I have another guest trip report to share with you guys! This one is a bit unique because Sara, the author, was sailing with her husband and 7 month old daughter. There is not a lot of information out there about sailing DCL with infants, so I hope this trip report is helpful to those of you who plan to! Also, it was a Halloween on the High Seas sailing and I know a lot of people want to know what to expect with those as well.
Sara and her family sailed on a 3 night cruise on the Disney Dream on September 7, 2018. You can see all of the Daily Navigators by clicking here. In addition, you can see all of my previous trip reports and guest trip reports by clicking here.
Day 1: Boarding the Disney Dream
My husband and I sailed on Disney Cruise Line four times before having our first child in January. We could not wait to go on our first cruise as a family of three, and decided to book a trip as soon as our daughter reached the required age (DCL requires infants to be at least six months at the time of sailing, and over 12 months old for some itineraries).
Being a planner and a first-time mom, I immediately went searching for tips on cruising with an infant. I was surprised to find that there wasn’t much info available! It’s easy to find what is offered for infants on the DCL website, but finding first-hand experiences proved to be much more difficult. Because of this, I wanted to share our experience and assure others that cruising with infant is not only possible, but fun and very enjoyable!
Because my husband and I had previously sailed as a party of two, we also wanted to make sure we had time to revisit some of our favorite adult-only experiences, including dining at Remy, and a couple’s massage at Senses Spa and Salon. I will make sure to highlight those experiences in this report as well.
We live within a reasonable distance to Port Canaveral, so we decided to drive to the port. This was our girl’s first road trip, so we broke it up by spending the night with some friends who live a little more than halfway between our hometown and Port Canaveral. Typically, we wake up really early and drive down the morning of the cruise, but we hoped that stopping halfway and spending the night would allow us to be more rested on embarkation day. This almost went as planned, although we were so excited to get going the next morning we didn’t end up sleeping restfully.
Our friends treated us to a nice breakfast before we left, and then we were on our way. It was only a two hour drive before we finally saw this:
We arrived at the port close to noon, which must have been later than usual, because I don’t ever remember the entrance to the parking lot being so crowded. We got diverted from the regular lane into a side entrance where an attendant wanted to check our passports before unloading our bags. There were only a handful of cars that were directed into that side entrance so I’m not sure if we were randomly selected or if there was a back-up near the parking deck. We decided to use the terminal parking because we find it to be quicker on debarkation day (you can read all of the details about parking at the terminal here). The 3rd level of the parking deck offers a bridge that goes directly into the terminal, allowing you to bypass the elevators/escalators if you are using a stroller. The cost for using the parking garage was $68 for our 3 day trip.
Once we made it through security and the check-in process (our baby was able to travel using her Birth Certificate as identification), we found that our boarding number had already been called and we were able to walk right onto the Disney Dream.
We wanted to make a few adjustments to our schedule so we started out at the Guest Services Desk. We had a Remy dinner reservation for embarkation day, and once we received our Key to the World Cards, we realized that our dining rotation would have us missing dinner in Animator’s Palate. This is my husband’s favorite restaurant so we set out to change our dining rotation. It wasn’t until I reached the front of the Guest Services line that I realized the Daily Navigator listed a designated place and time for changing your dining rotation. The first time scheduled was at 1:00 PM in Enchanted Garden, so we headed that way and changed our rotation without any issues.
Next, we stopped by the “It’s a Small World Nursery”. We wanted to walk through the open house since we planned on utilizing this service during the adult exclusive activities we scheduled.
The nursery was very nicely decorated, and the staff seemed to have just finished cleaning and sanitizing the toys and cribs. I wasn’t sure if I should take pictures inside, so the pictures above were the areas seen from public view. There was a one-way window (directly in front of the small boat pictured) where we could stop by and check in on our girl. I found that most of the space was outside of the viewing area and only saw her from the window once. We also registered her at this time. There is an additional charge for the nursery: $9 per hour for the first child, and $8 per hour for each additional child. This space is reserved for children 3 and under. During check-in, the attendants asked questions about allergies, snacks, and activities that she may have been able to participate in. Here are some more detailed nursery hand-outs that were left in our room:
Next, our room was ready so we headed that way, and came across Pepe’s Door. I’ve seen pictures of this and hoped to find it.
Our daughter also loved seeing her “friend” in mirrors all over the ship.
We made it to our room, and our luggage had already been placed by our door. We booked category 8A stateroom 5520 (split layout design), and loved it so much that it deserves its own post, which you can read here. We requested a Pack n’ Play and a Diaper Genie during online check-in, and both were already set up when we arrived. Here is a quick peek:
We dropped off our carry-ons and headed for Senses Spa to adjust our appointment for the next day and then went to Cabanas for lunch. We ate fairly quickly because it was close to nap time and we definitely wanted to fit that in before the mandatory safety drill at 3:30. We made it back to our room just in time for a quick nap.
Our safety drill was held in the Walt Disney Theater, which was great because it was very warm and humid outside. The alarm was playing as we walked in and it was extremely loud. I wondered how our girl would react to the siren but she was fine. This may have been a little scary for other little ones. After the drill, we went back to our room and found a $50 Spa voucher (valid on port days only) in honor of my husband’s birthday. I called to see if we could apply it to the couple’s massage we had already booked and they said we could.
Around this time, I went to fill up our water bottles and grab some coffee from Cove Café and discovered that DCL no longer offers straws or lids at the drink station on Deck 11. I’ve read about the plastic straw controversy, but somehow missed that Disney was not offering them anymore. I ordered frozen coffees at the Cove Café and they did offer lids and paper straws for those.
We then started getting ready for our Birthday/Anniversary Dinner at Remy. We also prepared our daughter’s diaper bag so she could be dropped off at the nursery. I decided to pack her nightgown and her swaddle sack, hoping that if she was sleeping when we got back she would also be ready for bed for the night. We went to the atrium to take some family pictures since we were all dressed up, and the headed for the nursery.
When we dropped her off there was a form to fill out, telling the nursery attendants what time to feed her and what time she should go to sleep. I also confirmed that they could change her into her nightgown before she went down for the night, and they said it would be no problem (it seemed like this was a common request). They do ask that you carry the wave phone (found in your stateroom) when you have a child in the nursery. They explained that when a child has been fussy for 15 minutes, they send a message to let you know. If that happens, parents can call and check on the child, or pick them up.
After dropping her off, we had about half an hour to kill and decided to walk around for a little bit. We found this Mickey statue in front of the Walt Disney Theater that I hadn’t noticed before:
Eventually, we made our way to the front of the ship, which gave us a “windblown” look right before dinner.
Remy was such an amazing, one-of-a-kind experience that it deserves its own review, which you can read here. After dinner, we were feeling pretty full so we decided to walk around for a little while before picking up our girl. Back at the nursery, she was sound asleep and dressed for bed just as we requested.
Our stateroom host left us this precious set up, including a Trick-or-Treat bag for the following night, and before long we were all fast asleep.
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Up next: Day 2 – Nassau
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