First Time Disney Cruise Help...Please :)

[bsotak]

Hello there! My wife and I have been on several cruises before, but we are doing a Disney Cruise now that we have two small kids (4 year old boy, and 2 year old girl)! We are actually going with several other members of our family (parents, and my brother, his wife, and 2 kids -- 11 year old girl and 6 year old boy). I've been trying to search the forums and read some blogs, but figured it would be easier to post and ask for some help! We are booked on the Disney Fantasy 7-night Merrytime Western Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral with 2 Stops at Castaway Cay, leaving December 23rd. I know it's a ways away, but it will be here before we know it! So here are a couple of questions that we have:

- When will we find out the dining rotation? It sounds like you don't know until you get on the cruise, but is that really true? My wife and I wanted to do a dinner out (Remy or Palo??) but also didn't want to miss pirate night for the kids!
- Speaking of pirate night, which night will it be? I saw somewhere that it's usually the 4th night on a 7 day cruise...
- For formal night, I also read something that is usually Christmas Eve...any truth to that?
- When can you start booking reservations for restaurants? I thought I read 75 days prior to departure. Is that true?
- If we want to do a night for just the two of us, which rotational dining should we skip?
- Is the Palo brunch worth it? We thought about maybe doing it for one of the days at sea. Might just do the adults and leave the kids

Thanks in advance! Is there anything else we should be trying to plan before hand, or need to figure out? There seems to be a lot of stuff on these Disney Cruises. Anything we should try to reserve at Castaway Cay? And what is there to do at Grand Cayman? Just get off the ship and peruse the local area and the beach?

Can't wait, we are all excited!

 

[diznymom]

Dining Rotation: You find out your actual rotation when you get your KTTW card at the port (right before you board the ship).

Not sure about the ??? in the middle......others will know.

Booking Reservations and Excursions: 75 days for first timers.

Palo Brunch: Totally worth it. It is adults only, so put the kiddos in the clubs/nursery and enjoy.

 

[Dug720]

- When will we find out the dining rotation? It sounds like you don't know until you get on the cruise, but is that really true? My wife and I wanted to do a dinner out (Remy or Palo??) but also didn't want to miss pirate night for the kids!
As @diznymom said, you get your rotation when you get your KTTW card at check-in. BUT you don't need to know your rotation to know when Pirate Night is because everyone has the same Pirate Night (I can only imagine the chaos if they did that 3 times...). Easiest way to figure it out since there is sometimes a glitch where it shows on more than one night, look under Onboard Fun when you're checking in and selecting activities online for when Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is listed as Pirate's League. THAT will be Pirate Night.

- Speaking of pirate night, which night will it be? I saw somewhere that it's usually the 4th night on a 7 day cruise...
See above. It can very.

- For formal night, I also read something that is usually Christmas Eve...any truth to that?
Don't cruise over Christmas (too pricey for my blood), so no clue.

- When can you start booking reservations for restaurants? I thought I read 75 days prior to departure. Is that true?
If it is your first cruise, you can book Palo, Remy, and excursions at 75 days out. (You can find that out by looking at your reservation on the DCL site and it will say something like "Begin booking activities on..." That is your day - at 12midnight Eastern Time.

- If we want to do a night for just the two of us, which rotational dining should we skip?
You don't have to skip a rotational MDR menu if you're on a 7-night. Skip one of the later nights (other than Pirate since you've said you want to experience that one). It's a crapshoot for missing a specific rotational MDR menu since you don't know your rotation in advance.

- Is the Palo brunch worth it? We thought about maybe doing it for one of the days at sea. Might just do the adults and leave the kids
LOVE Palo brunch. It is ONLY on sea days (exception is apparently most 3-night cruises they're offering it on Nassau day). And yes, you'd have to leave the kids in the clubs or something as they are not allowed. It's still 18+ at brunch.

 

[GPaLarry]

There might be a Frozen night in there somewhere or is that for cruises other than the Caribbean?

 

[Dug720]

There might be a Frozen night in there somewhere or is that for cruises other than the Caribbean?

As far as I know only Alaska and Norway. Never saw it in the Caribbean (I believe it replaces Pirate Night in places where fireworks are not permitted).

 

[Weedy]

If you go online and look at your reservation it will say what days have activities. If you click on it it should list what it is. The first day it will say Sail Away Party. Pirate Night should be listed.
You can also call Disney. They should have an idea of what night is Pirate, Formal and Semi Formal.
Unfortunately it is true that you won't know you're dining rotation until you get on the ship . But dinner reservations for Remy and Palo are easy to change once you get onboard.
**Christmas Eve and Christmas Day may be a little harder.
You may want to geta Passports Guide for Disney Cruise it's great for first time cruisers. It's available at bookstores and Amazon.
Palo Brunch is my favorite thing about a Disney Cruise. If it's booked when you try and make reservations (75 days if first cruise). Keep checking back. If you can get a few reservations but not all book it!! This way you'll have your foot in the door.
If no reservations (or partial) there will be an area set up ( usually a restaurant) on the first day that can help with changes. They hold back some for both lunch and dinner and should be able to help.
On Christmas cruises typical things change up a bit ( like Formal night) so some of these questions may be different.
Here is a link that will show you past Navigators (newsletters) that list the activities on the ship.
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/
Have a great cruise.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Formal night is traditionally the first day-at-sea, which would coincide with Christmas Eve.

All restaurant/excursion reservations for new Disney cruisers is 75 days before the cruise. As far as which restaurant to skip for Palo, that's personal preference.

 

[Kaleea]

We sailed with young kids as well and didn't want to miss any of the fun either. What we did for Palo night was pick a night that wasn't pirates night and wasn't a show night and set up our dinner for 8:30. We had regular early seating so we ended up at Palo the night we had Animators Pallet the second night which was the animation show. We were able to sit with the family and have drinks (my husband had an appetizer and desert) and after dinner, we went to dinner ourselves. We just made sure to let our servers know the night before that while we would be there, we wouldn't be eating