8 Night Cruise from NY About This Page:

[JenPett]

Hi,

We are beginning to plan for our summer vacation and are seriously thinking about taking the 8 night Bahamian cruise from NY in July. Last summer, we went on our first cruise (Carnival) with our 2 year old. He enjoyed the kids club, but other than dropping him off there, there was not much we could do as a family.
This summer he will be 3. I am *hoping* that he will be potty-trained, but I am not going to hold my breath. (He turns 3 in June...) So here are a few questions..

1. If he is not completely potty trained, can he not attend the kid's club?
2. If he is not completely potty trained, will there be enough things to do as a family on the boat to keep us entertained for 9 days?
3. How long of a trip is it from Port Canaveral to WDW? (I'm really excited about the 1-day park hopper!)
4. Does the ship feel really crowded?
5. Are the staterooms comfortable? We had a suite on the last cruise (I wanted a tub to bathe him in...) I think we would only be staying in an ocean view room this time around because there is a tub in the bathroom.

Thanks for any info/advice It's greatly appreciated!!

JenPett

[toddjodybrent]

How exciting to dream about a 8 night cruise! I'll try to answer some of your questions. . .

1. If he is not completely potty trained, he can either go to the Flounder's Reef--with an hourly fee and reservation needed, or he can got to the kid's club with you staying with him.
2. Yes, there will be plenty to do. He won't be able to use the pool, even in swim diapers. There are character meet and greets and lots of family activities. Others may want to chime in more here.
3. The trip is about 90 minutes. The busses have movie screens and play Disney movies. There are bathrooms on the busses.
4. No. But this is a matter of opinion.
5. Yes, Disney staterooms are 20-25% larger than industry average. And, bathrooms include a tub. . . no matter the category. If he is still napping, you may want to consider a verandah, just to have somewhere for the adult to go when he takes a nap.

Have a great trip!

[Dave Marx]

1. Register your child for the club in advance online. Then, the day you board the ship, speak to the counselors in Oceaneer Club about your child's degree of potty training. If they think he's far enough along, they may give him a chance to participate. However, if he later has an accident, they're likely to rescind that. Presuming he does get the chance, you can improve his chances of remaining in the program by paying a visit every so often to see how he's doing (counselors won't check your child's "need").

2. There's a wide range of activities available for families. The daily activity schedule grid has around a dozen "tracks" for various ages and interests, and there are two family-oriented tracks running continuously, and several other tracks that might have suitable activities. Add to that movies all day long in the Buena Vista Theatre, character meets, and on-your-own activities (which can include parent-child visits to the kids club)... no worries! While it's true a child in diapers can't use the pool, there is a fountain splash play zone for the little ones.

3. I expect there will be separate buses departing for each park, so there shouldn't have to be stops along the way. Actual time on the road should be just around 70 minutes (a 63 mile trip to Animal Kingdom, the most distant park). With a 7:30 am "all ashore" time in Port Canaveral, the earliest buses could be at WDW around the normal 9:00 am opening time. With the "all aboard" time of 11:30 pm, I'd expect the last buses back to the ship will be scheduled to leave at no later than 10:00 pm. My guess is that the bus schedule will allow folks to catch IllumiNations at Epcot, or Fantasmic! at Studios, which both start at 9:00 pm, before heading back to the ship. Wishes fireworks at MK may be out of the picture, though, as it normally starts at 10:00 pm.

4. The ships are sized to be "comfortable" at their maximum guest capacity. Summertime days around the pools are likely to seem very crowded, and the lobbies get pretty crowded just before the start of dinner. Otherwise? Most folks don't have a problem with crowds on the Magic and Wonder. The new ships, while actually having more public space per passenger, seem more crowded because the number of people assembled in those spaces is also larger. Elbow room, as long as there's a reasonable amount of it (and all ships have enough elbow room), doesn't seem to be as important in the perception of crowding as the number of faces you can see.

5. Coming from a suite on Carnival to a regular stateroom on DCL... not a fair comparison. But in an apples-to-apples comparison, DCL staterooms are more spacious and are designed with families in mind - privacy curtain between kids and parents beds, parents bed located closest to the stateroom door and bathrooms so we can have more freedom when the kids are tucked in bed, amount of storage space, the split bathrooms... it all adds up.

[JenPett]

Thanks for the info! It was very helpful!! I didn't realize that parents were allowed to be at the kids club with the kids? Is that all the time or just during certain times during the day?

Thanks!!
JenPett

[Dave Marx]

All the time. Normally, of course, most kids would rather play on their own or be part of the organized activities. However, with the youngest, parents are more commonly present for at least part of the time. And if you want your under-aged toddler to have a chance to play in the club, that's the only way to do it.

[JenPett]

Wow!! That is wonderful!! They kicked me out of the kids area on our last cruise (Carnival). My son had just turned 2 and I didn't feel 100% comfortable just leaving him (though he didn't care..ha!) and they kindly told me to sign him in and go. I am so happy to hear that parents are welcome to participate with their children in the kid's club on-board. Another selling point!!!

Thanks again!
JenPett