29 Tips for Taking a Disney Cruise with an Infant
This man loves his Mickey Mouse and Disney Cruises
Planning a Disney Cruise with an infant can be both exciting and daunting. With so many things to consider, it's important to be prepared to ensure a smooth and enjoyable trip for the whole family. The great thing about a Disney cruise with an infant is that there are amazing things for your little one to enjoy as well as opportunities for you to get a break and do some grownup things (or some grownup pretending to be a kid things. It’s easier to get your picture with Spider-Man when you’re not chasing him with a stroller). Here are 29 tips and great things you might not know about to help you make the most of your Disney Cruise with your little one.
Before you leave
1. Book a Stateroom with a Verandah
When booking your Disney Cruise with an infant, consider reserving a stateroom with a balcony. This will give you and your family some extra space to relax and enjoy the view while your little one naps. Plus, it can be a great way to enjoy some fresh air without having to leave your room. Bring the monitor, order a cheese platter from room service, and bring some wine. Far and away the best way to be nap trapped.
If you’re gonna be trapped for a nap, this is the ideal situation.
2. Make Requests for Baby Amenities
Disney Cruise Line offers a variety of amenities to make cruising with an infant easier. You can request ahead of time a variety of items you might need: bottle warmer, umbrella stroller with canopy, bottle sterilizer, pack and play (the crib), and diaper genie (and they’ll empty it every day). These items are first come first serve, so if you don’t request them ahead of time, they might not be available. That being said, if you forget to request, you can go to guest services when you board. Guest services is a mad house during embarkation and disembarkation, so avoid this if you can.
3. Pack Your Supplies
Make a list of everything you need. Here are a few ideas. As an Amazon affiliate I may earn from qualifying purchases and use that money for more Disney trips.
-Costumes (I’ll say more about in this in a little bit)
-Bottles/sippy cups
The Disney Cruise bathroom counter after the bottles met the bottle brush (below)
-Dish soap and bottle brush (here’s my favorite. It sticks to the counter or wall, so it dries and doesn’t fall in the sink)
-Pacifiers and pacifier clips
-Baby food and/or formula, or if your child transitioned to milk, shelf stable milk (though you can request from restaurants and room service)
-Feeding bowls and spoons
-Bibs
-sunscreen (there’s a lot of sun, here’s a good one)
-Mickey Ears, because why not?
-hats (so much sun). This one is perfect. Comes with swim shoes.
-clothes, obvs
-Diapers
-Swim diapers
-Wipes
-Diaper cream
-Baby monitor (for the verandah)
-Baby blankets and burp cloths
-Sling, Moby Wrap, or baby carrier
-stuffed animal
-Necessary medicine (bring a ton of medicine for any ailment for the whole party)
-Shusher (this was a game changer for us in so many situations)
-protective headphones for fireworks. Here’s a great one.
Hopefully that will get you started, but if you forget anything, the gift shop will have a lot of what you need. It will be heavily marked up, so try not to forget.
4. Bring a Stroller
When taking a Disney Cruise with an infant, it’s important to bring a stroller to make getting around the ship and ports of call easier. As I mentioned above, Disney provides strollers, but if you have your own, it will be easier to navigate boarding, and if you get something better than an umbrella stroller, you can store supplies under it. Here’s a list of the best strollers for a cruise, if you need it.
5. Air Travel
If you’re flying in with your little one, make sure you figure out the rules for air travel with an infant. Most airlines will let you bring a stroller onboard. They also will probably let you sit the baby in your lap if you want to save money.
Second Dad to the Right Tip: We live in the Atlanta area, which means it doesn’t make financial sense for us to fly (especially because of all the luggage) to Florida or the Port of New Orleans. However, whenever we go to Disney World or on a cruise, I send my wife and the baby on a plane, and I drive the older girls. They ride Frontier or Spirit with no luggage, and the baby sits in my wife’s lap. The cost ends up being around $39. Then they take the shuttle to our hotel. We get there a lot faster.
6. Bring Grandparents or other helpful adults
Having some extra help with your little ones gives you even more opportunities for your baby to have some fun while you get to have more relaxation. Then they get to have fun by themselves whenever they aren’t watching the kiddos.
An epic grandparent helping us silently dance at the Silent DJ party
7. Book Nursery Times ASAP
The onboard nursery is one of the best things about the Disney Cruise with infants. Don’t miss out on this opportunity. You can book up to 10 hours of care in the It’s a Small World Nursery before you board the boat, and you need to do it really early if you want the good times. I have an entire article dedicated to the It’s a Small World Nursery here. But here are the basics for early reservations:
Here’s the earliest you can book before your cruise, based on your Castaway Club or Concierge level:
Up to 120 days ahead for Concierge and Platinum Castaway Club Guests
Up to 105 days ahead for Gold Castaway Club Guests
Up to 90 days ahead for Silver Castaway Club Guests
Up to 75 days ahead for all other Guests
8. Go Ahead and Book that Excursion
Disney Cruise Lines will allow you to leave your child in the nursery if you want to go on an excursion that does not allow little kids. Not only that, but you also have a guaranteed reservation (if you ask) even if the nursery is full. You may not be comfortable with that, but given the number of crazy things (wrecks, accidents, crime, etc.) that can happen during an excursion, we felt safer with the baby on the boat (not to mention nap time, feeding times, fussiness, sunscreen, etc.). You will not find better care for $9.00 an hour anywhere.
9. Request Early Dining
There are two dining slots on the Disney Cruises: early dining (around 5:45) and late dining (around 8:00). The idea is that the early dining has dinner and a show, and the late dining has a show then dinner. Every time we’ve sailed with our baby, we’ve been assigned the late dining. That didn’t work for us, so we requested through the Disney Cruise Navigator App to have an early seating. They’ve accommodated it every time, probably because they see the baby in our party.
10. Figure Out Parking at the Port
Figure out parking, luggage, and dropping off your family ahead of time. At Port Canaveral, you can drop your luggage off and then go park the car. Then you can enjoy a short walk with your whole family to the ship. At New Orleans (New Orleans is terrible), you have to drop off your luggage then go a mile away to a dirt lot and take a shuttle back to the boat. For us that meant finding a place for everyone to sit with the carry-ons while I went a parked a car. Those are the only ports we’ve sailed out of, so figure out the parking and luggage situation for your port so that you have a plan when you arrive.
Port of New Orleans Parking Lot. The least magical thing that Disney has ever done. $100 for this.
11. Day Bag
When you board the Disney Cruise, it might be several hours before your luggage arrives at your room and your room is ready. Have all the necessities for the baby, as well as a change of clothes for everyone (and probably swimsuits), so that you don’t need anything from your luggage for a while.
Onboard
Now I want to offer some tips and suggestions for your bundle of cuteness once you board the boat.
12. Go Directly to the Nursery Once You Board
I’ll say that again. Go directly to the nursery when you board and register your child for all the hours you want beyond your original ten hours. Get more than you need. You cancel them any time if it’s more than four hours beforehand. You want to go immediately because the time slots will fill up, especially for days at sea.
13. The It’s a Small World Nursery
This deserves it own entry. Again, this is the best part of cruising with a baby. Unlike most vacations, you have a built-in place for your child to explore and have exceptional care while you rest. I can’t say enough about this magical place. If you’re aboard the Disney Fantasy, say hello to Gabby if she still works there (we had her twice).
I could go on and on here. But I went on and on in a separate post if you need more explanation and convincing. Click here for that.
14. The Splash Pad
Unfortunately, children that are not potty trained are not allowed in the pools on Disney Cruises, even if they are wearing swim diapers. That being said, every Disney Cruise has an infant-friendly splash pad for your precious but incontinent child to hang out. Don’t forget those swim diapers!
Nemo's Reef is located on the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy. Dory's Reef is located on the Disney Wonder, and Nephews' Splash Zone is located on the Disney Magic. And Disney’s newest ship, the Disney Wish, little ones can splash it up at Toy Story Splash Zone.
Little Dude at the Nephew’s Splash Zone on the Disney Magic
15. Dining with Baby: Pureed Food
At every rotational dining facility, the kitchen can prepare pureed food for your baby at your request. In our experience, on the first night they can puree anything on the menu. After that, once you tell them what the baby likes, they’ll make that for you regardless of the menu. You can also ask them to bring out water or milk for you to put in a bottle or sippy cup. I love Disney.
Buddy getting the Chef’s Special at Lumiere’s
Second Dad to the Right Recommendation: Our little buddy was obsessed with the butternut squash soup far beyond anything they could puree.
16. Dining with Baby: Cut Up Food
If your little man or woman is ready for solid foods, the staff will cut up whatever you like for them to eat. There’s a grilled chicken breast on every menu if you can’t think of anything, but all the food is free. Let them try everything.
17. Dining with Baby: Highchairs and Napping
If they know your baby is coming to dinner, there will be a highchair waiting at your request. If for some reason your baby passes out during the meal, they’re even ready for that.
Proof that they are ready for your baby to fall asleep at dinner
18. Dining with Baby: Entertainment and Characters
A lot of the meals on the Disney Cruise are interactive. The character shows (e.g. Tiana’s Place), the animation shows (Animator’s Palate), and the character interactions offer a lot of stimulation to keep your baby entertained during dinner.
19. Dining Without Baby: The Fancy Restaurants
Since you can leave your baby at the nursery any time you book (and a lot of times you can drop them off if there’s an opening), this frees you up to try the fine dining aboard the Disney Cruise Lines. Every ship has a Palo, an absolutely amazing Italian restaurant. The larger ships (Dream and Fantasy) also have Remy, an even fancier (and more expensive) French restaurant based on the movie Ratatouille where the chefs are rats (I think). On the Disney Wish, they have Enchante, a French Restaurant themed on Beauty and Beast. All of the French restaurants are crafted by 3 Michelin-starred Chef Arnaud Lallement—of L’Assiette Champenoise, near Reims, France. That’s the closest I’ll get to one of his restaurants unless y’all go crazy on my affiliate links and share all my posts with your friends (please?).
A perfect meal with the perfect person at Palo’s
20. Diaper Dash
One of the most unique and beloved events on the Disney Cruise is Jack Jack’s Incredible Diaper Dash. In this event, cast members roll out a 20ft track for crawling babies to race on. They have to crawl (no walking) to the finish line to be crowned champion. This typically takes place in the atrium around noon on the last day at sea. So if you have a crawling but not walking baby aboard the ship, be ready!
If you think I wrote this entire blog post to brag about my baby winning this event, you guessed correctly. Here’s the footage and a victorious photo. Lucky for you, our little dude is learning how to walk soon, so he’ll no longer be your competition.
An unneccessarily proud Second Dad to the Right after Jack Jack’s Incredible Diaper Dash
21. Character Interactions
Little babies love character interactions! (Sometimes). Sometimes they are terrified. When my middle daughter was little, she was terrified of anything with a non-human mask. She loved the human characters, as well, as the characters with human masks on (Incredibles, Doc McStuffins, Sophia, etc.), but she was terrified of the Fab Four and Abu. Her greatest accomplishment was overcoming that fear to hug Minnie.
But if your little Mouseketeer loves Disney and characters, Disney Cruise has them everywhere. Get a bunch of pictures, and watch your little one smile in astonishment as the magic becomes reality.
22. Shows
Just like the character interactions, this one is tricky and based on your child’s temperament. That being said, the shows have recognizable characters, amazing music, and incredible lighting effects that have the ability to captivate small children even if they aren’t old enough to follow the plot. I mentioned earlier that one of the great things about the nursery is being able to watch the shows without a squirming or crying baby, but if your baby is the kind to get lost in silent wonder, check out the amazing productions at the Walt Disney Theater on the Disney Cruise ships.
23. Parties
This is similar to the shows and completely dependent on your child’s temperament. Disney Cruises have tons of shows on deck and in the atrium full of characters, pirates, fireworks, music, and dancing. The bar of behavior is much lower for your baby because no one will hear them have a meltdown. These parties are also more interactive, allowing you to dance along with your baby to the music.
Little Scalawag ready for Pirate Night (and my awesome shirt)
If your child is sensitive to noise, especially horn blasts and fireworks, look for a good pair of ear protection for them.
24. Costumes
One of my wife and my favorite things to do is to dress our kids up in costumes. It’s a bonus with infants and toddlers because the baby complains far less than our daughters who are starting to think they are too cool. Disney Cruises offer great opportunities for this: character meals, Halloween nights, Christmas nights, Marvel Day at Sea, and Pirate Night. But, do you really need a reason? Your baby will look cute, and they’ll love the attention. And let’s be honest, we love the attention, too. Below is a link to our dude’s pirate costume because I know you wanted it.
25. Bathtubs
This may seem random, but it’s really helpful. Disney Cruises have actual bathtubs in their staterooms. That’s a gamechanger for bathing your little bobcat. For a lot of parents, trying to bathe a baby in the shower while they are greased up from soap is a dangerous endeavor. A lot of cruises only offer showers in their lower status rooms, so having a tub, even if it’s small, is amazing for caring for babies.
Also, all of the staterooms on the Disney Cruises have split bathrooms with the toilet separate from the shower. This means you can take your time letting your little one play in the bathtub without having to listen to the rest of your family complain about needing to use the toilet.
26. Atrium
Here’s another seemingly random tip but was amazing for our bundle of energy. There’s not a lot of room for babies to explore on cruise ships where it’s clean, safe, or they won’t block traffic (unless you take them to the nursery). However, if you go hang out at the atrium when there’s no event going on (or people heading to a meal), it’s a beautiful, wide-open space for them to roam around on soft carpet that’s been rigorously vacuumed. The atrium is great for babies and toddlers to get energy out running back and forth.
It’s great for older kids, too. My older daughters (7 and 9) made paper airplanes in the Oceaneer Lab, so when I picked them up, we threw them off the 5th floor balcony into the atrium two stories below while one us caught them and brought them back up. This was about 3:00 in the afternoon and almost nobody walked by. One of them flew in the elevator shaft and back out. Disclaimer: they were not very good paper airplanes.
27. Walking Track or Just Exploring the Ship
My baby loves to ride in the stroller. He hates getting in the stroller. He hates sitting still in the stroller, but once it starts moving, he’s either high-fiving everyone or he’s asleep. If you have a baby in need of a perpetual motion machine, put them in the stroller (which you should bring or borrow from guest services), and go explore. If you want some real exercise, each of the 4 older ships have a walking track on Deck 4. Apparently, the designers of the Disney Wish decided that this wasn’t for strollers. In order to do it there you have to go up and down stairs between deck 4, 5, and 6. But you can do a miniature loop around the Senses Spa on Deck 6. I never used it before they started building the Wish in 2020 (because little guy wasn’t born), so I take full responsibility for Disney thinking we didn’t need it. My bad, guys.
28. Elevators
Elevators. Yes. Elevators can be boring. But not on a Disney Cruise, and not for a baby. Most of the elevators have mirrors, much to the delight of most babies. The mirrors are also much to the delight of a dad who likes to watch people’s reactions when my son makes intense eye-contact with them in the mirror. The central elevators on the older ships also have 3 story views of the atrium followed by character murals going all the way up to the to deck.
Not baby related, but elevators are also nice if you have seven-year-old that won’t go to sleep at 4 AM, so you make her run 8 flights of stair over and over while you greet her every two floors or so on the elevator….if somehow you find yourself in that situation.
29. Castaway Cay
Many of Disney Cruise Line’s sailings stop at Castaway Cay, a Disney-owned private island in the Bahamas with great beaches, food, snorkeling, 5k track, kid’s club, family beach, water slide, adult beach, etc., etc., etc.
Castaway Cay
If you want to take your baby out on the beach, they have trams that will take you to each stop, and they will give you a wagon to put your little rugrat (wait, that’s not Disney, your little Jack Jack) and supplies in to cart them around the island. Since the beaches and transportation are so close to the island, it’s easy to go back to the boat for naptimes or just to get out of the sun.
Also, if you reserve a spot, the It’s a Small World Nursery will care for them while the rest of the family enjoys the beach.
Conclusion
There you have it, 29 things you need to know about taking a baby on a Disney Cruise. If you found this helpful, please share it with all the other sleepless parents who are thinking about taking their infant on a Disney Cruise.
If I left anything out, drop it in the comment section.
If you’re ready to book a cruise, and you want to do it on your own, consider using the Cruise Direct link below. As an affiliate, I’ll get a commission if you book, and it won’t cost you any extra.
An explanation and review of Capture Your Moment at Magic Kingdom, a private photo session with a Disney Photopass photographer.