My wife, 20 month old son and I cruised on a four night Bahamas cruise in mid-January 2012. My wife and I had cruised on Carnival before with a large group. That experience led us to never want to cruise again and we had spent a majority of our vacations at nicer all inclusive throughout the Caribbean and Mexico. Following the birth of our son we decided to try a Disney cruise because it appeared to be family friendly. We are extremely happy that we did as all of us had a wonderful experience. We enjoyed it so much that we booked a seven day cruise on the Fantasy next year. This review will obviously be geared towards our experience with a toddler on a cruise and will hopefully help out as much as the reviews I read before we booked.

We flew into MCO three days before the cruise embarked and stayed at the Crown Pointe hotel near Universal Studios. We rented a car through Budget which we dropped off in Cocoa Beach the day of embarkation. Budget had a free shuttle to the cruise pier which worked out well for us.

We had a 12:30 embarkation and it was a breeze. We did bring a umbrella stroller for our son which helped us to keep him near with all of the commotion and stimuli going on with the process. We had a quick family picture before boarding. One of the nicest things about the photography on the ship was that staff would take pictures with your camera as well as the pictures they would take for you to purchase. While we did purchase some photos, most of the time there was no need if you had your own camera. Following the announcement of our family, a Disney cruise staff member took us aside and gave us a quick rundown of what to expect as well as answered any questions we had. This was a really nice touch and just a start of the incredible service we received during this cruise experience. We quickly went for lunch at Cabanas on deck 11. Probably ate at Cabanas for lunch twice and breakfast twice during this cruise. There was plenty of selection and the food in a whole was good. We had no issues finding appropriate food for our son and he is a very picky eater. Following lunch we "set up shop" at two of the beach loungers near Nemos Reef. Being that my son is not yet potty trained this was a great place for him and he absolutely loved it. It has a soft floor with all kinds of fountains based on the characters of Finding Nemo. We spent a lot of time here with him during the cruise, but it did work out for us as it is in view of tunnel vision, other pools, and the aqua duck so we could take turns with one of us watching him while the other could relax. Read more