7 nights out of NY

[Disneylovingmomof2]

hi all, wanted to see if anyone has any good/bad reviews of the cruises leaving from New York (specifically the ones to castaway cay with one day in Port Canaveral). I am really eyeing one up in November but the majority of the cruise is days at sea. One day is CC and on the Port Canaveral Day you get the hopper included for the parks.
My pros for this are not having to buy flights- I have a 2yo who is prone to tantrums so not flying with him is a huge plus. My 6yo DD (would turn 7 by the time of the cruise) loves swimming, arcades, etc so I feel like she’d enjoy it.
My worries are four days at sea, will we feel stir crazy, bored? Sea sick? Will I be upset I paid all this money to be on a ship or is there enough onboard to justify four at sea days?
In regards to the Port Canaveral day, how is it? Is it organized and fun or stressful trying to get park time in with having to travel back/forth to port on the same day? If we did it should we only try to do one park or shoot for two?

 

[bbn1122]

I would do a search or check trip reports. There is always threads on NYC and that cruise.

I have sailed out of NYC twice but not that trip. DH and me are going on the NYC to Bermuda this fall.

Good luck!

 

[ChipNDale86]

We are doing one of these cruises this November and honestly the 4 sea days was a HUGE reason we wanted to do this itinerary. We're just 2 adults so it may be different for you and your kids, but we LOVE sea days on DCL. They do a great job of making sure there are plenty of activities throughout the day. There will be activities in the kids clubs, character meet n greets, new movies in the Buena Vista Theater, movies on Funnel Vision, trivia, events like the Diaper Dash, "learn to draw' sessions, learn to cook events, food to eat, etc. We actually feel like in order to get the most of our $ we want to spend as much time on-board.

Have you ever cruised DCL before? If so, whatever you did on those cruise days will give you a better idea of if you'll enjoy it. Everyone is different and we totally understand we probably aren't in the majority in that we spend very little time in each port and would rather be on the ship.

From what I understand of the Port Canaveral day is that everything is pretty smooth. They start running buses from the port to WDW pretty early (I think I read it's 7:30am) and you don't have to be back on board until midnight so I don't think you should feel rush. You do have to go through customs when you're getting off at Port Canaveral but from everything I've read it's a breeze. We are going to try to do all 4 parks this day, but again I'm assuming that's not realistic with 2 small kids, but I think if you really wanted to do 2 parks you'd have plenty of time.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

I would do a search or check trip reports. There is always threads on NYC and that cruise.

I have sailed out of NYC twice but not that trip. DH and me are going on the NYC to Bermuda this fall.

Good luck!

Thanks! I did actually pull up some cruise forums about the cruises sailing from NY. Started reading through, most are actually positive about the sea days with the occasional complainer thrown in haha

We are doing one of these cruises this November and honestly the 4 sea days was a HUGE reason we wanted to do this itinerary. We're just 2 adults so it may be different for you and your kids, but we LOVE sea days on DCL. They do a great job of making sure there are plenty of activities throughout the day. There will be activities in the kids clubs, character meet n greets, new movies in the Buena Vista Theater, movies on Funnel Vision, trivia, events like the Diaper Dash, "learn to draw' sessions, learn to cook events, food to eat, etc. We actually feel like in order to get the most of our $ we want to spend as much time on-board.

Have you ever cruised DCL before? If so, whatever you did on those cruise days will give you a better idea of if you'll enjoy it. Everyone is different and we totally understand we probably aren't in the majority in that we spend very little time in each port and would rather be on the ship.

From what I understand of the Port Canaveral day is that everything is pretty smooth. They start running buses from the port to WDW pretty early (I think I read it's 7:30am) and you don't have to be back on board until midnight so I don't think you should feel rush. You do have to go through customs when you're getting off at Port Canaveral but from everything I've read it's a breeze. We are going to try to do all 4 parks this day, but again I'm assuming that's not realistic with 2 small kids, but I think if you really wanted to do 2 parks you'd have plenty of time.

Thanks! I actually was reading some forums specifically about the cruises leaving from NY and people were saying a lot of the same..I didn’t realize how much they actually have on the ship. The theme days also sound like a lot of fun. I haven’t done a Disney Cruise before but we were just in WDW last month and while I LOVE it and want to go back in Nov there’s a part of me that thinks cruising would be a little easier with having everything right onboard.

 

[mmouse37]

We have done that exact itinerary with Disney 2 times....once in 2012 and again this past October. We LOVE the sea days and my husband and I brought our 2 year old granddaughter who had an absolute fantastic time. There is plenty to do onboard but just remember in November your first sea day leaving NY and your last sea day before you get back to NY may be on the chilly side. Castaway Cay was very warm in October.

That said the WDW day is run like clockwork. You get to pick a park that you want to start at and a time. This is done online when you do your online check in. You board a bus and they take you directly to the park you chose. Buses can leave as early as 7:00 am from the ship. You get hopper passes plus 3 anytime Fast Passes. You don't have to pick certain attractions or times...the passes are good for any time. When we went we wanted to do the new Frozen ride that had a regular line of over an hour but we just walked up, tapped our ticket and were onboard the ride in about 2 minutes. They give everyone a sheet with all the return times from each park (the latest around midnight) so you have a full day to visit more than one park.

This past October our cruise had a Marvel Day and Halloween on the High Seas so we packed a special clothes for both special days plus Pirate Night. So glad we did not have to fly as I know my bag was over 50 lbs.!!

MJ

 

[Steve Dexter]

We have done this exact cruise the last 2 years, and it’s my favorite. It’s so much fun cruising out of New York. The views are amazing, and New York has so much to offer, it’s really a special place. The Port Canaveral/WDW day is so fun, we make sure to hit all the parks and just have so much fun. It’s a great way to experience WDW. The worst thing I would say is the cold weather in New York is not that much fun, but once you get south, it’s fine.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We did the 8 night, (also included Nassau), out of NYC this past October and loved it. With that in mind, I love Sea days - we love hanging out on the ship doing trivia, napping and really enjoying what the ship had to offer. One of our days was a Marvel Day at Sea, plus there was Halloween on the High Seas and Pirate Night so there was so much going on. There was literally no way to be bored.

The WDW day was so easy and well organized. We actually hit all 4 parks that day, we typically never park hop at WDW but wanted to try it that day. It was great but the next day on the ship I was exhausted from doing that. If we do that itinerary again, we’ll head to Magic Kingdom later in the morning and then head to Animal Kingsom in the afternoon. And head back to the ship early evening so we can have dinner on the ship.

Regarding dinner, only one MDR was open that evening, wasn’t the typical rotation. In addition to that, Cabanas was open as a buffet late into the night. Our bus driver got lost driving back to the ship so we didn’t get back on until about 11:30 and Cabanas was still in full swing. There was a really cool vibe on the ship that night, everyone was in a really good mood and it was just a lot of fun.

There were a ton of people on the ship from New York, NJ, and Pennsylvania and they loved being able to drive to the port, really loved that cruise. I think you’ll be more disappointed if you don’t do it.

 

[Steve Dexter]

There was a really cool vibe on the ship that night, everyone was in a really good mood and it was just a lot of fun.

So true!