Help! Book tonight! 1st time cruiser :)

[peaches0313]

We have been to Disney countless times but this is our first cruise! Booking excursion/ princess meet times and conflicted on what times to try to book. We are planning to do an excursion our Nassau day... so the only day we would prob. want to book princess meets, Frozen meet, or BBB would be our AT SEA day... We have 6 and 8 year olds. Since we have never been, didn't know if we should try to do a princess meet in the morning, say after breakfast, and then do the pool/ Aquaduck (also have no idea what times you eat breakfast or is that at your discretion?) ... OR do the pool/ Aquaduck in the morning after breakfast and try to do a "frozen or princess" meet and great later in the afternoon around 3/4 pm before our 5:45 dinner seating time? HELP!

 

[MUN]

Are your children boys or girls or do you have one of each?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Breakfast is largely at your discretion.

Lines for the Aquaduck are pretty long all day at sea. If you want the girls to be all pretty for their M&G, I'd recommend doing it before pool.

 

[LisaRN97]

We liked to do the meet and greets earlier; that way you have the rest of the day free. Sometimes it's hard to get them out of the pool or away from a movie etc...

 

[Dug720]

The Princess Meet and Frozen meet are at a set day and time. It will show up as "On Board Fun" on your planner once your activity booking window opens - 75 days for first time cruisers. (Sorry, I can't tell from your post if you're booking your CRUISE tonight or your activity booking window opens tonight.) You don't get to pick the day unless it's offered more than once (unlikely on a 4-night - on my 4-night on the Magic in Feb it was on the Sea Day). They are usually in the morning.

So it's best to book those and then plan the other non-ticket-necessary things like the AquaDuck around your ticketed things that you can do whenever they're open.

The only set meals are dinners. Others are offered for a range of times.

 

[peaches0313]

We liked to do the meet and greets earlier; that way you have the rest of the day free. Sometimes it's hard to get them out of the pool or away from a movie etc...

Good idea! thanks! the only wrench in this plan is if we did BBB.. was thinking try around 3 pm and then obviously do the meet and greet around 4 pm all done up, and then dinner.. but I like this idea a lot, being "free" the rest of the day. I guess i'll just see what's available. Also done BBB twice at MK so up in the air about that.. wasn't going to "waste" our time doing that on our first cruise until a friend mentioned its neat how they are announced walking down the staircase..hmm...

 

[peaches0313]

Are your children boys or girls or do you have one of each?

oops... 2 girls!

 

[peaches0313]

Are your children boys or girls or do you have one of each?

2 girls!

Breakfast is largely at your discretion.

Lines for the Aquaduck are pretty long all day at sea. If you want the girls to be all pretty for their M&G, I'd recommend doing it before pool.

Unless we do the meet and greet right before dinner when they are showered and in dresses.... decisions, decisions! :/

 

[peaches0313]

The Princess Meet and Frozen meet are at a set day and time. It will show up as "On Board Fun" on your planner once your activity booking window opens - 75 days for first time cruisers. (Sorry, I can't tell from your post if you're booking your CRUISE tonight or your activity booking window opens tonight.) You don't get to pick the day unless it's offered more than once (unlikely on a 4-night - on my 4-night on the Magic in Feb it was on the Sea Day). They are usually in the morning.

So it's best to book those and then plan the other non-ticket-necessary things like the AquaDuck around your ticketed things that you can do whenever they're open.

The only set meals are dinners. Others are offered for a range of times.

Ok, this is really good info!!! Yes, it its our 1st cruise, and my window opens TONIGHT to book excursions/ activities... was going to book my Nassau excursion first, then move onto the Meet and greet... good to know the meet and greet at sea is a specific time/ day.. that makes it a lot easier! less decisions to make! I'm a Disney veteran (booking Fast pass and ADRs) and just not sure what to expect tonight as new to cruising! :/ Thank you!!!! Still on the fence about BBB too.. is it that much more special than at DW? Also only day I thought that might be fun is at sea day, as I wouldn't want to leave Castaway Cay early for a BBB appointment, am i right??!

 

[peaches0313]

Are your children boys or girls or do you have one of each?

Both girls!

 

[mcgluvint]

Breakfast is largely at your discretion.

Lines for the Aquaduck are pretty long all day at sea. If you want the girls to be all pretty for their M&G, I'd recommend doing it before pool.

Yes the the MG before the pool. The aqueduck is crowded at sea days and really any day. The best time to go is 6:30-7:15-30. That is the time in between dinners so for your daughters it is the best time to go. Good Luck! Cruises are a blast1

 

[peaches0313]

Yes the the MG before the pool. The aqueduck is crowded at sea days and really any day. The best time to go is 6:30-7:15-30. That is the time in between dinners so for your daughters it is the best time to go. Good Luck! Cruises are a blast1

Thank you!

 

[Dug720]

Ok, this is really good info!!! Yes, it its our 1st cruise, and my window opens TONIGHT to book excursions/ activities... was going to book my Nassau excursion first, then move onto the Meet and greet... good to know the meet and greet at sea is a specific time/ day.. that makes it a lot easier! less decisions to make! I'm a Disney veteran (booking Fast pass and ADRs) and just not sure what to expect tonight as new to cruising! :/ Thank you!!!! Still on the fence about BBB too.. is it that much more special than at DW? Also only day I thought that might be fun is at sea day, as I wouldn't want to leave Castaway Cay early for a BBB appointment, am i right??!

Sorry - I'm generally a solo adult cruiser so I have no clue about Bibbidi Bobbidi.

 

[cmph]

I wouldn't worry about breakfast at all, but take into consideration your home time zone and kids' usual wake-up time for sure! I say this b/c my kids almost slept past our Frozen m&g at, well... 12:00pm LOL!! DD (11 at the time) looks so tired in the photos, like we dragged her straight out of bed to see Olaf haha. We're on the west coast, and adding in that they were staying up later than they do at home, they were NOT early risers on that cruise. I should have expected that out of her, but I sure was shocked that DS8 slept that late b/c he's up at 6:30, 7am at home. I'm already fretting about Alaska next year, b/c the time zone aspect won't be an issue but the "my kids are night owls on vacation" part will still be a factor!

 

[peaches0313]

I wouldn't worry about breakfast at all, but take into consideration your home time zone and kids' usual wake-up time for sure! I say this b/c my kids almost slept past our Frozen m&g at, well... 12:00pm LOL!! DD (11 at the time) looks so tired in the photos, like we dragged her straight out of bed to see Olaf haha. We're on the west coast, and adding in that they were staying up later than they do at home, they were NOT early risers on that cruise. I should have expected that out of her, but I sure was shocked that DS8 slept that late b/c he's up at 6:30, 7am at home. I'm already fretting about Alaska next year, b/c the time zone aspect won't be an issue but the "my kids are night owls on vacation" part will still be a factor!

Oh my!! very good info!! We are East Coasters and typically my kids get up anywhere between 6:30-8 (8 being the latest) at home... when we are at disney, we try not to do too much "rope drop" stuff... typically we are leaving our room around 9 most mornings I'd say.. so maybe a breakfast around 9:30/10 would be good??? maybe look for a meet and greet after that? I certainly don't want to be dragging them out of bed, or rushing to meet princesses we have already met 1000 times at Disney BUT with it our 1st cruise and only a 4 day, I also don't want to sleep too late and be missing out on our only at sea day..... :/

 

[cmph]

Oh my!! very good info!! We are East Coasters and typically my kids get up anywhere between 6:30-8 (8 being the latest) at home... when we are at disney, we try not to do too much "rope drop" stuff... typically we are leaving our room around 9 most mornings I'd say.. so maybe a breakfast around 9:30/10 would be good??? maybe look for a meet and greet after that? I certainly don't want to be dragging them out of bed, or rushing to meet princesses we have already met 1000 times at Disney BUT with it our 1st cruise and only a 4 day, I also don't want to sleep too late and be missing out on our only at sea day..... :/

I wouldn't try to plan anything earlier than, like, 11am, if your vacation norm is 9ish and you want them "gussied up" to meet princesses. Breakfast is pretty easy b/c Cabanas is a buffet, so you can walk in whenever, or you could order room service. We brought food back from Cabanas too, just b/c there are more options than room service offers, but I'm nixing that one next time b/c it was sort of a pain and the kids will be older. I totally get what you're saying about FOMO! I ended up setting an alarm for Castaway Cay day for 9:30, not super early, and they had to get up about 8 for our Nassau excursion, but I otherwise just let them be (it was a 7 day). They were a little whiny about both alarm settings, but some times they have to suck it up!

 

[gotomu212]

The hard part about a first cruise is wanting to do everything. Princess meet and greets, frozen, BBB, aquaduck, and pool all in one free day sounds like a lot to me. If it was me I'd prioritize and do half of these things since there will be other activities around the ship that you'll also want to do.

Are your daughters really into frozen or the princesses? If not you could skip the big greets and just do the regular character queues (they will be out throughout the cruise at specific times and you can get pictures and autographs). If they love the princesses I'd maybe pick frozen or princesses but not both.

I'd also skip BBB- it's nice but with one sea day it's not something I would skip other ship activities for.

Good luck with booking- I'm sure you'll have a great cruise no matter what you decide!

 

[peaches0313]

The hard part about a first cruise is wanting to do everything. Princess meet and greets, frozen, BBB, aquaduck, and pool all in one free day sounds like a lot to me. If it was me I'd prioritize and do half of these things since there will be other activities around the ship that you'll also want to do.

Are your daughters really into frozen or the princesses? If not you could skip the big greets and just do the regular character queues (they will be out throughout the cruise at specific times and you can get pictures and autographs). If they love the princesses I'd maybe pick frozen or princesses but not both.

I'd also skip BBB- it's nice but with one sea day it's not something I would skip other ship activities for.

Good luck with booking- I'm sure you'll have a great cruise no matter what you decide!

Thank you! I thought the same as you about BBB prior to my friend saying they walk down the stairways... got me thinking. But I agree, I don't want to waste my one "at sea" day on something they've done before. And, they don't even necessarily need to meet the princesses, but i didn't want them to see the scheduled meet and wonder why we couldn't meet the princesses too? I want the cruise to be laid back..esp since we are doing an excursion Nassau day.. so maybe that should be my plan.. book the excursion first.. then see if there is a princess or frozen meet our at sea day and book maybe if times are good and if not, not?!

 

[Cackyschmackers]

Hi, I just wanted to give you a heads up that for our 4-nt on the Dreams next month, there were only M&G times for the ticketed events from like 8:30am-11:45am. I don't know that they create additional times so I just wanted you to know there were no times after then. I had thought there'd be times around 3:30-4pm, which we would have preferred but for our cruise there were not. I checked back a few times, and there still are not. Not sure if your cruise will be similar, but I just thought I'd share that.

 

[Lovewinnie]

Thank you! I thought the same as you about BBB prior to my friend saying they walk down the stairways... got me thinking. But I agree, I don't want to waste my one "at sea" day on something they've done before. And, they don't even necessarily need to meet the princesses, but i didn't want them to see the scheduled meet and wonder why we couldn't meet the princesses too? I want the cruise to be laid back..esp since we are doing an excursion Nassau day.. so maybe that should be my plan.. book the excursion first.. then see if there is a princess or frozen meet our at sea day and book maybe if times are good and if not, not?!

You can always book now and cancel BBB later if you decide not to do it.