Buncha questions from a cruise virgin

[mrsjoannh13]

Okay, so hubby, DD3 and I just got back from our first family vacation to WDW. Cliff notes - we loved it and are already planning to go back each year for DD's birthday in November.

We are considering a cruise in February (Mardi Gras means extra days off work for us) and would likely be taking the 7 day on Disney Fantasy out of Canaveral.

I spent countless hours planning and booking our trip to WDW. I feel like I know everything about every nook and cranny of that place and how to book it, where to see characters, how to get dining reservations, transportation, etc.

In terms of a Disney cruise I know NOTHING. Nada. Zip. So I'm turning to you good folks in hopes you can answer a few questions for me.

1. When I book our room, do I also book dining in advance (ala the 180 day booking window for ADRs at Disney)? Or is there no "competition" for good restaurants and you just eat where you want?

2. I know there are usually late seatings and early seatings for dinner. Is this assigned in advance or can you request it when you are onboard? Having a little one, there's no way we could make a late dinner.

3. On a previous cruise, DH and I experienced the peculiar phenomenon of community seating. We were seated at a large table with 3 other couples. Luckily they were very nice people, but we are not really fans of this. Will we be seated with other families at dinner and lunch or will we have our own table?

4. How, when, where do we meet characters? Are these at meals or random locations throughout the ship?

5. With regards to the shows, do tickets need to be reserved in advance or do you just go before or after dinner based on your seating time?

6. In general do you know about activities (e.g. Pirate Night) in advance or do you get information about the day and time via the newsletter once onboard?

7. Can you book the "formal" restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you prefer sit down meals? Or are you limited to 1 formal a day? Or do you just pay more based on your dining preferences? I know the cruise cost includes dining so just wasn't sure how you go about selecting the restaurants we want to eat at for each meal.

Anything else that you think would be helpful for me to know - please feel free to chime in! We had a great experience at WDW thanks to lots of research and pre-planning. Hoping to have another great vacation on the Disney Cruise Line! Thanks!!!

 

[WIFamily]

All great questions!

1) On Disney Cruise Line you are assigned a "Dining Rotation". Each ship has three main dining rooms, and you will rotate to each - your servers will rotate with you!

2) When you reserve your cruise you will be asked if you prefer Early or Late dining. This is a preference and depends on availability. You can try to request a change prior to the cruise by calling, or on board. Disney will attempt to accommodate you.

3) Disney also does this, if it's just three of you, you can ask for your own table, but it may or may not be available for you.

4) Character meet and greets are published in the daily "Navigators" - a print out schedule of the day's activities. Also now many are ticketed events where you must find the spot where tickets are handed out to attend.

5) Tickets are not needed for shows, late night acts, even movies! Just show up and grab seats.

6) Disney Navigators are usually available well in advance of any cruise (unless it's the first couple of cruises on a new itinerary). http://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/ is a great resource. Once on-board, you will receive some every night in your room for the next day. They're available also at various locations around the ship (guess services always has a stack of them).

7) The formal/ adult only / upcharge restaurants need to be booked. First time cruises can register online and then register for excursions, spa, additional dining / brunch (on sea days), nursery, etc 60 days before the cruise - assuming you have paid in full.

I'd recommend the latest "Passporter" book to get additional information. There is also a great Destination America video that's about 45 minutes long on YouTube that gives you a great overview of all four ships. Something like "Disney Cruise Behind the Scenes".

 

[GoofyNewfie]

Okay, so hubby, DD3 and I just got back from our first family vacation to WDW. Cliff notes - we loved it and are already planning to go back each year for DD's birthday in November.

1. When I book our room, do I also book dining in advance (ala the 180 day booking window for ADRs at Disney)? Or is there no "competition" for good restaurants and you just eat where you want?

2. I know there are usually late seatings and early seatings for dinner. Is this assigned in advance or can you request it when you are onboard? Having a little one, there's no way we could make a late dinner.

3. On a previous cruise, DH and I experienced the peculiar phenomenon of community seating. We were seated at a large table with 3 other couples. Luckily they were very nice people, but we are not really fans of this. Will we be seated with other families at dinner and lunch or will we have our own table?

4. How, when, where do we meet characters? Are these at meals or random locations throughout the ship?

5. With regards to the shows, do tickets need to be reserved in advance or do you just go before or after dinner based on your seating time?

6. In general do you know about activities (e.g. Pirate Night) in advance or do you get information about the day and time via the newsletter once onboard?

7. Can you book the "formal" restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you prefer sit down meals? Or are you limited to 1 formal a day? Or do you just pay more based on your dining preferences? I know the cruise cost includes dining so just wasn't sure how you go about selecting the restaurants we want to eat at for each meal.

Anything else that you think would be helpful for me to know - please feel free to chime in! We had a great experience at WDW thanks to lots of research and pre-planning. Hoping to have another great vacation on the Disney Cruise Line! Thanks!!!

1 - When you book your room, you request main or late dining for the rotational dining. Booking the specialty restaurants comes at the appropriate window like the 180 for ADRs.

2- Requested when booking but main fills up. I'm currently wait listed for main for my next cruise as I booked at 6 months out.

3- You would typically be seated with groups. Here on disboards, it's fairly common to pre-arrange seating with people. Moderately confusing how to do so. It is possible to be sat by yourself as I understand - but that's a process too. I've been fine 4 times out of 4. Only 1 was borderline.

4 - All over the place.

5 - No tickets are required. They do two shows per night and you go to the one that is opposite your dining time. Not that it's fixed that way. If you dined somewhere else than your rotational restaurant, you can do a different show.

6. Based on experience, it's generally possible to figure it out. But again, here on the Dis Cruise groups, you can find your particular cruise and someone will generally find it out.

7. the regular rotational restaurants are indeed available. But not all of them at a time. You check the daily navigator to see which is open and hours. For bfast, for example, just show up. Lunch I think might not be done that way though. In my 20+ nights of Disney cruise, I cannot recall....

Hope this helps.

 

[ajo]

1. When you book your cruise you can choose either Main dining (5:45) or Late dining (8:15) if both are available. If the one you want is not available, you can be added to the wait list. You can also check once on board to see if you can switch.
2. See above.
3. You may be seated with another family for dinner. You can request that you be giving your own table. It's a request, not a guarantee.
4. Characters are everywhere! The Navigator (daily schedule) lists which characters will be where at what time each day. Some of the meet and greets are ticketed (Anna and Else) and you get those tickets at Guest Services when you board the ship.
5. No tickets required. There is an early show and a late show to match the main and late dining times. No tickets required for movies either.
6. The Navigator is your daily agenda. It is available on the Navigator app and you get a hard copy each night in your room. To get an idea of what activities there are, you should check out some navigators for prior sailings of your cruise.
7. I'm not sure what you mean by "formal". If you mean Palo and Remy, the adult-only restaurants, each has a brunch (only on at sea days) and a dinner and you book them individually when your booking window opens online. If you're talking about the MDRs, you are assigned a rotation for dinner and you can eat at whichever restaurant is open for lunch and dinner.

 

[over50visits]

Okay, so hubby, DD3 and I just got back from our first family vacation to WDW. Cliff notes - we loved it and are already planning to go back each year for DD's birthday in November.

We are considering a cruise in February (Mardi Gras means extra days off work for us) and would likely be taking the 7 day on Disney Fantasy out of Canaveral.

I spent countless hours planning and booking our trip to WDW. I feel like I know everything about every nook and cranny of that place and how to book it, where to see characters, how to get dining reservations, transportation, etc.

In terms of a Disney cruise I know NOTHING. Nada. Zip. So I'm turning to you good folks in hopes you can answer a few questions for me.

1. When I book our room, do I also book dining in advance (ala the 180 day booking window for ADRs at Disney)? Or is there no "competition" for good restaurants and you just eat where you want?

2. I know there are usually late seatings and early seatings for dinner. Is this assigned in advance or can you request it when you are onboard? Having a little one, there's no way we could make a late dinner.

3. On a previous cruise, DH and I experienced the peculiar phenomenon of community seating. We were seated at a large table with 3 other couples. Luckily they were very nice people, but we are not really fans of this. Will we be seated with other families at dinner and lunch or will we have our own table?

4. How, when, where do we meet characters? Are these at meals or random locations throughout the ship?

5. With regards to the shows, do tickets need to be reserved in advance or do you just go before or after dinner based on your seating time?

6. In general do you know about activities (e.g. Pirate Night) in advance or do you get information about the day and time via the newsletter once onboard?

7. Can you book the "formal" restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you prefer sit down meals? Or are you limited to 1 formal a day? Or do you just pay more based on your dining preferences? I know the cruise cost includes dining so just wasn't sure how you go about selecting the restaurants we want to eat at for each meal.

Anything else that you think would be helpful for me to know - please feel free to chime in! We had a great experience at WDW thanks to lots of research and pre-planning. Hoping to have another great vacation on the Disney Cruise Line! Thanks!!!

Welcome to cruising, and what fantastic questions!

(1) Your dining assignments will be taken care of for you. When you arrive they will tell you which dining rooms you are assigned on which days. You'll visit them all in your cruise, the order really doesn't matter. Really.
(2) You should already have early/late seating assigned if you have a cruise booked. You can find it at https://disneycruise.disney.go.com (log in to your reservation). Arguments for both seatings, often young children seem to better at the early seating, but really again both are great. You can call DCL to request it be changed, or do so when you board the ship.
(3) You will probably be seated with a similar family for dinner. You can request you own table (call DCL), but they will not guarantee that. Also, if worst comes to worst and you can't stand your tablemates, you can easily ask to change tables. Disney is really good about that. For breakfast and lunch you can eat at the buffet or in a dining room, and you'll have your own table. We have always enjoyed our table mates, though some more than others...
(4) Characters abound through your cruise. You'll get a daily information sheet (called the Navigator) each evening with the next day's activities (LOTS of them), including character times and places. Characters abound.
(5) Just show up for the show. No assigned time. There are two showing each night, simultaneous with the dining times, so you will dine during one of the period and go to the show the other period. No reserved seats or tickets.
(6) See answer 4
(7) You can book the upscale adult only restaurants for dinner each night, and brunch generally on sea days. They are popular (because they are great), so try to book them as soon as you are eligible to do so.

Anything else? Many, many things! Just hang around this and other discussion boards. All are great. And remember you'll get lots of different opinions when you ask things (like which is better, early or late dinner seating).

Have a ball. So much to do, don't try everything. And enjoy the world class island that is Castaway Cay. Aquaduck. Food everywhere. A beautiful ship to explore. Sail Away party. Mickey Mouse. More food everywhere.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

Thanks for all of the responses. I feel a little more informed - and calm now!

 

[GoofyNewfie]

Keep the questions coming and I'm sure someone will answer them for you.

you also asked about anything else you should know... you should know that they're pretty addictive. Our family transitioned from Disneyworld to Disney Cruise Line when my son hit his teens. Started with 10 days DW, 3 days DCL. Now it's OK that we stay on site to catch the DCL bus, but we're not doing the parks and catching a 7 night on the Fantasy.

 

[CM Dad]

1. When I book our room, do I also book dining in advance (ala the 180 day booking window for ADRs at Disney)? Or is there no "competition" for good restaurants and you just eat where you want?

2. I know there are usually late seatings and early seatings for dinner. Is this assigned in advance or can you request it when you are onboard? Having a little one, there's no way we could make a late dinner.

3. On a previous cruise, DH and I experienced the peculiar phenomenon of community seating. We were seated at a large table with 3 other couples. Luckily they were very nice people, but we are not really fans of this. Will we be seated with other families at dinner and lunch or will we have our own table?

4. How, when, where do we meet characters? Are these at meals or random locations throughout the ship?

5. With regards to the shows, do tickets need to be reserved in advance or do you just go before or after dinner based on your seating time?

6. In general do you know about activities (e.g. Pirate Night) in advance or do you get information about the day and time via the newsletter once onboard?

7. Can you book the "formal" restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you prefer sit down meals? Or are you limited to 1 formal a day? Or do you just pay more based on your dining preferences? I know the cruise cost includes dining so just wasn't sure how you go about selecting the restaurants we want to eat at for each meal.

4. On some of the cruises Disney has had a character breakfast, that you would be assigned to one morning. In general character greetings times/places are listed in the Navigator each day. Some of the more popular characters (Anna/Elsa or the Avengers) have required free tickets that you can sign up for when you board the ship. The Navigator you should receive in the port during checkin should have information about where to sign up. You may also see characters out on deck 4 or just walking through the ship.

6. If you look at your reservation online at the Disney cruise site, you can view or add activities. This will show some of the ship activities (like the sail away party and pirate night). You cannot access this until you are close enough to your cruise to book activities. If you can't do this yet, it will tell you what date you can start booking. There is also an option to email/print a custom arrival guide. This will have a bunch of useful information. The Table of Contents for this is:
Table of Contents
* Welcome As of Today: 11/21/2015
* Ports of Call and Itinerary
* Reservation Summary * Alert 1: 51 days until your cruise
* Fun Aboard The Disney Dream * Alert 2: 48 days left to book onboard fun and Port Adventures!
* Driving Directions
* My Cruise Activities
* Air & Ground Transportation
* Passport & Travel Documentation
* Packing List
* Other "Need to Knows"
* Onboard App
NOTE: if you are not that close to you cruise, they arrival guide might not be very accurate. When I first looked at one of mine, it should the Sail Away Party scheduled for every day, instead of just the first day.

7. I think that you can only book brunch and one dinner in advance for Palo (and one brunch and one dinner for Remy if you are on the Dream or Fantasy) in advance. If no reservations are available online when your booking window opens, or of you want to book additional meals in these restaurants, there will be someplace you can do that when you first board. See the Navigator for details.

If you think you might want to get the photo package, you can pre-purchase the "All the pictures" CD in advance for a 15% discount over what the cost would be onboard. If it turns out you decide you didn't have enough photos, or for whatever other reason you don't want the package, you can cancel up to the last night of the cruise and get a refund.

 

[diznymom]

3. We are a family of 3 and have been seated w/ other families on 2 of our previous cruises and a table all by ourselves on the last cruise. You can request to be alone. It is a request. They will do what they can. Note: The families we were paired with had kids same age as DS.

This is only during dinner.

You didn't ask about other dining options. Cabanas is my favorite for b'fast and lunch. It is a serve yourself buffet w/ lots of choices.

 

[Savikins]

Don't forget that you can order Mickey Bars from room service, no added charge, anytime of the day or night. They aren't on the room service menu. I didn't know this on my first cruise!

 

[aggiedog]

Lots of good answers here. I'd just add that, as an obsessive planner myself ('cuz that's where the fun is), there is a lot less to plan. At least prior to the cruise. You can spend every night going over the Navigator to plan your next day, but that can only be done day by day on the cruise.

You can spend lots of time choosing excursions, or you can book non-DCL excursions, which will take more time to investigate, choose, and plan. Check out cruise critic dot com for lots of great info there.

 

[clten]

I think a lot of your questions were addressed. I just wanted to add on #7 about dining for breakfast and lunch. I think pp addressed the adult only restaurants. I just wanted to clarify breakfast and lunch. When you choose your dining (early or late seating) that is dinner only. For Breakfast and Lunch you can choose each day/meal where you want to dine and no reservations are required (or even taken). Typically for breakfast and lunch there is a buffet choice -- on the Fantasy this would be Cabanas and Enchanted Garden. You would check the Navigator to see the hours that they operate. Also available is Royal Court for a sit-down breakfast or lunch. Royal Court again is available each day (except disembarkation morning) and you can show up any time during their operating hours and have table service for your meal, no reservations required.

 

[ladypiph]

I would recommend ordering the Disney cruise vacation planning DVD it has lots of great information. There are also many books out there all about Disney Cruising. My favorite is The Unoffical guide to Disney Cruising 2015 (2016 will be out soon) thedisneycruiselineblog.com is another along with following this Disney Cruise line Forum, which contains mountains of invaluable information.