1st timer & feeling unprepared

[AZlady]

So I am heading out on our first DCL trip in 22 days and realy feel unprepared....and that is so not my style! (It doesnt help I even have less time as we leave in 15 days to start this trip)

Looks like I missed out on early boarding, just registered yesterday so we have a 12:00 check in.

Please tell me people can have fun without knowing all the little Disney secrets.....

I am also second guessing myself on our one port activity. (We are doing Atlantis.)

We are taking the 3 day Disney Dream~

Thanks

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So I am heading out on our first DCL trip in 22 days and realy feel unprepared....and that is so not my style! (It doesnt help I even have less time as we leave in 15 days to start this trip)

Looks like I missed out on early boarding, just registered yesterday so we have a 12:00 check in.

Please tell me people can have fun without knowing all the little Disney secrets.....

I am also second guessing myself on our one port activity. (We are doing Atlantis.)

We are taking the 3 day Disney Dream~

Thanks

Totally, you can have a great cruise without knowing all the little secrets.

I'll also say, arriving at the port at 12:00 is the "sweet spot". There's no lines and it's before the busses start arriving from the resorts. Most likely as soon as you check in, you'll board. And, boarding doesn't usually even begin until about 11:30, so you're not that far behind.

 

[cbonebt]

Some times being a little unprepared is better than being over prepared! It's a Disney cruise!! Why second guess Atlantis? I can't wait to go there!! Have a great trip!

 

[flyersfan1129]

Sometimes I think knowing all the "secrets" puts too much pressure on folks. Just relax and enjoy yourself!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'll also chime in with the fact that I'm sooooo glad I didn't know about the cruise boards before our first cruise, or I'd have been a basket case. We went on that cruise totally happy with what we had planned (without anyone else's input), and enjoyed every minute of the cruise.

 

[thumpie's mom]

Don't worry about the little things. You will discover your own Disney secrets that will be special to you and your family. I loved our first cruise, just because it was all so new and we did not know what to expect. Since we didn't really know what to expect, we simply loved it all! 12:00 boarding time is great, you will still have plenty of time to explore the ship, have lunch and start relaxing! Have a wonderful and magical cruise!

 

[Weedy]

When you arrive at the port you will receive a Navigator (newsletter). It will list everything you need to know. Take a few minutes at lunch to look over the 1st day's activities and note things you are interested in.
You will receive one each night in your cabin for the next day's activities. Or you can download an app to your phone that has the same information.
We always enjoy looking over the Navigator at night for the next day's events.

 

[tltay2005]

I think we are on the same cruise, June 12, out of PC? 1st time cruise for us too. These boards helped me out a lot, had answers to all my questions.

 

[swimfin]

We are June 12th out of PC as well AND 1st time on DCL Visiting WDW before the cruise too!!

 

[kiford]

On our first DCL cruise (in 2000), we knew that there was adult only dining at Palo that you could book one night. At that time, nothing could be booked online so we knew that you had to go up to Palo's once you boarded to try to book a time. We knew that they had rotational dining. We knew our cabin number. We got a booklet of information and were walked through how to fill it out on the bus (from WDW). That's all we knew. Had a blast. DCL walks you through pretty much everything you didn't know. You get to spend the time discovering the ship and what it has to offer. Check out the Navigator every night (figured that out the very first night). You really don't need to know much more in advance to have a great time.

Forget the "secrets" everyone else tells you. Discover it for yourself. You'll never have that opportunity a second time and it really is magical. Later cruises are just as much fun but nothing beats that first time where everything is new and full of wonder.

 

[KBship]

If you have multiple people going with you and they have iPhones definitely download the Naviagtor app....really makes communication easy! Even without lots of people it is helpful in finding restaurants, previewing menus, and finding room service menus.

Atlantis is a fun day! We stayed there for a week and didn't go back our last time on Dream (March 2015), but definitely worth the visit...great slides!

Relax, have fun...my first thought after the cruise was that I couldn't wait to go again because there wasn't any way to take it all in....but that was four DCL trips ago....we're addicted! And somehow we made it through all of those cruises BEFORE discovering these boards! Have a blast! And I highly recommend snorkeling on castaway cay if you like that...great first time snorkel for my kids (12 & 10)

 

[sambycat]

you know enough to have a great cruise and not enough to overplay and beat it to death! you are going to have a great time!

 

[timrousbeastie]

Congratulations on going on your first cruise. We didn't do any preparations at all before our first 3 day Dream cruise and still had an absolutely wonderful time. Later on, I found out that there were lots so things on the ship that we didn't see at all, including all the clubs on the 4th deck, but then we had fun exploring those on our second cruise. I agree about reading the Navigator carefully, especially the first day if you want tickets for certain popular events. Otherwise, just relax and enjoy it! Part of the fun is seeing everything for the first time without knowing what to expect - I am kind of glad that we didn't know anything in advance. There will probably be a few small disappointments, like not knowing when basketball court is most likely to be empty etc., but it won't matter in the big picture.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I agree with PP about being happy I knew nothing about Disboards before my first 2 cruises, I would have been a mess. I have 2 pieces of advice:

1) Don't waste time waiting around doing nothing, waiting on your next activity. We did this a lot on our 3 day Dream cruise and it was a huge mistake.

2) At Atlantis, go around the entire lazy river. It is absolutely the best lazy river of all times. It actually has some areas where you stay in your tube and slowly go up a conveyor belt so you can continue going downhill again. I think it actually takes about an hour to go through the whole thing. My son and I wanted to stay on all day.

So just relax and take it easy and remember to have fun. Chances are you will be booking a longer cruise while on board so don't try to do everything on this cruise.

By the way, hello from your neighbor in Chandler!

 

[lexlaw69]

All of the activities have value - if not this time then the next time. Worrying about missing out when you are on a cruise is like being mad for only winning the lottery once.

 

[3fish]

You're going to have a great trip. BTW, think of the 'secrets' not really 'secret' if everyone knows about them. The most important 'secrets' in my book are:
1. Have FUN
2. EAT brunch at Palos (if available)
2. READ you Navigator

Bon voyage!!!

 

[mom4fun]

I considered our first cruise, which was a 3 night Dream cruise, an introduction to dcl. We did have a great time but everything is new and some of it is a little confusing. Make sure you do an on board booking for future, so next time around, you can feel like an old pro.

 

[Pens Fan]

I'll also chime in with the fact that I'm sooooo glad I didn't know about the cruise boards before our first cruise, or I'd have been a basket case. We went on that cruise totally happy with what we had planned (without anyone else's input), and enjoyed every minute of the cruise.

This!!!

We went on three cruises before I ever even knew these boards existed. And thanks goodness for that. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of great information to be had here. Obviously I enjoy the boards now and read them a lot. It's just that having cruised before, I can pick and choose what is important to me. If I had read these boards before my first cruise I would have just stressed myself out, thinking we had to do certain things to make the cruise special. On our three cruises we have never:

Done a FE (honestly don't even recall seeing one hanging by a door, or if I did I paid it no attention)
Decorated our door
Worried about our dining rotation or who our servers were - it's all good!!
Joined a cruise meet activity
Rushed to get on board - we just got there when the DCL bus brought us and were happy we didn't have to drive
Worried about snagging a cabana - I don't think I even knew they existed before our first cruise and I have no desire for one now that I do know


I could go on and on. Look, I'm not knocking any of the above activities. Lots of people participate in them and love them. Great! All I'm saying is we have had three amazing wonderful cruises being basically oblivious to all the extra stuff. And so do the vast majority of the people you will be cruising with.

You're going on a Disney cruise. Just relax and have a blast!! Trust me, anything you actually need to know, will be found in your daily Navigator.

Go enjoy yourself. Then, come back here armed with your newly gained cruising experience and start planning your next one.

 

[CrawfordMomof2]

I'll also chime in with the fact that I'm sooooo glad I didn't know about the cruise boards before our first cruise, or I'd have been a basket case. We went on that cruise totally happy with what we had planned (without anyone else's input), and enjoyed every minute of the cruise.

I am a basket case! We had planned our first cruise for this month ( May 2015) but had to reschedule for May of 2016 due to my husband's recent knee surgery. All is well, but Shmoo has made a great point. The delay made me sit back and stop stessing out about every little thing that happens every minute of the cruise . I know the basics of what to expect, and this planning time around I'm much happier. Now I just can't wait until we're a little bit closer so I can tell my DS's who will be 10 and 6

 

[AZlady]

I think we are on the same cruise, June 12, out of PC? 1st time cruise for us too. These boards helped me out a lot, had answers to all my questions.

We are June 12th out of PC as well AND 1st time on DCL Visiting WDW before the cruise too!!

Yep- that's my trip dates!! Excited, nervous! ( didn't mention my motion sickness....but with porting everyday I think I will be fine)

We are visiting WDW & US before the cruise. If we are traveling this far, we better make it count...giggle!

Thanks for all your support and advise!!