DCL and the College Crowd: A Hit or Miss?

[OrcaPotter]

Hi there, Orca here and I'm new to the boards. I'm a local Orlando resident and have been the whole 22 years of my life. My family and I are fairly big Disney fans and have been going to the parks since I was in the womb! There isn't really anything of Disney we don't like (aside from the prices, hahah), so to quote the Griswalds: "We watch his videos and buy his merchindise!"

On to the reason for the post - We're experienced cruisers, with our first cruise having been on NCL's S/S Norway (which has been "retired" after that horrible boiler explosion a year or so ago) during spring break in 2003. We haven't been back since, but have been yearning to go. My family has been wanting to do a D-cruise since the line debuted, and got really close once but backed out when we couldn't get the dates we wanted nor a reasonable price. Now that I'm (hopefully) going to graduate from the University of Central Florida next spring, as well as my mother, whom is enrolled with the graduate program at the same university and also scheduled to grad next spring, we want to do something really special and would like to cruise again with the extended family.

My questions are, has anyone cruised with 20-somethings (on the younger side, 20-25) on Disney before and did they enjoy it? Was the volume of kids too much for them? Or are *you* a 20-something... did this effect your enjoyment of the cruise? I'm not really worried about all the Disney (it *is*, afterall, a Disney cruise and if I'm not at one of the parks or even on the property once every few months, I go into withdrawl) but was there enough to keep this age set entertained? After reading *a lot* of the cruise reports on here, it seems that's my only concern - all the kiddies underfoot. My parents are going to be 60 and 70 by next spring (when we'd like to cruise), my brother/sis-in-law are in their 30's, and my extended cousins are in the 50/60 range as well and are veteran cruisers of Carnival, RCCL, and Princess. My parents and I have only been one time, and that was on the much older Norway of NCL. *They* just like to sit and nap, but the others may want some more action.

But really, I'd like to know more about what those my age thought of the cruise. College spring breaks tend to be much earlier than public schools (late February/early March)... is that a good time to sail Disney with not as many kids? Or, we'd sail in May, as that's the end of the semester (commencment as the very beginning of the month, so the 20th sailing would be the only option).

Looking forward to meeting other Disney-ites... most of my friends are fans, but not to the same extent ~_^

 

[rotary2808]

Welcome to the boards. My husband & I are both in our early 20's and have been on Disney. Went with my parents. Actually going back in September together. My husband & I had a great time. You won't really see the kids that much. They have pretty much the intire 5 deck to themselves and I think most parents have a hard time getting them to leave. If you do get tired of seeing kids, there are plenty of adult only areas to go enjoy. There is an adult only pool, you can go to the spa and there is also a little cafe near the adult only pool you can relax in. There is a club area you can go to, they have great shows in there.

As far as cruising time, I'd go with the Feb./Mar. as May would be close to summer break and there might be more kids. Right now the Magic is going over to the west coast and they are doing two repositioning cruises through the Panama Canal. This one only has around 300 kids on it and the one coming back in August is expecting around 1000.

I think you'll really enjoy it!! Congrats on you and your mom's upcoming graduations!!

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

I would suggest that you bring a friend along on the trip, that way you will have someone to hang out with if there aren't others your age onboard. We went on the 3 night cruise last June with my 16 & 20 year old daughters. The 16 year old had a blast, but there were very few 20 year olds (or even in the 20 - 25 year old range) on board for our oldest to hang out with...actually, she never met a single person her age, and she is pretty outgoing! She enjoyed the cruise, but when we suggested doing it again for this summer, she asked us to please choose another cruiseline where there might be more people her age onboard. On our particular cruise, they didn't offer a meet & greet for the 20 - 25 year olds, which would have been a great opportunity to meet others her age, but I have heard several people report that Disney did offer this on other cruises. Possibly it wasn't offered on ours because of the relatively few people in that age group that were sailing.

Also, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about all the little kids being underfoot. I honestly can't think of a single time while on the ship that I felt like we were surrounded by tons of kids! So I would say, go for it! You will love the ship and all that Disney has to offer, but bring along a friend to hang out with!

 

[CM_Mom]

Especially if you're going with a large family group, whether you enjoy it a lot or not depends on whether you enjoy hanging out with family and/or doing things by yourself.

We cruised last May with DH and me, Mom and Aunt (80 somethings) and DD the CM (26). Granted that she's a little different since she was cruising as a guest on a ship that she had just finished working on for 4 months so the times she wasn't hanging out with me she had crewmates she could at least say hi to.

As long as you understand that this is Disney, not some swinging singles atmosphere, you should have a great time.

One of the things we like about DCL (aside from being prejudiced since DD works there) is that they keep the Adult Only areas for Adults ONLY so although there may be 1000 kids on the ship, you aren't tripping over them everywhere you go. But the kids add a special dimension. Nothing is as precious as the look on a childs face when they interact with the Characters.

Also, if you know when you're thinking of going, check out the Cruise Meet thread for the specific cruise you're thinking of taking and see if there are others your age posting.

 

[OrcaPotter]

Thanks everybody! All of your advice is really helpful. I was actually going to try and convince my best friend to go with me for the sole reason of making sure there's at least one person I know/my age to talk to, too. When I went on my first cruise on NCL, despite the huge college crowd, they were all groups of friends and weren't up to being social outside of their clique.

My brother and his family went back in 2000 or something, and he had mentioned the fact that you don't really notice all the kids. His in-laws (his brother-in-law being a cast member) go by themselves annually without kids, so I guess that's more testament as well.

I'll be sure to discuss the time of cruising with the family, too, when/if time comes to plan it. I'm not sure how far in advance my school posts their breaks, but I'll mention the issue with the family and see if they'd rather try for spring break than in May - I just know that we'd like to do a Western cruise, since we did Eastern last time.

Thanks again, everybody! If I get lucky enough to go, I'll be sure to post all the info to the Cruise Meet thread to find others!

 

[OrcaPotter]

Thank you so much!

 

[jordgubben]

DH and I are 26. We LOVE WDW and had a great time on our recent Western Caribbean. Don't worry about the kids. We were told there were 1000 minors on board but we didn't feel like we were tripping over them.

I would go. Especially if you are a disney fanatic.

PS... Having someone to hang out with is always a good idea no matter what age you are.

 

[disneymusical135]

Hello there!

I am 20 years old and I thought that I would give my views on the cruise to you. I have been on 7 disney cruises and going back on number 8 this summer. I absolutely love the DCL. There are not many people around our age on the cruise, but I have found that the people that are, are a lot of fun and are just as eager to meet people as I am. I have made a few friends each year that I still keep in touch with. You just have to go on the ship with a great attitude and not be shy. They have a lunch where the cruise staff actaully eats with people in our age group and thats a lot of fun. I have gotten to know people on the cruise staff really well. The DCL is truly magical and I really feel like it meets its goal to serve EVERYONE.

Oh and as for the little kids, don't worry about them, they have so much fun with whatever they are doing on Deck 5, you forget that they are even there.

Enjoy your cruise!

Chris

 

[OrcaPotter]

Thanks, Chris! That's good to know. I'm a little shy but in the right atmosphere I don't have any problems - it sounds great ^_^ Now I just hope I end up going! lol.