Indecisive. What would you do?

[cypressmom]

I can't make up my mind about how to handle our spring 2014 cruise. We are currently booked on a 4 night cruise on the Dream, but I'm not positive it's what I want to do. Here are my options:

1. 4 nights on the Dream followed by 3 nights at DW.
2. 3 nights at DW followed by 4 nights on the Magic.
3. 7 nights western on the Fantasy

Things to consider:

• We did 7 nights, western in Oct on the Magic and loved it. My husband hesitates to do the same ports, though I know we enjoyed them and wouldn't mind repeating.
• We loved the Magic and would love to see the changes after dry dock.
• Kids would love to ride the AquaDuck.
• I'm concerned about the crowds and quality of food on the Dream/Fantasy.
• Parks before or after cruise?
• Husband and kids have never been to DW.

What would YOU do if you were working with these parameters? Thanks in advance!

[jdb in AZ]

I would probably do #2. Wear yourselves out at WDW, then unwind on the ship.

Only drawback -- the cruise is only four days.

Second choice would be #3. The Fantasy is a gorgeous ship, but huge. We didn't think it was overly crowded, but were surprised at the number of kids. (this was our 5th cruise, so it's not like we're naive novices.)

[stsomewhere]

#2

[Otimon]

4 nights on the Dream followed by 3 nights at Disney World.

[youalleverybody]

4 nights on Dream, followed by parks.

This past February, we did a week at the parks, followed by a 7 night Disney Magic Eastern cruise. We found that after blazing through the parks at full speed, we were exhausted and took a day or two to come back to speed on our cruise. Next time, we want to relax and enjoy our cruise, and then go crazy at the parks, and then recuperate at home!!

[cypressmom]

Thanks. I love to hear different perspectives. Anyone else?

[jennab05]

Originally Posted by cypressmom

I can't make up my mind about how to handle our spring 2014 cruise. We are currently booked on a 4 night cruise on the Dream, but I'm not positive it's what I want to do. Here are my options:

1. 4 nights on the Dream followed by 3 nights at DW.
2. 3 nights at DW followed by 4 nights on the Magic.
3. 7 nights western on the Fantasy

Things to consider:

• We did 7 nights, western in Oct on the Magic and loved it. My husband hesitates to do the same ports, though I know we enjoyed them and wouldn't mind repeating.
• We loved the Magic and would love to see the changes after dry dock.
• Kids would love to ride the AquaDuck.
• I'm concerned about the crowds and quality of food on the Dream/Fantasy.
• Parks before or after cruise?
• Husband and kids have never been to DW.

What would YOU do if you were working with these parameters? Thanks in advance!

If I were you I would say either option 1 or 3. If option 1I think you should go on the cruise first because to me, 4 nights on a cruise is just not long enough it seems like you get on and have to get right off again and then it is really sad leaving the ship but if you had WDW after then you could still have some magic left over. And if you haven't been on the dream yet then you could go on a new ship as well and have the best of both worlds more or less.

If you go on the Fantasy (which is an absolutely beautiful and amazing ship for lack of better words) I really don't think you'll regret it but then your kids wouldn't have the option of WDW. When I went on I was nervous about the food, which you mentioned was a concern of yours, since I had read numerous people's trip reports mentioning how they didn't care for it, was repetitive, etc. I personally loved it and thought they had a great option and was even able to try some new things which I ended up loving. So food was not a problem for my family. I don't know if you'd want to go on the eastern instead of western so you could visit different ports but that's something to consider as well unless you're not interested in eastern. You mentioned how your kids wanted to ride aquaduck (it was so fun!) so if you went with option 1 you could go on a new ship, be able to still ride aquaduck and go to wdw. Besides, the dream and fantasy are pretty similar for the most part.

But it's all disney we're talking about so no matter which option you do choose you will all have a blast.

[cypressmom]

Originally Posted by jennab05

If I were you I would say either option 1 or 3. If option 1I think you should go on the cruise first because to me, 4 nights on a cruise is just not long enough it seems like you get on and have to get right off again and then it is really sad leaving the ship but if you had WDW after then you could still have some magic left over. And if you haven't been on the dream yet then you could go on a new ship as well and have the best of both worlds more or less.

If you go on the Fantasy (which is an absolutely beautiful and amazing ship for lack of better words) I really don't think you'll regret it but then your kids wouldn't have the option of WDW. When I went on I was nervous about the food, which you mentioned was a concern of yours, since I had read numerous people's trip reports mentioning how they didn't care for it, was repetitive, etc. I personally loved it and thought they had a great option and was even able to try some new things which I ended up loving. So food was not a problem for my family. I don't know if you'd want to go on the eastern instead of western so you could visit different ports but that's something to consider as well unless you're not interested in eastern. You mentioned how your kids wanted to ride aquaduck (it was so fun!) so if you went with option 1 you could go on a new ship, be able to still ride aquaduck and go to wdw. Besides, the dream and fantasy are pretty similar for the most part.

But it's all disney we're talking about so no matter which option you do choose you will all have a blast.

Good points. We are going to DL in March. The kids love DL (as do I). I like that we can see it all in 3-4 days. For first timers, I don't know if 3-4 days is enough for DW.

[mickeynut1]

Another vote for 4 night cruise followed by 3 nights WDW .

[over50visits]

I would definitely do the 7 night cruise. The longer cruises are SO much more fun and relaxing, and there is onboard entertainment you don't find on the shorter cruises.

WDW will always be there, and you can pretty well go any time on short notice (doesn't require much planning in advance as it is always there and always open). Give you something to look forward to in the future.

[momof2minnies]

Another vote for the 7 night. We did the western Magic in 2009 and will do it again in 21 days on the Fantasy-for us it is not about the ports but the ship.

Have fun. All are great options


Linda

[gjl]

Since you said the rest of your family has not yet been to DW....I would be "afraid" of giving them only three days to enjoy the world on their first visit. My vote would be give them a full 7 day 1st time experience at the world and do a cruise/DW combo another year.

[cypressmom]

I love seeing how others think. This is great. I need to have my husband read this thread. I am leaning towards 7 nights on the Fantasy.

[cypressmom]

We decided to go ahead and change our cruise to the 7 night Western on the Fantasy. I can't wait!

Thank you to everyone who shared their insight.