Aby
Obsessive and Compulsive
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2009
Introduction
While I’ve been on two cruises with DCL in the past, this will be my first trip report! I spent many, many months on the DIS reading, planning, and enjoying the trip reports of others, so I thought it only fair to return the favour and write a report of my own to help any others out there with their planning.
THE 5 W’s
WHO - We are husband and wife, no kids, in our late 30’s/early 40’s. I work in the animal health care field, and I love all things Disney. My husband is a heavy duty mechanic, and although he’s not in love with Disney nearly as much as I am, he truly appreciates the level of customer service and attention to detail that comes along with a Disney vacation.
WHAT - An 11-12 day trip including a 7 day cruise.
WHERE - Round trip from Northern BC, Canada to Orlando, including a pre-cruise stay at the Wilderness Lodge, a 7 day DCL Eastern Caribbean Cruise (itinerary A), a post-cruise stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and one day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
WHY - While we try to take at least one big vacation together every year, this one was extra special as it was part of our 10 year anniversary celebration. Also, while we’ve sailed twice with DCL, both were to Alaska, and we wanted to try out a warm (hot!) weather cruise. We also wanted to see if we could handle tackling WDW in the heat and crowds of the summer.
WHEN - August 12th to 24th, 2015.
Trip Planning
We booked this cruise fairly late, sometime in February of 2015. Normally we would have booked much earlier, however we weren’t really planning on a cruise this year. In fact, I had an OBB from our previous DCL cruise to Alaska that I actually cancelled late last year when we sure we wouldn’t be taking a cruise in 2015, because I wanted to use the money from the deposit for a last minute trip to WDW in January. You can imagine how mad I was at myself that I did that as we lost our discount and our OBB! I won’t make that mistake again!
I always book my WDW and DCL vacations myself, without the use of a travel agent, as we’ve been multiple times before and I really like being fully in control of my reservation. I tend to change my mind often too, so I’d rather be able to just go in and fix things myself without going through a TA. I had no problems booking the cruise on the DCL website - I booked a cat 5 at first, but ended up switching to a 7A cabin when I saw one available that had only minimal obstruction (9664). I booked our pre and post cruise stays in mid April when the summer room-only discounts came available online, and I was able to get a fairly good deal on airfare in the middle of May. My parents, who live all the way across the country and were planning on visiting us before our trip, graciously offered to stay in our home and pet-sit for us while we were gone.
We were able to get both a Palo brunch and dinner reservation at our 90 day booking window, along with the only shore excursion we were planning. After that, the only thing left was to wait (for what seemed like forever!) for our vacation time to come!
While I’ve been on two cruises with DCL in the past, this will be my first trip report! I spent many, many months on the DIS reading, planning, and enjoying the trip reports of others, so I thought it only fair to return the favour and write a report of my own to help any others out there with their planning.
THE 5 W’s
WHO - We are husband and wife, no kids, in our late 30’s/early 40’s. I work in the animal health care field, and I love all things Disney. My husband is a heavy duty mechanic, and although he’s not in love with Disney nearly as much as I am, he truly appreciates the level of customer service and attention to detail that comes along with a Disney vacation.
WHAT - An 11-12 day trip including a 7 day cruise.
WHERE - Round trip from Northern BC, Canada to Orlando, including a pre-cruise stay at the Wilderness Lodge, a 7 day DCL Eastern Caribbean Cruise (itinerary A), a post-cruise stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and one day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
WHY - While we try to take at least one big vacation together every year, this one was extra special as it was part of our 10 year anniversary celebration. Also, while we’ve sailed twice with DCL, both were to Alaska, and we wanted to try out a warm (hot!) weather cruise. We also wanted to see if we could handle tackling WDW in the heat and crowds of the summer.
WHEN - August 12th to 24th, 2015.
Trip Planning
We booked this cruise fairly late, sometime in February of 2015. Normally we would have booked much earlier, however we weren’t really planning on a cruise this year. In fact, I had an OBB from our previous DCL cruise to Alaska that I actually cancelled late last year when we sure we wouldn’t be taking a cruise in 2015, because I wanted to use the money from the deposit for a last minute trip to WDW in January. You can imagine how mad I was at myself that I did that as we lost our discount and our OBB! I won’t make that mistake again!
I always book my WDW and DCL vacations myself, without the use of a travel agent, as we’ve been multiple times before and I really like being fully in control of my reservation. I tend to change my mind often too, so I’d rather be able to just go in and fix things myself without going through a TA. I had no problems booking the cruise on the DCL website - I booked a cat 5 at first, but ended up switching to a 7A cabin when I saw one available that had only minimal obstruction (9664). I booked our pre and post cruise stays in mid April when the summer room-only discounts came available online, and I was able to get a fairly good deal on airfare in the middle of May. My parents, who live all the way across the country and were planning on visiting us before our trip, graciously offered to stay in our home and pet-sit for us while we were gone.
We were able to get both a Palo brunch and dinner reservation at our 90 day booking window, along with the only shore excursion we were planning. After that, the only thing left was to wait (for what seemed like forever!) for our vacation time to come!