Going on 7-nite Western cruise

[My 2 Princesses Boat]

My family, Me, DH and 2 girls ages 8 and 4 are going on our very first Disney Cruise the end of March 2005, (in about 5 weeks!). We (or I) booked this cruise last year as soon as we got the school spring break schedule. We are soo excited the time is almost here, but I have so much to learn before I go. Not sure where to start with questions yet. But I think my main concern right now is not having an itenerary before we go, such as which nights we are eating at what restaurant and what nights the shows are. Do we find this out when we arrive, or is there a way we kind find out before we go? I am not sure if we are going to book any excursions yet. Alot of them have age restrictions. so if anyone tried any good excursion with young kids please let me know. We will book a spa and for Palos when we arrive. For now that is it. I will post as I have more questions.

 

[aprilgail2]

We did Captain Marvins in Grand Cayman when my daughter was 4. She had such a blast snorkling and petting a sea turtle and she loved the sting rays at sting ray city. They had child sized goggles and vest for her, she still talks about that snorkling trip a year later! If you book directly with Capt. Marvins there is no age limit.

 

[My 2 Princesses Boat]

Thatnks for the tip on the snorkeling. I will definetly look into that, as I like to snorkle and I am sure the girls will too. My DD 4 already thinks she is The Little Mermaid!

 

[pooh luver]

Which cruise are you going on? Look on the cruise meets and you can find out what others are doing who are going on the same cruise. Some where there is a thread that has the Personal Navigators that tell what is happening each day and another with menus. The first time we went we stuck with the Disney Excursions but after these boards we are venturing out a bit on our own.

 

[pdarrah]

If you would like to see a "typical" Western itinerary, I have one at the website I made for our cruise. There are actually 3 versions - one for each possible dining rotation. Last year, I printed all 3 and brought them with us. Once we found out our dining rotation, I was able to toss the other 2 versions.

There are a couple of things on these that are specific to my vacation (I have 2 excursions planned already ) but the rest of it will apply to everyone. It is available as a graphic file (JPG) for each version or as an Excel File (3 sheets in one file). If you have Excel, then you can edit it to fit your trip.

(Note the sunrise/sunset times are for Oct 2004 so will not apply to your trip at all.)

You can find the itineraries at www.bwdarrah.com/dcl on the "Useful Stuff" page.

I hope this helps,

pdarrah

 

[TheWog]

www.dcltribute.com will have a lot of info you may be looking for as well. Stingrays will be great for your children. Have fun!

 

[jrabbit]

My family, Me, DH and 2 girls ages 8 and 4 are going on our very first Disney Cruise the end of March 2005, (in about 5 weeks!).

Great, Have a Magical trip - it's a lot of fun!!

We are soo excited the time is almost here,

Everyone's excited before they go and most don't want to get off of the ship at the end!!

but I have so much to learn before I go.

Well, you've come to the right place, You've got questions, we've got answers!

I think my main concern right now is not having an itenerary before we go

Saturday: Embarkation Day, Sunday: Arrive at Key West around noon, spend most of the day there. Monday: Day at Sea. Tuesday: Grand Cayman. Wednesday: Cozumel. Thursday: Day at Sea. Friday: Paridise (I mean Castaway Cay). Saturday (way early-by 9am) off of the ship at Port Canaveral.

which nights we are eating at what restaurant

This is the most frequent "concern" people have about their cruise and in my opinion it's one of the least important things to concern yourself with. You will not know what dinning rotation you have until you check in at the port. Your dinning rotation and table number will be on your KTTW card.
Things to know about dinning - In order of importance
1) Seating: Main (6:00) or Late (8:30)
2) Rotation: Which dinning room that night. On the Magic the restaurants are: Lumiere's, Animator's Palate and Parrot Cay so the three rotations are LAPLAPL or APLAPLA or PLAPLAP and on the wonder the restaurants are: Tritons's, Animator's Palate and Parrot Cay so the three rotations are TAP or APT or PTA. If you are on the 4 night cruise DCL just changed to having the first 2 nights in the same restaurant (ie. TTAP, AAPT and PPTA) BEFORE Pirates Night the rotation on the 4 nighter was TAPT, APTA and PTAP.
3) Table Number: (same table number in all of the dinning rooms)
4) Your Serving Team: they will be with you for all of your rotational dinning
5) Your Tablemates: Most families will share a table with other families. They will be with you for dinner in all of the rotational dinning rooms (so get to know them - you have 3 to 7 nights to make new friends)

what nights the shows are.

as of late 2004 they are: Saturday (embarkation) - Welcome Aboard variety show, Sunday (KW): Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer, Monday(sea): The Golden Mickeys, Tuesday(GC): Hercules The Muse-ical, Wednesday(Coz): usually a current Disney Movie, Thursday(sea): Disney Dreams, Friday(CC): Farewell Variety Show. Note: there has been discussion that some of the shows are changing and that Hercules is going away. Pirates night probably impacts what is on and when.

We will book a spa and for Palos when we arrive.

You'll want to arrive at the port by 11am, get checked in and get in line. If you can, try registering the kids into the clubs while waiting in the terminal.

Have a great trip.