First Time Cruiser? So was I until last week.

[sethschroeder]

I wanted to pass along information to other first time cruisers as they go through the process of planning, booking, and going on their first cruise.

Deciding on a cruise?
If you are nervous about doing a cruise there are some myths for a cruise when going through Disney.

• I will be bored sitting around all day: There is constant activity that is available. A typical Sea Day can look like Breakfast/Coffee, Tour of Ship, Ice Cream Cone, Disney Trivia, Lunch (sit down or buffet), Movie in Theatre (Frozen 2/Avengers/Aladdin 2019/Maleficent are example), Ice Cream Cone, get ready for evening, Theatre Show, Adult Only show (comedian as an example), Dinner, Late evening adult shows (Magician, Family Feud, Comedian, Match Game, and more options)
• Where should I go out of: We decided on the lowest cost offering for a Verandah that worked for us. We got a VGT rate which basically gives you a randomly assigned room which at least has a Verandah for $3100 (7 nights - 2 Adults). To be 100% honest we didn't even take advantage of the port stops really as we were too busy looking to explore the ship, take in some pool time, or get an extra nap.
• What about weather: This one could change where you go out of but if swimming or beaches are important to you than you will want to go possibly when its warm enough for such things. Start of December in Eastern Caribbean was perfectly fine for us and quite warm while it was a tad cool but still doable at Castaway Cay.

What room is the best? Honestly this is pretty straight forward. You don't know and no one else does either. People have crazy different preferences. The biggest things to think of is:

• Do you want a verandah? More expensive but nice to be able to sit on or open the door to have fresh air and sounds from the ocean.
• Are you okay with an inside room? Cheapest but no actual view instead a fake view of the ocean.
• Always going to be at the pool? Higher decks allow for quicker access.
• No clue? Decks right above the eating/show areas make getting around much easier (we loved deck 5 forward on the Fantasy because it was right next to the Theaters - this was a random assignment as well, we would have never chosen it likely)

I booked something but now what? (we booked within 71 days so basically as soon as we paid we had access to start booking everything)

• Things like Palo, Remy, Tastings, and excursions can be booked first by those who have cruised with Disney before. That being said we were able to easily get Palo for our cruise, Remy was available, excursions were all available, and the only thing not available were tastings. You can get on waitlists once you board on the first day but we didn't even try. While tastings would be nice just know they are more like the sprinkle as opposed to any substance to the whole cruise experience with everything going on.
• If you miss out on an experience keep monitoring the website. I was able to get our preferred Palo time 3 days before sailing. Also make sure when you get to the terminal to look at the navigator they give you to see where you can get on a waitlist.
• Look up every list of what to pack. Some important things would be sea sickness remedies, sun screen, and themed clothing (pirate night, holiday shirts, or anything else you like).
• Plan how to get to the ship and leave time for issues. Weather delays for flights, traffic delays, or lines at the car rental. Its best to fly in the night before and we flew in to Tampa instead of Orlando make this happen, the care rental was actually cheaper in the end as well.
• Watch walkthrough videos on YouTube of the ship you are on. There are tons of them but having someone go through all the areas really helped. Watch Michale Kays cruises as well as he is fairly cheerful and is new to Disney Cruises in the last couple years as well.
• Buy a ship specific locator card. This helps a TON the first 2-3 days while you are getting to know the ship. By day 3 you likely will just know but the first couple days it helps to have a quick reference guide to know where Cabanas is or the Theatre or Royal Court.

What about when I am on the ship?

• There is always something going on and many things overlap as well. Its a great idea to on the first day go through the app and favorite anything you might be interested in. You can then look at your plans and see everything you are interested in. As the week goes by its easy to then decide to skip certain things based on what you have done or what might be coming up later to do.
• Cabanas is not for everyone and we highly preferred going a sit down lunch. Ask your server the first evening if you don't know and they will tell you where you can get a sit down lunch. This is also a great relaxing time in the middle of the day away from all the hustle and bustle of the ship.
• Some afternoons will also have the option of going to the show early. The benefit here is that you will have more time prior to or after your dinner in the evening to do other things.
• Most things will "repeat" throughout the week. So while there might be a few Disney trivias they will be different and you will see different people there. This gives you the option of trying a couple of the animation experiences or skipping one on the 2nd day to opt for one on the 3rd day.
• Many things will have adult only variants. This is a great option if you are without kids during the whole cruise or they are off in the kids area.
• If you are on a themed cruise make sure to look out for signature events that won't be repeated (tree lighting, ect).
• Get to big events early. I bolded this because by showing up 15-20 mins early you are going to get a great view. Its also a great time to just chat or play a game on your phone while waiting.
• Port days will find a somewhat empty ship (although other than the family pool I never thought it was too busy or too crowded on our cruise)

What about my kids?

• As this was our first cruise we did it without the young ones.
• There are tons of great options out there to read about all the options.
• The kids areas looked great (from the open house) and seemed to have TONs of activities to keep kids busy.

Can I save money?

• Cheaper cruise
• Book GTY rate
• Book through an agent that gives you the best onboard credit (or Costco with their Cash Cards)
• During your first cruise book a placeholder for another one to save 10% on that future cruise (sometimes there are blackouts it sounds like)
• Follow the GTY rate thread on this forum that gets updated fairly often and calls out new or updated deals (this from Disney and would apply to wherever you book from what I found)

 

[Surgie2]

Thanks for putting this together. We’ll be first time cruisers in less than a year.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Great post! It sounds like you had an amazing cruise!

DH and I are cruising on the Fantasy Western Caribbean next month an cannot wait. It is not our first cruise, but first time with DCL and first time in these ports. We are not frequent cruisers at any rate. Your insight is quite helpful. Will you cruise with Disney again?

 

[sethschroeder]

Will you cruise with Disney again?

Almost 100% (with Parents and Siblings possibly on an Alaska cruise there might be a need to switch to another line because of costs for them)

Any cruise we do with just the kids we will exclusively look at Disney based on our experience and seeing the kids areas.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Almost 100% (with Parents and Siblings possibly on an Alaska cruise there might be a need to switch to another line because of costs for them)

Any cruise we do with just the kids we will exclusively look at Disney based on our experience and seeing the kids areas.

DH and I have kids ages 25 and 23 now. When they were younger, we always looked at vacationing on DCL vs. going to WDW, and WDW always won because the cost of DCL seemed extravagant. The more research I do for this cruise, though, the more I regret we never tried it when our family was young. I suspect I'll feel this way even more so once on the ship. Oh well, we LOVED every minute in WDW, wouldn't trade any of it. And maybe someday we'll do DCL with grandkids!

We did Alaska in the 2018 season on Holland America and it was fabulous and extremely reasonably priced. You spend so much time off the ship in Alaska, it's a different type of itinerary. It really is mostly about the ports, so maybe the perfect itinerary on which save the money?

Thanks again for your perspective!