Disney Cruise ?s

[hermione]

We're looking at fall 2017.

Is there any advantage to using a travel agent? If so, any recs?

Is one boat better than others?

Is a midship location best?

Would spring for the Verandah room? I'm thinking the extra space would be nice if the kid naps or something.

Anything else we should know?

[mellymel]

We haven't gone on our cruise yet so I can't fully answer, but I will tell you what we are doing in Nov2016.

We are going with my ILs for their 40th anniversary so my MIL booked the entire trip. I believe she is using a Disney TA.

We are going on the Disney Dream on the 4 night Bahamas cruise. The Dream has just been refurbished and they added some cool stuff.

We are staying midship. It's supposed to be more stable midship so you don't feel the motion of the ocean so much

We have a verandah room. MIL booked it. Looks like the verandas are small but it will be nice to have one.

[miss1180]

we just booked out 3rd Disney cruise for november 2017! :-) when we were on our last one in january, we put a deposit down- so we get a 10% discount and some kind of onboard credit on this next cruise.

we went on the Dream, then the Magic... and this one will be on the Fantasy. The dream and magic were both great- although i liked the Dream a tiny bit more i think. Dream and Fantasy are a little bit bigger ships, so theres just a little bit more room to move around and a couple more activities, etc. I think the Fantasy is the same as the dream- we'll see!! I heard the Dream just redid their kids club to be Star Wars, so that might be neat if your kids are into that yet...

We booked through a Disney travel agent. it doesn't cost us any extra, and helps her small business get some commission money :-) for cruises though theres not as much to plan as if you go to WDW, so theres not as much help you need LOL but like i said, still nice to book through a agent and help them get some commission money :-)

they say midship is more "stable" if the water gets rough... but we've been at the back, ad midship- and i didn't really notice much difference. just think about what you want to be closest to and go from there-- or maybe thats where an agent could help you pick a good one.

if you can swing it, i would go for verandah room. especially if its your first cruise, and with young kids that little bit of extra space is nice to have. we love hanging out there with a drink while DS has his "quiet time" (not allowed to call it a nap anymore LOL) BUT when we just went on the magic, we have an oceanview room and that wasn't bad either- the porthole windows are big so it almost feels like a balcony.

definitely take some stuff for pirate night!! so fun with the fireworks and pirate party on the pool deck!!! if you go to the Disney island, castaway cay- pay a couple dollars to rent bikes, or at least take a walk out to the other side of the island (on the old runway) its really nice and peaceful there! if your kids are stroller age they have strollers on the island that you can just grab when you get off the ship (they're decent- city minis, too!) if your kids are over 3, definitely have them try out the kid's club at least once. they do such a great job!!! my son is 5 and he loved the "super hero training" night where captain america came by, and "mouseketeer training" when mickey mouse stopped by.... and the drop off area on the Castaway Cay is just big giant sand pit- he spent a couple hours there while DH and i sat in a hammock :-) let me know what else you want to know!!!

[hermione]

We booked! I'm so excited. This is a celebratory trip after my BFF's daughter had a scary health situation. Hopefully she'll be fully recovered in a year.

We have connecting rooms with myFriend's family and it has a connecting Verandah so that should be nice. I'm sure I'll have more questions - 18 months is a long way away, lol.

[dcrunnergirl52]

We went on our first Disney cruise last year and LOVED it. I posted some tips in our blog here:

pipeandfletch.blogspot.com/2015/05/disney-cruise-tips.html

If you look through the other May 2015 posts, you'll can see all the details of our trip. We did a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise, with a family verandah suite.

We're doing our next cruise in November. I can't wait. It's so much fun!

[hermione]

May 28, 2016 19:31:51 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

We went on our first Disney cruise last year and LOVED it. I posted some tips in our blog here:

pipeandfletch.blogspot.com/2015/05/disney-cruise-tips.html

If you look through the other May 2015 posts, you'll can see all the details of our trip. We did a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise, with a family verandah suite.

We're doing our next cruise in November. I can't wait. It's so much fun!

Helpful. Thanks!

[mellymel]

May 28, 2016 19:31:51 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

We went on our first Disney cruise last year and LOVED it. I posted some tips in our blog here:

pipeandfletch.blogspot.com/2015/05/disney-cruise-tips.html

If you look through the other May 2015 posts, you'll can see all the details of our trip. We did a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise, with a family verandah suite.

We're doing our next cruise in November. I can't wait. It's so much fun!

You say not to do the dolphin encounter. Can you elaborate? My MIL was thinking of booking one during our cruise at or near Atlantis in the Bahamas and I would love to hear your input.

[dcrunnergirl52]

May 29, 2016 16:30:23 GMT -5 mellymel said:

May 28, 2016 19:31:51 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

We went on our first Disney cruise last year and LOVED it. I posted some tips in our blog here:

pipeandfletch.blogspot.com/2015/05/disney-cruise-tips.html

If you look through the other May 2015 posts, you'll can see all the details of our trip. We did a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise, with a family verandah suite.

We're doing our next cruise in November. I can't wait. It's so much fun!

You say not to do the dolphin encounter. Can you elaborate? My MIL was thinking of booking one during our cruise at or near Atlantis in the Bahamas and I would love to hear your input.

I have a more full review here, but I wouldn't do it b/c 1) I object to the housing of large sea mammals like that (after watching Blackfish and the Cove) and the place we went in Grand Cayman was awful. I already had (moral) objections going into it and did it anyway. It ended with our kids being yelled at, a terrible time, and DH being stung numerous times by jellyfish in the pools where the dolphins were kept.

pipeandfletch.blogspot.com/2015/05/disney-cruise-part-3.html

[celiacmom]

To chime in on dolphins. We did it in the Bahamas at Atlantis and L (4) loved it! We just did it again in cabo twice he loved it so much.