DCL for couples w/o kids

[UGAFan0829]

I was just wondering how many of you here are couples who don't have children but love cruising on DCL?
I was just asking this question because on our recent cruise I kinda felt like people looked at us funny because we didn't have any children with us. I'm a kid at heart and love Disney, so I had a good time on the cruise. And I wasn't shy about going up to the characters to have my picture taken. I just felt like other people wouldn't talk to us or were rude simply because we did not have any children with us. Please know that I'm not stereotyping when I say this, and I know that all people on DCL aren't this way, I'm just relaying my experience to you guys to find out what you think.

 

[agotta]

We are going on our first cruise this April, but have no kids. We visit Disney once a year, that is where we met also. We love Disney and are trying to get a lot of things done before we have kids. There are just somethings that I wouldn't do with small kids, and I don't want to wait 15 years!! Lol. You can add us to that list of big kids

Amanda

 

[DisneyDreamer8]

I was just wondering how many of you here are couples who don't have children but love cruising on DCL?
I was just asking this question because on our recent cruise I kinda felt like people looked at us funny because we didn't have any children with us. I'm a kid at heart and love Disney, so I had a good time on the cruise. And I wasn't shy about going up to the characters to have my picture taken. I just felt like other people wouldn't talk to us or were rude simply because we did not have any children with us. Please know that I'm not stereotyping when I say this, and I know that all people on DCL aren't this way, I'm just relaying my experience to you guys to find out what you think.

DH and I don't have kids yet but have gone on three cruises. We have our fourth booked!!! We absolutly love DCL but we are Disney Nuts so go figure. On our cruises we have never met anybody who was rude to us because we didn't have kids. Some may have acted surprised but one we told them we are just kids at heart they seemed to understand. I hope the people you encountered don't discourage you from cruising again.

 

[MrsMork]

DH and I are "old" kids. We have cruised with grandkids, with our grown kids and grandkids and just by ourselves 3 times. We have 3 more booked, 2 of them without kids. We get pictures with the characters each cruise. We have gotten acquainted with lots of couples on the ship with no kids. We have never gotten any feeling that we were out of place.

 

[webray]

Hubby and I cruise Disney with no kids (well, once we took our youngest..lol, she is 22). We don't feel out of place at all..there are plenty of people without kids.

 

[Hercules10]

couple of DINKs (Dual Income No Kids) checking in.

People always ask me about DCL being a 'kid's cruise'. Disney has lots of adult only activities as well as adult only areas. And they seem to take great care to enforce the 18 and over rules.

 

[faireygod mother]

Dh and I are going on a cruise next week with no kids. There were also some childless cruiser on our cruise in November. It is amazing how many people realize that they can go without their children after seeing people with children. Me included.

 

[glindamood]

DH and I have cruised twice on the Magic without the boys - I get some strange looks when I tell people off the ship what our favorite line is but never anyone on board.

 

[plutojudy]

We have cruised five times with Disney, all without children. We never felt out of place or uncomfortable. We love it and always meet other couples cruising without their children.

 

[gdulaney]

We don't have kids either, but love cruising on DCL.

Ginny

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I have cruised with Disney 4 times and I do not have any children. 3 out of those 4 times were with my ex-boyfriend at the time. People at work think I am crazy that I cruise on Disney and not have kids, but I just love the service and the ship.

 

[Cruisin]

How would people even know that you don't have any children with you unless they asked you???

Whenever we take our teenage daughter on a cruise, she is very rarely in our company except at dinner in the dining room.

Just wandering around the ship there is no way for anyone to tell if you are childless or not. Most kids are happily occupied with their own interests on board leaving their parents to spend their time however they wish.

 

[mrsdon]

Dh and I went on the 7 day Eastern in Feb or 04.
We sat at a table of 10 and all of us were crusing without children,
Our ages ranged from late 30's to early 50's.
My DH and I are early 40's.

 

[musicgirl]

On our last cruise, we didn't sail with kids, well.....we did take our ds-13 so it was really like being without!!! LOL!!!

It was great!!!! We did dinner together and excursions. We had a blast hanging out at the adult pool and in the rainforest just chatting with people, real adults!!! We are both teachers, ds is one of our students it's nice to talk to sane people!!!!

We got to know a couple, they didn't believe we really had a ds with us until immigration morning when he had to be with us!!!

I agree, most people have no idea if you have kids or not. We were alone alot and no one ever said anything.

 

[bengals01]

i have been 17 times, and love every minute, it is great when you hear the word mom, you just look and smile, i love watching the kids, and seeing there expressions and the clothes they wear for dinner, i have 2 more scheduled this year halloween week and the week before xmas, cant wait, trying to squeeze another one in the next 6 weeks,

 

[bbowers]

DH and I have no kids (52 and almost-42, respectively) (at least, no kids we can take on a cruise - our babies all have 4 legs) and our very first cruise, just last year, was Disney. We own in DVC and both of us wear Disney sweatshirts to work all winter long. (Just about every day for me (I'm self-employed and figure people are paying for my brain, not my clothing) and every Friday for DH.) Our bathroom is Disney-fied...

I don't think it's all that unusual. Now if there were a Barney cruise ship, then it might be odd seeing no-kid couples there (unless, of course, the service, etc was as fantastic as Disney!).

 

[WDWLVR]

Another pair of DINKS checking in. Just got off cruise #6 and have two more booked. The adult areas of DCL are wonderful. We've also cruised with some wonderful friends we've met on these boards who have kids and have enjoyed sharing time with them.

Disney does a great job of making the kids and the adults happy!

 

[smchan]

I've cruised twice without my kids and once with the kids. The cruises were fun and a fantastic way to re-connect with my wife without distractions of work and other busy activities.

That said, I love cruising and DCL is great, but I'm looking to try a different cruise line now as I'm getting tired of the same food, the same shows, the same activities, etc. From my experiences, I think DCL is probably one of the best cruise lines for families, but I have a feeling there are better options for couples only.

Mind you, some folk prefer consistency and great service, and you'll definitely get that with DCL. My wife loves it and if it weren't for my wanting new experiences, we'd always go to WDW and DCL. I'm the kind of guy that likes to vacation with little more than plane tickets, a rental car, and a map.

Sam

 

[chipanddalenuts]

We are Disney people. We go to WDW at least once a month. We got strange looks from friends when we announced our first cruise would be the 4 day WONDER. Loved it so much that we booked the MAGIC West coast. I think DCL should have 1 adults only character meet. I felt guilty getting in line in front of the little kiddos.

 

[mkymouse4ever]

My sister and I have no kids and are taking our 2nd wonder cruise. We are huge disney fans. So really only interested in cruising disney. Our friends and co-workers all do the "your going to wdw again?" thing. Or why not go here or there, instead? BUT only disneyfiles "know". Just not interested, to go somewhere else. We do not have kids. WE like kids, work with kids, just don't have kids. Kids don't bother us at all. BUT I agree with the original poster; we did get a few strange looks from a couple of people during our 1st cruise when we attended some things. The deck party I felt uncomfortable a few times by some people like we were invading a family function, without a family? (hard to put into words) (looks like where are your kids?). Just uncomfortable? Also the same situation occurred with photo's wanted a nice picture with sister; and got the rush from people behind us in line, like "they don't have a family & they're getting there picture taken?" or we didn't even consider character signings, thought this would be worse so just skipped it all togther, and got pictures at wdw, instead. No one directly said a comment to us, just things you could over hear, or get a look from someone.

Of course, this is not enough to keep us from going again. I'm striking it up to a few strange people, missing some personal magic / wonder. And we are going to go and enjoy the deck party, and everything else on the ship!

Mky