Anyone else not very big on the "parties"?

[cheermom2four]

We've been to two sail away parties. This 3rd cruise we wont be as we are just done with the crowds. We will be relaxing elsewhere on deck or on our balcony. Our daughter enjoys the Pirate party and the ONLY reason we will still go to it. Fireworks we were able to watch from our balcony (we didnt receive a note and even asked our stateroom host to make sure we wouldnt get in trouble) and it was just fine there. Like Dug mentions in previous post, we like Deck 12 if we do stay up on deck during the show to be able to separate from the crowd easier and just to roam around.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

Fireworks we were able to watch from our balcony (we didnt receive a note and even asked our stateroom host to make sure we wouldnt get in trouble) and it was just fine there

Do you remember what stateroom you were in? I always wondered which rooms you could see fireworks from.

 

[moremouse]

We may do a walk through of the area if we happen to be headed that way. We like to look down from the top of the atrium and the top deck sometimes to see what's going on, but we're just not party people.

The first cruise was fine, but now we just head to our cabin for sail away. We have no children with us anymore so we can kind of just go with the flow.

 

[hanscarlet]

We used to love sail away and are pretty happy with pirate night, however a few things I noticed on our B2B cruise made us change our mind a bit. For leg 2 of our B2b we skipped the sail away and we were pleasantly surprised at how fun it is to sit on the verandah during sail away and wave bye to everyone in PC so we likely will be skipping it from now on. Our next cruise is out of NYC so not sure if we care if it means we will miss great views of the city. I greatly prefer the pirate show on the Dream/Fantasy over the classic ships so we will probably skip pirate show on our next cruise but try and catch the fireworks as my daughter loves those.

 

[hanscarlet]

Do you remember what stateroom you were in? I always wondered which rooms you could see fireworks from.

You can see them from starboard side on the dream - this is from 12508. We're staying on starboard Deck 10 of the fantasy next year so I am hoping we see them again from the verandah however there is an overhang on the verandahs on deck 10 so I am wondering if that will obstruct the view of the fireworks and perhaps deck 9 or a lower deck would have been better to view the fireworks, I'll report back after next may lol

 

[tnshsms]

Eh, not very big on the sail away parties. How do people get up there so quickly after the muster drill ? lol Do we just lollygag afterwards or what? We always seem to get a crummy view of the parties, get there too late and then it's just not that fun I go to them to for my kids but I don't think they're really bothered so unless we seem to find a good spot for the next sail away I think we might skip them from now on.

Stairs....if you take the stairs, you get there faster. We did that for the first 2 cruises when the kid was younger and got in the front row.

 

[tnshsms]

I still like the sail away party but I am over the Pirate party. I get the appeal of those first timers but since this is our 5th cruise, we'll only go if the kid wants to go. We didn't miss it at all in Alaska.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

You can see them from starboard side on the dream - this is from 12508. We're staying on starboard Deck 10 of the fantasy next year so I am hoping we see them again from the verandah however there is an overhang on the verandahs on deck 10 so I am wondering if that will obstruct the view of the fireworks and perhaps deck 9 or a lower deck would have been better to view the fireworks, I'll report back after next may lol

Darn. We're port side forward deck 9 this time! Oh well! We might have been able to see them our laat cruise , we were starboard aft deck 8 but we were on deck for the party. Would love an alternative viewing spot. Not sure where that would be.

 

[RebelHawk]

We skip the sail away parties but don't miss Pirate Night Parties.

 

[phinz]

It's basically the midship to aft verandahs on the starboard side.

I've gotten the note when only 12 staterooms from the front of the ship, when on Deck 10.

As to the original post, I couldn't care less about the parties, whether topside or in the atrium. Too much chaos. When sailing away I prefer to be on the Promenade Deck as we leave port , making sure to be on the starboard side as the Harbor Pilot jumps ship once we clear the channel.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

I've enjoyed the sail away party, but because my daughter is 11 - and she's tiny - it's really not enjoyable for her unless we can tuck her into the front row in among the kiddos. I've found that parents are either accepting of this or really not accepting of this, which breaks my heart a little bit. I don't need to be in the front row, I don't even need to be in the second row or third row when the events happen, but if my 11 year old can't see the parties it's just not worth it for us to engage in these activities.

We have NO love for pirates night or the pirate parties at all. We don't dress up for this event or go to the parties. I have nothing against it!! It just doesn't seem to fit our Disney bill at all.

 

[MickeyD]

Well this last sailing we did not have a sail away party because we didn't leave port until nearly midnight (Fantasy May 20th-27th), and I was fine with that. Judging by the comments on our cruise group there were quite a few upset by that and it ruined a lot of their cruise. We prefer to avoid the crowds on deck and sail away on our veranda. We did find a great spot for watching the fireworks on Pirate night. We could still kind of hear the music from there, but we got to listen to a guy on a guitar and the music was much more relaxing. We sat in the chairs on deck 12 just outside of Outlook bar and had an awesome view of the fireworks. It is adult only up there, which for us was nice, but if you have kiddoes they can't join you up there.

 

[cheermom2four]

Do you remember what stateroom you were in? I always wondered which rooms you could see fireworks from.

We always stay deck 6 starboard side mid close to what's considered aft on both the fantasy and magic.

 

[jrabbit]

Eh, not very big on the sail away parties. How do people get up there so quickly after the muster drill ? lol ....

after the muster drill, just go inside and start climbing the stairs. If you are waiting for an elevator, then you might die of old age before getting on one.

 

[jetskigrl]

After the first time, we no longer try to be in the middle of things but I do still enjoy the overall excitement, goofy music and the countdown of the sail away party. So we will usually hang out on the upper deck. If we can get along the railing, fine. If not, we will just hang out further back and listen to it and watch the scenery as we sail away. We pretty much do the same for pirate night. I enjoy the fireworks but I don't need to be in the middle of things. We are fine getting there later and watching from the upper deck.

We will have the Frozen deck party on our upcoming Alaska cruise but pretty much everyone in our family is over the Frozen stuff so we probably won't go to that one. I will sneak over to watch the new stage show though

 

[cmwade77]

We don't usually do the sail away party, on our last cruise we hung out at the back of the boat, this next one we have a Navigator's Veranda, so we may hang out there.

As for the party, during the fireworks you are not supposed to be out on the Veranda from what I understand. We do like to see the fireworks, but don't like to get there too early or stay too late. We do like the buffet afterwards though.

 

[nikkistevej]

I like both, but DH hates the Pirate night altogether. LOL Although that's his favorite dinner night. He said they need to change it.

 

[mcd2745]

I've been saying for years that Pirate night and everything along with it has run its course and needs to go.

Sail Away is a little different. You need something to kick off the cruise. They can certainly change it up some every now and again. Particularly if they can somehow figure out a way to do it where it's not concentrated in one overly crowded spot.

 

[oakleycat]

We have skipped the sail away party since our first cruise. It's too crowded and just not our thing; I prefer to sit on the verandah for sail away and get the unpacking done then head out to relax. My kids love the pirate party so we don't miss that one.

 

[suedon70]

We have been on 4 DCL cruises and the parties are fun but I don't know if we have attended both the sail-away and the pirate party on the same cruise! We have been in the "mosh pit" for the sail-away party on a couple of our cruises and it's not too bad...