What to do with toddlers too young for Oceaneers Club?

[cosmocat]

Hello. I am planning on the Wonder cruise on 10/5/03. I have a 2.5 and a 3.5 year old. I am sure the 3.5 year old will not want to go to Oceaneers Club alone, without younger sister and parents (rather clingy). So, since the younger one is not potty-trained (YET!) so we can't use the pools, waht do we do on the Nassau and Freeport days? We are not ones to get off the ship and shop, and it will be too hot to walk around a town! Can one go to a beach in those 2 ports? Castaway Cay will be good for us. I read through some of the Navigators, and it seems like a lot of the activities are for older kids (maybe 4+) and up. She will not sit and watch a movie yet. My DH is wary of the cruise now that we found out we cannot swim unless she gets trained. We can't just walk around the ship all day. The "splash pool" is probably fun, for a short while, but no fun for the parents... Are they just too young? That seems dumb too, after all, it IS Disney!! Any input from those who have gone with this age (2-3 yeard olds)?

 

[Griggle]

Really, not so dumb. My DS is the same - doesn't sit for anything....and he's definately a handful.....We had the same exact worries.

I do admit, it was tough with a toddler (DS was 20mos when we went in May) on the ship that couldn't go into the pool, esp. when his older brother could. I did A LOT of walking with the baby while DH stayed with DS(7) in the pool....fortunately for me, when it got too hot to chase him around out on deck, DS was content to sit and watch the elevators go up and down as well as sit in every porthole available on on decks 3,4 and 5....

For the day in Nassau, we went to Blue Lagoon. The lagoon there is perfect for little ones! Nice and shallow.....we had a ball there....and both boys were enthralled with the boat ride. Just bring sand toys! I didn't and he spent the whole time "borrowing" other children's....which gets stressful if you know what I mean

For the day on Castaway Cay, we went in the afternoon, and left the baby on the ship in Flounders (it was his naptime anyway)....it was hot, and DH and I needed some time to ourselves and we had a date with some very good pina coladas......DS(7) went to the club for an hour and had his father to himself in the water for an hour - which he was very happy about.

It might not seem like it will work out with a toddler, but I assure you, it does. You might not get an optimal experience, but you'll still have a good time!!!

 

[Dancind]

There is a nursery available on the cruise, for an hourly fee. You make reservations for it when you board, so you might be able to leave your kids there and go to Palo, or some clubs. But you are right, the cruise is not really geared toward very young families like yours. It might be worth waiting six months or until both kids are potty trained, so they can go to Oceaneers Club together. Diana

 

[Gillian]

We went with our 2 year old (24 months at the time) and he had fun. BUT, this was before the no swim diapers in the pool thing. He enjoyed watching 2 movies & Disney Dreams. He went to Flounders (nursery) 3 times and enjoyed himself, but a 4th time would not have worked, I'm pretty sure.

Since your kids are close in age, if it were me, I'd wait until they were both trained & able to go to the club. A 2 1/2 year old might be bored at the nursery, but the 2 of them would have a great time together at the kids club!

Maybe you can try for a Spring cruise? We're going back in late April when DS will be 3 1/2. We'll also have an infant, but she should do fine in Flounders. Once she's old enough to know what she's missing, we probably won't cruise again until she's 3+.

 

[jenschaef1]

Hi, we will be on the 10/5/03 cruise also. We will be down on deck 2 with our green mickey heads on the door. My little 3 year old will be in the club with your child if you decide to go. I am a stay at home mom and to get my DD used to the idea of a group setting I joined the local gym that offers free onsite child care while I work out. In addition, I plan on limiting her time in the club and checking in with her often ( I don't want her to have any accidents because she is having too much fun to take time and go to the bathroom).
Only you can decide whether or not to take a cruise at this time with a 2.5 year old. We decided to wait until this year so my little one would be eligible for the club, but we are a family of 6 so for us it just wasn't worth the money if I wasn't sure everyone was going to have a great time. You have about 100 days left before the cruise, thats a lot of time to get your little one motivated to use the potty so she can use the pool, there are lots of threads on this board about potty training - they are lots of fun to read -good luck!
I think we are going to rent a room at the Atlantis resort for the day we are in Nassau (don't know what to do in Freeport yet). They are supposed to have great pools (with slides for my older ones) a lazy river, and an aquarium for the little ones, its fairly pricey but something for everyone as my kids range from 3 to 14.
Have a great day!

 

[ReadyForDisney2003]

I took my not-trained 2 3/4 year old and wish we had waited. It was ok, because there were tons of adults to be with her, but she was very bored with Flounders and I could not put her in the Club -- she was not trained at the time.

But, she *does* remember the ship. We had a GREAT time and the children love every bit of bing on the ship. And, she is VERY excited about returning this October.

I am very excited about retuning and actually doing some 'adult' stuff this time -- Palo, Beat Street. ...

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by ReadyForDisney2003
I took my not-trained 2 3/4 year old and wish we had waited. It was ok, because there were tons of adults to be with her, but she was very bored with Flounders and I could not put her in the Club -- she was not trained at the time.

My daughter was 2 and a few months when we cruised and she went to Flounders once and hated it, she said all they had were baby toys and she would not go back again....I really didn't care anyway since we were both on vacation adn I wanted to spend most of the time with her anyway.