First time cruisers question

[Sunshine2U]

Our first cruise was 4-night park, 3-night cruise. With 2 children in tow, both experiences were too short. I would think it's a good option for two adults. It goes back to a previous post - what type of experience do you want? The 4/3 plan provides a taste of both worlds - but just a taste.

 

[GPaLarry]

Couple of years ago we went with daughter and her crew (3 young girls) to WDW for a week (one day spent at Universal...Harry Potter a must), then a week on the Fantasy in Eastern Caribbean. The cruise was a vacation from our first week's vacation. After eight DCL cruises we will probably never see the inside of the Dream. Our shortest cruises are 7 nights and they seem truly short. All this said, if you can only afford the money or time (or both) for a shorter cruise and WDW visit, by all means do it. Even a few days with the mouse is better than no mouse.

 

[Ravenne]

Hi there, neither my husband or myself have ever been on any type of cruise, but it's on both of our bucket lists, and I have been to WDW more times than I can count, he has never been, so I was wondering, for a first timer to Disney world, would 3 days be enough? We are considering taking a 4 night sea/3 night land (or whatever it is) cruise in November for my 50th, but I can't take two weeks off from work, so we can't add any extra time at the parks.

Do we suck it up and do the cruise, or wait and just do a week at the parks?

It's very common for people who have never cruised before to take a shorter one to see if they like it. I...we were among them. We're WDW veterans, and did a 4 night sea/4 day land trip as a compromise, figuring if we didn't like cruising, we'd still have the land part to enjoy. We ended up falling in love with cruising, but the vacation wasn't over when we got off the ship. (Many people do land first, and sea second to relax, but the schedule didn't work for us. We ended up loving sea first, then land, however, because since cruising was new to us, we ran around a lot to explore, and were absolutely exhausted. We took the parks at a slower pace, did and saw things we largely ignored in the past.) Now we're among the "7 night cruise" crowd, but when we first cruised, we didn't know that, despite reading about others feeling that way. We just didn't know how *WE* would feel about cruising, which is why I think people should try what appeals to them. With that said, I always plan on 1 day per park at least, so if you can somehow muster up one more day of vacation time from work, do the 4 night cruise, 4 days in the parks. I personally think all 4 parks are worth visiting at least once for a 1st timer.

 

[cadien]

Our first cruise was 5 days. We were guests of family so had nothing to do with the planning. It was overwhelming and I didn't feel like I was getting the hang of it until the last day. But I also think a lot of that had to do with the group we were part of. We're going on a 5-day just the three of us in two weeks and I'm confident it will be much mellower because we are much mellower and won't try to cram too much in.

The itinerary can make a difference too. If you're just getting a couple of beach days, shorter is fine. If you're trying to hit museums and forts, it's over too soon.

 

[GPaLarry]

Our first cruise was 5 days. We were guests of family so had nothing to do with the planning. It was overwhelming and I didn't feel like I was getting the hang of it until the last day. But I also think a lot of that had to do with the group we were part of. We're going on a 5-day just the three of us in two weeks and I'm confident it will be much mellower because we are much mellower and won't try to cram too much in.

The itinerary can make a difference too. If you're just getting a couple of beach days, shorter is fine. If you're trying to hit museums and forts, it's over too soon.

In many cases we let the cruise come to us rather than over planning it. The evening's Navigator will have a boatload (literally) of things for you to do. Take a few minutes, find what you like, mark it and live the next day accordingly...or do nothing. You paid with cash and time for a vacation that you deserve to enjoy. If meeting a princess is important, do it. If knowing how to fold napkins is important and fun, do it. Reading a book you have been meaning to read for a long time is truly fulfilling for you, just do it. We hike a lot and the word on the trail is, "hike your own hike." The same applies to cruising.
All that said, do say "hello" to Mickey when you see him...it all started with him.

 

[MomOTwins]

I work in a job that makes taking vacation during the work week very very difficult except for major holidays, so all of my Disney World trips have been around 3 days, scheduled around holiday weekends. I have one tip for you for giving your partner the full DW experience with limited time: Park Hopper! Switching parks means we don't feel like we miss out on anything, because we can visit most of the parks twice during a 3 day trip, so if crowds are bad one day or a favorite ride is shut down we can catch it the second time. Here is a typical park hopper itinerary as an example:

1) Morning and afternoon at MK; monorail to Epcot around 4pm for dinner and illuminations in World Showcase
2) Morning at Epcot - Future World; lunch in World Showcase; friendship boat to HS for afternoon Star Wars ride/events and Fantasmic!
3) Morning at AK; bus to MK for any attractions we missed on day one and Happily Ever After show

I also don't think a 3-4 day cruise is too short. You get one day at castaway cay just like you do on most longer cruises, and if you turn Nassau into an "at sea" day by staying onboard, you can enjoy the ship.

 

[Catvondita]

Our first time cruise was 3 nights. We wish we had done 4 nights but honestly we felt like we saw most of what the ship had to offer. The only thing we didn't get to see was a Broadway show. So we would have liked one more day to do that. Aside from that we saw all the bars, saw a movie, did some activities. I don't think 7 nights is necessary unless you are looking for a specific destination.