator.

Our servers always asked what we wante for next day’s purée. I brought first dinner and lunch. After that my servers had a puréed bowl for dinner and an extra bowl to take to room for next day.

 

[Dug720]

Since the splash area has been mentioned... Just a reminder that he will NOT be allowed in the pools. No swim diapers allowed in the pools. Splash area is fine.

 

[oneplustwoequalskookie]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful tidbits! Will add to my list of things to do!

 

[gotomu212]

We booked our nursery time for the excursion start time which should be the same or very close to meeting time. We would arrive at the nursery about 15 minutes before our scheduled time- be a little prepared that dropoff can take 5-10 minutes. You fill out a form EACH time listing what you’re dropping off (diaper bag, wipes, blanket), what your child can eat/drink, when they last ate, sleeping plan. If there’s someone in front you have to wait and being a nursery some parents are a little more anxious and want to talk and talk and talk. (Understandable).

The walls didn’t seem too thin but one night my husband did throw on a shirt and walked her on deck 3 because she was a hot mess. Falling asleep was MUCH faster most nights because she was so tired from the excitement.

We got purees of basic fruits and veggies. In Cabanas we had to ask the head server running around and he directed us to the right buffet person. There was also yogurt available.

Toddler time was nice, the nursery was fantastic. You can reserve pack in plays but honestly it was way too crowded in our room so we just put her in bed with us. They also brought us a diaper geanie for the room and emptied it twice a day.

We also ran into the BEST photographers (ours was on the Fantasy) but we got some wonderful family photos which is awesome when the kids are really little. They worked really well with babies.

 

[oneplustwoequalskookie]

Whoa! They gave you diaper genies with service?!!! I suppose these are all things that we need to request on board or can it be pre-requested?

Thanks!!!!

 

[Dug720]

Whoa! They gave you diaper genies with service?!!! I suppose these are all things that we need to request on board or can it be pre-requested?

Thanks!!!!

Just let your cabin steward know if there is not one in there. If they know you have a kid under typical potty-training age it might be in there already.

Even adults can get them if necessary. My dad has to wear depends after he had prostate cancer surgery, and all it took was a simple "We need a diaper genie please" to our stateroom attendant when he came to introduce himself and it appeared. No judgment or questions asked.

 

[oneplustwoequalskookie]

Disney can still impress me... Their DCL planner website is terrible at best.

 

[gotomu212]

Whoa! They gave you diaper genies with service?!!! I suppose these are all things that we need to request on board or can it be pre-requested?

Thanks!!!!

We called before our cruise and had them Add the diaper geanie and high chair, but you can do it day of too. We also got a letter for the under 2 set with lots of info on nursery, toddler time, diaper dash, and misc stuff like where to buy more diapers.

 

[CarolynU]

There are also open house sessions which are scheduled which means that the under threes can enjoy the over threes area if an adult accompanies them. This tends to rotate venues and times throughout the day. Our one year old enjoyed these sessions and it added to the other activities available during the day.