Help booking first cruise

[limabeanies]

While I've always wanted to try cruising my husband is adamantly against it even though he's never been before.
I don't get to see my mom nearly enough. A few days ago I called and asked her to go on our first cruise. She owns DVC and has mentioned many times how she'd love to try a cruise. Neither of us knows anything about it. I'm 36 -no kids - and she's in her 60's. I'm a teacher so I can't get any time off during the school year except when school is on break. I get three personal days but I already have them blocked out for a WDW trip in December.

I'm looking at the cruises over Easter vacation. Do you have any advice or suggestions? Miami vs. PC? We're flying in from Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Atlantic City, NJ- which ever has the better rates
3-4-5 day? more days at port or more days at sea? Dream, Wonder, Magic? OMG there are so many decisions to make that it's frankly overwhelming!! I'm afraid I'm so green I don't even know what questions to ask.

Here are the options:

March 25 - (Good Friday) - Wonder 5 day - Miami; At Sea; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; At Sea; Castaway Cay; Miami

March 27 -(Easter Sunday)- Magic 4 day - PC, Castaway Cay, Nassau, At Sea, PC

March 28 - Dream 4 day - PC, Nassua, Castaway Cay, At Sea, PC

March 30 - Wonder 4 day - Miami, CC, Nassau, Key West, Miami


As a last resort - there is a small possibility that I could go on a 3 day at the beginning of March if Easter week will be horrible. -March 4-7 - Dream 3 day - PC, Nassau, CC, PC Also if Easter vacation is insanity would it be better to plan it for Summer 2016 instead.

Help Appreciated!
Thanks

 

[Maggie'sMom]

More days at sea versus more days in port is a personal preference thing. Personally, I like more days at sea. You pay a premium for DCL, so why not spend as much time on the ship as possible? But I will also mention that port days can be a lot less crowded on the ship. So you could always pick a cruise that has ports that don't interest you and stay on the ship to enjoy its amenities with fewer people around.

If the ports don't matter so much to you, I would pick the cruise with the most nights. In this case, that would be the March 25th Wonder cruise. The Dream is a lot larger ship, newer, with more amenities, but the classic ships (Magic and Wonder) are very nice as well.

Easter cruises have very high fares, but so does the summer season. I would compare prices for Easter versus Summer 2016 and see if there's one that jumps out at you as a better deal.

 

[mevelandry]

I think 3-4 nights on the Dream is an excellent way to be introduced to cruising. That is what DH and I did (no kids)... 3 nights, leaving from PC. Our cruise was completely sold out but being only adults, we took advantage of the Quiet Cove, the spa and Serenity Bay and never felt "crowded".

Next time, we'll do Miami and 4 nights on the Wonder.

 

[gumbypee]

Unfortunately you are stuck with high season prices. That being said I would do five night wonder. More days are better. I don't think I've ever cruised less than seven honestly. Don't be overwhelmed. You can always book a second cruise onboard to see more.

Pick your date. Book it. Then ask questions but remember you can't do it all!

I have only done magic but I enjoyed the smallerness (???) of it compared to bigger ships I have been on. I am sure the Wonder is just as magical

So go for the five day cruise and arrive at least the day before in case flight issues. One night in hotel totally worth it. If it is possible-you can piggy back it with your WDW trip???? WDW then cruise??

 

[turtle27]

Where to start. Yay cruise! Miami is a super easy city to get around, port is only about 20 minutes from airport, and you could also fly into FLL, which then makes airport to port a bit longer. PC is Disneyfied. But it is an hour from the Orlando airport with no traffic.

Wonder has not been through dry dock, we were just on in October and it still looks great. Magic has been through dry dock, have not been on since. Disney tends to maintain all of its ships in good condition. Dream, newer ship than Magic and Wonder, it is bigger and has a few more amenities, although on such short cruises, you may not have time to do everything.

OK, port vs sea days, this is a personal call, do you want more to do or more downtime? Your day will still fill up on the ship, between eating, drink tastings, lounging at the pool, movies, etc., we never get bored. Most of these ports that you have listed are either beach/sea ports or short sightseeing. There is not much to do in the time you have at port to do too much.

Where do you want to visit. Grand Cayman is ok, not my favorite port, even though that is where the turtle farm and stingray city are (turtle farm not as hokey as it sounds). If you are going to be in Grand Cayman on a Sunday, skip that itinerary. Town is dead and most shops are closed. Not even all excursions will run on Sundays. There is a tour, stingray city, turtle farm, and probably a few more snorkeling or scuba available.

Castaway Cay - nice beach day. Not much else, I almost think of this as a sea day, with the benefit/detriment of sand. You will need water shoes if planning on going out in water at the adult beach. I am probably in the minority, but I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about the private island.

Miami is a fun city, I would visit again, we were just there for a day and did not have a ton of time to do much, but it would be fun to see more of.

Have not made it to Nassau.

Key West, laid back beach town with some claims to fame. I don't even remember what we did here. I'd go back, I think we walked by Hemmingway's house, maybe an aquarium (not worth it) and butterfly museum (ehhhh). It is what it is, a tourist destination.

You may want to plan on a shorter cruise to give yourself 1 day travel BEFORE the cruise leaves. So if a cruise leaves on Saturday, you need to be in at least the state on Friday. This way, if there are any flight delays, you have some time to figure things out, and hopefully an extra 12-24 hours to get there.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I'm in the longer is better camp and I love sea days, so of those I would have to pick the 5 night on the Wonder out of Miami. Plus I thought Grand Cayman was the cleanest and safest of all the ports I've been to which includes Nassau and ports on the eastern and western Caribbean, (Castaway Cay excluded in comparison). We did a 3 night on the Dream as our first cruise and I didn't think it was nearly long enough, we were packing to come home before we even got comfy on the ship.

Sea days are great because DCL will have tons of activities for you to participate in. Every night when your room steward turns down your room they will leave a copy of the Navigator for the following day. It will have all the activities and things to do. The way we work that stuff out is after dinner we all hang out and hi light what we want to do, some stuff we do all together others we split up for and sometimes we just lay in a lounge chair on the promenade and take a nap. The most important thing we do is relax and unwind. Our iPhones go into airplane mode so we can use them for taking pictures but we don't get calls, texts or emails while we're on the ship.

All the ships have their pluses and minuses for different people but all are pretty equal. Most people who started on the classics still prefer the classics, those who started on Dream class generally prefer those. I've only been on the Dream class and LOVE them both, but can hardly wait to be on the Wonder in 68 days.

This is just my $.02 and hope it helps, I'm sure you'll have a great time and tell your DH he's really missing out on a great vacation.

 

[limabeanies]

If you are going to be in Grand Cayman on a Sunday, skip that itinerary. Town is dead and most shops are closed. Not even all excursions will run on Sundays. There is a tour, stingray city, turtle farm, and probably a few more snorkeling or scuba available.

It will be Easter Sunday. Something to think about.

 

[turtle27]

@limabeanies - then I would say to skip this itinerary, I am betting it will be even more dead on Easter Sunday. They are pretty religious and I would imagine, like here in the US, even more things will be closed/closing early due to the holiday.