First cruise advice

Pkltm

Canadian Mouse Girl
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
Messages
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Hi fellow Disers! DH and I planning our first ever cruise on DCL of course for our 20th Anniversary in the fall of 2017. We have visited WDW and DL many times but never been on any type of cruise. Just thought I would get opinions on if we should start with a 4 day cruise or go for a 7 day, and if & western or eastern?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!
 
7 day, and either Easter. Western.

To me 3/4 days are far too short, as soon as you get on, your off.

7 nights are fantastic a proper vacation.

Unless someone could well be susceptible to bad sea sickness do the longer cruise, the sea days are great and a good schedule of shows.

Eastern - a bit more sea days, and a bit more sand and shopping.
Western, normally another port, and a bit less at sea, goes normally a bit further south, and more history like Myans, - has best dolphin interactions.
 
I would go for the 7 day cruise if you can. As for the itinerary, depends on you guys and what you want to go for. Check out the shore excursions and ports for each of the trips and see if that helps. If you're worried about seasickness and sea days, pack some gravol and you should be fine. They have ginger ale at the dining rooms for meal hours if you get queasy, not sure about the pop stands.
 
I would personally prefer a seven-day cruise. With that said, some people get on a cruise ship and immediately hate it, so they end up spending seven days generally unhappy (seasickness, confined space, whatever other reason they come up with). So for that reason, it would be good to perhaps consider the four-day cruise to get your cruising feet wet and see if it's something you enjoy before committing to a longer cruise.
 

I was miserable my first cruise. Seasickish, anxiety through the roof, overstimulated. It was a 7-day Eastern. I've since done a couple more 7-day Easterns, am leaving on a 7-day Alaska in a couple of days, have done a 4-day double dip and have booked another 5-day double dip as well as another 7-day Eastern. We're hooked on cruises now, and I'd rather spend my time on a boat than on land anymore unless I'm planted in a cottage in Key West. The 4-day double dip was not enough time at all. It felt rushed. The attitude of the passengers was even different. I'm glad it wasn't our first cruise. Seven days is just enough time, and the Eastern gives you more boat exploration time. I'm *still* finding things on the Fantasy that I didn't know existed.
 
My first cruise was a 7 day. I loved it. No sea sickness or anything like that on the ship. I actually liked the rocking. Coming back though I suffered from land sickness. Moving around and especially turning my head quickly would make my brain think I was still on the ship and I felt as if the ground was rolling. It was pretty severe for several days and gradually wore off over several weeks. This condition is not uncommon, but the percentage of people this happens to is pretty small. I just wanted to let you know that this could happen.

If you have any worries about a longer 7 day cruise, this is a good place to ask others for their advice. Some people get anxious that they won't enjoy themselves or that they will be bored. Others worry that they will be sea sick the whole time. Still others start to worry about being on a boat in the middle of the ocean. If you start to feel any apprehension address it here and you will find lots of encouragement, help, and advice.

Happy cruising!!
 
My first cruise was a 7 day. I loved it. No sea sickness or anything like that on the ship. I actually liked the rocking. Coming back though I suffered from land sickness.

My wife found the solution to this, at least for her. It involves not getting in the car and making the 10 hour drive back immediately. We have to go somewhere where we can walk around for a day or two to let her get her land legs back while moving around. Bonus? That means we get to stay at WDW or Universal for a few days after the cruise! I love her land sickness. It makes me happy. ;)
 
Thanks the responses!!! I am not worried about sea sickness. We are the type of people that don't really lay on the beach we like to see and do things, DCL seems like it has much to do. To give you an idea our mid-day park breaks to cool off are usually at a water park.
 
Definitely the 7 night. 4 night too short especially for your first cruise.
 
Our first cruise was for 3 nights and I thought it was fine. We wanted to see if we liked it, and we did, of course! We have still stayed with 3 or 4 nighters because we like to stay at Disney for some days too and can't justify two plane trips down in one year.
 
7 day cruise, if you can - or longer if time and money are not a concern!
Our first ever cruise was 7 days! Went by fast!
Our first Disney Cruise was 4 days - too short!
Next we did 5 days, that was better!

If you can't decide look for 5 or 6 days perhaps!
 
7 days for sure, at least that was our first cruise. We picked the Eastern partly because of the schedule working out best for us that way, but also because of the extra sea day. IMO if I'm cruising I'm paying to be on the ship first and the ports second, so the more sea days the better!
 
Thanks the responses!!! I am not worried about sea sickness. We are the type of people that don't really lay on the beach we like to see and do things, DCL seems like it has much to do. To give you an idea our mid-day park breaks to cool off are usually at a water park.

Do you have kids? I suspect not. When we cruised with kids (lil kids) Disney was our only choice (we had 20 plus cruises under our belt when Disney became an option ... Inaug' cruisers on M and W)

DCL seems like it has much to do.

Disney allocates a bunch of space to kids .... other cruise lines apply this space to adults, aka CASINO.

IMO the adult only portion of the ship on DCL is on par with the kids section on most other lines ....

do you see what I'm saying???????

OTHER cruise ships will have as much and probably MORE for adults to do ...... that's my experience anyway.

++++++++++++++++

My adult son and wife sail Disney every year and they love it ... no kids

I sailed Disney with kids for years and have no desire to return sans kids ....

dd is sailing on RCL Monday altho her brother invited her to sail with him on Disney last month ... her response was REALLY ... I want an adult cruise (for less $$)
 
Our first cruise was 3 days with some additional time at WDW and it was absolutely perfect for us. Some people say it's too short, but we felt like it was just the right amount of time to dip our toe in and see if we were happy with the experience. Our second cruise was 5-day and it also was great. We could have stayed longer, but we also had a great time and regret nothing. Next up we have a 7 night in Alaska. For our family, progressively longer seems to be the way to go. :)
 
Personally, I wouldn't go longer than 4 nights if you've never cruised before. We did a 4 night for our first and it was a perfect taste (we were quickly hooked), but not so long that if we hated it or got severely seasick we wouldn't have been able to suffer through it.
 
Thanks the responses!!! I am not worried about sea sickness. We are the type of people that don't really lay on the beach we like to see and do things, DCL seems like it has much to do. To give you an idea our mid-day park breaks to cool off are usually at a water park.

Do you have kids? I suspect not. When we cruised with kids (lil kids) Disney was our only choice (we had 20 plus cruises under our belt when Disney became an option ... Inaug' cruisers on M and W)

DCL seems like it has much to do.

Disney allocates a bunch of space to kids .... other cruise lines apply this space to adults, aka CASINO.

IMO the adult only portion of the ship on DCL is on par with the kids section on most other lines ....

do you see what I'm saying???????

OTHER cruise ships will have as much and probably MORE for adults to do ...... that's my experience anyway.

++++++++++++++++

My adult son and wife sail Disney every year and they love it ... no kids

I sailed Disney with kids for years and have no desire to return sans kids ....

dd is sailing on RCL Monday altho her brother invited her to sail with him on Disney last month ... her response was REALLY ... I want an adult cruise (for less $$)

We do have kids but we are leaving them at home for this one, they have been to WDW plenty of times.

We have briefly looked at other cruise lines, but DCL comes so highly recommended. We are big WDW people and last year just Dh and I went alone and had a great time.
 
Personally, I wouldn't go longer than 4 nights if you've never cruised before. We did a 4 night for our first and it was a perfect taste (we were quickly hooked), but not so long that if we hated it or got severely seasick we wouldn't have been able to suffer through it.
I guess personal choice. My first cruise was 14 days. I have done a 10 day, and 8 7 days, and ALL seemed too short.
 
We are taking our first cruise next summer and have decided on a 5-night cruise. That seems like the perfect length.
 
DH and I have been on 3 or 4 cruises without DD, we enjoy them just as much (or more...shhhhhh). We ARE beach/sun people but from watching people rush around to activities and shows I think even if you were a vampire you could find something to do onboard :)

The length is so subjective...I could probably said for 14 or 15 days on my first cruise and not have a problem. Others say 4 or 5 days. I'd recommend an itinerary that looks interesting and go with that.

That said, Bahamian are usually 3 or 4 days (sometimes more if you leave from Galveston, NYC, Miami). Those have some shopping/other than beach activities in Nassau. Castaway Cay is basically an imagineer's version of an island paradise. Eastern Caribbean has some shopping (St Thomas) but St Thomas/St John and Tortola seem to be more beach oriented (yipee! That's where we're headed in fall '17).
The Western, Disney Fantasy mentioned usually 1 one more port and I think of them as, for lack of a better word, active. I'm sure there's a better adjective out there!
I believe if you sail from Miami there are some cruises which hit Key West...an interesting port for sure-a little history, a little quirky, a little pie (;)) and fun.

I don't know if you looked into sailing out of NYC--there are 7 and 8 day cruises which hit Castaway Cay and Port Canaveral (aka a day at WDW). If y'all are big big Disney fans that could be fun. I'd love to go on one of those but don't travel in Sept/Oct (we live too close to the beach to travel comfortably during windstorm season :( ).

It's sort of like opening a box of chocolates and hoping you grab the right one!
 

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