Honest responses please: Would a childless couple enjoy the Disney Cruise...

[Dodie]

Obviously, we love Disney World (see signature, below), but are a little hesitant about being trapped on a ship with a lot of screaming children (sorry parents).

Has anyone done this? Are the adult areas really off limits to kids? Should we just try a "regular" cruise instead - or go for the Disney magic on the water?

What was your adults-only experience?

Thanks.

[MdmMim]

We (2 adults) went on the 4-day cruise without our kids. (The kids are no longer "kids"!) We had a super time--so much so that we returned the next year to take the 7-day. We loved that, too! Our next cruise is booked (another 7-day) and we can't wait! There are adult areas on the ship. There's an adult pool, and at CC, there's an adults-only area. There were many kids on our cruises, but we hardly noticed them. They were busy in their own areas having fun. (I have seen CM's asking kids to leave the adult pool. Also, there was a 12-yo in a bar who was told he could not be there.)
I think if you like Disney, you'll enjoy DCL. :D

[Hopkins]

We've been married for sixteen years and don't have any kids. We've been on the 3-day Wonder 12/00 and then we liked it so much we booked 7-day Magic 3/01. We have an upcoming trip on the 3-day Wonder 1/02, but we are taking the neighbor kid with us. Kind of a rent-a-kid kind of thing. Hubby really isn't much into "Disney", but doesn't mind DCL. As the previous poster said, there are the seperate areas, which I think are great! We love kids, so we hardly notice them in the family areas unless they are out of control. Well, some adults get out of control, too. If you love Disney, as I do, or even as my husband does, definitely book on DCL. It's Magical!!! I would never think of going on another cruise line. I really don't like all the formalities of the other lines. I much prefer the casual Disney style and theming. While on-board, we are going to book a 7-day western caribbean Magic cruise for 1/03. Oh, I forgot to mention that they have an adult only night club district with comedians, piana bar, dueling pianos, dancing, Match Your Mate (a newlywed kind of game, which is really great),... In the daytime, cooking classes, lectures, wine tasting... .

Hope This Helps.
Tina
Wonder 1/17/02
Magic 1/03

[Cruise]

This question is asked a lot and by and large, the answer is always "yes, childless couples can have a great time." I think I've only ever seen one "no, we didn't have a good time" answer.

My husband and I (mid-late 20's) went last year on the 7 day cruise. We don't have kids. We'll be taking at least one more 7 day in 2002 (maybe 2 if I can convince him to take the vacation days ;) ). We had a great time.

I'm a Disney fan, my husband isn't really a fan, though he doesn't mind my Disney overload. There are plenty of things to do for adults. We saw movies, hung out at the adult pool, played pictionary, saw the shows, etc. I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do. I'm hoping to fit in some of the "Art of Entertaining" Series next go around.

We never felt like we were surrounded by children. We hardly even ever saw them, though I know they were there. We went in September being aware that most kids would be back in school. The adult areas really are for adults only. I saw a woman bring her granddaughter over to the adult pool to get in the jacuzzi and within 2 minutes, a CM had asked her to go back to the family pool area. We also went to the spa for a demonstration they were having for something. A couple brought their child (about 2 years old) and were also told that she couldn't be in the spa area and they left. We never saw kids on the adult beach at Castaway Cay and never saw any in the clubs after our late dinner seating. I only saw a few children in the late dinner seating.

Again, we had a great time and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
I'd say go for it... I don't think you'd regret it :)

Julie

[markºoº]

I think many adult only couples enjoy Disney cruises. Barb and Tony(inkkognito/atigeg) from www.****************** love DCL so much they have taken 17 cruises! Go to their web site and read some of their trip reports and other information. They opinion is that DCL is better than some other cruise lines at keeping adult activities adult only.

There is one big downside of DCL that turns many couples off - no casino. In tune with Disney's family theme, there is no onboard casino. Also, given how much space Disney has used for the kid's clubs, there just is no room on board for a casino. You can, however, get off the ship and gamble in some ports.

[Scott H]

Lynn (DW) and I have sailed 6 times with DCL. We are childless by choice and have a great time. However Lynn would arguee about my mental age.

[Señor Ferrari]

Honestly: Yes!

Adults, especially those who are Disney fans, can definitely have a great time on a Disney cruise. My wife and I have no children, but we have annual passes to Disneyland and have sailed on the Magic twice. We will definitely sail with Disney again.

The are a lot of kids on the ship, but the great thing is that they give them so much to do. There are also plenty of adults-only activities. While you're aware that there are kids on board, I don't think that you're ever bothered by them. They really do enforce the adults-only areas.

If you're a WDW fan and want to cruise, I'd say you can't go wrong on a Disney ship.

[CamColt]

Definitely! We went ont he cruise with my whole family...including our 2 kids. There was so much we couldnt do, that Dh & I are going back alone in July. Cant wait!

[Michelle]

Dodie, I have sailed three times on DCL without my daughter (and four times WITH, so she's not deprived) ;) and I can honestly say that when sailing without her I don't see many kids at all! :) I stick to the adult pools, enjoy the adult nightclub area and spa and sometimes even do the adult beach on Castaway Cay. Unless you are sailing during summer or a holiday week (when there are always more kids) I really, truly think an adult couple without children will hardly interact with kids at all.

And to be honest, I have MORE fun when sailing with adults only! :)

[#1 Pocahontas]

I ditto everything else said above!!!

My husband and I have done the cruise twice and we don't have any children. (late 20's)

To be completly honest with you I love the Disney Cruise so much (even without kids) that I am afraid to and probably will never try another cruise line!

[spotssister]

If you like WDW, you will enjoy cruise. I'm single cruiser. So far have cruised on three-day Wonder and seven-day Magic. Both cruises, was hardly aware of children. Run into a few every once in a while where expected, but no crowds of screaming children.

Go and have fun. I have a reservation for the Magic again this coming October -- western Caribbean this time.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Tluvs2talk]

Dodie,
My husband and I have been married for almost 14 years and do not have any children. We have been to Disney World 23 times and will be going on our 3rd Disney cruise Jan 13th. We LOVEd the cruise. We had lots of quiet time to ourselves. There are plenty of places where you can be alone on the ship. We swam at the adult only pool, but decided to play on the family beach at castaway cay. We wanted to be around other people. It is amazing how so many people are packed on one ship, and you can still find lots of deserted areas.

[inkkognito]

Hubby and I are a childless couple who have sailed Disney 17 times, with 9 more booked in 2002...as you can tell, we LOVE it!! Yes, the adults-only areas are pretty well enforced, unlike Royal Caribbean where the enforcement was non-existent on Radiance and Voyager. That is one of my favorite things about Disney cruises...the ability to escape for some relaxing "big kids" time. There will, of course, be lots of kids, but that seems to be true of all cruise lines nowadays. When we sailed to Alaska, we were told that we'd be among the youngest people on board, but kids were EVERYWHERE!! And without lots of activities to keep them busy and true adults-only areas for us to escape to, we were wishing we were on the Wonder. I don't mind kids (it's actually a lot of fun seeing their reactions to the ship, characters, and shows), but I like the option of having my own areas, too. I strongly recommend Disney Cruise Line...even tho' it may sound strange, in my experience they offer the best adult cruise experience (at least compared to RCCL).
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.*****************

[shoes99]

We are childless 50+ Disney Fanatics and are looking forward to our third Disney cruise. We hardly noticed the children on board. The adult beach is fabulous and they now have an adult lunch so you don't have to go back to Cookies. We really enjoyed ourselves.

[txtara]

all I can say is ditto.....we have done it with and without kids.....
Dont hesitate....book now!!!!!

[Bellewish]

My DH (29) and I (27) did the 3 night a few months ago and had an amazing time!! They did a great job of keeping the family and adults only areas seperate. I would definitely suggest the late seating and to spend time in the spa. But do watch the disembarkation festivities at the family pool - they are a lot of fun!!!

[slindamood]

We just returned from the Christmas cruise of the Magic, and know that they were many children on board. However, we were constantly amazed that there seemed to be few children around. We had the LAPLAPL seating, which is primarily for older children and adults, and we did not notice any younger children in the dining room with us. Even the pools seemed to not have that many children around, and the adult pool area was strictly adult. The lounge chairs on deck four had no children, although they were not prohibited, and of course the night clubs were adult.

The only times we noted large numbers of children were in the shows after the early seating for dinner, and we wondered where they all came from and where had they been all day. On Christmas morning we went to the atrium just to see the children get presents from Santa Goofy, and they were so adorable and happy.

We stayed on deck 8 and thought that maybe there would be many children in our area, but we did not see many people in the halls at all. It was always quiet.

Part of the reason for the apparent lack of children could be the programming - our nephew age 12 was in the Lab whenever possible. Also, even with a full ship, no area seemed crowded. There were always lounge chairs available near the pool, on deck 10, and on 4. The boat is so well designed, that it can accomodate many people without feeling crowded.

Would we go without children - Yes. We have booked next year already, and even if it is just DH and myself, it will be a great trip.

Suzanne:earsgirl:

[WiseGirl]

Another positive review. My husband and I have been married 20 years and are childless by choice. (We do really like children and have 30+ nieces/nephews and great nieces/nephews!) We sailed on the 3 day Wonder in February '01 and had a very good time!! :cool: As several have mentioned, there are many adult only areas on the ship (especially at night). We had a room with a verandah so we spent some time just enjoying the view from our balcony. We had late seating and were seated with all adults (we didn't request this - it just happened that way). There seemed to be very few children at the late seating. Castaway Cay is beautiful! We spent the day at Serenity Bay (the adult beach) and had a couples massage in the outdoor cabana. And the surial mud bath is a must! (see Barb's web site - www.*****************) for more explanation. ;)

We are cruising again in January on the 4 day Wonder. Because of all the great travel deals, I checked into other cruise lines and almost booked a 5 day Holland America cruise, but chickened out. (I thought the ship was old and read some negative reviews on other web sites). I ended up booking with DCL again using our DVC points and we are both very excited to sail again with Disney! I wanted a sure thing and the Disney ships are beautiful and very clean! The room sizes are also quite a bit larger than other lines. We'll most likely go on the new 7 day Western Caribbean cruise within in the next couple years.

[Hygiene99]

What KIDS ?? , r there kids on the magic or the wonder ?
ship is broken up into 3 areas .thought it would be a problem but , we have done 3 cruises and have #4 booked for may.
We r a childless couple in our 30"s and find it just to be the best .....
I recommend u try it . and u will see that it is not a problem , do the late seating as alot of familys do the early seating and
so on .. the kids r so busy with stuff to do either in there area
or the clubs that we did not notice them at all...
of course there is always 1 out of a bunch
last night of cruise a few teens where hanging in the adult
pool area witch we were trying to enjoy and was bothering other passengers as the went bye ... .. but the moved along...
have a great cruise ...
peter and Jen

[bkline]

I have a child, but I think Disney is a great option for avoiding the screaming kids. The adults only area was a great escape for me when my DS wanted to go to the lab or club. I don't think any other cruise line has this pool option. There are certainly fewer kids on other lines, but you will always see the kids around because there are no adult only pool areas and most don't offer the extensive kids acitivities that Disney has, so the kids tend to stay with the parents more. I have cruised on Norweign, Royal and Disney and I saw the least amount of kids on Disney.

[duges]

We cruised on DCL 12/15/01. We have no children, and have been on other cruises . . . Disney was awesome!! We are on another DCL cruise 7/02 and can't wait. It was so amazing to me that you can be walking down deck 9 where the pools are and pass by the Mickey Pool - so loud; then keep going and pass the family pool - such lound music and happy noise; then you get to the adult pool and all of a sudden you notice how quiet it is there. I still can't figure out how they do that - it's great. We have commented several times to many people that even though there are so many kids on the ship, it is not a problem at all. Actually, we went to the early showing of Disney Dreams and they had the kids from the clubs there in the front - that made it even that much better. Seeing their reaction makes it so entertaining.

Obviously my opinion is DON'T MISS IT - BOOK IT NOW!!!

[inkkognito]

I'm with duges...
Even though we always pick late seating and are in the show with less kids, a couple of cruises ago we ate at Palo early so we saw Disney Dreams at the "kids" (i.e. later) showing. There was so much more energy with all the little ones there. They were a lot more fun than the adults (and more well behaved than lots of adults, too!). While I love having adult areas to escape to, I also like seeing how much fun the kids are having.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.*****************

[Dodie]

As usual, you guys are awesome!

[Limmer]

We went for our honeymoon and the only time I thought kids were even visible was at the shows. We were very happy. We had friends who did a Royal Caribbean cruise and they said there were kids all over the place, always underfoot. I think Disney has done very well keeping them occupied and giving adults areas to be away from them.

[Miss Jasmine]

DH and I went on our honeymoon. We LOVED it and will be going on another cruise in the near future. There are plenty of places to get away from the kids, although we never really noticed the kids except to say awhh looks like they are having a great time. We had the late seating, so there weren't many kids there. As for no casino, that is one of the reasons why I like DCL.

[1 Disney Lovin' Mom]

We will be cruising with children in July, but it was actually a good friend of mine, who does not have any children, who first told us of her and her husband's wonderful DCL experience. They had a blast and felt that DCL went above and beyond to accomodate adults cruising without children as well as families.

If you do decide to cruise on DCL, I hope it's a great one!

1 Disney Lovin' Mom
Memphis, TN

:earsgirl:

[fireplug]

We have taken one cruise and are going on second 1/27 (we can't sleep we're too excited) There is so much to do and so much ship to enjoy you wont have too much of a problem avoiding loud kids. A couple quick suggestion, request the second sitting for dinner , go during sept or oct (kids starting school) and
spend time in adult only areas. One other small comment, spend a little time near where the kids are, it is a lot of fun just listening to them laugh and play. It really adds to the magic of Disney.:earsboy:

[danicaw]

We went on the 7-day the first week of Dec. Hubby and I had a such wonderful time. We have even booked another cruise for Sept 2002 to fit in the middle of a 2 week WDW/Orlando trip.

We enjoyed the Adult Seminars: Navigators Series, and Behind the Scenes. We missed the Art of Entertainment so maybe next time. But there was so much to do and so many ways to just relax. We met several other couples who were cruising without children.

[keenercam]

Hi, Dodie--
My DH and I (late 30s) took our DD12 and DS7 on the 7 day magic this past May and loved it so much we are going again WITHOUT our kids!! We found so much to do with and without our kids and could not wait to explore a lot of the options without the kids. Let me say, though, that I have no doubt at all that a "kidless" couple might have even more fun than those with kids. The nightclub district is a total blast and we had the BEST time at the theme parties, including a 70s party. With 4 ports of call on the new western itinerary, there will be many many opportunities to do excursions that are more geared to adults. We'll be in several of the ports until late evening and I think that provides great opportunities to go to nightclubs, etc.
I also wanted to say that we sailed on Celebrity to 3 of these 4 ports (cancun instead of castaway cay) and I am convinced it will be even more fun on DCL--DCL is much more relaxed and casual, which we LOVE!
Good luck in making a decision. Maybe we will see you on the 6/22 sailing?! :p :D :cool: