Cruise for young couples?

[florida-again]

Sorry to post twice, should have put these both together....

I wondered if the3 night cruise to the bahamas had a lot to offer young couples, without having to pay for extras such as spa treatments?

Are the facilities that are included in the price enough to keep a couple without kids occupied? I'm concerned it will be more geared towards families and young kids.

 

[castlegazer]

Check out the navigators on castaway club dot com.

DCL, from my research as I haven't cruised them yet, acts like any other cruise line while at sea and at ports. My husband and I have been cruising since we were in our 20s. What we uually do on a cruise pre-kids is to enjoy reading on deck, drinking pina coladas, doing some of the activities, going to the shows and exploring the islands. All these things are available on a Disney Cruise. There are sepcial adults only areas, special areas to get drinks, secret decks like Deck 7 to sit and read quietly, and the shows are spectacular. The ports are all the same as any other cruise line would go to - and the shore excursions are the same too. (we did the St. John Eco-Hike and it was awesome!). The activities are also geared to adults while on board such as the entertaining series of lessons, bingo, and other ones - the only thing DCL doesn't have is a casino. Everything else seems to me to be just like any other cruise line would offer - with the addiition of Disney Magic, Pixie Dust, and characters.

 

[disnut8]

Well, we're not a young couple (in our 40s), we've never cruised before, and we're going for seven days. We're not getting anything extra except maybe a Rainforest for me once in a while. No excursions, no spa stuff, no Palo's, nothing like that. And I'm worried we won't be able to do everything we want to do. So I'd say, yes, there'll be plenty for you to do on the three day.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

We've done more Disney Cruises as childless couples than with children. So far, I've enjoyed the "without" kids more.

 

[jrabbit]

Your minimum budget for two people on a three night cruise is a total of : $65.00 (that's using DCL's gratuity guide for your tips to your Server, Assistant Server, Head Server and Stateroom Host).

Beyond that you don't have to spend another cent (oh, but Disney does a good job in enticing you to spend more money). But the professional pictures are tempting and there are a lot of very cute souveneers for purchase.

Your meals are included. Nightly entertainment is included. The clubs are included. Most activities on the ship throughout the day are included, movies in the theater are free (snacks are not).

Whats not included are: shore excursions (but you can get off of the ship and explore Nassau for free - and Castaway Cay is included), spa treatments, "adult" beverages (and some "kids" ones like smoothies), wine with dinner (if you want), video games have a charge.

In short, you can have a great time on a limited budget once you get onboard. Some people spend thousands of dollars once on board, but you don't have to - we don't and we still have a great time (our money goes to pictures, frames and excursions).

 

[jrabbit]

BTW, heres my standard answer to the question ....

What can you spend money on onboard?

Family of 4 on a seven night cruise will generate a "standard" gratuity of about $305. If the family of 4 goes on a 4 night cruise the gratuity would be about $175. Some people don't tip (don't go there ). Some just the standard, some a little more and some tip a LOT more :yes:: yes the service is THAT good).

If you go to Palo there is a service charge of $10 per person. You should tip above this service charge for "using the room" Some people kick in an extra $10 per person, others have said that they've tipped $100 -- Wow!!

Room service is free for most items on the menu (sodas and some items you have to pay for). Be sure to tip your "server" or is it runner in this case . DCL has reciently made it possible to tip your server on your KTTW card.

Room service There are items on the menu that Do carry a charge -soda and the other chargable beverages along with several food items.

You can purchase snacks at Preludes (outside of the Walt Disney Theater). There is candy and popcorn to buy.

Baskets and Cruise Gifts I don't know if you can order these once you are on board but you can most definately order them before your cruise. DCL includes a brochure with your cruise documents.

Depending upon the ages of your children (or if your DW is gosh darn beautiful ) Shutters may be a big ticket item. The 6x8 (small) photos are around $10 each. I don't remember how much the formal (large) photos are (maybe $20 each).

If you have a child that is not yet potty trained (and 3 or younger) you can "hire a babysitter" at Flounders. You are able to initally reserve 3 time slots for your child. Later in the cruise you can see if you can get any additional times (if you need more mommy and daddy private time ) This is different than the Club, Lab or the Stack / Aloft - which are included in your cruise fees for kids from age 3 to 17.

If you stick to the drink of the day, they will run you $3.50 each (which isn't too bad). Otherwise the prices go up from there (but still are not outrageous!!) Speciality Drinks - like coffees, smoothies etc carry a charge. Smoothies run about $5.00 each with manditory tip.

If you buy the wine package for dinner the cost is $185 to $250 depending upon the package purchased. If you buy wine by the bottle I believe you can count on $50 per bottle (but if you each only drink 1 glass each, it will last for two nights and your waiters will take care of it for you!)

There is also a "water package" that you can purchase for dinners. Why , I don't know, the water that the ship "makes" is wonderful.

Shore excursions really add up. Even if you do a "cheep" $45 excursion that's $180 for the family.

If you do the wine tasting class onboard there's a cost and I really don't know how much it is because I don't like wine that much.

Spa treatments run from $83 to well over $200 per person per treatment (count on at least $100 ).

Arcade cards for the kids. Denominations start at $10 and go up from there.

Now for the souvineers: you can get some small plastic figurine for $5. If you want a tee shirt, think at least $35, polo shirts are well over $50. A DCL frame for one of your 6x8 pictures will run you $18 to $20. Lots of fun stuff to buy for the whole family at Mickey's Mates. Then across the hall is the Treasure Ketch and that stuff is generally way more expensive!!

Then there's the "store" that's between Rock'n Bar D and Diversions on the Magic (its in the same location on the Wonder-just different Club Names) that sells tobaco and alcohol products. I believe that any alcohol you purchase CAN NOT be consumed onboard. They will deliver it to you close to disembarkation time.

Some people have a Bingo habit that costs them a ton of $$$$. I believe that it's $35 for 5 or 6 games. Haven't done it so I really don't know.

Hairbrading onboard has a per braid charge.

Landry: You’ll need money if you plan on using the Self Service Landry’s on the ship. You'll need even more money if you use the onboard Landry and Pressing service that DCL offers!

Other people have talked about spending money onshore. Unless its at Castaway Cay, thats a different bill from your onboard account.

I think thats all of the areas that you can spend money ON the ship.

 

[Jsme]

If I am remembering correctly you guys are from out of the country and you are only 18 or 19.

You both will be able to go into the adult only areas and enjoy them except for the drinking. There is plenty to do that will keep you busy on your cruise. You will not have to spend any extra $$ for drinks if you go to the self serving station. You can't drink alcohol so that will be one less expense. If you are interested in a spa treatment you can do the Rainforest and that is fairly inexpensive. As far as food it is free unless you go to Palo's, which really is a must. It costs an additional $10 pp surcharge and any tip you wish to leave. You will have to pay for any speciality coffee you may order in the resturants or Quiet Cove Cafe. Also if you want a snack for a movie you will have to pay for that.
All entertainment onboard is free unless you play Bingo. We are going without our children in a month simply because we wanted to cruise Disney without them. I look forward to having a nice time.

 

[florida-again]

I'm struggling to find any reports or reviews for couples who have travelled alone (well...together I guess) but with no kids or anyone else.

I'd be really interested to hear both trip reports and reviews from people who travelled in a couple.

I'd particularly be interested to know what you did on your trip, how you found it being around so many kids and how you found it sitting with others at dinner.

thanks!

 

[Disney with Triplets]

In my personal and very humble opinion, I'd sail another line such as Princess or RCCL if I wasn't taking my children. The premium we pay for a DCL cruise brings aboard amenities that are geared towards kids and families. Yes, couples without children can (and have) traveled and had awesome trips on DCL; however, there are other cruise lines (Princess and RCCL are my favorites) that are less expensive than DCL, are in the same category of "nice/luxury" as DCL with more itenerary choices and many more on-board choices. DCL is a smaller ship considering some ships that other lines have in the water and a significant portion of the boat is devoted to family oriented activities - there are entire decks and/or sections devoted exclusively to children and teenagers. On other cruise lines we've sailed, they didn't have to have "adult-only" areas since there were rarely any children around...

 

[florida-again]

In my personal and very humble opinion, I'd sail another line such as Princess or RCCL if I wasn't taking my children. The premium we pay for a DCL cruise brings aboard amenities that are geared towards kids and families. Yes, couples without children can (and have) traveled and had awesome trips on DCL; however, there are other cruise lines (Princess and RCCL are my favorites) that are less expensive than DCL, are in the same category of "nice/luxury" as DCL with more itenerary choices and many more on-board choices. DCL is a smaller ship considering some ships that other lines have in the water and a significant portion of the boat is devoted to family oriented activities - there are entire decks and/or sections devoted exclusively to children and teenagers. On other cruise lines we've sailed, they didn't have to have "adult-only" areas since there were rarely any children around...

I don't really mind that stuff, we are only 20 and I've heard we would be a lot younger than most people on the other cruises. I don't mind being surrounded by kids, i'm used to it. To be honest....we're not old enough to cruise with anyone but disney, most cruise lines require someone over 21, if not 25!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

While I've never put together a cruise report, I'll reiterate that DW and I have enjoyed DCL MORE as a "couple" than we've enjoyed it as a "family".

DCL has a lot to offer adults-only. There's the adults only pool, adult beach (on CC), vista spa (excersize room), Palo (extra $$) and "adults only" evening shows in the clubs.

And if you want to minimize the number of children around you, go for 2nd seating at dinner. Most of the "families" will young kids will try for 1st seating. That means fewwer kids at 2nd seating and fewwer kids during the 1st evening show. The five times we cruised as a couple, we were always seated for dinner with only other couples.

And here's an interesting statistic... while I don't remember the numbers exactly, the Western Repo had EVERY SINGLE CABIN BOOKED. Yet there were only about 2000 "guests" rather than the more typical 2500 "guests" (there was a larger percentage of couples only because parents didn't want to take kids out of school for two weeks near the end of the school year - care to guess where all those extra missing children are going to turn up??? the Eastern Repo is going to be a little more crowded).

 

[UGAFan0829]

Just my 2 cents here--
The DH and I are both in our mid and late 20's. We don't have kids. We did the 3 night back in January and LOVED it. There are a lot of things to do to occupy your time without having to spend money on spa treatments and such. Yes, there are a lot of families on board, and a lot of children, but it was never bad. I mean, it wasn't like, "If I hear one more child cry, I'm going to scream." It wasn't like that at all. In fact the DH and I liked it so much, that we are cruising again next January, and we can't wait. It was almost as though we were in our own little world at times. To me, it's all about what you make of it!