Any British Cruisers Out There?

[nixieh]

It's just that I have a few questions that US cruisers may not have experience with

1) I have read in my passporter that Immigration happens at 5.30am on the day you disembark at Port Canaveral, is that right and does that mean you have to be off the boat at that time?

2) If I have an annual travel insurance policy will it include insurance to cover the cruise (3 or 4 night) as part of my holiday (even thought it is booked seperately from the rest of the holiday) in the US or should I get the Disney insurance as well?

3) If you wanted to do a 3 or 4 night cruise as part of a 3 week holiday next Aug would you do it right at the end or would you do it earlier in the holiday in case of any changes being made due to hurricane season? (sorry I know I have posted a similar thread about this recently, just wanted a Brit perspective)

4) If we will be leaving the UK 20 days before the cruise will the travel agent (Dreams Unlimited) or DCL send the cruise documents out to us in time to get them before we leave as I have read that they are normally sent out 2/3 weeks before sailing?

Sorry to ask so many questions, any help on any of the above would be gratefully received, I had originally planned to do the 3 night cruise on 24/8 and then fly back to the UK on the 27th, I then decided to go for the 3 night on the 17th in case of any delays or disruptions with the cruise and now I have changed my mind again and am considering the 4 night cruise on the 20th Aug!!!

One of these days I will make a decision and then stick to it, I just haven't decided when yet (LOL)

Nicola

 

[chunkster20uk]

Ok here are my experiences having done two Disney Cruises:-


1) I have read in my passporter that Immigration happens at 5.30am on the day you disembark at Port Canaveral, is that right and does that mean you have to be off the boat at that time?

You go to one of the Bars, do the Immigration thing and then go back to your cabin, then go off to breakfast like everyone else

2) If I have an annual travel insurance policy will it include insurance to cover the cruise (3 or 4 night) as part of my holiday (even thought it is booked seperately from the rest of the holiday) in the US or should I get the Disney insurance as well?

We just had our annual policy, didn't have any extra.

3) If you wanted to do a 3 or 4 night cruise as part of a 3 week holiday next Aug would you do it right at the end or would you do it earlier in the holiday in case of any changes being made due to hurricane season? (sorry I know I have posted a similar thread about this recently, just wanted a Brit perspective)

Personally I would do it the middle, go to say Disney for two weeks, cruise and then Universal for 3/4 days (or do it the other way around). Not sure about Hurricanes though.

4) If we will be leaving the UK 20 days before the cruise will the travel agent (Dreams Unlimited) or DCL send the cruise documents out to us in time to get them before we leave as I have read that they are normally sent out 2/3 weeks before sailing?

Both times documents were with us in plenty of time.


Hope this helps.

Mark

 

[nixieh]

Thanks Mark, they were all the answers I was hoping for , I am definitely leaning towards the 4 night cruise which would be exactly what you suggest, 2 weeks at WDW first, 4 night cruise then 3 days afterwards which we would probably spend at the HRH or RPR at Universal and then if the cruise was delayed by a day or 2 it would just mean cancelling the Universal hotel.

Thanks a million

Nicola

ps Did you do 3/4 nights or longer?

 

[chunkster20uk]

We have done 7 Day Eastern and 4 Day, we are booked for the 7 Day Western in October.

I would recommend the 4 Day, that way you get a day at sea (Palo Brunch) and you can go to Palo in the evening without missing a restaurant.

 

[florida-again]

I'm also a UK cruiser, this thread is really useful, I didn't even know about the immigration thing!

Our first cruise will be this September and we're staying on I.drive either side of it, so it's halfway through our trip basically

 

[wendym]

Hi
I've done 5 Magic cruises - got the 6th booked - they are that good! WE were on the cruise that arrived the day after Hurricane Charley - we were only delayed by a couple of hours.
Let your TA know when you are leaving and they will make sure you get them in time - however you can print off the documents online and any disney cruise rep at the hotels would give you luggage tags - found that out this year. Because the Magic is over on the West Coast documents are coming out much later so our didn't arrive on time. You can always pick them up at the port but I like to have them done before!
Definitely do the 4 day!
Wendy

 

[KEH]

Just one word of caution about the documents. We booked through Dreams and when I queried the arrival of the documents with them, they told me that they come direct from DCL NOT from Dreams. We cruise on August 20th and out documents arrived last Friday, the 5th. However you can now download your documents on the DCL website and fill them in so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Re the travel insurance, just check the small print of your policy. When we were looking for annual insurance policies some specifically excluded cruising.

Also I think you'll fond that the whole of August falls within the middle of hurricane season so you could be unlcuky whenever you choose.

 

[nixieh]

Thanks for all the replies, just bumping in case of any more before I make my final decisions!

Nicola

 

[SEVANS2208]

Hi Nicola

I can't really help with any of your questions but just wanted to say hello as we too have just booked our first Disney cruise.

We've opted for the 3 night cruise and have just changed it from 24th to 17th August as our parents may now be coming out to Orlando & if so would come out on or after 21st as the flight prices go down then! It should work out quite well for us as we're figuring the theme parks will be less busy after the cruise but we still have 5 days to settle into US time before we cruise!

 

[daipp]

We're British DCL cruisers and love it !!

It's the best thing ever. Our next cruise will be at Christmas time and then we will be doing a 7 night Western for my 40th next year.

Can't wait !!

David

 

[PENCOYS PIRATE]

It's just that I have a few questions that US cruisers may not have experience with

1) I have read in my passporter that Immigration happens at 5.30am on the day you disembark at Port Canaveral, is that right and does that mean you have to be off the boat at that time?
Yes Nicola you have to be up at 5.30.am for immigration and that means everyone in your party our girlscame in their P.J'S it was very organised and there were waiters etc serving coffe, juice and danish,muffins etc if you could face them!!! After that we just went back to the cabin and then on to breakfast.

2) If I have an annual travel insurance policy will it include insurance to cover the cruise (3 or 4 night) as part of my holiday (even thought it is booked seperately from the rest of the holiday) in the US or should I get the Disney insurance as well?
We had a yearly travel Insurance policy which covered us, thank god as my hubbie was taken into hospital a few days after our cruise $40.0000 later he was let out!!! Do Check

3) If you wanted to do a 3 or 4 night cruise as part of a 3 week holiday next Aug would you do it right at the end or would you do it earlier in the holiday in case of any changes being made due to hurricane season? (sorry I know I have posted a similar thread about this recently, just wanted a Brit perspective)
We had a couple of days at the RonJons Resort in coco beach it was brilliant but our next trip we would definately go either at the end or in the middle of our trip, It's just so relaxing even though we only had 3 days ( definately a 7 day next time)I think we would have benifited from it more at the end. Saying that we had the best time ever and it was definately the highlight of our trip

4) If we will be leaving the UK 20 days before the cruise will the travel agent (Dreams Unlimited) or DCL send the cruise documents out to us in time to get them before we leave as I have read that they are normally sent out 2/3 weeks before sailing?
We were in this predicament we had actually arranged to have our tickets sent to our hotel but they actually came to us a good month before we travelled. Just ask They are very helpfull and I think you can have them sent to hotels etc/ Or even to the port( mind you you just have to hope that all the info is right!!

Sorry to ask so many questions, any help on any of the above would be gratefully received, I had originally planned to do the 3 night cruise on 24/8 and then fly back to the UK on the 27th, I then decided to go for the 3 night on the 17th in case of any delays or disruptions with the cruise and now I have changed my mind again and am considering the 4 night cruise on the 20th Aug!!!

One of these days I will make a decision and then stick to it, I just haven't decided when yet (LOL)

Nicola

I really hope everything works out for you Nicola and If I can be of any help please don't hesitate in asking .
Whatever you decide to do you wont regret it, We are hoping to go on a 7 day cruise in August 07!!!(wish it was sooner) and we are going to cruise later in August as it is cheeper as a lot of american children are back in school.
Take Care
Tracey AKA Chucklechops