Disney Cruise Questions

[closertofine]

I am hoping to take my two children, 7 and 8 in the summer of 2020, on a 5 night Disney Cruise to the Bahamas.  I am no stranger to cruising (I've been on 14 with Royal Caribbean, but it has been a while).  But I do have some Disney/cruising with kids questions.


1) At their ages and their personalities, I foresee them wanting to spend a lot of time in the kids' club.  I want them to have the best time ever, so I'm not going to force them to hang with me if they don't want to (in general...there will certainly be times I insist we are together).  But what is there really for mom to do? I do not drink (am actually in recovery, 7 years, so I want to stay away from the bars if possible), nor do I like spa treatments or the pool. 


2) Would getting a Concierge Suite (a $4000 difference) be worth it, especially since I may end up spending a good bit of time in the cabin or verandah reading?



3)  Can a Disney room, verandah or concierge, be set up at night to have one of my kids on the sofa bed and one on the floor?  Both sleep walk and fall out of bed, so despite the rail on the top berth, I'd feel much better with them closer to the ground (but not in bed with me!)

[krystee]

I have never seen a concierge room, but it would not be worth it to me since that price could send us on a second cruise (with a cheaper cruise line). A balcony would be worth it to me so I could read out there.

[zarapipe]

That would not be worth it to me. There are tons of spots to relax by yourself tbat are completely free. I would get a room with a balcony. Can you share your bed with one of the kids?

[closertofine]

Mar 23, 2019 11:34:08 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

That would not be worth it to me. There are tons of spots to relax by yourself tbat are completely free. I would get a room with a balcony. Can you share your bed with one of the kids?

Both are such wild sleepers, I'd like to avoid it if at all possible!

[rivers3]

I believe the deluxe family rooms are set up to accommodate up to 5- one queen bed, one sofa/bottom bunk, one top bunk, and one single that folds down from the wall. It sounds like that might work for you. I don’t think $4000 for a concierge room would be worth it IMO- I would spend that money on excursions or another trip personally! We loved our Disney cruise and are already planning another soon!

[dcrunnergirl52]

Mar 23, 2019 13:26:39 GMT -5 rivers3 said:

I believe the deluxe family rooms are set up to accommodate up to 5- one queen bed, one sofa/bottom bunk, one top bunk, and one single that folds down from the wall. It sounds like that might work for you. I don’t think $4000 for a concierge room would be worth it IMO- I would spend that money on excursions or another trip personally! We loved our Disney cruise and are already planning another soon!

Yup, all of this. 

My kids spend a ton of time in the kids club, and DH and I just spend time in the adult area relaxing, swimming, reading, etc. My most favorite thing ever is sending the kids to the kids club in the AM and sitting in the adult area with a delicious coffee from the Cove Cafe and relaxing in the lounge chairs. If we'd had more time/weren't so exhausted and just wanted to veg out, we could have gone to see a movie (both times we went, there were Avengers movies playing, and this last time included the Solo movie well as more "kids" Disney movies).

Concierge on a cruise definitely isn't worth it to me. I don't think the rooms are that different, food is already "free" on the cruise so the extra snacks don't appeal to me, and the service is already outstanding, so I'm not sure what else they'd do for me for $4K. 

[TamiTaylor]

I would pick a deluxe suite with a balcony. I would put the extra money towards excursions and possibly a cabana at Castaway Cay.

[taratru]

There are some cozy spots to read that are near the adult pool but not around it that are nice to read an afternoon away. There are also a ton of daytime activities that aren't drinking based. In your case, I'd book the deluxe family veranda for the two extra beds, and spend alllll the time on the veranda.

[omgzombies]

There are not a ton of activities on the ship for parents when kids are in the kids club once you take out things like wine tastings, sunbathing/pool, and spa (there's no casino). That said, if you are happy bringing a book, knitting, crossword puzzling etc (ie you are your own entertainment while on the ship and not in port) you will be fine, there's plenty of quiet spaces on the ship. During the day we are often off the ship, so that's not a big deal, in the evenings there is dinner and always a show, which are enjoyable but they are all Disney-fied, so as long as you go in knowing that you'll be fine.

We've done the concierge service, whether it's worth it or not depends entirely on your budget. The bigger room, balcony, and slightly separated sleeping quarters are nice. If you like snacks/drinks without fighting crowds the concierge lounge is lovely. Some of the disney ships also have a nice little private pool/lounge area, and are shaded, so I would double check to see if yours has one to enjoy, if you think you might want to spend time there. The service with concierge is wonderful, you are walked straight on and off the ship so very little waiting to embark and debark, and they will try to accommodate pretty much any reasonable request. Our daughter lost a sippy cup (I'm guessing she threw it from the stroller), and I casually mentioned to one of the crew members in the lounge, saying if they saw a stray sippy cup that it was probably ours, our concierge immediately radioed on his walkie talkie and sent two crew members looking for that thing, despite me assuring them that I had brought spares and it was not a big deal at all. If they know your children like a particular snack chances are pretty good it will be provided in your cabin, you'll have first pick at the princess meet and greets if those are important, and a lot of times there is a private Mickey meet and greet for concierge level rooms as well, free popcorn for families if you stop in the lounge before the show. It's a lot of little touches that make a vacation run smoother, but none of them are necessary to have a good time.

[sent]

I have yet to go on a Disney cruise but I was following some pages on FB for a while. There is a group for discussing concierge and the people who booked it seemed very passionate about their choice.