Disney cruise with a 2 and 9 year old?

[DisneyDreamer!]

I’ve been on and off considering a cruise for a while, As above my children will be 9 and 2 (maybe nearer 3) by the time I consider taking them in a Disney cruise.

Just wondered if anyone has taken their children this young or whether they preferred it when they were a bit older?
Obviously it’s quite abit of money for 3-4 nights so would want to make sure we would all enjoy it or whether it’s something best waiting a few more years.


Thank you

[disneymadhouse]

I think one of the big things to consider is of your 2 year old will be potty trained. If not, then the child will not be allowed in the pools, only in the splash area.
The kids club have open house at various times over the cruise where anyone can go in and play. If you want to put the children into secure programming ( where you leave them in the care of the kids clubs CM's) then they would be in separate area's as the nursery is for children aged upto 3, and the oceaneer's lab and oceaneer's club are for age 3 to 12 years.

Disney cruises are fantastic ... we are going on our 5th this year. I would always say try and do the 4 night over the 3 night. DCL also have a wide range of itineraries across the 4 ships, so have a good nose on the DCL website! Cruise deck plans is a good site for looking at the deck plans, working out what's above and below the room that you might be considering etc. Disney cruise line blog is also a good source of info, and there are quite a few fb groups too.
If you need any more info or have more questions, just shout

[DisneyBride08]

My vlogs in my trip report link show my daughter who is 3 and my son who is 7. He was ill so didn't go to the clubs which meant she didn't either. Well she did once to the pre-school session. She was toilet trained but I didn't trust her enough in the pools. She loved nemo's reef.

We didn't get to see any of the night entertainment because of jet lag (son) and she was worn out from having so much fun.

She talks about the Mickey boat everyday and tells me she wants to go again.

We are trying to work out if we can save for a Europe one to get her back on a Disney cruise sooner rather than later

[stitch83]

We took our son who was 2.5 at the time, he loved it and 18 months later constantly asks when he can go back on the Mickey Mouse boat...

[DisneyDreamer!]

Brilliant, I’ll look into it for next year possibly! Thank you

[Bats]

For the pool situation, DCL have instigated a new rule where the lifeguards call everyone out every hour for 5-10 minutes. They say it's because of pool water checking, but it's more so that people can go toilet. You wouldn't believe how many parents fib and say their child is potty trained when they're not. .. cue accident in the pool and the pool is closed for around 3-4 hours. Please don't be that parent!

The nursery is $9 an hour and I would highly recommend using that instead of letting her wander in the Oceaneers Club/Lab if she's only just 3. They are hard fast on the age and the fact that she must be potty trained as the counsellors cannot help at all with toileting, not even pulling clothing up ok. So, if you want lots of adult time, you'll either need to pay for the nursery (it's excellent), or wait until she's a little bit older, maybe 4/5.

Like Claire, I would recommend a 4 night over a 3 if you can ... way too rushed but ok if that's all you can do.

Joa