Need advice from experienced cruisers!

[christianweecare]

DH & I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary next year and are considering doing a cruise to celebrate the occasion. We both love Disney, but we are wondering if this would be the right cruise for us or should we consider another cruise line for an adult vacation. We have two grown children and one grandchild on the way. I run a daycare center every day so I get my quota of the young set each day. We are wondering if the Disney cruises are geared more toward the young set. On the other hand, DH drinks a beer or a glass of wine while I don't drink at all. (Just not my thing.) We also do not care anything about casinos or gambling. We really would like to just relax and do some sight-seeing. What would you experienced cruisers recommend? Thank you for your help!

 

[Hygiene99]

I dont Drink .....

And we have no Kids .....

and hav been on 6 cruises with7 & 8 booked and 9 in the planning .... u wont even know there r children there unlesss u want to........


have a great cruise.....

 

[christianweecare]

Have all your cruises been Disney or other?

 

[Hygiene99]

All the mentioned cruises have been with disney we have done others as well .... would go with the Disney....

 

[NalaNYC]

I'm not an experienced cruiser, as our honeymoon cruise this June with DCL will be our first, but I can tell you from everything I've read that DCL is great for adults without kids! They enforce the adults-only areas of the ship whereas other cruise lines are more lax with respect to this. I have also read that at dinner you will be seated with other adults-only parties, and you can schedule dinner at Palo, the adults-only restaurant.

We are also not big drinkers or gamblers and are Disney fanatics, so DCL was a no-brainer for us. I suppose if you plan to see shows on your cruise, it would be important to like Disney as their shows are, of course, Disney-themed. I've read that the caliber of the shows is much higher on DCL than other lines.

Can you tell I've been reading the message boards?

Good Luck!

 

[Verandah Man]

I went to the search button and found this thread for you to look over, Adults Cruising Alone I thought maybe this might help you. I will admit, I haven't read through the whole thread, but I would rather cruise with DCL than anyone else myself.

 

[professorandmom]

As far as I can tell, there is no other vacation that takes you to an adults only (but with "disney" modesty) beach on a private island - RCCL is currently not using theirs.....
seems an easier choice for me!
Barbara

 

[christianweecare]

Nala NYC--I noticed that you will be honeymooning at the AKL! DH I spent 3 nights there last Dec. and loved it! We will be back this Nov.-Dec.! We honeymooned at the Poly 30 years ago next year. We will be back for our 30th anniversary! Have a wonderful honeymoon! Thanks for the response on the DCL! I don't think anybody else does anything better than Disney!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

I'm going to agree with everyone. We went on our first Disney cruise last October without kids and had a blast. (Between us we have 4 kids but they are older and don't travel with us). At one point during our cruise we were the only people in the adult pool. Never saw any kids in or near the adult pool.

We went to the adult only beach at Castaway Cay and it was great.

DCL really caters to both families and adults and does a great job at both. We were seated with kids but that was our choice -- wonderful people we met on the boards and adorable kids.

 

[christianweecare]

Verandah Man-- Thanks for the link! That's just what I needed!

 

[GrayFal]

We have sailed on the QE II, other Cunard ships in the 80's, the "Big Red Boat" in the 90's and the Disney Wonder for New Years Eve 2002 with my parents, kids, brother, sister, spouses and their kids for my parents 50th anniversary. We drink and have been known to gamble BUT we can't wait to return to Disney, this time on the 7 day Magic. Just DH and I, our newly reserved verandah cabin (Thanks cjsmom97) and our DIS friends.

The quality of the accommadations, food, activities and most of all, service are fabulous - you can not go wrong.

 

[crisi]

Disney seems to realize that one of their big selling points to parents is that they can have a "together and seperate" vacation from their kids. And when you put your kids into the kids clubs (which they love) for some quiet "adult time" the last thing you want is someone else's obnoxious children in the hot tub or hogging the dance floor. So adult areas are adult areas, and there are plenty of them.

Even the public areas of the boat aren't crammed with children (unless there is a character signing going on or you are next to the Mickey pool.

 

[ortholady]

we're 1st time cruising in Nov. 04 for our 30th anniversary...there was no choice to be made... it had to be Disney

 

[christianweecare]

Happy Anniversary! Does seem like 30 years to you? It doesn't to me?

 

[ortholady]

christianweecare...it really doesn't seem possible that is has been 30 years. My husband is still the same great guy I thought he was some 30 years ago (don't mean to sound gushy..just consider myself really lucky) We sure are looking forward to celebrating on the Magic. We're not big party people, but there is something for everyone with Disney!! Happy Anniversary to you too. Quite an accomplishment.

 

[skoi]

DH and I would love to cruise on Disney alone-- for our upcoming lucky 13, but the kids would never forgive us. From reading boards and talking to people about other lines-- we'd prefer Disney for lots of reasons.

Congrats on 30 years.

Julie

 

[fridayfun]

We don't drink, don't gamble, and don't have kids (old fogeys early, that's us!) Our first cruise was 4 day and our honeymoon and was great! Our second is booked for this year (our third anniversary) and I do not remember ever being over run or even really noticing the children the last time! We looked at a lot of other cruises and DCL just seemd perfect, again!

 

[dclwdwlover]

Our 1st DCL was w/out kids - our honeymoon & it was fantastic.

We have taken the kids on two, but are doing the next one without, again.

As was said, there are plenty of places to enjoy without children around - Palo's, adult pool, adult beach on CC, adult clubs/shows on the ship, etc.

Go & have a wonderful time. It is definitely worth it.
{P.S. - get a (romantic) verandah, if at all possible}

 

[jrabbit]

We would go without the kids on DCL in a heartbeat but it would be our last heartbeats, the kids would kill us if we went without them!!

Like an occasional drink, DCL has them and they are NOT pushy about it (ok maybe the wine package for dinner they push a lot on the first night of the cruise but that's it).

Don't gamble, the kids space takes up any available space that could be used for gambling.

Like bingo, they do have that and the jackpots can get to be very big $7000+.

Need to get away from work (for you it's the children thing) Just hang out at the adult pool and on Castaway Cay at the adult beach (it's heavenly).

There are adults only activities throughout the day and after 9pm beat street is off limits to the kids. There's adult game shows, cabarette shows and dance parties. When I say adult, I really mean that only the 18 and older set is allowed in. Some of the humor is not appropriate for the younger kids, but it's not raunchy either. DCL strikes a nice balance that's still tilted in favor of family entertainment for adults but its not childish.

Disney has a great thing going with DCL but it does have one major problem...there's only 2 ships ... we need more ships and iteneraries and more FUN FUN FUN!!!