FIRST Cruise... and with FIRST baby.......hahaha...haha....

MommaBender

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
Well, I was fortunate to usually spend the annual family vacation going to Disney World with my family...My husband and I spent our honeymoon at the Grand Floridian, and that brought him on board to the whole "Disney Magic" thing, so we joined the Disney Vacation Club and LOVE it.......So life is doing its ""life thing and now we have this gorgeous baby girl who is pretty well mannered and we decided to do something big this year: OUR FIRST DISNEY CRUISE!!! :tigger::tigger::tigger: We booked a 4-Night Bahamian Cruise on the Disney Dream for April 2-April 6.....So I've always been a planner, and while I know I can't plan much because we won't know what the baby will be in the mood for tolerating, I've been scouring the boards to find as MUCH as I can so we can get the most out of our trip as possible...

Quick Tips? Tricks??? Full On Advice?????? I'm mostly concerned about the baby, my husband and I are pretty easy going. We made a some short reservations in the nursery so we can get a massage/ spend time together, but that's about it so far....
 
What age is the baby?

We used the nursery a few times on our cruise in January for our 2yo and thought it was awesome. We had no problems making additional reservations onboard when needed.
 
What age is the baby?

We used the nursery a few times on our cruise in January for our 2yo and thought it was awesome. We had no problems making additional reservations onboard when needed.
She is 6 months, will be about 8 months when we go
 


You can request a diaper genie in your room.
You can also request an air purifier in your room.(my daughter has asthma so we request one every cruise).
You can request a crib and optionally you could request bedrails for the sofa bed.
The dining rooms are able to make fresh vegetable purees for your little one if she's ready to try that.
Bring a little bag that you can drop off with your little one in the nursery that can hold diapers, wipes, anything else your daughter might need.
We thought we had packed plenty of diapers but still ended up running out on the last day. I think we planned for 6 a day at the time when she was 18 months old.
They do have some extra diapers at guest services that will do in a pinch if you do run out.
On one of the sea days they have an activity in the atrium called Jack's Diaper Dash, where crawling babies race against each other, which is lots of fun and I highly recommend checking out.
Like previous poster, we had no problem reserving additional time in the nursery once we were on board.
If you need to cancel one of your reservations once you're on board, I believe they ask for a few hours notice in order to not be charged a fee.
Enjoy and happy to answer any additional questions!
 
You can request a diaper genie in your room.
You can also request an air purifier in your room.(my daughter has asthma so we request one every cruise).
You can request a crib and optionally you could request bedrails for the sofa bed.
The dining rooms are able to make fresh vegetable purees for your little one if she's ready to try that.
Bring a little bag that you can drop off with your little one in the nursery that can hold diapers, wipes, anything else your daughter might need.
We thought we had packed plenty of diapers but still ended up running out on the last day. I think we planned for 6 a day at the time when she was 18 months old.
They do have some extra diapers at guest services that will do in a pinch if you do run out.
On one of the sea days they have an activity in the atrium called Jack's Diaper Dash, where crawling babies race against each other, which is lots of fun and I highly recommend checking out.
Like previous poster, we had no problem reserving additional time in the nursery once we were on board.
If you need to cancel one of your reservations once you're on board, I believe they ask for a few hours notice in order to not be charged a fee.
Enjoy and happy to answer any additional questions!

You must cancel the nursery 4 hours in advance to not be charged.
 
In addition to the items listed above, if your daughter takes a bottle, you can request a bottle warmer, and hot water is available 24 hours a day from room service if you need to prepare formula for her.
 


Our baby's first cruise was at 10 months. We too were a little nervous, but she did great and most importantly, she loved it!
Since she was still not eating solids, we had enough formula to last us the entire cruise and took it everywhere. If she got hungry, that was her meal.
The first time around, we did not know about the diaper genie or some of the other things that could be requested, but to our surprise, some of them were already in the room when we arrived.
We were also nervous to leave her in the nursery. Mom jitters of leaving her alone and the first time we only left her there for a total of 4 hours spread out on different days and I felt super comfortable after seeing how amazing the staff was. I did cry as it was the first time we left her in a nursery, but she loved it and I feel comfortable leaving her there now if we want to go to Palo etc.
Our little one is now 2 and will be on her 3rd Disney Cruise in less than 4 months. She sees the ship and excitedly yells, "boat" as if she knew it was coming.
You will have a great time and if you have any questions, feel free to ask :)
Enjoy your cruise!
 
Our baby's first cruise was at 10 months. We too were a little nervous, but she did great and most importantly, she loved it!
Since she was still not eating solids, we had enough formula to last us the entire cruise and took it everywhere. If she got hungry, that was her meal.
The first time around, we did not know about the diaper genie or some of the other things that could be requested, but to our surprise, some of them were already in the room when we arrived.
We were also nervous to leave her in the nursery. Mom jitters of leaving her alone and the first time we only left her there for a total of 4 hours spread out on different days and I felt super comfortable after seeing how amazing the staff was. I did cry as it was the first time we left her in a nursery, but she loved it and I feel comfortable leaving her there now if we want to go to Palo etc.
Our little one is now 2 and will be on her 3rd Disney Cruise in less than 4 months. She sees the ship and excitedly yells, "boat" as if she knew it was coming.
You will have a great time and if you have any questions, feel free to ask :)
Enjoy your cruise!
This made my day. Possibly the most hopeful response I could get in regards to having a great cruise. Thank you!!!
 
You can request a diaper genie in your room.
You can also request an air purifier in your room.(my daughter has asthma so we request one every cruise).
You can request a crib and optionally you could request bedrails for the sofa bed.
The dining rooms are able to make fresh vegetable purees for your little one if she's ready to try that.
Bring a little bag that you can drop off with your little one in the nursery that can hold diapers, wipes, anything else your daughter might need.
We thought we had packed plenty of diapers but still ended up running out on the last day. I think we planned for 6 a day at the time when she was 18 months old.
They do have some extra diapers at guest services that will do in a pinch if you do run out.
On one of the sea days they have an activity in the atrium called Jack's Diaper Dash, where crawling babies race against each other, which is lots of fun and I highly recommend checking out.
Like previous poster, we had no problem reserving additional time in the nursery once we were on board.
If you need to cancel one of your reservations once you're on board, I believe they ask for a few hours notice in order to not be charged a fee.
Enjoy and happy to answer any additional questions!

Our 1 year old Granddaughter won her race in Jack Jack's Diaper Dash on the Fantasy. We had such a good time!! It gets a pretty good crowd! That same cruise both our granddaughters (1 year old & 14 mos) enjoyed the nursery. We made sure we all had the password so any of us could take them out when needed.

MJ
 
We recently cruises with our 6 month, 2 days old daughter. Here’s my brief tips We ended up not using the pack&play since floor space was so limited. It would have blocked the veranda door. Instead we put her in the bed with us and also asked that the sofa bed be made up for my husband. He sometimes moved over to it when we were crowding him!

Diaper genie was perfect and stateroom host emptied it daily. The fridge was cold enough to store expressed milk.

Dining- our server asked the first night if our daughter ate any puréed foods and then had them ready each night (we had bananas, carrots, green beans, and cooked pears). They were cooked plain (expect the bananas) and blended, nothing additional added. They also told us we could request puréed food at Cabanas for breakfast or lunch but we never bothered.

We learned that our daughter, normally a real quiet trooper, did not like dinnertime. The timing of it was just off so we put her in the nursery every night and enjoyed our meal. The one exception was when she fell asleep in Animators and my husband just held her. Crush came by onscreen and sang her a lullaby! When we started using the nursery the servers would give us her food in a little covered bowl and we fed her after our dinner.

The nursery did a great job with her. Half the time we went to pick her up she was sound asleep. We got a picture of Tianna rocking her to sleep when she was there. The nursery staff gave us the pic when we picked her up, and Peter Pan was in there one night saying how much he loved to go into nurseries.

On Castaway Cay we rented one of the flat floats and put her on it to let her float in the water (we both were standing right next to it with one of us constantly holding on to her). We felt like it kept her more stable and no danger of her sliding out of arms. They also have sand strollers right by scuttles cove you can borrow for the day (just walk up and take it). It worked really well on the beach.

We took an umbrella stroller for the airport and then for the ports, but I only used it one time on the ship. I stayed onboard with her iN Jamaica and we walked around the top deck for an hour (the ship was almost empty). People trying to use strollers on normal nights looked a little frustrated with the crowds and narrow corridors. Carrying her was the best option for us onboard.

We definetely got a TON of attention from CMs. A lot of them have small children at home and we had several come up to us and just smile and wave and say something sweet. Nothing intrusive, but you could tell they were happy to see tiny ones. Anytime I was trying to carry her and had to open a door/grab a towel/carry a tray/etc someone was there offering to help.

I can’t think of anything else, but happy to answer any other questions.
 
The nursery is amazing! If your baby is a good sleeper take advantage of nap and bedtime there. We would book our baby there over his nap time. They rocked him and put him down to sleep in a crib in the quiet room and we were able to enjoy the ship with our older kids or go to the adult sections if they were in the club. Also we would book him there in the evenings and they would give him a bottle and put him to bed. We'd pick him up sleeping and transfer him to our room when we were ready to turn in for the night. The nursery is open until like 11 I think.
 
Thank you so much for this detailed info! I was just about to post a question asking about half the things you already answered here. Appreciate it!

We recently cruises with our 6 month, 2 days old daughter. Here’s my brief tips We ended up not using the pack&play since floor space was so limited. It would have blocked the veranda door. Instead we put her in the bed with us and also asked that the sofa bed be made up for my husband. He sometimes moved over to it when we were crowding him!

Diaper genie was perfect and stateroom host emptied it daily. The fridge was cold enough to store expressed milk.

Dining- our server asked the first night if our daughter ate any puréed foods and then had them ready each night (we had bananas, carrots, green beans, and cooked pears). They were cooked plain (expect the bananas) and blended, nothing additional added. They also told us we could request puréed food at Cabanas for breakfast or lunch but we never bothered.

We learned that our daughter, normally a real quiet trooper, did not like dinnertime. The timing of it was just off so we put her in the nursery every night and enjoyed our meal. The one exception was when she fell asleep in Animators and my husband just held her. Crush came by onscreen and sang her a lullaby! When we started using the nursery the servers would give us her food in a little covered bowl and we fed her after our dinner.

The nursery did a great job with her. Half the time we went to pick her up she was sound asleep. We got a picture of Tianna rocking her to sleep when she was there. The nursery staff gave us the pic when we picked her up, and Peter Pan was in there one night saying how much he loved to go into nurseries.

On Castaway Cay we rented one of the flat floats and put her on it to let her float in the water (we both were standing right next to it with one of us constantly holding on to her). We felt like it kept her more stable and no danger of her sliding out of arms. They also have sand strollers right by scuttles cove you can borrow for the day (just walk up and take it). It worked really well on the beach.

We took an umbrella stroller for the airport and then for the ports, but I only used it one time on the ship. I stayed onboard with her iN Jamaica and we walked around the top deck for an hour (the ship was almost empty). People trying to use strollers on normal nights looked a little frustrated with the crowds and narrow corridors. Carrying her was the best option for us onboard.

We definetely got a TON of attention from CMs. A lot of them have small children at home and we had several come up to us and just smile and wave and say something sweet. Nothing intrusive, but you could tell they were happy to see tiny ones. Anytime I was trying to carry her and had to open a door/grab a towel/carry a tray/etc someone was there offering to help.

I can’t think of anything else, but happy to answer any other questions.
 
We recently cruises with our 6 month, 2 days old daughter. Here’s my brief tips We ended up not using the pack&play since floor space was so limited. It would have blocked the veranda door. Instead we put her in the bed with us and also asked that the sofa bed be made up for my husband. He sometimes moved over to it when we were crowding him!

Diaper genie was perfect and stateroom host emptied it daily. The fridge was cold enough to store expressed milk.

Dining- our server asked the first night if our daughter ate any puréed foods and then had them ready each night (we had bananas, carrots, green beans, and cooked pears). They were cooked plain (expect the bananas) and blended, nothing additional added. They also told us we could request puréed food at Cabanas for breakfast or lunch but we never bothered.

We learned that our daughter, normally a real quiet trooper, did not like dinnertime. The timing of it was just off so we put her in the nursery every night and enjoyed our meal. The one exception was when she fell asleep in Animators and my husband just held her. Crush came by onscreen and sang her a lullaby! When we started using the nursery the servers would give us her food in a little covered bowl and we fed her after our dinner.

The nursery did a great job with her. Half the time we went to pick her up she was sound asleep. We got a picture of Tianna rocking her to sleep when she was there. The nursery staff gave us the pic when we picked her up, and Peter Pan was in there one night saying how much he loved to go into nurseries.

On Castaway Cay we rented one of the flat floats and put her on it to let her float in the water (we both were standing right next to it with one of us constantly holding on to her). We felt like it kept her more stable and no danger of her sliding out of arms. They also have sand strollers right by scuttles cove you can borrow for the day (just walk up and take it). It worked really well on the beach.

We took an umbrella stroller for the airport and then for the ports, but I only used it one time on the ship. I stayed onboard with her iN Jamaica and we walked around the top deck for an hour (the ship was almost empty). People trying to use strollers on normal nights looked a little frustrated with the crowds and narrow corridors. Carrying her was the best option for us onboard.

We definetely got a TON of attention from CMs. A lot of them have small children at home and we had several come up to us and just smile and wave and say something sweet. Nothing intrusive, but you could tell they were happy to see tiny ones. Anytime I was trying to carry her and had to open a door/grab a towel/carry a tray/etc someone was there offering to help.

I can’t think of anything else, but happy to answer any other questions.
Hi we are going on the Fantasy this nov. I will have 2 older ones, my husband, 2 year old and 6 month old. This is my 5th Disney Cruise but first with little ones. I'm nervous but doing alot of planning. Did your cruise go to Grand Cayman and if so what did yall do and how did the tender go? My problem is I cant carry either child (autoimmune disease) so I'm also trying to figure out how to get around the boat with both kids without a double stroller when I'm by myself when the rest get off in Jamiaca and in Mexico. Also do I pack the can of formula in suitecase or carry on?
 
Hi we are going on the Fantasy this nov. I will have 2 older ones, my husband, 2 year old and 6 month old. This is my 5th Disney Cruise but first with little ones. I'm nervous but doing alot of planning. Did your cruise go to Grand Cayman and if so what did yall do and how did the tender go? My problem is I cant carry either child (autoimmune disease) so I'm also trying to figure out how to get around the boat with both kids without a double stroller when I'm by myself when the rest get off in Jamiaca and in Mexico. Also do I pack the can of formula in suitecase or carry on?

All beverages - which would include formula - are supposed to be in carry-on bags. Not checked ones. IF you decide to risk it and check the formula, YOU will be responsible for cleaning and/or replacement of luggage and clothing if the formula busts and damages that belonging to other people.
 
Hi we are going on the Fantasy this nov. I will have 2 older ones, my husband, 2 year old and 6 month old. This is my 5th Disney Cruise but first with little ones. I'm nervous but doing alot of planning. Did your cruise go to Grand Cayman and if so what did yall do and how did the tender go? My problem is I cant carry either child (autoimmune disease) so I'm also trying to figure out how to get around the boat with both kids without a double stroller when I'm by myself when the rest get off in Jamiaca and in Mexico. Also do I pack the can of formula in suitecase or carry on?

We’ve cruised with littles many times and found we didn’t use our stroller a ton once they were walking well. I’d definitely take a lightweight stroller for your youngest but ours typically walked around on the boat by 2.
 

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