Cruise/Kids

[debbie in Seattle]

All our kids are grown and am thinking on using my points for a cruise with DCL. I know it's Disney and there are kids, but just how many, lots, tolerable, etc etc etc? Not kid bashing, but once the kids are grown and gone, it's a
whole 'nother world out there!!

 

[Muushka]

We are kidless (never had 'em!) and we went on a DCL cruise last year.

We found the kiddos great on our cruise. In fact, I don't remember mumbling the word "brat" once! DCL has a few "adults only" places. There is a pool, a restaurant, and a coffee bar/reading room/listening room also. And I am not sure about this, but I think some of the clubs are adult only after a certain time. Even Castaway Cay has an adult only beach. So you can escape from the kiddos.

We chose the late seating for the purpose of avoiding little ones at dinner. I must say we had great dinners with no crying kids.

I wouldn't hesitate to book DCL because of the "kid factor".

 

[Stimpy]

We been on 3 DCL cruises, 1 with no children, 2 with. Disney does a excellent job of keeping the children and families seperate from the adults. At the final kids show they tell you how many kids were on board and you never would have guessed there were that many. I think our last cruise, there were almost 1000 kids! I would definately sail DCL if it was just DH and me again.

 

[SafariTigger]

My DH and I took a Disney Cruise for our honeymoon and we had an amazing time!! There are enough places on the ship that are adult only (highly recommend Palo!!) and the ones that weren't we found the kids to be very well behaved (Disney does a wonderful job of keeping them entertained). Also when you get to Castaway Cay you can take the shuttle to the other side of the island to the adult only beach which is almost like having a private beach! We would definitly do another Disney cruise with or without children.

 

[debloco]

You might want to check out some of the trip reports on the DCL forum. There was a very good one recently about a couple who did a cruise w/o their kids.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=713301

There is also a thread here on the DVC forum about using your points for cruises or renting them out that has great info.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=830394

We're doing a "couple only" cruise on DCL in Oct. for my birthday and we paid cash (but didn't bother renting out points for a 4 day).

 

[AreWeThereYet]

We took the cruise in 2002 when DDs were 10 and 12. Had a great time - all of us. DW and I got away one night during the cruise and hit the adults only clubs and had a BLAST!! We would definitely consider taking the cruise alone - no questions.

 

[bobbiwoz]

DH and myself were on the 3night DCL cruise in November, and we were shocked when we found out the number of children that were on board! We were shocked because we knew that at no time were we overwhelmed by children. We had a wonderful time as a couple.

Bobbi

 

[eva]

We've cruised DCL twice since the kids have left the nest and we really loved it. We love the adult only sections of the boat and really enjoy the planned activities for adults, like the wine tasting. We also like doing some of the family activities too. It's great because you have a place to escape to if you have kiddo overload. Heads up, if you decide to cruise DCL with no children, expect to get weird looks from people when you tell them.

 

[wtpclc]

Dh and I did DCL in 2004. Saw the kids with characters and some in the shows, but do not remember feeling overrun by them. (We do like kids, but the unbehaved ones would have stuck out in my mind). USually, DCL tries to put the adults at the later dinner seating. So, you do not see them there, for the most part. That means that you are watching the shows when teh kids are eating. Again, not a lot of kids in the shows. I know there wer kids in some of the activities we did, but I never felt out of place or like I needed to get away from teh kids.

 

[cjb-nc]

Of the 5 or so cruise lines we've been on, Disney did the best job at keeping the kids occupied and away from the adults who did not want to be bothered. Obviously, the cruise is heavily kid-themed, but if you're reading this board you probably expect that already from Disney. (and love it, as we do) The difference seems to be, on a Disney cruise this is a vacation for the kids as well as the adults, where other cruise lines always seem (to me) to be the kids being dragged along on an adult vacation.

Go, and have fun!