OurOhana
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2009
- Messages
- 385
I know theres been a lot of debate on which kind of cruise is better, and I know its different for every person. I thought since we just returned from a 3 and 4 night, I'd jot down a few thoughts if it helps you as you decide to book. (This is based on our personal opinions. Everyone has different opinions, and I hope others will add their thoughts as well.)
FYI - We took a 7-night cruise Jan. 31, 2009, 3-night cruise Sept. 17, 2009
and 4-night cruise Sept. 20, 2009
The three and four-night cruises were back-to-back, which changed things a little for us. Ill explain below.
Here are our thoughts:
3-night cruises
Pros
--Less costly (we actually got a $99 per person deal. Even if we didnt, its less costly than the 7 night ones and often for the 4 nights, though Im sure that depends on the time of year you go.)
--Good chance to find out if youd like a cruise, and a great way to get away for a long weekend!
--Good sampler of events, activities and meals. They did the same 3 Broadway-style shows on the 3-night as the 4-night cruise.
--Youre at Castaway Cay the best part for us - just two days after leaving Port Canaveral.
--No formal night (everyone looks at this differently, but we enjoyed the more casual dress on the Wonder. Plus, we didnt have to pack as much.)
--Fireworks and Pirates Party. While they dont have a separate pirates night menu in the dining room, they do still have the party and all of the great festivities, including fireworks.
Cons
--Too short
--Disney does a good job of packing in all of the events, activities, but theres only so much time in the day. Its hard to get to everything, especially if you want to take some time to relax, swim or just hang out with family/friends talking. And so theres not enough time to really get to know the crew. Its not impossible, but its tough, especially if you miss one dinner or more to do other things (Palo, eat on the 9th deck, etc.) Nothing is impossible to do, it just takes more juggling.
--Nassau and CC are the only stops, so not able to see other interesting ports.
--No at-sea days, which gives more time to do the cool things on the ship.
4-night cruises
Pros
--Still less costly than a 7-night, but not by much (and yes, I realize there may be times it could cost more depending on the time of year and recent discounts)
--Good chance to find out if you like a cruise
--While they still pack in a lot of stuff in four days, some of the most popular kids programs are spread out to two days, rather than only one on a 3-night. (They didn't seem to schedule the most popular programs on CC day, since there's so much to do on DCL's private island.)
--You get one sea day, which gives you more time to try activities, spa treatments, try a different dining experience, like Palo or eating on Deck 9.)
-- A little more time to get to know your dining room stewards.
--Separate pirate nights dinner on the night of the Pirates in the Caribbean.
Cons
--Its still too short.
--You have another day to do activities, but its still not a ton of time.
--Still no other interesting ports of call.
7-night
Pros
--Its longer, with usually at least two sea days. It just gives you more times to try everything. At least we found.
--Character dining is offered on these cruises, but not on 3 or 4-night
--Other menus In addition to the menu for each dining room, they have a Pirates Night dinner, Golden Mickeys, Captains Gala and Til We Meet Again Dinner
--More movies We had three movies offered at various times on the 3-night cruise, four on the 4-night, but about six on the 7-night cruise. Of course, theres more time to watch them on the 7-night if you choose to do so, but Im mainly talking about the variety offered.
Cons
--You have to pack more clothes, including formalwear. (at least if you plan to go to the formal dinner.)
--Higher cost (though there are some good deals out there on occasion)
--Still not long enough! (Disney is just so good, its hard not to want more regardless if its a 3, 4 or 7 night)
Back-to-Back Cruises
We just got back from Back-to-Back cruises. We first boarded the Wonder Sept. 17, and got off this morning. I know many people have asked how this works and pros and cons. So here are our thoughts.
How it worked On the final night of our first cruise, we got a note in our room and a call to let us know to meet at Guest Services at 9:15 a.m. the next day to get off the ship. There was only one couple aside from us doing back-to-backs. We had to wait a little while to get off because for some reason they were a little slower clearing the boat. A lot of people seemed to be sitting around waiting for something. Not sure what. The DCL folks seemed surprised by the delay. Not a big deal. We got off sometime after 9:30 a.m., Id say.
A DCL crew member walked with us through customs and back up to the port area. They told us wed be checked on in a little bit. But then I think they forgot us until the other couple asked about getting checked on (they already begun checking others on at this point.) As soon as they asked, DCL checked us in, took our pics and walked us back on board.
Some of the doors were locked down, I guess for testing, so we couldnt get back into our room right away. We went to Cove Café, as we were told to do on our note. They said kids could go there as well until others started to board the boat. But some crew members were enjoying the area, and the guy working there didnt seem to get the memo that we were supposed to come there. He said our daughter wasnt supposed to be there, and he didnt want to give us a couple glasses of water (instead, wanted to sell us drinks.) We explained we were doing back-to-backs, so he gave us the glasses of water. And then we decided to head out so our daughter wouldnt disturb anyone. Plus, we had heard by then that the test they were doing with the doors was over, so we figured we could get in our room.
A CM had to open the main door to our walkway, so then we were good to go. At about 11:45 we headed down to Parrot Cay for lunch. We were the first ones in there, and it was really nice.
And because we were Back-to-Back cruisers (at least thats what they told us) we had special gifts every day in our room. We came back to a nice fruit bowl the first day, cookies another day, a cheese platter and finally a chocolate, dessert platter. It was just very thoughtful, and helped make our trip even more special.
Also, the last night of the 3-night cruise, we took our tips to the dining staff. We had only gone in one day. (we did Palo another day, and the CC day we went to an early show instead of early dining so we could get to bed earlier. We just had dinner out on deck 9 while our daughter swam and played with one of her friends.) So anyway, the head server seemed very worried that we hadnt returned since the first night. He said he could come eat breakfast at anytime the next morning, so we wouldnt to get up so early. And when I asked if we could select our rotation and asked what our options were, he said, What would you like. And then he gave us that rotation (Tritons, Animators Palate, Animators Palate and Parrot Cay.) He was great the rest of the trip as well, and Ill mention him quite a bit on our trip report, Im sure.
If we had wanted to add or change a Palo reservation, we could have done that the last night of the cruise too. We wanted to cancel ours, since we had already gone on the first one. It was easy to change.
Pros of Back-to-Back
--You really get to know the crew, and they are some wonderful people. We enjoyed getting to know each of them better.
--DCL was very nice about giving us little treats. Not sure if they do it every time, but we loved it.
--Since you can see each show twice, you can also choose to do other things. So we saw the shows on our first cruise, and then on the second cruise we spent time swimming at night, going to other activities and just overall enjoying relaxing times.
--Two stops at Castaway Cay, which we loved!
Cons
--Two life jacket drills
--You kind of lose a good portion of one day because all of the services are shut down as people are leaving the boat.
Bottom line is we would choose a 7 night over 3 and 4 nights back-to-back. That being said, if we got a great deal again, wed probably do B2Bs again. Of course, wed now like to try B2B 7 night cruises or just try longer cruises all together. So much to look forward to.
FYI - We took a 7-night cruise Jan. 31, 2009, 3-night cruise Sept. 17, 2009
and 4-night cruise Sept. 20, 2009
The three and four-night cruises were back-to-back, which changed things a little for us. Ill explain below.
Here are our thoughts:
3-night cruises
Pros
--Less costly (we actually got a $99 per person deal. Even if we didnt, its less costly than the 7 night ones and often for the 4 nights, though Im sure that depends on the time of year you go.)
--Good chance to find out if youd like a cruise, and a great way to get away for a long weekend!
--Good sampler of events, activities and meals. They did the same 3 Broadway-style shows on the 3-night as the 4-night cruise.
--Youre at Castaway Cay the best part for us - just two days after leaving Port Canaveral.
--No formal night (everyone looks at this differently, but we enjoyed the more casual dress on the Wonder. Plus, we didnt have to pack as much.)
--Fireworks and Pirates Party. While they dont have a separate pirates night menu in the dining room, they do still have the party and all of the great festivities, including fireworks.
Cons
--Too short
--Disney does a good job of packing in all of the events, activities, but theres only so much time in the day. Its hard to get to everything, especially if you want to take some time to relax, swim or just hang out with family/friends talking. And so theres not enough time to really get to know the crew. Its not impossible, but its tough, especially if you miss one dinner or more to do other things (Palo, eat on the 9th deck, etc.) Nothing is impossible to do, it just takes more juggling.
--Nassau and CC are the only stops, so not able to see other interesting ports.
--No at-sea days, which gives more time to do the cool things on the ship.
4-night cruises
Pros
--Still less costly than a 7-night, but not by much (and yes, I realize there may be times it could cost more depending on the time of year and recent discounts)
--Good chance to find out if you like a cruise
--While they still pack in a lot of stuff in four days, some of the most popular kids programs are spread out to two days, rather than only one on a 3-night. (They didn't seem to schedule the most popular programs on CC day, since there's so much to do on DCL's private island.)
--You get one sea day, which gives you more time to try activities, spa treatments, try a different dining experience, like Palo or eating on Deck 9.)
-- A little more time to get to know your dining room stewards.
--Separate pirate nights dinner on the night of the Pirates in the Caribbean.
Cons
--Its still too short.
--You have another day to do activities, but its still not a ton of time.
--Still no other interesting ports of call.
7-night
Pros
--Its longer, with usually at least two sea days. It just gives you more times to try everything. At least we found.
--Character dining is offered on these cruises, but not on 3 or 4-night
--Other menus In addition to the menu for each dining room, they have a Pirates Night dinner, Golden Mickeys, Captains Gala and Til We Meet Again Dinner
--More movies We had three movies offered at various times on the 3-night cruise, four on the 4-night, but about six on the 7-night cruise. Of course, theres more time to watch them on the 7-night if you choose to do so, but Im mainly talking about the variety offered.
Cons
--You have to pack more clothes, including formalwear. (at least if you plan to go to the formal dinner.)
--Higher cost (though there are some good deals out there on occasion)
--Still not long enough! (Disney is just so good, its hard not to want more regardless if its a 3, 4 or 7 night)
Back-to-Back Cruises
We just got back from Back-to-Back cruises. We first boarded the Wonder Sept. 17, and got off this morning. I know many people have asked how this works and pros and cons. So here are our thoughts.
How it worked On the final night of our first cruise, we got a note in our room and a call to let us know to meet at Guest Services at 9:15 a.m. the next day to get off the ship. There was only one couple aside from us doing back-to-backs. We had to wait a little while to get off because for some reason they were a little slower clearing the boat. A lot of people seemed to be sitting around waiting for something. Not sure what. The DCL folks seemed surprised by the delay. Not a big deal. We got off sometime after 9:30 a.m., Id say.
A DCL crew member walked with us through customs and back up to the port area. They told us wed be checked on in a little bit. But then I think they forgot us until the other couple asked about getting checked on (they already begun checking others on at this point.) As soon as they asked, DCL checked us in, took our pics and walked us back on board.
Some of the doors were locked down, I guess for testing, so we couldnt get back into our room right away. We went to Cove Café, as we were told to do on our note. They said kids could go there as well until others started to board the boat. But some crew members were enjoying the area, and the guy working there didnt seem to get the memo that we were supposed to come there. He said our daughter wasnt supposed to be there, and he didnt want to give us a couple glasses of water (instead, wanted to sell us drinks.) We explained we were doing back-to-backs, so he gave us the glasses of water. And then we decided to head out so our daughter wouldnt disturb anyone. Plus, we had heard by then that the test they were doing with the doors was over, so we figured we could get in our room.
A CM had to open the main door to our walkway, so then we were good to go. At about 11:45 we headed down to Parrot Cay for lunch. We were the first ones in there, and it was really nice.
And because we were Back-to-Back cruisers (at least thats what they told us) we had special gifts every day in our room. We came back to a nice fruit bowl the first day, cookies another day, a cheese platter and finally a chocolate, dessert platter. It was just very thoughtful, and helped make our trip even more special.
Also, the last night of the 3-night cruise, we took our tips to the dining staff. We had only gone in one day. (we did Palo another day, and the CC day we went to an early show instead of early dining so we could get to bed earlier. We just had dinner out on deck 9 while our daughter swam and played with one of her friends.) So anyway, the head server seemed very worried that we hadnt returned since the first night. He said he could come eat breakfast at anytime the next morning, so we wouldnt to get up so early. And when I asked if we could select our rotation and asked what our options were, he said, What would you like. And then he gave us that rotation (Tritons, Animators Palate, Animators Palate and Parrot Cay.) He was great the rest of the trip as well, and Ill mention him quite a bit on our trip report, Im sure.
If we had wanted to add or change a Palo reservation, we could have done that the last night of the cruise too. We wanted to cancel ours, since we had already gone on the first one. It was easy to change.
Pros of Back-to-Back
--You really get to know the crew, and they are some wonderful people. We enjoyed getting to know each of them better.
--DCL was very nice about giving us little treats. Not sure if they do it every time, but we loved it.
--Since you can see each show twice, you can also choose to do other things. So we saw the shows on our first cruise, and then on the second cruise we spent time swimming at night, going to other activities and just overall enjoying relaxing times.
--Two stops at Castaway Cay, which we loved!
Cons
--Two life jacket drills
--You kind of lose a good portion of one day because all of the services are shut down as people are leaving the boat.
Bottom line is we would choose a 7 night over 3 and 4 nights back-to-back. That being said, if we got a great deal again, wed probably do B2Bs again. Of course, wed now like to try B2B 7 night cruises or just try longer cruises all together. So much to look forward to.
I think we're going to try to book a 7 nighter the next cruise though, we want to see some different ports and just have more time on the ship.
