Has anyone regretted taking cruise?

[Lulubelle17]

Ummmmmmm...NO! Lol. We took our 3 daughters on 3 Disney cruises before ever taking them to the parks. After two separate trips to WDW, consensus? WE WANT TO GO ON ANOTHER CRUISE! They loooove the cruises so much. We love WDW, don't get me wrong, but they're just not comparable. We're going on cruises numbers 4 and 5 this summer! They couldn't be happier!

Same exact thing here! We just took our 3rd cruise last week and were at WDW for Thanksgiving. We got AP when my kids announced that they don't want to go to WDW, they want another cruise! It's 2 completely different kids of vacations. Cruises are so relaxing, the unlimited food is awesome, and the activities keep everyone busy. We love our Disney cruises!

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

Your children will love Disney Cruise Line

My wife and I used to do Christmas & New Years on Queen Mary 2 for 2 weeks around Caribbean. Then we had our son. We really missed cruising so we decided to try out Disney. Loved it more than we ever loved Cunard (and we really loved Cunard). This summer we tried out Royal Caribbean and it wasn't the same for our 4 year old. He calls it the 'Mouse Boat'. He loves the Mouse Boat and we will be taking it again this year out of NYC which takes you to DisneyWord for a day as a stop (we were going to do Spain-Portugal-Newfoundland-Florida).

My only regret with taking DCL is that nothing else measures up anymore! And I only have so many holidays and living in Ottawa have to travel to get to a Mouse Boat!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

This was our family...booked a 4 night cruise on the Dream a few years ago as that was the only Disney ship we had not been on up to that point and after the cruise all I heard from my family was "Don't do that again...way too short!"

We combined our B2B 7 night Fantasy cruises with a 4 night Dream cruise. That way it didn't feel like a really short one. More like we had an overnight port stop between the two.

Also gave me the chance to experience an inside (virtual porthole) room. I wouldn't want to do an inside room for a long cruise.

 

[party-of-five]

My only regret is not having tried cruising sooner.

That said, we have done half a dozen or more trips to WDW with the kids and a few to DL. The kids LOVE the parks. After two cruises, and a third planned, they now choose cruising over the parks.

Our first cruise was a 4nt Dream cruise followed by a few days in Orlando including MNSSHP. It was a great time, but we all agreed that if there were a next time, we would do parks first. So the next year (this past Sept) we did 5 days in the parks followed by another 4nt on the Dream. It was a fantastic vacation. We all really liked doing the parks first and then relaxing onboard.

The 4 night is definitely too short IMHO, but it is a great way to see if you like it. My oldest two children had some trouble on the first cruise with the motion. Nothing awful, they just felt a little off. SeaBands, benedryl at bedtime, mints, and MotionEase all helped. So did green apples, saltines, and ginger ale from room service the first night. The second cruise, no one had any issues.

An added benefit is that hungry teens and preteens can eat all day long, whenever they want to, and it's included!

 

[canadiandisneyfan]

Never regretted a DCL cruise! Have gone with sons aged 13, 16 and 19 and we all loved it!! Have also just gone with DH and loved that as well.

 

[Sytrace]

We are big Disneyland and Disney World lovers (been many times) looking to take our first cruise in summer. Kids are ages 11 and 13. They have always wanted to go on cruise, but now that we are actually talking about doing it, the kids are saying they would rather spend the whole time at WDW. We are looking at doing the 4 night on the Dream. Has anyone felt a bit ambivalent about the cruise before hand and ended up loving it, or has anyone thought it's really not worth it after going??? We will fit in a few days at WDW also.

Our first Disney cruise was November 2013 and my kids were 10 (a month shy of 11) and 12 years old. It was a 7 night Western and we fell hard for cruising Disney. The kids initially loved the kids clubs but now that they are a few years older don't really get into it as much. There are so many great activities onboard for kids (and this means the grown up kind of kid as well) and port excursions are pretty awesome too. Some of the top items my kids love are the first run movies, the Aquaduck, mini golf, the Detective agency interactive games, the ice cream and the food choices.
It is important to note that we live half an hour from Disney and have Annual passes so we go at least once a week. And we also have done staycations at WDW resort and stays after a 4 night cruise as well.
In my opinion, the cruises we have taken have been far more fun and yet relaxing than any resort stay. No fast passes, no ADR's, and no rushing around with your MDE app open and running.
The thing about cruising is that once you choose the excursions (if you want them that is) and once you choose if you want to dine in Palo and or Remy (adult only dining experiences) and if you are going to book meet and greets with the princesses and Anna and Elsa, you are pretty much done. Just show up, get onboard, and start your vacation!
Give it a chance...I am thinking you will all love it.

Tracey

 

[asamklove]

We are booked with a land/sea soon, and my only regret as I plan the final details is I wish we had just planned the 7-night cruise with just a couple days at WDW vs the 4-night we have booked. You will LOVE it!!!

 

[dreamingofdisney321]

I think your plan of combining a 4 night cruise with a few days at WDW is perfect. That's exactly what we did for our first cruise and we had a great time. None of us had cruised before so we wanted to get a feel for it before we committed to a longer cruise. Go for it! I think you're kids will end up loving it.

I had some reservations as well. My kids love Disney World and we have our first cruise booked. Like you we are doing a 4 day cruise with plans for a couple days at WDW. Thank you for posting your experience.

 

[Shanti]

Thanks! Did you do your park days before or after cruise? Trying to think through the psychology of the kids mind set Will they be happier to go on cruise after they have done what they really want to do (the parks) so they can relax and enjoy the cruise after exhausting them in the parks, or save the parks for the end so they are still looking forward to the thing they want to do most....

I would do the cruise first. Usually, people recommend the opposite: "you'll be so tired after WDW, & the cruise is a great place to relax", but I think as long as you have one rest day after getting home before returning to work/school, that argument is pretty much a wash. The cruise itself can be tiring, if you've got active kids who don't spend all day in the clubs.

If your kids prefer the parks, I'd definitely save the best for last, rather than listen to them whine on the ride to the port that they wish they were still at the parks.

Also, logistically it works better to cruise first, as you already have to get up early on disembarkation day, so it's nice to spend the second part of that day at the parks or resort rather than at the airport. If you were to do the parks first, a DCL transfer to the port wouldn't even leave until around noon, putting you on the ship relatively late.

 

[MunFam]

We are very close to Disneyland (San Diego) and our DD is 6. We opted to take a shortie 3 night cruise on HAL first to see how we did. A verandah was only $150 each, and kids sailed free. It was a great cruising test. I was sea sick the whole time! We then booked the WBPC cruise on the Wonder...15 days at sea! I was again sick the whole time, but the best part was all of the character interactions. We purposely took the cruise for the characters (and we still have not taken her to DLR). She met so many characters and princesses and it wasn't a cattle call like it is at the parks. A few times late at night or early in the morning, she would have a 10-15 minute SOLO character interaction because no one else was around. THAT was worth every penny of the cruise. So....my suggestion, if you are in to characters, is do the cruise first and meet as many characters as possible, so when you get to WDW, you can ride the rides...

One thing to note though as we did a Miami to San Diego cruise: many people on our cruise did WDW, the cruise and then DLR...they did not wear enough sun protection at the pool on our cruise and were miserably burned for their days in the parks...one even had sun poisoning...so just be sun aware