First time Sailing on DCL (Fantasy) Many Questions, Help!

[Sbunit]

My wife and I have cruised a few times in the past prior to having kids. We have no decided to try our first Disney Cruise with our 5 and 3 year old Boys this coming February on the Disney Fantasy. I'm starting to do some research and boy does planning for a Disney Cruise appear to be somewhat Challenging (this is coming from a seasoned WDW Vet!)

I have a pretty good understanding of most thing but here are my questions:

1) On our 7 night sailing which day is Pirate Night?
2) Same question for Star Wars Day at Sea
3) We'd certainly like to book Remy for dinner but prefer not to book it on either of the above themed days nor on nights where a major show is scheduled (i.e. Aladdin, Believe Etc) so we can spend those nights with our kids and share in the above entertainment. And to complicate things further we'd also like to avoid booking it on an evening we are scheduled to dine in Animator's Palate (again, want to be with the boys). I understand how rotational dining works but I was wondering if there's a strategy I can employ to help make this work out (Maybe request to have Animator's Palate for our first night?). Also as a first time sailing, will it be very hard to book Remy (president's week)?
4) Is it very difficult to book Palo and/or Remy Brunch on days at Sea (again for first time sailings)?
5) Can anyone recommend any Non-Disney credible shore excursion companies I can look into that may provide more excursion options for my 3 year old than Disney does. Disney doesn't offer much of anything interesting for an active and adventurous 3 year old boy (better choices for his older brother).
6) Last Question, I promise! Can anyone also recommend a nice private car service I can use to drive us from Universal Orlando (we'll be spending a few nights there before the cruise) to the port and also pick us up from the port and drive us back to MCO?

Sorry for the many questions but I could use some direction. Thanks so much in advance for any help/advice anyone can provide me with!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

1-2. Which itinerary? Pirate night is usually Tortola on Eastern, and SWDAS is Thursday sea day.

3. I think you should wait to book Remy until you are on board. Spots will be available.

4. It can be, but they do hold spots for on board booking.

5. Which itinerary?

6. Someone can. Not me.

 

[MickeyD]

Hi, Welcome to Disney cruising! I will try and answer some of your questions. My dh and I are sailing on the Fantasy in Feb as well!
1. Pirate night is usually on a port night. Not sure if you are sailing Western or Eastern? On Western, it is Jamaica night, on Eastern it is St Maarten (or whatever port) night. (day 4)
2. Star Wars Day at sea is the second day at sea, I believe. So for a Western, it is Thursday.
3. It sounds like you might want to try for brunch instead of missing out on the MDR meals?
4. Well as first timers you will be behind Platinum, Gold and Silver, so you will have the very last options for booking...HOWEVER, Palo and Remy hold ressies and I would suggest if you don't pre-book to get them while on board. You can go to Meridian (or Royal Court) on the first day about 1pm and book. (check the Navigator)
5. Can't help you with this one. Sorry. But you might want to let everyone know which cruise you are taking Eastern/Western so they can help given that.
6.There are many private car services, I believe Tiffany Towncars and Happy Limo are the top recommended here. You might also look into renting a car, if cost effective is important to you. You can do one way rentals to port and return.
Overall, I would recommend not overthinking a lot of this. Most of what is talked about on these boards (like picking dinner rotations, etc) is by folks that are ultra planners, and not doing those things, usually has little impact on the overall enjoyment of the vacation. A cruise is meant for relaxation.
Hope this helps some!
Lisa

 

[Sbunit]

I'm sorry I should've specified that I'll be sailing on a western caribbean itinerary. Ship Sailing Saturday the 16th

 

[Sytrace]

My wife and I have cruised a few times in the past prior to having kids. We have no decided to try our first Disney Cruise with our 5 and 3 year old Boys this coming February on the Disney Fantasy. I'm starting to do some research and boy does planning for a Disney Cruise appear to be somewhat Challenging (this is coming from a seasoned WDW Vet!)

I have a pretty good understanding of most thing but here are my questions:

1) On our 7 night sailing which day is Pirate Night?
2) Same question for Star Wars Day at Sea
3) We'd certainly like to book Remy for dinner but prefer not to book it on either of the above themed days nor on nights where a major show is scheduled (i.e. Aladdin, Believe Etc) so we can spend those nights with our kids and share in the above entertainment. And to complicate things further we'd also like to avoid booking it on an evening we are scheduled to dine in Animator's Palate (again, want to be with the boys). I understand how rotational dining works but I was wondering if there's a strategy I can employ to help make this work out (Maybe request to have Animator's Palate for our first night?). Also as a first time sailing, will it be very hard to book Remy (president's week)?
4) Is it very difficult to book Palo and/or Remy Brunch on days at Sea (again for first time sailings)?
5) Can anyone recommend any Non-Disney credible shore excursion companies I can look into that may provide more excursion options for my 3 year old than Disney does. Disney doesn't offer much of anything interesting for an active and adventurous 3 year old boy (better choices for his older brother).
6) Last Question, I promise! Can anyone also recommend a nice private car service I can use to drive us from Universal Orlando (we'll be spending a few nights there before the cruise) to the port and also pick us up from the port and drive us back to MCO?

Sorry for the many questions but I could use some direction. Thanks so much in advance for any help/advice anyone can provide me with!

Have you considered a travel agent to help you out with this trip? They already have a lot of information and experience to share and it does not cost anything more to use them as their commission is paid by the vendor. That being said:

1. Western it will be Monday which is Cozumel typically and in my personal experience on the SWDAS cruises
2. Star Wars Day at Sea is on Thursday
3. I would request AP your first night, it will most likely be repeated three times during your 7 night cruise that way you can enjoy Remy on either Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday. Friday is CC day and if you get early dining time at Remy you would still have time to enjoy See ya Real Soon and get your luggage out for pick up by 10:00 PM
4. It can be challenging to book those brunches, but if you have Eastern, you have 3 sea days and if it is western you will have 2. Obviously the more sea days to choose from the better the chances.
5. I like to look at Shoretrips for outside excursions or check out local companies websites via Trip Advisor.
6 I like to use Park Avenue Limo for private car service.

 

[Sbunit]

Have you considered a travel agent to help you out with this trip? They already have a lot of information and experience to share and it does not cost anything more to use them as their commission is paid by the vendor. That being said:

1. Western it will be Monday which is Cozumel typically and in my personal experience on the SWDAS cruises
2. Star Wars Day at Sea is on Thursday
3. I would request AP your first night, it will most likely be repeated three times during your 7 night cruise that way you can enjoy Remy on either Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday. Friday is CC day and if you get early dining time at Remy you would still have time to enjoy See ya Real Soon and get your luggage out for pick up by 10:00 PM
4. It can be challenging to book those brunches, but if you have Eastern, you have 3 sea days and if it is western you will have 2. Obviously the more sea days to choose from the better the chances.
5. I like to look at Shoretrips for outside excursions or check out local companies websites via Trip Advisor.
6 I like to use Park Avenue Limo for private car service.

thanks so much for the great info. I'll be looking into all of this

 

[MickeyD]

1. Western it will be Monday which is Cozumel typically and in my personal experience on the SWDAS cruises

Yep, this is right, my bad, I haven't done a SWDAS and they switch it for that. On a regular Western, Pirate night is on Jamaica night and SWDAS it is on Cozumel night. Sorry about the bad info in my reply but thanks SyTrace for correcting that.

 

[Sytrace]

Yep, this is right, my bad, I haven't done a SWDAS and they switch it for that. On a regular Western, Pirate night is on Jamaica night and SWDAS it is on Cozumel night. Sorry about the bad info in my reply but thanks SyTrace for correcting that.

I had to go back and double check on my Navigators from 2017. Typically Pirate Night is Jamaica though. You were not off base that far.

 

[Sbunit]

Have you considered a travel agent to help you out with this trip? They already have a lot of information and experience to share and it does not cost anything more to use them as their commission is paid by the vendor. That being said:

1. Western it will be Monday which is Cozumel typically and in my personal experience on the SWDAS cruises
2. Star Wars Day at Sea is on Thursday
3. I would request AP your first night, it will most likely be repeated three times during your 7 night cruise that way you can enjoy Remy on either Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday. Friday is CC day and if you get early dining time at Remy you would still have time to enjoy See ya Real Soon and get your luggage out for pick up by 10:00 PM
4. It can be challenging to book those brunches, but if you have Eastern, you have 3 sea days and if it is western you will have 2. Obviously the more sea days to choose from the better the chances.
5. I like to look at Shoretrips for outside excursions or check out local companies websites via Trip Advisor.
6 I like to use Park Avenue Limo for private car service.

How/when can you request AP for your first night.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

How/when can you request AP for your first night.

Anytime after you've made your reservation. Just call DCL and make the request. Or your TA will need to make the call, if you're using one.

 

[Sbunit]

Can anyone help me with figuring out what days the 3 main shows land on during a Star Wars day at sea western Caribbean cruise? Thanks again

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Hard to say. The doubling up of shows started this year after SWDAS season. But SWDAS itself usually doesn't have a main show save a film showing.

 

[gotomu212]

To help with planning when you do your online activity scheduling it will tell you which days are Pirate and SWDAS now so you’ll be looking at that the same time you book Remy. Our solution to not missing shows it to book dinner at 8. You can take the kids to the shows, feed them room service/pool deck, and then drop them in the Clubs/nursery and go to dinner.

We have found that if you have a reservation and then find it conflicts with Animators it’s easier to switch nights than getting a reservation for the first time. Remember you may be in Animators upmto 3 times and only one night isnthe “show” and one night is Crush. Booking Remy the first night means you shouldn’t miss anything, but you can confirm that when you board.

TripAdvisor is a great resource for port excursion options.

We like Tiffany Towncars.

 

[Sbunit]

To help with planning when you do your online activity scheduling it will tell you which days are Pirate and SWDAS now so you’ll be looking at that the same time you book Remy. Our solution to not missing shows it to book dinner at 8. You can take the kids to the shows, feed them room service/pool deck, and then drop them in the Clubs/nursery and go to dinner.

We have found that if you have a reservation and then find it conflicts with Animators it’s easier to switch nights than getting a reservation for the first time. Remember you may be in Animators upmto 3 times and only one night isnthe “show” and one night is Crush. Booking Remy the first night means you shouldn’t miss anything, but you can confirm that when you board.

TripAdvisor is a great resource for port excursion options.

We like Tiffany Towncars.

Just to clarify, if theoretically we are able to score AP for the first night and thus will frequent it two other nights for dinner, the Ap "show" and Crush preform on separate nights and not together? So what happens when someone has a dining rotation that does not allow for AP to be frequented on 3 nights? Some guests do not experience the show or Crush? Thanks for the info

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just to clarify, if theoretically we are able to score AP for the first night and thus will frequent it two other nights for dinner, the Ap "show" and Crush preform on separate nights and not together? So what happens when someone has a dining rotation that does not allow for AP to be frequented on 3 nights? Some guests do not experience the show or Crush? Thanks for the info

On a 7 night cruise everyone dines in all 3 dining rooms twice. And one of them a third time.

So, if someone has AP twice they get the AP show and Crush on separate nights.

 

[gotomu212]

Just to clarify, if theoretically we are able to score AP for the first night and thus will frequent it two other nights for dinner, the Ap "show" and Crush preform on separate nights and not together? So what happens when someone has a dining rotation that does not allow for AP to be frequented on 3 nights? Some guests do not experience the show or Crush? Thanks for the info

Everyone gets at least 2 nights there (on a 7 night). One night is crush, one night is the animation show, and if you get a third night there’s nothing “special” that night. Fish will still swim by but in our experience they don’t send crush around.

 

[frostymom]

I'm sorry I should've specified that I'll be sailing on a western caribbean itinerary. Ship Sailing Saturday the 16th

WE are to be on this cruise as well! We are booked just not sure we are ready in Feb after a holiday cruise too.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

I didn't see it above, but you can call DCL to request a rotation. They have a bunch of set rotations, and if you have one thing you want to make happen (e.g. AP on first night, or EG on CC...) then they'll offer you one of their pre-set rotations. It's a request, but we've always had our request become a reality. Also, if you'd prefer to not share a MDR table, you can request a table to yourselves. In our 9 cruises, we've requested a table to ourselves for 8 and always had it granted. We've requested a specific rotation twice and had it granted as well.

 

[Dendycat]

We’re on this cruise too with our boys (age 8 and 5). We’re first time DCL cruisers so following this thread with interest.

 

[Sbunit]

For those who have purchased the digital cruise photos in the past (the package that states all digital photos will be included), does this package also include formal pictures taken? I've been on other cruises where they set up photographers with backgrounds etc, but you had to pay for the pictures you chose. Does this package include any and every picture opportunity possible on the ship with their photographers? Or only certain ones with additional charges for others?