Disney Dream Cruise Tips With A Preschooler

Before embarking on our Disney cruise, I searched for every tip you could find on Pinterest and Cruise Critic.  They were helpful, but everybody mostly told you the same thing.  Here's what we did and we had a wonderful and relaxing time with our daughter who turned four on our second day on the ship.

4 Night Disney Dream Double Dip (2 days at Castaway Cay) tips:

--Packing:  Pack as little as possible.  I packed way more than I needed simply because during the day we wore our swim suits and wore our clothes for the evening. No regular clothes during the day.

--Princess dresses and pirate costume.  We brought two dresses for Vivian.  An Elsa dress for her to wear to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and Snow White for the princess and Elsa/Anna meeting.  

-- Gratuity.  As soon as you walk on the ship, walk over to the guest service desk to change your gratuity, if you want.  This way you can choose the amount to tip verses DCL setting the price.  Also, there are no ATM's on the ship if you forget to get cash like we did.  Thankfully they were able to cash a check.  BK never carries checks in his wallet, but my Dad use to tell me to keep a few on hand if I ever needed one.  Guess what, I saved him a lot of money on gratuity by having a check on me.  

--  Head to the pool deck while you wait until you can enter your room at 1:30pm (our luggage actually arrived in our room before 2pm). Vivian was able to ride the Mickey slide multiple times before going to our room then headed to the O.C. open house.

--  Check out the Oceaneer's Club during open house. We spent about an hour checking out each station. You will be charged $12.95 for the child band, but they will refund your money if you return the band back to the club on the last day of the cruise.  Honestly, the only time we used the club was our last day when we went to return the bracelet.  Vivian played for 30 minutes while B and I had a drink.  Between being on the island, pool deck, character meetings, nap and bedtime, we didn't need to use the club.  Plus, the point of the vacation was spending it together as a family, especially with young children.  I can totally see using it more with older kids.

--  Stateroom.  We stayed in a verandah room (room #8538) which was the best decision if you have a little one.  Just a heads up, the murphy bed and couch bed is right next to the door to the balcony.  The curtain in front of the sliding door has to be open at the head of the beds.  If you have a light sleeper, that may wake them if you are going in and out of the balcony.  We let Vivian sleep in the big bed and I slept on the murphy bed, BK on the couch bed. There is a curtain divider between the big bed and bunk beds which was nice. We were able to go out on the verandah and watch tv without disturbing her.  Our room had the view of Castaway Cay while docked and we were able to watch the firework show from our balcony.  They recommend not watching from your room, but the fireworks aren't set off until 10:30pm and Vivian was asleep by 8:30pm.  There were many other families out on their balcony as well watching.

-- If you drink, buy the Disney Cruise cooler.  They have different alcohol packages...imported beer and/or wine.  They bring it to your room later, not when you purchase the cooler, and you can carry your cooler anywhere on the ship and on Castaway Cay.  We bought the 24 imported beers for around  $120.  You can also bring your own beer and/or wine for each guest who are of age that you are suppose to drink only in your room.  

Second day at CC, the day after Pirate Night

--  Castaway Cay.  Our first day at CC, we got off on the 2nd stop with the water slide.  The water was extremely salty which meant Vivian only did the water slide once.  She was content playing on the beach and keeping her head above the water.  Our 2nd day at CC we got off at the 1st stop, the family beach.  Very few people were on the beach that morning because the night before was Pirates Night.  

-- Nassau.  There aren't many excursions offered for little ones.  You can of course visit Atlantis which is ridiculously expensive...I've stayed at Atlantis before so we opted out.  We've also been to Nassau several times. We stayed on the boat and a lot of other families did as well.  The pools are full and there are lines for the slides.  Not too bad, but don't think the majority of the people are getting off the ship.  

-- Character Meetings.  They have all the times where each character will be if there's a certain one you want to see.  We met all of them except for Stitch.  We saw him walking, but missed his time.  There are lines and you will have to wait.  I think the longest wait was 30 minutes.  

--Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  It is small, long and narrow.  Definitely bring your own dress unless you want to pay $$$ on a dress from their store which isn't a lot to choose from. We got a cute Elsa dress off Amazon by Relibeauty for the fraction of the cost.  

--Pixie Dust.  Be sure to talk to the employees because they may be a character.  While standing in line to meet Princess Tiana, Vivian had just left the boutique all dolled up with her birthday sash on.  The girl that asked for our room number to give to the photographer asked Vivian if it was her birthday.  She told her it was and that she was four.  The girl asked me what her name was and told be she was absolutely adorable.  After meeting Tiana, we walked over to meet Chip and Dale.  While waiting the girl came back over to talk to us.  She asked Vivian if she liked Elsa since she had Elsa's dress on.  She then asked if we were going to meet Anna and Elsa the next day.  We said of course, but she was going to dress as Snow White for the princess meeting.  She wished Vivian a 'happy birthday' and wished us a great vacation.  After dinner, we went back to our room and our steward said he had a surprise for Vivian.  He turned the couch bed down with Frozen bed sheets, a cake made out of towels and a hand written letter from Elsa. What a wonderful surprise for our birthday girl! The next day to meet Elsa, it was the girl we met the day before.  She remembered Vivian's name and asked her how her birthday was and what she had for dessert. Such a special moment.  Also, Goofy and Pluto knew Vivian already as well.  So it may have been the same girl or someone else we talked to.

-- Food.  Nothing spectacular.  Even the chocolate chip cookies weren't amazing like others raved about.  I thought the food at dinner was 'OK', not great.  Your best food will be the soft served ice cream 😊  I knew going in we shouldn't be 'wowed' over the food.  

-- Dining Seating.  When we booked our cruise a few months before leaving, only late seating was available.  I called DCL and asked to be on the wait list for early dining.  The lady tried to encourage us to keep late dining, but I declined.  When we received our tags and booklet, we were listed for main dining which worked best for us.  We actually skipped dinner twice (night one and our last night), grabbed food from the pool deck and went to a show instead.  

Overall, we had a wonderful and relaxing time.  Vivian still talks about the trip which was a month ago.  It was great not having to load up in the car every time we wanted to go somewhere or decide on where to eat.  We couldn't have asked for a better vacation with a kid in tow.  

More on our cruise, you can read here.

Disney Cruise 2017 and Vivian's 4th Birthday

Well, we bit the bullet and took Vivian on the Disney Dream Cruise for her 4th birthday.  She had an incredible time, as did we!  It was actually relaxing considering you are vacationing with a child.  We left Joanna home with my parents and focused 100% of our attention on the birthday girl.  I didn't want to stress about Joanna's schedule which probably would have been non-existent.  She got lots and lots of attention from my parents.

We left out on a Tuesday morning and drove to Jacksonville, FL then drove the rest of the way the next morning.  Vivian did really well in the car.  We scheduled an early check-in time, but actually arrived an hour later which was no big deal.  Once we got on the boat, we went to customer service desk to change our gratuity for the trip or otherwise they set how much to tip which could add more than you attend to spend.  After that was taken care of, we went to Deck 11 to the pools.  Vivian was itching to get in.  I got her changed and off she went.  She didn't even want lunch.  The first thing she did was Mickey's slide.  She got to the top, got scared, came down and wanted her puddle jumper.  After she built her confidence going down, the life jacket came off.  She went down the slide I don't know how many times.

We were able to go to our room at 1:30pm to unload our carry-on bags.  Our bags actually arrived while we were in there.  Afterwards, we took Vivian to the kids club to their Open House.  We never used to Oceaneer Club while on the ship except for our last night.  If you return your bracelet back, you get a full refund of $12.95...unless you want to keep it as a keepsake.  Since we were returning it our last night, we let Vivian play for 30 minutes while we had a drink.  Honestly, with her playing in the pool, out on the beach, nap, character meetings and dinner, there was no real time for her to spend in the club.  We did spend an hour there during Open House and I wasn't super impressed, but she enjoyed herself.  Her favorite thing to do was hoola-hooping.  She also liked Andy's room.

Our first night we skipped the sit down dinner, grabbed a burger by the pools then watched a show.  She really enjoyed the live entertainment.  Afterwards, back to our room we went and got Vivian a bath and into bed.  She was a little hyped, but got her down by 8:30pm.  Her normal bedtime is 8pm.

As for our stateroom, we stayed in room 8538.  Great location, quiet and plenty of room for the 3 of us.  We did give Vivian the big bed, I slept on the murphy bed and BK on the sofa bed.  There's a thick curtain that separates the two spaces for privacy which waa great.  Since the murphy snd sofa bed is next to the verandah, it was a no brainer we took that.  You have to open the curtain half way to go out and we didn't want to chance waking her.  Plus, it was much darker on the big bed side. It was her vacation, not ours 😊

The next morning we arrived at Castaway Cay, Vivian's 4th birthday.  We decided to go to the beach with the water slide.  She did go down the slide once, but the water was extremely salty and she was done with that.  She enjoyed floating in the water and playing on the beach.  There are character meetings on the beach so we took the tram to the family beach for a couple of meet-and-greets.  Lunch was served at 11:30. A seagull took Vivian's hotdog right off her bun HA! After lunch we went back to the ship for the pool and slide.  We bought the Disney Cruise cooler for $120 for 24 imported beers.  It sounds a lot, but the price increase on beverages, that was the best way to do it.  Also, you could add the beer you brought with you in the cooler and drink as well. The cooler can be taken anywhere on the ship and onto Castaway Cay.

We scheduled a salon visit to Bippity Boppity Boop Boutique for her birthday at 4pm.  We knew she needed to rest and hoped for a nap so after an hour at the pool we went back to our room for bath and nap.  They have every Disney movie on the TV along with seveeal TV series and regular cable channels.  Even though she dropped her nap last summer, she fell asleep quickly. While she napped I decorated the room for her birthday to surprise her when she woke.  Of couse I had to wake her to make it to the appointment and she was not a happy camper, but she survived.

The boutique is small but cute.  Vivian picked the princess hairstyle which was a very tight bun (you could tell she waa in so much pain...poor kid) and a small crown.  She got hee nails painted, got on a little make-up, a birthday princess sash and pixie dust sprinkled in her hair.  She truly looked like a little princess with her Elsa gown on.

After the boutiqu we met Princess Tiana.  When it was Vivian's turn the girl who asked for our room number for the photographer asked if it was birthday.  Vivian told her she was four and then she asked what her name was.  After meeting Tiana we went to another character meeting.  While waiting the same girl came over talking to Vivian and asked her if she liked Elsa because she was wearing Elsa's dress.  Vivian said she did and also said she liked Belle.  She asked if she was going yo meet Elsa the next day.  We said we are but she would be wearing her Snow White dress for that.  After chatting she wished Vivian a very happy birthday.  

We decided to go yo our sit down dinner at the Royal Palace.  For her birthday dessert, she had a Mickey ice cream bar.  Yum!  After dinner we played putt-putt golf then went back to our room.  Before entering, Budi, our guy that cleaned our room said there was a surprise waiting on Vivian.  We walked in and the sofa bed was turned down with Frozen bed sheets, a cake made out of towels and a handwritten note grom Elsa wishing Vivian a happy birthday and looked forward to seeing her the next day at the meet-and-greet.

The next day we had our tickets to the princess meeting...Belle, Rapunzel and Tiana which she enjoyed then seperate tickets for meeting Anna and Elsa.  When we went we saw Elsa standing in line to see them she noticed us and whispered in Anna's ear.  When it was Vivian's turn, Elsa said 'hello Vivian' and asked if she had a wonderful birthday.  Vivian was a little shy meeting all the characters, but she talked to Anna and Elsa.  It was really sweet.  Happy we were 'pixie dusted' 😊

We stayed on the ship in Nassau, the same day we had our meet and greets, along with a lit of other families.  Vivian was too young for the excursions so it was nice hanging out on the ship all day.  The pools and slides were still busy, but she had fun.  That afternoon/evening was Pirate Night.  We didn't make it to the firework show, but made it to dinner and the pirate show.  Vivian had fun dressing as a pirate, but by dinner she wanted to wear her dress.  At least we got pictures with thr characters in her costume.  Even though we didn't go to the firework show, B and I were able to watch them from our balcony while Vivian slept. That was a nice treat.

Our last day we went back to Castaway Cay. We went to the first stop, the family beach around 8:30am.  A lot of families either got a late start or stayed on thr boat which made the beach a little empty.  Only a few people were out there which was nice.  Vivian and B swam to a platform thing that Vivian got to jump into the water.  She had a ball.  After lunch we headed back to the boat while other families were just coming to the beach to swim in the pool.  Vivian did get a little black eye from slipping on the stairs to thr Mickey slide.  We were sitting in the chair having a drink and noticed she hadn't gone diwn the slide yet.  I walked around to check on her and there she was standing there with an ice pack on her eye with a lifeguard.  Poor babe.  She was fine, just scared her.  We skipped the sit down dinner and went to the last show.  She loved it and was excited to see almost all of the characters. 

We got off the ship around 8am the next day and drove to B's parents in South Carolina where we spent the night.

Overall, the trip was wonderful.  It was really great with a young kiddo and not having to load up in the car everytime we wanted to go somewhere.  I am so happy she had a wonderful 4th birthday!