First time Disney Cruiser planning for 2018 sailing. Advice please!!

[uandmfan]

Hi

We are looking at booking a 2018 Caribbean cruise in February when dates are released. I think we're looking at a 5 day cruise as it's much less expensive than a 7 day cruise. It's for myself, my husband and our daughter who will be 6 and our son who will be 3. If my sister comes with us, then our cabin will be 3 and we will put one of the kids in with her so she doesn't have to pay a singles supplement. Maybe we'd look for adjoining rooms? But then we can't just book a room category guarantee. Is it worth doing a guarantee or would we be better off picking the cabin? We will be looking for a fare that's refundable in case we change our minds (booking a year and a half in advance is a lot for us).

Anyone have any advice on what we should be considering? Stateroom categories, dining options, kids club, etc. I'm a bit confused about everything that Disney offers on the ships! Is it better to book as soon as the dates are released or wait a bit and see if prices come down? Any thoughts on a 5 vs 7 day cruise? Anything else we should be considering?

How do tickets for meet and greets work? Are they likely to run out if we're not first on the ship (it will depend on flights as we're going to be leaving from Ottawa and don't have a million options). Is there other stuff like that we need to be aware of?

Thanks!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Hi

We are looking at booking a 2018 Caribbean cruise in February when dates are released. I think we're looking at a 5 day cruise as it's much less expensive than a 7 day cruise. It's for myself, my husband and our daughter who will be 6 and our son who will be 3. If my sister comes with us, then our cabin will be 3 and we will put one of the kids in with her so she doesn't have to pay a singles supplement. Maybe we'd look for adjoining rooms? But then we can't just book a room category guarantee. Is it worth doing a guarantee or would we be better off picking the cabin? We will be looking for a fare that's refundable in case we change our minds (booking a year and a half in advance is a lot for us).

Anyone have any advice on what we should be considering? Stateroom categories, dining options, kids club, etc. I'm a bit confused about everything that Disney offers on the ships! Is it better to book as soon as the dates are released or wait a bit and see if prices come down? Any thoughts on a 5 vs 7 day cruise? Anything else we should be considering?

How do tickets for meet and greets work? Are they likely to run out if we're not first on the ship (it will depend on flights as we're going to be leaving from Ottawa and don't have a million options). Is there other stuff like that we need to be aware of?

Thanks!

If you book opening day there will not be GTY rates available so you can book 2 rooms connecting. Generally, it's best to book opening day, rates will continue to rise after that.

I had no problem getting meet and greet tickets on our last cruise and we were boarding group number 6, in fact there wasn't even a line to get the tickets.

We love 7 day cruises but I think a 5 day is a perfect starter cruise.

We started cruising in inside staterooms to save money and love them, but we have teens and always book them in a connecting room so we each have our own space and 2 bathrooms.

My only other piece of advice is don't drive yourself crazy over planning your cruise so you can "do it all," it's just not possible.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

Agree, don't drive yourself crazy! You have lots of time to read and plan! It will be your first cruise, so it will all be new and exciting! It is not possible to do it all your first time, anyway!

The advantage of booking a connecting room is that the only noise you will primarily experience is from your own family. We have found that the connecting door is not very soundproof so that if you have noisy neighbors, you will hear it. We have never had terrible neighbors, though - mostly noisy 1st day excitement, and if a bunch of silly tweens/teens were in the room. The solid walls between the cabins seem to block noise very well.
I found the Passporters DCL book to be very helpful -it is updated once/twice per year. Purchase on Amazon or their site.

Have fun planning!

 

[KAS_73]

You will have so much fun on your Disney cruise!

My understanding is that the cheapest way to book is opening day, so if you're going to do that, no need to bother with GTY.

Just an FYI, the child that you put in with your sister will end up paying adult rate, as they always charge minimum 2 adult fares for each cabin.

Kids club is amazing! Your kids will love it. You do need to book some of the meet and greets early (Frozen, Princesses), but only one person from your party needs to line up for that, and they can get the tickets for the whole party.

My kids were 6 and 8 for our first cruise. I find first seating works best for us dining wise. Late dining is just way too late for us. It doesn't start until 8:15 (I think?) and the dining experience is excellent for the kids. On some nights they do little shows at dinner.

I think length of cruise and type of stateroom really depends on the individual. I prefer longer cruises, but I'm always flying in, so with the added price of airfare, I like to have a bit longer vacation.

Hope this helps!