First time on the disney cruise line, a couple questions!

[toni nicole]

1.I booked a standard inside stateroom and chose the option that guaranteed me a room but did not give me a room number, when do they tell us the room, when we board that day?
2. When should I expect to receive the booklet with the luggage tags etc in it?
3. On pirate night, do you wear your pirate attire to dinner or is there time to change after dinner into pirate gear?
4. On castaway cay is there beach chairs to lay out on or should I bring a beach blanket?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

1.I booked a standard inside stateroom and chose the option that guaranteed me a room but did not give me a room number, when do they tell us the room, when we board that day?
2. When should I expect to receive the booklet with the luggage tags etc in it?
3. On pirate night, do you wear your pirate attire to dinner or is there time to change after dinner into pirate gear?
4. On castaway cay is there beach chairs to lay out on or should I bring a beach blanket?

1. It depends on the type of guarantee you have. GTY (with a specific category) assignments typically show up about 45-60 days out. *GT (last minute restricted fares) are generally assigned about 14 days out (usually on Tuesday).
2. The booklet generally arrives 30-45 day out from the cruise.
3. You can wear it to dinner or just the after dinner stuff - whatever feels good to you.
4. Lots of lounge chairs:


But you can certainly lay out on a towel. The towels, however, are not beach towels, just the regular bath towel size.

 

[over50visits]

1.I booked a standard inside stateroom and chose the option that guaranteed me a room but did not give me a room number, when do they tell us the room, when we board that day?
2. When should I expect to receive the booklet with the luggage tags etc in it?
3. On pirate night, do you wear your pirate attire to dinner or is there time to change after dinner into pirate gear?
4. On castaway cay is there beach chairs to lay out on or should I bring a beach blanket?

Not when you board, but ahead of time, as much as several weeks. You will know in advance, so you can check out a ship floor plan and dream about your upcoming cruise!

The booklet and tags arrives about a month or less beforehand. I'm sure everyone has a different experience, but in out many cruises that's what we've experienced. And, although there was some trepidation for the first cruise or two when we hadn't heard and it seemed like the cruise was upon us, don't worry, all is well. Even in the "worst" case if the mailing doesn't show up, it doesn't matter, the book is great fun (really!!!) but there aren't any required documents in it. You can get luggage tags at the port.

Pirate night is so much fun, everyone seems to dress up in costume for dinner, ranging from a simple bandana to a hollywood-quality pirate costume. You will have a great time looking around. Then, folks seem to keep the costumes on all night, until the end of the deck party. As always, you get to choose when and what to wear, so don't worry about any set way of doing it. Wear it during dinner, change into it after dinner, doesn't matter.

Beach chairs everywhere, some hammocks around, or you an bring a blanket if that's your thing. One more activity not to worry about, Disney takes good care of you on the island, whether you get off the ship with nothing (they even have towels) or everything. Lately we have gotten off in late morning at our leisure, the hammocks are generally taken by squatters who like to keep them all day, but plenty of shady spots, plenty of sunny spots, plenty of chairs, etc.

It's exciting, fun to plan, and there are a lot of questions. Savor the anticipation, and welcome to the cruise of a lifetime!

 

[toni nicole]

I appreciate both of your answers, thanks so much!!

 

[Dug720]

Just be aware in terms of knowing your cabin assignment that while it is USUALLY in advance around the number of days PPs have stated, they technically CAN wait until you are at the terminal to give you the number. And it CAN change once assigned (as any cabin could) if that specific cabin is either taken out of service for maintenance repair or for some other reason. Those circumstances are rare, but they can happen.

Also, just as a note in case you have cruised RCCL (or maybe others) with a GTY status before, you cannot see your assignment and then decide it's not good enough and call to get changed. I specifically mentioned RCCL because the cruise critic boards are rife with people who book a GTY cabin claiming they know that means the ship can put them wherever as long as it's that category or higher, but then call them pitching fits because they don't like where they were assigned and want a different cabin in that same category and are usually accommodated. With DCL it is you take what you're given (which TBH has always been my understanding of how GTY should work).

 

[lbus42]

Lots of folks wear their pirate gear to dinner. Also you will find photographers setup in the atrium before and after dinner. They will have several different pirate inspired backdrops. Some of our best photos came from this.