Disney vs. Royal Caribbean for a 3yr old?

[Florida_cruisers]

We are thinking about going on a cruise and at the same time celebrate our son's 3rd bday. We are hoping that the grandparents would also join us since they live out of state and we only get to see them a few times a year (our son's bday being one of the times).

I have been debating between Disney's cruises, which we have never experienced, or Royal Caribbean, which we know very well.

We also live in Orlando and we go to Disney all of the time, and even though my son is still too little to even know much about it, our main concern is that we want to be on a cruise where he would feel welcome and not uninhibited. He has been on our last two cruises, which were great for us and he was well behaved, but we want his birthday cruise to be more about him.

 

What do you think?

[dancergirlmom]

We have been on Disney and Princess with our 3 kids and are going on Royal Caribbean next month. We were not impressed with Disney - and neither were our kids. They hated the kids club and the younger ones refused to stay there (my twins were 4 and my older one 8 at the time) - it was just way too busy and lacked personal attention. They raved about the Princess cruise in comparison and loved their kids club. I'm confident they'll feel the same about RCL. We love Disney World too, but the cruise just didn't do it for us. We found very little for the adults to do in the evening and spent a lot of time in long lines for characters and trying to get autographs...not the way we wanted to spend a cruise. JMHO.

[boulders]

From RCCL's website

Our Aquanauts program is specially designed to blend educational activities with just plain fun. Every cruise is different. But one thing never changes, your child will get to learn about local customs, do cool science experiments, and make great new friends. To participate, children must be fully potty-trained and 3 years of age as of the first day of the cruise. No pull-ups or diapers please.

 

If you intend for him to go to Adventure Ocean, his birthday will have to be before the cruise or the first day of the cruise. If it's the second day of the cruise or later, they won't let him in AO.

 

I haven't been on a cruise yet with my youngest - he's 2 1/2. He will be going in March and July. I think that as long as you choose a cruise on a Voyager or Freedom class ship, your son will have a blast.

 

My 2 older children, aged 9 and 12, have been to WDW many times and love it there. But, they have no desire to go on a Disney cruise. They love the theming of WDW, but are not into getting autographs or pictures with characters. The allure of a Disney cruise just isn't there for them. I think that Disney might be good for the 4 to 8 year old girls (yes, I'm being sexist, but I'm a girl too), but not so much for other ages or boys. My daughter was into Disney for a couple of years at that age, but isn't anymore. Neither of my sons have ever been that much into Disney characters.

 

They had a fabulous time on NOS last March and are eager to go again.

[larronry]

My neighbors 3 year old also wasn't thrilled with the kids program on Disney. If you need a cruise line that accepts two year olds or kids that aren't potty trained then consider Carnival, which changes diapers, or NCL, which will contact you to come change diapers.

[rebeccalouise]

My son loved Disney and everything about it but he was five at the time. At three they might be too young and may be afraid of the characters.The pool was great for little ones- with the slide. My son loved the youth program but I found it dark and dreary. He had an absolute ball on Disney and wants to go back.As for me- over it. Been there done that but no desire to do it again.

[Paumavista]

Is he toilet trained....because that is a BIG decision maker for us right now!! My soon to be 3 year old will be 3 years and 4 months on his first cruise but we're still sticking with Carnival because they will allow him to join in without being potty trained.

 

I'm REALLY REALLY hoping that he's pretty well potty trained over the next few months but with a new environment, strange bathrooms, and different care givers I certainly wouldn't want to guarantee that he was "fully/no accidents" trained.

 

We would ALL (me, dad, and Jr) be sooo disappointed if on the first day joining in with the kids activities he were to have an accident and be banned from participating for the remainder of the cruise! We choose cruising because of the opportunities for ALL of us to have some time (kid time and adult time) to ourselves while still enjoying a "family" vacation!

 

Good luck with your choice.

Judy

[Paumavista]

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[Paumavista]

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[rebeccalouise]

It won't be the end of the world if your child has an "accident". My son had one and I was called to bring him a clean pair of pants- he had made it to the bathroom just soiled his pants while in there and he was 5.So accidents happen. He won't be booted out. They just don't allow pull ups and diapers. They expect that the kids aren't in diapers anymore.Also- I would take my son to breakfast and would not let him go to the kids program until he had done his business in our stateroom bathroom. Then I would check in on him periodically (every two hours) and would ask him if he needed to use the bathroom.Since he was 3 we only had the one accident and he has been on 14 cruises. Don't sweat the small stuff.

[ChrisandJen]

We did Disney last year with our 3 year old DD. For us she was too young for the whole Disney thing and it was almost twice as expensive as other cruise lines. We took her on Carnival at 2 and are doing RCCL next month. We would not pay for Disney until she's older. we weren't that impressed with Disney anyway. We had a much better time on Carnival. The DCL ship was tired and the kids club was dark. I'd go with another cruise line until your child is older.

[skyw]

We took my DS (3.5) on a Disney Cruise last May. Here is what he liked..

 

The Mickey Pool, The fresh fruit at goofy's gallery. (he ate there the most), LOVED the shows (knew the characters), the beach.

 

He really didn't like the Kids Club (whatever it is called). This is why....it was very structured. The activities lasted a half hour at a time. That is a long time for a 3 year old if they don't enjoy art. He also goes to Preschool and the rules at preschool aren't the rules on the ship. there were kids grabbing toys our of his hands and no one corrected this.

He didn't like sitting thru dinner even though it is geared towards kids (kinda).

 

He didn't want to meet the characters...too scary.

 

I can tell you that I enjoyed the level or service on this ship and also the food was pretty good. We only ate in the dining rooms once but ate dinners in the buffet area at night. The food was great and hot when it came out. Plus my son could hang loose a little bit and it was all over in an hour or less.

 

I am glad that we spent the money but I don't think we will do it again. For the same reason $$$$ We can go on another cruise for less. If I got a good deal though, I would go for sure.

[crusinmama06]

We've done Disney and RCCL. I would say to first look for a cruise that would interest YOU. ;) My kids love to celebrate their birthdays on cruise ships. We celebrated my oldest's 5th birthday on Disney Magic. But her little sister, we celebrated her 3rd birthday on RCCL Freedom of the Seas. And we had booked Liberty of the Seas for her 4th birthday (but had to cancel for scheduling conflict :( )

 

My kids prefer the RCCL Freedom ships. But that might just be them. :D

 

I can tell you that I personally don't think the Disney ship is up to the same standards as RCCL (I know I am going to be pelted with Mickey bobbleheads by the Disney fans)

 

The Disney ships were built in 99 and 2000 (I think that is their sail dates). So many new & innovative things have been added to cruise ships in the past few years.

 

And since you live in Orlando, you can visit the BEST place to see the characters, WDW. ;) (Which is where we will be in Sept)