Should I cancel Disney Dream?

[pumba's mom]

My husband and I just took a 9 night Princess cruise for our anniversary. We have only cruised Disney in the past (5 times) and since this particular cruise left out of NYC and had a great itinerary we figured we would try it. Princess still has a tie to disney in name, right? Anyway... we loved it! There was tons of live music, many bars & entertainment areas, and a lot more choices for food. We almost felt like we were being jipped on Disney. We are torn now... we have a 5 night Disney Dream booked for next summer which cost $100 MORE than our 9 night Princess cruise (both balcony rooms) and we afraid we will be upset with the amount of people on the new ship and lack of "adult" activities. We love Disney and have always enjoyed their cruises but now we feel maybe we are paying for the kids stuff and will be disappointed going to Castaway Cay and Nassau again. Princess has more ships and offers a lot more destinations. Any thoughts??

 

[lmhall2000]

If it were just my husband and I and we had not children traveling, and had been on Disney 5x, I would definitely book another cruise with a luxury ship...there are many out there and it will give you another unique experience..I say spice it up and add variety!

Tara

 

[eskimoinparadise]

My husband and I just took a 9 night Princess cruise for our anniversary. We have only cruised Disney in the past (5 times) and since this particular cruise left out of NYC and had a great itinerary we figured we would try it. Princess still has a tie to disney in name, right? Anyway... we loved it! There was tons of live music, many bars & entertainment areas, and a lot more choices for food. We almost felt like we were being jipped on Disney. We are torn now... we have a 5 night Disney Dream booked for next summer which cost $100 MORE than our 9 night Princess cruise (both balcony rooms) and we afraid we will be upset with the amount of people on the new ship and lack of "adult" activities. We love Disney and have always enjoyed their cruises but now we feel maybe we are paying for the kids stuff and will be disappointed going to Castaway Cay and Nassau again. Princess has more ships and offers a lot more destinations. Any thoughts??

After eight Disney cruises, three Princess cruises, three Holland American cruises , and now with one Royal Caribbean cruise under our belts (and six more booked), my order of preference is Holland, Princess, Royal, and then Disney.

Disney "borrowed" the classic decor of Holland, the food service model of Princess (nothing quite like having an Italian dish prepared at your table by an Italian waiter), and structural lines of Cunard, but comes nowhere close in quality of service, food, or feel. Not that Disney is bad, just that Holland and Princess have the best overall service. RCI beats Disney in my book, primarily because their overall experience equals Disney but at a 20-30% lower cost.

If I was lugging a bunch of kids, Disney would rank higher, but it's just not worth the extra cost w/o kids.

If HAL or Princess sailed out of Port Canaveral, I would have a tough time justifying another Disney cruise - unless the grandkids are with us - then it's a no-brainer choice

 

[Mouse4Sail]

We will be taking our first Disney cruise on the Dream in May of 2011. This will be our 5th cruise total, but the kids 1st cruise. I am sure I will love it, as I love Disney (it just makes you happy). However, when DH and I do cruises by ourselves, I would not do Disney! More adult activities, varied ports of call, etc. I love Disney, but without the kids, it just wouldn't be the same for us.

 

[kcashner]

"Princess still has a tie to Disney in name, right?"

What does this mean? Disney has never been affiliated with Princess except in the sense that they have hired away some Princess execs and crew.

As to what line you should cruise....each line has something different to offer. If you are a Disney nut, with or without kids, cruise Disney. If not, you'll find that RCCL and the Carnival family (which includes Princess) are much cheaper...but have a much different atmosphere.

 

[OrlandoDisneyFan]

"Princess still has a tie to Disney in name, right?"

What does this mean? Disney has never been affiliated with Princess except in the sense that they have hired away some Princess execs and crew.

As to what line you should cruise....each line has something different to offer. If you are a Disney nut, with or without kids, cruise Disney. If not, you'll find that RCCL and the Carnival family (which includes Princess) are much cheaper...but have a much different atmosphere.

I think the OP was referring to the name of the line 'Princess'...as in Disney Princesses

 

[DLW8]

"Princess still has a tie to Disney in name, right?"

What does this mean? Disney has never been affiliated with Princess except in the sense that they have hired away some Princess execs and crew.

As to what line you should cruise....each line has something different to offer. If you are a Disney nut, with or without kids, cruise Disney. If not, you'll find that RCCL and the Carnival family (which includes Princess) are much cheaper...but have a much different atmosphere.

I think OP was saying "Princess" as in Disney Princesses, so a "nod" to Disney in referring to the princesses, not that they are affiliated company wise at all.

To OP - I think you already have a decision, to cancel the Dream and do Princess again....If you can get a 9 night for the same (less) than a 5 night, I would do that in a heartbeat! You really seemed to love it, so why not go again...

 

[pumba's mom]

Thanks for all the responses. In the name "Princess" I was referring to the Disney Princesses and not any affiliation with Disney itself. We are huge Disney fans and I guess we have always either done Disneyworld or the Disney Cruise and were surprised how much fun we had doing something else. We will cruise on the Dream but it may be after the hoop la dies down and the itinerary changes and maybe the price comes down. For now I think we are going to keep trying new things.

 

[ppiew]

My one negative about the Disney cruises is the lack of adult evening entertainment. There is truly NOTHING and the clubs are closed by midnight!

 

[DMMarla07860]

My one negative about the Disney cruises is the lack of adult evening entertainment. There is truly NOTHING and the clubs are closed by midnight!

this is funny when people say that, there isn't much to do for adults after midnight, but I know on my cruise the college club sure found a lot to do at night, stayed in Rockin' Bar D till 2:00am every night when it closed. One night we actually all talked till 3:00am with one of the cruise staff that is till teens came in and one of them made a really werid sound we all never heard before

I heard Princess was a good line for night time entertainment, my friend loved it

 

[aurorafan65]

this is funny when people say that, there isn't much to do for adults after midnight, but I know on my cruise the college club sure found a lot to do at night, stayed in Rockin' Bar D till 2:00am every night when it closed. One night we actually all talked till 3:00am with one of the cruise staff that is till teens came in and one of them made a really werid sound we all never heard before

I heard Princess was a good line for night time entertainment, my friend loved it

I think this is sooooooooooo variable depending on the sailing. Last time we were on it was Spring break-ish & we figured the clubs would be hopping late & everything was dead by midnight.

My husband and I just took a 9 night Princess cruise for our anniversary. We have only cruised Disney in the past (5 times) and since this particular cruise left out of NYC and had a great itinerary we figured we would try it. Princess still has a tie to disney in name, right? Anyway... we loved it! There was tons of live music, many bars & entertainment areas, and a lot more choices for food. We almost felt like we were being jipped on Disney. We are torn now... we have a 5 night Disney Dream booked for next summer which cost $100 MORE than our 9 night Princess cruise (both balcony rooms) and we afraid we will be upset with the amount of people on the new ship and lack of "adult" activities. We love Disney and have always enjoyed their cruises but now we feel maybe we are paying for the kids stuff and will be disappointed going to Castaway Cay and Nassau again. Princess has more ships and offers a lot more destinations. Any thoughts??

I don't think you ever need to tie yourself to one line. We've done DCL & RCCL & I like both. But, now I'm considering Celebrity, NCL & Carnival since they go out of Baltimore/NYC & NJ - I didn't know Princess went out of NYC so I'll check into that one too now. I LOVE being able to drive to port as opposed to flying - I can use that $ on a bigger room

 

[NancyIL]

After eight Disney cruises, three Princess cruises, three Holland American cruises , and now with one Royal Caribbean cruise under our belts (and six more booked), my order of preference is Holland, Princess, Royal, and then Disney....

If I was lugging a bunch of kids, Disney would rank higher, but it's just not worth the extra cost w/o kids.

If HAL or Princess sailed out of Port Canaveral, I would have a tough time justifying another Disney cruise - unless the grandkids are with us - then it's a no-brainer choice

I agree, although my rankings would be slightly different. My very first cruise was on HAL Zaandam in Feb. 2004 out of Port Canaveral - so at one time HAL cruised from there.

My first Disney cruise was after HAL, RCI, and Princess, and it was followed by Celebrity. There are things I liked about each cruise line, but I'd have to rank my two 4-night Disney Wonder cruises near the bottom. Like you, I think I would've felt differently about DCL if I had been cruising with young kids. As an adult cruiser, I thought DCL lacked adult activites on the ship while it was in port.

**Sorry I didn't respond to the OP's question! If I were in your shoes, I would cruise with Princess in 2011, and wait until 2012 to cruise on whichever new Disney ship does longer Caribbean cruises. I am booked on a Feb. 2011 Disney Dream cruise to the Bahamas (my least favorite cruise destination) purely for the ship. I'm also booked on RCI and HAL cruises.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I agree, although my rankings would be slightly different. My very first cruise was on HAL Zaandam in Feb. 2004 out of Port Canaveral - so at one time HAL cruised from there.

My first Disney cruise was after HAL, RCI, and Princess, and it was followed by Celebrity. There are things I liked about each cruise line, but I'd have to rank my two 4-night Disney Wonder cruises near the bottom. Like you, I think I would've felt differently about DCL if I had been cruising with young kids. As an adult cruiser, I thought DCL lacked adult activites on the ship while it was in port.

I'd love to cruise with HAL again. HAL always had the softest spot in my cruise-addicted heart. If they only stayed in the Caribbean for two more weeks, or came back two weeks earlier (to fit my schedule) I'd suffer through the drive to S. Florida.

I don't have anything against Disney (other than they start rolling up the decks as soon as the sun goes down), it's just that we're cruise addicts, and we can do three (sometimes four - thanks to Disney jacking up the prices on the Wonder this summer, and on Dream next year) cruises on RCI for the price of two on Disney.

Will we come back to DCL, probably in 2012 if the Magic returns to it's Eastern/Western rotation, but if all they're going to run out of PC is overpriced 4/5 night junkets to Nassau - we have a dozen different choices within an hour of home.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I would cruise with Princess in 2011, and wait until 2012 to cruise on whichever new Disney ship does longer Caribbean cruises. I am booked on a Feb. 2011 Disney Dream cruise to the Bahamas (my least favorite cruise destination) purely for the ship. I'm also booked on RCI and HAL cruises.

Since they haven't started the Fantasy yet, and there's another post-Panamax ship in the queue for that hall (Celebrity Silhouette)that just had it's keel laying ceremony last week, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Fantasy to do any 2012 cruises until late fall at the earliest.

 

[NancyIL]

Since they haven't started the Fantasy yet, and there's another post-Panamax ship in the queue for that hall (Celebrity Silhouette)that just had it's keel laying ceremony last week, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Fantasy to do any 2012 cruises until late fall at the earliest.

Good point!

 

[tinkerone]

i to had the dream booked for may but have tonight canceled it and rebook the magic for oct of 2011. the cost is the same and we get an extra 3 nights. i can't wait to get on the dream BUT not at the expense of nights. when they do a seven day, thats when i figure i'll get on it.

 

[NC DCL fans]

We've only cruised DCL. Could you experts who've cruised the other lines comment on the rpivate islands? Every time I try to make myself price another cruise line, I give up. They seem to price out about the same during the summer season. I just keep thinking how it won't be DCL and it won't be castaway cay! we really cruise just to be on CC. We did enjoy our "water taxi" ride across nassau harbor and exploring the free areas of atantis and cabbage beach, but I think we really cruise for our CC days. Are the other cruise lines' private islands as good, or do you guys really enjoy seeing other ports? Walking thru downtown areas of foreign island towns is OK - but not my reason to cruise. I'd love to hear why we should cruise anything besides DCL! (You'll never convince me, though). Thanks!

 

[DMMarla07860]

I think this is sooooooooooo variable depending on the sailing. Last time we were on it was Spring break-ish & we figured the clubs would be hopping late & everything was dead by midnight.



I don't think you ever need to tie yourself to one line. We've done DCL & RCCL & I like both. But, now I'm considering Celebrity, NCL & Carnival since they go out of Baltimore/NYC & NJ - I didn't know Princess went out of NYC so I'll check into that one too now. I LOVE being able to drive to port as opposed to flying - I can use that $ on a bigger room

So ture, about nightlife on ship being so variable depending on the sailing. When I did a back-2-back on the Magic in 2009 the first week the night club was dead at 12:00am and the second week lots of people in it till it closed then my cruise in march people were out till 2:00am.

like you I would love being able to drive to port that's why I looked into Princess a couple times, and heard nightlife was way better then RCCL from a friend who is into the same stuff I like so knows me pretty well to tell me.

 

[thechief]

We have cruised both Disney and Princess about 7 times each. We really like both for different reasons. Disney is just comfortable. Princess is a great "bang for the buck" cruise. Three years ago we cancelled a 7 day on the Magic for 2 and booked 7 day on Princess with the same itinerary for only $400 more.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

We've only cruised DCL. Could you experts who've cruised the other lines comment on the rpivate islands? Every time I try to make myself price another cruise line, I give up. They seem to price out about the same during the summer season. I just keep thinking how it won't be DCL and it won't be castaway cay! we really cruise just to be on CC. We did enjoy our "water taxi" ride across nassau harbor and exploring the free areas of atantis and cabbage beach, but I think we really cruise for our CC days. Are the other cruise lines' private islands as good, or do you guys really enjoy seeing other ports? Walking thru downtown areas of foreign island towns is OK - but not my reason to cruise. I'd love to hear why we should cruise anything besides DCL! (You'll never convince me, though). Thanks!

The only other private island we've been to other than CC is RCI's Coco Cay, and CC wins hands down. We'll be doing RCI's Labadee in August, and NCL's Great Stirrup Cay looked nice when we went by it, but all of our Princess and HAL cruises did itinereries w/o private island stops.

We cruise primarily for the sea days and the scenery, so ports don't really interest us all that much - a day in port to us is just a sea day with no rocking, and more loungers by the pool