Disney Cruise with a Two-Year-Old (food?)

[Kathamo]

Hi! My family of three needs a vacation! My husband and I are contemplating taking our 2-year-old on his first cruise, but only if we can find something with child care so that we can have time to relax and enjoy ourselves. My son has no chill, so the only way to really relax is if someone else is watching him for a time. He is outgoing and is not afraid of new environments and new people.

 

Is Disney the only cruise line that provides child care (paid or unpaid) for two year olds? Most cruise lines seem to offer kids' clubs for age 3+ only. We are in Southern California and prefer to sail out of a Southern California port so that we don't have to get on a plane; therefore, our options are limited. 

 

My only concern with Disney is the quality of the food for adults - can anyone speak to that? My husband and I have taken three Celebrity cruises pre-child, which we loved, so if the Disney food is comparable we are fine with that. We also enjoy the nicer food offerings at Disneyland, as another data point.

 

Any other tips are appreciated. Thanks!

Edited January 1, 2020 by Kathamo

[Essiesmom]

Carnival has kids club for ages 2+ and they will change diapers.  As for food...It's comfort food.  No fancy names or ingredients.  But we like it, and have sailed many other cruise lines.  I actually prefer it to Princess.  Carnival sails from Long Beach.  EM

[cb at sea]

The larger RCI ships also offer "nursery" service for the under-3 group....  

 

Also, if this is important to you, no ships allow diapered kids in the pools.  Some do have "splash zones" for diapered ones, but not all...it's sort of "ship dependent"....

[kitkat343]

Carnival and cunard both have free drop off daycare at 2.   Most new or refurbished rcl ships, all disney ships and the Norwegian escape have fee nurseries for children under 3. 
 

we chose to sail cunard when my middle was 2 because we also needed care but their kids club staff on cunard was the weakest of all the lines we’ve sailed with kids (ncl, Hal, princess).  The nursery employees tried to insist they were too busy to play with our son for five minutes to help him with the transition into the kids club (at the time they claimed they were too busy to help there were two adults working in the kids club and a total of three kids attending, and the other two were happily engaged in playing a game together by themselves).   After we complained they got a bit better about helping, plus we told our older students he had to help his brother with the transition into the kids club.  
 

Disney allows guests to book nursery hours ahead of time.  You might want to post on the Disney board to see if families were able to book as many hours as they need.  Best of luck to you.  

[Kathamo]

1 hour ago, kitkat343 said:

Carnival and cunard both have free drop off daycare at 2.   Most new or refurbished rcl ships, all disney ships and the Norwegian escape have fee nurseries for children under 3. 
 

we chose to sail cunard when my middle was 2 because we also needed care but their kids club staff on cunard was the weakest of all the lines we’ve sailed with kids (ncl, Hal, princess).

Very helpful - thanks!

[1025cruise]

Something to keep in mind with DCL, since you are looking to cruise from the west coast, you only have a small window after the Alaska season. If this isn't when you were looking to cruise, you might want to check another line.

 

I cruised DCL a few years ago, on the Wonder, before it was re-imagined. No kids. We had a good time, and enjoyed the food. We had booked a brunch in Palo and really enjoyed that. Only concern nowadays is that the cost of DCL is usually double other cruises. So with that being said, unless your 2 year old is big into Disney, or you are, it might make sense to look elsewhere for other options.

[kitkat343]

1025 cruise makes excellent points.  Also, please note in addition to being much more expensive, Disney currently only has four ships in operation (three more are in production).    This limits your options no matter where you choose to cruise.  Also, please check the times Disney ships spend in port.  I have no firsthand experience, but met Disney passengers in Costa Maya who were pissed because their port times throughout their cruise were shorter than all the other cruise lines and they kept getting rushed through their private tours.  I have no idea if that is standard but would just recommend that you check port times in addition to itinerary.   On the cruises I've planned in the past I haven't been as happy with the Disney itineraries as other ships, but you may be able to find itineraries that work for your family (on  the three trips I planned it seemed like Disney tended to have more sea days than other lines, which might be what most families prefer.  I wanted to have as many port days as possible so I chose other lines.  But I have no idea if that is standard or just the few trips I've tried to plan and compare).

[Kathamo]

11 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Also, please check the times Disney ships spend in port.  I have no firsthand experience, but met Disney passengers in Costa Maya who were pissed because their port times throughout their cruise were shorter than all the other cruise lines and they kept getting rushed through their private tours.

Thanks for the info. At my son's age, we probably won't get off the ship much anyway, so I'm less concerned about that. We cruise for the ship, not the itinerary.

[bearette]

Carnival has ships year round in So. Cal as well as most of the time NCL and Holland America, though you have to check if they do 2 year old baby sitting. Unless price is no object I would stay away from Disney as it will be double or triple the price of the others.  You could fly to Florida to do another line for the cost of Disney.  Though I did a Disney cruise before and they are wonderful.  Excellent food too, as good of not better than Celebrity.

[milton333]

A bit late to this, but I've sailed Disney many times and the pricing differential is most pronounced with regard to the typical U.S. school year.  If you can sail when most kids are in school, rates are substantially lower, and with a 2 year old maybe you can.  We cruised Disney a bunch before DS started school.  Now, spring breaks, summers, and winter holidays are all very expensive on DCL as compared to other lines, but of course families are their target demographic.

 

I loved the Disney ships I was on.  All the rooms are great, the service is absolutely fantastic, and it was such a relief to not have anyone giving you the hairy eyeball for having a kid onboard.  We did one sailing with my parents, and my mom is disabled.  She was struggling with cutting her food and the way that our waitstaff inconspicuously and compassionately helped her was amazing.  If you can swing it, I do believe that Disney is worth the price, certainly in the "off" seasons.

 

I didn't sail Disney with a 2 year old, so I'm not positive of the kids' club situation at that age, but the kids' clubs were really great beginning at age 3.  The splash zone area for diapered kids was fun for littles, too.

 

I cruised Royal Caribbean when DS was 18 months, they had a nursery service that did charge by the hour.  We didn't really use it, but didn't really want to be separated from DS on vacation.  To each his/her own.  Many of the larger RC ships have splash zones for kids in diapers.

 

I will say that, because we didn't really drop kiddo at the kids' clubs for extended periods of time, he had nap time in our room on multiple cruises.  Disney ships were the only ones where I could tell our room steward what nap times were and that we'd need access to the room then, and it always happened.  On RC and Carnival, we had experiences where kiddo was over-tired and needed to sleep but our room was not available.  I get it, stewards have rooms to turn over, but in terms of level of service, Disney always made sure that we were not inconvenienced that way.

[NEGeekymama]

Disney food is AMAZING. The service is, well, Disney service. Our waiter even helped distract/feed our incredibly picky toddler a few times.

 

But as others have said....the price point. It's Disney. 

 

For the cost of a 4-5 day Disney Cruise with one cabin, we can book a 7 day cruise with two balcony cabins on Carnival. I priced out a similar itinerary on Disney to our upcoming one on Carnival, and it would be nearly $10k for two balconies. Yes. $10k.