Going on 7-nite Western Cruise

[My 2 Princesses Boat]

We (me , DH , DD 8 , and DD4 ) are all going on our very first Disney cruise. We leave the end of March, just 5 weeks away !!!! We can hardly wait! Anyways, this is our first time doing this, so I am new to all this. I have been reading the books and all the info that comes in the mail. But I am confused as to when we will know what nights we are eating where? Do they tell you this when you get on board, or is there a way to find out ahead of time. I am so use to haveing a pre-planned itinerary before I leave for vacations. Also are there any good on shore excursions that anyone recommends to do with young children? I noticed alot of them have age restrictions. Some of them are pricey too, which is fine as long as it is worth the money. I am sure I will have more questions later but this is it for now. Any help or advice for a first time cruiser will be appreciated

 

[chefnm]

We were on the 11/06 western, Me, Dw, DD12, & DS8. We decided ahead of time that we were going to spend more time on the ship than on excursions at each stop. The kids enjoyed the clubs on the ship and made some friends pretty quickly. I am glad we didn't pre-book any excursions because the kids just wanted to hang out with their new friends and enjoy the pools, clubs, and food on the ship.
We all went into Key West and walked around for a couple hours, bought some trinkets and some awsome cookies at a little bakery. After we got back to the ship, the kids did their thing and the wife and I got comfortable on deck 9 with a beverage and a book. We were treated to an hour long show by the Navy's Blue Angels as they were practicing their routines over Key West.
Next port was Grand Cayman. We were dissapointed that we were stopping here because we ended up being one of the first ships in port since the hurricane destroyed the island. We were looking forward to going to Costa Maya. The kids stayed on the ship, my wife and I went into town for an hour. We were not interested in buying jewelry, so that left limited things to do. Again headed back to the ship to enjoy our home away from home. Talked to other guests as they were coming back from excursions, some were happy with what they did, others were very dissapointed.
Cozumel, unless you like to say no thank you hundreds of times, I would suggest either doing an excursion or just stay on the ship. Every shop had one or more people trying to get you to buy something. I wish I would have had a piece of paper to make a sign that said "no thank you", so that I would not have had to say it at least 100 times. Again we cruised through downtown quickly, then headed back to the ship. I again talked to people that had taken excursions and they all seemed very possitive about their experience. When we go again, I think we will plan a beach excursion while in Cozumel.
Sorry the post eneded up so long. We were extremely happy with our decision to spend as much time as possible on the ship.