Clueless 1st time cruiser

[hattie]

I am cruising in late Jan, 7-day, with my husband and 7-yr-old son. We have never cruised before and I have loads of questions (probably sill questions for you experts.) Any help with the following would be great.

What food will I need to pay for? (I know meals are included, but what about hungry son and husband between meals?)
Can I choose which restaurant each night?
What clothing should we bring? What is appropriate for dining, shows, etc.?
Should I be concerned about total strangers watching my child in children's programs?
Are excursions necessary, or can we shop and hit the beach on our own?
Any opinions about deck 6 cat 8?
Is sea-sickness common? Can this ruin my cruise?

Thanks in advance to all who reply to this post. This board is terrific! Happy Sailing!

 

[BeanoC]

Hi !


#1 - You will hardly pay for any food, other than the tips. Palo's has a required tip of $5 each, 10 for the champagne brunch. Alcoholic drinks are always extra. Between scheduled meals, there's Pinnochio's Pizza, Topsiders... not to mention room service. If I were you, the very last thing I would be concerned about would be going hungry!!

#2 - No, you don't choose each night which restaurant. You are given a 'rotation', which tells you which restaurant you go to each night. You will go to each one twice, and to one of them 3 times, assuming you go every night. But you HAVE to take one night out and dine at Palo's!!

#3 - Bring warm weather clothes, shorts, bathing suits, etc. It's pretty darn hot in June!! There are 2 formal nights, which call for long dresses and tuxes, or at least jacket and tie. Palo's is always semi-formal. Otherwise, when you're in port or on deck, better be in shorts or a bathing suit to keep cool. Don't forget the sunscreen!

#4 - Disney trains and screens their counselors very well. Should you be concerned? No. Your son will be well cared for.

#5 - Excursions are not necessary unless you are very uncomfortable with your surroundings and don't trust yourself to find your way around. Otherwise you can do whatever you please and on your own timetable - just don't miss the boat!

#6 - Not sure I know what sort of opinions you're looking for here. What stateroom do you have reserved? You'll get more specific opinions if we know where you'll be.

#7 - In my ever-so-humble opinon, seasickness is an overblown issue reserved for the hypochondriacs. The stabilizers are tremendous and you usually can forget that the thing is even moving. If you get a bit queasy, take a tablet of 'Simply Motion' and in 30 minutes you're right as rain. If you're still insistent upon being seasick - stay the heck off of cruise ships.


'Beano'

 

[Piglet_Pooh99]

Hattie,
Don't worry about paying for food, we found ourselves eating a total of usually about 5 meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch, 4pm snack (roomservice), 8:30 dinner, midnight snack(roomservice).
And all of it was FREE. The only money that we put out during any of that was tip money for roomservice which is suggested at $1 per plate that they deliver. Now remember with roomservice, you can ask for more then what is on the roomservice menu. Cookies and milk are a must for your little one. The chicken tenders are the best and a favorite midnight snack of mine was the PB&J. And there is also ice cream by the pool. Feel free to email me if you have any questions at all about the cruise, we just got back May 30th and I am just full of information for both you and your husband, and your son. Let me know if I can be any help. My email is Jessel_Katie@hotmail.com. PLease feel free to ask questions to me. I don't always keep up on this board so its fastest to e-mail me.
Katie

 

[PiperG]

Hattie,

Just checking to see if you are sailing Jan 25th? DH, DS 5 and I are also on that cruise.

Can't Wait!

 

[hattie]

Thank you all soooooooooooo much. I feel alot more comfortable about this trip now. I'm sure I'll come up with more questions as my trip draws nearer, and I certainly know who to turn to for answers!

*Sorry, not sailing on the 1/25 cruise.

 

[Ginny]

Hattie -
Beano and Katie have already given you some great info but if I read your post correctly, you are cruising in late January. I would recommend bringing a few warmer items and many people (including us) bring sweaters for the shows/movie theater for comfort regardless of the time of year. We have cruised in the months of September, October and January and on our Halloween cruise it was cool enough that all the children's sweatshirts on board were sold the very first day. The weather has a mind of its own!!

I would also recommend packing much less than you think you will need. I have pared us down from two suitcases each to one and still come home with clothes not worn!! How dressed up you get for the Dining Rooms is completely up to you. We enjoy dressing up (and use the opportunity for family pictures) so we dress up for both the formal and semi-formal nights. But, many cruisers enjoy relaxing on their vacation and they enjoy themselves in less dressy attire. Just be comfortable. Examples we have seen for little boys on formal nights were anything from a tux to a suit to a nice pair of khaki pants and a long sleeve oxford type shirt (with and without tie).

Our 7 y/o dd has gone to the Oceaneer's Club since she was 4.5 and has thoroughly enjoyed herself. The counselor's have been lovely to her and with her. My one recommendation is to bring DS to the club on the very first night after dinner. That way, everyone is new and they are all meeting new people - and it is a level playing field. DD always meets lots of new friends that first night and it is great!!

Lastly, from our experience, I have to disagree with BeanoC about seasickness. I think the weather you encounter has alot to do with it. Just ask our servers about DD when I didn't medicate her with dramamine before our Character Breakfast in October. My guilt titer is still pretty high on that one!! The ship hit a bit of weather and we were rocking a bit that night and into the morning. I didn't recognize how "green" she was. The characters were all leaving as we were returning from changing her outfit. When the Head Server explained what had happened, the characters came back and gave her lots of Disney Magic. They turned that dark cloud into pure sunshine and joy for her!! I grew up in So Cal and have spent many years on sail and power boats of many sizes and shapes....but I have found that the first night may pose a problem if the water is exceptionally choppy. It is not something to worry about but just something to keep in mind.

Have a great cruise.

 

[hattie]

Ginny,
Thanks for the tips, especially the warm clothig tip. I like to be as prepared as possible, and I am just now beginning to get a grip on this whole cruise thing. I do have some more questions though, if you (and the other Dis discussion experts) wouldn't mind. OK, here goes round 2...

Do I need to get tickets/register for shows?
Will I be more likely to get an upgrade if I arrive early? (I am not assuming that I will get one, just hoping.)
Is the safety drill scary for kids? Any tips on easing "Titanic" fears?

Thanks again! Can't wait for more info!

Hattie

 

[Señor Ferrari]

I'll give these new questions a shot....

-You don't have to register or get tickets for the shows in the Walt Disney Theatre (main theater) or the Buena Vista Theatre (where they show movies). There are two showtimes for the shows in the main theater, on for each dinner seating. You may want to arrive a bit early to get a good seat, but you don't need to get tickets in order to be admitted.

-I don't think anyone has figured out the mystical formula used by Disney Cruise Lines for upgrades. I don't think that arriving at the port early will necessarily give you a better shot at an upgrade. We're usually early at the port and haven't gotten one. The consensus seems to be that free upgrades are few and far between on DCL.

-We don't have kids, but I wouldn't think that the lifeboat drill would be particularly scary for them. Life boats aren't lowered or anything like that. The kids I've seen are more upset about having to wear the jacket and stand in the heat that about what the drill actually means. I would explain that it is something that everyone has to do "just in case," but that they've never actually had to evacuate the ship in the almost 4 years it's been sailing. If they're specifically worried about what happened to the Titanic, be sure to point out that there are no icebergs in the Caribbean.

 

[aprilgail2]

I would bring Bonine just in case of seasickness...I don't care what people say, stablizers or no stablizers the ship DOES rock and it can make you sick, the first night I saw plenty of people seasick! It has nothing to do with being a hypochondriac....there is motion and if you are prone to motion sickness bring the bonine, it works great.

 

[hattie]

Thanks guys! You did it again!!!