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Parents and kids feed the stingrays on Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas.
It's well past the kids' bedtime, but no one is nagging the preschoolers and kindergartners to brush their teeth and go to sleep.

Instead, they're dressed to the nines (the girls anyway in full princess regalia) before heading to a poolside pirate party, complete with fireworks, to get up close and personal with Goofy and all of his pirate friends aboard the Disney Wonder. Others are busy in the shipboard Oceaneer Club playing the latest video games, watching movies in seats designed to look like clam shells and climbing on the pirate ship play structure.

All of this is after they've seen a brand-new Broadway-style show, "Toy Story: The Musical," featuring all of their favorite characters from the popular film and dined like royalty at dinner where the waiters not only knew their names, but also performed magic tricks and were happy to get them anything they liked at no extra charge.

When my 5-year-old cousin Ethan Sitzman and his 3-year-old sister Hannah finally got back to their stateroom, they were thrilled that the steward, Pacifer Ticao, himself a young father from the Philippines, had fashioned a PJ Party with the kids' stuffed animals and a monkey he had made out of towels. The kids truly thought they'd arrived in vacation heaven.

Of course, vacationing with young children isn't always a vacation for parents. Just ask Ethan and Hannah's parents, Mike and Jayme Sitzman. (No one wants to get up to take a child to the bathroom three times before the main

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course is served!) But the families that recently cruised aboard the Wonder for three days agree that Disney Cruise Line (www.disneycruiseline.com) does all it can to ensure that the more than 1,000 kids onboard, 45 percent of them 7 and younger — as well as the parents and grandparents (and more than half the cruisers are traveling with extended groups) have as stress free a getaway as possible.

It's the Disney difference, says the ship's youth activities manager, Shannon Quinn, who overseas a multilingual staff of more than 50 counselors, all of whom come aboard with substantial experience working with children. They speak at least eight languages "and if we don't speak it, we'll find someone on the staff that can help," says Quinn.

The staff will also do all they can to provide one-on-one care when needed for special needs kids, she says, even logging their food allergies into the computer.

Parents get pagers when they leave their kids in the organized programming, just in case they are needed. The counselors not only entertain the kids (a special staff orchestrates the activities with Disney characters), but also feed them lunch and dinner, if parents need a break. Because of maritime regulations, standards of cleanliness are higher than at many daycare centers. "We're cleaning all the time," says Quinn.

"I feel very comfortable that the children are well taken care of," said Christy Tenczar, who is from Orlando and was cruising with her husband and 3-year-old son. "It's hard to get him to leave!"

Other cruise lines (Norwegian and Carnival, for example) have programming for children as young as 2, but Disney Cruise Line operates the only full-scale nursery at sea, taking children as young as 12 weeks, though at an extra charge, so that even new moms and dads can get a reprieve, possibly to head to the adult-only pool, the adult-only deck to hear some music or dance, the spa or Palo, the first-rate adult-only restaurant.

There is even an adult-only beach on Disney's private Bahamian island, Castaway Cay. Besides all the kids' programs, there are family activities all day. Want to make kites, sing Karaoke or play Mickey trivia? Play Ping-Pong, watch a movie in the theater, attend a martini tasting or Pilates class. Did I mention the meals that never seem to end?

The biggest draw, of course, is the characters who make appearances all through the day and evening — everyone from Pluto to Cinderella to Pirate Jack Sparrow and, of course, Mickey and Minnie. Snow White teaches the preschoolers a dance, while Captain Hook gives the 5 to 7 year olds a lesson in becoming a pirate. Lilo and Stitch host a luau. "It so much fun to see in their faces how excited they get when they see the princesses," says Becky Bjerke of West Fargo, N.D., who's cruising with three daughters under 5. More than a third of those cruising on the ship are first-time cruisers and many more, Disney Cruise Line officials say, are cruising for the first time with their kids. (A three-night cruise for a family of four starts at roughly $1,300 and there are many packages that include a stay at Walt Disney World along with a three- or four-night cruise.

This summer, The Disney Magic will sail out of Los Angeles on seven-night cruises to the Mexican Riviera, while the Wonder continues alternating three- and four-night Bahamian itineraries. "I wish we didn't have to leave," Ethan said on his last day.

I think a lot of parents felt the same way.

Read Ogintz' blog about the cruise at www.takingthekids.com.

Eileen Ogintz, a resident of Fairfield County, invites questions, comments and stories about your family travels. Write to Taking the Kids, 578 Post Road East, #566, Westport CT 06880, or visit www.takingthekids.com.