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The fam and I have been tossing around ideas for the annual family vacation. One thing we are considering is a Disney Cruise. We can only afford the 4 day Caribean one. We thought it would suit us well. We are traveling with 2 adults, and 2 children ages 10 and 7. From the sounds of it we would be able to spend a majority of the time with the kids, but if we wanted to have a nice dinner to ourselves there are clubhouses with activites for the children. Have any of you been? Is food included?? How many additional fees did you end up with for various things?? I need to do more research of course- but any input would be wonderful.
I have been on the Disney cruise, it was a wonderful time. I would go on their website and order their DVD it will tell you all kinds of things. You can also check out the Travel Channel, they have a special on the Disney Cruise line as well.
They have daycares for every age so you can have some fun without them. My daughter had so much fun and didn't miss me at all. I had loads of fun hanging out in the spa, eating dinner in the adults only restaurant and laying in the sun.
If you are looking to save some money for cruises compare to Carnival, RC etc.... b/c Disney does not have gambling their $$ are much higher.
I've never been on Disney myself and I am sure that they are wonderful, but other ships do offer great kids programs too.
Thats why I liked the cruise so much, no gambling, people weren't falling over themselves drunk and there were no half naked dancing girls in the shows at night.
Okay-I checked out the Disney's cruises website. Looks very exciting! My question is just how small are the small rooms?? We were going for the most affordable trip-but is it better to spring for bigger room even if we have to post pone it a few months to save the difference? They look pretty cramped (even in the picture)The kids won't mind, however the bf and I might.
HI! We just got back from our second Disney cruise last night [this one was a three day to Nassau and Castaway Cay] (this morning at 3AM actually!). My biggest pros for Disney are: CUSTOMER SERVICE (in caps) is a major thing there. After every single meal or activity, they ask for advice on how they can improve and they want to know!; family oriented -- it just is; fun with family or without (example - we put our two oldest in the Oceaneer's Club and kept our two youngest with us all day--they didn't want to leave); they have a great adult only restaurant and their themed restaurants that you switch to every night are great too; the shows are fabulous; they do a good job of having activities for everyone -- families, children and adults; there is always something to do onboard from 8Am until midnight; spa is nice. Cons are few: though the restaurants are beautiful and the service great -- the food is mediocre (except in the adult only Palo which I don't understand); $$$$ - you are paying for a Disney cruise! and it is very very pricy; the ship is very noisy (or maybe it's the guests walking like elephants!); cabins and bathrooms are small but you don't spend very much time in them to begin with! There's lots of extras that you don't budget when you go. We usually add an extra $400 to the trip for incidentals onboard. An example is that they take pictures like crazy and you get so caught up and they're so cute, you have to buy them (to the tune of $200 this trip).
--Cabins -- We've stayed in their bottom of the line inside cabin and their top of the line cabin with veranda. The inside stateroom was fine. It's small and usually only works for about three people. It has a bed for two and a couch that folds into a twin bed. My husband liked it because there was no window and he got lots of quality sleep and naps on that trip. Negatives were that it was dark and you never knew what time it was and because it was inside, it was noisy (could hear the inner workings of the ship in the early morning and at docking). The verandah room was a little bigger. It sleeps four or five. (We're a family of six so we have the joy of having to purchase 2 cabins). The beds are a decent size and my kids loved the couch that converts to a twin and at night they have a pull down bunk bed over the couch. It works out great but there isn't a lot of privacy. The veranda is nice to sit on and relax. I enjoyed the natural light.
Despite other comments about gambling, etc., there are lots of activities on the cruise (until midnight). There are many nights that I heard adults and children at 11pm returning from an activity.
SBD78--The only "activities" for children under two is Flounder's Reef Nursery. It costs $6/hour and you can use it a max of 10 hours on your trip. I used it this time for two hours and it was satisfactory. If your child is not potty trained, they can't go in the pools but can use a little splash water area that's cute. We spend a lot of time walking around with our 2 and 1 yos on the decks and such. My older one (4 & 6) had a much better time. But my 2yo loved the shows, seeing the princesses and Mickey and Minnie!
We've already booked another 7-day for 2009!
Hope I helped!
I think the kind of room you have depends on the person. The motion of the boat didn't bother me at all but if it does bother you, further down and in the center of the boat, you don't feel it as much.
We had an outside room higher up with a balcolny, I loved having that balcolny so MUCH. I loved sitting out there in my nightgown and at times totally naked watching the ocean go by (it was a private balcolny). It was also nice to be able to watch the ship dock early in the morning.
My nephew took their baby to Flouders reef so they could have some time on their own and he did fine, it was his FIRST time away from his Mommy and it went well.
I loved the cruise and can't wait to go again. There are things for even teenagers to do.
I don't care for the attitude of "hey we don't have to drive anywhere so lets see how completely slobering drunk we can get and stagger back to our room" so the Disney cruise is great because its so family oriented.
If you have kids, the daycare has a slumber party with Goofy, you send them there in their PJs, I highly recommend that and while they are there, check out the adults only restaurant. I can highly recommend both the meals in the evening AND the brunch will simply ruin you for anyone else's cooking.
I have been on a Carnival cruise and found it pretty downmarket in comparison with Disney. Even right down to the staff they had on board.
When you first get on board you will go and book your special things like a massage or time at the daycare and meals at the adults only restaurant. I had a seaweed wrap and it was WONDERFUL. I also paid for an unlimited access to the steam room, I had family on the boat so my daughter could hang out with them, I used it daily.
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OOPS- just found a thread on this!!
