Disney Cruise sans children?

[UrsulasDaBomb]

I know this has probably been asked before but I'll ask anyway.What is the advantage/disadvantage to doing a Disney Cruise when you don't have children?DH and I are childfree at the moment and we are saving for a Disney cruise to be taken within the next two-three years.From what I"ve heard/seen Disney cruises are oriented mostly(it seems)to those with kids.Would a Disney Cruise be interesting enough for those of us without kids to enjoy it?
TYIA.

Gail(UDB)

 

[disneydudette1]

We're 3 middle aged women who love the Disney cruise. Of course we love Disney! We are going on our second cruise next month and planning another probably next year.

Why?
1. Classy ship, beautiful (people on a cruise liner docked next to ours were taking pictures of our ship, we weren't taking pictures of theirs. Tee Hee!)

2. Adult only activities, pool, etc

3. The staff are great

4. Other cruisers who appreciate Disney

5. Food! restaurants

6. Cabins are more spacious from what I understand.

7. Characters (not the people, but you saw us you would say Characters.

And on, and on, and on....

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

Thanks for the advice dudette.Is one ship better than the other?I've heard there are three different ships,but is one more adult friendly than the other two?What are the differences in theming,etc in the ships?

Gail(UDB)

 

[Michelle]

Gail, the ships are basically identical, just decor differences and a few different names for the dining rooms and adult nightclub areas.

The difference is the Wonder does 3- and 4-night Bahamian cruises and the Magic does 7-night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises.

 

[disneydudette1]

They are both basically the same. The Magic is used for the 7 day cruises, the Wonder is for the 4 day cruises. The Wonder is the younger ship. Both have 3 restaurants that you rotate through each nite and an adult only restaurant. Each restaurant has a unique theme. The only difference is on the Magic one of the restaurants is called Lumiere's ; the sister restaurant on the Wonder is called Triton's. The clubs are adult only after 9pm, adult only pool, on Cataway Cay there is an adult only beach etc. They are very kind to those without children.

Some posters on this board have great web sites with pictures, Navigators (the daily activity logs) etc. I wish I could remember some of them but many have links from their posts so check them out.

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

Wow..such a wealth of info!Thanks,dudette and Michelle.Guess I need to do some more research into this huh?
Just out of curiosity,which is better..a 3/4 nite cruise or a 7 day cruise?

Gail(UDB)

 

[TnRobin]

7 night totally.

Much better shopping.

 

[disneydudette1]

3 would be too short for me.
4 was a tease.
I will let you know in a month about the 7. Doing the Eastern so we have 4 days at sea!!! I love being at sea. Maybe cause I'm a Navy brat! It's in my blood!

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

Ok..so what website has the best information about Disney cruises?I've also been thinking about going to Barnes N Nobles to see if they have a guidebook on Disney cruises because I am so danged curious!
Thanks for any information you might have.I need all the ammo I can get to convince my husband we need to do this.

Gail(UDB)

PS..if you have AOL,look me up on AIM.I am catphreek21.

 

[SQUIGGLE]

Adult DD & I have done 4 DCL cruises (3 day, 4 day, 7 day Eastern & 7 day Western); and number 5 - a May 2003 Eastern is coming up in 34 weeks ( we missed some things the first time). If you are into Disney you will LOVE the cruise. There are lots of adult things to do; but you can also see the characters and let the child in you out a bit. Of course, the service is unbelievable!
One warning though --- A DCL cruise is very, very addictive!

Oh! I vote for the 7 day too; love thoe sea days.

disneydudette1 - we got a kick out of all the people taking pictures of "our" ship too. Have seen it at several ports now.

 

[mmouse37]

We have done 6 DCL cruises. We were actually on the inaugural sailing of the Magic back on July 30th of '98 and got hooked. We have taken 5 with the teens and 1 alone for our 20th anniversary. We definiately prefer the 7 night cruise.

Here are two links to our recent 8/3 Magic Western Itinerary cruise. There are photos of the ship interior/exterior/clubs/restaurants, etc. plus some pics of some of our shore exursions.

http://community.webshots.com/album/47984596ZcaNXp


http://community.webshots.com/album/48196942XWkiMx

Click on the View Slideshow for easiest viewing. If you have a dial up modem, it may take a while for each pic to load. It goes fast if you have cable, etc.

MJ

 

[JLSE50]

We have been on a 4 night and a 7 night MAGIC cruise and one 4 night cruise with Royal Caribbean
On a scale of 1-10 the RCCL gets 7s in friendliness, helpfulness, cleanliness, spaciousness, food, entertainment, etc.
The DCL MAGIC gets 10s. We travel as a couple. We are 53 and are going again soon. DCL is a perfect vacation.

For more information check the DIS information pages:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-overview.htm

Barb and Tony have this site:
http://www.castawayclub.com

Dave-from-Marietta has this site:
http://www.dcltribute.com/

These are good:
http://hometown.aol.com/entropym/pages/index.htm
http://home.att.net/~pete-williams/magic/magic.htm
http://www.yourweatherman.com/disney.html#
http://www.wdwig.com/cruise.htm

This has history of Castaway Cay (Disney's private island):
http://web.outsidemag.com/magazine/0199/9901blackbeard.html

Have fun researching and deciding what is best for you and yours. Feel free to ask questions any time. These Boards are great for finding answers--there are wonderful people here!

Jan

 

[gfolchick]

Hubby and I sailed without our kids (who were 2 and 4) in May 2001. We had such a great time that I almost don't want to take them with us next May. We are Disney fans but chose not to "find" the characters too often. We had our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie on Formal night, did the character breakfast (we were on 7 day) and enjoyed the deck party that they were in. Other than that, we didn't feel that we were overdone with what could be seen as "kid" activities. We enjoyed the Wine Tasting, Behind the Scenes, Art of Entertaining, late night adult shows, dinners with no kids, etc. We were busy all the time (my hubby is not one for sitting by the pool reading a book!) The ship is beautiful, the staff and crew are very "Disney" in that they go out of their way to provide a great experience for you. It was our best vacation (better than our honeymoon). Can't wait to go back in May 2003 (Western).

 

[Bride2BeIn2003]

bump

 

[minniecarousel]

We've done two of the three-day cruises w/o kids. We just booked our next 3-day cruise for next July, taking our adult children. We have been quite content with the 3-day cruises, because we like going to WDW too and we just can't take the time to do both. We would've changed to the 4-day cruise this time, but our DSs expressed interest in making sure they have time in WDW (which is what they know - neither has ever been on a cruise).
I believe that the next time DH & I do a cruise it will be one of Disney's 7-day (unless we decide to go on an Alaskan cruise.)

 

[Denine]

mid 30's, no kids. We have been on the 4 day twice and the 7 day once. We have back-to-back 7-day cruises next month. We love it!

 

[shellgoodman]

We just got back from the 7 day. Our kids, 4 & 2, loved everything about the trip. We had a great time also as the kids loved the club and nursery at night. We were able to go out every night alone and saw the Greek Wedding movie. The service was first rate and all the children onboard seemed well behaved. I can't imagine any other cruise line being so accommodating to children in fact on other lines people seem just plain annoyed that children are onboard.

The food in the dining rooms was ok with some nights being better than others. We enjoyed the first 2 or 3 nights at dinner and then it seemed to go downhill for us. My daughter had her first Shirley Temple and this brought back fond memories of my own childhood. Palos was fantastic and we wished we had gone again (which many people were doing). No problem with getting reservations at all.

All that being said, here are some negatives that we experienced. My DH and I were a bit bored on the at sea days. We participated with the Art of Entertaining series, bingo and my husband went to the spa. I realize I am not going to be too popular here but that is how we felt. The one thing that is missing is a casino which I understand wouldn't fit the Disney mold per se. We are not big gamblers at all but it gives you something to do. We thought the pools were cute but the fumes from the smokestack was overwhelming to us when at sea. Depending where you sat in the chairs, the smell could be very strong or weaker but it was always there. Some folks didn't notice or didn't care but we did. We stopped going there mid- week. Because of the position of the smokestacks and the wind, the adult pool seemed fine but we couldn't bring the kids there.

All in all, we had a wonderful time and we certainly brought home lots of memories. We haven't stopped talking about our trip. I am researching our next cruise but I am looking at other cruise lines to see if perhaps there is a good childrens program and more excitement for us adults. I doubt anyone can come close to Disney's kids program but I would like to try at least. Good luck with whatever you do!