7 day versus 4 day

[Partridge4ever]

Still dropping in to this message board from time to time, dreaming about a Disney cruise. We went on a 7 day Carnival cruise last summer and enjoyed it very much. While we loved the activities onboard, we didn't really enjoy the time we spent in ports (kids too small). I'm hoping to do the Disney cruise in Oct. 2003. The problem is, we'd be giving up our annual WDW vacation if we do the 7 day. We might squeeze in one day for MK, but that'd be it. I'm considering the 4 night cruise, but I wonder if that'd be enough. The kids are excited about the activities they see on the commercials. Kids will be 7 and 3 (almost 4). Any opinions?

 

[PiperG]

The land-and-sea package might be a good combination for you. We did 4 days at the Poly and 3 days on the Wonder. I wasn't wild about having to pack up and "relocate" half way through our vacation, however, we did end up with a wonderful Disney experience.

The cruise part seemed so short that we booked a 7-day Magic cruise in Jan '03. I will miss the MK etc.... but we are planning a trip back to the parks in '04.

Hope this helps.

 

[ragdoll]

I agree with PiperG. The land/sea combo is great. You wouldn't have to give up you annual WDW vacation and you would still get to go on a great cruise. Since you've been to WDW, I would do the 3 day WDW and the 4 day cruise.

 

[BeanoC]

I may not be your favorite person after this post, but I'll offer my opinion anyway...

3 days on land, 4 days at sea... not a good option with kids your age, IMHO.

You've just unpacked at WDW, settled in a bit, and before you really start to feel like you're there, now you get to pack everything up again to move on.

Now you haul that luggage onto the ship, get moved in again, get your sea legs, explore a bit, fall in love with the ship... time to get off !!

That's only my opinion, based on my experiences. If I had to choose between them, I'd give up WDW and do the 7 day cruise. It's worth it. That way you can actually unpack, get settled in and enjoy yourself awhile without thinking about packing up and leaving again. Believe me - 7 days at sea goes by all too fast. 4 days is but a blur. Really!


'Beano'

 

[nedleycan]

I have also heard that the 3 or 4 days cruises are not long enough. That is why we are going on the 7-day for our first Disney cruise. Also, since we will probably not do another Disney cruise for a while (we really like to try something new everytime we are away), I want to make sure I make the most of it. After reading this board a few months ago, and seeing people's comments of the 3 and 4 days not being enough, we decided to book the 7-day cruise for November 30th. We can't wait!
I find that no matter where I go, it always takes 4 or 5 days to really know your way around and feel comfortable. I couldn't even imagine leaving a vacation spots after 3 days!

 

[NewtoWDW]

I just got back from the 7 land/sea package and loved it! We did 3 nights at WDW and 4 night cruise. My kids are a little older 8 & 12 but we were fine with the switch to the cruise. We never even handled our luggage. We bought the ground transfers and they were wonderful!!! Just left the bags in the room and went out and had fun. Next time we saw them was in our room on the ship

 

[Partridge4ever]

Don't worry Beano, I'm looking for opinions either way! That was my concern--that we'd feel we didn't have enough time on the ship. I remember from our Carnival cruise that the first day is filled with drills, getting luggage, etc. I don't really mind the packing. I'd probably pack a separate bag of clothes for WDW and leave it in the trunk.

We're DVC members so we wouldn't be doing the land/sea package officially. I was actually thinking of cruising first, then WDW. Ideally, we'd do the 7 day cruise and have 3 days at WDW. That way we could ride our favorites at the parks. After all that eating, swimming and seeing characters on the ship, we could focus on the rides and eat quick counter service meals. We'd be going during Fall Break, so maybe I could have my daughter miss two days of school. DH would be tired going back to work though. Mmmmm. Well, planning's half the fun isn't it? lol

 

[Wiggle]

Partridge...it sounds like we have the same situation - although my family experienced it LAST year, so we have the experience to share with you.

We had been to WDW each fall for the past 3 years before going on the cruise. We decided to take a 4-day cruise, and we found that we liked it so much we're going to repeat it next October ('03).

We had talked about whether to re-cruise for 4 or 7 days, but we decided (without much debate) that the 4 was wonderfully fine, and that it would be downright sacrelig to go to Florida WITHOUT going to WDW! AND....since we've been to WDW so much, a short parks trip is fine because we know just what we want to do. In fact, we liked to cruise Sun-Thurs, then do the parks Thurs-Sat and go home the next Sunday. It just seemed more magical to have the parks to do at the end (and too much of a shock back into reality to go from cruise to home)!